8 >------L------------------------!----------------------------R
\r
11 You are a Kai Grand Master of the New Order of the Kai
\r\8a - the warrior elite of Sommerlund.
\r
13 It is the year MS 5083 and thirty-three years have
\r\8a passed since the First Order of the Kai were almost
\r\8a wiped out by the Darklords of Helgedad. These champions
\r\8a of evil, who were sent by the Dark God Naar to destroy
\r\8a your fertile world of Magnamund, have since been
\r\8a destroyed. The leader of your illustrious fighting
\r\8a order - Lone Wolf - was the sole survivor of the
\r\8a massacre. As a young Kai initiate he stood amidst the
\r\8a burning wreckage of the old Kai monastery and vowed to
\r\8a avenge the slaughter of his comrades. In the year
\r\8a MS5075 he kept his pledge when alone he infiltrated the
\r\8a foul domain of the Darklords and destroyed the infernal
\r\8a city of Helgedad, the base of the Darklords' evil
\r\8a power.
\r
15 With the fall of Helgedad chaos befell the Darklord
\r\8a armies who had, until then, been poised to conquer all
\r\8a Magnamund. Quickly their disorder escalated into a
\r\8a mutinous civil war which allowed the freestate armies
\r\8a of Magnamund time in which to recover and launch a
\r\8a successful counter-offensive. Against all odds, a swift
\r\8a and total victory was secured over the feuding armies
\r\8a of evil.
\r
17 Following the demise of the Darklords, peace reigned in
\r\8a your homeland of Sommerlund. Under the direction of
\r\8a Lone Wolf the ruined monastery of the Kai was rebuilt
\r\8a and restored to its former glory, and the raising of a
\r\8a New Order of Kai warriors was swiftly established. You
\r\8a are one of this new generation of Kai recruits. You
\r\8a were born in Sommerlund in the year MS5063, during the
\r\8a time of the war against the Darklords. When you were
\r\8a seven years old you were sent by your father to the Kai
\r\8a Monastery. There, under the tutelage of Lone Wolf, you
\r\8a developed your martial skills and honed the special Kai
\r\8a abilities which lay dormant within you. During the
\r\8a years that followed, your skills were nurtured and
\r\8a sharpened to perfection by long hours of study and
\r\8a rigorous training. Your exceptional talent helped you
\r\8a to master all of the Kai and Magnakai Disciplines and
\r\8a you rose swiftly through the ranks of the New Order to
\r\8a become one of only five who now hold the high rank of
\r\8a Kai Grand Master. It is an achievement which has
\r\8a brought great honour upon you and your family.
\r
19 In the year MS5077 your skill and courage were put to
\r\8a the test when an attack was launched upon the Kai
\r\8a Monastery during Lone Wolf's absence. By means of a
\r\8a Shadow Gate (an astral corridor between the physical
\r\8a world of Sommerlund and the many ethereal domains which
\r\8a lie beyond it) the Dark God Naar sent forth a host of
\r\8a dragon-creatures to besiege the monastery and lay waste
\r\8a to all Sommerlund. He had chosen his time well, yet his
\r\8a evil plan was thwarted by the tenacious defence that
\r\8a you and your brethren maintained until the siege was
\r\8a raised by Lone Wolf and the King's army of Sommerlund.
\r
21 The defeat of his minions enraged Naar and inflamed his
\r\8a lust for vengeance. Three years later he created and
\r\8a sent to Sommerlund an evil champion called 'Wolf's
\r\8a Bane' who was the very image of Lone Wolf. While your
\r\8a leader was engaged upon a quest overseas, this impostor
\r\8a terrorized your homeland in his guise and sought to
\r\8a destroy the reputation and the honour of the Kai. He
\r\8a would have succeeded had not Lone Wolf
\r
22 returned home and pursued this enemy to an ancient
\r\8a necropolis in the Sommlending city of Tyso. There, deep
\r\8a within a subterranean crypt, he and his evil alter-ego
\r\8a were drawn through a Shadow Gate to the Plane of
\r\8a Darkness - Naar's stronghold - where a deadly duel
\r\8a ensued. Lone Wolf vanquished the foe and discovered
\r
23 that Naar had in his possession the fabled Moonstone of
\r\8a the Shianti. This wondrous artifact was created many
\r\8a thousands of years ago by the god-like Shianti, whose
\r\8a presence upon Magnamund heralded the dawn of humanity.
\r\8a This stone of power contains the combined might of all
\r\8a their magic and wisdom, the sum of all their knowledge.
\r\8a So significant was the creation of this stone that all
\r\8a time on Magnamund has since been measured from the date
\r\8a of its creation. It had long been held that the
\r\8a Moonstone's location was a secret known only to the
\r\8a remnants of the Shianti, who dwell upon the mysterious
\r\8a Isle of Lorn in Southern Magnamund, yet the evidence of
\r\8a Lone Wolf's eyes had told him that this mystical
\r\8a artifact had somehow fallen into the hands of Naar.
\r
25 Lone Wolf realised that the Dark God had been using its
\r\8a legendary powers to generate Shadow Gates within the
\r\8a world of Magnamund, at locations and times of his own
\r\8a choosing. Such power had enabled him to send his
\r\8a loathsome champions to your home world while the forces
\r\8a of the gods of Good, Kai and Ishir, had been held at
\r\8a bay. Lone Wolf and the New Order Kai were all that
\r\8a stood in the way of the onslaught of Naar's agents
\r\8a following the demise of the Darklords.
\r
27 Lone Wolf successfully escaped from the Plane of
\r\8a Darkness and returned to Sommerlund, yet he knew that
\r\8a the fight against Evil had not been won outright. He
\r\8a realised that he would have to return to the Plane of
\r\8a Darkness and retrieve the fabled Moonstone. Only by
\r\8a doing so would Magnamund truly be safe from an invasion
\r\8a by Naar's legions of darkness. Two years ago, with the
\r\8a aid of his most trusted ally, Lord Rimoah of Dessi,
\r\8a Lone Wolf fulfilled his vow by journeying to the Dark
\r\8a God's domain and retrieving the Moonstone of the
\r\8a Shianti. Upon his triumphant return, Lone Wolf placed
\r\8a the Moonstone in the Vault of the Sun - his personal
\r\8a chamber located deep below the fortified citadel of the
\r\8a Kai Monastery. He had hoped that the fabled artifact
\r\8a could remain there indefinitely, to be guarded by
\r\8a generations of Kai who would keep it secure from Naar's
\r\8a minions. Retrieval of the Moonstone had denied the Dark
\r\8a God's champions ready access to Magnamund, yet Lone
\r\8a Wolf knew that there were many lesser agents of Naar
\r\8a upon Magnamund waiting quietly in the shadows for the
\r\8a chance to do his evil bidding. Undoubtedly they would
\r\8a stop at nothing to retrieve the Moonstone for their
\r\8a fell master.
\r
29 Within a year of his return home it became clear to
\r\8a Lone Wolf that his wish could not be fulfilled. At
\r\8a first the presence of the Moonstone seemed greatly
\r\8a beneficial to Sommerlund. Crops grew abundantly,
\r\8a incidence of disease and illness became increasingly
\r\8a rare, and the newly-born were uniformly healthy. Even
\r\8a the offspring of the impoverished who, in normal times,
\r\8a could expect only one-in-three of their infants to
\r\8a survive longer than a month beyond birth, were all in
\r\8a good health and exceptional in their physical and
\r\8a mental development. The Sommlending called this
\r\8a extraordinary period of providence the 'Blessing of the
\r\8a Moonstone', yet this time of good fortune could not
\r\8a last. The power of the Moonstone is a great force for
\r\8a Good, but it is also greatly disruptive of the natural
\r\8a order of Magnamund. Soon death itself became a rarity
\r\8a in Sommerlund, and the four seasons of the year were
\r\8a slowly transformed into one unending Spring. Lone Wolf
\r\8a was deeply concerned at the changes wrought by the
\r\8a Moonstone and sought the counsel of his closest friend
\r\8a - Guildmaster Banedon, leader of Sommerlund's
\r\8a Brotherhood of Magicians. Banedon entreated him to
\r\8a relinquish the Moonstone before the effects of its
\r\8a power became irreversible. To right the imbalance of
\r\8a nature the Moonstone would have to be taken to the Isle
\r\8a of Lorn, in the southern-most reaches of Magnamund, and
\r\8a delivered back into the hands of the Shianti. Only
\r\8a they, its creators, could prevent its powers from
\r\8a disrupting the natural order of your world.
\r
31 Lone Wolf agreed with Banedon - the Moonstone would
\r\8a have to be returned to the Shianti. The physical
\r\8a effects of its presence were beginning to attract the
\r\8a unwelcome attentions of those who secretly desire to
\r\8a enact Naar's revenge upon the Kai. When one of Naar's
\r\8a agents was captured by a Kai patrol within a few miles
\r\8a of the monastery, Lone Wolf felt he could wait no
\r\8a longer. He resolved to act immediately. Preparations
\r\8a were made for a long journey and, especially among the
\r\8a lower ranks of the Kai, rumours were rife that your
\r\8a leader would personally take responsibility for
\r\8a returning the Moonstone to the Shianti. Indeed, this
\r\8a speculation seemed to be confirmed as fact when it was
\r\8a discovered that Lone Wolf had secured the use of
\r\8a Guildmaster Banedon's famous flying ship -
\ 5éCloud
\r\8a Dancer
\ 5é.
\r
33 It therefore came as a shock when, early one morning,
\r\8a you were summoned unexpectedly to the Vault of the Sun.
\r\8a In strictest confidence, Supreme Master Lone Wolf
\r\8a informed you that he had decided to entrust you with
\r\8a the task of returning the Moonstone to the Shianti. His
\r\8a elaborate preparations were simply a diversion, a bluff
\r\8a designed to draw attention away from the vital mission
\r\8a that he wished you - the most-talented and courageous
\r\8a of his five Kai Grand Masters - to undertake. It was
\r\8a with great pride and apprehension that you accepted the
\r\8a quest.
\r
35 Lone Wolf gave you the precious Moonstone in a
\r\8a seemingly ordinary satchel, yet the lining of this
\r\8a plain leather bag was woven from Korlinium, a special
\r\8a mineral that would hide the Moonstone's powerful
\r\8a energies from the agents of Naar. In the guise of a Kai
\r\8a journeyman, you set sail from the Sommlending capital
\r\8a of Holmgard aboard a caravel that was to carry you
\r\8a south on the first leg of your journey, a voyage of
\r\8a two-thousand miles to Elzian, the capital of Dessi.
\r\8a This legendary city is home to Lord Rimoah and the
\r\8a Elder Magi. They are the last surviving members of
\r\8a Magnamund's oldest race of magicians and they had
\r\8a promised Lone Wolf that they would help you reach your
\r\8a final destination. You had hoped and expected the
\r\8a voyage would be swift and uneventful, however fate and
\r\8a ill fortune decreed otherwise. Your ship was attacked
\r\8a by pirates off the coast of Vassagonia and badly
\r\8a damaged. It limped to the port of Cape Kabar where you
\r\8a were forced to continue the long journey by overland
\r\8a routes to Elzian. This trek was fraught with danger,
\r\8a yet you overcame the many perils ranged against you and
\r\8a eventually arrived at the Dessi capital, to the relief
\r\8a of Lord Rimoah and his anxious brother magicians who
\r\8a had feared the worst.
\r
37 Now the final and most challenging part of your voyage
\r\8a to the Isle of Lorn lies ahead. And it is a journey
\r\8a that may prove as difficult as any you have undertaken
\r\8a so far, for it will lead you deep into the wild and
\r\8a lawless reaches of Southern Magnamund.
\r
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