Drakkarim Lore

[Anonymous]

Ok, another question for all you wiser-than-I Magnamund Loremasters. When I read the books, I always assumed the Drakkarim were just another race of humans from western Magnamund who happened to have sided with the Darklords (like the Southrons and Haradrim in Lord of the Rings). But I've seen some references that make me think otherwise. I think the RPG book says they arrived in Magnamund (doesn't say from where I don't think), and I remember seeing somewhere else recently that the Darklords brought them into Magnamund from another world.

So what's the deal? What's their story? I would appreciate any references anyone can provide.

 

[Sado]

Ok, another question for all you wiser-than-I Magnamund Loremasters. When I read the books, I always assumed the Drakkarim were just another race of humans from western Magnamund who happened to have sided with the Darklords (like the Southrons and Haradrim in Lord of the Rings). But I've seen some references that make me think otherwise. I think the RPG book says they arrived in Magnamund (doesn't say from where I don't think), and I remember seeing somewhere else recently that the Darklords brought them into Magnamund from another world.

So what's the deal? What's their story? I would appreciate any references anyone can provide.

Forgot to sign in. Oops, that was me.

 

[Ordovician]

Hmm. I always thought they were merely humans. Castle Death (I forget which paragraph, sorry, it has one of the Beastmen illos though) specifically says they're evil humans. So I'd go with that, personally, since that's straight from Dever.

 

[Eternalknight]

Paragraph 110:

...make you think they are Drakkarim - evil human warriors who serve the Darklords of Helgedad.

 

[Sado]

I'm convinced they are human, but are they native to western magnamund? Or did they come from somewhere else (another continent? another world? another plane?)?

 

[Eternalknight]

I found this in one of the Lone Wolf Newsletters:

Where do the women and children of the
Drakkarim live (or do they in fact exist at all)?
(Robert Weighill, Surrey)

Drakkarim society exists in their homelands,
those territories that were colonized after their
invasion of Northern Magnamund in the year MS
2591, namely Zaldir, Nyras, and Nyvoz. All of
the Drakkarim that Lone Wolf encounters are
soldiers in the Darkland army, which explains
why he has never yet seen their women and
children. Some Drakkar units, notably the Death
Knights, are trained from an early age and do not
have families. But the others are predominantly
natives of the Drakkar homelands, or native to
those lands that are policed by the Drakkarim
(e.g. Ogia, Magador, Skaror, and Ghatan). The
strongest Drakkar males are automatically
conscripted into the Darkland army when they
reach the age of 17.
*********************************

 

[adgramaine]

Good call on that one EternalKnight - I'm surprised Paido wasn't the first to chime in with a quote...

Guess you get the XP for that one, eh?

 

[Eternalknight]

I am still trying to find the quote, but I remember reading that there are large tracts of uncharted ocean north of Northern Magnamund (which is where the Sommlending came from, the Northern Void). The Sommlending came from the east - maybe the Drakkarim came from islands in the west?

 

[Nyxator]

In book 20 [SPOILERS] Lone Wolf travels throught the realm of the Drakkarim God, Zantaz, in the Plane of Darkness. There, he meets many drakkarim-like humans, but they are devoid of free will. [/SPOILERS]
I wonder how they are related to the Drakkarim who live on Magnamund.

 

[Paido]

I'm surprised Paido wasn't the first to chime in with a quote...

Well, even a Vakeros sleeps sometimes ... especially between 2 and 6 am when you folks posted that ... :wink:


About the Drakkarim: Can't find a quote from the books at the moment, but I do remember having read that they came to Magnamund from somewhere else, too. Was as confused about the "where from" as about the "where from" of the Sommerlending - at first I thought they (the Sommerlending) were brought to Magnamund from another world, until I found out that the "Northern Void" was a sea and on the same planet. (One thing that adds to these confusions probably is that the continent has the same name as the whole world - Magnamund!) Considering that, I liked Eternalknight's idea of the Drakkarim coming from islands to the west, but then I found this:

• Enter the Drakkarim. Warriors from another world brought to Magnamund through a powerful gate provided by Naar himself, the forces of Drakkar were a nearly unstoppable force for destruction from the moment their legions appeared. After a long campaign of bloodshed and tyranny under no flag or banner but their own, the Drakkarim were finally defeated and their advance across Northern Magnamund halted by the most unlikely of saviours- the Darklords themselves.
  --The Darklands, article description, Mongoose Publishing

Embarrasingly enough, it took a search engine to shove that under my nose ...

After reading that, the thought invaded my mind that the Drakkarim might come from one of the worlds of Aon that have already been conquered by Naar's forces of darkness. :idea: After all, Magnamund is the last world where that conflict still rages ...


@ Nyxator: Maybe they are of the same (original) race and from the world where the Drakkarim came from?
**Spoiler** Probably even the dead of that race that went to Zantaz's realm ... **End of Spoiler**


Paido

 

[Eternalknight]

Enter the Drakkarim. Warriors from another world brought to Magnamund through a powerful gate provided by Naar himself, the forces of Drakkar were a nearly unstoppable force for destruction from the moment their legions appeared. After a long campaign of bloodshed and tyranny under no flag or banner but their own, the Drakkarim were finally defeated and their advance across Northern Magnamund halted by the most unlikely of saviours- the Darklords themselves.
Paido

The emphasized words gave me pause for thought; the statement in bold kind of (to me at least) implies that the world they came from was actually called Drakkar.

 

[Sado]

I'm surprised Paido wasn't the first to chime in with a quote...

Well, even a Vakeros sleeps sometimes ... especially between 2 and 6 am when you folks posted that ... :wink:


About the Drakkarim: Can't find a quote from the books at the moment, but I do remember having read that they came to Magnamund from somewhere else, too. Was as confused about the "where from" as about the "where from" of the Sommerlending - at first I thought they (the Sommerlending) were brought to Magnamund from another world, until I found out that the "Northern Void" was a sea and on the same planet. (One thing that adds to these confusions probably is that the continent has the same name as the whole world - Magnamund!) Considering that, I liked Eternalknight's idea of the Drakkarim coming from islands to the west, but then I found this:

• Enter the Drakkarim. Warriors from another world brought to Magnamund through a powerful gate provided by Naar himself, the forces of Drakkar were a nearly unstoppable force for destruction from the moment their legions appeared. After a long campaign of bloodshed and tyranny under no flag or banner but their own, the Drakkarim were finally defeated and their advance across Northern Magnamund halted by the most unlikely of saviours- the Darklords themselves.
  --The Darklands, article description, Mongoose Publishing

Embarrasingly enough, it took a search engine to shove that under my nose ...

After reading that, the thought invaded my mind that the Drakkarim might come from one of the worlds of Aon that have already been conquered by Naar's forces of darkness. :idea: After all, Magnamund is the last world where that conflict still rages ...


@ Nyxator: Maybe they are of the same (original) race and from the world where the Drakkarim came from?
**Spoiler** Probably even the dead of that race that went to Zantaz's realm ... **End of Spoiler**


Paido

That's where I read that about the Drakkarim being brought from another world! From the soon-to-be-published "Darklands" sourcebook.

I also found this quote from the Magnamund Companion which definitely indicates the Drakkarim predate the Darklords:

"...a new and evil force had arrived from the west, a barbaric horde of warriors called Drakkarim. Their name struck terror in the hearts of men, but they were merely a prelude to a far greater nightmare. Naar, the King of the Darkness, had laboured unceasingly to create new champions of evil, and now his task was complete. In the year MS 3072, the Darklords appeared and began a terrible war of desecration. The Drakkarim nations, in fear and awe of Darklord power, allied themselves to this new force and constructed huge city-fortresses to dominate the lands that they helped conquer." (p.13, The Magnamund Companion)

This makes it sound like they did indeed come from some unknown land to the west, as Eternalknight suggested. I like this explanation myself, but it looks as if Mongoose is going in a different direction. The passage could also mean that they were first brought in by Naar in the western part of Magnamund, not that they came from a land to the west.

I'm curious to know why Mongoose decided they came from another world instead of another land on Magnamund. Did they get that from an official source or is that something they decided/interpreted themselves? Not trying to criticize, just curious.

How about it? Matt? August? Anyone?

 

[Paido]

@ Eternalknight: Again a good thought!

Hmm, somewhere I've seen the other worlds of Aon named ... *goes to check*

Hm, apparently a good, but wrong thought ... The Lone Wolf Club Newsletter #6 gives their names as Torm, Bazitto, Cannadom, Plutarnis, Gordonia, Hermidos, Shuna, and Ithis.

The one thing that does confuse me here is that they answered the question about the other free worlds of Aon with the names of the other planets in Magnamund's solar system ... Therefore we cannot be completely certain that there are no other worlds in the whole of Aon - maybe there's more on that in the Magnamund Companion? Or maybe our friendly Mongooses here know more about that?


@ Jhogun: Well, I suppose "from the west" was meant to, ahem, mean the new homelands of the Drakkarim, Zaldir and Nyraz. I have to admit, some official facts on this question would interest me as well! *pokes a Mongoose* :wink:


Paido

 

[Sado]

@ Eternalknight: Again a good thought!

Hmm, somewhere I've seen the other worlds of Aon named ... *goes to check*

Hm, apparently a good, but wrong thought ... The Lone Wolf Club Newsletter #6 gives their names as Torm, Bazitto, Cannadom, Plutarnis, Gordonia, Hermidos, Shuna, and Ithis.

Paido, Where did you get copies of the newsletter? Are they over on Project Aon?

 

[adgramaine]

The Lone Wolf Newsletters are indeed at project aon, and they all have a lot of interesting info, making them useful as GM resources.

-----------------------------------------
always known as "adgramaine", and will never change my sn just because I'm a stubborn ol' goat!

 

[Nyxator]

The Lone Wolf Club Newsletter #6 gives their names as Torm, Bazitto, Cannadom, Plutarnis, Gordonia, Hermidos, Shuna, and Ithis.

The one thing that does confuse me here is that they answered the question about the other free worlds of Aon with the names of the other planets in Magnamund's solar system ... Therefore we cannot be completely certain that there are no other worlds in the whole of Aon - maybe there's more on that in the Magnamund Companion? Or maybe our friendly Mongooses here know more about that?

We know for sure there are other inhabited worlds in Aon. [SPOILER FOR BOOK 19] LW visits Avaros, a moon of Duron [/SPOILER].

**Spoiler** Probably even the dead of that race that went to Zantaz's realm ... **End of Spoiler**

That's an interesting theory, I didn't think of this.

 

[Paido]

We know for sure there are other inhabited worlds in Aon. [SPOILER FOR BOOK 19] LW visits Avaros, a moon of Duron [/SPOILER].

Ah-HA! That's interesting ... Need that book! *grumbles*

Paido, Where did you get copies of the newsletter? Are they over on Project Aon?

Yes, that's my source ... When they came out, I never even heard of them where I live. Thank Ishir and Kai for Project Aon, that's all I can say!

BTW, like that new user name of yours. Always nice to see other Grey Star fans ...


Paido, who better keeps quiet now about his Project Aon forum name ... :wink:

 

[Sado]

BTW, like that new user name of yours. Always nice to see other Grey Star fans ...

Thanks. I actually read the GS books first. I'm surprised no one else had already taken it.

I'll have to reread the books and find a cool quote of his for my sig.

 

[Eternalknight]

@ Eternalknight: Again a good thought!

Hmm, somewhere I've seen the other worlds of Aon named ... *goes to check*

Hm, apparently a good, but wrong thought ... The Lone Wolf Club Newsletter #6 gives their names as Torm, Bazitto, Cannadom, Plutarnis, Gordonia, Hermidos, Shuna, and Ithis.

The one thing that does confuse me here is that they answered the question about the other free worlds of Aon with the names of the other planets in Magnamund's solar system ... Therefore we cannot be completely certain that there are no other worlds in the whole of Aon - maybe there's more on that in the Magnamund Companion? Or maybe our friendly Mongooses here know more about that?


@ Jhogun: Well, I suppose "from the west" was meant to, ahem, mean the new homelands of the Drakkarim, Zaldir and Nyraz. I have to admit, some official facts on this question would interest me as well! *pokes a Mongoose* :wink:


Paido

In the preludes to the Legends novels it mentions that one by one the worlds of Aon were conquered... one would fall to evil, another would be claimed by good, until only Magnamund remained. Not much, I know, but it's something...

 

[Paido]

[...] about the other free worlds [...]

Darn it, did I really write that? Avaunt with thee, "free"! As Eternalknight said, all the other worlds have been conquered already ...


Paido