So who nicked the giant eagles?

A

Anonymous

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It seems like the giant eagles from shadow of the sands, called Itikar, have been replaced by giant vultures! Since the word Ikar crops up a few times, meaning eagle, this doesnt seem to make any sense, unless mongoose felt vultures were more evil. To add insult to injury, the vakaros now seem to train very familiar looking giant eagles as mounts. I have no problem with mongoose making up their own details about magnamund, as long as it doesnt contradict the original source material. Personally i will keep Itikar as god intended( the mysterious lord Dever) and just have Vakaros have them as mounts as well.
 
Itikar do appear (LWRPG p290), but they are described as looking like and acting like vultures, rather than the giant eagles from shadow on the sand, and voyage of the moonstone.If you check out MOM(p105), the Veeroks are clealy giant eagles. This is all fine if you dont know the original books, but annoying if you do. Either someone made a mistake, or vultures have been considered as more "evil". I think the same can be said for Taklakot, which in the books is a place full of canabalistic mad humans, now replaced with ( yawn) undead. On both counts, I will stick with the original versions, but it is getting a bit annoying having to sift through the rulebook and put everything back how i remember the world i grew up with. I guess i am getting a bit anal, but i am sure many long term fans may have similiar gripes.
 
Where is it actually stated that Itikar are giant eagles? I've checked Books 4 and 5, and can find no reference to the fact that they're giant eagles in the text. An illustration in Book 4 does look like an eagle, but that's it that I can find. In fact, in Book 4, it makes reference to a hideous caw. Eagle cries are far from hideous.

But even so, there are minor differences between the RPG and the gamebooks, but they are minor. You're free to change 'em if you want.

-GB
 
stormhawk said:
I think the same can be said for Taklakot, which in the books is a place full of canabalistic mad humans, now replaced with ( yawn) undead.

August (the author) already talked about this. The city has changed between the timeline of the RPG (MS5000) and the time of the gamebooks (MS5050+).


Check out this topic:

http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4614
 
Yes it defenitely says they are eagles. In books 4 and 21, there are pretty clear illustrations, and the ectract from book 21, section 68 reads:

You ride the benign thermal currents that swirl between these lower mountain peaks and enjoy a spectacular aerial view of the Great Masourn range. Within the hour you emerge from the peaks and drift towards columns of rock that rise up from the lower slopes of the timbered mountainside. Circling above these columns are six large, black winged birds. You magnify your vision and your pulse quickens when instantly you recognise them to be Itikars- giant Vassagonian eagles.

There are half a dozen rerences to them in books 4,5 and 21, and if i remember rightly, the Ikareshi mountains, literally means eagle mountains in Vassagonian. Hope that clears things up!
 
Vultures don't do them justice, and neither do the Veeroks of Dessi. The Itikars appear to a giant cross of eagle and crow, because eagles don't go "caw". In addition, eagles and most raptors, for the most part, are not black. They are a mix of brown and white, grey, gold, or an off bash/sky blue for camouflage. When you escape from the Zakahan's Palace, you hear the black Itikar cawing as you fly away.
 
Stormcrow the White Wolf said:
In addition, eagles and most raptors, for the most part, are not black. They are a mix of brown and white, grey, gold, or an off bash/sky blue for camouflage. When you escape from the Zakahan's Palace, you hear the black Itikar cawing as you fly away.
Eagles tend to vary by breed.

The Bateleur Eagle (Africa)
bateleur_eagle_sm.jpg
bateleur_eagle01_sm.jpg

http://www.stlzoo.org/animals/abouttheanimals/birds/vultureshawkseagles/bateleureagle.htm
 
stormhawk said:
There are half a dozen rerences to them in books 4,5 and 21, and if i remember rightly, the Ikareshi mountains, literally means eagle mountains in Vassagonian. Hope that clears things up!

The Ikareshi mountains would be related to the nearby city of Ikaresh which means something like's Eagle's Nest or something similar... (It's explained somewhere in book 5), I've mainly read the Swedish edition and I don't remember the proper English translation now...
 
Yes that rings a bell. I couldnt be bothered to thumb through book 5! Seems a bit strange for mongoose to have missed all this but i shall return them to their rightful appearance and dispose of the Veerok!
 
I must say that I wasn't especially found of the Veerok myself. I think that the itikar should be a purely Vassagonian privilige.
 
isnt the vulture a kind of eagle anyway?
if im wrong please forgive me but key reference ive used is i remember a nature talk about here in aus we have no vultures so we have to rely on their close relatives the eagle to clean up carrion, of course memory does play tricks....
 
That's true. Maybe, as Mongoose, is English, "vulture" has a different meaning and appearance? As a US reader, I think immediately of the bald-headed greasy black bird. However, aren't what the English call "buzzards" like hawks? Here, vulture and buzzard are synonymous. English "wasps" are different than US wasps, too. I think they're more like a yellow jacket?

Or maybe they just meant "carrion-eater", not vulture.

Just for the record, I always saw Itikar as kind of like huge crows and not eagles OR vultures.
 
August, the author of the RPG, is from the States, so don't read too much into supposed British/American differences.
 
columbob said:
stormhawk said:
I think the same can be said for Taklakot, which in the books is a place full of canabalistic mad humans, now replaced with ( yawn) undead.

August (the author) already talked about this. The city has changed between the timeline of the RPG (MS5000) and the time of the gamebooks (MS5050+).


Check out this topic:

http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4614

I always got the impression that the hideous wretches in the Forbidden City were undead. When I first read the second Grey Star book, I immediately got the impression that the Mad King and his subjects were demented zombies.
 
stormhawk said:
Itikar do appear (LWRPG p290), but they are described as looking like and acting like vultures, rather than the giant eagles from shadow on the sand, and voyage of the moonstone.If you check out MOM(p105), the Veeroks are clealy giant eagles.
What is the Vassagonian captain riding in Chasm of Doom? An Itikar as I always thought, or a Veerok?
 
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