Using Canonical NPCs

[ParanoidObsessive]

I'm not sure Chiban and the like can even be used at all. Think about it. By the time LW is halfway through his Magnakai adventures it's 5061 or so.

This is very much a grey area, I'd think.

We have no idea what the general life-expectancy of Magnamund is. On the one hand, a pre-Industrial world should peak at around 40 or so... but with magic, laumspur, and the like, disease seems to be far less of a factor. Plus, as much as we tend to equate the people of Magnamund with humans (well, MOST of them), they could just as easily be on a different scale.

The reason for this sort of reasoning comes from some of the entries in the Gazetteer - basically, if Queen Evaine was Queen of Talestria in 5000, but still in charge in 5057 or so (book 8), then she'd have to reign for at LEAST 57 years... but since she's still Queen in 5078 or so (Book 18), that's a LONG reign.

About the only alternative I can see would be if it was TWO Evaines - mother and daughter, as it were - but she's not the only one who seems to have a long period of rule. All of the Shadakine Wytches, the Mayor of Casiorn, the Prince of Eru, Sarnak of Lencia, Sommerlund, Durenor, Shinzar in the Hammerlands (who's HARDLY a decrepit old man when you finally meet him decades later), Cadak... and so on.

So, it seems like either the people of Magnamund live far longer than you might otherwise expect (a valid argument, when you consider Tolkien's Numenoreans lived at least 200 years or so), or a LOT of people in charge take advantage of life-prolonging magics.

If a GM decided that even the common people live twice as long as in the real world, then any number of people who appeared to be late middle-age or older could easily show up in a game in 5000.

 

[Kojiro]

I'd say make the players eventually reach 5050, and go through the actual events of the books, albeit with results based on their actions beforehand. Kai players probably get wiped out (it's only fair), though non-Kai could easily be off fighting other minions of Naar while Lone Wolf is running around. If the PCs let too many of the "support" NPCs die along the way, Lone Wolf fails. Then the only people left to stop Naar's total victory would be, you guessed it, the players...

Another idea... what if your players completely alter the events of history, like getting lucky somehow and killing Zagarna himself before he can make the assault on the Kai Lords? Hell, what if you do the feast on 5050 but some of your PCs survive the assault? They say there are infinite parallel worlds for all of the infinite possibilities in the world. History itself would be interesting to rearrange.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm 100 percent positive that the lifespans of humans on Magnamund(normal humans) is no different than the lifespans of us on Earth. Beyond that, the data for rulers in the RPG handbook is off. Remember, the Companion also listed the same names(in most of the cases) for the rulers of these lands.

Rather than make all kinds of assumptions, Ockham's Razor should lead us to the conclusion that either Joe didn't know or didn't provide ruler names for the countries in 5000 and that even if there were one or two really long-lived kings/queens, it would not be so for every country on Magnamund.

Remember, the RPG also establishes what the ages and lifespans for human players will be.

 

[columbob]

I'm 100 percent positive that the lifespans of humans on Magnamund(normal humans) is no different than the lifespans of us on Earth. Beyond that, the data for rulers in the RPG handbook is off. Remember, the Companion also listed the same names(in most of the cases) for the rulers of these lands.

Rather than make all kinds of assumptions, Ockham's Razor should lead us to the conclusion that either Joe didn't know or didn't provide ruler names for the countries in 5000 and that even if there were one or two really long-lived kings/queens, it would not be so for every country on Magnamund.

Remember, the RPG also establishes what the ages and lifespans for human players will be.

Yes, you're right. The RPG was initially supposed to be set in 5050, and they didn't fix the rulers' names after they made the change to 5000. You can even see the date MS 5050 in the entry for Sommerlund I think, so you can see they even missed some dates. So, IMO, I'm pretty sure most of the rulers listed are the ones for 5050 and NOT for the setting of the RPG in MS 5000.

There are, of course, a few exceptions, such as Sejanoz, Zagarna and Shasarak, who are all immortals.

 

[Wannabe Drakkar]

A NOTE ON VONOTAR:
In the Legends of Lone Wolf...
*ducks, waits for riots to subside*
I'm pretty sure that Vonotar was in his mid thirties, he was "blessed" with old age during the Eclipse, while he was duelling Alyss, when the brotherhood were vigilant for his return, they didnt recognise the elderly man, who made it deep into their innermost sanctum....

 

[hollow49]

A NOTE ON VONOTAR:
In the Legends of Lone Wolf...
*ducks, waits for riots to subside*
I'm pretty sure that Vonotar was in his mid thirties, he was "blessed" with old age during the Eclipse, while he was duelling Alyss, when the brotherhood were vigilant for his return, they didnt recognise the elderly man, who made it deep into their innermost sanctum....

Mid thirties? from Eclipse of the Kai I got the impression that he was in his early twenties! Gifted, young, rebellious, ambitious, still low in the hierarchy yet regarded as gifted - didn't seem like a middleaged fellow (and in a pseudo-medieval realm like Sommerlund, 35 is definitely middle-aged).

 

[Wannabe Drakkar]

i'm pretty sure he was in his thirties, i'll look it up when i've got some time, the brotherhood live ages anyways, Toran is the cleanest city and increases peoples lifespans
even at thirty other crystal star brothers would have seen him as young (although the guildmaster had a lot of respect for him)

 

[Anonymous]

Even in the days of the ancient Romans and Greeks, there were many humans who lived to be as old as men live now.

The reason life expectancy was so short was because of the constant wars and infant mortality.

But once you got past age 5 and if you weren't in back-breaking labor, it wasn't such a long shot that you could get into your 70s.

 

[hollow49]

But you wouldn't look as young as we do today. Yes, you'd live to 70 - but you'd look middleaged by 30, which was my point. Maybe 35 in a luxurious and sedentary lifestyle like a wizard.

 

[Baron Von Ed]

I always assumed people died younger because the standard of medical care was non-existant and hence things we see as inconvenient would be life threatening on Magnamund, so 70 year olds would be fairly rare.

Even today there are countries where the Life expectancy isn't much above 50.

 

[columbob]

I always assumed people died younger because the standard of medical care was non-existant and hence things we see as inconvenient would be life threatening on Magnamund, so 70 year olds would be fairly rare.

Even today there are countries where the Life expectancy isn't much above 50.

In Afghanistan it's in the 30's IIRC.

 

[Kojiro]

Afghanistan doesn't count because they had a crappy government that outlawed all modern conveniences. The Taliban wanted to live back in the Dark Ages in a modern world.

 

[Baron Von Ed]

Well Magnamund is set in a medievel world so comparing life expectancies with the poorer countries in the world probably isn't too far off.

Now I think about it, doesn't the Core book tell you how long everyone lives? (If someone has already said that then sorry for not paying attention).

 

[Anonymous]

I think part of the life expectancy is reduced by infant mortality.

Once the kids get past a certain age, though there be disease and the like, conditions actually are LESS crowded generally than they are today.

And in 5000, the wars that would tear apart Magnamund were not yet at full tilt.

 

[ander]

Storm Hawk would be one that I could think of, Gwynian the Sage another.

My players met Gwynian, only he is called "Gwynian the Young" back in 5000 MS.

 

[Anonymous]

Don't forget that time moves differently on the Dazian plane. The players could meet ALL the criminals of Sommerlund from Prisoners Of Time.

 

[KirinDave]

Why is everyone so concerned about keeping continuity with the Lone Wolf books? Not only is that 50 years of gametime into the future, but it's rather restricting. It's no fun bringing in younger versions of characters for cameos if you know they're immortal because they're required for another plot.

If your game really reaches 5050, then just run with it. Dever's work is great, but it shouldn't utterly define and limit your work.

So, kill a Darklord, whip out the Sommerswerd on occasion, have Vonotar fall off a bridge and die. Not only will you have fun doing it, but you'll turn your players paranoid. Nothing is sacred.

 

[Wise Eagle]

I don't think you will have a real problem with the PCs. After 50 years of adventuring they are ready for retirement in MS 5050.

The PCs should have no way of getting to helgedad and surviving there, unless you furnish them with loads of special items to make it possible for them to survive. If you do this, then you're probably way to generous as a DM.

As for people who existed in MS 5050.

Most dwarves in the books would have existed at that time too. Most of them are in LW 26, but you have the dwarves on the skyrider earlier, and some more dwarves in LW 8.

Remember that many of the leaders are not humans at all. The leader of Kloons might live very long, and so can the leader of the Giants. You'll probably find perhaps a third of the leaders in the countries to have a life span which is very much longer than 50 years.

Cener Druids have long lives. Cadak was for instance very very old and was probably an immortal. Other very high ranking druids could be too.

Autarch Sejanoz could also be used if you are heading in that direction.

Queen Evaine was mentioned. If you are to believe Legends #12 she was actually Alyss in disguise, and she and Varnos alternated on the throne. Marrying each other, sent out information about children being born abroad, then died and had the "child" replace them.

There is no known connection between the Elder Magi and the Shianti.

The Elder Magi was sent forth by Ishir to counter Agarash the Damned, and this was milennia before the Shianti appeared on Magnamund. When the Shianti arrived the great plague had already decimated the Elder Magi.

We are told that the Shianti spread and took leadership in many places in Manamund, and they stayed on Magnamund almost 5 millenia (between roughly 1600 MS and MS 3000) before they exiled themselves to the Isle of Lorn.

During the Golden Age I think it's almost inevitable that the Elder Magi met the Shianti and learnt much of their magic from them, and this knowledge was probably going both ways, which explains the commonality between them. They might have tutored the Shianti in magic, just the same way as they tutored Sun Eagle and Lone Wolf later on, helping them to grasp the wisdom locked into the Lorestones of Nyxator.

As for common origin and blood, I guess it is possible but their introduction does not give any evidence towards this. The Elder magi is sent by Ishir as a race of Good. While the Shianti are neutral and was wandering the planes.

The Shianti being creatures of Light I'm not too sure of. Remember Shasarak, and the Ancients in Kalte didn't appear overly good either. However, after their exile to Isle of Lorn, we would probably have to assume that the ones who exiled themselves were good since the bargain implied making a deal with Ishir.

 

[Ikar-tas-Kai]

I'm trying to think of a reference to Vonotar's age in the gamebooks...I just remember he was described as being 'hunchbacked', but no references come to mind concerning his age.

The hunchback is a consequence of his dark pact. Before that, it looked normal. I can’t remember my source.

 

[Ikar-tas-Kai]

I always assumed people died younger because the standard of medical care was non-existant and hence things we see as inconvenient would be life threatening on Magnamund, so 70 year olds would be fairly rare.

Even today there are countries where the Life expectancy isn't much above 50.

Just for clarification.

Fact: human lifespan (how long a human can live under ideal conditions) only marginally increased during History. What did increased is life expectancy (how long a human can live under real-life conditions).