> It depends upon interpretations of the Kitori. I have certain ideas that I probably won't need
> to develop for a few game years yet, but (this all comes with an 'over simplified and not fully developed'
> health warning, by the way)for us the Kitori will be the warriors of Darkness
> (not ninjas! More like Darkness versions of the Sun Dome Templars)
ooh!
> I have long felt that the warrior nature of Argan Argar has been woefully unrepresented,
> and that the travesty of the Son of Night being referred to as a 'Troll Merchant God' is missing
> a huge and terrifying aspect that would have been all too apparent in the Second Age;
> Argan Argar defeated and chained Lodril and is synonymous with the spear, etc.
Good point. A lot of apparently harmless troll deities are underestimated until you take a closer look at them. I had a great deal of fun in the last Kallyr story to be published: the really terrifying major troll foe wasn't the ZZ warleader (the word "splat" comes to mind"), but his sister, the XU healer.
I don't know all that much about the Kitori. I know Broyan's mother is from that tribe, and that's about it. Oh, and they killed him, just before the Dragonrise: "In Kethaela, King Broyan marched north with a small volunteer army. Among the Kitori, a little bright light was snuffed out, and a demon which had many sharp mouths was let out of its skin. It sought vengeance, and fell upon the army of King Broyan while they slept. The king could not keep it away, because he had betrayed the City of Wonders, and he was killed there, with his army."
> Back in the time of the Kingdom of Night it was the Kitori who extracted the Shadow Tribute and enforced
> the will of the Only Old One. Since then they have more or less fallen into legend,
OK - they were tough.
> and the 'Kitori' tribe are not true Kitori, as such, they are troll-friendly humans who have adopted the name because
> it is presumably in common usage in Heortland when referring to trollfriends/darkness worshipping humans.
Ah. A bit like the "vampires" who show up at cons and night clubs wearing fake fangs and bad makeup?
> However, among their number are individuals of pure descent from true Kitori, occupying (indeed emulating)
> a cultural position similar to Mistress Race Trolls, I suppose.
ooh, scary!
> I always read 'Kitori' in much the same way as I read 'Krjalki' - a general reference to scary monsters of the dark,
> birthed by legends of them coming out of the night to extract the Shadow Tribute or to punish enemies of the Kingdom of Night.
That does make a great deal of sense, and helps us deal with any conflict in their description. Some references will be to the original, some to the modern tribe, some this more generic meaning.
> Anyway, certain powers of darkness that were perhaps rare for even the Kingdom of Night have been guarded by
> a tiny few for the time of most need. The keepers of these secrets are loathe to use them ....
Yes! Again, perfect scenario material, with low interference with other plots and strategies coming built-in.
> This also ties into an idea I read somewhere about the Sun Dome County Spartans (sorry, Yelmalians) using Kitori Helots (sorry, Slaves).
Never heard of it, but I like it.
> So, to have the characters meet with Kitori Shadow-Navigators who lead them into secret tunnels beneath Whitewall
> by taking them through the Underworld using ancient rituals originated in the Kingdom of Night seems a suitably evocative
> image to me. I also see an opportunity for unashamed historical exposition in this meeting.
Far more atmosphere than a dusty tunnel, that's for sure.
Powered by hypermail