> Recently I've been running the Sorcerer adventure in STRANGERS IN PRAX. I had
> things running well when they asked the sorcerer's apprentice to describe how
> they came to arrive in Pavis.
> "Wella, we were-a inna da city of Malkonwal, famous holy city, yes. We go there
> onna da pilgrimage, yes."
> And at this point one of the player's asks if they know where that is. Make a
> World Lore roll. Made a special. Hmm he should at least know the general area
> So I reach for the Genertela book and the map that goes with it...
> Could I find the holy city of Malkonwal? Could I buggery? Anyone know which map
> it's on? Which countries it lies near? Help!
Well, neither do I know where the Holy _City_ of Malkonwal is to be found in the Third Age, nor did I consciously register the mention of Order of the Knights of Malkonwal (both on p.63 in SiP) before, but the rest of the answer seems to fall, at least partly, into my speciality: Heortland.
The Holy City of Malkonwal is mentioned in Nick Brooke's "History of Malkionism" (University of Sog City Conference Guide, p.28f):
: Exiled from Brithos, he crossed the Raging Sea to the land of Seshneg. : He founded the city of Malkonwal, which became his holy city. Although, : as in the old days, the residents could not see their God, his Prophet : was ever-present and taught them how best to dwell and how to turn : weakness into strength. The land became known as Malkion's Kingdom, and : was an island free of battle during the Gods War.
The city is not on the map of Third Age Seshnela, but the map of 2nd Age Seshnela shows a location simply marked as "Temple" in the centre of the Seshnelan peninsula, on a position now in the gulf between Kanthor's Islands and the Pasos Islands. This Temple could be the remnants of Malkion's city, or it could be the ancient temple of Seshna Likita, Goddess of the land. (Could be both, too - 1st Age Seshnela certainly had a somewhat henotheist religion).
: Seshneg was the kingdom founded by the exiles who followed Malkion's : New Laws. It was divided into many small city-realms; at the Dawn, : the foremost among these was Frowal, the City of Golden Gates. These : remained in contact with the Creator and regressed to a more primitive : state.
No mention of Malkonwal here, or later on.
However, in 1617 Sir Richard the Tigerhearted, a mercenary knight from Seshnela, seized the orphaned throne of Heortland, and after pacifying native protests proclaimed his realm to be the reborn Kingdom of Malkonwal, basing this claim on a couple of ancient prophesies and obscure traditions within the native Malkioni sect (IMO, and supported by HtWW1, the Aeolian Church of Heortland, but as long as this remains un- or semi-official, a sect claiming to have been founded by Arkat the Liberator at the end of the First Age). He installed a Rokari bishop as head of his state church, forcibly including the native Malkioni.
I dont think that Richard renamed any city of Heortland into Malkonwal, but I can imagine that he collected ancient relics from the native Malkioni faith and put up shrines to them in his capital, Durengard (IMO). In distant Noloswal, news of this could have been distorted enough that Arlaten wanted to visit the City of Malkonwal and its holy shrines.
I don't know when, why or whether he created the order of knights mentioned in SiP, but I think that Arlaten's running afoul of them had to do both with his somewhat unorthodox approach to wizardry and the fact that he came from Nolos, a land against which Sir Richard and many of his veterans had fought earlier in the service of King Guilmarn the Fat.
Anyway, the fact that the first ship out was heading for Corflu indicates that the author meant Heortland - everywhere else ships would stop at more civilised ports, like Handra, Seapolis, or Nochet.
Mike [Dawson], which port did Arlaten use - Lunar occupied Karse, Hendriki (or rather Malkonwal) Vizel or Leskos, or independent and corrupt Refuge? I might want to have my players meet him in 1620, on the eve of the Lunar invasion of "Malkonwal", or shortly afterwards (see below).
What did Arlaten do all the time between the fall of Malkonwal in 1620? The Lunar invasion occurred most likely during the harvest, in the middle of Earth Season, when the standing army of the Lunar Empire had to deal only with local militia and the nobility of Sir Richard's feudal army, the rest refusing the call to weapons which would ruin their harvest. Fazzur is a master of strategy, and certainly chose the weakest moment of his enemy to strike.
Or is this Order of the Knights of Malkonwal one of the few remnants of Sir Richard's rule, sanctioned by the Lunars to make control of the former invaders easier, and formed by the survivors of Richard's company to unite them against vengeful former subjets? In this case, what did Arlaten do to insult them? Accuse them of cowardice, or of demon worship of the Lunarized Creator (in a compromise solution to bring the remaining Rokari under the spiritual control of the Goddess without offending their religious principles over much)? In this case Arlaten may well have arrived after the Lunar conquest of Heortland, and spent only as little time in Corflu as absolutely necessary.
> On another (and perhaps slightly rules-mechanical point) some players in another
> game were wondering why anyone, anywhere chooses to base his culture on sorcery
> If a peasant who has learnt a little sorcery meets with a barbarian who has
> learnt a little Spirit Magic, what happens?
> The civilised peasant has say three spells with a chance of working of less than
> 25%. The barbarian has say three spells with a chance of working of 55% (with
> average POW).
The civilised peasant has maybe three spells, one of these maybe of use in his militia duty. Likewise the barbarian has maybe one or two points in offensive spells (Bladesharp, Disruption), as many in Heal, and yet as many in one of his cult's spells. The barbarian is limited in his choice of cheap spirit spells by his cult (and the associate cults' spirit magic in his neighbourhood, which usually is very restricted), so the barbarian in my example above would have been quite fortunate in the spells available to him.
> So the chances are that the peasant faces the enhanced barbarian with no magical
> aid. The barbarian has Bladesharp up and can very likely heal himself during
> combat. (The peasant can't even do this at all: you need Duration to make Treat
> Wounds work.)
Not in the version before the Errata: each point of Intensity automatically created a Duration of one hour. Anyway, a Rokari would cast his Neutralize Damage spell, which is both instant and has a fair chance to heal a wound of several HP for one or two MP, if the caster wants to gamble or is low on MP, or Intensity skill.
> AND the civilised peasant has no Intensity so he can't do anything worse than
> 1 point of damage with his Venom spell. The barbarian's Disrupt does 1d3 for
> the same cost with much greater reliability.
First off, a civilised peasant won't know venom unless in charge of clearing vermin (from a mill, a storehouse, the gutters etc), and even then the society would be better off with a professional wizard casting a Protective Circle. While Sandy explained a couple of spirit magic uses for peasant in his "Folk Magic" in Tales 6, we still have no such list for sorcery - people on the RQ-rules list are and have been working on that, though.
Second, only the New Hrestoli peasants of Loskalm and Junora are prohibited to learn Intensity - all other sects don't have this restriction. Loskalm and Junora are protected from barbarians by rabid sorcerer-knights, and can afford this rule which originated in the protection of the Ban (according to HtWW1 - Nick, how about the "true" history behind Loskalmi New Hrestoli church, not the one which Gaiseron tells now {"my father was born a peasant, and so was I"}?).
While under RQ3 the use of Intensity reduces the chance of success to the skill in the lower of Intensity and the spell, a 5 point Damage Boosting is a fair match to a Bladesharp 2, in the average.
Having the support of a member of the wizard caste, say in the form of a long duration spell on an item, helps a lot.
> So how do sorcerous cultures survive?
By changing the admittedly somewhat broken sorcery rules in either a set of house rules or an upcoming revision of RQ to the effect that a beginning character's chance to cast his one or two favourite spells at about 30-45% plus magic bonus, making him a match to the barbarian possessing maybe three or four points of magic.
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