My apologies; I tried to be good and avoid the current "KoW: a 6 or not?" thread, but I find I can't resist throwing out a few (hopefully quick) comments.
First off, Nick Brooke threw out as an aside:
>.. they might just have gunpowder IMHO...
IIRC, there was considerable speculation that the KoW might in fact be supplied in some fashion by the Nidan dwarves (the idea being that the dwarves might view the KoW as serving some mysterious purpose in repairing the World Machine). Even if that were not the case, I think it would be possible to speculate that the KoW operates a bit like the God Learners did, as somewhat wrong-headed hero(?)questers -- that they scour the various realms of reality in search of anything which seems to belong within the sphere of war, and steal/imitate the things that they find.
Possible "secret" event: circa 1619 or thereabouts, the Dwarf of Dwarf Run is overcome during a rest period in the Sacred Time by mysterious figures (KoW War Lords of Humakt Strategos on a heroquest) who bind him and copy from his mind (or somehow force him to divulge) his Secret Knowledge of Cannon-making? Possible scenario: Dragon Pass adventurers are commisioned by the Dwarf to find out who bushwhacked him all those years ago (his own investigations have come up empty), leading them to Fronela and the KoW (with the Lunar Empire and/or Ralzakark as red herrings)?
William (WKnow92814) noted:
> I certainly disagree with KoW being a 6 because
>I regard excellent officers and NCOs as the difference between 3 "quite
good"
>and 4 "top notch". Thus in terms of equipment Kow is a 3, a plethora of
>useful combat magics and fanaticism takes it to 4, and leadership kicks it
up
>to 5. Actually, you have to wonder a bit about the equipment level of a
>nation that Taps it's economic base, and the notion that a kingdom packed
>with Urox and ZZ berserks, grim fearless Humakti fanatics, and vengeful
>Babeester Gor devotees has the most subtle and sophisticated leaders is
>amusing (not necessarily wrong, but funny unless you live in Fronela).
I think Nils' comment, that "they [the KoW] _are_ magical in themselves. The army of KoW is the magical manifestation of the concept of the total war. Think mythical, not practical," was entirely on the money (no War Machine talk, I promise; the KoW is just the KoW at the moment).
Unlike either Iron Dwarves or the Horali, who for all their expertise (and limits, as other posters have ably commented on) are essentially just the (minor) fighting arms of cultures concerned with much broader issues, the army of the KoW is the product of a culture which is organized in its entirety (albeit against what's left of its will) to produce and support the War Effort. The serfs of the KoW do nothing but provide food for the Ravening Maw and the breeding stock for future generations of KoW warriors; they are not "distracted" by profit motive, social standing, or ideological concerns (only the occasional spare thought about how nice freedom might be, if they remember the concept at all). The KoW's smiths and armorers, if they are not able to produce the equivalent of Loskalmi plate (IIRC the "best in the world"), are almost certainly able to produce _more_ arms and equipment, leading to a more uniform level of equipment quality, and have few other demands on their time. The Black Forest and its mountains have almost undoubtedly been strip-mined into vitual nonexistence, IMO, to provide wood for wagons and forts, metal for armor, and stone for fortifications.
Magically, IMO, the "divine" spells available to the KoW would be of considerable number and variety (in addition to having access to virtually every single spirit magic spell in da roolz, though I think they would refer to them as "battle magics" a la RQ2). After the "hoary old chestnut" of the KoW thread was over I had worked for a bit on the idea that the KoW would organize its cult into a single "pantheistic" cult, the cult of the Hundred Gods of War (doesn't really matter whether there are 100 of them or not, really), made up of a myriad of subcults. The subcults represented in each regiment's temple would vary, giving each regiment access to differing groupings of divine spells depending on their fighting style and philosophy. There would also be "headquarters" sects, answering to LDoaH, connecting key subcults in each regiment (e.g., headquarter temples for the Marcher God Quartermasters, the scouts of the Eyes and Ears of War, the Carrion Eater Guardians of the War Dead, the War Sages of Humakt Strategos, etc.) and coordinating their efforts.
I'm not entirely sure that the cults of Humakt, ZZ, Babs Gor, etc., would actually exist in the KoW in "recognizable" forms (or if the Uroxi show up at all, come to think of it). In the Hundred Gods of War cult form, I wound up speculating that major Gloranthan war gods would actually exist as lots of minor subcults rather than single entities; thus, rather than there being a single Humakt cult with access to all Humakti divine spells, there would actually be a series of Humakt subcults, e.g. Humakt the Sword (Truesword, Strongblade), Humakt Deathbringer (Sever Spirit), Humakt of the Company (Morale, Oath), Zorak Humakt (Berserk, Fear), etc. A regimental temple might have shrines to all or none of the different "Humakt" subcults, depending on the regiment's fighting philosophy and magical needs.
Gogorma, Maran Gor, Zorak Zoran, Babeester Gor, and a lot of other warlike gods wound up getting similar treatment. Breaking down their cults (and adapting some non-war cults) seemed to make sense, in that it seemed to help explain the whole "hundred gods of war" notion (I found it more interesting this way than simply saying that the 100 gods thing was sheer propaganda) and its modular nature allowed for considerable potential variety between individual regiments. OTOH, it got really, really complicated -- when I gave up, I was busy assigning 60+ divine spells to a variety of subcults, including variations on spells like Detection Blank and Reconstruction (for scouts), Tambour (the Drums of War), Create Foe-Curser, a Trophy Ritual based on the Bloody Tusk's Death Binding Enchantment, and summon/command spells for over 20 types of spirit entities, including Plague; the possibilities were myriad. Whether or not anyone likes the idea of a single Hundred Gods of War cult with internal subcults, I mentioned this stuff in the hopes that it might give an idea of the magical potential that the KoW might possess in comparison to sorcery-based armies.
Just a few thoughts. Later,
Mark
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