Re: Tunnels

From: Stuart Cogger <stuartcogger_at_...>
Date: Fri, 13 Mar 2009 18:29:39 -0000


 > > I prefer a network of tunnels below the city that lead to the Troll Woods
> > and a short journey through the Underworld to get to other tunnels.
>
> That does sounds better. I seem to remember the geologists on our team had already ensured we were on the right sort of rock for tunnels, underground rivers, and so on.
>
> > I like the idea of Kitori guides who could make the journey possible.
> > Maybe with a Dune-Guild of Navigators-like ability to 'fold darkness'.
> > Whatever way, something a bit less physical than a tunnel.
>
> Ooh... this sounds like fun! What other effects would an ability like that have on the Kitori, though? If they can do it for purposes of WW, they can do it all the time, for purposes more important to them.
>

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)

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.

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, 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. 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.

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.

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 because of the persecution meted out upon the Kitori post-Kingdom of Night by the Light-Worshippers and groups like the Night Jumpers. They do not wish to appear as powerful as they are, or rather they don't wish people to remember how powerful they were. They are biding their time, like Mr Burns.

This also ties into an idea I read somewhere about the Sun Dome County Spartans (sorry, Yelmalians) using Kitori Helots (sorry, Slaves).

In game terms it gives me a rationale for getting the characters into/out of Whitewall during the siege but in such a way as to feature something unique to the location that will hopefully make players wonder more about the Kitori and the history of the area and to become aware of just how unusual the political set up is at Whitewall.

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.

Ramble over...

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