Encyclopedia of Science and History
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

KAGAN, DONALD (9990- ) is the current executive director of the Northern Expanse Trading Company. He joined the company at the age of eighteen as a scribe, working on the important mining route through Pieschland. He worked his way up through the ranks, becoming ever more involved in accounting and devising methods of lowering the costs of transportation. At the age of twenty-eight he was placed in charge of security on the northern caravan routes and at thirty he was promoted to the Directorship of Northern Operations. This ascent was completed ten years later with his installation as executive director upon the retirement of Pechman Techau. Kagan supervises long-term projects requiring extensive development, research, or planning before profits can be made. One of his most visible schemes is the creation of quickly growing forests over substantial tracts of the Dukedom of Falwell. He is also deeply involved in th e exploration of the natural resources of the glacier and the ocean. He is an avowed proponent of competition, capitalism, religious toleration, free trade, libertarianism, and democracy. Nevertheless, he is also known as a philanthropist, contributing greatly to charities throughout the northern Confederacy, but particularly in his hometown of Malmo, including the founding of a care center for disabled elderly persons and the establishment of an engineering scholarship fund. Mr. Kagan has also expressed an interest in the preservation of historic sites found on property of the Nothern Expanse Trading Company and has given of his own fortune to maintain pagan religious sites (against the urgings of Neorome) discovered in the northwest of Trangle Island. He is unmarried.

KANT (9899-9970) was an dwarvish philosopher, remembered primarily for his moral and aesthetic writing. He spent a substantial fraction of the first half of his life involved in the natural sciences. It was only after perceiving a lack of direction in the sciences that he focused his attentions on philosophy, hoping to discern a clearer process and purpose of empirical investigation and theoretical formulation. His thoughts on science are still studied but are not as esteemed as his tracts on ethics which he produced "as a diversion" while contemplating the existence of valid reasons to desire life and value the search for knowledge. His concept of the Categorical Imperative remains one of the great ideas of modern philosophy. Kant died in 9970 of pneumonia leaving no descendants.

KANTLING (Kantle Finley) diacriticals for rhythmic memorization of spells.

KARMA is a complex theological concept relating to the divine reward of mortals for their thoughts, words, and deeds. It became part of the common parlance from the argot of the classical theater in which it described the actual period in which an actor was under the protection of a god or goddess. Symbolically, the quiet ringing of a silver bell indicated the end of such a period, often the result of subtle or even unconscious alterations in the character's behavior. As drama progressed in sophistication, a distinct branch, Karmatic Drama, developed which revolved around the distinct ways in which a mortal might lose the favor of a deity even while trying to maintain it. An increasingly popular theme was the arbitrary or despotic way in which gods might choose to allocate their favor. The term was reintroduced in the dramatic history The Birth of Tragedy (9930) by Aleksandr Nemirovich, which owing to its eventual popularity, passed into common phrases such as "running out of karma" when an otherwise lucky streak comes to an end or a surprising, deleterious event occurs.

KDP EAST and KDP WEST see Kissing Dragon Pass

KENDO (Sud.) is a style of fencing with a single two-handed sword, based on ancient combat traditions. The practice of kendo for training and discipline dates to the 6400s when the Sudibin Empire was nearing its height; opportunities for combat decreased and it became necessary for soldiers to fight their barracks-mates for practice. It was at this time that the shinai (bamboo practice sword) was developed and the formal rules for kendo were written down. Kendo is also known as kenjitsu.

KENDRON (adj. -ONIC, plural, -EN) is an old word for a dwarf. It has come to denote dwarvish civilization at its cultural and military zenith, about 9200.

KENDRONIC LEAGUE is a secret brotherhood among the dwarvish population. It is dedicated to the creation of a new dwarvish state based on the restoration of traditional lines of religious and military authority and returning to the old values of worship, war and wisdom. The League is most popular among the elites of the dwarvish populations--generals, priests, statesmen, and writers. It is less influential among the poor laborers and merchants, given the low standing in which commercial activities were traditionally held by the dwarvish races.

The League has adopted the odd method of making public announcements by depositing boldly illuminated documents in sealed tubes in traditional earthenware pots near the graves of once prominent dwarvish citizens. This frequently occurs on the eve of cultural holidays and often leads to an expectation among the population that can overshadow the celebration itself.

The League has shown itself to be squarely against the integration of dwarvish society with any other and opposes the enrollment of dwarvish students in Confederate universities, the employment of dwarvish workers for foreign companies, and foreign investment on dwarvish land. It decries interest in money, and business in particular, as unmanly as shopping has always been the work of females, and holds the arts (lapidary, glyptic, statuary, architecture, and smithing), soldiering, and worship to be the sole calling of men. It has never ceased to call for the redress of past grievances and the reconquest of the Sprinal ranges long-occupied by gnomes.

It is thought that the Kendronic League played a major role in assisting Anthraco's attempt to gain a foothold on Ilico through its establishment of Minetown (Bergbauhof). The league is deeply involved in charity and believes strongly that the personal accumulation of riches is morally wrong; it is the personal accumulation of honor that is to be sought. In its view, dwarves should be honor bound to feed and clothe each other in any circumstance.

Since the First War of Ilican Succession in which the dwarvish military might appeared feeble in its attacks on the Sprinal gnomes and on Confederate provinces, the stature of the League has been noticeably on the ascent. The Universities of Hematite and Galena have come under considerable pressure to dampen their traditional opposition to the League in favor of a more cosmopolitan role for Allotrope in Eow.

League members are forbidden to admit membership, but it is an open secret that the League is symbolized by silver, coiled dragon with one amethyst and one topaz for eyes. The origin of this particular symbol is unknown, though dragons, with their stoic, lonely existence, have always posed a particularly potent symbol in dwarvish mythology.

KENDREN, MEDAL OF. The Medal of the Kendren is awarded each year by the Archons of Allotrope to a dwarf who has contributed significantly to the "restoration of dwarvish pride and power." The concept is tained with inferiority of other races, making the annual presentation of the medal an affair that is difficult for international relations. The occasion often frequently coincides with far Right riots in dwarvish cities demanding a return to the ancient religions, languages and ideas. The medal was created, it is thought, to be a political sop to the rightist dwarvish politicians during the early liberal days of the century. Since the Second War of Ilican Succession and the ascent of reactionary politics, the award has become a focus of descrying liberals and patriotic rightists. It recent years it has gone to prominent dwarvish merchants who have supported popularly rightist causes and politicians; this has cheapened the award in the eyes of some who consider themselves to be true Kendren from a time when politics and business took a back seat to the wealth of worship, war and wisdom.

KENSETT, JONATHAN see PERICLES I.

KERBIC MUSHROOM is a beautiful, rose- or lavender-colored mushroom found in the Kerpis area of Vyrica, a region extending about 100 miles northeast of Mount Molill. The plaintive name was given to them about the time of the discovery of the region's archaeological sites and does not reflect the chilling folk tales of the orcish people who believe that the mushrooms contain the souls of those children born into the world dead.

KERBIC OWLS are medium-sized, brownish owls found primarily in the Kerpis region of Vyrica. They figured prominently in koboldon religions where they symbolized wisdom and moral rectitude. The great oracle, alternately truth itself, is always iconifed as a Kerbic owl in Koboldon statuary and engraving. In contrast, the owl is hunted as a delicacy by the modern orcish inhabitants of the region, though they had been historically kept as pets for their role in exterminating mice, voles, and shrews.

KERPIS or KERAPIS was an important metallurgical center of the Second Orcish Empire. It lay 35 miles northeast of Mount Molill, nestled in the hills of the western forests of Vyrica. The Kerpian Road connected it to the port of Ostia on the coast. Much of what is known about the metallic sciences of the Second Orcish Empire comes from studies conducted in the remaining ruins in the early 9900s. It appears that the ore veins of the Vyrican range were exhausted by about 7650, after which the city and its smelters withered away. The remaining bricks and stones were removed piece to piece as the years passed as nearby villages needed them. The center gave its name to (or took its name from) that area of Vyrica. The name is now given to a small orcish village about 20 miles north of the original site. "Blades of Kerapis," particularly cinctoria, were particularly prized by contemporaries and surviving examples bear out their admiration.

KESTER VINE is a deep-blue commensalistic vine that grows in the tropical Vyrican forests. It can be used as strong rope, though the plants rarely grow to lengths of more than 20 feet.

KEVO BAY is a natural harbor lying just east of the city of Jarvenpaa on the island of Syllabus. It is the center of shipbuilding and maritime commerce for the Drow nation and includes the small island of Kevo on which foreign merchants are allowed to land in order to have truck with the Drow. It is widely believed among the superstitious Drow that childen conceived and bathed in the water of the bay are possessed of great will power and self-control, attributes highly prized by the stoic and martial Drow.

KEVO ISLAND is a small island in Kevo Bay. It is approximately circular and about one mile in diameter. It is the only part of the Drow realm on which foreigners are allowed to set foot and, from time to time, even that is denied, so superstitious and paranoid is that nation. Kevo is the site of a great deal of economic intercourse even though cargo ships are suffered to remain only so long as is necessary to unload and reload their holds. Most of this landsmen work is performed by orcish slaves captured by Drow raiders from villages on the mainland of Vyrica. The island is home to the minor shrine of Louhi, sacred to the merchants and goldsmiths of Syllabus.

KISSING DRAGON PASS is a brace of artificial canals constructed through the isthmi between Ilico and Vyrica. Such an engineering project had been considered since the Second Orcish Empire by various visionaries and was actually attempted at least twice--with insignificant results--in recorded history. The actual construction of the pass was intimately and intricately tied the political intrigue surrounding the birth of the Republic. In 9985 a special engineering commission reported that the construction of an open sea canal was made impossible by the difference in oceanic water levels and that a locked canal was technologically infeasible. Shortly after the political unrest of the Odite province engendered the revolt which formed the Republic, a massive construction programme was begun.

To everyone's surprise, the canals were completed--though not without awesome expense and loss of life--in 9996. The primary source of the latter was orcish tribesmen recruited from Vyrica, while the source of the former remains largely unknown. An even more surprising result was the comparative complacency with which the Confederacy faced the secession of its province, a weakness which presaged its disintegration at the beginning of the Second War of Ilican Succession 25 years later. By the time the various provinces had agreed to concerted military action in late 9988, the Republic had strengthened its northern border sufficiently to repel the half-hearted invasion. By the time it was realized that the canal was actually going to be completed, an invasion was politically impossible, given the unwillingness of the various nations to agree that such a resource should be controlled by the Confederacy. Mickelgarth and other city-states of Pavimentum as well as Allotrope, Syllabus, Carthage, and Slavale offered defensive help to maintain a canal controlled by a relatively neutral, minor power.

The completed Pass greatly expanded Lake Balkhash though the flooding of the surrounding farmland--now known as "Kissing Dragon Lake"--and further alienated the Republic's orcish neighbors on the south. In fact, the manner in which the canal was built was one of the reasons cited for the rapacity of the orcish warriors in the subsequent war. The canal's greatest impact was, naturally, economic and fostered the rapid growth of the strongholds-turned-cities of Kissing Dragon Pass East and West which had previously served as the endpoints of a road used for overland transfer of cargo from one ocean to the other.

With the exception of the Second War of Ilican Succession and the War of the Egyebrech, the Republic has maintained the open nature of the Pass to all nations and their organizations. The Pass was overrun by tribal orcish forces during the Second War of Ilican Succession and remained closed until its recapture in 10013. In the War of the Egyebrech, the Pass was closed to gnomish and drow shipping upon their alliance with the invading Egyebrech. The Pass was briefly controlled by the enemy Navy, but was eventually reconquered and returned to the Republic in 10040.

The Republic imposes a 1% tax on the value of merchandise passing through the Lake in addition to the standard harbor fees for the East and West ports for goods loaded or unloaded there. This is the primary income source of the Republic.

KISSING DRAGON LAKE see KISSING DRAGON PASS

KNOTWEED is a bluish-green grass that grows into simple knots with itself. It is the material component of the hold person spell and can be found all over Pavimentum, Ilum Alpha, and Yarmouth.

KOBOLDS are close relatives of goblins, and through them, gnomes. They are somewhat shorter, 4'0" to 4'5" and tend to be more group-oriented than their fellow race-members. The historical Kobold Kingdom of the 5000's stretched across Gailinia, Vyrica, and into the present-day Republic. Kobolds never again regained the strength, respect, or population of the days of their kingdom. The correct adjective when referring to kobolds or their works is koboldan.

KOHN, ORSHEY (9980- ) was the mayor of the dwarvish city of Galena. He's a 17-year veteran of the dwarvish army and ruled the city as a fortress. During one speech in 10012 he dared the "Sprinal nocks" to "get their heads out of their own trilk" and "come fight for a city worth taking," an obvious reference to the gnome's inability to conquer Parapanisades after a whole year of seige tactics. Orshey resigned in 10028 "to pursue other interests," leaving management of the city to his successor, Tygon Hunter.

KOMORI dynasty was the Imperial House of the Sudibin from 9238 until 9588.

KRIDSADA (c. 7205-7267) was a lyceum orc spell engineer who devoted his life to developing spells that would foster peace and compromise between the warring races. His legacy of spells have been used for purpose he intended, and also those he would be horrified with. His friendship and partnership with Pattanadid produced the most effective treatist on Bioneuromancy known today, The First Volume of the Mind in Magic.

KRIDSADAN GOURD (Kridsada, orcish spell engineer) A violet gourd found primarily in the coniferous Bending Branch forest, it functions as the material component of Cure Insanity. Simply eating this vegatable can often cause disturbed or frantic people to regain some modicum of sanity and clearheadedness. It does, however, have a sour taste and is likely to act as an emetic and eliminate hunger for up to 36 hours following consumption.

KROLL, RANDAL see Titanium