Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Edena_of_Neith" data-source="post: 454187" data-attributes="member: 2020">(looks at the above article)  Some interesting points, Fenes 2.  And yet, there the kender are, on Ansalon.  Anyone playing in the Dragonlance Setting, is going to have to deal with them.    Nearly all of Ansalon has a sizeable number of (normal) kender present.  Even the famous Knights of Takhisis could not remove the kender population, even from the lands under their direct control.  There are kender in Sancrist, Mount Nevermind, Northern Ergoth, Hylo (afflicted kender), Hinterlund, Coastlund, Heartlund, Southlund, Lemish, Throt, Kalaman, Sanction, Estwilde, Taman Bursak, Kern, Khur, Nordmaar, Abanasinia, Tarsis, New Coast, the Plains of Dust, and Mount Nevermind.  Qualinesti and Silvanesti kept out the kender, but then these two nations kept out everyone, period.  Thorbardin, Thoradin, and Kaolyn were able to keep out the kender because these dwarven nations were entirely underground.  A fair number of kender visit Nightlund, Neraka, Balifor, New Swamp, Bloten, Icewall, and their old homeland of Goodlund each year.  Some even survive the trip, and return to tell the tale of these places.  The kender of Kendermore were assaulted by the most powerful dragon to have existed in the entire history of the world of Krynn.  Malys, the Red Marauder, at over 400 feet long, was to a regular Great Wyrm what such a being is to a Young Dragon.  Riverwind and his children (who had no vested interest at all in helping kender, but who went and fought anyways) stood with the kender against an attack which the entire continent of Ansalon - even if united - could not have withstood.  Riverwind and his daughter were killed, fighting to protect Goodlund, fighting to protect the kender.  It was in vain.  Kendermore, the capital, was utterly destroyed.  Goodlund was razed, then changed with magic from a lush subtropical land into a ruined, superheated badland.  Fully half of the kender population was killed.  Those that survived, fled west, into the always hostile lands of Ansalon.  Thence, they made their way through Balifor (which then was also destroyed by Malys), then savage Khur, then over the Khalkist Mountains (through such neat places as the homes of draconians and dark dwarves, ogres and titans, the Knights of Takhisis and evil dragons), throught Throt (with it's goblins) and through Nightlund (with it's undead and Lord Soth the Death Knight), then on through Solamnia (occupied by the evil Knights of Takhisis) to the coast.    Somehow, they made their way over the sea to Hylo, in eastern Ergoth, where their brethren still lived.  The survivors of this trip became known as the Afflicted Kender, for their attitude changed from that of children, to that of (severely) abused children.    They seized power in Hylo, to the outrage of the normal kender there, and they watch over their normal brethren with cautious sadness.  Even in the grim world of Dragonlance, however, the afflicted kender are the exception, and normal kender are still to be found pretty much everywhere.  Considering that few places in Ansalon are safe for even heavily prepared and armed adventurers, that is no mean feat.  - - -  A number of people have spoken of removal of the kender to detainment, or exclusion of the kender from society, or even extermination of the kender altogether.  This kind of thing has been tried repeatedly throughout Ansalon's history, but it has never worked.  Kender are very tough.  They laugh and are merry in the face of adversary and misery.  They can withstand psychological stress that would bring down an experienced soldier.  They are relentless, undaunted by repeated rejection and/or failure, striving to accomplish their goals until said goals are accomplished (such as getting into a heavily guarded city where kender are not allowed.)  Kender are natural survivors.  Most thief-type characters tend to be survivors, and kender are as exceptional in their survival skills as they are as thieves.  Kender are extremely travelwise in their own way, can make do for themselves concerning food and shelter under conditions that would stop a well prepared adventuring group dead in it's tracks, are adept at hiding, moving silently, and sneaking around, and kender DO understand the first rule of combat:  Run away, to live to fight another day.  So no, eliminating, or detaining, or removing, the kender population is not so easy.  There is NO such thing as a kender proof lock.  Such a lock has never been invented on Krynn, and it is doubtful such a lock exists on Greyhawk.  In Faerun, I concede that it is possible that such a lock exists, considering the thousands of years of effort put into making locks against adventurers.  There are few prisons in Ansalon that can hold a kender.  There are probably few non-magical prisons in any of the campaign settings, that could hold a kender.  They are simply too good at opening locks, detecting traps, and escape in general.  The only reason the Towers of High Sorcery were able to keep out kender was for the very good reason that they were guarded magically.  Neither kender nor anyone else could pass through Shoikan Grove, or through Wayreth Forest, unless those in the Towers desired it.  The one time (that I am aware of) that a kender WAS allowed into the Tower of High Sorcery at Wayreth, he managed to jump into Par Salian's Time Travel Spell, just as it went off (to say this was a prohibited action, would be rather understating things.)  Of course, in 3rd edition any race can be any class.  Thus, we can legally have kender wizards.  (sighs)  There are Bulls In China Shops.  Then there are Tinker Gnomes Ready to Set Off their Inventions.  But they cannot hold a candle to the Kender Wizard.  May Paladine help us all.</blockquote>

Verification