Lone Wolf

Lone Wolf is a collection of 28 gamebooks, created by Joe Dever and initially illustrated by Gary Chalk. The first book in the series was published in 1984. It has been adapted to a role-playing game by Mongoose Publishing in 2004 under Open Game License; it uses the Mongoose's OGL System. The first twenty are being made available as Project Aon Internet editions. Joe Dever has now also granted Project Aon permission to publish the last eight books (21-28).

The action takes place in a heroic fantasy world, Magnamund, which was also used for another collection of four books called The World of Lone Wolf (Grey Star the Wizard).

Synopsis

The world of Magnamund is a planet in the universe of Aon. This world is the focus of a battle between the powers of Good, among them Kai (God of the Sun) and Ishir (Goddess of the Moon), and Naar, the evil God of Darkness, and his allies.

In the north-east of Magnamund's northern continent lies the realm of Sommerlund. Its people, the Sommlending, are devoted followers of Kai. There are those among them, known as Kai Lords or simply 'the Kai', who possess extraordinary innate abilities. Trained from childhood at the monastery of Kai, the Kai Lords are Sommerlund's greatest defence against Naar's agents.

Naar's champions upon Magnamund are the Darklords, who dwell in the scorched wastes of the Darklands, west of Sommerlund. This realm, inhospitable to most life, enables the Darklords to survive on Magnamund—though powerful, they are greatly weakened by the natural atmosphere of the world. Forced to enact their will at a distance, the Darklords wage war with armies of Drakkarim (humans devoted to Naar), Giaks (goblin-like creatures spawned in vast numbers), and other creatures, and are served by agents such as Vordaks (undead with psychic powers) and Helghasts (shapechanging undead).

At the Kai Monastery is a young initiate, given the name Silent Wolf. On the feastday of Fehmarn, when all the Kai Lords gather at the monastery, Silent Wolf is sent to cut wood from the surrounding forest as a punishment for his inattention in class. While he is gone, a surprise attack is launched from the Darklands at several places across Sommerlund. The Monastery is assaulted and the gathered Kai Lords massacred. Returning from the woods to find himself the only survivor, Silent Wolf renames himself Lone Wolf and sets out for the capital to inform the King of the loss of the Kai.

The Kai series follows Lone Wolf as he rallies the armies of Sommerlund and her ally, Durenor, to repel the invasion, pursues and captures the traitor who brought about the invasion, and survives plots to complete the destruction of the Kai. At the end of the series, Lone Wolf recovers the Book of the Magnakai, the ancient text which contained the higher lore of the Kai Lords. With the massacre of the Kai, and Lone Wolf only an initiate, these teachings were thought to be lost.

The Magnakai series takes up the tale, with Lone Wolf now a Kai Master striving to understand the Magnakai teachings. The Book, however, is ancient and incomplete. To perfect his understanding and train a new order of Kai Lords, Lone Wolf must follow the path of Sun Eagle, the first Kai Lord and author of the Book of the Magnakai. Sun Eagle quested for the wisdom encapsulated in the Lorestones of Nyxator, seven orbs scattered across Northern Magnamund. As Lone Wolf begins the same quest, however, war breaks out again. The Darklords have again rallied behind a single leader and now hasten their invasion to defeat the Magnakai quest. Lone Wolf pursues the quest through the war-torn realms and even beyond the plane of Magnamund. Ultimately, he enters the Darkland capital of Helgedad and brings about the destruction of the Darklords.

The Grand Master series continues the story of Grand Master Lone Wolf and introduces the restored order of Kai Lords. With the destruction of the Darklords, Naar and his agents abandon open warfare and seek new paths to dominance, often focused directly on Lone Wolf as the keystone of the forces of Light.

The New Order series features a new protagonist, a Grand Master in the Second Order of the Kai and a student of Lone Wolf, who is now Supreme Master. Much of the series focuses on attempts by Naar's minions to use remnants of the power of Agarash the Damned, Naar's greatest champion and predecessor to the Darklords. As such, the settings explore Southern Magnamund, where Agarash's empire was centred.

List of the books

Kai series

1. Flight from the Dark
2. Fire on the Water
3. The Caverns of Kalte
4. The Chasm of Doom
5. Shadow on the Sand

   Magnakai series

6. The Kingdoms of Terror
7. Castle Death
8. The Jungle of Horrors
9. The Cauldron of Fear
10. The Dungeons of Torgar
11. The Prisoners of Time
12. The Masters of Darkness

    Grand Master series

13. The Plague Lords of Ruel
14. The Captives of Kaag
15. The Darke Crusade
16. The Legacy of Vashna
17. The Deathlord of Ixia
18. Dawn of the Dragons
19. Wolf's Bane
20. The Curse of Naar

    New Order series

21. Voyage of the Moonstone
22. The Buccaneers of Shadaki
23. Mydnight's Hero
24. Rune War
25. Trail of the Wolf
26. The Fall of Blood Mountain
27. Vampirium
28. The Hunger of Sejanoz

External links

• Project Aon - Free downloadable Internet Editions of the Lone Wolf gamebooks. (http://www.projectaon.org/)
• Official website of the Lone Wolf RPG (http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/home/series.php?qsSeries=24)
• The Tower of the Sun - Lone Wolf fan site (http://www.towerofthesun.com/)
• Webring of Lone Wolf (http://v.webring.com/hub?ring=kairing)
• Description of the Lone Wolf gamebooks (http://www.lw-oasis.org/oasis-archive/study/books/table.html)
• Description of the World of Lone Wolf gamebooks (http://www.gamebooks.org/wolwlist.htm)
• The Lone Wolf Chronicles (http://people.clemson.edu/~bmcjunk/Magnamund.html) - A Neverwinter Nights module based on The Lone Wolf series.fr:Loup Solitaire