FASA Games, Inc.

Hello,

I plan to launch a new Earthdawn campaign, beginning with the excellent "Ardanyan's Revenge" which offers the opportunity to start the campaign in a closed kaer. To my mind, it's a great advantage because it allows players to discover the world of Earthdawn while their characters (re-)discover Barsaive after the Scourge.

I have althought a question regarding kaers. Is a kaer fully isolated from the outside ? Reading several chapters in my Earthdawn books about kaers and rites of protection convinced me that no communication is possible with the outside world or with another kaer or citadel after the kaer was closed. For instance, an elf leaving kaer Ardanyan after the Scourge would know nothing of the fall of the Blood Wood before he learns it from someone outside. Am I correct ?

even if nothing is written about some magic allowing kaer's to communicate in the official books you can always make something up to allow for it a la Tolkien Palantirs. It is theoretically possible for a kaer to have a sister kaer perhaps in this manner.

But yes for the most part Kaer's are completely isolated hence the reason why some died not from horror corruption/invasion but from despair, paranoia, name-giver on name-giver violence, etc. especially after the elemental water stopped dropping into the elemental earth (the special magic guage used to let people know the magic level had dropped sufficiently and for all intents and purposes the scourge was over). Check out the book, "Lost Kaer" for those themes, easily buyable on ebay.

Any link to outside can be used to get into the caer, and long range communication can be "heard" by horrors and then tracked.

I envy your players , discovering the unknown is awesome.

Having GMed Ardanyan's Revenge, there is indeed a device outside of Kaer Ardanyan called a kaon-ma that allows communication with someone inside the Kaer. Pg 82, Troubleshooting section talks about it briefly.

There also is a Kaer Knocking spell, but it only alerts a Kaer's occupants that something is at their door.

Like previously stated, no actual communication with the outside world. Too risky.

Good luck with Ardanyan's Revenge! We enjoyed it.