- This article is about the magical artifact. For Legends of Lone Wolf novel, see The Book of the Magnakai.
The Book of the Magnakai is the sacred book of the Kai composed by Sun Eagle on his quest to find the Lorestones of Nyxator. It includes all of Sun Eagle's wisdom. It is an important plot device in Shadow on the Sand, when retrieving it is the main goal of the latter half of the book. The Book contains the teachings for the Magnakai disciplines. Lone Wolf mastered three of the ten Magnakai disciplines after studying the book, and furthermore begins the Magnakai quest (to recover the Lorestones of Nyxator) after reading a passage in the book telling him to do so.
The Book of the Magnakai is self-perpetuating - although Sun Eagle died long before Lone Wolf was born, his spirit (or the book itself) continues to record events in Sun Eagle's hand. Lone Wolf found a description of how he killed Darklord Haakon and brought the book back to the Kai monastery at the end of the book, which aided him greatly in deciphering the rest of the text.[1]
History[]
The Book of the Magnakai was stolen from the Kai Monastery in MS 4434, by two Vassagonian thieves Bourjali and Liharat. Zakhan Halarsa, then the Zakhan of Vassagonia, ordered the two to steal the book. The thieves successfully broke into the Kai Monastery and retrieved the book, which had been left in plain sight. They also killed several Kai in the process. The last of these, a giant Kai of unknown name, raised the alarm, but it was too late and the thieves got away.
Afterwards, Bourjali convinced Liharat that Zakhan Halarsa most probably wanted to use the book as a bargaining tool with the Darklords. Because treating with the Darklords will inevitably cause riots in Vassagonia, the Zakhan was likely to want to keep the book a secret, which in turn meant killing the two thieves to silence them. Trying to make the best of a bad situation, the thieves elected to hide the book in the Tomb of the Majhan, then sell its location to the Darklords.
The first part of this brave plan was successful: the thieves entered the Tomb of the Majhan, where a mysterious force put them to sleep and placed the Book of the Magnakai on a lectern behind a hatch. Then, they went to Torgar to treat with Warlord Korkas, the most powerful representative of the Darklords outside the Darklands. Korkas listened, but decided that he'd rather torture the information out of them instead. In this, he was unsuccessful: both Bourjali and Liharat died without revealing the location of the Book. Archlord Zagarna, after learning of the fiasco, had Korkas tortured to death.
Centuries later, after Zagarna's death, the new Archlord Haakon realized that destroying the book would seriously weaken the Kai, whose most senior member still alive (Lone Wolf) was not a Magnakai. He assembled his Nadziranim, summoned the spirit of Bourjali, and coerced him into revealing the location by threatening the spirit of his 17th wife.[1]
Haakon then embarked on an elaborate plan to infiltrate Vassagonia, creating the Birthplace and also scheming to make Kimah the new Zakhan of Vassagonia after the death of the previous Zakhan Moudalla. He traded the Orb of Death to Kimah in return for Lone Wolf. When Kimah failed to live up to his end of the bargain, Haakon had him tortured in Barakeesh, while he hunted the Book of the Magnakai. Here he ran into Lone Wolf, who had eavesdropped on Haakon's conversation with Kimah on the location of the Book. In the ensuing fight, Haakon was slain, and Lone Wolf claimed the Book.[2] He would go on to study it for several years before beginning the Magnakai quest.
Contents[]
Only one passage from the Book of the Magnakai is known.
Seek and find the Lorestone of Varetta, for this alone holds the power and the wisdom ...
Lone Wolf begins the Magnakai quest upon reading this paragraph.[1]
Appearances[]
The Tellings[]
The Book of the Magnakai is stolen by Bourjali and Liharat from the Kai monastery, then hidden in the Tomb of the Majhan.
Shadow on the Sand[]
Darklord Haakon discovers the location of the Book of the Magnakai, and leads an expedition there to retrieve it. He encounters Lone Wolf in the process, who had learned the location of the Tomb from Tipasa the Wanderer. Lone Wolf slays Haakon and retrieves the book. Through intense study of the book, he mastered three of the ten Magnakai disciplines before initiating the Magnakai quest.