The Themes in People of the Lantern: Thunder Only Happens When It's Raining (Patreon)

The Scribe is the power behind the Kings and their armies. To men, he is a god made flesh, appearing in repose atop his throne with his tome hoisted by a grotesque tableau of slaves. In his book his words are writ into reality, sewing the seeds of small human settlements into existence with the stroke of his quill.

Once the humans grow and reproduce the Scribe will return to harvest his crop.

--The Scribe Resin Sculpt Lore

In the world of Kingdom Death, survivors are born through a process of being written into being through The Scribe's pen work in his book. This is overtly mentioned in the above passage, but it is also referenced during the game in event 84.

These survivors are created with the intention of eventually becoming the food for The Kings and The Scribe himself. They are intended to live, learn and love, growing to a sufficiently large size that they can support the needs of The Scribe's faction. This form of farming is assisted by the Sculptors who will carve the faces of the survivors into the rocky floor of the plains before they awaken fully emerged from the ground. (See the Sculptor art at the start of the KDM rulebook, the Sculptor constellation from People of the Stars and Barbarian Allister's lore for details of this).

However, The Scribe's Regal Faction are not the only creatures out there who are seeking to take advantage of this broadcasting form of sowing. White Lions seek out the newly germinated survivors and try to consume them while they are at their weakest. Likewise, other monsters draw survivors in; either through deliberate action like The Tyrant, through chance encounters such as The Sun or through a use of a lure. The Watcher comes from the latter group – they are a creature that spends portion of their existence cocooned under the ground. But they are forced to the surface by the land, rejected and pushed upwards like a pus filled boil.

Ensconced in their hibernation pimple; Watchers radiate a signal that simultaneously draws in survivors while also repelling both the guardian of the plain and the natural predators. Survivors are tricked into believing that this place is safety for them; in truth it initially is a calm oasis of protection. But it will not stay that way as the entity lurking at the heart of their society will eventually awaken.

All survivors are malleable and pliant, both intellectually and physically, how they are metamorphosed by their 'host' monster depends on the nature of that beast. For those fortunate enough to find themselves under the wing of The Tyrant, they must become strong or perish; those who skulk in the warm safety of The Sun's pools find a fire of determination and strength ignited. For those who cluster around the Watchers; they will find the world of Dreams, the domain of the Ethereal Dreamer (the probable master of The Watchers and possible singing sky whale glimpsed occasionally) will call to them.

Watchers seek to seed ideas into the minds of the survivors so they can grow in strength and create a rich culture. They are the source of all innovations for the settlement, and as long as they hibernate the survivors will experience the spark of creativity. However, once the Watcher awakens and attempts to reap from its efforts this spark is snuffed out and the survivors will no longer be able to develop their technology through the process of innovation. But they will have a new path, one opened by delving into the secrets of the Watcher's siphonophore remains. The very heart of the Watcher, the Final Lantern, contains secrets that can be applied to create technology far stronger than anything the settlement held before. Secrets that are so dangerous to the land's guardian that, once the Watcher's presence is snuffed out, draw the land's elemental knight to the settlement. The Gold Smoke Knight is driven by fear, fear of what survivors can construct if they are left to plumb its mysteries for too long. And so, as soon as The Watcher is slain, the settlement's fate is sealed. Destined to either die at the hands of the burning lion, or slay it and face the consequences of their action.

While we will dive into Saviors in a separate series of linked posts in the following weeks, at the moment it is sufficient to understand that the Watchers themselves are at the heart of why Saviors come into being. This form of survivor is birthed through the combination of the Settlement, it's Watcher and the Ethereal Dreamer. They are granted vast power and knowledge, but their nightly pilgrimages through the combined nightmares of the world's inhabitants in search of the Dreamer's power drains them. As they grow in power, they also drain their physical strength – aging from child to elder at a far faster rate than normal. They cannot gain the White Secrets which grant agelessness, but before they fade out reality and into the dream realm they have access to unheard of abilities.

The Twilight Order

Settlements with Watchers also draw attention from unusual sources. The Twilight Order, a long standing organisation that exists to try and preserve knowledge stands opposed to The Watchers and their constant erasure of any long standing civilisation. While The Watchers seek to devour memories and grow strength from consuming the history of the settlement they encouraged – the Twilight Order, aided by the Cyclops Knight who taught (maybe?) the order's Weaponsmiths how to craft the Twilight Swords seek to hold onto what knowledge they can. Most members of the Twilight Order work in pairs, one knight and one archivist. The archivist records knowledge while the knight protects them.

Twilight Knights are chosen from the mightiest fighters in a settlement, they are given (without consent) a Twilight Sword, which will bond itself to the wielder and begin the process of removing large portions of their compassion. As time passes, a Twilight Sword wielder will become more detached and eventually forsake their people – travelling under the guidance of their weapon to find  the Order.

The Order's relic swords were originally forged with the goal of slaying Watchers, something in their properties allows them to wreak devastating damage to the otherwise robust Siphonophoraes.

The Twilight Order appears to be lacking sufficient numbers to tackle these Watchers themselves, instead they undertake their war via proxy, by finding these Watcher settlements and giving the survivors their chosen tool. Once a settlement has a Twilight Sword its wielder will either help the settlement slay the monster at its heart, leave to join the order or die trying. But the Twilight Knights will continue to return to the settlement and test the wielder. These emotionless warriors have no capacity for compassion, they do not care what harm they may inflict upon the settlement or their potential champion, they only seek to ensure that the bearer remains worthy.

The Gold Smoke Knight considers the Twilight Order to be something of an ally as they have a similar goal in the destruction of Watchers. It also seems that a third ally exists in the Cyclops Knight, the mysterious entity which apparently crafted both the Thundermauls wielded by the Gold Smoke Knight (and sometimes survivors) and the Twilight Swords (Note it's possible that the Gold Smoke Knight forged its own weapon, while the Cyclops Knight made a second, smaller copy to be used against the GSK, we don't have enough information at this stage). What the Cyclops Knight's exact goals are is unknown, it is possible that the Cyclops Knight seeks some form of revenge on its foes, or it seeks a restoration of the world. It's also possible that the Cyclops Knight simply enjoys constructing the finest weaponry it can and ensuring that it gets to the hands of the right individuals. One can only speculate on things like this, because Kingdom Death isn't built from a complete picture written in advance the way that Aeon Trespass: Odyssey or Oathsworn were, it's instead a bottom up lore creation. That is, it's being mostly made up as they're going along, and that's why we've had such sweeping changes in the game's lore. That's why the Gold Smoke Knight is no  longer the smith for the Thundermaul (as it is in the 1.31 and earlier books), it's now the Cyclops Knight. The picture changes with each new iteration of information, it evolves and while that makes for an interesting tale filled with unreliable narrators, it also means pinning the lore down is challenging. It's also why the pre-Watcher portion building up to the fight against the cloth jellyfish feels far more climactic than the portion afterwards.

Another reason that the Gold Smoke Knight feels sort of, appended onto the story is because it literally was. The original arc was supposed to run from The Watcher to The King and ultimately to The Scribe as main anatagonists. Allowing a settlement to grow from humble beginnings to the point where they get to go and punch their creator right in the crotch for all his sins. While it was absolutely the correct design decision to not publish the Lantern Festival once APG realised that the scope of it was too large for the original pitch (oh how I miss those days); it did create a large shift in the world's lore and created a wound in People of the Lantern that might not ever heal. The 1.6 Rulebook change offered an untaken opportunity to fix this, while I can see that the logistics of an update to the story being a bit problematic, as suddenly the entire community would require new rulebooks (or at least access to an update appendix), but certainly lantern years 25+ could have done with a more satisfying narrative experience as there seems to be so much promise in the deepening of the lore.

For those of you who are not familiar with the original story of People of the Lantern, the significant differences were; the difference in the Gold Smoke Knight's position, going from being a supporting character who sometimes helped settlements to being the final antagonist, and the post watcher years were a swan song for a settlement. Once the watcher was dead the settlement would fall into darkness and the Lantern Hoard settlement location was updated with this version of the exhausted Lantern Hoard.

If you can get your hands on a copy of this settlement location, I'd recommend getting it, as it provides an alternative ending experience with quite an enjoyable challenge. The 1.31 story ends on this note which I honestly still like more than the current version.

It is however possible that we will get a satisfying closure to the original story as the promise that the Ivory Dragon contains post Gold Smoke Knight content along with what may well be a whole, brand new, campaign, gives us a chance to see the story heal and become something complete. Until then, we can at least take solace in the fact that the Watcher portion of the story feels whole.

However, some of the core thematics of both monsters remain firmly placed within the showdowns themselves. The Watcher is a combination of a siphonophore hydrozoan – specifically a jellyfish, but it also demonstrates traits of other members of the hydrozoans and scyphozoa. The exact jellyfish which this creature is based on is not clear at this time but it is likely some of the deep sea members of the family like Stygiomedusa giganteaor the beautiful Chrysaora Pacifica (Japanese Sea Nettle) or the Pelagia noctiluca. Watchers are in essence a combination of vines, lanterns and cloth that mimic the shape of a cloaked figure from a distance but closer up look more like the aforementioned jellyfish. Even the lifecycle of the Watcher echoes that of the jellyfish, with the larval stages of the animal remaining rooted in one place as a polyp/medusa and feeding on whatever moves around near it.

In the showdown cards its thematics manifest themselves through descriptive terms and actions. The hit location names inform us that the creature's entire frame is 'Hydrostatic' – it is supported by a series of fluid filled bladders/cavities rather than a traditional skeleton and it also has a nerve ring and a nerve net (these the two nervous systems located inside jellyfish). However, the other portion of the creature is a direct connection to nothingness. Watchers erase history by pulling knowledge, memories, into the void located deep inside their shroud. This feeds and sustains them until their energy levels grow low and they are forced into hibernation again – where they will attract a new generation of hapless survivors, plant ideas and dreams into their heads, before awakening to feast upon the bountiful harvest their “protective” influence and seeding has allowed to blossom. You can read about additional parallels and infer probably behaviours with further reading into the jellyfishitself. Perhaps you'll even find a close match for the Watcher's original appearance, this is the art here:

The Gold Smoke Knight, in stark contrast to the Watchers, represents the civilisation that came before the current times. If you look closely at the miniature and its corresponding artwork you can see that the model has multiple lion-istic elements, not just where its cloak is concerned, but also the fire around its head represents what was left of the creature's glorious mane.

Likewise its thundermaul was crafted for this knight in a lion-like image.

However, the scourge that is the Watchers has ravaged the Gold Smoke Knight and so much of the creature's former glory has been lost.

There was once a fertile land of golden grass and prideful lions. Uncounted centuries ago, a parasite took root and over time a corrupted city grew to engulf the plains. The Golden Knight, a mysterious guardian of these lands, waged a losing war against the corruption. As futile years passed, the knight’s appearance grew twisted and haggard as the land itself. It’s glorious mane fell out, replaced by angry wailing smoke billowing in its place and the Gold Smoke Knight was born.

It is speculated that the corrupted city is either the city of the Golden Entity (the holy lands) or the Silver City of the white lion civilisation. One can hope that this is clarified further when we get the Lion God expansion 'The Silver City' in 2050, but for now it's clear that both the Golden Entity and the Silver City had a rivalry between them as both factions have lion motifs. The inhabitants of the Holy Lands wear their lion livery on their arms and armour, with very few creatures specifically having lion features of their own (the Forge God seems to be one of the sole exceptions, as it features three lion heads – the Second Lion Knight from the Lion Knight expansion wears a mask), but the inhabitants of the Silver City were physically lion-like – not only do we see that in the Lion God, but also in the creature that first attacks the survivors in a campaign. The White Lions still bare evidence of their degeneration into their bestial form and occasionally they construct mockeries of their past triumphs – you can see a White Lion wearing a crown on the Indomitable trait card.

The Gold Smoke Knight itself strikes against the settlement out of fear of this technology, during the climactic showdown, but despite its knight title, it sports multiple references within its AI and HL decks, including usage of the word maul, one of the White Lion's more dangerous moves, rather than go through each in detail because we'll get there during the GSK specific writing. So here's the crib notes:

• Savage Grab – not only is this a grab, but it involves a dismembered arm. A common White Lion injury which used to be exploited before 1.5 involved dismembering the arm of the white lion.
• Mauler– Mentioned above
• Thundermaul– Same
• Ancient Fur Cape - Fur
• Mournful Mask – While the lion-like qualities are already obvious, this location is just worth mentioning for its lore building.

Much of the rest of the Gold Smoke Knight's thematics are split between its knightly countenance, its sorrowful rage and the sheer burning heat of its interior. We'll get into this with a full breakdown when we look at the showdown,

So look forward to that fiery battering from a sad volcano kitty!

Next time we'll explore the Saviors, as they're a part of the content I've not written guides on, but in recent times I've spent time using and exploring each and every single one as much as possible. We'll dive into all of that next Friday!