Riathenors

Dislo the Lord Mage's statements and questions to Mason Cathar and his council of advisors concerning the Riathenor problem in the catacombs and tunnels beneath the Bluftop complex.

Dislo addressed the Mason at the formal gathering, "Using my extensive lore and research skills, I want to do some serious research on the Riathenor and their symbiotic armor.  I want to find out some general information, but am really concentrating on instances of when the armor 'merged' with other creatures. Specifically, human or Atlantean.  But, others as well.  The kinds of information I am trying to find out are along the following lines:
" a)  Does the armor tend to hold animosity toward a person that has slain the previous 'partner?'
" b)  Does the armor cause an alignment change when on a good or neutral character?
" c)  Does the armor appear to adversely affect a psionics or magic using character?
" d)  How does the armor affect tattooes?
" e)  Are there any temporary negative effects while the new partnership is first settling in? (i.e. incapacitation, sickness)
" f)  Anything that appears 'weird' or unusual. " 

The Mason thought and then turned to his most trusted advisor and mentor, Korakir. "Sir, you are surely the most learned here. Tell him of these creatures and inform us as to the dangers of their presence among us," Cathar requested of Korakir. He stood, assuming the form of a wizened human scholar and began his answers to the young mage's questions. 

"Noble Dislo, Son of Atlantis, we salute you and commend you on your service to the Clan. Some Lore obviously you do not know, so hear me now and record these words. On your first query, the answer is no. The armor is without feeling in this manner and is merely concerned with its own survival. It will of course, defend itself from what it considers an outside threat to it or its host body.
"On your second query, the answer is yes. All Riathenors exhibit a disdain for civilized society and a disregard for the rights or lives of others, which in my mind means that they are evil. No Riathenor has ever exhibited any other emotion or action except selfish indiefference, so I would assume that most or all are like that and it is the wearing of the symbiotic armor that causes this. Another possibility is that it will only bond with those of an evil alignment. A third, but remote, possibility is that the Splugorth are utilizing the symbiotes to create a new warrior class.
"On your third query, the answer is unknown. It appears that the suit may erase the minds of its victims / partners. But we have no way to prove that hypothesis at this time.
"On your fourth query, the answer is yes. The suit would make it impossible for the tattooed person to activate their tattooes, unless of advanced skill. Given the current known limitations of tattoo magic and its incompatibility with some mystical systems, it is doubtful that tattoo magic and the bonding of a Riathenor symbiote would be a successful match. It woukld surely make it impossible for the individual bonded with the symbiote to receive tattooes in the future.
"On your fifth query, the answer is yes. I would assume that, as with the introduction of any a symbiotic lifeform to a host, there would be a brief recovery period in which the body would either reject or accept the new lifeform. This should, logically, happen with a Riathenor symbiote. Its extent is unknown.
"The riathenor are an evil race and the more we know about them the better. It is known that they kill, maim, rape, pillage and plunder any and every civilized or sentient race that they encounter. They eat, consume, or trample any race or being of lesser stature and even sometimes eat those that they vanquish in combat. They have no culture of their own that we have seen and steal anything of value from the races they conquer. This tendency towrds raiding and theft leads me to beleive that they are a static society, devoid of art or culture and stagnated by evil, unable to create anything new or different. They can only now find a purpose for themselves by continuing their legacy of brutality and death."