"The reason that Kadon succeeded in binding monsters where other mages failed was a simple one: rather than attempting to suppress his catspaw's primal instincts, Kadon embraced it. Kadon's scrolls of binding therefore stand in testament to an uncomfortable truth: that a primitive mind might work wonders where the careful reasoning of a more sophisticated one would surely fail. This thought is uncomfortable for any Elf to entertain but, if Ulthuan is to endure, its loremasters can no longer underestimate the magic of Humans simply because the Humans themselves are inferior."
Kadon the Shackler was said to be one of the most powerful wizards in Human history, and the father of what was once known by ancient wizards as the Arcana of Kadon, a body of magical lore that allowed Human wizards to achieve feats that they are no longer capable of at present. Kadon also created the famed scrolls of binding.[2a]
These scrolls had been largely expended by the time of the War of Beasts, particularly by the wizards of the Tilean city-state of Vedenza, including Orsini Sardus and the Arabyan Court Alchemist Tazadis.[2a]
History[]
Arcana of Kadon[]
Kadon once roamed the Border Princes, and one of his scrolls was been found by the necromancer Dieter Helsnicht and used in 1230 IC to bend to his will a Merwyrm who was raiding the village of Massenfels in Nordland.[2b]
Long before the establishment of the Imperial Colleges of Magic during the Great War Against Chaos, the Human wizard Kadon studied a way to control, with a small measure of safety, the crackling magical energies that are released during a Storm of Magic.[2a]
He was perhaps the most accomplished Human wizard during this time, able to create the scrolls of binding that managed to turn any beast to the user's will. This feat eclipsed even that of the Elven mages. While his most powerful works, like the binding of the Leviathan Nonmos and the Seven Drakes of Mourn, cannot be replicated at present, some Human wizards that disdain the supremacy of the Teclisian system instead look to Kadon's example for inspiration.[2a]
Kadon wrote that Leviathans are beyond control, their minds too alien to grasp, their wills too strong to compel. Nevertheless, it is said he knew the key to summoning them. Yet, as any wizard knows, summoning anything that one cannot readily dismiss or control is foolhardy in the extreme.[4a]
Death[]
There is a fairly persistent legend that Kadon met his end when a pack of Chaos Warhounds broke free of his control and slaked their bloodthirst on his flesh. Whilst there are many tales that purport to recount Kadon's final hours -- most have turned out instead to refer to luckless apprentices -- this one has the proper "too clever for his own good" ring to it, so it may hold a kernel of truth.[1b]
Another tale reports that after a transformation into a beast he could never change back into his Human form. If this story is true it could be linked with the name of the Transformation of Kadon, a spell of the Lore of Beasts that allows a wizard skilled in that lore of magic to transform himself into a mighty beast, including a Chimerae, Manticore, Wyvern or Hydra.[3a]