Rjak | |
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Default Spellbooks | |
Default Retorts | Infernal Power |
Rjak is one of the 14 Wizards featured in Master of Magic. His default profile is 9 Infernal Power.
Description[]
Rjak is simply described in the Manual as an evil warlock, and it is never made clear what face lies beneath the black cowl. He may be of the High Men (a race that produces unusual talents), a bonafied Dark Elven Warlock, or a visitor from the underworld, as he bears an uncanny resemblance to a Death Knight, per the spell. Rjak wears a gold diadem and black wrappings. His rail-thin figure emits a gloomy halation in cutscenes, and his eyes glow red.
Rjak is the villain of the show. As he polishes his Death magic, he will be throwing together armies of undead vermin and demented mortal thralls, spreading plague and attacking everyone indiscriminately. Rjak is touched by the raw power of Hell; towns he captures reorganize themselves into syndicates of darkness and erect foul temples bent to his worship. His favorite color is Purple.
Playing as Rjak[]
Rjak's portrait may be selected for a custom Wizard when starting a new game at any Difficulty setting above "Intro" in the official game, or respectively "Easy" in the unofficial patches. Selecting either his default profile or his portrait prevents him from being encountered as an opposing Wizard.
Rjak's Default Traits[]
- This profile introduces most of the Death realm library. Two randomly-determined rare spells and three very rare ones will not be in the spellbooks. The 9 Ranks still provide 20% discounts in researching and casting Death.
- Infernal Power may be nowhere near as strong as 11 (see 11-Book Strategy), but the comparison is rather unfair; the retort offers a different kind of campaign and eventually a huge, power-gamey Power Base. Rjak is best-off starting with a benign Race that can erect Cathedrals, and acting like a generous getter and spender of gold coins to spread these buildings far and wide. Once that's over with, commence the Dark Rituals.
- The default Wizards feature each possible combination of either one solid or two evenly-split Realms of Spellbooks, as per the following table:
Default Profiles Portrait Wizard Name Traits Portrait Wizard Name Traits Merlin 5 5 Sage Master Sss'ra 4 4 Myrran Raven 6 5 Tauron 10 Chaos Mastery Sharee 5 5 Conjurer Freya 10 Nature Mastery Lo Pan 5 5 Channeler Horus 5 5 Archmage Jafar 10 Alchemy Ariel 10 Charismatic Oberic 5 5 Mana Focusing Tlaloc 4 5 Warlord Rjak 9 Infernal Power Kali 5 5 Artificer
Rjak as an Opponent[]
If not chosen, Rjak may appear randomly among the computer-controlled opponent Wizards. Unless you can swap spells with him as a Death realm colleague, things will be unpleasant while he remains alive, especially when he obtains the school's Rare and Very Rare overland attacks.
The finalized Spellbook and Retort picks for a wizard determine their worldgen rolls for AI Personality and Objective. Rjak's typical traits are predicted below.
Rjak |
Personality | Objective | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Maniacal | 50% | Expansionist | 40% | |
Ruthless | 22% | Militarist | 40% | |
Aggressive | 14% | Perfectionist | 10% | |
Lawful | 7% | Theurgist | 10% | |
Chaotic | 7% | |||
Peaceful | 0% |
Higher Difficulties subject a Wizard's default profile to increasingly arbitrary adjustments, including exposure to random Realms and skills. Rjak's Death ranks nearly always remain a dominant influence on his AI Personality even after these adjustments, though any randomly-picked Retorts at high Difficulty settings can sway him to roll something unexpected. At the "Impossible" setting, be prepared for anything.
Starting Spells[]
A non-customized Rjak knows 8 of the 10 Common Death spells at the start of the game. The 2 missing spells are Cloak of Fear and Mana Leak in the official game, or Terror and Darkness from the unofficial 1.40 Insecticide patch onward. A randomly generated opposing Rjak may end up with 11 Death Spellbooks. In this case he will also know the Uncommon Spells Black Prayer and Black Channels, as well as the Rare Spell Wraiths (respectively Black Prayer, Shadow Demons and Wrack in the unofficial patches). For other book combinations see the Wizard article.
Starting Spells depending on Master of Magic Version | |||||
official patch 1.31 | unofficial patch 1.40 | ||||
Life Drain Ghouls Weakness Dark Rituals |
Black Sleep Darkness Terror Skeletons |
Life Drain Skeletons Black Sleep Mana Leak |
Ghouls Darkness Cloak of Fear Weakness |
Trivia[]
- Rjak is called WRAITH when extracting WIZARD.LBX, and his design shares some features with the Ringwraiths in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium (The Lord of the Rings). The Ringwraiths wore crowns beneath their robes and were invisible to mortal eyes. Only their black robes gave them visible form.
- Rjak appears in tribute to Master of Magic as a playable character in the games Warlock: Master of the Arcane and Warlock 2: the Exiled.