"I am Kang the Mad. I make things explode, and I make things fly, and I'm very good at both. The things I fly tend to survive. The things I explode... not so much".
- –Kang the Mad
Kang the Mad is a forgetful and eccentric mad scientist found in the service of Gao the Greater. Kang was brought into Gao the Greater's service after he burned down some estates and was saved from his fate by Gao's bribery. Kang designed the locking mechinism for Gao's base, the Amber Mosquito and the Marvelous Dragonfly for Gao but was displeased with Gao's plan to duplicate his fliers. Eventually Kang turned on Gao when the Player arrived.
At the Second Battle of Dirge Kang blows up the only bridge in to block the Imperial Army's ascent.
Kang has lost his memory but regains it slowly through use of Lord Lao's Furnace. He is, in fact, Lord Lao.
As Lord Lao[]
Lord Lao is a member of the Celestial Bureaucracy and the creator of Lord Lao's Furnace. Lord Lao was a master inventor and lord of machinary, he was also respected by inventors and workers of the human world but one day he somehow had angered the other gods. For this transgression he was banished into the mortal world, having his memory swiped from him and changed, but to remember his past he created Lord Lao's Furnace and left several configurations scattered among the mortal world.
He quickly joins as a follower, but when go back to Tien's Landing he cannot remember his past. When the Player uses a unknown wind map Kang has, they discover Lord Lao's Furnace as well as receiving a configuration, when they complete the dragonfly challenges and have successfully used all the configuration recipes, Kang's memory starts piecing itself back together. After which a wind map pinpointing Lord Lao's location is revealed to the Player and Kang. The Player then goes on another flyer mission but after completing it they ultimately discover that Kang is Lord Lao.
In some endings the people of the Jade Empire form a mob and go after Kang but using the celestial elevator he escapes and gives the Player a gift every year.
Epilogues[]
- Lao's Furnace subplot incomplete
- AND Water Dragon killed
After Sun Li's defeat, Kang the Mad enjoyed actual public appreciation for his devices. It was brief, however and as the Empire returned to peace, his machines once more became the greatest identifiable threat to the common good. His flyers grew faster and more durable, the driving force often an angry mob hurling ever larger stones. When last seen, Kang was boarding an alarmingly bare-bones device he had dubbed the Celestial Rocket Chair. While it allowed him to evade his latest pursuers, the launch also left a crater that suggested the escape was more permanent than he might have planned. Despite this, on each anniversary of their victory, <FullName> would find a fantastic new machine on his/her doorstep, seemingly appearing out of nowhere.
- Lao's Furnace subplot incomplete
- AND Water Dragon tainted
After Sun Li's defeat, Kang the Mad was in great demand. There was a new Empire to fortify and <FullName> had Kang work around the clock. In time, however, Kang grew to resent how his devices were used. He felt that, similar to the flyers he had made for Gao the Greater, duplicates inherently diminished the effectiveness of them all. Kang became reclusive and eventually an explosion at his main factory appeared to take his life (and that of anyone that might have known his trade secrets). Occasionally there were reports of strange devices appearing on the borderlands of the Empire, but by the time any of <FullName>'s forces could arrive, any trace had disappeared.
- Lao's Furnace subplot complete
- AND Water Dragon killed
Revealing Kang the Mad as Lord Lao could have had a great effect on the Empire, but after the victory over Sun Li, Kang remained much as he was. He continued to build wonders for <FullName>, and he was still criticized for the chaos his machines created, but angry mobs have no sting when you are a minor deity. At first, Lao Kang found this liberating and his inventions reached new heights of destructive potential. But after a time, he realized that his pursuers had been the driving force behind him. Nothing stirs the mind like having your life depend on your next creation. Few understood his motives when he began actively arming his most vocal detractors, but he insisted, standing amidst the craters, that it was for the good of all.
- Lao's Furnace subplot complete
- AND Water Dragon tainted
After Sun Li's defeat, <FullName> fortified the Empire against any possible assault. Kang the Mad, revealed as the minor deity Lord Lao, continued his service to the new Emperor, creating ever more fearful devices, each intended for a more powerful target than the last. But Lao Kang knew that some day, probably sometime after helping subjugate the rest of the heavens, he would no longer be of use. He was certain that he would eventually be called to build a machine to pull his own heart out to steal his power, and that just gave him the willies. His last invention opened a portal to another plane of existence, and he, along with a good portion of the Golden Delta, disappeared within. Nothing says "I quit" like a crater the size of a lake.
Gallery[]
