I think Amko is still from the South. And the armor, and the fact that she might be "more serious" could refer to the literary introduction at the beginning of the newspaper, implying that she needed to be less sentimental with the North. And yes, the idea about Kosh as a mechanic is good. I think I'll agree with that. And yes, Vistrit is cunning; he built the setting in such a way that it's very difficult to punish players for using specific builds. There are so many probabilities with non-displayed modifiers, modifiers that target those on whom they are nullified, and simply specific features. For example, you have to guess who was blocked, and who simply didn't target an accessible target for their modifier.