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story identification - Looking for title of book about a man with nanomachines in blood


Back in the 90's I read a book and I have not been able to remember an author or a title, numerous searches have also found nothing.


I can only remember random details about the book. It is about a man who crash lands on a planet. He has nano machines of some kind in his blood that make him stronger, can heal a broken bone and administer morphine when he is injured, increase the length of his life, and they turn is skin a metallic color, I believe gold but maybe it was silver. They are powered by a power unit installed in the base of his spine.


The planet he crash(?) lands on plays a game involving tiles to work out their political issues instead of fighting wars, at the end of the book when they use the tiles to quickly advance technology to develop weapons.



At some point in the book/series the man gets imprisoned and has nothing to do but play the game, when he gets out of prison he has become a genius at it.


I would really love to reread this book, please help!



Answer



The description is also pretty close to The Last Hawk by Catherine Asaro, published 1997. Kelric, the protagonist, is a golden-skinned (not just tan or yellowish; they have metallic tints in their skin in his race) Jagernaut, a warrior with nanotech biological enhancements. He's also a telepath. On the planet he crash-lands, there is a matriarchal society, and the woman he marries "owns" him to a great extent. The game played is Quis, with crystalline "dice" of various shapes that are arranged in patterns on the table.


Cover image


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