Subject: MYSTARA-L Digest - 10 Jan 2002 to 11 Jan 2002 (#2002-12) From: Automatic digest processor Date: 12/01/2002, 19:00 To: Recipients of MYSTARA-L digests Reply-to: Mystara RPG Discussion There are 11 messages totalling 572 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Mystaran Almanac 1018 Atlas v1.1 available 2. A question regarding Sind (5) 3. [GANDERG@tc.gc.ca: Temthrull, the Thrice-Forged Sword] 4. Graduation (3) 5. Temthrull, the Thrice-Forged Sword] ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2002 01:28:49 -0800 From: Herve Musseau Subject: Mystaran Almanac 1018 Atlas v1.1 available The new version of the Atlas of the MA1018 is now available. You can find it at http://almanac.starflung.com . All the files are available this time (and they should even work!), rtf+pic and pdf. If you downloaded the pics of v1.0 the file is the same, but the rtf and pdf files are changed. Changes in v1.1: addition of the horoscope and a NPC's obituary; also, one minor change but not in MA content. Thank you for your patience. ===== ___________________________________________________________ Herve Musseau http://www.geocities.com/hmusseau/ __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send FREE video emails in Yahoo! Mail! http://promo.yahoo.com/videomail/ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2002 15:26:56 +0200 From: Ville V Lahde Subject: A question regarding Sind I recently read through a PBEM description of the X4&x5 adventure, and i bumped into the term "Plain of Fire", which i have seen repeatedly in the stuff in the Vaults. I'm curious, when was the Plain inroduced into the Sind geography? Was it already in X4 (I've never seen it), or in some later articles or supplements. In general, how much "official" stuff has been written about Sind? Are the desert and its cultures decsribed in the WotI box perhaps (never seen that either)? Also, what are the basic features of the Plain of Fire. Is it just a verrrry hot place, or does it has something to do with the PLANE of Fire? Ville ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2002 09:25:36 -0500 From: Geoff Gander Subject: Re: A question regarding Sind Ville wrote: > I'm curious, when was the Plain inroduced into the Sind geography? Was it > already in X4 (I've never seen it), or in some later articles or > supplements. In general, how much "official" stuff has been written about > Sind? Are the desert and its cultures decsribed in the WotI box perhaps > (never seen that either)? > > Also, what are the basic features of the Plain of Fire. Is it just a > verrrry hot place, or does it has something to do with the PLANE of Fire? The Plain was introduced in the CoM set - it's technically not in Sind; no one owns it, really, although Graakhalia lies beneath it. It's a very hot, rocky desert, filled with steaming geysers, cracked earth, and notable for an absence of water. Very inhospitable - a great place to send your PCs, in other words :-). Geoff -- Geoff Gander, BA 97 Cartographer/Game Designer/Government Peon Carnifex Loremaster au998@freenet.carleton.ca : www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Realm/2091 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2002 08:41:01 -0600 From: Aaron E Nowack Subject: Re: A question regarding Sind On Fri, 11 Jan 2002 15:26:56 +0200 Ville V Lahde writes: > I'm curious, when was the Plain inroduced into the Sind geography? > Was it > already in X4 (I've never seen it), or in some later articles or > supplements. In general, how much "official" stuff has been written > about > Sind? Are the desert and its cultures decsribed in the WotI box > perhaps > (never seen that either)? The Plain of Fire is detailed in Champions of Mystara, the Princess Ark series, and most of X4 takes place with in it. Could be more, but that's all I've seen. > Also, what are the basic features of the Plain of Fire. Is it just > a > verrrry hot place, or does it has something to do with the PLANE of > Fire? Bascially, its just the nastiest desert on Mystara, nearly impassable. It's pretty much a no-man's land in between Sind and the Black Mountains/Hule/the Serpent Peninsula/the Savage Coast region. Aaron Nowack "Never let reality get in the way of a good hypothesis." http://www.geocities.com/anowack/ ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2002 14:53:08 +0000 From: Gilles Leblanc Subject: Re: A question regarding Sind > I recently read through a PBEM description of the X4&x5 adventure, and i > bumped into the term "Plain of Fire", which i have seen repeatedly in the > stuff in the Vaults. > > I'm curious, when was the Plain inroduced into the Sind geography? Was it > already in X4 (I've never seen it), or in some later articles or > supplements. In general, how much "official" stuff has been written about You can find it in X4 and CoM ( I know im not the first to say this ), but I can add something new, when I did X4 with my players to bypass this whole empty boring strecht of survival adventure I made my players pass below a good strecth of this desert by finding the caverns of Graakhalia which are mentioned in CoM and briefly in some PWA's. During this time ( if your playing X4 during Wrath ) Graakhalia is being invaded by humanoids from Hule and your players could participate in that conflict. _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2002 14:34:37 -0500 From: Geoff Gander Subject: [GANDERG@tc.gc.ca: Temthrull, the Thrice-Forged Sword] ================= Begin forwarded message ================= From: GANDERG@tc.gc.ca ("Gander, Geoff") To: au998@freenet.carleton.ca ("Me ") Subject: Temthrull, the Thrice-Forged Sword Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2002 09:41:32 -0500 My long road is ended; I have finally finished my Master's Degree (yay!), and to celebrate (and possibly as a prelude to becoming more a more active poster again), I thought I'd share this magic item from my campaign. Enjoy! ***** Temthrull, the Thrice-Forged Sword: Originally forged for King Aden I of Darokin to help him slay the orcish hordes which were terrorising the countryside, he gave his blade, Narsím, to Iorweth, who commanded Aden's armies against Senkhor-Kha of fallen Mogreth, whose own lizard man hordes had threatened to overrun the allied city-state of Salonikos and eastern Darokin. Iorweth fell in AC 86, and his liege died in battle the year after. The sword was recovered by Ianos Thanopoulos of Salonikos, and was used for a number of years against the local lizard man tribes, who, though no longer united by Senkhor-Kha, still posed a threat to the region. It was around AC 100 when Narsím was reforged into a holy blade for a Thyatian paladin in the service of Ixion. Named Veritas, the sword was truly lawful, devoted to slaying the servants of pure evil wherever they could be found. The paladin was overwhelmed by a tribe of orcs living in the Orclands region, who then took the blade as their own. Wielded by a brutish orc named Thorog, Veritas was forced to spill the blood of innocents, until it managed to turn on its owner, though it was broken in the process. Where Thorog fell, the blade languished for centuries, until being discovered by a dwarvish prospector in AC 804, who sold it to a gnome in Thyatis City. There, the sword sat in a warehouse for over 70 years, until a prosperous halfling bought the blade, and brought it home to Shireton, thinking he could have it reforged. Finding no one who could accomplish the task, the halfling put the sword into a storage room and promptly forgot about it. Years later, one of his descendants rediscovered it, and sold it to a collector of such things, who was based in Darokin City. There, it was reforged in AC 966, and was kept on display at the collector's house. The notable gnomish artisan of that city, Skyler Burntratchet, acquired the sword at an estate sale in AC 989, convinced that he was getting a good deal when he first saw it. It sat undisturbed in his workshop since that time. Powers: Having been reforged twice, the sword is thrice-forged in total. As Narsím, it was a normal sword +1, +3 vs. orcs. Its purpose, that of eradicating orcs, was unknown to Ianos Thanopoulos, who used it against lizard men. When reforged as Veritas, the sword was rededicated as weapon against pure evil, but also against those unsavoury elements of fallen Mogreth which, though largely forgotten, still plagued the region from time to time. In this second incarnation it was a normal sword +1, +2 vs. servitors of the Outer Beings (though this latter function was not specifically known, the sword functioned in this manner in practice - the creators simply wanted it to kill evil lizard men). While in the possession of Thorog, however, Veritas reacquired its hatred for orcs, and was almost driven "mad" by the experience. After its long period of neglect, the sword was reforged again, as a normal sword +1, but some odd side-effects occurred. Whenever the wielder encounters orcs, or those whom he or she knows to serve the Outer Beings, the sword will try to force its owner to draw it, and strike. Although not "intelligent", it is self-aware to the extent that it knows it has a distinguished history of fighting evil. When in the presence of its designated foes, the sword "awakens", and acquires a lawful alignment for the duration of the encounter. Thus, it does have an Ego (9), for a total Willpower of 9. If handled by a wielder of a different alignment, it will only damage them if wielded while "awake". Even while dormant, it tries to influence its wielder. When exposed to gems or other baubles of value, it will try to use its Willpower to force its owner to adorn it in an appropriate manner, but this influence only takes the form of a subtle, but persistent urging to do so. -- Geoff Gander, BA 97 Cartographer/Game Designer/Government Peon Carnifex Loremaster au998@freenet.carleton.ca : www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Realm/2091 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2002 17:34:24 -0500 From: scott ludwig Subject: Re: Graduation Geoff, Congratulations!! I've got a year to go on my law degree--it's nice to know that grad-school doesn't last forever. I enjoyed the story of the "thrice forged sword"... ...bye the bye, have you recently seen The Lord of the Rings? ;-) Looking forward to your becoming a more frequent poster. Scott Ludwigshafen-- http://home.earthlink.net/~scottludwig/index.htm _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp. ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2002 22:50:55 -0500 From: Geoff Gander Subject: Re: Graduation > Congratulations!! Thank you! :-) > I've got a year to go on my law degree--it's nice to know that grad-school > doesn't last forever. Law school? Eeek! That's a rough road, to be sure. The feeling is great once it's all done, however. > I enjoyed the story of the "thrice forged sword"... > :-) > ...bye the bye, have you recently seen The Lord of the Rings? ;-) Twice! Loved it so much I had to see it again - it's just as good, if not better, the second time around, IMO. And yes, Narsim is supposed to be a bit of a play on Narsil, Isildur's blade. :-) Too bad for my player who had the blade that it's been stolen from him...maybe he'll get it back someday. >Looking forward to your becoming a more frequent poster. > I'm looking forward to it, too! Geoff PS - OT: I have a LOTR question (not related to the movie, but ancient history); those of you who are scholars of the history of Arda, and specifically its races, please email me privately. There's something that's been vexing me, and I can't find the answer to it; I've scanned the Silmarillion and parts of LOTR to no avail. -- Geoff Gander, BA 97, MPA 02 Carnifex Loremaster/Mad Roleplayer Master of the Elemental Plane of Bureaucracy au998@freenet.carleton.ca : www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Realm/2091 ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2002 20:03:56 -0800 From: The Stalker Subject: Re: A question regarding Sind On Fri, 11 Jan 2002 15:26:56 +0200, Ville V Lahde wrote: > I recently read through a PBEM description of the X4&x5 adventure, and i > bumped into the term "Plain of Fire", which i have seen repeatedly in the > stuff in the Vaults. > > I'm curious, when was the Plain inroduced into the Sind geography? Was it > already in X4 (I've never seen it), or in some later articles or > supplements. In general, how much "official" stuff has been written about > Sind? Are the desert and its cultures decsribed in the WotI box perhaps > (never seen that either)? > > Also, what are the basic features of the Plain of Fire. Is it just a > verrrry hot place, or does it has something to do with the PLANE of Fire? > I don't know X4 or X5 so I cannot comment on them. As other people have already said, the Plain of Fire (and no, it has nothing to do with the Plane of Fire) is described in the Champions of Mystara boxed set (get it if you can, since it's good, shouldn't be too difficult to find, and is generally cheap). The Plain of Fire is the name of the northern parts of the huge desert that separates the area called the Known World (or Old World) from the Savage Coast area (of the Red Steel adventures). This huge desert is generally called the Great Waste, and the Plain of Fire is only part of it (there is a huge map in the CoM set). To the north west lies Lake Halli and the Black Mountains (not to be confused with the Black Peak Mountains in northern Karameikos) and to the west lies Hule. To the east the desert borders with Sind and a little with Glantri and the Adri Varma plateau. To the south, toward the Sea of Dread, is a large grassland area called the Barren Plain, which is mostly uninhabited. As I said, the northern part of the Great Waste is the Plain of Fire, and the southern part is called the Sind Desert. Don't ask me why - it's clearly outside Sind's border, except perhaps for a small part of the eastern area which may be taken to lie inside Sind in the mumlyket of West Jhengal, which might explain it. But even so, I'd find it more reasonable that "Sind Desert" would apply to the desert region that crosses the mumlykets of Baratkand and Sindrastan. Either way, both the Sind Desert and the Plain of Fire are rocky deserts, but the Plain of Fire is far more hostile. It has deep canyons and many treacherous sinkholes. It is an extremely dry land, almost completely devoid of life and water. Large caverns are said to exist behind the desert, but they are dangerous areas to travel due to the treacherous landscape. And it's hot! Usually it is about 90 degree F, even at night. At winter it is usually still between 70 to 90 degree F, and it can go as high as 120 degree F in the summer! The Sind Desert isn't quite so bad. It's still a rocky desert, but the ground is much firmer and it's not quite as hot. And it actually does rain in the Sind Desert on occasion. Toward the south of the Great Waste, the Sind Desert borders on two regions called the Nawmmid Sand Flats and The Burning Waste. These are a little hotter and has less water than the Sind Desert, but the Sand Flats are just that - lots of sand and very few rocks. The Burning Waste seems to be almost exclusively barren or broken lands, and earthquakes are common here and may release natural gases as the rocks shift, and this gas can then burst into flame. It still rains a little here, but with the violent underground, it makes little difference... There are two oases in the Great Waste area, but they are far between and impossible to find if you don't know where to look. One such area is the Kesret Oases, which is relatively close to Sind, while the other area is called the Twin Oases and lies to the south of about half way between western-most Sind and the city of Slagovich. About 100,000 nomadic herders, hunters, and raiders are estimated to live in the Great Waste. These are presumably where The Master of Hule found his infamous Desert Nomads. - The Stalker ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2002 20:41:37 -0800 From: The Stalker Subject: Re: Graduation On Fri, 11 Jan 2002 22:50:55 -0500, Geoff Gander wrote: >> Congratulations!! > > Thank you! :-) > Allow me to extend my sincere congratulations also. (snip) > >> ...bye the bye, have you recently seen The Lord of the Rings? ;-) > > Twice! Loved it so much I had to see it again - it's just as good, if not > better, the second time around, IMO. Yes. And it's just as good the third time... Tomorrow I'll find out if it holds up the fourth time as well (yes, the Stalker is officially crazy about this film - the best action film in years!) ;) > And yes, Narsim is supposed to be a > bit of a play on Narsil, Isildur's blade. :-) Too bad for my player who > had the blade that it's been stolen from him...maybe he'll get it back > someday. > You pull stunts like that too? I thought it was just me... Last time I wasn't sure I'd make it home alive! Still, not as much danger as the night we played and I had a ticket for the midnight premiere of Lord of the Rings - most asked me how I thought I'd make it out of there *with* my ticket, but one actually offered me what would equal about $50 for it. Needless to say I turned him down ;) > >Looking forward to your becoming a more frequent poster. > > > > I'm looking forward to it, too! > Uh oh! List troll on the loose! Whatever will we do? :) - The Stalker ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2002 01:14:27 -0400 From: Steven Carter Subject: Re: Temthrull, the Thrice-Forged Sword] Congratulations Geoff!!! Hip-hip hooray! Hip-hip hooray! Hip-hip hooray! I'm more than a little jealous being a frustrated comp-rel student forced into computer lands. :-) Enjoy. PS Nice sword info by the way. Reminds me of how my career paths changed, and changed, and changed and how the old choices sometimes try to force me to do stuff related to them. Thankfully it's not smiting 'evil' that I'm compelled to do. ;-) Geoff Gander wrote: > ================= Begin forwarded message ================= > > From: GANDERG@tc.gc.ca ("Gander, Geoff") > To: au998@freenet.carleton.ca ("Me ") > Subject: Temthrull, the Thrice-Forged Sword > Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2002 09:41:32 -0500 > > > My long road is ended; I have finally finished my Master's Degree (yay!), > and to celebrate (and possibly as a prelude to becoming more a more active > poster again), I thought I'd share this magic item from my campaign. Enjoy! > > ***** > > Temthrull, the Thrice-Forged Sword: > > Originally forged for King Aden I of Darokin to help him slay the orcish > hordes which were terrorising the countryside, he gave his blade, Narsím, to > Iorweth, who commanded Aden's armies against Senkhor-Kha of fallen Mogreth, > whose own lizard man hordes had threatened to overrun the allied city-state > of Salonikos and eastern Darokin. Iorweth fell in AC 86, and his liege died > in battle the year after. The sword was recovered by Ianos Thanopoulos of > Salonikos, and was used for a number of years against the local lizard man > tribes, who, though no longer united by Senkhor-Kha, still posed a threat to > the region. > > It was around AC 100 when Narsím was reforged into a holy blade for a > Thyatian paladin in the service of Ixion. Named Veritas, the sword was > truly lawful, devoted to slaying the servants of pure evil wherever they > could be found. The paladin was overwhelmed by a tribe of orcs living in > the Orclands region, who then took the blade as their own. Wielded by a > brutish orc named Thorog, Veritas was forced to spill the blood of > innocents, until it managed to turn on its owner, though it was broken in > the process. Where Thorog fell, the blade languished for centuries, until > being discovered by a dwarvish prospector in AC 804, who sold it to a gnome > in Thyatis City. There, the sword sat in a warehouse for over 70 years, > until a prosperous halfling bought the blade, and brought it home to > Shireton, thinking he could have it reforged. > > Finding no one who could accomplish the task, the halfling put the sword > into a storage room and promptly forgot about it. Years later, one of his > descendants rediscovered it, and sold it to a collector of such things, who > was based in Darokin City. There, it was reforged in AC 966, and was kept > on display at the collector's house. The notable gnomish artisan of that > city, Skyler Burntratchet, acquired the sword at an estate sale in AC 989, > convinced that he was getting a good deal when he first saw it. It sat > undisturbed in his workshop since that time. > > Powers: > > Having been reforged twice, the sword is thrice-forged in total. As Narsím, > it was a normal sword +1, +3 vs. orcs. Its purpose, that of eradicating > orcs, was unknown to Ianos Thanopoulos, who used it against lizard men. > When reforged as Veritas, the sword was rededicated as weapon against pure > evil, but also against those unsavoury elements of fallen Mogreth which, > though largely forgotten, still plagued the region from time to time. In > this second incarnation it was a normal sword +1, +2 vs. servitors of the > Outer Beings (though this latter function was not specifically known, the > sword functioned in this manner in practice - the creators simply wanted it > to kill evil lizard men). While in the possession of Thorog, however, > Veritas reacquired its hatred for orcs, and was almost driven "mad" by the > experience. After its long period of neglect, the sword was reforged again, > as a normal sword +1, but some odd side-effects occurred. > > Whenever the wielder encounters orcs, or those whom he or she knows to serve > the Outer Beings, the sword will try to force its owner to draw it, and > strike. Although not "intelligent", it is self-aware to the extent that it > knows it has a distinguished history of fighting evil. When in the presence > of its designated foes, the sword "awakens", and acquires a lawful alignment > for the duration of the encounter. Thus, it does have an Ego (9), for a > total Willpower of 9. If handled by a wielder of a different alignment, it > will only damage them if wielded while "awake". > > Even while dormant, it tries to influence its wielder. When exposed to gems > or other baubles of value, it will try to use its Willpower to force its > owner to adorn it in an appropriate manner, but this influence only takes > the form of a subtle, but persistent urging to do so. > > > > > -- > Geoff Gander, BA 97 > Cartographer/Game Designer/Government Peon > Carnifex Loremaster > au998@freenet.carleton.ca : www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Realm/2091 > > ******************************************************************** > The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp > The Mystara Homepage: http://www.dnd.starflung.com/ > To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM > with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. > > ------------------------------ End of MYSTARA-L Digest - 10 Jan 2002 to 11 Jan 2002 (#2002-12) ***************************************************************