Subject: MYSTARA-L Digest - 6 Sep 2003 to 7 Sep 2003 (#2003-219) From: Automatic digest processor Date: 08/09/2003, 17:00 To: Recipients of MYSTARA-L digests Reply-to: Mystara RPG Discussion There are 8 messages totalling 800 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. (very long) Taymoran Timeline v. 2.2 (updated revision of Giampaolo's original) (4) 2. The Fall of Nithia - A tentative guideline (very long) (2) 3. Hollow World 3E (long) 4. (very long) Taymoran Timeline v. 2.2 (updated revision of Giampaolo's original) ******************************************************************** 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: Sun, 7 Sep 2003 12:03:34 +0200 From: =?iso-8859-1?q?la=20Volpe?= Subject: Re: (very long) Taymoran Timeline v. 2.2 (updated revision of Giampaolo's original) > It might be interesting to make > this one continous event, > starting at 1720 and lasting for 20 years. 20 years > of volcanoes and floods. > Very nasty. Ok. Here's the link to the map of Taymora in the XXth century BC. http://digilander.libero.it/agathokles/taymmap.htm Iulius Sergius Scaevola Captain of the XXth Cohort Port Lucinius, Thyatis ______________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Mail: 6MB di spazio gratuito, 30MB per i tuoi allegati, l'antivirus, il filtro Anti-spam http://it.yahoo.com/mail_it/foot/?http://it.mail.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Sep 2003 12:08:55 +0200 From: =?iso-8859-1?q?la=20Volpe?= Subject: Re: (very long) Taymoran Timeline v. 2.2 (updated revision of Giampaolo's original) > 1750 BC: Geological disasters-volcanic > eruptions and earthquakes, enhanced by the massive > magical energies invoked by the warring sorcerers- > sink most of the remaining Taymoran lands into the > sea, and splinter off much of the rest south of the > modern day lands of the Five Shires and the > Atruaghin > Clans. > > 1'720 BC: Land masses split further away, forming > ten > islands south of the Five Shires. > Taymoran remnants attempt to take over Meditor elves > in Colhador, are repelled. > > 1'700 BC: Cataclysms split land masses and ocean > floods create islands; Meditor elves are left on the > new-made Isles of Dread. > << > > After re-reading this It seem like all 3 of the > laste entries may be saying the > same thing. That would mean 50 years of volcanoes > and floods. >:-) Even > better. > > Do you see these as seperate events, or one long > continous event? The point is: the references to the "land masses splitting away" in the various gazetteers are not consistant with each other. Some say 1750, some 1720 and some 1700. I suppose we could say that there are geological instabilities, enhanced by the use of violent Taymoran magic, that recurrently hit the region for those 50 years. Personally I don't see them as one long event, but earhquakes and floods would be very common in those 50 years, and extremely violent. Giulio ______________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Mail: 6MB di spazio gratuito, 30MB per i tuoi allegati, l'antivirus, il filtro Anti-spam http://it.yahoo.com/mail_it/foot/?http://it.mail.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Sep 2003 12:19:59 +0200 From: Thibault Sarlat Subject: Re: (very long) Taymoran Timeline v. 2.2 (updated revision of Giampaolo's original) ok, i'll try to update the site so as to proide those maps your were refering to John... but Taymarian time maps are not commonly found anyway. if anyone has some, feel free to send them to me and i'll post them on my site with proper credits of course. Thibault Sarlat. ICQ 16622177. Personal homepage http://www.mystara.fr.st thibault.sarlat@wanadoo.fr ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Calvin" To: Sent: Sunday, September 07, 2003 4:35 AM Subject: Re: [MYSTARA] (very long) Taymoran Timeline v. 2.2 (updated revision of Giampaolo's original) > >> > 2000 BC: Some geological instabilities destroy some > peripherical areas of Taymora, sinking some areas and > creating new islands and land masses. Most Taymoran > cities survive, and the Kings foolishly continue their > wars. > > 1750 BC: Geological disasters-volcanic > eruptions and earthquakes, enhanced by the massive > magical energies invoked by the warring sorcerers- > sink most of the remaining Taymoran lands into the > sea, and splinter off much of the rest south of the > modern day lands of the Five Shires and the Atruaghin > Clans. > > 1'720 BC: Land masses split further away, forming ten > islands south of the Five Shires. > Taymoran remnants attempt to take over Meditor elves > in Colhador, are repelled. > > 1'700 BC: Cataclysms split land masses and ocean > floods create islands; Meditor elves are left on the > new-made Isles of Dread. > << > > Ok, I have 2 comments. One about the timeline and the other concerning maps. > Timeline first. > > As it stands now the 2 entries for 1720 and 1700 are a little confusing. > It seems like they are both saying the same thing. Land masses are split apart > and islands form. It might be interesting to make this one continous event, > starting at 1720 and lasting for 20 years. 20 years of volcanoes and floods. > Very nasty. > > Now for maps. I've looked on Thib's site for some maps, but wasn't able to > find what I wanted. What I'm looking for is: > > 1) Map of Brun pre-2000BC (before any land shifting cataclysim takes place). > 2) Map of Brun post-2000BC (after first Taymoran cataclysm). > 3) Map of Brun post-1750BC > > According to the timeline above the last of the land shifting cataclysms would > have ocured around 1720-1700BC leaving us with Brun as we know it. > > Does anybody have anything like this lying around on their hard disks, or know > of these maps lying around the net. I could have sworn that I saw a map > somewhere that showed the extent of the Taymoran empire, but can't remember > where. It's probably on Thib's site somehwere, but I just can't find it. > > -John > > ===== > Rule #85. > I will not use any plan in which the final step is horribly complicated, e.g. "Align > the 12 Stones of Power on the sacred altar then activate the medallion at the > moment of total eclipse." Instead it will be more along the lines of "Push the > button." > > from "A Guide to Becoming an Evil Overlord" by Peter Anspach > > __________________________________ > Do you Yahoo!? > Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software > http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com > > ******************************************************************** > 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: Sun, 7 Sep 2003 12:37:14 +0200 From: =?iso-8859-1?q?la=20Volpe?= Subject: The Fall of Nithia - A tentative guideline (very long) THE FALL OF NITHIA - A TENTATIVE GUIDELINE It is the year 500 BC. The Nithian Empire, having incurred Immortal dislike, abruptly ends; the Immortals alter the climate, divert the headwaters of the River Nithia, promote social unrest, deny magical powers to their clerics, and take other actions which cause the Empire to collapse catastrophically. The Immortals use magic to ensure that almost all trace of the Empire is wiped from the face of the Known World. The colonies are systematically destroyed - except for Thothia, which has already turned away from the Entropic Faith which led to the destruction of Nithia. The Spell of Oblivion is activated. This causes lots of knowledges to be lost, and many problems arise. As Nithia occupied many Known World regions (like Ierendi, parts of Thyatis, Ylaruam, parts of the Northern Reaches) in these countries their memory is almost erased from the mind of the population. The Spell of Oblivion also causes the remedies against lycanthropy to be forgotten. Modern lycantrhopy spreads through Mystara. (see "Treatise on Lycanthropy" by John Calvin for further details). ALFHEIM Situation: The elves had reached the Canolbarth Plains around 800 BC, led by the elven leader Mealiden. The Plains have by now become a mighty forest, and Mealiden has long since been acclaimed king of the elves. Relation to Nithia: Non existant. Elves are secluded in their forest and don't mingle with the affairs of humans and do not care about them. ALPHATIA Alphatians have been around for 500 years. They were the other great Empire around at the time, and they had many and prolific contacts with the Nithians. They are the main victims of the Spell of Oblivion, along with the Thotians. Some problems arise from this, like the afore-mentioned spreading of lycanthropy. Without memories of Nithia, or of how to control lycanthropy, Alphatia was beset with a horrible crisis. A terrible disease was infecting some of their most respected and influential citizens. The Alphatians tried their best to keep the disease contained, but it spread quickly throughout their lands and spilled over into the lands of other nations. The Alphatians end to believe that all the knowledges and relations with Nithians were in fact held with the Thotians. ATRUAGHIN Situation: Atruaghin has become an Immortal; the Viper Clan has already started worshipping Atzanteotl. The clans are very much similar to what they are nowadays. Relation to Nithia: ? BROKEN LANDS Already settled by humanoids. Probably no contact ever with Nithians, and anyway very little influence on the part of the Spell of Oblivion. DAROKIN Darokin is a mess. Orcs and humanoids may be found everywhere, and Doulakki city states like Akorros and Athenos are located in the west. In the Selenica area, some Traldar descended clans, cut off from their brethren for centuries, are being reached by Doulakki fleeing the Thyatian invaders and some time later by more friendly Kerendans. In the following centuries they will mingle and become the ancestors of modern Daros. ETHENGAR Largely similar to nowadays. FIVE SHIRES Situation: The Shires have been indipendent and free from their humanoid masters for more than a century, now. They have already established the divison of the land in five shires led each by a sheriff. GLANTRI Humanoids are present in the southern regions. No known civilization lives here at the time of Nithia's fall. IERENDI Situation: Malpheggi lizard-men are doomed to extinction and wage a savage war against the Nithians that occupied those islands. Most Nithians are killed before the Spell of Oblivion takes place. In the following years, the Malpheggi will soon die out. The Makai, freed of the Nithian slavery, start again living in the peaceful, contemplative manner of their ancestors. Relation to Nithia: Malpheggi die out, Makai forget everything about the Nithian colonization (reference from GAZ4 in which Makai remember of the strife between lizard men and Nithian should be dismissed). ISLE OF DAWN North: Alasyians that will soon leave under the pressure of the Dunael communities. West: Dunael East: Alphatians will step in to conquer the areas that were under the control of Nithia. Thotia: allies with Alphatia. (what does Thotians remember about Nithians?) Great Escarpement: ??? KARAMEIKOS Situation: The Traldar are in the midst of their Dark Age. Communication between communities is infrequent. Local dialects begin to differ widely. The national epic of King Halav is the only thing which gives the people a sense of unity. Linguistic changes are already advanced enough that the people consider themselves Traladarans, descendants of the Traldar, the people of King Halav. The elven Callarii clan already lives here, having stopped in the forests of Traladara during Mealiden's journey. Relation to Nithia: Almost non-existant. The only trace of Nithian memory was that the Traldar came from north-east, but this knowledge is already forgotten at the time of the destruction of Nithia. MILENIA Situation: Northern Davania is firmly in the hands of the Milenian Empire. Relation to Nithia: Milenians surely knew about the presence of Nithians, having halted their expansion in the southern continent (source: DotE and Hollow World, remember the presence of Nithian slave tribes). Probably the Spell meddles with their memories making them think that they repelled the Thyatians/Kerendans/Hattians and that it was them that had come to expand, forgetting the existance of their masters. MINROTHAD ? NORTHERN REACHES & HELDANN The Antalian tribes have become the Heldanners, the ancestors of modern Heldannics and Northmen. The Nithians had occupied their lands, but showed little interest. A few trading posts were established along the fjords, but many Northlanders' only connection with the Empire were when they or their kin were taken as slaves and transported south. When the Empire is destroyed, the few traces of Nithian culture fade within a decade. After 500 BC, the northern Heldanners live mostly peacefully, forming the freeholds, while the southern Heldanners, settled in the Northern Reaches areas, are at the mercy of giantish clans, and spend most time warring between each other. The gnomes living in the Falun Caverns are kicked out by the cobolds around 490 BC. PLAINS OF FIRE Situation: The Sheyallia elves are starting to cooperate with the Gruugrakh gnolls. The desert is home to several Urduk nomads. Relation to Nithia: Non-existant. Some Urduk tribe might have traded some goods or seen some Nithian merchant in the south, but the Spell of Oblivion has really little work to do here. ROCKHOME Situation: The dwarves are almost over with their 500 years long faida with the humanoids. Their definitive victory will take place in 492 BC at the Battle of Sardal Pass. Relation to Nithia: Dwarves have been too worried by humanoids to have many contacts with Nithians, although some trading could have been present. The Spell of Oblivion make the dwarves erroneously belive that the mighty Empire they traded with is just the same bunch of small tribes that they will trade with in the next centuries: Nithian Followers of Fire, Alasyian tribes, Heldanners and Northmen. GAZ6 explicitly says that Dwarves NEVER met Nithians, although I find it difficult to believe. SERPENT PENINSULA Situation: The racial conflicts between elves and Tanagoro are at their peak. In those years, the prophet and seer Yav, under the assumed identity of Mulogo, leaves with most Tanagoro toward the Arm of Immortals. He will take them back to the Serpent Peninsula about a century later. Relation to Nithia: ? SIND Situation: Sind is starting its descending parable into a number of small mumlykets in war with each other. The central government is not as weak as it will become in the following centuries. Relation to Nithia: Probably some trade, but the Spell of Oblivion doesn't have a big impact on the Sindhi way of life. THYATIS The lands of Thyatis were in part occupied by Nithians and in part by the Doulakki city-states. The Doulakki, greatly weakened by the Nithian dominance, are assaulted by the Thyatian tribes arrived from the south around 600 BC, and absorbed in the next 200 years. The warlike Thyatians start repelling Nithians too, until they are erased from the surface and the Spell of Oblivion takes place. Thyatian tribes invent lore of great battles against a vague foe, their history becomes confused due to the Spell, resulting in a variety of discrepancies and inaccuracies. YLARUAM Situation: Nithia is destroyed and all memory of it is erased from the surface. Some cities, not tainted by the evil of Entropic Immortals, has already been transplanted to the Hollow World. In the following years, the Alasyians of the northern Isle of Dawn (a race of Taymoran descendents who had originally settled here around 1'600 BC), free of the Nithians, find themselves increasingly menaced by the other races of the Isle of Dawn, so they start leaving westwards, toward their "ancestral lands" (they remember their slavery to Nithians in this way thanks to the Spell of Oblivion). By 400 BC, all traces of Alasyians on the Isle of Dawn are gone. The Alasyians withdraw to desert basins and establish a nomadic culture. A small group of fire-worshipping Nithians remain in Ylaruam. ______________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Mail: 6MB di spazio gratuito, 30MB per i tuoi allegati, l'antivirus, il filtro Anti-spam http://it.yahoo.com/mail_it/foot/?http://it.mail.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Sep 2003 14:21:13 +0300 From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Harri_M=E4ki?= Subject: Re: (very long) Taymoran Timeline v. 2.2 (updated revision of Giampaolo's original) la Volpe kirjoitti 07.09.2003 kello 13:08: > > 1750 BC: Geological disasters-volcanic > > eruptions and earthquakes, enhanced by the massive > > magical energies invoked by the warring sorcerers- > > sink most of the remaining Taymoran lands into the > > sea, and splinter off much of the rest south of the > > modern day lands of the Five Shires and the > > Atruaghin > > Clans. > > > > 1'720 BC: Land masses split further away, forming > > ten > > islands south of the Five Shires. > > Taymoran remnants attempt to take over Meditor elves > > in Colhador, are repelled. > > > > 1'700 BC: Cataclysms split land masses and ocean > > floods create islands; Meditor elves are left on the > > new-made Isles of Dread. > > << > > > > After re-reading this It seem like all 3 of the > > laste entries may be saying the > > same thing. That would mean 50 years of volcanoes > > and floods. >:-) Even > > better. > > > > Do you see these as seperate events, or one long > > continous event? > =20 You can also make this as three separate bigger events. First in 1750 BC th= ere is huge split greating a big island consisting all the nowadays islands= of Ierendi and Minrothad. Then in 1720 BC westernd end of this island is d= estroyed creating the islands of Ierendi, eastern end still stays as one is= land. In 1700 BC this eastern island shatters creating the Minrothad isles.= =20 What you think about that. Harri ............................................................ Maksuton s=E4hk=F6posti aina k=E4yt=F6ss=E4 http://luukku.com Kuukausimaksuton MTV3 Internet-liittym=E4 www.mtv3.fi/liittyma ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Sep 2003 10:54:22 -0700 From: Rodger Burns Subject: Hollow World 3E (long) Hey, all! Fairly new here, but jumping in feet first. Thought I'd share my latest campaign project and ask for some feedback. What I've most recently decided to run with is an alternate Hollow World setting, run with 3E rules... and stuck inside an alternate version of our own Earth, circa early 20th century AD. (Hopefully none of my players are on this list. But then again, if they know enough about Mystara to be on this list, I'm probably not going to get enough mileage out of the Hollow World's surprises anyway. So might as well spill the beans early. ^_^) Because of the fact that the outer world is 'modern', I get to ditch a few of the existing HW quirks - most notably the general difficulty in learning magic and the list of unknown spells. The PCs have gunpowder and modern firearms; that's their edge. They don't *need* to be the only ones in the world who can cast _Sleep_, or discover several levels in that nobody in the HW can teach them _Fireball_. So the HW cultures IMC are quite a bit more magically inclined all around. (A few of the cultures change drastically IMC - for instance, the Icevale Elves are now fire-worshippers, and have a good helping of priests and sorcerors dedicated to fire magic.) OTOH, the drawbacks in the low technology level of the HW cultures are going to be played up as a counterbalance. (I'd go into detail on how gunpowder and firearms work IMC, but that's not Mystara.) As for Cultural Weapons and Armor and Special Compensations, I'm handling those in terms of the Feat rules in 3E. Basically, the Cultural Weapons and Armor restrictions cause starting characters to *lose* proficiency feats normally granted to them by their class; in return, they receive cultural-specific feats. This is generally a one-to-one tradeoff - Fighters and Paladins, who lose more access to heavy weapons and armor, generally get more compensation feats than Sorcerors or Monks do. An example, from the Antalians: - Cultural weapons and armor remain unchanged from the HW Player's Guide. A starting Antalian character has no proficiency with the Scimitar - even if he'd normally be able to use Martial weapons - and must spend a feat slot on Weapon Proficiency later on to learn how to use one. Likewise, no Antalian character has proficiency with Heavy armor. - Antalian wizards get no bonus feats in compensation for the cultural restrictions. They aren't exactly losing much, after all. - Barbarians, bards, druids, monks, rangers, rogues, and sorcerors lose access to several types of weapons. They gain Skill Focus (Climb) as a bonus feat. - Clerics, fighters, and paladins lose access both to several types of weapons and also to heavy armor. They gain Skill Focus (Climb) and Skill Focus (Jump) as bonus feats. Because of how the Feat rules work, the in-game rules for cultural bias and the associated penalties go away, completely. A native of the HW who leaves home and goes adventuring effectively has no cultural bias, can learn to use whatever weapons and armor she wants, and never loses her cultural-specific bonus feats. But to learn to use outsider weapons and armor requires spending feats on Weapon Proficiency, instead of Expertise or metamagic. And staying within the bounds of your culture is encouraged, and worth an RP bonus. I've also rounded out the rest of the HW map with cultures from all over, just so that I can provide a pat answer if the players ask a passing seacaptain about the peoples of Jomphur, or decide to take a wild trip over to Aerical. About half of them have been snatched wholeheartedly from KW locations (and so won't be inflicted on the list), but a few are new. I can start posting descriptions/writeups if people are interested. "The best lack all conviction, While the worst are full of passionate intensity." - W.B. Yeats, "The Second Coming" Rodger Burns ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Sep 2003 21:28:24 -0700 From: John Calvin Subject: Re: (very long) Taymoran Timeline v. 2.2 (updated revision of Giampaolo's original) >> Here's the link to the map of Taymora in the XXth century BC. http://digilander.libero.it/agathokles/taymmap.htm << Ahh. Thank you. This is just what I was looking for. >> ok, i'll try to update the site so as to proide those maps your were refering to John... but Taymarian time maps are not commonly found anyway. if anyone has some, feel free to send them to me and i'll post them on my site with proper credits of course. << That would be very cool Thibault. Thanks. By the way, the link for James' map wasn't working for me though. I wonder if it's gone now. If anyone has it around on a hard disk somewhere I'd like to check it out as well. Maybe someone will send it to Thib? -John ===== Rule #85. I will not use any plan in which the final step is horribly complicated, e.g. "Align the 12 Stones of Power on the sacred altar then activate the medallion at the moment of total eclipse." Instead it will be more along the lines of "Push the button." from "A Guide to Becoming an Evil Overlord" by Peter Anspach __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 7 Sep 2003 22:15:57 -0700 From: John Calvin Subject: The Fall of Nithia - A tentative guideline (very long) >> THE FALL OF NITHIA - A TENTATIVE GUIDELINE << Hey Giulio, I like this. I have some comments below: >> ALFHEIM Situation: The elves had reached the Canolbarth Plains around 800 BC, led by the elven leader Mealiden. The Plains have by now become a mighty forest, and Mealiden has long since been acclaimed king of the elves. Relation to Nithia: Non existant. Elves are secluded in their forest and don't mingle with the affairs of humans and do not care about them. << I'm not so sure about this. One of the theories for the growth of the Canolbarth was that the elves were "stealing water" from the Ylaruam area. If we assume that this is true, then why? One explination might be that the elves were persuaded to fight against the corrupted Nithians by their patron immortals. Remember that Nithia's corruption did not happen over night, so there would have been ample time for this sort of magical warefare to ocure. Once Nithia vanishes however, the elves forget all about it. This may be one reason why maintaining the Canolbarth is so hard for the invading Shadow Elves in later years. They don't really understand that the magic that created the Canolbarth Forest was really designed as a weapon. This makes it hard for them to reproduce its effects. >> BROKEN LANDS Already settled by humanoids. Probably no contact ever with Nithians, and anyway very little influence on the part of the Spell of Oblivion. << I'd dispute the "probably no contact" part, although in the long run I don't think it makes any difference. In the centuries previous (starting around 1000BC) the humanoids occupied large tracts of the Known World (Atraughin, the Shires). At some point they must have fought over this land with the dwarves (which might account for the strong enmity between those two races - but's that's another timeline ;) ). I can't believe that they would not have had skirmishes with the Nithians as well. Having said that, I think you're right that the Spell of Oblivion would have had little impact on them. The memory of the humanoids is short enough already. Who cares if they forgot about one of their (many) enemies. On the other hand, this might also explain why they hate dwarves so much. Since they never remember fighting the Nithians, they assume that all of their previous battles (and losses) were against te dwarves... ?? Just a thought. Perhaps something better explored in the 1000BC campaign timeline though. >> MINROTHAD ? << I agree. There has to be a major impact on this nation since it was founded as a Nithian colony (in 1100 BC). The timeline for Minrothad is really sparse here though (jumping from 1100 BC to 0 AC). Well, that's 600 years of Nithian control, so Minrothad was probably more than a Nithian colony in 500 BC. My bet is that a majority of the population is wiped out (due to corruption), and the rest is left in utter turmoil. Minrothad in 500 BC is probably not a safe place to visit. >> THYATIS The lands of Thyatis were in part occupied by Nithians and in part by the Doulakki city-states. The Doulakki, greatly weakened by the Nithian dominance, are assaulted by the Thyatian tribes arrived from the south around 600 BC, and absorbed in the next 200 years. The warlike Thyatians start repelling Nithians too, until they are erased from the surface and the Spell of Oblivion takes place. Thyatian tribes invent lore of great battles against a vague foe, their history becomes confused due to the Spell, resulting in a variety of discrepancies and inaccuracies. << I kind of like the idea that the Nithians came down hard on the Thyatians after their initial invasion of the land. Remember, the Nithians at this time are corrupted by dark forces, so they are probably pretty nasty folks. The Thyatians would be caught in a hard place now. They can't return home to their ancestral lands (they were driven out by the Millineans), and the Nithians are starting to crush their forces and make them into slaves, or worse yet feed them to unspeakable evils. The Thyatians of this time would be little more than cornered and desperate animals. The SoO literally saves them in the nick of time...however theire experience with the Nithinas changes the Thyatians (even though they don't remember it specifically). They start to organize more. They become more militaristic. Perhaps they tell tails of an evil enemy who is sure to return (perhaps mistaking the Alphatians for such when they show up). This mindset will serve them well in the years to come as they fight for their freedom against the Alphers. -John ===== Rule #85. I will not use any plan in which the final step is horribly complicated, e.g. "Align the 12 Stones of Power on the sacred altar then activate the medallion at the moment of total eclipse." Instead it will be more along the lines of "Push the button." from "A Guide to Becoming an Evil Overlord" by Peter Anspach __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com ------------------------------ End of MYSTARA-L Digest - 6 Sep 2003 to 7 Sep 2003 (#2003-219) **************************************************************