Subject: MYSTARA-L Digest - 6 Oct 2003 to 7 Oct 2003 (#2003-243) From: Automatic digest processor Date: 08/10/2003, 18:00 To: Recipients of MYSTARA-L digests Reply-to: Mystara RPG Discussion There are 8 messages totalling 467 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. About the Almanac (2) 2. Kubittes and Garganthuax (6) ******************************************************************** 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: Tue, 7 Oct 2003 03:22:59 -0700 From: Herve Musseau Subject: Re: About the Almanac > From: "David Keyser" > The advantage of the net Almanacs over printed materials is that you can always > go back and fix things easily, and just release it as a new rev. yes, although it is more work than you may think, perhaps, considering that we publish it in several versions. > In fact, nothing stops you from adding more stuff to earlier years either, has > anyone ever considered doing that? argh, you want to kill me or what? of course it's a nice idea, but you know time-traveling... very boggling. It's not always easy to remember what was in the previous almanacs, so if we go back and change them... It is, however, entirely possible for anyone who wishes to do so. There are some almanacs out there that use the MA as their underlying framework, and add or alter what the DM wishes to change either as a preference or due to the PCs' actions. ===== ___________________________________________________________ Herve Musseau http://www.geocities.com/hmusseau/ __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search http://shopping.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Oct 2003 14:44:21 +0200 From: =?iso-8859-1?q?Havard=20Faanes?= Subject: Kubittes and Garganthuax Kubittes and Garganthuax Kubittes, Creator of the Kubitts. He was one of the first generation of Alphatians born on Mystara. He had studied the Nithian Scholars, and was in particular interested in their lore of creating new races, such as their experimentation on goblinoids resulting in the creation of the Gnoll race. Through this knowledge he was successfully able to create a race of miniature humans, through experimentation on slaves. With the destruction of Nithia, since the Kubitts were a result of Nithian Lore and because some immortals (In Particular…who??? Faunus?), had taken a liking to these creatures, the Kubitts were transplanted into the Hollow World. This left Kubittes somewhat confused, but by this time, even though the knowledge of Nithia was wiped from his mind, his research had now lead him to knowledge beyond that and he was still the leading sage of Creature Creation in Alphatia. Now, nearly a thousand years old, Kubittes was contacted by the Immortal creature Nephele, who thousands of years before this had, with the help of Ixion, created the Centaur race. With the aid of Nephele, Kubittes was able to undertake his greatest experiment, creating the Pegataur race. Using captured Pegataurs and imprisoned Shyie Elves, he created a new breed of winged Centaurs. Pegataurs believe that Nephele in this way perfected the Centaur race, but Centaurs simply laugh at this thought. Both races honor Nephele as their creator. Kubittes disappeared not long after this, taking with him most of his research. His true fate is unknown. But this enforced common Alphatian belief that even with their youth-giving magic, it is impossible to live beyond much more than a thousand years. Garganthuax Garganthuax was born around the time of the Known World rebellion against Alphatia, leading up to the Crowning of the First Emperor of Thyatis. A pure-blooded Alphatian, Garganthuax rose to become a powerful wizard. He became fascinated with the lore passed down to Alphatian wizards by the legendary Kubittes, and he eventually was able to recover some old scrolls from the old master. Garganthuax sought to reverse the process Kubittes had used when he created the Kubitts. He wanted to created armies of giants which would give him world dominance. Eventually, he became obsessed with creating huge monsters, spreading them throughout the world. Some, he left in stasis, so they could wake up at a later point to remind the world of his terror. By now, Garganthuax’s madness had made him a renegade, even among Alphatians and he was forced to flee the Empire. He was known now only as The Gargantua, from the monsters he created. What happened next is only known to a few. Garganthuax, forced into exile, found himself stranded on one of the islands of the Thanegioth Archipelago. There, in true villain-style, he built himself a laboratory in a dormant volcano. While wandering around the island, Garganthuax discovered a strange skeleton, of some ancient prehistoric beast. He became fascinated with this creature, from an age where gigantic lizards ruled the face of Mystara, and decided that he would try and bring it back to life. In the following months, he discovered more such skeletons of various creatures. But restoring life to the giants was not easy, even with Garganthuax’s skill. Through the months he had been living on the island, he had been studying its nature and gotten to know the various creatures living there. The native humans feared him, like some pagan god, but preferred to stay away from him, although some, Garganthuax suspected, secretly worshipped him. In the waters surrounding the island and in watery caves deep below the island, there lived another race, the dark Kopru. Garganthuax learned much from these creatures, and it was they who gave him the idea of using human sacrifice to resurrect the dinosaurs. During the next century, the dinosaurs began taking back the island, which was now known only as the Isle of Dread. Garganthuax also used the other nearby islands for similar experiments. It is believed that Garganthuax was eventually discovered and confronted by the adventurer and legendary sailor Captain Rory “Barbarossa” Redbeard. Captain Redbeard’s death in a Traladaran port months later may be connected with this encounter. Others believe that Redbeard faked his death and is still secretly working to rid the world of the insane wizard Garganthuax. Whether Garganthuax still remains on Dread Island or whether he has left his old laboratories behind is unknown. If the mad alchemist is still alive, he is older than any known wizard on Mystara, and must have found some new way to keep himself alive, although this may not be beyond his capability. Notes: The Kubitts were first mentioned in the Hollow World boxed set, as the creation of an Alphatian wizard. The Pegataurs were described as created by Alphatian wizards in the Dawn of the Emperors, boxed set. Garganthuax, under the name of Gargantua was first mentioned in the D&D Companion Rules as the creator of the Gargantua Troll and similar creatures. Captain Rory Barbarossa was first mentioned in X1 The Isle of Dread, which details the island, the Kopru, the Dinosaurs, the Natives, and Rory’s journey there and his death in Specularum. Andrew Theisen described in another project how Barbarossa was the discoverer of the islands south of the Isle of Dawn. ______________________________________________________ Få den nye Yahoo! Messenger på http://no.messenger.yahoo.com/ Nye ikoner og bakgrunner, webkamera med superkvalitet og dobbelt så morsom ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Oct 2003 09:54:39 -0400 From: Chris Cherrington Subject: Re: Kubittes and Garganthuax Mad scientist/wizard with gargantuan t-rexes? <> What other gargantuan nasties available in the nearby waters? Gargantuan Dragon Turtle? Gargantuan Dragon Tortoise? Gargantuan Mammoth? No wonder there are so many earthquakes on that island. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Oct 2003 16:13:04 +0200 From: =?iso-8859-1?q?Havard=20Faanes?= Subject: Re: Kubittes and Garganthuax --- Chris Cherrington skrev: > Mad scientist/wizard with gargantuan t-rexes? > <> You got it! :D The wizard Gargantua was always around since the time of OD&D. I thought i'd try my take on making this character into a real Mystara character instead of just an old joke. Also, am I the only one who get these Savage Land associations when Im thinking about the Isle of Dread? > What other gargantuan nasties available in the > nearby waters? Gargantuan Dragon Turtle? > Gargantuan Dragon Tortoise? Gargantuan Mammoth? No > wonder there are so many earthquakes on that island. Absolutely! I remember in my early D&D days when a friend of mine invented a Gargantuan Were T-rex..... Seriously though, Garganthuax was probably happy when he brought those dinosaurs to life. He seems to be obsessed with making things big. What wouldn't Freud give to psychoanalyze this guy? The GM might want to put a limit to how many gargantuan creatures he wants in his campaign, but I think this gives a good explaination to why the Isle of Dread is a Lost World(TM)... Håvard ______________________________________________________ Få den nye Yahoo! Messenger på http://no.messenger.yahoo.com/ Nye ikoner og bakgrunner, webkamera med superkvalitet og dobbelt så morsom ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Oct 2003 13:32:17 -0400 From: Chris Cherrington Subject: Re: Kubittes and Garganthuax I also belief that somewhere on that island exists a gargantuan gorilla, given the whole natives and giant wall theme of King Kong. Remember those old Godzilla and Mothra movies? Other islands could be inhabited by other weirder experiments gone haywire. What was that Val Kilmer and Marlon Brando flick of intelligent animal people? That would be a better explantation of the rakasta on the Isle, an actual new species, instead of primatized rakasta. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Oct 2003 13:37:22 -0400 From: Geoff Gander Subject: Re: About the Almanac Herve wrote: I think an errata file might be a reasonable course of action here, but if there is not too much in the way of corrections, we might reissue the Atlas. In the meantime, I would encourage anyone out there who has read through the Atlas to let us know if anything else slipped through that shouldn't have. Geoff -- 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: Tue, 7 Oct 2003 11:17:47 -0700 From: Rodger Burns Subject: Re: Kubittes and Garganthuax Havard Faanes wrote on October 07, 2003: > > Kubittes and Garganthuax > > Kubittes, Creator of the Kubitts. > He was one of the first generation of Alphatians born > on Mystara. He had studied the Nithian Scholars, and > was in particular interested in their lore of creating > new races, such as their experimentation on goblinoids > resulting in the creation of the Gnoll race. Through > this knowledge he was successfully able to create a > race of miniature humans, through experimentation on > slaves. With the destruction of Nithia, since the > Kubitts were a result of Nithian Lore and because some > immortals (In Particular…who??? Faunus?), had taken a > liking to these creatures, the Kubitts were > transplanted into the Hollow World. Um. There's established history on the Kubitts' creation already. They were created around AY 1050, by an Alphatian wizard named Korubazunth. He created them to be a race of spies and assassins, and was their first victim. (See the HW DM's Sourcebook, page 57.) =/ Now, I'm as much a fan of making a good story and linking different campaign elements as much as anyone, but I also believe that drastically rewriting established history to do so is going a bit too far. Besides, this junks one of the only pieces of unique history the Kubitts have, and makes them a lot less dark and edgy. (IMC, the fact that Kubitts were created as a mad wizard's assassins is played to the hilt - Thanatos and Hel have taken a strong interest in them from the beginning, and Alphaks has also started meddling with them in the last few centuries or so.) > This left Kubittes somewhat confused, but by this > time, even though the knowledge of Nithia was wiped > from his mind, his research had now lead him to > knowledge beyond that and he was still the leading > sage of Creature Creation in Alphatia. Now, nearly a > thousand years old, Kubittes was contacted by the > Immortal creature Nephele, who thousands of years > before this had, with the help of Ixion, created the > Centaur race. With the aid of Nephele, Kubittes was > able to undertake his greatest experiment, creating > the Pegataur race. Using captured Pegataurs and > imprisoned Shyie Elves, he created a new breed of > winged Centaurs. Pegataurs believe that Nephele in > this way perfected the Centaur race, but Centaurs > simply laugh at this thought. Both races honor Nephele > as their creator. Kubittes disappeared not long after > this, taking with him most of his research. His true > fate is unknown. But this enforced common Alphatian > belief that even with their youth-giving magic, it is > impossible to live beyond much more than a thousand > years. Hmmm. This origin story makes me kind of twitch a bit - probably because the original recipients of the pegataur-creation magic were unwilling. Given my druthers, I'd probably prefer a setting in which a band of breakaway Shiye elves pulled themselves into the pegataur creation process, under Nephele's sponsorship and with Alphatian help. (Here's a thought: link the pegataurs to the *nucklavee*, the evil death-dealing centauroids. If the nucklavee were first created in Blackheart around AY 1000, and Nephele decided to create a new race to oppose them...) > > Garganthuax > Garganthuax was born around the time of the Known > World rebellion against Alphatia, leading up to the > Crowning of the First Emperor of Thyatis. A > pure-blooded Alphatian, Garganthuax rose to become a > powerful wizard. He became fascinated with the lore > passed down to Alphatian wizards by the legendary > Kubittes, and he eventually was able to recover some > old scrolls from the old master. Garganthuax sought to > reverse the process Kubittes had used when he created > the Kubitts. He wanted to created armies of giants > which would give him world dominance. Hmmm. This gets messed up a bit if we use the established creation date for the Kubitts... but the change might work even better. Have Garganthuax be an apprentice researcher working with Korubazunth, one who barely survived the Kubitts' rebellion, and you've got an excellent explanation for his obsession, at least for the first century or so. (That, and I've got this sneaking idea for a storyline revolving around one particularly nasty Gargantua created specifically to roam the world, seeking out the Kubitts and eradicating 'those murderous vermin'. Gargantuan Beholder, maybe. ^_^) > Eventually, he > became obsessed with creating huge monsters, spreading > them throughout the world. Some, he left in stasis, so > they could wake up at a later point to remind the > world of his terror. By now, Garganthuax’s madness had > made him a renegade, even among Alphatians and he was > forced to flee the Empire. It's entirely possible that they exiled him because he was poking around the Alphatian Behemoth, waaay down in the dark underneath Alphatia. "Kick that crazy archmage out, or move *everything* in the Empire a good half-mile back from the coast" would probably be an easy choice to make, even for Alphatians! :) > He was known now only as > The Gargantua, from the monsters he created. What > happened next is only known to a few. Garganthuax, > forced into exile, found himself stranded on one of > the islands of the Thanegioth Archipelago. There, in > true villain-style, he built himself a laboratory in a > dormant volcano. While wandering around the island, > Garganthuax discovered a strange skeleton, of some > ancient prehistoric beast. He became fascinated with > this creature, from an age where gigantic lizards > ruled the face of Mystara, and decided that he would > try and bring it back to life. In the following > months, he discovered more such skeletons of various > creatures. But restoring life to the giants was not > easy, even with Garganthuax’s skill. Through the > months he had been living on the island, he had been > studying its nature and gotten to know the various > creatures living there. The native humans feared him, > like some pagan god, but preferred to stay away from > him, although some, Garganthuax suspected, secretly > worshipped him. In the waters surrounding the island > and in watery caves deep below the island, there lived > another race, the dark Kopru. Garganthuax learned much > from these creatures, and it was they who gave him the > idea of using human sacrifice to resurrect the > dinosaurs. During the next century, the dinosaurs > began taking back the island, which was now known only > as the Isle of Dread. Garganthuax also used the other > nearby islands for similar experiments. It is > believed that Garganthuax was eventually discovered > and confronted by the adventurer and legendary sailor > Captain Rory “Barbarossa” Redbeard. Captain Redbeard’s > death in a Traladaran port months later may be > connected with this encounter. Others believe that > Redbeard faked his death and is still secretly working > to rid the world of the insane wizard Garganthuax. > Whether Garganthuax still remains on Dread Island or > whether he has left his old laboratories behind is > unknown. If the mad alchemist is still alive, he is > older than any known wizard on Mystara, and must have > found some new way to keep himself alive, although > this may not be beyond his capability. Sooooo... how does this link in to the Mystaran Almanac stuff, in which Gargantua is still alive and setting gargantuan green dragons loose on Norwold as of AC 1018? =/ The 'new' Gargantua might be Garganthuax, or might be a clone or other duplicate running around causing chaos (the normal restriction against having a clone and an original present on the same plane bypassed with the help of Entropic magic, perhaps), or just a student or imitator running around causing trouble. > > Notes: > The Kubitts were first mentioned in the Hollow World > boxed set, as the creation of an Alphatian wizard. > The Pegataurs were described as created by Alphatian > wizards in the Dawn of the Emperors, boxed set. > Garganthuax, under the name of Gargantua was first > mentioned in the D&D Companion Rules as the creator of > the Gargantua Troll and similar creatures. > Captain Rory Barbarossa was first mentioned in X1 The > Isle of Dread, which details the island, the Kopru, > the Dinosaurs, the Natives, and Rory’s journey there > and his death in Specularum. Andrew Theisen described > in another project how Barbarossa was the discoverer > of the islands south of the Isle of Dawn. > > ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 7 Oct 2003 21:13:37 -0500 From: Ron Rogers Subject: Re: Kubittes and Garganthuax Rodger Burns wrote: > Hmmm. This gets messed up a bit if we use the established creation date for > the Kubitts... but the change might work even better. Have Garganthuax be > an apprentice researcher working with Korubazunth, one who barely survived > the Kubitts' rebellion, and you've got an excellent explanation for his > obsession, at least for the first century or so. > > (That, and I've got this sneaking idea for a storyline revolving around one > particularly nasty Gargantua created specifically to roam the world, seeking > out the Kubitts and eradicating 'those murderous vermin'. Gargantuan > Beholder, maybe. ^_^) No, the first Kubitt hunting Gargantua should be a moth. And two female Kubitt wizards should figure out a way to control the moth with magical songs. Then the mad wizard sends different monstrosities to destroy the Kubitts and they use their "Motsura" to fight against them. You could also have the Kubitts invent their own "transforming gargantoids" to be able to fight more effectively against the large cratures. Since the Kubitt military is predominately female, the pilots of thses mecha, I mean gargantoids, would be female as well. Yeah, an all female band of gargantoid pilots, that's an original idea. ;-) Ron Rogers ------------------------------ End of MYSTARA-L Digest - 6 Oct 2003 to 7 Oct 2003 (#2003-243) **************************************************************