Subject: MYSTARA-L Digest - 27 Jan 2003 to 28 Jan 2003 (#2003-29) From: Automatic digest processor Date: 29/01/2003, 19:00 To: Recipients of MYSTARA-L digests Reply-to: Mystara RPG Discussion There are 14 messages totalling 1171 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Lycanthropy, Taymora & Nithia (long) (3) 2. Introduction to the Revised Taymoran Timeline (2) 3. Revised Taymoran Timeline (including Rise of Nithia) (3) 4. More thoughts on X10 (2) 5. Repeated request for ESD maps (3) 6. Testing, Testing, Ftaghn... ******************************************************************** 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, 28 Jan 2003 09:46:40 +0100 From: =?iso-8859-1?q?la=20Volpe?= Subject: Re: Lycanthropy, Taymora & Nithia (long) > I'm not averse to > changing the date here from 2000 to 1750 (or 1700). > I don't think it makes a > difference. If that will help your timeline Giulio, > then consider it done. > Anybody else have any thought on this matter? Uhm...the point is this: we have currently three works dealing with the lycanthropy/Taymora situation: 1) "A treatise on Lycanthropy" by John Calvin 2) "Taymora" by Giampaolo Agosta 3) "Ethnographic History of Mystara" I would simply suggest to make the three works coherent. I am thinking on it. Soon I'll send a post with a timeline on the destruction of Taymora. ===== Iulius Sergius Scaevola Captain of the XXth Cohort Port Lucinius, Thyatis "We poor few forged as brothers in this furnace will emerge as the steel of future generations" -- from "Legionary's Prayers", by Ionaos Nolan ______________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Cellulari: loghi, suonerie, picture message per il tuo telefonino http://it.yahoo.com/mail_it/foot/?http://it.mobile.yahoo.com/index2002.html ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Jan 2003 11:04:07 +0100 From: =?iso-8859-1?q?la=20Volpe?= Subject: Introduction to the Revised Taymoran Timeline I have re-written the Taymoran Timeline by Giampaolo Agosta, taking in consideration all the informations provided by John Calvin in regard to the geological instabilities of southern Brun in the 2000-1500 BC years. Moreover I have taken a look at James Mishler's timeline, although I haven't figured out how to include it in the work. I have made some significative change to Giampaolo's work, finding a compromise between what he has written in the Taymoran Timeline and what I had devised for the Ethnography. I'll soon provide to Shawn an update of the Ethnography taking in consideration the change for the origin of the Nithians. For those who are interested: originally, Agathokles wrote that the Nithians were already present in Ylaruam when the Taymorans rose. In the Ethnography, however, we had written that the Nithians arrived there only in 1700 BC. The original population of Ylaruam were the Trantalians, Antalian related clans among whom were the Traldar, later conquered by the Nithians. The compromise I worked out is to have the Nithians arrive in Ylaruam around 2000 BC. The informations referring to Nithians BEFORE 2000 BC are now referred to the Trantalians. The piece where the Nithians begin to call Taymora "Land of the Dead" has been put around 1'850 BC. I'll put this in the Ethnography soon. The compromise on the destruction of Taymora has been: 2000 BC first cataclysm, most of Taymora sinks but some parts remain, wars between Nosferatu and Vampires go on, geological problems ravage the lands. Taymorans in decline enter in contact with newly established Nithian culture, then new geological disasters enhanced by magic and all of Taymoran culture is obliterated (1'750 BC). Read the next post for the complete Timeline. Let me know what you think. ===== Iulius Sergius Scaevola Captain of the XXth Cohort Port Lucinius, Thyatis "We poor few forged as brothers in this furnace will emerge as the steel of future generations" -- from "Legionary's Prayers", by Ionaos Nolan ______________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Cellulari: loghi, suonerie, picture message per il tuo telefonino http://it.yahoo.com/mail_it/foot/?http://it.mobile.yahoo.com/index2002.html ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Jan 2003 11:07:42 +0100 From: =?iso-8859-1?q?la=20Volpe?= Subject: Revised Taymoran Timeline (including Rise of Nithia) TIMELINE OF TAYMORA (including Rise of Nithia) 2'800 BC: The surviving Thonians on southern Brun start rebuilding their civilisation, though most of their technological lore is lost. For the next three centuries, they remain isolated from neighbouring cultures. 2'500 BC: Survivors of the Thonian colonies resurface as the Taymorans, a people with bronze age technology among stone age Azcans, Maharians and Trantalians. Most of the Maharian tribes are conquered and assimilated by the Taymorans. Taymoran humans establish bronze age kingdoms in modern southern Darokin, Five Shires, Undersea, eastern Ierendi, and perhaps Minrothad. Most of the eastern Maharian tribes are conquered and assimilated by the Taymorans. Exceptions: Makai (western Ierendi) and those who flee south (eventually to become Varellyans). Taymorans have good metalworking techniques and rich mines of copper and other metals useable for the production of bronze. Probably, they also have rich gold mines. The knowledge of metalworking and other surpring technological and social advancements were preserved during the Great Rain of Fire age by a cadre of Nosferatu followers of Nyx, who allow the Taymoran priesthood of Nyx - who is considered a mother goddess and a protector against the dangers of "light" by the earliest Taymorans - to access this knowledge and establish a power base for themselves. Dunharians and Skandaharians of the Nithian areas are at very early bronze age technology, or perhaps at aeneolithic technology--they have copper and perhaps silver, but no other easily accessed metals. 2'400 BC: The Taymorans use their magic and knowledge of metallurgy to establish a number of trade routes to the west (with Azcans and Huleans) and north (to the newly created Antalian holdings in Heldann). The Antalian culture is now at a Bronze Age development stage in Norwold, thanks to its contacts with the Taymorans through the Streel trade route. 2'350 BC: Taymoran leaders, who are by now mostly priests of Nyx and necromantic wizards, start joining the ranks of the undead, under the tutelage of the original Nosferatu. 2'300 BC: Dunharians fleeing the Skandaharians reach the Isle of Dawn. These become the Dunael. One of the main clans of Skandaharians, known as the Nantalians, follow the Dunharian tribes to the Isle of Dawn. 2'250 BC: The Sheyallia elves reach Taymora. The local Necromancer Kings offer them the lands to the east of their nation, provided that they help opening new trade routes. Elven mercenary companies, armed with Taymoran bronze weaponry, invade the giant-held forests and mountains. They open up the trade routes to nowadays Ylaruam. 2'200 BC: Height of the Taymoran power. Taymoran city-states dot the southern coast. Giantish clans (Fomorians) brought to submission by the joined Taymoran - Sheyallia operations are employed to build megalithic fortresses in Taymora. Silver start flooding the cashes of the Taymoran necromancer kings. Some northern Nosferatu leaders send missions to Hule and beyond, in an attempt to expand their territory. Meanwhile, southern kings send naval expeditions east, to the Isle of Dawn. They attempt to establish colonies, but they are repelled by hostile Giants, Elves, and Humans (Dunael). The Dunharians and Skandaharians of Ylaruam and Thyatis have become a new population, known as Trantalians. Taymora becomes known as the Land of the Dead, or the Land of the Night, among the Trantalians. This is due to its western position, but also to its Undead ruling caste. The elven migrations reach Glantri. The Verdier, Meditor, and Vyalia clans (from the Sheyallia nation) settle the forests to the east of Taymora as vassals to various eastern Taymoran kings. The Nantalian tribes are losing ground to the Dunael. Desperate, they ally themselves with the local Oltec cities, who are in trouble as well. They form a new population, known as Nithians. 2'100 BC: Various necromancer kings develop special servant races, like the albarendi and the lycanthropes (they follow one of the beliefs of their patroness, Nyx, who likes creating new races, especially ones accustomed to a night-based activity cycle). The region now known as Ylaruam is a verdant region of grasses. Southern areas are in control of the Taymoran Empire. Northern areas are settled by Trantalian and Thantalian clans (Neathar tribes related to the Antalians). 2'000 BC: Trantalians, Thantalians and Oltec barbarians cut the trade routes to Antalian lands. The northern Taymoran kings use Malpheggi and Azcan mercenaries in an attempt to reopen the Streel river route, with mixed success. A number of kings try to increase their power by shifting their allegiance from Nyx to Thanatos. The effects are devastating, as the war between followers of the two entropic immortal rages for years. Taymora is politically weakened, and attempts by various kings to expand their holdings in Nithia and on the Isle of Dawn are rebuffed. After many years of war between those who had remained loyal to Nyx and those who had turned to the ways of Thanatos (a battle between Nosferatu and Vampires), the core of the Taymoran Empire sinks beneath the waves. Several Taymoran cities survive, and the Kings foolishly continue their wars on the newly formed islands and land masses, although geological instabilities are still present. Thantalian and Trantalian tribes begin their rise, having reached bronze age technology. Silver mines in the Northern Reaches are exploited. The silver is traded to Taymora, where it pays for the Taymoran bronze. Like modern Ierendi, Taymora has no silver mines, so silver is quite valuable there. The Nithians flee from the Isle of Dawn to nowadays Ylaruam, under the guidance of the priesthood of Nephthisi. 1'900 BC: The priesthood of Nephthisi guides Nithia to success against the northern threat. A series of conflicts halts the Antalian and Thantalian expansion in the Northern Reaches. Likewise, the Nithians repel Trantalians to the west. 1'850 BC: In Nithia, the militant Priesthood of Rathanos oust the priestesses of Nephthisi from their monopoly of silver trade, as the latter Immortal start losing interest in the Nithians. Aware of the strife going on in Taymora, the Priests of Rathanos extend the mining techniques of the Nithians beyond silver mining. The remnants of the Taymoran culture becomes known as the Land of the Dead, or the Land of the Night, among the Nithians. This is due to its western position, to the persisting geological dangers that ravage those doomed areas that still haven't sunk, but also to its Undead ruling caste. Taymora is known to the Pharaohs as a coalition of many nations - this considers both the Temran (Taymoran) city-states and the vassal or allied nations of elves (Shelash), fomorians (Poymeren), lizard-men (Malepeq), Azcans (Ashkan), and later the Lukka (lycanthropes) and Alpared (Albarendi humans). 1'750 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. End of the Taymoran culture. The plateau under which the surviving Azcans have been living largely collapses, killing many of them and leaving the survivors in a shattered, hostile land. 1'740 BC: A wave of fleeing Taymorans hits various locations in the east. The armies that are invading Nithia are routed thanks to the priests of Rathanos, who use fire magic to counter the undead units. Fomorians and Taymorans fleets also reach the Isle of Dawn, where they manage to take hold of the western region. Other Taymoran remnants are found in southern Darokin (Tuma), the Hulean region, Sind (Lycanthropes), Ierendi (albarendi), Vyalia, and Minrothad. A few Albarendi clans also reach the forested Doulakki lands (these will be among the ancestors of the Cynidiceans). 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. Having lost their mines, and the sources of their bronze, the Taymoran remnants turn to iron for their works. The Taymoran smiths captured by the Nithian Pharaoh bring to Nithia the knowledge needed to push the nation towards the Iron Age, thanks to the rich iron mines of the Alasiyan highlands and the high-temperature fires provided by the priests of Rathanos. 1'500 - 1'000 BC: Nithia conquers all of the Thantalian and Trantalian tribes of nowadays Ylaruam. ===== Iulius Sergius Scaevola Captain of the XXth Cohort Port Lucinius, Thyatis "We poor few forged as brothers in this furnace will emerge as the steel of future generations" -- from "Legionary's Prayers", by Ionaos Nolan ______________________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Cellulari: loghi, suonerie, picture message per il tuo telefonino http://it.yahoo.com/mail_it/foot/?http://it.mobile.yahoo.com/index2002.html ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Jan 2003 14:26:12 +0200 From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Ville_V_L=E4hde?= Subject: More thoughts on X10 A few moths back - quite a few, that is - I sent some suggestions for additional War machine rules to be used in the X10 module. The Nomad War IMC is nearing conclusion, and I decided to recount my experiences. For the most part the additions worked well and made the war much more interesting. With the new rules the Nomads make quick inroads into Darokin, which hepls to create the sense of urgency in the conflict. However, as soon as/if Glantri and Alfheim join the war, the Nomad assault will inevitably falter. Their units are able to break even the strongest Nomad sieges against large cities (most likely Darokin city and Corunglain). The Ylaruamians tip the scales somewhat, however - if the Ylari manage to besiege Selenica, this will draw a lot of forces away from the western front. Still, conquering the city will take a lot of time (weaker Darokinian forces can hold out quite long against the Ylari horsemen, as horses are not so useful against sieges). The Ylari, if they commit wholeheartedly against Darokin and ally with the Nomads, can send perhaps two armies to the western front. They are useful against the elves and the Glantrians, but it will still be hard for the Nomads to win a quick & dirty victory. Some suggestions in the module book are downright laughable (Like the idea the the Nomads would attack and conquer Alfheim/Rockhome quickly. Like they were that stupid as to attack the Canolbarth!) If the DM wants to keep up the atmosphere of impending disaster, the Nomads clearly need allies on the western front. The most likely candidates are the Shadowelves, the Orcs of Thar, or perhaps the Ethengarians or Atruaghinians. (I ended up with the last for campaign-specific reasons.) In "my" war the timeline was something like this: 1) The first months: Intense nomad advance, Akorros falls after a heavy siege. Heavy nomad and Darokinian losses 2) Corunglain and Darokin are besieged. The Darokin elite legions are too strong for the nomads to try quick victory, so the sieges prolong. 3) Glantrians liberate Corunglain, Darokin & Glantri start gathering troops againts the Darokin siege. 4) Elves join the mobilisation, but Nomads and their allies (Athruaghinians) make a preemptive strike against the relief force before it attacks the Darokin siege. (This was the only way I could prolong the war long enough. Otherwise Darokin would have been liberated much sooner. + Ylaruamians break through the Selenica passes and besiege the city + Civil war in Karameikos, the legal government wins. Nomads in the country are destroyed. 5) Darokin City is liberated after weeks of battle. + Rockhome dwarves close the passes to Selenica. Selenica falls to the Ylaruamians. 6) The Darokinians replenish their forces and start besieging Akorros with the help of Glantrians. The elves and the Karameikans attack the Ylaruamians around Selenica, and start besieging the city. The Ylaruamians are trapped in. Fresh troops from Ylaruam try to open the passes that are blocked by dwarves, but fail. (3 Ylari armies against 2 dwarf armies, and the Ylari were beaten to pulp. Horses are less effective in the pass, and the dwarves are experts in mountainous terrain.) + The Northern Reaches armies attack Ylaruamian coastal cities, but are beaten back by the Ylari. 7) In Ethengar a civil war erupts. Eventually Batu Khan is victorious (du to campaign-specific reasons), and two Glantri armies that tried to exploit the situation are defeated. 8) Thyatis attacks Ylaruam and besieges the capital. Northerners ransack the smaller towns. The Ylari in Selenica negotiate a peace treaty and are allowed to return to their country to fight Thyatians. The Thyatians buy the help of the Northerners and defeat the Ylari armies. Ylaruam falls to Thyatis. + The fledgling Selenican Defence League (Aflheim, Karameikos, Rockhome) decides to capture the Ust-Urt Valley, so the Thyatins can't control all the land trade routes. 9) The Allied expeditionary force invades the Pramayana Delta and advances towards Sayr Ulan in order to draw Hosadus's elite guard out of the city (by threatening the Nomad supply lines). In Darokin the Darokin-Glantri-Shires-Ierendi-Minrothad-coalition forces prepare to liberate Akorros. The battle will be hard, though, as the Nomads stil have two regular and two reserve army groups left in the area. - The war has been going on for nearly 6 months now, and winter is near. The Nomads must de broken before winter, since warfare like this isn't possible in wintertime. IMC this race against General Winter worked very well to create a sense or urgency for the PCs. Actually, in "my" war, there were some important things that favoured the Darokinians - all of them due to the PCs 1) The Ylari didn't ally wholeheartedly with the Nomads. They just tried to conquer Selenica. 2) Glantri allied with Darokin as soon as possible. One week later would have been much worse. 3) Same as above with the elves. They came just in time to help beat back the Atruaghinians. 4) The Karameikan civil war ended with the Black Eagle and the Nomads being beaten. A "second front" behind the Darokinian lines would have been very bad. NOTE: IMC the two sides didn't engage in a headlong charge agaist each other, they conserved their forces. Different strategies might provide different outcomes, but still I think the Nomads wouldn't easily get a quick victory over Darokin. If they managed to defeat a lot of troops on the field, most of their armies would be so weakened that besieging the Darokinian cities would have been much harder. And if the Darokin Elite legions and the Nomad armies fought each other in the opening weeks of the war, it is actually likely that the Nomad advance would have been stopped. So I suggest strongly that the elite Darokinians are kept in the large cities (preferably Corunglain and Darokin city) in the early stage. Some further notes on the rules: - Use the Tactics table only as a quideline. I think it isn't very well made. For example, nobody in their right mind would choose the "Attack" tactic. Some results are very odd. I think rewriting the table might be in order. Anybody up for the job? - Drop the stacking limit when it seems to be illogical. The wider limits proposed in my earlier additional rules work well in the beginning of the war, but later on even they don't make much sense. Especially when the units are depleted - if you wish, decide a TROOP NUMBER limit instead a unit limit. - The rules about routed units returning home and being reinforced back to full strength work well and should be used IMO in this module. Without them, it is even harder to keep up the Nomad pressure.But: 1) There should be some BR loss for the reinforced units. I didn't use this rule, but I think it is a good idea. 2) An overall troop limit should be placed for both Nomads and the Darokinains, when they reinforce depleted units. 3) Some units "return" from rout in a very bad state. IMC I had a Nomad division return with 20 troops. Rebuilding such a unit shouldn't be allowed, or at least is should take more turns. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Jan 2003 15:34:47 +0100 From: Federico Kaftal Subject: Repeated request for ESD maps Dear sirs, could you please update me - after two months from my original request, I still got no corrected file whatsoever. This is the fifth time I'm writing to you, not every day but every two weeks or so, in order to give you and your vendor enough time. Would you mind explaining the reason (if any!) of such a huge delay? Thank you. Federico Kaftal (I re-attach my previous mails for your convenience): ------------------------------- 4th message (Dec 28, 2002) ______________________________ Dear sirs, I know that you are still waiting for your vendor to send you a bunch of corrected files, but in the meanwhile I am sorry to say that I have noticed more, major bugs: After printing the maps of the following items: - Red Arrow, Black Shield (TSR 9160) - The Minrothad Guilds (TSR 9236) - The Five Shires (TSR 9232) I noticed that in The Minrothad Guilds (both Country map and Trade Route map and internal cover map too) and in The Five Shires (Country map only) the various pieces each map consists of have been scanned with different proportions: it's therefore impossible to tie them together because they do not tally! Furthermore: the Country map of The Minrothad Guilds has not been cut before scanning: as a result, the various pages contain redundant parts of the image, which makes one more reason for being it impossible to tally them together. Furthermore: another one (Red Arrow, Black Shield), has some three or four pages missing: the large map is not complete at all! Please add to this my previous e-mails, where I said that the whole of The Northern Reaches (TSR 9230) Country map is entirely missing, and the dungeon map of The Dymrak Dread (TSR 9272) has got a missing page too. It's a scandal, I dare to say, that EVERY item I bought in ESD format including a map has one or more major bugs! These maps are one of the strongest reason why one would not plainly photocopy modules from a friend, but rather download original items in ESD (and PAY for them): I tend to believe that if this situation goes on, you'll soon be receiving a huge amount of protests and people will stop buying ESD items: the quality of the maps scanning is so poor that obviously they were given to non-professional workers and underwent no testing at all (i.e.: nobody took care of trying to download, print and re-construct the whole module to check if everything was OK). I don't want to be involved in any discussion or justification with your scanning vendor - I just expect WotC to provide me with totally debugged and "tested" maps, downloadable, printable and with A4 pages perfectly coincident with each others, in order to be able to scotch them together and recreate the exact map. That's all. I would advise you to put a higher pressure on your vendor, because the quality of their job really does not meet basic levels. Regards, Federico Kaftal ------------------------------- 3rd message (Dec 18, 2002) ______________________________ Dear sirs, after your first e-mail announcing that you would contact the dealer in charge of the ESD scanning to have them look into the bugs I reported, I didn't hear from you anymore. Could you please solicitate your vendor? Scanning those few pages doesn't require more than a few hours, not to mention weeks! I know what I'm saying, because I've worked for years in the field of software localization, and I had this sort of debugging done more than once, in a few hours if necessary. We're talking about scanning some nine or ten pages, without any art make-up, and updating two PDF files with a few more sheets... Thank you for updating me soon. Federico Kaftal ------------------------------------- 2nd message (beginning of Dec, 2002): _____________________________________ Dear sirs, I have just downloaded another ESD: TSR930ESDPDF.1 (GAZ7 - The Northern Reaches) and after joining it with the split free file, I see that the whole large, full color double-sided map of the lands of Ostland, Vestland and Soderfiord is entirely missing. What's happening? Did you sell us incomplete copies? Note that the Northern Reaches Gazetteer is not at all a rare object: there are shrinkwrapped copies on sale at Amazon. So, why is the big double-sided map missing? I attach my previous mail for your convenience. Regards, Federico Kaftal ------------------------------------- 1st message (beginning of Dec, 2002): _____________________________________ Dear sirs, I have just downloaded ESD TSR9272ESD.PDF (The Dymrak Dread) and I notice that there's one page missing: At the end of the booklet there's a dungeon map obviously consisting of eight pages: only pages I-VII are there, the upper right page of the map has not been scanned. Would you please make sure to add the page to the ESD and to send me the missing page by e-mail as well? Thanks for your answer. Federico Kaftal _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Jan 2003 08:00:27 -0800 From: John Calvin Subject: Re: Lycanthropy, Taymora & Nithia (long) >> Uhm...the point is this: we have currently three works dealing with the lycanthropy/Taymora situation: 1) "A treatise on Lycanthropy" by John Calvin 2) "Taymora" by Giampaolo Agosta 3) "Ethnographic History of Mystara" I would simply suggest to make the three works coherent. << Ok, I'm not opposed to that. I've just read your revised timeline and I have a few comments. I'll leave those in another thread. ===== 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! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Jan 2003 08:08:08 -0800 From: John Calvin Subject: Revised Taymoran Timeline (including Rise of Nithia) >> 2000 BC After many years of war between those who had remained loyal to Nyx and those who had turned to the ways of Thanatos (a battle between Nosferatu and Vampires), the core of the Taymoran Empire sinks beneath the waves. Several Taymoran cities survive, and the Kings foolishly continue their wars on the newly formed islands and land masses, although geological instabilities are still present. << This would be the first geological "event" that happens. I agree with this. >> 1'750 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. << These dates I'm not so sure about. I've always tended to lump them into one event occuring around 1700 (which coincides with the elven disaster). What do others think? -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! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Jan 2003 08:19:29 -0800 From: John Calvin Subject: Introduction to the Revised Taymoran Timeline Excellent work Giulio (as always). You've put a great deal of time and effort into this project and it shows. >> The compromise I worked out is to have the Nithians arrive in Ylaruam around 2000 BC. The informations referring to Nithians BEFORE 2000 BC are now referred to the Trantalians. The piece where the Nithians begin to call Taymora "Land of the Dead" has been put around 1'850 BC. I'll put this in the Ethnography soon. << You actualy make the reference to the "Land of the Dead", and the "Land of Night" in two seperate places. Once in 2000 BC for the Trantalians, and once in 1850 BC for the Nithians. The wording is almost exactly the same. Is this intended? -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! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Jan 2003 11:30:46 -0600 From: James Mishler Subject: Re: Lycanthropy, Taymora & Nithia (long) From: John Calvin <> Yes, it was indeed a horrible mess, that is why I came up with the solution= I did, with the major Event in 2000 BC, spurred on by the Taymorans, and t= he secondary event in 1700 BC, caused by the Elves. The first Event caused = the creation of the separate Minrothad Isles and a single large isle in the= west (which the Ierendi Gaz calls the "Kikianu Caldera," but which my hist= ories call the Isle of the Serpent.) That island was shattered by the Event= of 1700 BC, and slowly formed the Ierendi Isles as they are more or less k= nown today over a period of 20 years. BTW, I thought this was on the Vaults fo Pandius, but I guess not. Here's m= y bit about the emergence of Nithia from the wreckage of Taymora... Pre-Dynastic Nithia (ca. 2100 BC through 1700 BC) =09 =09In 2100 BC the region now know as Ylaruam was a verdant region of grasse= s and fields fed by the great River Nithia. The meadows and fields ended no= t at the modern coastline but extended yet another 100 miles on to the east= , ending in the Great Delta of the River Nithia. The entire region was know= n as the Eastern Plains, and had been home to the Necromancer-Kings, who ru= led their City States in the name of the Eternal Emperor of Taymor. However= , rebellion by a number of the Necromancer-Kings (who had been turned from = the veneration of Nyx to the worship of Thanatos), caused the Eternal Emper= or to purge the City States of that region of their rulers, and in their pl= ace he placed an OverKing. The Necromancer-King Nahar, a favorite of the Et= ernal Emperor, was named OverKing of the Eastern Realm. Nahar built a capit= al for his kingdom, a city he named Nithus in honor of the great river. His= two most powerful lieutenants were the twin brothers Orisis and Setu-Kha, = who were given the rule of the cities of Djedet and Payuum respectively. =09In BC 2000 the Taymoran Empire came to a very abrupt end in the great wa= r between those who had remained loyal to Nyx and the Eternal Emperor and t= hose who had turned to the ways of Thanatos (a battle between Nosferatu and= Vampires). The earth heaved, the mountains cracked and the Empire sank be= neath the waves. No cities survived south of the Altan Tepes, as the waters= of the Sea of Dread finished any communities that were not destroyed in th= e earthquakes. The realms of the Western Plains (modern Darokin and Alfheim= ) were destroyed in a great slave uprising, and disappeared from history. I= t was only in the Eastern Realm, sheltered from the earthquakes and tsunami= s, that any Taymoran cities continued to exist. =09There were nine major states and cities that formed along the banks of t= he River Nithia following the fall of the Taymoran Empire. The states, list= ed from east to west: =09- Tamyris, centered on the city of Tamarnak [South of modern Anram]. Thi= s realm, ruled by the Vampire-Queen Nennaya-Sherat, was found in the far we= st of the Eastern Plains, in what is today known as the Ust-Urt Valley. Nen= naya-Sherat had been the leader of the Cult of Spectral Shadow, one of the = many Vampiric Cells created by Thanatos. Her realm was ruled in a manner si= milar to that of the Taymoran City-States of old, with the exception that T= hanatos was openly revered, rather than Nyx. =09- Khyptis, centered on the city of Khypta [modern Sulba]. Ruled by a cou= ncil of Priests of Nyx who had overthrown their Vampiric overlords during t= he Taymoran Civil War. They did not trust the rulership in any one leader, = so they rejected the ancient traditions of the Necromancer-Kings and ruled = through a Council of Priests. The city was retaken by forces loyal to Thana= tos within 20 years, sponsored by the Vampire-Queen of Tamyris. Khyptis was= annexed by Tamyris in 1950 BC. =09- Amon-Saar, centered on the city of Djer-Amon [modern Deraan]. This cit= y overthrew its native rulers in favor of rulership by foreign mercenary fo= rces during the chaos following the cataclysm. These mercenaries were Antal= ian priests from the far north who had fled the internecine wars of their c= lans. They brought with them the worship of Odin, whom the locals came to r= evere as Amon. =09- Herusat, centered on the city of Herunak [modern Ylaruam]. This city w= as "purified" (i.e., all Nosferatu and Vampires slain, as well as all Pries= ts of Nyx and Thanatos) by followers Horon (Ixion) during the Taymoran Civi= l War. Ruled by the High Priestess of Horon, Herunak became a beacon of lig= ht and knowledge in an otherwise very dark time. =09- Nupt-Hur, centered on the city of Nubt [modern Kuznetz]. The city of N= ubt continued to be ruled after the cataclysm by a Vampiric minion of the O= verKing Nahar. =09- Munein, centered on the city of Munak [West of modern Hedjazi]. Much l= ike the cities of Djer-Amon and Herunak, the city of Munak overthrew its lo= cal rulers and religion in favor of a new faith, in this case the reverence= of Munes (Asterius), Patron Immortal of the Moon and of Trade. Munes had b= een quietly revered by the Merchant Clans of the Taymoran Empire, a fact ig= nored for the most part by the Necromancer-Kings (even they had realized th= at it would not be wise to anger the Patron Immortal of Commerce). =09- Payuum, centered on the city of Merunak [on the ancient lake that now = is the Great Salt Basin - halfway between Ylaruam and Abbashan]. Also known= as the Kingdom of the Lake, or simply the Lake Kingdom. Continued to be ru= led by the Necromancer-King Setu-Kha, who was still a Nosferatu in the serv= ice of Nyx. =09- Nithia, centered on the city of Nithus [East of Abbashan]. Ruled by th= e OverKing Nahar, Nithia was the strongest remaining state after the Civil = War. Unfortunately, Nahar had become a Vampiric follower of Thanatos during= the final weeks of the Civil War, and had broken with his lieutenants, Ori= sis and Setu-Kha. =09- Taameh, centered on the city of Djedet [found in the Great Delta, now = long-lost beneath the Sea of Dawn]. Also known as the Kingdom of the East, = or the Delta Kingdom. One of the great port cities of Taymor, Djedet contin= ued to be ruled by the Necromancer-King Orisis, who was still a Nosferatu i= n the service of Nyx. =09After the Civil War and the cataclysm most of the cities were in ruins, = and the population levels were greatly reduced from their pre-war levels. N= ithus, the largest of the cities, had an urban population no greater than p= erhaps 10,000 (down from pre-war levels of over 100,000!). Altogether, the = cities contained fewer than 80,000 souls. The remaining rural population, h= aving been spared much of the wrath of the Necromancer-Kings, was between e= ight and ten times that remaining in the cities. Over 80% of the "rural" po= pulation was found in villages along the River Nithia; the other 20% was sp= read out across the plains on great ranches and irrigated plantations. Most= of the plains were devoid of civilization, and isolated settlements were r= are, as the Necromancer-Kings had always demanded strictest control over th= e populace. =09During the final weeks of the Civil War the ruler of Nithus had turned t= o the ways of Thanatos; he had been opposed in this regard by several of hi= s progeny, which were led by the twin brothers Orisis and Setu-Kha. Shortly= after the cataclysm, the brothers were able to depose and dispose of their= master. Orisis ascended to the throne of the OverKing, as he was the popul= ar leader and elder of the twins (though only by minutes). Many of the citi= es did not recognize his rule, as they had rejected the old ways or were st= ill ruled by minions of Thanatos; thus, the title of OverKing was effective= ly an empty one. Still, Orisis was the overlord of the eastern third of the= Eastern Realm, which included the largest city (Nithus) and the rich Delta= Kingdom and fertile Lake Kingdom (Payuum). However, Thanatos was still not= satisfied with the destruction of the majority of the Taymoran Empire, and= he saw a unique opportunity for destruction in the relationship between Or= isis and Setu-Kha. =09Thanatos was able to convince him that he should take the throne from Or= isis, and was able to turn Setu-Kha over to his side, to become a Vampire. = Setu-Kha rebelled against his brother in 1950 BC, and attacked the city of = Nithus with allies from Tamyris and Nubt. He was defeated however, and he a= nd his servants were forced to flee from the Eastern Realm. He fled to an i= sland in the newly formed northern Sea of Dread, the legendary Isle of the = Serpent where now lie the Isles of Ierendi. He gathered his own allies from= the darker realms, notably the Serpentines of Davania, who sent him Lizard= Men as shock troops. His servants also brought Makai Slaves from the south= ern isles, to serve him and his people. Orisis spent the next 50 years rebu= ilding his kingdom, purging the land of Payuum of its corruption. He also c= onquered the city of Nubt, and was able to make the rulers of the city of M= unak recognize him as their OverKing (though he left their faith untouched.= .. Orisis had become more tolerant in the years following the cataclysm). =09During this period Orisis became acquainted with a traveller from the fa= r east, an elderly wizard who went by the name Thoth. Thoth and Orisis beca= me quick friends, despite the Undying nature of the OverKing. Thoth reveale= d himself to be one of the legendary Stone Folk who was on a great quest: h= e was searching for the reason behind the slow demise of the Elder Dwarven = race. Orisis was unable to help him directly, though he was able to inform = Thoth about Dwarven settlements to the north. Thoth eventually continued on= to the Dwarven lands in the north, accompanied by his companion, the Dwarf= known as Laughing Axe. After a very nasty encounter with the minions of th= e Vampire-Queen Nennaya-Sherat, the pair finally reached the lands of the K= ogolor Dwarves in 1900 BC [modern Rockhome]. The elderly sage and his compa= nion were surprised to discover not only Dwarves, but also a race of Humans= living in the mountains. The Humans were a tribe of Neathar that had been = pushed out of the Northern Plains by invading hordes of Oltecs around 2000 = BC; they had long been the allies of the Dwarves, and found refuge among th= em. But the Neathar were nomads, and found the mountains and valleys to be = extremely restrictive. =09During his time in the Kogolor lands, when he was not investigating the = history of the Dwarves, Thoth regaled the Neathar with tales of the rich pl= ains to the south which were dominated by Tamyris, the realm ruled by Nenna= ya-Sherat. Being a friend of Orisis, who was an enemy of Nennaya-Sherat, an= d having his own vendetta against the Vampire-Queen, Thoth convinced the Ne= athar clans to cleanse the plains of the realm of Nennaya-Sherat. In doing = so, they would win their own lands, lands that were not unlike those they h= ad left behind a hundred years before. Thoth communicated with Orisis using= magical means, and set up a series of meetings whereby the Neathar clans w= ould join with the forces of Orisis in a concerted effort to destroy the re= alm of Tamyris. In return for his assistance, the Neathar were able to acqu= aint Thoth with their Patron Immortal, Kagyar, for the Neathar were known a= s the People of Kagyar. [Eventually, Thoth would convince Kagyar to assist = the Dwarves, and Thoth would go on to earn Immortality under the sponsorshi= p of Kagyar]. =09Khypta was taken by the united forces of the People of Kagyar and the fo= rces of the city of Nithus in 1875 BC, and in 1850 BC the allies destroyed = Tamarnak itself. Her city razed and her forces shattered, Nennaya-Sherat fl= ed to the Isle of Serpents where abode her ally, Setu-Kha. The People of Ka= gyar had settled in the plains around Khypta in 1875 BC, and eventually the= y rebuilt the city, renaming it Khyptahr. Over the years they would eventua= lly adopt many Nithian customs. They became known to the Nithians as the "P= tahr Al-Dar" ("House of Ptahr" (Kagyar)). During this period Orisis was abl= e to bring Herunak and Djer-Amon into his kingdom, as part of the alliance = against Nennaya-Sherat and Setu-Kha. Again, he allowed the people to keep t= heir own faith, and allowed them self-rule of their cities and lands. With = the destruction of Tamarnak, Orisis became the single ruler of the entire E= astern Realm. =09After the fall of Tamarnak, Orisis took to studying the many different f= aiths among the people of his kingdom. During this time he became a good fr= iend of Haterat, the High Priestess of Horon and Queen of Herunak. Over the= years Nyx kept warning Orisis that she did not like the manner in which he= was diluting her worship, and thus her power, among the people of his king= dom. He argued long and hard, across many years with his Patron, claiming t= hat the single mindedness of the Taymoran faith was part and parcel of the = old empires downfall. He could never convince her of the necessity of balan= ce among faiths, however, and she slowly withdrew her support from him. Som= ehow, minions of Thanatos learned of the falling out between Immortal and O= verKing, and relayed that information to Setu-Kha, who still stewed on his = isle to the southwest. =09In 1800 BC Setu-Kha was able to assassinate Orisis. He dispersed his bod= y across the Known World [much like the body of Osiris was in RW Mythology]= , and took control of Nithus. The various kingdoms rebelled against their n= ew OverKing, especially the Ptahr al-Dar of Khyptahr. Setu-Kha and Nennaya-= Sherat ruled Nithus with an iron fist, and sent their Lizard Men warriors o= ut to conquer the "rebel" kingdoms. Warfare and rebellion lasted for their = entire rule. The pair cast down the ziggurats dedicated to Nyx and built te= mples dedicated to Thanatos in their place. Thousands of captives died in h= orrible sacrifice to the Immortal of Death. Meanwhile, Haterat, friend and = ally of Orisis, sought out the body parts of her friend across the Known Wo= rld. In forty years she was able to bring his whole body back together agai= n, and through the intervention of Horon was able to bring Orisis back to l= ife. In this case Orisis was resurrected into true Life, not the Undead sta= te of the Nosferatu (Nyx had totally abandoned her wayward son). He was hen= ceforth known as the Resurrected Orisis, Son of Horon. =09The Resurrected Orisis returned to Nithus in 1760 BC to find it in a sta= te of abject tyranny. Entire regions of the Eastern Realm had been depopula= ted to feed the dark hungers of Thanatos and his minions. Nennaya-Sherat ha= d built a Dark Tower upon the ruins of her ancient city of Tamarnak, and co= nducted horrible experiments therein. The only city that had not been conqu= ered by Setu-Kha was Khyptahr, home of the Ptahr Al-Dar. The Resurrected Or= isis made that city the base of his operations. He coordinated attacks with= his ally, Thoth, who was now King of his own kingdom, O-Ptahr, on the Grea= t Escarpment on the isle across the sea to the east. =09A fortuitous occurrence happened for the Resurrected Orisis in 1758 BC. = A large group of refugees from far-away Adakkia were fleeing persecution at= the hands of their Emperor and his Priesthood. These refugees were Wizards= and Priests of the highest caliber, worshippers of the Immortal Rathanos. = They had approached Setu-Kha for aid, not realizing his nature until it was= too late. During their meeting Setu-Kha had the Adakkian ambassadors slain= on a whim and their functionaries sacrificed for the greater glory of Than= atos. He then had sent them a message, delivered by the animated corpse of = the senior ambassador, that the same treatment awaited any others who would= deal with him. Thus, they contacted the Resurrected Orisis, and sought an = alliance. =09With his new allies from the far south, and with his old allies, the Pta= hr Al-Dar and the people of O-Ptahr, Orisis caught the forces of Setu-Kha i= n a massive pincer. Thoth and his people (the Stone Folk and the Gnomes of = the Isle of Dawn) attacked from the east, through the Delta region, and the= Ptahr Al-Dar attacked from the west. The Adakkian Wizards and Priests were= everywhere, though they concentrated their efforts on containing Nennaya-S= herat and her force of monsters and magical constructs. It took ten years, = but eventually the Resurrected Orisis and his forces were victorious, and o= verthrew the dark rulers. Setu-Kha and Nennaya-Sherat, however, fled to the= ir citadel on the Isle of the Serpent, and continued to harry the Resurrect= ed Orisis and his peoples.=20 =09During the next 50 years (1750 through 1700 BC), the Resurrected Orisis = took the battle to Setu-Kha's island. During this time the society of the E= astern Realm also underwent rapid evolution. The cities of the Eastern Real= m became more diverse religiously and culturally; while each city (and ofte= n village) continued to be the center of worship for a specific Immortal, a= ll cities had at least a shrine to all the various Immortals found in the E= astern Realm. This was partly due to Setu-Kha's attempts to control the peo= ples of the various kingdoms by dispersing them throughout the land, weaken= ing their ties to their native faith and culture. In fact, it had the oppos= ite effect in the long run, as the cultures across the Eastern Realm became= more diversified, yet at the same time became more united through that div= ersity. As the majority of the peoples throughout the land were from the Ki= ngdom of Nithia, the entire peoples across the land began to regard themsel= ves as Nithians, and identified more with the land as a whole rather than w= ith just their one city or kingdom. Also during this period Thoth developed= a new writing system, called Hieroglyphics; this was used to further unite= the people, as it was a method to focus their new cultural identity. =09The Adakkians were not idle during this time either. They had been grant= ed the ancient lands of the realm of Nennaya-Sherat, and there they built t= wo great cities on the banks of the Eastern Branch of the River Nithia. The= se cities, Ustar and Urtum, eventually gave their name to the valley betwee= n the two branches of the River Nithia, the Ust-Urt Valley. The Adakkians c= ast down the Dark Tower of the Vampire-Queen, and what they could not destr= oy, they buried, sealed with great runes of power. The worship of their Pat= ron Immortal, Rathanos, spread throughout the land, and he quickly became a= popular Immortal among the Wizards of the realm. Ustar became his "Home" c= ity, and was the center of worship for his Priesthood. Urtum became the hom= e of the Adakkian College of Wizardry, and in 1730 BC was the home of a Wiz= ard who created a certain guardian servant by the name of Pflarr. =09Of all the cultural and social developments that occurred during this sh= ort time, the greatest was the introduction of Iron, through the graces of = the people of Thoth (who had never truly left the iron-age). The use of iro= n weapons and armor gave the forces of the Resurrected Orisis a tremendous = advantage over the forces of Setu-Kha, and they were able to press the atta= ck even further. By 1710 BC the forces of the Resurrected Orisis were regul= arly raiding the Isle of the Serpent itself, and the end of the long war wa= s in sight. The forces of the Resurrected Orisis finally overthrew the forc= es of Setu-Kha in a great battle on the Isle of the Serpent in 1700 BC. Hor= on-Ausar, the son of the Resurrected Orisis and Haterat (born BC 1755), sle= w Setu-Kha on the steps of his own royal dias. [Though of course, as all kn= ow, he was later returned to Unlife by his faithful ally, Nennaya-Sherat, a= nd went on to earn Immortality under the sponsorship of Thanatos]. =09Shortly thereafter, the Isle of the Serpent blew up in the seismic activ= ity that followed the Elven folly in the area that is now the Broken Lands.= Upon the end of Setu-Kha's kingdom, the Resurrected Orisis renamed the Eas= tern Realm the Nithian Empire, to finalize the change in culture and religi= on that had taken place over the last fifty years. He then turned the rule = of the Empire over to his son Horon-Ausar, who became the first Pharaoh of = the Nithian Empire. Rather than taking the title OverKing, the new title "P= haraoh" was used, which meant "Viceroy"; the Pharaoh was to be the represen= tative of the Immortals on Mystara. In late 1700 BC the Resurrected Orisis = and his wife, Haterat, disappeared into the east on their quest for true Im= mortality under the sponsorship of Horon... James ************************** James "Mystaros" Mishler Freelance Writer and Troubleshooter mystaros@earthlink.net ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Jan 2003 12:00:27 -0600 From: Michael Stephan Subject: Re: More thoughts on X10 > If the DM wants to keep up the atmosphere of impending disaster, the > Nomads clearly need allies on the western front. The most likely > candidates are the Shadowelves, the Orcs of Thar, or perhaps the > Ethengarians or Atruaghinians. (I ended up with the last for > campaign-specific reasons.) Another option are the Sindi's. The Sindi King is overthrown by his brother as in the GAZ, and the new ruler summons an army to attack Darokin. The sub kings don't like it but reason that with the way things are going they will need an army one way or another. Shortly thereafter the Masters forces show up to reinforce the new king and intent on attacking Darokin. The sub kings balk at the idea of a civil war when the new king has such powerful friends so they agree to send armies to Darokin. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Jan 2003 14:19:57 -0600 From: George Hrabovsky Subject: Re: Repeated request for ESD maps Why are you telling us? You should tell Wizards of the Coast. George ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Jan 2003 15:18:12 -0600 From: Eric Anondson Subject: Re: Repeated request for ESD maps > Why are you telling us? You should tell Wizards of the Coast. Not even them, WotC is NO LONGER handling ESDs of their out-of-print products. A whole other company is doing that. SVGames is. http://www.svgames.com/ Eric Anondson ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Jan 2003 16:09:21 -0600 From: James Mishler Subject: Testing, Testing, Ftaghn... Testing my new email set-up. Nothing to see here, unless you've been = meddling too much in the ancient dark lore of the Carnifex, Taymorans, = or Nithians... James ****************************** James "Mystaros" Mishler Freelance Writer and Troubleshooter mystaros@earthlink.net ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 28 Jan 2003 14:59:09 -0800 From: Andrew Theisen Subject: Re: Revised Taymoran Timeline (including Rise of Nithia) John Calvin wrote: These dates I'm not so sure about. I've always tended to lump them into one event occuring around 1700 (which coincides with the elven disaster). What do others think? I've always regarded the events in question as simply the most notable symptoms of the ongoing shifting of Mystara's surface that began with the Great Rain of Fire disaster that destroyed Blackmoor. Sort of the planet's way of compensating and adjusting to the ecological destruction that that event initiated, and settling into its new polar orbit. Of course, I never really liked the idea that the planet shifted on its axis all at once anyway (why didn't everything go flying off the world if that happened?) ------------------------------ End of MYSTARA-L Digest - 27 Jan 2003 to 28 Jan 2003 (#2003-29) ***************************************************************