Subject: MYSTARA-L Digest - 8 Oct 2004 to 9 Oct 2004 (#2004-215) From: Automatic digest processor Date: 10/10/2004, 18:00 To: Recipients of MYSTARA-L digests Reply-to: Mystara RPG Discussion There are 12 messages totalling 830 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Stronghollow Dwarves (5) 2. Mystara GURPS anyone? (3) 3. Annals of the Denwarf Dwarven Clans 4. Fading of Immortals and Blackmoor (3) ******************************************************************** 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: Sat, 9 Oct 2004 03:09:41 -0400 From: Donald Eric Kesler Subject: Re: Stronghollow Dwarves Hello All, That was something that I was wondering about. It seems possible to me that they could have been a group that settled in Highforge either before or after the enslavement of the Hin. If before, they decided that they did not care to become slavers. If after, the decided to set up house and home near to the place they had just been driven out of. I'm inclined to think that they decided to not remain with the other dwarves who were out to enslave the Hin. This makes sense because no mention is ever made of the dwarves of Highforge expressing any sort of negative feeling toward the Five Shires. Hmmm. Still, what ever did become of the Dwarves that once enslaved the Hin? I'm going to have to dig through my Five Shires Gazzatteer. Regards and Best Wishes, Donald Eric Kesler http://www.geocities.com/heroclixleagueofathens/ > From: Andrew Theisen > > --- Giampaolo Agosta wrote: > > > There was a time (perhaps more than one) in dwarven > > history when the > > kings of Rockhome (Syrklist kings, most likely) > > sponsored exploratory > > missions -- the Dwarves went as far as the Savage > > Coast. > > I suppose the Karameikan colony was one of the > > oldest settlements > > outside Rockhome. > > The Stronghollow clan might have set out on the same > dwarven expeditions that led to the takeover of the > Five Shires, possibly. They just decided to remain in > Traladara (and look for gold there) rather than > continue on to the halfling lands maybe. > > Also- I think it mentions in Gaz1 that they do have a > forge of Power. Don't recall for certain, though. > _________________________________________________________________ On the road to retirement? Check out MSN Life Events for advice on how to get there! http://lifeevents.msn.com/category.aspx?cid=Retirement ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 9 Oct 2004 03:25:26 -0400 From: Donald Eric Kesler Subject: Re: Stronghollow Dwarves Hello, I like it, but I don't like it for Karameikos. Allow me to explain. The setting of Karameikos already features the theme of the missing King. Back when it was the Grand Duchy, the idea that the last King of the land was Halav was a neat thematic element. Eventually, this is resolved when Duke Stephen Karameikos assumes both the title and the role of King. In a way, it validates the belief held by the Cult of Halav. In any event, my point is this. How many missing Kings can one land stand? Still, I really do like the idea that the Dwarves of Highforge lost something. That for some reason, they were not able to establish their own clan hold. This does go a long way toward explaining why they have opted to reside with the Gnomes and serve under Dorfus Hilltopper. What does everyone think about this? Let's say that the Stronghollow clan was part of the group of Dwarves that enslaved the Hin. When the Hin rose up and drove them out of the Five Shires, they were unable to take their precious clan relic with them. The Forge of Power for clan Stronghollow was lost. This would provide a broken and defeated group of Dwarves who were all too ready and willing to embrace the help offered by the Gnomes of Highforge. Regards and Best Wishes, Donald Eric Kesler > > >Hello All, > > > >I was just wondering if anyone has worked up anything on the timeline for > >the Dwarves of Karameikos? When did they arrive in the Traladaran lands? > >Why did they leave Rockhome? Do they have a forge of power? Why did > they > >decide to live with the Highforge Gnomes? > > > >Obviously, the Gnomes arrived first. Otherwise, the place would be > called > >Stronghollow. > > > > Funny you should mention this just now, as I'm currently the unknown > history of the Stronghollow clan for a minor plot in my own campaign. > During a recent adventure, the dwarven fighter/cleric IMC met the ghost of > a dwarf called Dain Ironfist in the dungeons under Mount Dread in the > Black Peak Mountains (Mount Dread is really from the hated First Quest > AD&D boxed set, but it does appear on the Karameikos map in K:KoA. Still, > all I used was some background). The ghost agreed to help the group, if > the dwarf would bring the lost crown of the Stronghollow clan back to the > dwarves of Highforge. Just a background idea I had, but it did serve to > explain some of the mysteriousness of the dwarven/gnomish settlement of > Highforge, I thought. > > After all, as you say yourself, it is noteworthy that the gnomes seem to > control Highforge with Dorfus Hilltopper in charge as the Gnome-King. I > find that dwarves usually settle their own kingdoms/settlements when > venturing forth from Rockhome, so I cast the Stronghollow clan as a > dwarven colony that failed because their king and crown symbolic of the > clan were lost in the caverns of Mount Dread, and the dwarves were then > sort of absorbed into the gnomish colony. I naturally haven't told my > players this, but the return of the crown could actually cause some > trouble, since the dwarves might see it as a sign that their own kingdom > can now be regained. This could split them from the gnomes, sending > Highforge into turmoil, or even worse. > > Not sure if that's a workable idea, but it's at least something I've been > considering. In truth, though, I doubt I'll even use it in my own > campaign... Anyway, just a few thoughts. > > > - The Stalker > > ******************************************************************** > 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. > _________________________________________________________________ Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today - it's FREE! http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/ ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 9 Oct 2004 09:54:43 +0200 From: la Volpe Subject: Re: Stronghollow Dwarves The only thing I've come up on these dwarves is the following piece from my history of the dwarven race. Unfortunately I wrote it in Italian, so I am sloooowly translating it (some parts are already up at the Vaults). "In 475 BC, the Gnomes found the city of Highforge, and a good number of dwarven colonists moved there, giving birth to the first Denwarf Clan outside Dengar, the Tordal Clan. Tordal means "strong-hollow" in dwarven." Ave atque vale, Iulius Sergius Scaevola ___________________________________ Nuovo Yahoo! Messenger: E' molto più divertente: Audibles, Avatar, Webcam, Giochi, Rubrica… Scaricalo ora! http://it.messenger.yahoo.it ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 9 Oct 2004 10:03:40 +0200 From: Giampaolo Agosta Subject: Re: Mystara GURPS anyone? The Stalker wrote: > > Anyone tried this before? There are some conversions for GURPS on the Vaults, so some people (i.e., Haavard) probably tried it. There's also a friend of mine who runs a GURPS campaign set in a (variant) Mystara, but I think he used GURPS rules for magic. Bye, -- Giampaolo Agosta http://digilander.iol.it/agathokles ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 9 Oct 2004 11:03:38 +0200 From: la Volpe Subject: Annals of the Denwarf Dwarven Clans ANNALS OF THE DENWARF DWARVES (Note: "Rockhome" will always be called "Dengar" in the following article) Since the Dwarves risked the extinction due to the Great Rain of Fire's backdrops, to plagues and invasions, Dwarves have become obsessed by genealogies and chronicles. Miniaturers and cronists are considered important artisans, and respected especially since their duty is to keep the history of all families and Clans alive. Every family, and every Clan, has its own genealogists, that are always in touch with each other to update those books that are collectively known as the "Annals of the Dwarven Clans". The "Annals" document exaustively all Dwarves that belong to the Eighteen Denwarf Clans, their dates of birth, death, their parents, their children and their marriages. Family genealogists must report every change to Clan genealogists, and these must report changes to the genealogists that have the duty to update and protect the original "Annals", located in the city of Dengar, so that the "Annals" are constantly updated. It is expected that Dwarves outside the Clans always send regularly information to their family and Clan. If a Dwarf disappears, and nothing is known about him for a long time period, it's nearly always because he is no more capable of writing - and this means imprisonment or death. The "Book of Clans" contains the Register of Clans, and the name of all families that belong to each Clan, plus the change of Clan of families from one to another, and the informations related to the creation of new Clans. According to dwarven genealogists, a group of dwarven families may be considered a Clan if and only if they are in charge of a Forge of Power. In AC 1000, there 18 Clans in charge of a Forge of Power. They are: 1.EVERAST ("high mountain") 2.SKARRAD (from skyrrad, "forge") 3.TORKREST ("strong teeth") (the three original Denwarf Clans of Dengar, 1800 BC) 4.SYRKLIST ("the colour of a silver plate just cleaned and exposed to the light") (formed in Dengar, 1323 BC) 5.HURWARF ("born in the depths") (formed in Dengar, 1089 BC) 8.BUHRODAR (from buhrod-hrodar "order of the golden battle") (formed in Dengar, 287 BC) 11.WYRWARF ("born to eat") (formed in Dengar, 803 BC) 6.TORDAL §("strong hollow") (formed in Highforge, Karameikos, around 450 BC) 7.MAKREST §("broken teeth") (formed in Buhrohur, Thyatis, Ist century AC) 9.DENKRES §§("longtooth") (formally established in AC 400, in Kildarkok ("stormhaven"), Norwold; colony of Kildarkok founded in AC 386) 10.BARRAD * ("blonde iron") (formally established around AC 400-425; twin Clan of Denkres; founded Borneth’k’rak,twin colony of Kildarkok,AC 391) 12.WURKREST * ("wyrmsteeth") (formed in Wyrmsteeth, Norwold, around AC 800) 13.TAKKRAS ** (?) (formed near Arcadia, Norwold, AC 828) 14.DUGER (? - from dulgar, "house in the deep") 15.HEWER (?) 16.HAMMAR ***("hammer") 17.RAK ***("stronghold") (formed in Minrothad, around AC 850-900) 18.HURGON (formed in Alphatia, around AC 950) § Clans Tordal and Makrest appear respectively in Gaz1 with name "Stronghollow", and in DotE without name. §§Clan Denkres appear without name in CM1; their city is named "Stormhaven"; translated to dwarven "Kildarkok" in Mystaran Almanac. * Clans Barrad and Wurkrest: non-canonic, see Giulio N. Caroletti, "History of the Dwarven Race", parts still unpublished. **Clan Takkras: non-canonic, see Mystaran Almanac ***Clans Hammar and Rak appear in Gaz9 with names "Hammer" and "Stronghold". The "Genealogies of the Clan" are eighteen encyclopedias, one for each Clan. There is a copy for every family belonging to the Clan. They are updated regularly and with great precision. When all the Dwarves of a volume are dead, the volume is hidden in a secret and safe place, but a place that can be reached easily; generally, inside the family or Clan stronghold. Thus, there are always more than five hundred copies of the family registers, regularly updated, in order to preserve always the origin of Dwarves, their families, and their genealogies. A copy of the "Annals of the Kings" (see http://www.mystaranet.jamm.com/vaults/html/dwrfking.html) is preserved in each Clan's strongholds; they detail the list of Kings of Dengar, and of the Kings and Clan Masters of all Clans outside Dengar. The original "Annals of the Kings", esquisitely decorated in gold, a marvelous example of dwarven art and writing, are kept in the Everast Stronghold in the city of Dengar. Last but not least, a Denwarf dwarf always learns all his direct genealogy, both on his father's and his mother's part, until his/her first progenitors at the time of King Denwarf. An official presentation among dwarves is always a very long affair, as they mention al their ascendency. To ease things, generally Dwarves learn only all males of his/her father's line, and all females of his/her mother's line - so a dwarv could say: "I am Thoric, son of Reghar son of Dwalinn son of Bifin son of Thrain son of Thoric son of Reghar, and of Bifia daughter of Nais daughter of Bifia daughter of Syhar daughter of Ois daughter of Waldris. More often than not, a Denwarf dwarf knows also very well the history and ramifications of his family up to the fifth degree of relationship - this often means learn to know and recognize more than a hundred names and people. ___________________________________ Nuovo Yahoo! Messenger: E' molto più divertente: Audibles, Avatar, Webcam, Giochi, Rubrica… Scaricalo ora! http://it.messenger.yahoo.it ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 9 Oct 2004 13:55:50 +0200 From: Havard Faanes Subject: Re: Mystara GURPS anyone? Hi, I ran a GURPS Mystara campaign for a while, but converted the whole thing to MasterBook after a while, since neither I, nor my players were comfortable with the realistic style of play encouraged by GURPS, prefering something more cinematic. That said, the campaign worked pretty well, especially in the early stages. I was playing GURPS 3 though, not G4. One thing to keep in mind when you set up a GURPS campaign is that it requires _alot_ of preparations. My campaign suffered because I hadn't thought everything through. Limit the choices of your players. In GURPS they can create any sort of character. One of the dangers is that they end up shopping for disadvantages and end up with the weirdest results. Some of this may have been fixed in G4 though. I recommend setting up races and a handful of templates, and making your players chose from those. The templates can be modified, but this will give the players some ideas as a starting point. Also, I think you should set out limits to how high one starting skill could be and how high a stat should be. You don't want your players setting out all the points on one stat or one skill. If I was to start a new campaign Id set up some rules like this: Total points: 200 (Not sure what is recommended in G4) Points for abilities only: 100 Points for skills: 50 Points for advantages: 50 Disadvantages: everyone must pick one disadvantage, but will not be compensated for it. They can have more, but again no extra points will be provided. The pcs should be heroes, not freaks or psychopaths, right? Again, you'll want to go through the list of advantages, disadvantages and skills and remove inapropriate ones. Don't be afraid to take away stuff. Alot of it does not fit in a fantasy campaign. Like I said, I havent gotten around to buying G4 yet, but from what I heard the magic system has been vastly improved, so I'd recommend going with that system rather than the AD&D one. I have some GURPS Mystara stuff that can be found on the Vaults. I wrote that a long time ago though, so I don't know how good it is. It is for G3, but should be easily adapted to G4. Good luck! :) Håvard --- The Stalker skrev: > I've recently acquired the new 4th edition GURPS > rules (the two basic > books). Since I'm really sick and tired with (A)D&D > rules and hate 3e > rules so much I just can't play with them, I'm > considering the idea of > running Mystara with GURPS rules. > > Anyone tried this before? > > For a long time, I thought the rules would not fit > for Mystara, since > Mystara is so closely tied to the central concepts > of D&D/AD&D, but when I > think about it, it seems to me that the problems is > greatest with the > spell system, due to the influence and importance > the D&D spell system has > on the history of Mystara. I don't think I can > separate Mystara from that, > but I probably won't have to if I can just > incorporate a version of the > D&D spell system into GURPS rules, which shouldn't > be ímpossible (never > cared so much for the GURPS magic system anyway...). > > Anyone tried anything like this or having similar > thoughts? > > > - The Stalker > > ******************************************************************** > 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. > > ===== *** Håvard R. Faanes www.stud.ntnu.no/~havardfa ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 9 Oct 2004 15:11:44 +0200 From: Havard Faanes Subject: Re: Fading of Immortals and Blackmoor --- Chris Cherrington skrev: > Perhaps Mystara produces more immortals and gets > more attention because it is the center of the > universe? Or because the immortals' favorite > hangout, Pandius, is close by. I think Mystara should be the center of the universe, but not physically. One reason could be the presence of the Radience, one of the few known artifacts of possible Old One origin. Another could be the presence of stronger magic than usual. A third could be that Mystara has produced more immortals than most other worlds. The presence of Pandius may be a result of the above. Ofcourse, there could be a thousand other worlds with the same features out there, but I'd prefer it if Mystara was unique in this sense. It gives some more purpose to running a campaign there instead of somewhere else. Havard ===== *** Håvard R. Faanes www.stud.ntnu.no/~havardfa ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 9 Oct 2004 15:13:17 -0700 From: Joaquin Menchaca Subject: Re: Stronghollow Dwarves The dwarves would migrate to other regions for the exact same reason humans would: for opportunity Many migrated to other areas in search of opportunity, and naturally this was probaly encouraged by Syrklist kings, as trade to outpost would be very profitable. Dwarves came to Glantri, they came to Five Shires (abiet more conquest oriented ones), and then they settled in Karameikos. I did a write up of Stronghollow history and culture, if anyone is interested... --- Joaquin Menchaca _______________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Declare Yourself - Register online to vote today! http://vote.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 9 Oct 2004 15:17:55 -0700 From: Joaquin Menchaca Subject: Re: Mystara GURPS anyone? I am not too fond of D&D3e rules myself, but there are so much good juicy material in D&D3e or other d20 systems. I love a lot of d20 stuff out there. Though, I don't think Hasbro-Wizards are very strong lately in the rules department... I think GURPS is really cool, but unfortunately it is a closed system. Hence, there's a lot of material ONLY from one company that I know of. Also, the material is really a mismatch of books, nothing entirely consistant. Nevertheless, I would encourage either. Now as for that map, Dark Coast, where exactly is that. This is really cool stuff. -- Joaquin Menchaca _______________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Declare Yourself - Register online to vote today! http://vote.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 9 Oct 2004 20:08:07 -0700 From: Andrew Theisen Subject: Re: Fading of Immortals and Blackmoor --- Havard Faanes wrote: > I think Mystara should be the center of the > universe, but not physically. One reason could be the > presence of the Radience, one of the few known > artifacts of possible Old One origin. Another could > be the presence of stronger magic than usual. A third > could be that Mystara has produced more immortals > than most other worlds. The presence of Pandius may > be a result of the above. The Gold Box set described the center of the universe a bit (I don't recall exactly what it says, but it goes into detail somewhat). I always assumed the Beagle and the Federation hailed from the center of the universe, given the closer proximity of all the planets there (which the GB describes)- it would make interplanetary travel that much easier. That being the case, I always assumed that what made Mystara different was its magical properties. DA3: City of the Gods describes how the Beagle discovered magic upon its arrival, at first thinking it was psychic powers (implying the Federation and hub planets use/know of psionics), but it turns out it wasn't. Given that magic works elsewhere in the cosmos (other planes, other planets, etc) that weakens the argument somewhat as to Mystara's uniqueness magically, but perhaps it also has something to do with the unique nature of the planet- ie, the World Shield, which doesn't seem to be present anywhere else? ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Oct 2004 02:00:46 -0400 From: Donald Eric Kesler Subject: Re: Stronghollow Dwarves Hello, Yes. I am interested. Please share. Regards and Best Wishes, Donald Eric Kesler http://www.geocities.com/heroclixleagueofathens/ > From: Joaquin Menchaca > Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion > To: MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM > Subject: Re: [MYSTARA] Stronghollow Dwarves > Date: Sat, 9 Oct 2004 15:13:17 -0700 > MIME-Version: 1.0 > Received: from mc8-f11.hotmail.com ([65.54.253.147]) by mc8-s3.hotmail.com > with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.0.2195.6824); Sat, 9 Oct 2004 15:36:50 -0700 > Received: from oracle.wizards.com ([209.221.142.150]) by > mc8-f11.hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.0.2195.6824); Sat, 9 Oct 2004 > 15:36:50 -0700 > Received: from lotus (10.12.8.13) by oracle.wizards.com (LSMTP for Windows > NT v1.1b) with SMTP id <0.0136507C@oracle.wizards.com>; Sat, 9 Oct 2004 > 15:35:40 -0700 > Received: from ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM by ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM (LISTSERV-TCP/IP > release 1.8d) with spool id 40114354 for > MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM; Sat, 9 Oct 2004 15:13:18 -0700 > Received: from web13007.mail.yahoo.com (216.136.174.17) by > oracle.wizards.com (LSMTP for Windows NT v1.1b) with SMTP id > <0.01365037@oracle.wizards.com>; Sat, 9 Oct 2004 15:13:18 -0700 > Received: from [24.4.252.91] by web13007.mail.yahoo.com via HTTP; Sat, 09 > Oct 2004 15:13:17 PDT > X-Message-Info: pdGgd64CkwYBxWVqc1T/pFNzYfRwrMDAugmqT8ijMDE= > Message-ID: <20041009221317.39734.qmail@web13007.mail.yahoo.com> > Return-Path: owner-mystara-l@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM > X-OriginalArrivalTime: 09 Oct 2004 22:36:50.0553 (UTC) > FILETIME=[77E80E90:01C4AE50] > > The dwarves would migrate to other regions for the > exact same reason humans would: > > for opportunity > > Many migrated to other areas in search of opportunity, > and naturally this was probaly encouraged by Syrklist > kings, as trade to outpost would be very profitable. > Dwarves came to Glantri, they came to Five Shires > (abiet more conquest oriented ones), and then they > settled in Karameikos. > > I did a write up of Stronghollow history and culture, > if anyone is interested... > > --- Joaquin Menchaca > > > > _______________________________ > Do you Yahoo!? > Declare Yourself - Register online to vote today! > http://vote.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. > _________________________________________________________________ On the road to retirement? Check out MSN Life Events for advice on how to get there! http://lifeevents.msn.com/category.aspx?cid=Retirement ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Oct 2004 02:04:47 -0400 From: Donald Eric Kesler Subject: Re: Fading of Immortals and Blackmoor Hello, I also find it interesting the a technological device from the world that the Beagle came from is responsible for the decline of magic. Basically, it seems that in the world of Mystara, one can either have magic or technology, but the two do not exisit well side by side. I don't know if this should be taken as a hard and fast rule, or if it should be regarded as a thematic trait. Regards and Best Wishes, Donald Eric Kesler http://www.geocities.com/heroclixleagueofathens/ > From: Andrew Theisen > Reply-To: Mystara RPG Discussion > To: MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM > Subject: Re: [MYSTARA] Fading of Immortals and Blackmoor > Date: Sat, 9 Oct 2004 20:08:07 -0700 > MIME-Version: 1.0 > Received: from mc8-f36.hotmail.com ([65.54.253.172]) by mc8-s18.hotmail.com > with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.0.2195.6824); Sat, 9 Oct 2004 20:38:25 -0700 > Received: from oracle.wizards.com ([209.221.142.150]) by > mc8-f36.hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.0.2195.6824); Sat, 9 Oct 2004 > 20:38:25 -0700 > Received: from lotus (10.12.8.13) by oracle.wizards.com (LSMTP for Windows > NT v1.1b) with SMTP id <0.013652BC@oracle.wizards.com>; Sat, 9 Oct 2004 > 20:37:15 -0700 > Received: from ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM by ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM (LISTSERV-TCP/IP > release 1.8d) with spool id 40115056 for > MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM; Sat, 9 Oct 2004 20:08:08 -0700 > Received: from web80702.mail.yahoo.com (66.163.170.59) by > oracle.wizards.com (LSMTP for Windows NT v1.1b) with SMTP id > <0.01365291@oracle.wizards.com>; Sat, 9 Oct 2004 20:08:08 -0700 > Received: from [66.214.39.66] by web80702.mail.yahoo.com via HTTP; Sat, 09 > Oct 2004 20:08:07 PDT > X-Message-Info: pdGgd64CkwZch8ss+uqA7K4XuZZTgH5EVUXHy6sGV20= > Message-ID: <20041010030807.74399.qmail@web80702.mail.yahoo.com> > In-Reply-To: <20041009131144.28444.qmail@web40704.mail.yahoo.com> > Return-Path: owner-mystara-l@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM > X-OriginalArrivalTime: 10 Oct 2004 03:38:25.0296 (UTC) > FILETIME=[9936B900:01C4AE7A] > > --- Havard Faanes wrote: > > > I think Mystara should be the center of the > > universe, but not physically. One reason could be > the > > presence of the Radience, one of the few known > > artifacts of possible Old One origin. Another could > > be the presence of stronger magic than usual. A > third > > could be that Mystara has produced more immortals > > than most other worlds. The presence of Pandius may > > be a result of the above. > > The Gold Box set described the center of the universe > a bit (I don't recall exactly what it says, but it > goes into detail somewhat). I always assumed the > Beagle and the Federation hailed from the center of > the universe, given the closer proximity of all the > planets there (which the GB describes)- it would make > interplanetary travel that much easier. > > That being the case, I always assumed that what made > Mystara different was its magical properties. DA3: > City of the Gods describes how the Beagle discovered > magic upon its arrival, at first thinking it was > psychic powers (implying the Federation and hub > planets use/know of psionics), but it turns out it > wasn't. > > Given that magic works elsewhere in the cosmos (other > planes, other planets, etc) that weakens the argument > somewhat as to Mystara's uniqueness magically, but > perhaps it also has something to do with the unique > nature of the planet- ie, the World Shield, which > doesn't seem to be present anywhere else? > > ******************************************************************** > 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. > _________________________________________________________________ Don’t just search. Find. Check out the new MSN Search! http://search.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200636ave/direct/01/ ------------------------------ End of MYSTARA-L Digest - 8 Oct 2004 to 9 Oct 2004 (#2004-215) **************************************************************