Subject: MYSTARA-L Digest - 27 Jan 2005 to 28 Jan 2005 (#2005-23) From: Automatic digest processor Date: 29/01/2005, 19:00 To: Recipients of MYSTARA-L digests Reply-to: Mystara RPG Discussion There are 7 messages totalling 506 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Some real culture 2. The Belcadiz Issue (was: Mini-Gaz - Baronia de Torreon) (2) 3. Rakasta PC ilustration 4. =?iso-8859-1?Q?Re:_=5BMYSTARA=5D_Re:_=5BMYSTARA=5D_Mini-Gazetteer:_?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?Baron=EDa_de_Torre=F3n?= 5. The Belcadiz Issue (again!?!?) 6. Vincienzo di Randazzi ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.mystaranet.jamm.com/vaults/default.aspx To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2005 11:20:18 +0100 From: Giampaolo Agosta Subject: Re: Some real culture Vinicius R. de Moraes wrote: > It seem s crazy, but why don't you guys come to BRA, ARG & URU in order to > see real "gauchos"? > All the SC maniacs would get HUGE flavour in their campaigns... and the > place is beautiful! It would be nice, except that I seem to never get enough holidays :) Bye, GP -- Giampaolo Agosta http://digilander.iol.it/agathokles ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2005 14:30:01 +0100 From: la Volpe Subject: The Belcadiz Issue (was: Mini-Gaz - Baronia de Torreon) Remember that one of the most controversial source references regarding the Belcadiz is the one in GAZ3 that says that Alhambra elves (remember that Belcadiz is just the main family, but the clan name is Alhambra) came from the southern continent...and that they went there after the Glantrian cataclism explosion. Thus, Savage Coast elves should NOT be related to Alhambra/Belcadiz elves, unless you take in consideration Agathokles' idea that a consistent part of elves descends from the Ispan migration. If you think that the Ispan culture is an elven+thyatian culture, then maybe you can solve this problem... Iulius Sergius Scaevola Captain of the XXth Cohort Port Lucinius, Thyatis ___________________________________ Nuovo Yahoo! Messenger: E' molto più divertente: Audibles, Avatar, Webcam, Giochi, Rubrica… Scaricalo ora! http://it.messenger.yahoo.it ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2005 14:18:55 +0000 From: Ricardo Matheus Subject: Re: Rakasta PC ilustration > I could easily imagine this one to be on > the cover of the Myoshima Gazeteer.... > > Håvard I asked him and he said you can use it in the cover if you want to as long as you drop some credits to him somewhere (maybe a link to his site - he's looking for work after all ;) ). The original picture is way bigger so if you need one with a bigger definition let me know. > ``tieing your brother to the chair'' idea I tried that and a lot of other means... the guy is slick ;oD > you have NOT closed the tag at the end of the text... should I conclude > that you are not lurking anymore? Not for the moment, I'll let this picture tread die out before returning to the murky deeps of real life troubles. >> by ilustrating some of the >> characters in important campaign points. > > What point is the one pictured in the link below? The Rakasta in the picture is a cleric of Petra (in fact a Rakastan avatar/version of Petra), he was raised in Thunder Rift (my campaign goes way back to the time I was 15 and all I had was the thunder rift booklet and the rage of rakasta module). At one point of the campaign he was caught in big plot of Orcus (not directed at him but...) and deviated a lot from his goddes techings. He eventually lost most of his clerical powers. This picture is the day he realized his errors and started the long way back in to his goddess graces. _________________________________________________________________ MSN Messenger: instale grátis e converse com seus amigos. http://messenger.msn.com.br ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2005 17:50:57 +0100 From: Francesco Defferrari Subject: Re: The Belcadiz Issue (was: Mini-Gaz - Baronia de Torreon) la Volpe wrote: > Remember that one of the most controversial source > references regarding the Belcadiz is the one in GAZ3 > that says that Alhambra elves (remember that Belcadiz > is just the main family, but the clan name is > Alhambra) came from the southern continent... The Gaz says that, but really the same it's true for all the elves of Mystara more or less... They all came from Davania... Maybe the meaning is that they are not of the first Ilsundal migration, but from the second one that meet later Ilsundal and his people, and IIRC originated Sheyallia, Vyalia and Minrothad elves too... and that > they went there after the Glantrian cataclism > explosion. Didn't they came to Glantri around 700 ac? Any problem is solved just assuming that espan (or something very similar to) was spoken yet in the Savage Coast at the time, and that's perfecty possible. Thus, Savage Coast elves should NOT be > related to Alhambra/Belcadiz elves, IMO they should be because obviously they speak the same language, and the easiest way to link belcadiz and the savage coast is to assume that espan existed for centuries as the common language of the savage coast to allow comunication between different peoples like elves, oltecs, traldars, dwarves and thyatians and minrothaddan traders.... Remember that, according to canon, the first "easterners" who came to the SC were the Dwarves around 500 bc, then traldar in 450 ac. I bet that in one thousand years dwarves were not the only easterners to know the SC, so surely there were quite regular communications between the east and the west many centuries before the great thyatian migration of 900 ac. unless you take in > consideration Agathokles' idea that a consistent part > of elves descends from the Ispan migration. If you > think that the Ispan culture is an elven+thyatian > culture, then maybe you can solve this problem... Surely many will like his idea more than mine, but IMHO it create more problems that it resolves: you have to assume that a lot of spanish speaking elves lived in thyatis or in a thyatian colony for centuries and canon history never bothered to mention them, even if we know more or less all the elven clans of Mystara. Worse they left just one century ago from the place they inhabited for centuries and didn't leave behind anyone of them nor names of places, neither ruins or similar things. You have to stretch canon anyway, because simply who wrote Gaz3 didn't bother a bit about the belcadiz origins, but I find that the thyatian-elves origin is a lot bigger drift from canon that to simply assume that espan is a language some century older that we thought... bye Francesco ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2005 18:27:18 +0100 From: Francesco Defferrari Subject: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Re:_=5BMYSTARA=5D_Re:_=5BMYSTARA=5D_Mini-Gazetteer:_?= =?iso-8859-1?Q?Baron=EDa_de_Torre=F3n?= Andrew Theisen wrote: > I did a very brief version several days ago and posted > it on the MMB. Feel free to plunder it all you want. > http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=364465 I read it yet and I was planning to plunder it all :-) No really it's exactly like my idea and I see that we came to same conclusion about the matter of the belcadiz language. I'll give you due credit in my little history file :-) (and to the many others who contibuted to this debate too!) bye Francesco ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2005 13:41:07 -0800 From: Andrew Theisen Subject: Re: The Belcadiz Issue (again!?!?) --- la Volpe wrote: > Remember that one of the most controversial source > references regarding the Belcadiz is the one in GAZ3 > that says that Alhambra elves...came from the > southern continent...and that they went there after > the Glantrian cataclism explosion. Actually, what Gaz3 says could be taken to describe two different (actually 3 different) groups of elves. On p.4 we learn that elves were the first inhabitants of Glantri- "Centuries after Blackmoor's destruction, elves from the far south colonize this area. They form several large clans..." These couldn't have been the shadow elf clans, as (from Gaz13) we know the SE clans have *already* been driven underground due to the cataclysm. These elves, then, were the second inhabitants of Glantri. Next, these elves blow up a Blackmoor artifact, and "[t]he elves find shelter in the deepest caves of Glantri... today elven legends tell of a few tribes that emerged from caves hundreds of miles south..." Which means the second group of Glantrian elves were the Truedyl (who do, indeed, emerge far to the south, in the Shires), the Icevale (who pop up again in the Hollow World), the Schattenalfen (who mix in with the shadow elves and become Eeeeevil!), and a clan whose only survivor is Atziann. The next reference we get to elves is also on p.4 where we learn that: "The Flaems... build a great capital, Braejr, and thrive for another three centuries. Then, elves reappear from the south." This puts the elvish "return" c.750 AC (300 years approximately after Braejr is built). The returning elves are presumably the Alhambran elves, since the next paragraph also mentions/makes a distinction that "fair" elves also settle. It's the "returning" and "from the south" phrases that imply the Alhambran elves are one of the surviving clans, but IMO, those terms can also apply to elves that were part of the second migration who did not settle in Glantri c.1700 BC. For one thing, coming from the south is one of the most (if not the most) direct route into Glantri, and would fit with any clans coming to Glantri in search of their kin (who they knew went to Glantri after the migrations met up north of the Serpent Peninsula c.2300 BC). For another, they would have been related to any elvish clans that settled in Glantri (all of them being part of Davanian migrations), and with the Alhambran "haughty" attitude, might very well regard Glantri as their rightful homeland, and so give off the impression of having "returned" to claim it for their kin. Anyway, there is a lot of room for interpretation, but like Francesco, I'm currently of the "they're Savage Coasters" school of thought. Thus, Savage Coast elves should NOT be > related to Alhambra/Belcadiz elves, unless you take > in > consideration Agathokles' idea that a consistent > part > of elves descends from the Ispan migration. If you > think that the Ispan culture is an elven+thyatian > culture, then maybe you can solve this problem... > > Iulius Sergius Scaevola > Captain of the XXth Cohort > Port Lucinius, Thyatis > > > > ___________________________________ > Nuovo Yahoo! Messenger: E' molto più divertente: > Audibles, Avatar, Webcam, Giochi, Rubrica… Scaricalo > ora! > http://it.messenger.yahoo.it > > ******************************************************************** > The Other Worlds Homepage: > http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp > The Mystara Homepage: > http://www.mystaranet.jamm.com/vaults/default.aspx > To unsubscribe, send email to > LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM > with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. > ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2005 23:02:43 -0800 From: Andrew Theisen Subject: Vincienzo di Randazzi My post about Ezechiel Naramis got me to remembering some other Glantri stuff I'd had sitting around, uncompleted. So, while I finish up the rest, here's a little known-about character in Glantri politics (sort of the Ash Ketchum of Mystara): Vincienzo di Randazzi By Andrew Theisen AC 1018 "Shame- I really thought you had me that time. Shall we make it best of seven, then, or do you concede?" I Appearance Vincienzo is of average height, though slight of build. He has the olive complexion traditional of his Thyatian ancestry, though with a paleness that is testimonial to a lifetime spent indoors. Vincienzo's hair is black, and shoulder length, usually kept bound in a ponytail. The ends of his hair are bleached white, making it resemble a fox's tail. His brown eyes twinkle mischievously. He dresses in the latest cut and style of clothing, but his outfits are always specially tailored to have a gaming theme to them- red and black chessboard patterns, tiny roulette wheels, etc. Vincienzo's outfits are not garish, though they do draw attention by dint of their thematic underpinnings. II Personality Vincienzo is the consummate gamesman. He loves games of chance- the higher the odds against him, the better. In particular, he was known as a champion dart thrower during his tenure at the Great School of Magic. He is also acknowledged a champion summoner- setting summoned creatures against those of an opponent in an arena-type situation. Youri’s close bonds with his summoned monsters has led them to victories against traditionally stronger opponents time and again. Ironically enough, though he is most known for using his summoned creatures in gaming, he is closer to them than he is to his own family. He knows them all by name and several of them have been his companions since childhood. In Vincienzo’s eyes, it is other people that are pawns and game pieces to be used and discarded at will. III History Born with a gift for magic surpassing that of his father, Vincienzo was groomed from an early age to be what Pangratio di Randazzi could not- a privileged member of the Glantrian nobility. Showing little talent for the arts of war, Vincienzo was instead apprenticed to become a wizard. Unfortunately, he was perhaps pampered a bit too much. Living a life of leisure, Vincienzo became cut off from other children as well as his own family. His truest companionship came from the creatures he summoned with his magic- for Vincienzo’s specialty was in the field of conjuration. When he came of age, Vincienzo was packed off to the Great School of Magic in Glantri City. Being somewhat shy at first, he found himself the object of ridicule by his peers. In order to fit in, he took on many dares and bets in order to prove himself to others. Fortunately, Vincienzo’s keen mind was suitable to games of skill, and he demonstrated a great degree of luck at games of chance. As his reputation as a gambler grew, he began to come out of his shell and develop into something of a rogue. Vincienzo remained at the Great School of Magic only long enough to graduate, at which time he left, finding no more challenge in it. He stayed in the city, however, becoming a permanent fixture in Glantri City’s various gambling dens and casinos. He drifted among the noble social circles for a time, living high and low on his gambling wins and losses. Back at home, his family looked upon him with growing disfavor but having little ability to control their gadabout son. The meteor impact of 1006 caused the death of Caterucia di Randazzi, his mother. Though he hadn’t seen her in several years, the loss hurt Vincienzo more than he’d care to admit. In his grief, he became reckless, taking bets at impossible odds and amassing huge amounts of debt. In a seemingly vain attempt to relieve himself of his misfortunes, he accepted a bet by a longtime gambling companion to vie for a position among the nobility. It was the gamble of a lifetime, but by calling in favors and making several shady deals, Vincienzo beat out favored competitor Agostino di Malapietra and became the first Baron of Ylourgne. Though he’d gotten out of debt, Vincienzo immediately came to regret his position. The tedium of rulership, along with the self-serving nature of politics at first disturbed him. He brought in his father, and later, his brother, to assist in the mundane duties of administration while he concentrated on his own pursuits and living the high life of nobility. As he hobnobbed with the Glantrian elite, the more he came to view politics as yet another game- albeit one with much higher stakes- with pawns to manipulate and pieces to move. Vincienzo has become quite a bit more politically active of late, as he seeks to establish himself as the winner in yet another gambit. IV Web of Intrigue Vincienzo leaves the day-to-day administration of his dominion to his father Pangratio- a retired army commander- and his younger brother Jacobo. Unbeknownst to Vincienzo, Jacobo is a high-ranking member of the Followers of the Claymore who is using his position in Ylourgne to help strengthen the weakened organization. Their sister, Colletta, is married to Coenraet Rjevens, a former Among his political allies, Vincienzo counts Gerrid Rientha, Viscount of Castelbianco. The two men share a love of gambling and a respect for one another’s magical prowess. Though he is more closely associated with the House of Kern these days, Vincienzo still considers his former associate in House Morlay- Prince Malachie du Marais- to be a politically asset. Within the bounds of Ylourgne, Vincienzo acknowledges and officially recognizes Andre David de Foret as Huntsman of Ardenne, conceding jurisdiction of the wood to the ranger. Vincienzo’s enemies include former Baron Pieter Vandehaar, who stills seethes with rage over the events of a recent magical duel. Archduke John Beaumarys-Moorkroft has a special hatred for Vincienzo’s familiar for disrupting many of his fox hunts; this dislike has carried over to his master. Finally, Agostino di Malapietra still carries a grudge against Vincienzo for losing out in the contest for title to the Barony of Ylourgne in 1006 AC. V Statistics and Style of Magic Vincienzo di Randazzi: Male human Conjurer 10*; CR 10; Medium humanoid (human); HD 10d4; hp 31; Init +4; Spd 30 ft.; AC 14, touch 14, flat-footed 10; Base Atk +5; Grp +5; Atk +5 melee (1d4, dagger), +11 ranged (1d4+1, +1 returning dart), or +10 ranged touch (by spell); Full Atk +5 melee (1d4, dagger), +8/+8 ranged (1d4+1, +1 returning dart), or +10 ranged touch (by spell); SA spells; AL N; SV Fort +3, Ref +7, Will +8; Str 10, Dex 18, Con 11, Int 17, Wis 13, Cha 17. *Statistics are age adjusted and include a +2 level bonus to Dexterity. Skills and Feats: Bluff +8, Concentration +10, Craft (woodworking) +4, Decipher Script +6, Diplomacy +5, Knowledge (arcana) +8, Knowledge (nobility and royalty) +5, Profession (gambler) +14, Sense Motive +6, Sleight of Hand +9, Spellcraft +10. Augment Summoning, Craft Wondrous Item, Extend Spell, Point Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, Scribe Scroll, Simple Weapon Proficiency, Weapon Focus (dart). Familiar: Youri’s familiar is a fox named Scacco. Scacco uses the better of its own or Youri’s base save bonuses. Its abilities and characteristics are summarized below: Scacco: CR -; Tiny animal; HD 10; hp 15; Init +4; Spd 30 ft.; AC 22, touch 16, flat-footed 18; Base Atk +5; Grp -1; Atk +7 melee (1d3, bite); Full Atk +7 melee (1d3, bite); SA deliver touch spells; SQ improved evasion, low-light vision, scent, speak with canines, speak with master; AL N; SV Fort +4, Ref +7, Will +8; Str 10, Dex 18, Con 13, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 7. Skills and Feats: Hide +4, Listen +4, Move Silently +4, Spot +2, Survival +1, Swim +2; Stealthy. Spells Prepared (5/6/6/5/4/3): 0- arcane mark, detect magic, mage hand, prestidigitation, resistance; 1st- feather fall, mage armor, summon monster I (x2), true strike, unseen servant; 2nd- bear’s endurance, bull’s strength, cat’s grace, melf’s acid arrow, summon monster II (x2); 3rd- dispel magic, haste, slow, summon monster III (x2); 4th- leomund’s secure shelter, polymorph, summon monster IV, extended summon monster III; 5th- dismissal, summon monster V, extended summon monster IV. *Prohibited School: Evocation Possessions: +1 returning dart (x2), bag of tricks (rust colored), deck of illusions, rod of wonder. “One of these days, I’ll get you Randazzi! And your little rodent, too!”- Archduke John Beaumarys-Moorkfroft, ranting after a disrupted fox hunt. ------------------------------ End of MYSTARA-L Digest - 27 Jan 2005 to 28 Jan 2005 (#2005-23) ***************************************************************