I just picked up the d20 Conan book - 'Ruins of Hyboria' and thought you might find this extract interesting.
"Ruins of Hyboria" p.27 wrote:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ixion
The interesting bit in that book, though, and in Conan canon in general, is the existence of the city of Nithia...
Yes, Nithia. From Dale Rippke's excellent Heroes of Dark Fantasy site at:
http://www.dodgenet.com/~moonblossom/heroesof.htm
Nithia, Holy City of:---also known as the "Brass City of Nithia", it is an ancient city of Ibis worshippers. The city was contemporaneous of the Acheronian Empire. White marble walls and huge brass gates protected Nithia, nine days travel from the nearest city. The "Seven Fountains of Ibis" kept the city green and flourishing at the center of the Nithian Desert. The priest-kings of Nithia were descended from Atlantean kings. In the crystal-domed temple of Ibis was kept the statue of an incredibly ancient Atlantean god, called the "Grim, Grey God". The statue was carved from a pearl twice the size of a man's head. When the Acheronian warlord Dhurkhan Blackblade razed the city and claimed the statue, the priest-kings magic buried it in the ruins of the city, in a sandstorm lasting twenty-three days. For the next three-thousand years the city lie nearly forgotten, remembered only as the fabled "City of Brass", in what became the deserts of eastern Shem. (Conan and the Grim Grey God)
Conan and the Grim Gray God was one of the last Conan pastiches, published in 1997, long after Nithia was used in Mystara products... so there's a distinct possibility that Mystara influenced Conan canon!
Interesting. Could Ixion have a Tomb (located in Hyperboria), just like the Tomb of Vanya? Why do Immortals have Tombs? Do they shed their mortal bodies upon achieving Immortality, bodies that are sometimes buried as if they had died? This theory doesnt help us much with Ixion though since he may not have been mortal at all.
IXION FROM GREEK MYTH:
Thanks for the link James, I was more or less familiar with these myths, but this added some new details. Although our Ixion is quite diffferent from that of the greek myths, there are also many similarities: His relationship with Valerias, his offspring with Nephele producing the Centaur race, and his symbol the burning wheel. This also made me more interested in Nephele. I am more convinced now than before that Nephele should be an Immortal on Mystara.
NITHIA IN CONAN
Pretty cool stuff. I like the idea of Mystara inflencing Conan
I wonder if something similar to The Seven Fountains of Ibis can be found in Ylaruam....
Havard
TOMB OF IXION:
Interesting. Could Ixion have a Tomb (located in Hyperboria), just like the Tomb of Vanya? Why do Immortals have Tombs? Do they shed their mortal bodies upon achieving Immortality, bodies that are sometimes buried as if they had died? This theory doesnt help us much with Ixion though since he may not have been mortal at all.
or it could just be a natural reaction for any new immortal as a way to help sever ties with their once mortal existance. The new immortal can fake their own death and for some it might involve having a dead "body" of the once mortal which can be buried and mourned in the custom of the land. Older immortals and those who don't remember their mortal existance might create a tomb as a "mortal" affectation, or it might even be an element in some plot or other.
or it could just be a natural reaction for any new immortal as a way to help sever ties with their once mortal existance. The new immortal can fake their own death and for some it might involve having a dead "body" of the once mortal which can be buried and mourned in the custom of the land. Older immortals and those who don't remember their mortal existance might create a tomb as a "mortal" affectation, or it might even be an element in some plot or other.
Good suggestions. I am wondering though if it could not be a common thing for an immortal to leave his mortal body behind when he becomes an immortal. Creating a new manifestation form will usually be one of the first things a new immortal does. Although the manifestation form often resembles the original mortal body it might not be the same thing. This would also allow us to avoid the extensive 'faking' that seems to be going on among immortals. I hope that at least some of them are not just deceitful manipulators.
I like the idea of Ixions Tomb being found in Hyperborea. If it isnt actually a tomb, I wonder what it really is. Perhaps the name actually is given to it by worshippers who believe Ixion was buried there, though it could in fact be something else altogether....
Havard
I am more convinced now than before that Nephele should be an Immortal on Mystara.
Nephele is an Immortal in my Mystara since PC1 Tall Tales of the Wee Folk. She is a weather goddes, her's followers are some centaurs (of course), an human druidical sect.
She was a driad of Milenian origins in her mortal life.
She created centaurs working with Ixion (under suspicious and gealous Valerias look).
(since its raining outside)
Ixion in Mystara, unlike in the Greek Myth, was probably never a mortal man, nor did he covet the wife of another deity (or did he?). So why would he get involved with Nephele? Or was that simply a professional cooperation when creating the Centaurs, perhaps with Valerias' jealousy working towards the spreading of such stories? Or was this in fact a way for Ixion to win Valerias' love?
If he was not punished for his crimes as in the myth, why is his symbol still a burning wheel?
Could some of these answers offer ideas for what the Tomb of Ixion really is?
And on Nephele:
Nephele is an Immortal in my Mystara since PC1 Tall Tales of the Wee Folk. She is a weather goddes, her's followers are some centaurs (of course), an human druidical sect.
She was a driad of Milenian origins in her mortal life.
She created centaurs working with Ixion (under suspicious and gealous Valerias look).
Cool.
Not sure about a Dryad though, doesn't WotI say that she is an air elemental creature?Havard