Hule Never Rises
by Rodger BurnsGood to see an enthusiastic reaction so far! Anyone else who has ideas, feel free to post them. I take corrections and suggestions for future changes/expansions, too.
This alternate history diverges with the arrival of Wogar's Great Horde in the Great Valley. Unlike the 'prime' Mystara timeline, the Horde's invasion here lacks any kind of restraint, and the proto-Huleans either flee from their homelands or perish. Some head west, assimilating into the populations of the Savage Coast; some sail south and east, coming around in what will one day be Minrothad and Ierendi; many push eastwards into Sind.
Among the latter is the young Hosadus; his particular brand of divine trickery and malice is imposed on the Sindian culture, making them into a nation very much like Tamerlane's empire on our Earth. (This AH may, in fact, be eerily similar to the history of the Known World as X10 originally described it...)
Other changes from the 'prime' Mystara status quo occur along the Savage Coast, where fleeing Huleans form an ethnic minority - sometimes accepted, often oppressed, sometimes even able to use magic and cunning to achieve dominance. Expect the Savage Baronies and the city-states of the Gulf to be even more fractured and tension-filled than normal. In Ierendi and Minrothad, the Huleans are a notable power bloc that's insular, fairly arrogant, not at all worried about exalting Immortals like Hel or Thanatos, and all set to meddle in the affairs of the other Old World nations.
And of course, this AH also features a small empire of some of the best-organised and warlike goblins you've ever seen, sitting smack dab in the middle of Southern Brun. Exactly what they do over the next two millennia is another whole mess of loose threads waiting to be uncovered...