Genealogy of the Antalian Races
by Matthew Levy following comments by Geoff GanderI've read some mails about Thyatis. So I write here some about the cultures and history of Thyatis (IIRC).
The ancestors of the Thyatians were Antalians (yes, the horned guys of HW Ostzee). King Milen of Marilenev fled with his people, when the gnolls invaded ancient Traladara. In this time of the song of King Halav the Traldar, Nithian colonists, had not real contact to Nithia, but the empire was disappointed about this. They took some Antalian slaves and sent them to the isles of Minrothad (Minroth was a Nithian). They should travel to Davania and fight against the refugees. Instead the fled, ironically to Davania, and didn't care anything for the Traldar. (Hm, were woman under the Antalians?) The Traldar founded the Milenian Empire and finally drove the successors of the Antalians out. They had formed three tribes, the Kerendan, the Hattians and the Thyatians. These tribes returned to the continent of their forefathers and settled in nowadays Thyatis. A long period the earned their living as barbaric pirates. This stopped when Alphatia conquered them. After the liberation they founded the Empire of Thyatis and started to settle countries. Some "Celtic/Irish" Thyatians went to the Isle of Dawn, some "Spanish/Portuguese" Kerendans went to the Savage Coast. Other settled in Norwold where they founded Oceansend. These were (or became) "Scandinavian" Thyatians. After the declaration of independency some Oceansender went to the Isle of Dawn and found Westrourke.
As you see, there are quite a number of different Thyatians.
This is all quite interesting - where did get this information (i.e.: was it all from the MML, a forgotten page on some module somewhere, or are these your own theories)? I know the Antalian/Thyatian connection from the HW boxed set, but the Oceansend/Westrourke connection puzzles me - I though Westrourke was settled before the founding of Oceansend.
"THE GENEALOGY OF THE ANTALIAN
RACES
by Professor Von Ganderhoff of the Great School of Magic
The Antalian race of humans arose on the shores of the eastern sea in the time of the ancient Thonian civilisation. They were of the purer strains of the ancient Neathar, and an exposure to the cold northern elements encouraged that manly vigour and hardy constitution for which the race is well known. Furthermore, in the struggle for survival with the bestial Goblinoid races which beset them in the northern lands, the Antalians developed a martial skill of superb character, as well as crafts and skills related to the art of war, and to seafaring. There is excellent evidence from extant descriptions that the Skandaharian people, whose sea-raiding prowess was well known to the Blackmoor people, were Antalian in character. Some believe even the Blackmoorians were Antalian, and this hypothesis is certainly supported by the clear intellectual superiority of the Blackmoorians, though it is a controversy which awaits empirical investigation.
After the destruction of Blackmoor, the Antalians moved southward into what we now know as Norwold, and also into the area which later came to be known as Alphatia, becoming the dominant original racial stock of northern Alphatia, the Yannifey Islands, and Qeodhar. Some perhaps remained in the Skandaharian regions which have become Nentsun, but this Antalian strain was quickly polluted by the influx of inferior human strains and numerous subhuman goblinoids.
It was at this time that the Antalians (in Norwold) split into two distinct strains ... the True Antalian or Proto-Hattic race, and the Quasi-Antalian or Proto-Dunic race. The main difference between the two was a greater attention to the worship of immortals of war on the one hand (Odin and Thor) and to immortals of nature (such as the Robrennish Breig) on the other. The True Antalian race populated most of Norwold, the Northern Reaches, and inland areas including present-day Wendar and beyond, and developed strongly the arts of seafaring and war. The Quasi-Antalian lived along the Western part of the Isle of Dawn, as well as in various areas within the lands of the True Antalians (there were no clear national boundaries in those days.
It was at this point that the terrible Nithian empire arose, and the Nithians (who were descended from Neathar strains less pure than the Antalian, but still of tremendous intellectual ability, being in many respects intellectual heirs of the ancient Taymoran culture), defeated and enslaved the Antalians through trickery and sorcerous magic (this was during the time in which the numbers of the Antalians had been reduced by repeated goblinoid attacks. The least brave and warlike of the Quasi-Antalians were taken by the Nithians to the south and became the Traldar, but their language and culture were corrupted by Nithian elements. Other Quasi-Antalians remained on the Isle of Dawn, and mixed somewhat with Nithian elements (thus producing their well-known predisposition towards redness of hair and sexual laxity). The best Quasi- Antalians and many True Antalians were taken to the southern islands to colonise and to fight against the gnollish and lizard man races as well as the rebel Milenians. They mutinied and fled to Davania, where they grew populous through subjugating the local proto-Oltec and humanoid tribes (among whom were the Tegor of the ancient Thanegioths, who would later become the slaves of the Kopru Empire). Some interbred with the Milenians, becoming the Kerendan and Thyatian tribes, while others remained pure (becoming the Hattians) ... the Thyatians especially had significant Quasi-Antalian elements, but many of the Quasi-Antalians moved to other parts of the southern jungle, where they became the Hinterlanders of the modern day. The Thyatian, Kerendan, and Hattian tribes, as is well known, later moved north again to invade the territories left open by the collapse of the Nithian empire, where they came under the influence of the City-State of Tuma ( in southeastern Darokin, near the Halfling and Karameikan borders), which had preserved much learning and culture from Nithia, Taymora, and even from Alphatian influence. The Thyatians and Kerendans adopted Tuman naming patterns (themselves related to the Milenian language), whereas the Hattians retained a pure Antalian culture.
In the meantime, the Antalians who had remained in Brun came under the influence of the Elven diaspora, and accepted many Elvish elements into their culture (Elves, on the other hand, accepted much of the Antalian language into their own for everyday use ... thus the Antalian elements in many Elvish names) ... this mixing was most prominent amongst the inland Antalians, especially those of Wendar. Among the Antalian-Elvish inland tribes were the ancestors of the Robrennish (Quasi-Antalians) and Eusdrians (True Antalians), who moved westwards through the northern forests, eventually settling in the region of Hule, from whence they were pushed southward by the conquering armies of the Hulean theocracy much later. Based on this evidence alone, it is highly likely that there are other Antalian tribes of relatively pure blood, with all the noble influences acquired from Elvish culture, which live somewhere in the far northern forest lands beyond the Adri Varma plateau. Of course, as we know there are few areas in the world which have escaped SOME Antalian influence, as places like Darokin, Minrothad, and even Sind demonstrate strong strains of Antalian influence, though their populations have been made impure by other strains.
One possible source of such widespread Antalian elements is the period of sea-reaving by the Ostland pirates which followed the collapse of Nithia and extended well into the time of the early Thyatian empire. Indeed, some islands of the Sea of Dread region boast small populations of humans of Antalian descent. The far-flung outposts of Castle Furmenglaive and Caerdwicca also show that the Quasi-Antalians (who were of course constantly receiving fresh infusions of True Antalian elements from Ostland and Norwold) were quite skilled in conquest and seafaring as well.
A controversial theory, put forward by Prince Brannart McGregor, insists that the Antalians and Quasi-Antalians are necessary manifestations of metaphysical types which occur repeatedly throughout the multiverse ... thus explaining the distinctly Quasi-Antalian culture of the extraplanar Klantyrians, as well as Antalian elements in the Averoignian culture. Even amongst the Alphatians, who are mostly of a degenerate and morally corrupt copper-skinned race, there is a strain of True Alphatians, who are universally acknowledged as the best members of their race, and who are quite similar to Antalians in many respects.
Other strains of humanity reputed to
have Antalian origins, such as the Herathians of the far west or
the Mehirgudi of Aran (near Thothia), whose language is similar to
that of the Herathians as well as to those of Thothia and of
ancient Taymora, lack the requisite evidence at present."