Campaign Back Story
by Richard Hannah4000 years ago when the civilisation of Blackmoor was at the height of its powers, before the Great Rain of Fire, the demon city of Mabob was ruled by Minas, lord of Fury. The Enduk of the Savage coast are the only beings today who have even the dimmest recollection of this period, and even then it is only hinted at in the most ancient of their writings.
Mabob was a city of pain and terror where mortal beings where tortured in the breeding pits, under the ever watchful gaze of the Eye of Auros, an artifact of immeasurable power, which filled the demonic citizens of Mabob with the fury of its Master.
When the Great Rain of Fire fell from the skies Mabob was blasted from the face of Mystara and its demonic denizens destroyed utterly. All that remains of this evil empire today is one lonely island in the Sea of Dread.
The Isle of Auros is to this day a savage and dangerous place, inhabited by hostile cannibals who are maddened beyond any reason. Deep within its jungle interior lies the forgotten and ruined temple of Minas, inhabited by strange and fell creatures, warped by the power of the Eye which still lies deep within its catacombs.
DM notes.
Mabob was indeed a great city that was destroyed around the same time as Blackmoor. It was inhabited by an evil race of Enduk and ruled by a being called Minas, who had in his possession the aforementioned Eye of Auros.
Minas was in fact an Avatar of the Evil Immortal Arik (Mentioned in B3 - Palace of the Silver Princess) and the Eye of Auros was one of his hundred eyes. Mabob was Arik's great crime, the one for which he was imprisoned by the Immortals for intervening directly in mortal affairs.
The Eyes of Arik, including the Eye of Auros, are in fact some of the first artifacts ever produced by the newly made Nucleus of the Spheres, and are very similar to Shadow Elf Soul Crystals which are produced naturally by the power of the Radiance. When the Nucleus was created Arik discovered the crime perpetrated by the Immortals of Energy and demanded the crystals as payment for his silence. However Arik was flagrant in his use of the crystals and the Sphere of Energy feared it was only a matter of time before the Radiance was revealed by Arik's indiscretion.
The Immortals of Energy foresaw only one course of action and revealed Arik's crimes to rest of the Immortals, seeking in turn to mitigate their own wrongdoing. Thus Arik was imprisoned and the Radiance cursed.
Surviving remnants of Mabob civilisation can also be found in the North where Gylgarid is worshipped by barbarian tribes (Crown of ancient Glory) and it is possible that the Sorona Crown itself bears one of the Eyes of Arik.