The Library of Mazrooth al Yedom, Sage of Almarrón
by Thorfinn Tait
"Yes, yes, yes, come in, hurry yourself up. No, don't look there, and don't touch anything. Sit.
"Today I will tell you of the ancient times of the world, of the history of the lands about us, far from us and even below us. These things are not known to the common sages of the world. Indeed not even I was able to assemble such a tome, despite my extensive knowledge. No mortal could; for this is the Book of Knowledge, whose pages are blank to us mere mortals. Within its pages unfolds the story of Mystara, from the Dawn of Civilization to the present... and even the future.
"I can but theorize on its contents, for as I said I cannot read it. However, my assistant has been able to decipher much of its contents, because he is not of this world. You may also be able to, if you have the inclination... and the intelligence.
"We will start at the beginning, over seven thousand years ago..."
The tome Mazrooth refers to is of course the Timeline of the D&D world, a compilation of the works of all of Mystara's greatest historians. I myself am compiling it, and you can read a 'first draft,' of sorts, here. I should warn you that it is incomplete and a little messy, but it is already of a great length.
"Now that you have learned a little of our history, you will no doubt have noticed that the sages of our world are not always as accurate and knowledgable as they would like to think themselves. Indeed there are often conflicting opinions on what happened, and when it happened, and who was involved.
"This tome tells of these conflicts and irregularities, and even attempts to explain and resolve some of them. Some may consider it a work of genius, others one of folly. You must form your own opinion."
There is also an important companion document to the timline, which lists all discrepancies between the official sources. It will also be updated as the timeline proceeds.
"...and here is an obscure work, whose origins are unknown to me. It may be, perhaps, that it originates from another dimension - one similar to ours, and yet subtly different. I do not know.
"In any case, it may be of interest to you, or it may not. It seems to be an account of a visit to a strange and wonderful undersea city, though I have not yet translated all of it. You may read my translation of the first part, which seems to concern itself mainly with the founder and builder of the city and his adventures."
The first of a number of works from my own campaign, this page is about my favourite PC, Branwys Skyratchett. He's a skygnome inventor and adventurer. Feel free to take a look, and do anything that you like with him. I have used him as an NPC in one of my campaigns. If you do use him in an adventure, please tell me about it - I'd love to hear of some more adventures with Branwys.
I have also typed in an excerpt from Branwys's adventures - a new Monster, called the Squigglenogg.