Diaboli on Mystara
by HåvardThe Diaboli is another race that is uniquely Mystaran. Yet their extra-dimensional origins mean that most campaigns have treated them as marginal. The AC1010 Almanac had a community of Diaboli settle in Norwold, allying themselves with Erical. What was the reason for their appearance there? Is this the first large scale presence of Diaboli on Mystara?
I think it might be interesting to try to integrate the Diaboli more closely to Mystara. From the monster description it seems clear that Diaboli visit Mystara from time to time. Do they favour certain regions more than others? Would it be possible that Diaboli kingdoms have been set up elsewhere?
Some ideas may be drawn from the background of the Immortal Harrow:
Harrow was a diabolus in the Nightmare Dimension eight centuries ago. After much practice and study, he became a talented sorcerer and an expert illusionist. His life was completely upset when a dimensional breach opened in his tower and he got sucked in another dimension by a more powerful mage, who held him as his slave. When he recovered from the trip, he found himself bound to the will of the first Master of Illusionism, an hakomon living in the Ethengar Steppes. Exploiting Harrow's knowledge, the hakomon Sinjad Virayana was soon able to subjugate a few Ethengarian tribes to his will and to summon other creatures from the Dimension of Nightmare to do his biddings. When the hakomon finally died after a conspiracy orchestrated by other envious Khans together with Harrow's own help, Harrow was finally free and he began to wander across the World Known, looking for a way home.
Diaboli have likely been coming to Mystara for at least 800 years then, and Harrow may not even have been the first Diabolus to visit Mystara, though possibly the first one to visit the Known World.
Some ideas for Diaboli presence:
* Glantri: The Illusionists of Glantri have likely been summoning Diaboli since the time of Sinjad Virayana.
* Ethengar: The Hakomons of Ethengar may also have learned this trick from Virayana, and Ethengars probably consider Diaboli a kind of Spirit creature.
* Alphatia: It is likely that Alphatian mages have been visiting the Dimension of Nightmares just as often if not more often than the Glantrians. There could even be a considerable Diabolus population in Alphatia. Could the contact between Alphatians and Diaboli be connected to the arrival of Diaboli in Norwold AC1010? Erical is Alphatian after all and may have made connections with Diaboli when he was still living in the mother country? Perhaps these Diaboli had planned to settle in Alphatia, but arrived too late?
* Norwold: We already know Diaboli settle in Norwold in AC1010.
* Hule: Marco's description links Harrow's path to immortality to his adventures in Hule:
His adventuresome endeavours all around the world eventually attracted Korotiku's attention, who saw a great opportunity for testing if a creature that did not hail from the Multiverse could attain immortality. Therefore Harrow began his path of the Epic Hero and at the end of the V century AC he became an immortal in the sphere of Thought after accomplishing many epic deeds in the Hulean region.
He afterwards succeeded in luring away from Eiryndul's worship a small group of elves living in the Dark Woods, and he sided with Loki using his new followers to help his protégé Hosadus uniting the Sanctified Lands of Hule. This act obviously caused him the eternal enmity of Eiryndul (his main antagonist for the title of Lord of Illusions) as well as the reprimand of his patron Korotiku, who did not foresee nor understand Harrow's move to ally with his most hated enemy, Loki.
* Other continents: could Diaboli communities have been established on Davania or Skothar? The possibilities are endless!