Myoshima, Bellayne, and things Feline
by Bruce HeardI'm curious to dig further into the possible link between Bellayne and Myoshima being the nomads.
I had established in the Rakasta
article that the rakasta are a native race of Mystara. They are a
fairly old one at that, since there were such creatures as
"prehistoric" rakasta (cave rakasta and rakastodon, now surviving
in the Hollow World). At some point, a large clan of rakasta found
a way to move upstairs to Myoshima (topic I couldn't develop for
lack of space in the magazine). One explanation is that they found
a magical gate leading there. What if this clan were being stalked
by a powerful enemy (your guess who/what), and the only way to
escape was such a magical gate. The rakasta had a powerful cleric
who opened the gate, allowed his people to escape their oppressor,
and then had the gate collapse on the pursuers. Okay, I'll put that
bible away, now. This means two things. The rakasta could open the
gate again, but then their foe might still be sitting there,
waiting for them to come their way again (I'm tweaking the official
description of a gate, allowing something to be trapped in
between). This explains why the rakasta did not return using this
same method. It also means the Myoshiman rakasta had always been
aware of their brethren on Mystara and the big planet nearby, while
Mystaran rakasta didn't. Since then, the Myoshimans managed to get
some of their people back to metro-Mystara, by way of their flying
beasties. They would have naturally connected with the nomads,
being certainly the larger portion of the rakasta on Mystara and
the ones the more easily influenced. The result -- Bellayne remains
a reflection of human cultures, while the nomads are more
"Oriental" in style. How did the Myoshiman develop the oriental
style? Perhaps this was a clan that escaped from Ochalea, or more
likely a place like M-Japan, say Zyxl... Phew. Did I miss anything?