OARD-7 alternate timeline
by James MishlerBeware, All Ye that Enter...
One of the more interesting (and downright deadly) "Alternate Timelines" that I have developed for characters from Mystara is the one that I call "OARD-7" (note that I'm still developing it, I haven't dropped anyone into this evil place... yet). I started working on this one shortly after the Chronomancer sourcebook came out...
In this timeline, the Great War and other events progressed just as they had with the "Official" history up until the Summer of AC 1006. In the official history, Alphaks sends his meteor plunging into the mountains north of Darokin and south of Glantri; in OARD-7, the Oards (that interdimensional menace from CM6 "Where Chaos Reigns", years ago) modified the path of the meteor so that it struck Glantri City full on; with the addition of several technological devices they had added to the meteor's mass, the energies released in the explosion had an *extremely* negative reaction with the Nucleus of the Spheres, to the effect that not only was all *mortal* magic instantly rendered non-functional, but most importantly, all *IMMORTAL* magic ALSO no longer had any effect within the mystical boundaries of Mystara. Magical beings died in droves within days (this includes elves, Dragons and other monsters with magical powers, but NOT Dwarves, Halflings or Wizards; some *few* magical beings were able to survive); the Hollow Worlds sun was *instantly* extinguished and within days, all life in the Hollow World that had not frozen, suffocated as the oxygen levels bottomed out; Myoshima, within Mystara's "Mystical" embrace, plunged into the depths of space, devoid of life....
Plague, famine, earthquakes and pestilence stalked the remaining population. Any Immortal that was in a Mortal Identity remained STUCK in that identity; if they were in a Manifestation form, that form "died" and they were cast back into their Home Plane. NO Immortal from outside the area could take form or affect ANYTHING within Mystara's "Mystical" realm. The Mortals were truly on their own, without Magic or Immortal Assistance...
And then the Oards invaded... led by a being known as HAL9000... a being formerly known as Halzunthram...
The Oards set up base camp in the crater left by the great meteor, where they set up a huge device that began siphoning off residual magical energies; they also hunted down and eliminated any remaining magical creatures or Immortals in mortal form that they could get; humans, dwarves and halflings were "Assimilated" into the Oard Collective (the Oards DO predate the Borg, by the way). Within five years, the only remaining major forces opposing the Oards were the peoples of Chronos-1 (a new city founded by the mortal identities of Khoronus and Vanya), the Hounds of Hel (a barbarian horde outfitted with captured Oard devices, led by the Mortal Identity of Hel) and the Federation Allied Forces, the most technologically capable group, led by the Mortal Identity of Rheddrian Benekander (outfitted with the best jury-rigged/reconstructed Blackmoorian and Federation technology available).
The PC's are dropped into the mix at the most crucial time (of course), when the hero of Chronos-1, the former Prince Jaggar von Drachenfels (souped up with captured Oard devices), transports *back in time* through an Oard time/space transporter (thus, he can be found anywhere, anytime searching for help).