Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 npc_dave Nov 04, 2005 17:02:12	Anyone played this in recent memory? I am running it, and I was curious if anyone had come up with a back story for the ancestors mentioned on that island. All we know is they had a civilization on the island, they created some creatures, and they are now shadows. I am familiar with the back story of the M'kar on the Vaults, did anyone further expand or change that back story? Regarding the Kal-Muru, rather than just being creatures from the elemental plane of air, I am thinking of making them creatures from the paraelemental plane of Steam(renamed Fog), thus tying Air and Water to the island. I am playing up this island's connections to all four of the elements. Anyone have any suggestions for drumbeats as background music? And lastly, did anyone watch Mummy II and compare the pygmie mummies in that movie to the topis in X8? When I saw the movie it made me think they copied the idea from the module, the scene where those pygmie mummies show up is identical to the first encounter with topis in the jungle.
#2 zombiegleemax Nov 04, 2005 17:20:45	And lastly, did anyone watch Mummy II and compare the pygmie mummies in that movie to the topis in X8? When I saw the movie it made me think they copied the idea from the module, the scene where those pygmie mummies show up is identical to the first encounter with topis in the jungle. Actually, that whole bit of Mummy Returns reminded me most of Act III of Diablo 2.
#3 Cthulhudrew Nov 04, 2005 17:40:10	I am familiar with the back story of the M'kar on the Vaults, did anyone further expand or change that back story? Dang- I was going to post a link to that very article. AFAIK, that's all that has ever been done with the M'Kar, but Geoff Gander (the author) lurks around here sometimes, so you might ask him. I believe he had some more ideas that he didn't expand upon in that article. If you're on the MML, you might drop him a line there- he's sure to see it.
#4 spellweaver Nov 05, 2005 4:29:01	I am running it, and I was curious if anyone had come up with a back story for the ancestors mentioned on that island. All we know is they had a civilization on the island I have that module but have not yet played it (or read all of it). But considering the island's location (southern Thyatian seas) perhaps the ancestors could be Traldar who got seperated from the rest of the fleet during King Milen's mass migration from Karameikos to the Hinterlands? That is just an idea, I have no idea whether it fits in with timeline etc. :-) Jesper
#5 twin_campaigns Nov 05, 2005 9:12:05	Use polynesian drumbeats for music. After all, the place is modelled after Easter Island. (Another thing is to get one's hands on Polynesian music...) Read Jared Diamond's Collapse for inspiration. The book has its problems, but the Easter Island bit is quite good. If the Ancestors were part of a larger continental civilisation before Taymoran cataclysm, isolation and loss of seafaring skills due to cultural taboos is a good element in the story. Their memories of the raging sea that engulfed their race could certainly lead to such a self-imposed isolation. Also don't forget the volcano. Perhaps the Ancestors were destroyed in a terrible fiery disaster (a pyroclastic cloud?). Lone survivors could have left behind stories of this, and this again is a good reason for the later inhabitants to focus their cult on the volcano itself. You could also base the elemental focus on this disaster. If you want to hold on to the Steam idea, a volcanic eruption is certainly a good basis. About the undead on the Isle: Taymora is a good connection here. Their necromantic cults might have had influence on the island.
#6 zombiegleemax Nov 07, 2005 7:33:53	AFAIK, that's all that has ever been done with the M'Kar, but Geoff Gander (the author) lurks around here sometimes, so you might ask him. I believe he had some more ideas that he didn't expand upon in that article. If you're on the MML, you might drop him a line there- he's sure to see it. Hmm....as I recall, there was a brief discussion on the MML a month or so ago about the module and the M'kar. Let me see if I can dredge something up. As far as further backstory on the M'kar go, I'm afraid I never wrote much more than what was contained in the article on the Isles of Steam. I had some basic ideas of what the M'kar were like as a society - I could try to write them if your want. Geoff
#7 zombiegleemax Nov 07, 2005 7:39:54	Here is the only email message concerning the M'kar that I could pull up...not terribly useful, I'm afraid, but someone may get some ideas on how the M'kar may have interacted with the Taymorans. I'll see what I can do. ************ >Another question: Have we/you ever discussed the ancient Easter Islandesque >race in X8 module? What about their origins? A few years ago I did some work on them when I described the Isles of Steam (located in the Vaults). I had the strange race (which I called the M'kar) originate in another dimension, migrating to Brun around 2400 BC (for reasons largely unknown). They were highly xenophobic, and had little to do with the Taymorans, who eventually forced them to retreat to a handful of offshore colonies by 2200 BC, of which the island in X8 is one. Thereafter they entered into a period of decline, and by 1300 BC had been wiped out. I would leave it up to DMs to determine whether Taymor's ascension might have been helped by the discovery of interesting M'kar technology or magical artefacts among the abandoned or conquered mainland settlements. Anyhow, that's just a brief summary - the article has a bit more info that might be of interest to you. ************ Geoff
#8 zombiegleemax Nov 07, 2005 11:04:46	Here's a quick article that might be useful.... ******************* The History and Culture of the M’kar (pre-Mystara): History: The M’kar arose roughly 5,000 years ago, on a world in another dimension. From the very beginning, they were a highly psychic race, able to read the surface thoughts of other sentient creatures without any effort. This ability conferred an enormous advantage upon them, despite their slow reproduction rate, as they were able to communicate amongst themselves very quickly and across greater distances than would be possible through speech, and therefore control more territory. The early M’kar tribes became organised very quickly, and there was much less variation in culture than was the case among the other sentient races of their world, because individual tribes were never truly isolated. Over the following centuries, the M’kar learned how to use their psychic abilities to fuel further advances to their civilisation, by creating simple devices powered by thought to aid in construction, transportation, and war. At the same time, they also discovered methods of using their psychic abilities to manipulate energy and the elements – with the result being the creation of a unique system of magic that augmented their power as a race even further. As a result, the M’kar became the dominant race on their continent roughly 1,000 years after establishing a true civilisation, and their empire covered much of their world less than 500 years afterwards. The M’kar Empire was, like the M’kar themselves, highly stratified and autocratic. The M’kar comprised the ruling caste, and were served in varying capacities by their subject peoples – with each race’s role being determined by their level of intelligence and the nature of their culture according to M’kar standards. Some races were relegated exclusively to the warrior caste (commanded by M’kar officers), while others became farmers, common labourers, entertainers, and the like. In all matters, even the lowest-ranking M’kar had greater status than a member of any other race by virtue of his or her psychic abilities, no matter how weak they might be. This rigid system of social ranking eventually led to strict separation between the M’kar and their subject peoples, to the point where each M’kar city had its own enclave where the ruling caste lived in their own world, rarely interacting with those who served them. Over time, this separation became so entrenched that many M’kar refused to even look at, or address, anyone of another race. This highly stratified system, which produced a stable empire that lasted for centuries, also proved to be the M’kars’ downfall. Over the centuries, the empire’s rigid social structures let to stagnation, as contact between the M’kar and their subject peoples diminished, and the M’kar philosophy of conformity smothered innovation among the ruling caste. Among the M’kar, strict social divisions created a situation where the strongest psychics were looked upon to provide ideas and direction, while the middle and lower classes simply performed the tasks assigned to them. Meanwhile, among the subject peoples, dissatisfaction, and then anger, grew over the indifference of their masters to the needs and concerns of those who served them. While the M’kar lived lives of ease, the rest of the empire began to experience food shortages, rebellions, disease, and other calamities – many of which were the result of bad planning on the part of the M’kar, who based decisions on their own needs and not those of other races. While these problems were not insurmountable, the very nature of M’kar society made things worse, because the ruling caste would not consider that intelligent members of the subject races might have ideas, and their own knowledgeable people were too encumbered by tradition and the need to conform to do anything more than continue doing what has always been done. Expressions of open rebellion were crushed with brutal efficiency, and M’kar enclaves became virtual fortresses as the ruling caste sought to further limit its contact with an increasingly restive population. After several decades of steady decline, the M’kar Empire erupted in civil war, as prominent leaders of the subject races banded together in a bid to survive by ridding themselves of the ruling M’kar. One by one, the enclaves fell, and the M’kar became even more fearful as the number of voices within their psychic community began to dwindle rapidly. Resistance was almost futile, as the M’kar were few in number compared to their former subjects, and had not fought personally for centuries. The gravity of the situation forced some of them to do something that had not been done in ages – think for themselves. Knowing that they would be annihilated if they remained, the M’kar sought a safe haven. No place on their world was safe, as their empire covered every region of it, and there was nowhere to hide; the only solution was to find a new home on another world. The M’kar had studied their own solar system centuries before, and knew that there were no other habitable worlds nearby for them to inhabit. Fortunately for them, some thinking had been done during that earlier period on the existence of other dimensions, and it was this idea that they pursued. Within a decade, the M’kar discovered a way of opening interdimensional gates, using their long disused system of magic, and it was through this that the surviving members of the ruling caste fled their world. In so doing, the remaining M’kar were scattered across several worlds – one of which was Mystara. Although the Mystaran colony failed after 1,000 years, others may have survived. Culture: As the only psychic race on their world, the M’kar learned very quickly that they possessed abilities unique to themselves, which both made their lives easier and gave them an advantage over other peoples. As a result, they came to think of other races as inferior and crude, and therefore destined to be subservient. These sentiments only became more prevalent after their civilisation began its meteoric rise, and became a world-spanning empire, as the advantages of their abilities became readily apparent to the M’kar. The M’kars’ psychic abilities also resulted in their having a relatively uniform culture with few serious divisions, as the various tribes were always able to maintain mental contact to some degree. The resulting philosophy of the M’kar, which came to dominate their empire in later years, was that uniformity of thought and action was the greatest virtue. Conformity was much sought after, and bold expressions of individuality were shameful. This also meant that dissenting thoughts of any sort, at least those that could be read easily, were not tolerated. Other races, who did not possess psychic abilities, could not access the thoughts of the M’kar; therefore, they could never be full members of society, and were destined to serve in some capacity. Furthermore, since psychic abilities could not be taught, social mobility was impossible – this ensured that the M’kar would always be the dominant race. The rigid divisions between the M’kar and their subject peoples were also present among the M’kar themselves. Just as the possession of psychic abilities determined whether one would be in the ruling caste, the strength of those abilities determined how important an individual would be. Accordingly, those with the strongest psychic abilities occupied the most important positions of M’kar government, with order of precedence being determined by the relative strength of one’s ability. To ensure that the most important roles in society were occupied by those best suited to the task, every M’kar was assessed at birth by a panel of highly developed psychics, who assigned a social rank to the individual that they would occupy for the rest of their lives. As psychic abilities could not be enhanced, there was no social mobility among the M’kar, either.
#9 npc_dave Nov 09, 2005 15:26:53	Much obliged to everyone for their input, especially Seer's work on the M'kar. So no one agrees with me on the Mummy Returns? And I loved my pet theory so much... I am all set, I even have the drum beat music, though I am surprised at how hard it is to get polynesian music if you live in the Continental US. Of course it didn't help that the one store which stocks that stuff locally had a Hula/Tahitian competition last weekend. I am also using some of the Savage shaman magic from the Priest Spell Compediums, and adding more giant horned chameleon lizard mounts. The module only places two on the island at the guard post and none at the village, perhaps assuming the players would never visit the village. I also found something interesting about one chamber where 240 kara-kara are dancing as part of the ceremony before the PCs upset things. I calculated the square footage of the room and determined there are roughly 5-6 kara-kara per 10 foot square, dancing. Now to calculate the odds of a PC slipping through that chamber invisibly without bumping into anyone...
#10 eldersphinx Nov 09, 2005 18:28:58	Here's a quick article that might be useful.... ******************* The History and Culture of the M’kar (pre-Mystara): (snip) ... wha? An article from Geoff that doesn't have the Carnifex and the Outer Beings behind it all? Who wrote this really? :D
#11 twin_campaigns Nov 10, 2005 6:06:29	Good luck with the adventure! I'm envious. I really liked that one and I've always wanted to try it out again.
#12 zombiegleemax Nov 10, 2005 7:32:10	... wha? An article from Geoff that doesn't have the Carnifex and the Outer Beings behind it all? Who wrote this really? :D Stranger things have happened, I'm sure :D