Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 zombiegleemax Dec 01, 2005 4:58:41	The Master did not appreciate the lengths that Mystaran immortals would go to over the Nucleus. His relationship with Mystaras immortals being strained at the best of times (more on this later), he underrestimated the sheer destructive potential of the great war. While he delighted in the chaos and slaughter, he lamented that his plans were necessarily pushed further back by the presence of thousands of Alphatian, Thyatian and Glantrian troops in the Known World, and the interest that the Heldannic Knights were showing in taking Serraine for themselves made any successful invasion of that city quite unlikely. Still, his plan to encourage a Shadow Elf invasion of Alfheim worked well. Agents of his high in the court of King Doriath in Alfheim aided the retreat of Doriaths elves into Wendar but, from the Masters perspective, into the lowland forests of Atruaghin. The Masters timely invasion of Sind, together with threats from the East encouraged Darokin to remain Neutral in the war between Alfheim and the Shadow Elves, worried instead for their own borders, and the attentions of all other Known World nations were elsewhere. Doriath, and the elves of Alfheim, stood alone, to fester in their misery and anger, with only the sympathy of distant Wendar. After the war, normality started to return to the Known World region, again with the Masters agents in several countries pushing for normalising relations with the Shadow Elves; this pariah state had to be brought into real diplomatic being to further alienate and isolate the elves. That, and a plague in Wendar, traced ultimately to a disease contracted during the Shadow Elf invasion, further alienated the elves loyal to Doriaths cause from other nations. Doriath set about making what friends he could, but the weakened state of Glantri, Karameikos and Darokin somewhat restricted his success on most fronts. The humans of Atruaghin began to benefit from trade with the elves, and new roads built by the elves started to increase trade through Atruaghin, bringing some prosperity. But still, the desire of the elves to re-take what was theirs burned consumed all. The betrayal of the elves by their human allies would not be forgotten. The Masters envoys, at this stage, could finally make their move. In return for passage through Atruaghin, on the newly constructed roads (which would take the Masters armies to within 50 miles of the City of Darokin), the Master would offer his forces for a full scale invasion of the Shadow Elf territories. A two pronged attack was proposed; Wendar would assault the Northern borders of the Shadow Elf territories, with the consent of the Erewan elves from Glantri for crossing that nation having been given already, while the combined forces of elves and the Master would attack from the South. With the Masters forces already in Darokin, on the poorly defended Atruaghin border, that nation would rapidly fall, leaving the Master free to assault Glantri and reclaim the Nucleys at a later date. With the combined wealth of both Sind and Darokin, the Master would be almost unstoppable. Well, that's where we are in my campaign now... More on the history of the Egg/Master later...
#2 havard Dec 01, 2005 8:42:28	I like this part of the story as well. A truly epic plot set on Mystara should include both the Master and the Radience. While WotI does that, its disadvantage is that everything that happens are results of the actions of the Immortals, thus making the actions of the KW countries more of a secondar thing. This version ties the invasion of Darokin, as well as the Alfheim/SE plot directly in with the Masters desire to get his hands on the Nucleus, also tying it all in with the history of Blackmoor and its destruction. Very nice! It also touches upon a few other things in Mystaran history that I have been wondering about: 1) What is the relationship between the Egg and the Beagle? There could ofcourse be no relation at all, but making it one is very logical. Assuming that the Egg is interested in technology (it is interested in magical items and gadgets in general), could it be the Egg that caused the Beagle to crash in the first place? Or was it even the Egg's summoning spell that caused the Beagle's "misjump"? 2) What happens to the Egg when Blackmoor begins its rise towards world domination? Does it sink into the background and begin working through agents infiltrating Blackmoor society? Could this be part of why Blackmoor destroys itself? 3) What is the Eggs relationship with Rafiel? And spinning further on that one, is Rafiel's ascension to Immortality linked to the creation of the NoS? Håvard