Significantly, in my view, that Gazeteer was written by Bruce Heard, who would subsequently go on to invalidate much of modules X6 & X9 in his "Voyages of the Princess Ark" articles and the Red Steel sub-setting which followed on from them. He would also introduce the idea of the Heldannic Knights, a group of clerics who had conquered the Heldannic Freeholds roughly forty years before the "present era" of the Gazeteers. While this didn't contradict any published adventures, it did mean that the map of the Known World in X1 had never been correct, since -- according to GAZ1 -- the Grand Duchy of Karameikos had only been established thirty years before the present. Thus, the Heldannic Freeholds and the Grand Duchy of Karameikos had never existed at the same time, despite having been shown on the same map!
None of this should be construed as an attack on Bruce Heard, or any of the Gazeteer authors, or indeed any of the designers who worked on even later iterations of the product line. Mr. Heard, in particular, worked wonders in keeping the setting alive. The point that I'm trying to make is that, from the very start, these setting designers went in a direction which would seem to contradict the intention of describing the world which had been represented in these adventure modules, and that as a result it veered further and further away from them as time went on.
My intention is to go back to that very start, and go in a different direction, one which is hopefully more in tune with the world as described in those adventures.
module CM1, which would eventually (in the "Dawn of the Empires" boxed set) be confirmed as canonical.
Actually, the war between Thyatis and Alphatia from CM1 never happens in the Gazetteers-PWA-WotI timeline. Another point where the Gazetteers Mystara and the modules Known World differ.
G.
Actually, the war between Thyatis and Alphatia from CM1 never happens in the Gazetteers-PWA-WotI timeline. Another point where the Gazetteers Mystara and the modules Known World differ.
I'd dispute that, actually. The War of the Crown is pretty clearly the war that leads into the peace negotiations in "Talons of the Night", which is what sets up the crowning of a new pharaoh in Thothia (revealed to have taken place in 1002 in the almanacs, and two years is about how long the CM1 campaign is supposed to take) But in any event, I was just thinking of the land rush in Norwold, which I believe was referenced in DoTE.
Chris Davies.
- The Known World is not flat. It is also not hollow. It is, however, alive. (A megalith, in other words.) Its name can best be represented as Terra. Various Immortals said to have a relationship with an Immortal named Terra actually have one with one named Djaea. [Confusing matters somewhat is the fact that Djaea sometimes uses Terra as an alias.]
- Various "Hollow World" cultures can be found in various locations on the outer world. For example, "Nithia" is the name used by the natives of the regions called "Arypt" for their homeland. (Much like the natives of the region they called "Khem" lived in a country called "Aigyptos", or Egypt, by some of their neighbors.)
- Despite the nonexistence of a Hollow World, there is a very deep pit being dug on the island of Aegos. Just what is being excavated there ... is a secret which must remain a secret for now.
- A certain crone once claimed that the Empire of Alphatia was once known as Atlantis. Unfortunately, said crone has an unfortunate tendency to get the precise order of events confused, as a consequence of knowing so much of what what will be. Alphatia has never been known as Atlantis ... yet.
- Whether Mystara is our own world in an extremely ancient geological epoch, one before humans are generally believed to have evolved, or whether our world is -- as some of the Immortals believe -- a strangely similar parallel reality is unknown and possibly unknowable. The Immortals are neither all-knowing nor all-seeing, and many of their questions about reality have a tendency to spawn further questions about reality ...
- The common people of the Known World believe in a variety of deities, some of which are essentially personifications of natural forces, some of which are folktale figures, and some of which are combinations of both of the above. They consider the existence of "divine magic" to be proof of the existence of such beings -- after all, the powers that the clerics wield come from somewhere, right?
- More sophisticated people generally believe that the deities are only personifications of natural forces or folktale figures. They believe that divine magic is just like arcane magic, a skill that can be learned or a talent that some people just possess.
- Sages (and very high-level adventurers) are aware that neither the common nor the sophisticated view of matters are correct, and are aware of the existence of the Immortals, who are the figures who lie behind the folktales, but who have achieved a stature beyond human understanding. They also know that while the powers wielded by some clerics are the result of energy channeled to them by the Immortals, other clerics gain their powers from the energies of the planes themselves, whether moral (Law vs. Chaos, Good vs. Evil) or elemental. They also know that druids gain their powers from energy channeled from a being who may be the world in which they live.
- It should be noted that this sage-like view of matters is also the "sophisticated" view in Alphatia (and to a lesser degree in the Empire's territories.) Being ruled over by thousands of epic-level wizards for thousands of years allows for a certain amount of information to seep out. (Ironically, this knowledge has had an interesting effect -- very few of the Immortals who have arisen from the world of Mystara in the last two thousand odd years have come from Alphatia. As a result, sages in the rest of the world have been "encouraged" to keep their knowledge about such matters to themselves, or to reveal it only to individuals whom omens suggest need to know [i.e. potential candidates for Immortality].)
- All B-series modules (except for B4 [Ylaruam] and BSOLO [Ethengar]) take place in Karameikos, pretty much as B1-9 describes.
- Other than that, the realm is pretty much as described in GAZ1, with one major difference. Stephan Karameikos is not Lawful Stupid. He does not have any particular problems understanding that Ludwig von Hendricks is not going through a "phase", is not just kidding around, and is, in short, utterly malevolent. In X10, when Ludwig's treachery is revealed, the adventure has Stephan saying, "It is as I feared." You don't say that about something you don't suspect.
- So why hasn't Stephan done something? First of all, because Ludwig isn't Chaotic Stupid. (He's not Chaotic at all; he's lawful evilly aligned.) Ludwig has been very careful to ensure that no absolute proof of his misdeeds ever comes to Stephan's attention. If Stephan were given that proof, he would immediately act on it. But if he were to act without proof, he would probably alienate the other Thyatian lords and barons, who would then have cause to fear for their titles and privileges. (And who can say, after all, how many of them have already decided to throw their support to the Baron?)
- Then there's the pragmatic fact that Stephan isn't completely sure that he can win an all-out war against Ludwig. During the initial war to take control of the Duchy, Ludwig's forces in the west managed to hold their landing site (later built into Fort Doom) against not only the Traladarans but several humanoid hordes as well -- without support from Stephan's forces Ludwig is a very good general. He's a terrible ruler and a worse human being, but these aren't actually disadvantages for a military leader. Furthermore, the survivors of those humanoids now supplement Ludwig's forces, and who knows how many others he's attracted through bribes?
- Then there's the question of how much support Ludwig might expect from Thyatis -- and more specifically from Hattias. Would Thincol elect to support Ludwig if he thought that Ludwig was more likely to win? (Rhetorical question to anyone familiar with Thincol.) Would the Cult of Vanya in the region support a would-be conqueror over a would-be preserver of order? (Rhetorical question to anyone familiar with Vanya!)
- All of these are reasons that Stephan reluctantly -- very reluctantly -- leaves his cousin to his own devices until such time as his activities becomes impossible to ignore, without the necessity of his being unfathomably naive. Ultimately, the civil war -- when it does come -- leaves the realm actually stronger than it was before, helping to unify Thyatians and Traladarans into Karameikans.
- The Church of Karameikos doesn't have any specific divine patrons. It teaches that people should respect and honor all gods, other than ones who demand "abhorrent things" (human sacrifice, for example), but it also teaches that the gods one worships aren't as important as the way that people live their lives in this world. Unfortunately, this has led some followers of the Church's teachings to look down on people who have a simpler, more direct relationship with a given god -- as most Traladarans have with Halav, Petra and Zirchev. (Ironically, Halav and Petra are actually quite interested in the Church.)
- It's "The Emirate of Ylaruam", not "The Emirates". The Emir of Ylaruam at the present date is Ali ben Faisal al-Kalim, "a fat and rather stupid man who believes that those who live in the hot desert are tougher and more noble than those who live in the soft, effete civilized lands." (X10) The irony of the fact that he himself rarely leaves the oasis of Ylaruam is lost on him. The other settlements and tribes of the realm are led by sheikhs (typical of nomads) or lesser emirs (typical of settlements.)
- As Fate has not yet blessed Ali ben Faisal with a son, his heir is his cousin Mohammed ben Hassan al-Kalim, a quiet and scholarly man who would greatly prefer to be left to the life of an ulema. But we have no fate but that which Fate gives us. While Mohammed is suspicious of outlanders to the point of paranoia, he doesn't look down on them as Ali does, and is very aware of the fact that he himself is hardly the archetype of a desert warrior.
- The region known, canonically, as the Emirate of Nithia is actually just known as the Emirate of the Northern Highlands. The people who live there, as distinct from the Alasiyans, are descended from people who fled from Cynidicea when it fell. (While the Nithian Empire did colonize this region, bringing the Alasiyan people from the Isle of Dawn, this was not their heartland.)
- The Eternal Truth, also known as the Way of Al-Kalim, teaches that mortal men should revere the gods, regardless of what names they might bear, but that doing so is not as important as living one's life in a decent and just manner. (Sound familiar? Yes, Al-Kalim's writings on this subject did influence the founders of the Church of Karameikos.) In practice, however, the Eternal Truth only reveres those gods who were already worshiped in Ylaruam before Al-Kalim. Furthermore, there is some debate about whether the ideal of the Desert Garden is meant to be only literal or also metaphorical, referring to the transformation of the human spirit from the harsh nature that the world sometimes demands to a gentler one that can flourish in a peaceful world.
- The Magian Fire Worshipers are aware that the cult of Rathanos in the Kingdom of Thothia practices a form of their doctrine, and are in communication with them. If Fate should grant the cult's goal of bringing to power a member as the next Pharaoh, then the Fire Worshipers will have a potent ally ...
- As this shows, the Alasiyans have a powerful belief in Fate, which they identify as a being above even the gods. Whether Fate is an Immortal, an Old One, or simply a metaphor for the way that the world works, is open to question.
"The Emirate of Ylaruam" can easily refer to just the single emirate the main ruler controls directly, while "The Emirates of Ylaruam" would refer to all those emirates that are under his direct or indirect control.
I like your thoughts on Stefan, but I see them as expansions of the Gaz version rather than a remake.
I will never forgive you for killing off the Hollow World though... :fight!:
Just a little note on Emir vs Amir. The two words mean exactly the same thing; the difference is purely a result of difffering standards of transliteration from Arabic.
"The Emirate of Ylaruam" can easily refer to just the single emirate the main ruler controls directly, while "The Emirates of Ylaruam" would refer to all those emirates that are under his direct or indirect control.
Um. Okay ... revision in order.
Chris Davies.
- First of all, X2 hasn't happened yet. The d'Ambrevilles are still missing. Finding out what happened to them might be a good quest for someone who wanted to persuade Glantri's Council of Princes to enter into a military alliance.
- X10's description of Princess Carlotina Erewan as a high level magic-user requires no real changes -- she is a high level magic-user (a wizard) who happens to be an elf. However, the differences between X10's description of Prince Jagger as "thin and bald, with a whispy white beard and a grandfatherly manner" sharply contrasts with his usual portrayal as "a stern, upright military wizard". My answer to this discrepancy (which also facilitates the resolution of a confusion noted by Andrew Theisen in the Glantri timeline) is that Prince Jagger is the elderly fellow mentioned, while the military wizard is his eldest son and heir, Sigmar von Drachenfels. Sigmar is quite a bit younger (b. AC 965) and less experienced than the official version, but he does show promise. (In particular, he may get a chance to demonstrate the military genius he's cultivated through incessant miniature wargames fairly soon.)
- Glantri as a whole isn't as virulently anti-clerical as it's been portrayed. While clerics don't get a lot of respect from the wizards who rule the land (as Sandralane's background in CM1 and Prince Jagger's attitude towards the Master in X10 demonstrate) it isn't illegal to either worship a god or possess powers which one attributes to a god's favor. Glantri's official policy, dating to the short-lived Republican era, is that it is tolerant of all religions while supporting none. (The connection between the government and the Shepherds of the Radiance is a secret.) That said, some of the principalities (no names mentioned) are every bit as hard on divine spell-casters as you'd expect, and religions that advocate the overthrow of the Principalities (like the Thousand Fists of the Khan) end up "redefined" as terrorist organizations.
- As for dwarves, while history and the deep-seated antipathy that Rockhome's dwarves have for arcane magic ensure that Glantri and that kingdom aren't friendly, they also aren't at the blood-feud stage, since Glantri's wizards have no reason to kidnap dwarves and dissect them in hopes of understanding the strange resistance to magical spells that they develop at high levels. That said, there are no dwarven clans living in Glantri's mountains -- at least, none that anyone knows about.
- Members of the Brotherhood of the Radiance take levels in a prestige class that allows them to use the Nucleus of the Spheres as a spellpool (as with the mage of the arcane order's ability from Tome and Blood and those of similar classes.) Most of the other secret crafts are prestige classes as well.
- Spellcasting Shepherds are "favored souls", not clerics. There aren't many of them, and they generally try to keep their powers secret even from their colleagues, since the Shepherds' official policy is that arcane magic is far superior to divine. (When Etienne gets back, he's going to be moderately startled that the organization he started to make fun of religion in general has nonetheless attracted people who can turn their beliefs into power.)
- Sorcery is as equally respected in Glantri as wizardry, in contrast to its subordinate status in Alphatia. (The conflict between the Schools of Air and Fire was also a conflict between wizards and sorcerers, and the effects of that conflict linger to this day.)
- Belcadiz elves are grey elves, though their favored class is sorcerer rather than wizard. Erewan elves, like the majority of elves, are high elves.
Interesting reading so far. Not much to contribute as yet, save for a suggestion on the Jaggar/Sigmar thing; if you wanted to make things even easier, you could have them both named Jaggar- Jaggar, Sr. and Jaggar, Jr./Jaggar I and II, or even Jaggar the Elder and Jaggar the Younger.
I considered going that way, but ultimately came to the conclusion that it would make things just that much more confusing. YMMV.
Chris Davies.
- Physically, the archipelago is more like the islands of the Meditteranean than the South Pacific -- more volcanically-enriched farmland than jungle. Culturally, they're vaguely Greek, as the names for the members of the Council of Lords in X10 would indicate. (The original inhabitants of the Isle, the Makai, were related to the people of the Atruaghin Clans, but they have been absorbed by waves of immigrants.) While the islands have been ruled by the Kingdom of Darokin and the Empire of Thyatis, they have been self-ruled for nearly four hundred years.
- Much like their Traldar ancestors, what the Ierendi value is heroism. While Minrothad traders will try to explore the world to find trade routes and new markets and valuables, Ierendi explorers do so simply to find out what lies beyond the horizon. As a consequence of this, fewer of their ships come back, but the true rulers of the island view this as somewhere between a necessary evil and a positive good; the prospect of being able to send "disruptive" people on voyages from which they will probably never return is one that these cool, considerate men find very useful.
- The Ierendi tradition of kingship evolved from a religious rite in which a man would be "wedded" to a high priestess of one of Ierendi's early religions, and then defend his "title" against all challengers until he fell to one of them, who would then become the next "king" and continue the cycle. Today, either of the king or queen (or both of them) may be challenged for their position on any equinox or solstice. The challenged party selects the terms of the duel, including mode of combat, venue (private or public) and conditions of victory. (One lingering holdover from the religious aspect of the tradition is that the loser of such a challenge is considered a sacrifice to the gods, and so a fight to the death is a fight to the death; it involves an agreement that the loser can never be raised or resurrected. As such, the duel is very rarely to the death.)
- Owing to the secularization of the kingship, it is no longer required for the king and queen to be wed in the physical sense. They may be, as the current king and queen are, or both can be married to other people, or they can be singles. (It should be noted that if they aren't married to each other, local bards will nonetheless invent an imaginary romance between them.) In any event, the children of either of the royal couple are referred to as princes and princesses, and retain those titles for as long as they reside on the islands, regardless of their royal parent's current status. Those who stay, rather than leaving to seek out their fortunes, often end up marrying into Ierendi's oligarchic families. (Princess Sylvia, from B9, is one such.)
- The one real perk that the kings and queens of Ierendi enjoy is the ability to bestow noble titles on their friends and colleagues. Such titles cannot be passed on to children, and they do not come with any lands or income. As such, they're pretty meaningless, but the Ierendi, at least, will take them seriously.
- Slavery is legal in Ierendi. It is uncommon, and it is also considered uncouth to bring new slaves onto the islands. The children of slaves are born free. This is not the good thing that you'd expect -- what it means is that the children of slaves generally end up exposed on a hillside to die unless a kindly herdsman should happen along. (And there's a paucity of kindly herdsmen.) Alternatively, the slaves in question can "persuade" his or her owner to adopt the child as a new slave, essentially trading their child's freedom for his or her life ...
I will never forgive you for killing off the Hollow World though... :fight!:
Okay, since the next section is taking a while, I thought I might address this.
Why I Killed Off The Hollow World
I liked the Hollow World. Given that my absolute favorite fantasy RPG setting ([i]The Epic of
[A quick note before I begin; in addition to my already stated objectives, I'm also updating the world to 3rd edition. I realize that this is somewhat absurd with the 4th edition in the offing, but as I have no intention of purchasing or using the 4th edition, I'm okay with being a little absurd.]
Any particular reason? The idea that you have (taking Mystara "back to formula" and redoing it in a way that opens it up a bit more for adventure) is almost exactly what I was thinking would be perfect for 4th edition. In fact, if you read any of the 4th edition blogs/previews/leaked info, what you are doing for Mystara is very much along the same vein as what WotC is doing for the game.
Any particular reason? The idea that you have (taking Mystara "back to formula" and redoing it in a way that opens it up a bit more for adventure) is almost exactly what I was thinking would be perfect for 4th edition. In fact, if you read any of the 4th edition blogs/previews/leaked info, what you are doing for Mystara is very much along the same vein as what WotC is doing for the game.
When I wrote that, I was a lot more disgusted with what I was hearing about 4e than I am now. While I've come to terms with it, I still think that they're changing things just a little too far to work with the assumptions of Mystara. The central notion of "civilization as points of light threatened by encroaching darkness" works for Karameikos and Darokin, certainly. It doesn't work for Thyatis. It certainly doesn't work for Alphatia, which has other problems. (Apparently, high level classed NPCs are supposed to be very rare. Good-bye, Council of Wizards. Good-bye, Princes of Glantri.)
Chris Davies.