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Neathar

by Marco Dalmonte English translation by Gary Davies

Wotan (Odin) - Government, authority, storms, sky, guile, knowledge, wisdom
Tyr (Ixion) - War, strength, light, sun, fire, heroism, balance and order
Frigg (Terra) - Creation and protection of all forms of life, birth, prosperity and fertility, nature, earth
Notes:
1. The Neathar are one of three primal races from which have originated the human civilisations on Mystara, the most numerous one and who then greatly spread themselves out into the world together with the Oltecs. The Neathar have Caucasian features (pale or bronzed skin, eyes and hair of many colour varieties) are a civilisation of the Stone Age, and the first Neathar tribes were transported by Ka and Odin into the Hollow World in 3500 BC, when they realised that the original groups had begun to disappear and had inevitably progressed or transformed them into ethnic groups by the diverse connotations. Placed in the centre of Iciria, they spread into the central part of the continent, tamed the herds, fighting with dinosaurs and ferocious wild animals, and were later surrounded by the other races that the Immortals transported in the Hollow World in the course of the following centuries, with those the Neathar must compete with in order to be able to remain independent and masters of their own territories. The Neathar are today divided into hundreds of settled tribes, each with their own social, religious and martial customs. The majority of the Neathar tribes are of patriarchal stamp, even if there are some matriarchal communities in which the female Immortals predominate. In all the Neathar tribes however the predominant figure is that of the warrior, capable of bending the environment and society to its own will and of protecting its own people from the dangers, guiding them to prosperity. The Neathar speak hundreds of different dialects, and no tribe has a written form of the Neathar language. The Neathar civilisation is much more backward than those bordering it (Stone Age), and the fact that the tribes haven’t united among themselves but remained fiercely independent, or in the worst of the cases are enemies, never has permitted the Neathar to become the predominant civilisation in Iciria, although the numbers are by their part, given that they are the most populous ethnic group of the continent.
2. Because of the fact that the Neathar have such a high variety of sub races and independent tribes, it is obvious that among the Neathar Immortals they can number nearly all those actually present on Mystara, even if in the above list have been shown only the triad that was worshipped by the first Neathar. The Hollow World manual furthermore states among the various Neathar Immortals Thor, Loki, Diulanna, Faunus and Palartarkan, to also witness that Immortals appeared after the admission of the Neathar in the Hollow World could show their presence with them and gain followers without going against the Spell of Preservation. In particular it is possible to number these vanished civilisations among the Thousand Neathar Tribes (between parenthesis are shown the acronyms of the published supplements for Mystara that contain references to that specific ethnic group):

3. Also the Afridhi (DA4), Antalians (HW), Dravi (X9), Peshwah (DA1-4), Taymora (GAZ1 and PC3) and Varellyans (Dragon Magazine) are pure Neathar, but have been separated from the Thousand Tribes since they are made up of only the true civilisations that have advanced to the Bronze and Iron Ages, and therefore have earned a proper independence in respect to the other Neathar tribes in the Hollow World. It is therefore more than probable that the six civilisations mentioned above have been saved by the Immortals and placed somewhere currently unknown in the Hollow World (probably one of the continents not described in the Hollow World manual).