Fellow Mystarans,

    Once again we are debating the fascinating topic of where Blackmoor once lay, and once again I present my case for Blackmoor having existed on Skothar.

    Personally, I go with the Hollow World maps, not only because they provide a clearer picture, but because they build upon, and correct, previous information. If you look at the map, you will see on it that Blackmoor is south of Thonia (although according to module DA1 Blackmoor was a rebellious northern province of Thonia, so the solution here is to reverse the names). After the Rain of Fire, Blackmoor found itself on the north pole, where it remains to this day. Looking at the map of the outer world of Mystara, circa 1000 AC, we can see that Skothar has the largest amount of northern lands, especially within the sunless areas. Brun, on
the other hand, was shifted largely to the southwest, making it the new cradle of civilization, leaving only the northwesternmost Hyborean Mountains in the sunless region - hardly a place large enough for Blackmoor (at least in my opinion). If, as all our sourcebooks say, Blackmoor is at the north pole, and thus uninhabitable, then it must be on those lands closest to it - which is why I choose Skothar.
    Furthermore, we need only read the history of the Azcans to learn more. It is stated that the old Oltec and Azcan peoples had no contact with the Blackmoorians, which is likely if Blackmoor was located on Skothar, since the Oltecs and Azcans were located in the modern Atruaghin Clans region (see GAZ 14). If, looking at the map in GAZ 10 of humanoid migrations, we place ancient Blackmoor in central Brun - due west of Norwold and northwest of Hule, then contact between the two peoples would have been far more likely, due to their proximity.
    This is just how I see things, you can take my perception any way you want. As for Thonia, DA1 says that the modern Thonians are but a shadow of their former selves, having migrated to a new continent. I altered it slightly, which took very little effort, to make it mesh with m,y theory. IMC, Thonia was south of old Blackmoor, on Skothar. Refugees from that empire migrated west, to modern Norwold, where they eventually became the Antalians (the dates work out here), who in turn brought about the Heldann, Vestlanders, and others. Reading DA1's interpretation once again, it states that these people were but shadows of the former empire.
Well, if you compare the Northern Reaches and Heldann F.H. society to what Thonia was at its height, then this description rings true.
    This is just my two cents' worth on the matter, just my attempt to explain the unexplainable ;-).


                Geoff
  
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Geoff Gander
Political Science IV
Carleton University
General wanderer by principle, adventurer by profession
Email address: ggander@chat.carleton.ca
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