Editorial
by Francesco Defferrari from Threshold Magazine issue 14The most famous underground setting of D&D is certainly the Underdark of the Forgotten Realms, detailed in several products and novels featuring the famous character Drizzt, but Mystara has its own underground setting too. Gazetteers 10 and 13, dedicated to the Orcs of Thar and the Shadowelves, featured vast underground locations, with typical animals and monsters, fungi forests and much more. From this, the Mystara fan community created the name “Shadowdeep” to indicate Mystara’s Underdark and began to develop it more and more, with a series of discussions on the Wizards board first, then The Piazza, and some articles stored in the Vaults of Pandius.
This issue of Threshold magazine would like to summarize all of what has been done so far to develop the Shadowdeep, and add something more.
We begin with the
second part of my UnKnown World Trail Map, this time almost fully
dedicated to the Shadowdeep, including the wilderlands of the Broken
Lands and the Shadowlands, then Giampaolo Agosta will lead us in the
exploration of Deep Hollow, a Shadowdeep multiracial city deep under
western Ylaruam.
We will continue our dangerous voyage going all
the way from the surface of Karameikos to the Hollow World, passing
through 1,200 miles of solid rock by dark tunnels, underground rivers
and mysterious caverns.
Then Robin D, who has created a wonderful
1 mile per hex map of the Upper Broken Lands on The Piazza and her
blog, will describe to us a possible future of the humanoids’
homeland.
Giulio Caroletti will detail for us the long and
complex history of the Dwarves and Gnomes of eastern Brun, important
inhabitants of the nearby Shadowdeep.
The rest of the issue
will touch other topics, from an interesting article by Sean Meaney
on how information and adventure hooks may travel in Karameikos to
the third part of the Gazetteer of Limn, which began in issue 11 of
Threshold, by Hausman Santos and Alexandre de Luna. To complete this
issue, is another level of the Koskatep megadungeon, now just one
level from completion, featuring Koskatepetl, The Wasted City, where
Radiance poisoning is the invisible enemy of unaware
explorers.
Descend into the Shadowdeep, and discover its dark and
wonderful dreams.
Francesco Defferrari (Sturm)
Editor-in-Chief, Threshold Issue 14
Explore the depths of Mystara!
The Shadowdeep is a vast realm, so vast it contains entire worlds, great nations, lost cultures and incredible secrets.
A few brave people, even entire communities, have faced the Shadowdeep and triumphed, some even reaching down to the Hollow World, the land of the red sun, and some instead reaching up from the Hollow World to the strange Outer World of day and night.
Threshold magazine presents in this issue the secrets and the treasures of the Shadowdeep, for you to discover and take. But not all of them, because the Shadowdeep is so vast you could roam it for your entire life, and never return to the worlds of the light.