Fort Doom3. Northern District is the secondsmallest district and is for the farmerstending the farms which lay to thenorth <strong>of</strong> the town.4. Northeast District is a medium-sizeddistrict and is home to Thyatianmerchants as well as Traladaranprisoners working on the giganticBlack Eagle Castle being built to theNortheast <strong>of</strong> the town.5. Southern District is the second largestand is for the farming familiesworking to the east and south <strong>of</strong> thetown.The buildings in town are mostly closestanding,single-storied cottages for thefishing and farming families. Buildingsaround the center square have severalstories. Also ,some <strong>of</strong> the houses in theNortheast district along the road leadingfrom the town center to Luln are multistoried.While Fort Doom is an inland town, thewestern road leads to a harbour area a fewmiles away. Many fishing boats and the greatship "Eisen Flotte" lies here, but few live herepermanently. Guards are stationed to patrolit, but the Traladaran fishermen are forced tolive inside <strong>of</strong> Fort Doom itself. The harbourhas a pier and several small warehouses, aswell as a large guardhouse. The barracks <strong>of</strong>the 6 th Fähnlein, one <strong>of</strong> the units <strong>of</strong> theBaron’s army, are located here as well.Half a mile north <strong>of</strong> the harbour, a tower isunder construction for the use <strong>of</strong> theBaron’s magist, Bargle. So far only threeunderground levels and the base level arecompleted. The tower also has its own smallharbour.A couple <strong>of</strong> miles northeast <strong>of</strong> Fort Doom,along the road to Luln, Ludwig vonHendriks is building an enormous castle onan artificial hill. Traladaran prisoners workthemselves to death on this immensebuilding project 1 . The Baron has had thecastle designed on a grand scale, to rival thelargest fortifications in the Known World.IMPORTANTCHARACTERS OF THEREALMFreiherr (Baron)Ludwig vonHendriksA first cousin <strong>of</strong>Duke Stefan<strong>Karameikos</strong>,Ludwig vonHendriks is halfHattian (throughhis father) andhalf Kerendan, buthe stronglyidentifies as aHattian conservative, to the point that heemploys the traditional Hattian title“Freiherr”, rather than his actual Thyatiantitle <strong>of</strong> Baron. He hates both his cousins,Stefan <strong>Karameikos</strong> and Alexius Korrigan, forbeing both more popular and lucky thanhimself in their youth.Ludwig is a pathological liar and apsychopath, who utterly believes he isalways right 2 . He can be very charming1 The end layout will be something like the crusadercastle "Krac de Chevaliers" in modern day Syria.2 A detect lie spell will not work on him, since he is134THRESHOLD: The Mystara Magazine Issue #1
Fort Doomtowards people when he wants to, as whenreceiving guests or when he wants to achievesome political goal or favour, but his charmis only skin-deep.From an outside point <strong>of</strong> view, Ludwig is anevil, totally self-centered man, utterlyuncaring for anyone but himself. In his ownperspective, however, he is the good guy --Ludwig sees himself as a protector <strong>of</strong> the true“Thyatianism” in its purest form, as held bythe Hattian conservative ideology. In fact,Ludwig believes that Duke Stefan<strong>Karameikos</strong> is a very dangerous man -- atraitor to the Thyatians. The Duke, indeed, isbuilding a country that supports equalitybetween Thyatians, Traladarans and evenmixed “bastards”, as von Hendriks would callthem. “What's next? The Duke wants to mixThyatians with goblins and orcs”, is acommon quote -- quite ironic, since theBaron routinely employs goblinoids. TheDuke, in Ludwig’s eyes, is clearly both tooweak to support the Thyatian ideals, andpursuing evil goals.Ludwig knows that to demonstrate the errors<strong>of</strong> the Duke’s rulership and win the hearts <strong>of</strong>the more conservative Thyatians, he needs toprove his point in practice. Thus, his plan isto portray the old Traladaran town <strong>of</strong> Halagas a perfect example <strong>of</strong> cleanliness andorder, where Thyatian superiority keepscontrol over conquered lesser people.Visitors are told that Freiherr von Hendriks is“educating" and "correcting" the Traladaranpeople to the "light <strong>of</strong> culture andcivilisation", but since many <strong>of</strong> them tend toretain their antiquated, superstitious ways,they need to be "ruled by a firm hand fortheir own good".fully convinced whatever comes out <strong>of</strong> his mouth isthe truth.Freiherr von Hendriks is formally a follower<strong>of</strong> Vanya. He surrounds himself withfanatical followers <strong>of</strong> that Immortal,primarily Hattians. Von Hendriksappreciates these kind <strong>of</strong> people since theyare easy to understand and control. Incontrast, he is deeply suspicious <strong>of</strong> peoplewith personal ethics or that questionorders, as he expects blind obedience fromhis followers. In truth, Ludwig vonHendriks only follows Vanya because helikes war and hates peace. He has nopersonal reverence for Vanya 3 . War is theway to achieve glory and recognition and tokeep the Thyatian spirit strong and fearedamong other nations -- "War is characterbuilding,"as Ludwig likes to say.His other prestige project is the immensecastle he is building northeast <strong>of</strong> FortDoom. Its gates and castle are to project animage <strong>of</strong> martial power and orderedcleanliness in contrast to Traladaranprovincialism, and demonstrate all thesigns that Hattian culture is holding true toThyatian principles. He has commissionedimmense marble statues, one <strong>of</strong> Vanya asthe triumphant goddess, and an equestrianone <strong>of</strong> himself, in field plate with shield andraised sword.Duke Stefan <strong>Karameikos</strong> is yet unaware thathis cousin Ludwig has been plotting hisdemise since childhood. Thus far the Dukehas been lucky to survive several attemptson his life from both his cousin Ludwig andfrom Traladarans. The Duke is stillconvinced his cousin Ludwig is a lawful andfaithful follower and that he is beingwrongfully accused by political opponentsas a result <strong>of</strong> the initial Traladaran rebellion.3 Vanya does not seem to mind, though.135THRESHOLD: The Mystara Magazine Issue #1