Mirror <strong>of</strong> the Eternal Nightby Francesco Defferrari (Sturm)Kosketep… the mountain <strong>of</strong> bones inTraladaran, is a strange shaped hill on theupper course <strong>of</strong> Achelos river, filled withhigh stones that look like bones in the light<strong>of</strong> the moon. The name changed its meaningover time but the original Azcan one wasvery similar, Koskatepetl, the gem <strong>of</strong> themountains, a bustling mining city before theGreat Rain <strong>of</strong> Fire. In the depths under thecity there was a shrine sacred to Ixion,protected by priests who, according to locallore, were not human and guarded anancient, dangerous secret. When, at theheight <strong>of</strong> Blackmoor times, technology andrationalism started to prevail all over theworld, the ruling council <strong>of</strong> Koskatepetltried to force the priests <strong>of</strong> Ixion to revealtheir secret, and the priests sealed theentrance <strong>of</strong> the shrine with a terribleearthquake.After the disaster the city was abandonedand became infested with many kinds <strong>of</strong>monsters, but rumors that the ruinscontained treasures and secrets, and theImmortals schemes, made it a contestedground for several regional powers. Forsome times after the Great Rain <strong>of</strong> Fire,Koskatep was occupied by a band <strong>of</strong>beastmen, primitive bugbears that weresoon displaced by lizardmen and troglodytessent by the realm <strong>of</strong> Mogreth. The rule <strong>of</strong> thelizardfolk was short lived too, as an Intiexpedition conquered Koskatep, led bypriests <strong>of</strong> the Sun lords. After some time,they too were supplanted by fairies andgiants that controlled the place for a longtime under the rule <strong>of</strong> the troll queen <strong>of</strong>Grondheim.144THRESHOLD: The Mystara Magazine Issue #1
Mirror <strong>of</strong> the Eternal NightAt last as Taymora became more and morepowerful, the Church <strong>of</strong> Nyx conqueredKoskatep and chose the place to build a greattemple that soon enough attracted pilgrimsand colonists, but not too many, because itstrue purpose had to remain secret. Thegoddess <strong>of</strong> the Night found it amusing andfitting to no end that her temple was builtover a place once sacred to the Lord <strong>of</strong> theLight, and she chose the city to hide a verypowerful artifact - a constellation map whosepurpose was to slowly absorb magical powerand bring eternal night to the world.In Taymoran the city was namedKosmoteiros, signs <strong>of</strong> the universe. But intime <strong>of</strong> Taymoran decadence, when the fightbetween followers <strong>of</strong> Nyx and Thanatos wasat its height, a powerful army in service <strong>of</strong> theDark Lord conquered the city with theultimate goal <strong>of</strong> stealing the artifact, so thepriests <strong>of</strong> Nyx destroyed the temple, openinga chasm to the depths <strong>of</strong> the earth. Thestruggle for the artifact would havecontinued, but the destruction <strong>of</strong> Taymoraalso destroyed any memory <strong>of</strong> the city and itssecret. The Tal people <strong>of</strong> the area, and laterthe Traldars too, considered the place cursedand never went to live there. Others tried toreconquer the ruins - orcs, gnolls, fairy folk,bandits, dwarves, and ogres. Many <strong>of</strong> thesegroups were inspired by the immortals,because obviously Nyx and Thanatos had notforgotten what was hidden below, andneither had Ixion. Many times during thecenturies the three immortals have sentpriests and adventurers to Koskatep, toretrieve the artifact or to prevent the othersfrom obtaining it or, in the case <strong>of</strong> Ixion, toprotect his ancient secrets. Yet none <strong>of</strong> theimmortals was able to conquer the ruins onceand for all... at least until a few years ago.THE PEOPLE OF THENIGHTIn the History <strong>of</strong> Traladara "People <strong>of</strong> theNight" was the name that the first Traldarsgave to the Tal people, the descendants <strong>of</strong>northern Taymorans surviving in the areaafter the destruction <strong>of</strong> their empire. Duringthe centuries they were absorbed in thegeneral traldar population, but notcompletely.Some <strong>of</strong> the Tals didn't integrate becausethey had very different traditions, the mostimportant <strong>of</strong> which was the cult <strong>of</strong> Nyx.When the Traldars arrived there was acenturies old bitter struggle going onbetween the cult <strong>of</strong> Nyx and Thanatos, withHel also involved occasionally on one sideor the other. Initially the Traldars aided thecult <strong>of</strong> Nyx and the neutral orientednosferatus against the evil vampires andfollowers <strong>of</strong> Thanatos. There was also ashort time <strong>of</strong> nosferatu kings that endedwhen Tarku Radu, the last nosferatu king,turned from Nyx to Thanatos and unleashedthe three years <strong>of</strong> winter on Traladara beforehis ultimate destruction...From this moment on vampires andnosferatus were lumped as "evil beings" inthe minds <strong>of</strong> the Traldars, and the followers<strong>of</strong> Nyx were <strong>of</strong>ten persecuted along with thefollowers <strong>of</strong> Thanatos... A succession <strong>of</strong>crusades were unleashed by Traldar clansand kings against undead, the first in 1423BC, then in 1147 BC and 343 BC. In 342 BCqueen Irina Lutescu concluded the Peace <strong>of</strong>the night with the still unintegrated Talpeople. The queen agreed to stoppersecuting nosferatu and the followers <strong>of</strong>Nyx.145THRESHOLD: The Mystara Magazine Issue #1