Karameikos - Vaults of Pandius

Mirror of the Eternal NightYet another persecution ensued in 445 ACduring the Silver Purge. By this time theSulescu family was the only major clanprotecting the Tal people, and indeed in thisyear Ion Sulescu left the council of nobles inprotest. But despite this in 450 AC king BorisAchelos Halarov massacred the last of the freeTals in central Traladara. That was indeed theend of the People of the Night as a distinctculture.Neverthless, a major centre of the cult of Nyxsurvived to these days in Sulescu. Duringanother persecution by the king ArkuMarilenev in 703 AC, the current LordSulescu, recently turned into a Nosferatu, wasable to defeat the king's troops, establishing ade facto independent territory. Sulescubowed to the Thyatians in 900 and 970 AC inexchange for the unwritten agreement thatforeign religions would not come to botherhis land.THE CHURCH OF NYX INKARAMEIKOSSulescu however is not the only centre of thechurch in the nation. A centuries old cabal ofwizards, The Sons of Night, has preserved thetraditions and the knowledge of Nyx secretlyin Karameikos, and much, much more. Onlya handful of people in Karameikos knowanything about them. Even the very efficientspies of Duchess Olivia have heard only thatthese wizards are headed by a "Fraternity ofthe Grand Darkers”, and have caused sometroubles in western Karameikos, in their mad,impossible plan to bring forth what they callthe “Dread Night”.The Sons of Night are in truth an organizationmuch more powerful than anyone knows.Throughout the centuries Nyx and her priestsstored in several locations of Karameikos’underdeep, in ancient tombs and lost cities,not only a vast supply of magical objects andpower, but also many faithful followersturned into two new kind of undeaddeveloped by the Church. The Undecayedappear as normal, slightly pale people, yetthey are dead and can potentially liveforever. (Statistics for zombies can be used,but their appearance is normal and theyretain memories and intelligence). TheUncorporeal are ghosts who can possess thebodies of any Undecayed or of living people(an unwilling victim will obviously beallowed a saving throw). Beyond their armyof Undecayed and Uncorporeal, the Sons ofNight have also many living followers,mostly wizards and priests but also warriors,thieves and common people, hiding in thegeneral population - and now they arealmost ready to reclaim their rightful placein the nation.In 998 AC the Sons of Night have indeedestablished their main fraternity among theruins of Koskatep... they have currentlyretrieved the artifact but so far haven't founda way to use it... yet. It will probably takeseveral years to perfectionate their plan, buteventually they’ll proclaim a newindependent theocracy of the Lady of theNight in all the Cruth mountains andsurrounding hills. And they will be ready toresist any attempt by the King’s troops todeny their rights.Note: If the DM wants to use Dhrom Dhumin their campaign (see page 119) theDarkers will engineer their declaration ofindependence at the same time as thegoblin, trying to win the support of theCruth ogres and Traladaran freedom fightersin the area too. (see Agathokles’ excellentLords of the Cruth Lowlands campaign.146THRESHOLD: The Mystara Magazine Issue #1