The History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Karameikos</strong>absorbing the Traldar colonies in thoseislands. Trade with the Nithian Empire inthose years brought iron weapons into thesouthern lands <strong>of</strong> the Traldars; leaders,kings, chieftains, and elite guards sportedthem, but most <strong>of</strong> the Traldar statescontinued to lack the knowledge needed t<strong>of</strong>abricate them.THE GREAT BEASTMENINVASIONThe Traldars’ prosperity came to a suddenend when a huge horde <strong>of</strong> gnolls – thegreater part <strong>of</strong> those tjat had fled from theNithian Empire in BC 1050 – poured beyondTraldar borders from the north-west (BC1000). The Hutaakans, aware they could notresist the gnolls’ savagery, decided to retreatto their most secure mountain shelter, theValley <strong>of</strong> Hutaaka (seat <strong>of</strong> the Temple <strong>of</strong>Pflarr), even abandoning some <strong>of</strong> theirgreatest cities like Achelos; they brought withthem some Traldar slaves, and disappearednot to be seen again, leaving the Traldarsalone to face the fierce enemy.The terrible Great Beastmen Invasion whichfollowed (BC 1000-992) saw the nearly totalextermination <strong>of</strong> the Traldars. The humanswere no match for the gnolls’ iron weaponsand unheard <strong>of</strong> ferocity. Many clans and theircities were destroyed, while other fledoverseas (like the inhabitants <strong>of</strong> Mirlenos – atown on the site <strong>of</strong> modern Marilenev, whowere led by King Milen in a long voyagebeyond the Nithian dominions, towardDavania). The whole western half <strong>of</strong> theregion was ravaged by the invaders. TheImmortals, fearing for the very fate <strong>of</strong> theTraldar civilization, decided to preserve it bybringing a number <strong>of</strong> them into the HollowWorld.In the most tragic hour, however, KingHalav <strong>of</strong> Lavv and Queen Petra <strong>of</strong> Krakatos,with the aid <strong>of</strong> the Hutaaka-educated heroZirchev 24 , managed to gather together theTraldar forces that were left and stoppedthe gnolls at the Battle <strong>of</strong> Volaga (BC 992) 25 .The battle saw the deaths <strong>of</strong> both KingHalav and <strong>of</strong> the gnoll chief Flaghr; leftwithout a leader, the gnolls beganquarreling amongst themselves and theirwar effort suffered. United by the memory<strong>of</strong> King Halav, the Traldars managed toslowly get the upper hand against thegnolls, but another forty years would beneeded to see the last gnoll warbandsdriven out <strong>of</strong> Traldar lands to the northwest(about BC 950).The war against the gnolls and theinvasion’s consequences (famine and24Both the Hollow World campaign setting and HWR3: TheMilenian Empire say that Halav was king <strong>of</strong> Luln, and that hebanded his warriors together in a guerrilla defense which slowedthe gnolls’ advance. Halav’s story as told in GAZ1 and Wrath <strong>of</strong> theImmortals instead sees him taking the leadership in Lavv (modernKelvin) after killing the local king. While mention <strong>of</strong> Luln in theabove-mentioned sources is likely a mistake for Lavv, I think itcould be used to further detail Halav’s past in the following way.Obviously Luln didn’t exist in the Traldar age, but Halav couldhave well been the king <strong>of</strong> Oyllenos, a Traldar town found on thesite <strong>of</strong> modern Luln; after a desperate defense <strong>of</strong> his city, Halavhad to flee and abandon it to the gnolls. Oyllenos was destroyed,but he organized a successful guerrilla war against the invadersfrom the forests, something that began to portray him as a herobefore the Traldars. Later, as the gnolls overran the whole westernTraldar lands, he tried to convince the king <strong>of</strong> Lavv to forgealliances with other kings in order to put an united front beforethe invaders. When the king laughed at him and tried to have himimprisoned, Halav killed him and took the throne <strong>of</strong> Lavv. The rest<strong>of</strong> his story is well-known. As a side note, the names Halav, Petra,and Zirchev told by the Traladaran tradition, likely were not thethree heroes’ original names; probably – given the fact that theancient Traldar tongue should somewhat resemble theMycenaean Greek tongue – they sounded more like Halawas,Pyledra, and Zirkeus, or something like that.25While most canon timelines, for simplicity’s sake, have all theevents <strong>of</strong> the gnoll invasion compressed in BC 1000, from GAZ1we learn that “fighting was indeed bloody and went on for years”.Thus I chose to have the climactic Battle <strong>of</strong> the Volaga River in BC992, eight years after the invasion had begun.44THRESHOLD: The Mystara Magazine Issue #1
The History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Karameikos</strong>THE ANCIENT CITY OF TUMAWHERE IS TUMA?Adventure module B8 – Journey to theRock, introduced the ancient city <strong>of</strong> Tumaand its background. Even though themodule had a generic setting, it gave somesuggestion on how to include its scenarioand background in the Known Worldsetting. Two options were given here: thefirst was to place Tuma in the mountain orhill region north <strong>of</strong> Lake Amsorak inDarokin; the second was to place thescenario in the mountain country west <strong>of</strong>Wereskalot, in the Five Shires, or west <strong>of</strong>Threshold, in <strong>Karameikos</strong>. The lateradventure module B1-9 – In Search <strong>of</strong>Adventure, supported B8’s second choiceby placing Tuma in <strong>Karameikos</strong>’ mountains,but had the Journey to the Rock adventurestart in the area north <strong>of</strong> Threshold.Placing Tuma’s setting is not so easy,because the area’s map featured in B8 isquite large (about three 8-miles hexes fromwest to east, and two from north to south)and placing it north <strong>of</strong> Threshold wouldalter the terrain featured in GAZ1’s andother supplements’ maps. The best choiceseems thus to place B8’s map north-east <strong>of</strong>Threshold – looking at GAZ1’s 8-miles perhex map <strong>of</strong> the Grand Duchy, it would befound beyond the mountain hexes thatsurround Threshold in the north-east, in thehill hexes that border that border theRepublic <strong>of</strong> Darokin. This way, the wholeadventure area would be split between<strong>Karameikos</strong> (where Arkayz’ manor, thewooded lands west <strong>of</strong> it, The Barrens andBarkel Mountains would be found) andDarokin (where the ancient site <strong>of</strong> Tuma,Lake Neshonan, and Krayzen Mountainswould be located).The choice to have Tuma in <strong>Karameikos</strong>seems better, not only because it issupported by a later module (B1-9), but alsobecause it is easier to integrate this scenariowith the existing setting. The names <strong>of</strong>ancient Tuman kings featured in B8(Alcidaxes, Belkazar, Calobanes, andDelophenes) have a vague Greek or MiddleEastern flavor, and thus can naturally belinked with the ancient Taymora andTraldar cultures which existed in theKarameikan region. The rise and fall <strong>of</strong>Tuma, moreover, can be merged easily withthe history <strong>of</strong> <strong>Karameikos</strong>, in particular withthe ages before and after the GreatBeastmen Invasion, which were left quitevague by <strong>of</strong>ficial supplements.Thus, this article (and also theaccompanying article about <strong>Karameikos</strong>’demography) assumes that Tuma waslocated in the mountains <strong>of</strong> <strong>Karameikos</strong>,suggesting the following way to integratehistory <strong>of</strong> the city in <strong>Karameikos</strong>’ history.A BRIEF HISTORY OF TUMATuma’s origins trace back to the fall <strong>of</strong> theTaymoran civilization. When thecatastrophic civil war and earthquakes thatmade the southern Taymoran lands sinkunder the sea, many refugees and survivorsfrom the southern lands sought safety in thenorthern forests, a small group <strong>of</strong> them45THRESHOLD: The Mystara Magazine Issue #1