Karameikos - Vaults of Pandius

The History of Karameikossubstantially unhurt - thanks to its regularlinks with the Hutaaka and the NithianEmpire - by the hardships that reduced theTraldar settlers to the south to little morethan hunter-gatherers savages. With thepassing of years its relationship with nearbyHutaaka grew into a strong alliance, whichallowed in Tuma the birth of an advancedtradition of arcane studies centered onearth, metal and rock. When the Traldarsmanaged to rise again under the protectionof the Hutaaka, Tuma benefited from thisfact, establishing a lucrative trade with theTraldar kingdoms – while keeping fromthem iron technology and the mostpowerful arcane secrets, like what theHutaaka did. In this age, Tuma rose tobecome the foremost power of the region.The town grew into a powerful city, and itsdomains extended both to the north and tothe south of the Black Peaks range.When the Great Beastmen Invasion hit theTraldar lands, the Tumans were shocked bythe Hutaaka’s choice to abandon thehumans to their fate. At the start of the warthe Tumans sent contingents of theirsoldiers to fight alongside the Traldars, butthey preferred to retreat from theirsouthern holds when the fight seemed lost.Only after the worst of the gnolls’ invasionwas fought back by the Traldars did theTumans expand again southward, takingadvantage of the weakness of the Traldarsand taking part to the wars between thegnolls, the Traldars and the Vandars in the10 th century BC.During this age, Tuma was still a majorplayer of the area, but the decline of theTraldar kingdoms and the disappearance ofthe Hutaaka deprived the city of a large partof its wealthy trade. The decline in whichthe Tuman royal court fell in this centurystirred up dissension among the city’spopulace, who rose against the king aroundBC 900; the monarchy was overthrown andthe powerful magic-users of the cityestablished an oligarchic rule. They usedtheir rock- and metal-melding magic tochange the face of the city, which assumeda nearly-alien appearance in regards toother contemporary human settlements -hundreds-of-feet high buildings made ofmetal were raised, streets were paved withmetal as well, filled with magical constructs,and so on. But the wizards’ reserved andaloof attitude slowly isolated Tuma from theouter world; the city withdrew from majorconflicts, only fighting to defend itselfagainst new enemies, like the Vandars orthe humanoid hordes. With time, most ofTuma’s outlying possessions were lost.Nevertheless, thanks to the wizards’ magic,the population within city walls lived well.After BC 700 Tuma, left more and moreisolated, then become a target of powerfulNithian lords devoted to Entropy, whocoveted the ancient arcane secrets the city’swizards kept. They launched a series ofattacks on Tuma, supported by their armiesof mercenaries, humanoid slaves, andundead. After a century-long and valiantresistance, the Nithians and the darkpowers with which they had allied decidedthat if they were not to grasp those secrets,no one will ever had: they casted a powerfulcurse on the city, which removed it from thePrime Material Plane and imprisoned it andits inhabitants in another plane. Thus, thecity, its people, and its secrets disappearedfrom the face of the Known World in BC 600.47THRESHOLD: The Mystara Magazine Issue #1