The History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Karameikos</strong>nosferatu. The religious hierarchies gatheredforces to counter those evil threats; in Halag,the order <strong>of</strong> the Knights <strong>of</strong> Halav was formedto fight vampires and lycanthropes. Thedemihumans – elves and gnomes, mostly -for whom those curses were deadly, closedtheir borders and were forced to begin truehunts to eradicate infected humans fromtheir lands. After a phase <strong>of</strong> dramatic, initialspread, the two curses were contained, butthey would again see a rise at the beginning<strong>of</strong> the 6 th century AC and would nevercompletely leave the region.The 5 th century also saw the beginning <strong>of</strong> theDarokinian attempts to subdue Traladara 35 .35The following part about the Traladaran Wars draws on theworks <strong>of</strong> A. Nowack (The Kings <strong>of</strong> Darokin) and G. Agosta (A<strong>Karameikos</strong> Companion). Demara is the third king <strong>of</strong> Traladaramentioned by name only in <strong>Karameikos</strong>: Kingdom <strong>of</strong> Adventure.Four wars (called the Traladaran Wars inDarokinian histories: AC 412-17, 444-50,488, and 490-93) were fought in thiscentury between the Traladarans and theKingdom <strong>of</strong> Darokin, which also sawintervention by the insular city-states <strong>of</strong>Harbortown and New Alphatia in theMinrothad archipelago; most <strong>of</strong> thoseconflicts were also internal wars spurred bypolitical and religious differences betweenvarious Traladaran clans. Even thoughDarokin was only successful in holding thenorthern part <strong>of</strong> Traladara for a shortperiod <strong>of</strong> time (the first time directly, thesecond time through the alliance with theTraladaran Duke Demara <strong>of</strong> Vaion, whomanaged to be crowned as King <strong>of</strong>Traladara), the wars had a series <strong>of</strong>important consequences.56THRESHOLD: The Mystara Magazine Issue #1
The History <strong>of</strong> <strong>Karameikos</strong>First <strong>of</strong> all, cultural influences by Darokinand, to a lesser extent, by Thyatis, led to theabandonment <strong>of</strong> the old traditionalTraladaran noble titles (ban, zhupa) acrossthe country, in favor <strong>of</strong> imported Darokinianand Thyatian titles (like duke, count, andbaron). This process was slower in thewestern part <strong>of</strong> the country, where localcultural identity was stronger and lesspermeable to outside influences 36 .Second, the wars changed the politicallandscape <strong>of</strong> Traladara, leading to theemergence <strong>of</strong> newer clans (like theKoriszegy, the Vargos 37 <strong>of</strong> Halag, and theIvanovich <strong>of</strong> Achelos, who assumed the ducaltitle) and to the extinction or the exile <strong>of</strong> oldones (like the Hojah <strong>of</strong> Halag, whoabandoned Halag with a large number <strong>of</strong>their followers our <strong>of</strong> religious differences inAC 450, after their defeat in the SecondTraladaran War, migrating to the Gulf <strong>of</strong>Hule 38 ).Third, the alliance against the Darokinianthreat prompted the formation <strong>of</strong> theTraladaran League. At first only a militaryalliance to last until the defeat <strong>of</strong> Darokin,36Of the settlements marked on the accompanying map,Gorenenov (seat <strong>of</strong> the Gorevitch family) was created by J. Guerra(Traladaran Clans), the Barony <strong>of</strong> Ivorga comes from the work <strong>of</strong>J. Mishler (Thoughts on Darokin), while Ourosco comes from Night<strong>of</strong> the Vampire adventure. The village <strong>of</strong> Lumm is mentioned inX12: Skarda’s Mirror; G. Agosta (A <strong>Karameikos</strong> Companion) madeit an historical Traladaran town, and I’m following his work here(I’ve only moved the village a little to the south-west, becouse themodule says it is “a few miles northeast <strong>of</strong> Kelven”).37The Vargos family was first created by P. Sullivan (Informationon Western <strong>Karameikos</strong>); I have adopted the modified story <strong>of</strong> thefamily, as told in G. Agosta’s Lords <strong>of</strong> the Cruth Lowlands, A<strong>Karameikos</strong> Companion and The Beast <strong>of</strong> Radlebb.38These Traladarans will found the city-states <strong>of</strong> the Gulf <strong>of</strong> Hule– Slagovich, Nova Svoga, Zvornik, and the rest. The story <strong>of</strong> theirflight was created by G. Agosta in his A <strong>Karameikos</strong> Companion andexpanded in Crywolf!, and draws from the following passage <strong>of</strong> RedSteel campaign setting: “an influx <strong>of</strong> Traldar arrived, possiblyfleeing religious persecution in their homeland”. Following thedefeat and the exile <strong>of</strong> the Hojah, the Vargos family took power inHalag, abandoning the old title <strong>of</strong> “bans” and assuming that <strong>of</strong>“barons”.the League was confirmed as a permanentinstitution after the Darokinian defeat in AC493, with a governing body – the Diet <strong>of</strong>Marilenev – seated in Marilenev, which hadbecome the most important city <strong>of</strong>Traladara. For a time it seemed that theTraladaran League could be the unifyingfactor <strong>of</strong> the Traladarans, and that the Dietcould make the various Traladaranprincipalities act as a single body – likewhen they chose the wizard Perrantin asFirst Speaker to oversee the sending <strong>of</strong> aTraladaran army to assist the Flaems <strong>of</strong> theHighlands defend against a feared dragonattack on the Known World, during theTime <strong>of</strong> the Second Dragonlord (AC 511) 39 .THE HOLY WARSHowever, hatred continued to run deepbetween Traladaran clans, and intrigueswere frequent and harsh. Rivalries amongthe clans, and uneasiness againstMarilenev’s leading position within theLeague, would have ripped the Leagueapart within AC 600. By this year, manynoblemen who ruled peripheral lands actedindipendently from, and without consultingwith, the League’s leadership in Marilenev.Around this year, a newly-risen descendant<strong>of</strong> Demara claimed the title <strong>of</strong> King <strong>of</strong> Vaion,thus marking the first exit from the League.Some years later (AC 612), after the39Mention <strong>of</strong> the Traladaran League and the character <strong>of</strong>Perrantin are found in the Dragonlord Trilogy novels by T.Gunnarsson. I assumed that the whole story <strong>of</strong> the trilogy takesplace between AC 504 and AC 513. For a more detaileddescription <strong>of</strong> the events which invested the Known World duringthis time, see my History <strong>of</strong> Dragonkind. Together with SolveigWhite-Gold (alias <strong>of</strong> Valeria Doranius, scion <strong>of</strong> the ThyatianEmperor Cornelius Doranius, and one <strong>of</strong> the characters <strong>of</strong> thetrilogy), Perrantin later discovered the relic known as the Shield<strong>of</strong> Halav around AC 521. The story <strong>of</strong> their finding, theconstruction <strong>of</strong> the Temple <strong>of</strong> the Shield and <strong>of</strong> the nearby village<strong>of</strong> Zadreth on the shores <strong>of</strong> Lake Windrush are told in Hail theHeroes adventure (exact dating was my guess, however).57THRESHOLD: The Mystara Magazine Issue #1
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