Karameikos - Vaults of Pandius

The History of Karameikosmagician corrupted by the Immortal Orcus,Trinkla, tricked the Seer into abandoning hishideout and, during his absence, stole theBlack Opal Eye. She fled to the BlightSwamp, where she hoped to uncoverZirchev’s secrets. During her experiments,she created the magical effect known as theSlough of Despair in BC 282. However, a fewyears later (BC 276) she died, being buriedin a hidden dungeon-tomb in the BlightSwamp. The Black Opal Eye was buried withher.ELYAS AND THE QUIET WAYElyas was born in Alphatian-ruled Thyatisaround BC 150. He was one of the firstnon-Alphatian natives of Thyatis to betrained as a magic-user by the Alphatianwizards because of his arcane potential. Hequickly became a powerful wizard, but hisstudious character kept him away frompolitics and human intrigues. Years later,tired of the methods of Alphatiangovernment and of the Thyatians’ intriguesto regain their freedom, he left his homelandand traveled much, at the end heading forthe remote wilderness of Traladara.There, he became a friend of the forest racesand did much to help and defend them frommonsters, humanoids, dark forces, andoutside dangers. In particular he befriendedan isolate elven community whosesettlements were found in the small HantuValley in the middle of the forested foothillsof the Black Peaks range. These wood elves,whose main village was called Kota-Hutan,were Callarii who were left there isolatedwhen many of their kins had retreated in thecentral forests of Traladara after the arrivalof humanoid tribes.Elyas came to be highly regarded by theseelves, and they gave him the opportunity tosettle in their valley. The wizard built alarge tower north of the village of Kota-Hutan. He even developed a new lawfulphilosophy of contemplation andmeditation, merging his own lore(gathered along his travels in the world)with elven traditions. This philosophy wascalled the Quiet Way and the elves of theHantu Valley became its followers (theSiswa, as they were called).ELYAS DEATHElyas continued to act for the good of theelves and other forest races. During hisadventures, he was noticed by the Seer ofTraldar and was later trained to succeedhim as the new Seer, which happened inBC 7. Some years later (BC 4), he evenbraved the dangers of Trinkla’s Tomb in theBlight Swamp and managed to recover theBlack Opal Eye. During his time as Seer ofTraldar, Elyas divided his time between histower in the Hantu Valley (where he keptthe Black Opal Eye) and the Lake of LostDreams (where he kept the Fire Opal Eye).Elyas’ deeds, however, again attracted theattention of the dark forces. In AC 3, theImmortal Orcus sent three of his mostpowerful witches, Karelena, Sorolena, andTrilena, to steal the Black Opal Eye and killthe Seer. They reached Elyas’ tower andused their power to make a huge mountainfall on his tower from the sky; Elyasmanaged to draw the three witches’ soulsunder his tower, entrapping them, but wascrushed under the mountain, and died.Continued on page 6968THRESHOLD: The Mystara Magazine Issue #1