Karameikos - Vaults of Pandius
Karameikos - Vaults of Pandius
Karameikos - Vaults of Pandius
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When the Great Rain <strong>of</strong> Fire struck, the colony wasshut down, the surviving inhabitants fleeing to thesurface, left in the care <strong>of</strong> the warforgedmaintenance crews. Twice in the first thousandyears <strong>of</strong> sleep, the colony was breached, first bygiants (who had no use for the puny Manlings’ pettymagics). The second time was by the Troll Queen <strong>of</strong>Grondheim (not to be confused with her distantdescendant, Haa’k Hordar), intrigued by the giants’tales <strong>of</strong> the ‘corridors sheathed in steel’ and <strong>of</strong> vastcaverns full <strong>of</strong> black crystals. Her incursion awokethe colony’s master defense program, whichtriggered the collapse <strong>of</strong> the bulk <strong>of</strong> the facility. Onlythe secondary laboratories survived, mostly intact,to be rediscovered by the hutaaka settlers somethousands <strong>of</strong> years later. Their culture’sadvancement is thought to have been the result <strong>of</strong>discovering the caches <strong>of</strong> dragonstones untouchedby the Troll Queen. Their culture would perish withthe coming <strong>of</strong> the Beast Man hordes. The remainingdefenses <strong>of</strong> the colony were overwhelmed, and itagain shut itself down, and its secrets slept beneaththe mountains until reawakened by a renegadedruid….The dragonstone caverns served as a magical falloutshelter for the ethereal demons. They survived theGreat Rain <strong>of</strong> Fire, hibernating in the imperfectprisons <strong>of</strong> uncut black dragonstones. From there,they seeped into the very bones <strong>of</strong> the land, to befreed accidentally, or by trickery, or, in the case <strong>of</strong>Ancient Taymora’s lycanthrope thralls, by design.Taymora’s breaking up and sinking into the Sea <strong>of</strong>Dread broke the stranglehold vampires andlycanthropes held over the land, and powerfulthough they were, their numbers dwindled whilethe human population only grew. The means andmethods <strong>of</strong> battling the monsters were passed downfrom family to family, generation after generation,and shaped the Traladaran culture into what seemsto outsiders as a superstitious and distrustful nation.MAGIC USERSMagic users do not ‘technically’exist as a class on Thorn’s Mystara.Typically, they are used as villains-- NPCs at best -- and many <strong>of</strong> theirspells are lost, wondrous things.Books and scrolls are extremelyrare, as the chaos <strong>of</strong> the Great Rain<strong>of</strong> Fire purged most originalmagical writings. This is not to saythat stray, mad wizards do not stillresearch That Which Should NotBe Known, or that the demonicpresences do not ‘help’ with thereconstruction <strong>of</strong> Old Magic. Forclarity, those practicing Old Magicwithout the ‘benefit’ <strong>of</strong> a demonicpresence, and thus at risk <strong>of</strong> goingmad, are referred to as “magicusers.” Those using Old Magicplaying host to a demonic essenceare referred to as “warlocks.” Bothare to be feared in equal measure.Anyone forming a pact with one <strong>of</strong>the demonic essences gains accessto “old magic,” multiclassing usingthe rules set forth in the HollowWorld Player’s Guide for Warrior-Elven learning magic later in life,p. 7)Decay, Insanity and CorruptionThe rules in the GlantriGazetteer’s section on use <strong>of</strong> theRadiance are expanded to allmagic user spells: there is a 1percent chance per spell level thatthe withering, rotting diseasetakes root, corrupting part <strong>of</strong> thewizard’s body beyond the ability <strong>of</strong>77THRESHOLD: The Mystara Magazine Issue #1