The Sea of Dread
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#3 The Mystara Magazine The Sea of Dread The third issue of Mystara's premier magazine, featuring articles on the Sea of Dread ! History of the Islands, Rise of the Firelord, dark places to explore, and much more! pandius.com thepiazza.org.uk On the Shores of the Island of Dread (by I. Calvin): This piece was commissioned several months ago from my daughter, who up until that point had never seen the cover of X1 (either version). I gave her a vague description about a knight fighting a T-Rex on the shores of a jungle island, and this is what she came up with. Only after the piece was completed, did I show her the originals. I think she’s done them justice! John Calvin THRESHOLD: The Mystara Magazine Issue #3 Issue Contents Issue #3 Editorial..............................................................................1 This Issue s Contributors...................................................3 Remembering Aaron Allston..............................................5 The History of Ierendi and Minrothad...............................7 Minrothad Merchant-Prince.............................................32 Ierendian Government and Aristocracy...........................36 The Minor Islands of the Sea of Dread.............................59 Mystaranomicon...............................................................76 Bararna Island..................................................................80 The Empire of the Firelord...............................................90 Maxime Beaulieu’s Mystara............................................110 The Demography of Ierendi & Minrothad.....................120 The Darkness Beneath....................................................174 Pirate Lords of the Sea of Dread....................................183 Timeline of the Sea of Dread..........................................191 The Akropolis of Kotesh.................................................201 Thyatian Senators...........................................................209 .................................................................234 Artwork Sources and Credits.........................................236 Next Issue.......................................................................243 Threshold: The Mystara Magazine is a non-commercial, fan-produced magazine. There is no intention to infringe on anyone's rights, and in particular not on those of Wizards of the Coast, which holds all rights to the original material on which the magazine is based. THRESHOLD: The Mystara Magazine Issue #3 Editorial Of Pirates, Merchant-Princes and Sea Monsters The Sea of Dread. For those living on or near the coastal waters off the shores of southern Brun, the name evokes darkness, danger, and terrors unknown. The Sea of Dread is treacherous, and vast… and even those of us who only write tales about it have experienced its terrible grandeur. Although I have been a fan of Mystara for as long as I can remember, and even contributed to fanzines like the Tome of Mystara in the past, nothing could have prepared me for traversing these uncertain waters in Threshold Issue #3. When I began my journey in November by asking the community for contributions, I wasn’t sure we would have an issue at all. My fear was that the grand onslaught of holidays fastly approaching would drown out anyone’s time, enthusiasm, and energy to prepare an article for submission, and when I had to extend the proposal deadline by two weeks in December, my fears seemed to be proving true. As we approached the final deadline in late January, still with no manuscripts submitted, I was very worried indeed. I was sure we wouldn’t have more than 20 pages to put in this issue. That couldn’t have been further from the truth. When storms hit in the Sea of Dread, they hit hard, and final manuscripts began to pour in just as I had lost all hope. Instead of the drought I feared however, I was presented with a maelstrom of biblical proportions. It soon became clear that we had too much material to fit into a single issue. In fact we may have too much material to fit into two issues… but we are going to try to do it! In this issue we’ll sail through the waters of Minrothad and Ierendi, delving into their past and exploring how those two countries developed into the nations they are today. We will set foot on the strange shores of the Thanegioth Archipelago meeting some of their twisted inhabitants, cross swords with pirates and catch glimpse of the dangerous game they play. Well discover plots in Minrothad, see the rise of the Firelord, and much, much more. But our adventures won’t end there. The Sea of Dread will return in Issue #4, where our adventures across these treacherous waves will continue. I think when all of this is over, I’m going to need a vacation. Hmmm… I hear Bararna Island is nice this time of year. John Calvin (Chimpman) Editor-in-chief, Threshold Issue #3 1 THRESHOLD: The Mystara Magazine Issue #3 Editorial Editorial Credits Threshold Editorial Team: Editor-in-Chief, Issue 3: John Calvin (Chimpman) Allan Palmer (AllanP) Andrew Theisen (Cthulhudrew) Layout: CmdrCorsiken (Troy Terrell ) Allan Palmer (AllanP) Francesco Defferrari (Sturm) Art: Giampaolo Agosta (Agathokles) Andrew Theisen (Cthulhudrew) Håvard Giampaolo Agosta (Agathokles) Jesper Andersen (Spellweaver) John Calvin (Chimpman) & I. Calvin John Calvin (Chimpman) Thorfinn Tait (Thorf) Robert Nuttman (RobJN) Simone Neri (Zendrolion) Cartography: Simone Neri Thorfinn Tait (Thorf) - Editor Emeritus John Calvin Francesco Defferrari THRESHOLD logo designed by Thorf Thanks To: The Mystara Community, for your support, hard work, and dedication to Mystara. The aims of Threshold magazine: ▪ to provide a venue for community members to present material ▪ to promote the Vaults of Pandius and the material there ▪ to increase the exposure of existing and new articles ▪ to encourage authors to revisit and revitalise existing articles ▪ to motivate interest in Mystara in general Issues #1 and #2 of THRESHOLD - the Mystata Magazine, is available for download from the Vaults of Pandius website. Also available at the same location are higher resolution versions of the maps that were included in the issue’s PDF, allowing greater detail to be viewed. 2 THRESHOLD: The Mystara Magazine Issue #3 This Issue s Contributors This Issue’s Contributors Colin Wilson was introduced to Mystara by Ravenloft, Birthright, Call of Cthulhu, and his elder brother at around the age of eight. Witchcraft RPG. Due to an unhealthy desire for minutiae he I. "Meandrathel" Calvin enjoys drawing fell in love the Gaz series and so developed an fantasy, and animals that can kill. Namely unfortunate habit of worldbuilding in his spare wolves, dragons, horses, and most large time. Colin continues to develop Mystara felines. Human animal hybrids are not articles in between publishing articles on excluded either; she often draws human Doctor Who, raising two children, acting, versions of her favorite animals. She does, singing, tap dancing and, very occasionally, however, despise drawing things that are turning up for work. unbearingly cute. It's a pretty awful thing to Simone Neri (Zendrolion) teaches history do. and philosophy at secondary school in John Calvin has been fascinated by the world Florence, Italy. He has mastered Mystara of Mystara since he first opened the Red Box. campaigns since 1987, his favourite settings He also has several boxes full of LEGOs, being Thyatis, Norwold, Karameikos, and which he still pulls out and plays with on Glantri. He is an active member of The Piazza occasion. community with the nickname of Zendrolion - but don't fear backstabbing from him! Even though Sturm (a.k.a. Francesco Defferrari) loves any alternate world, he Jesper Andersen (a.k.a. Spellweaver) has believes Mystara is incomparably the best for been a fan of the Known World and Mystara its vibrant community endlessly delving into since his first D&D game in 1991. He enjoys ethnography, linguistics and history just to creating new adventures, stories, characters make a little sense of it. Something like the and monsters, much of which can be found at real world, but with dragons. the Vault of Pandius. His latest personal adventure, however, is the launch of his own Giulio Caroletti started playing in Mystara RPG publishing company called Blood with the old red box in 1992, and hasn't Brethren Games. stopped since. He went "internet" on the MML as Captain Iulius Sergius Scaevola in 1999, In his house at The Piazza, Cthulhudrew (a.k.a. and has since written mostly about Thyatis Andrew Theisen) waits, dreaming. "That and Dwarves. When not busy pretending to campaign world is not dead, which can eternal be a Thyatian officer, he lives a boring life as lie; and with strange aeons, Mystara shall once an atmosphere physicist from Rome, Italy. again rise." His main interests are light-eyed girls, soccer Giampaolo Agosta (a.k.a. Agathokles) agrees (he's an AS Roma fan) and rock music with Schiller that man "is only completely a (especially 70s progressive rock). man when he plays". Therefore, he makes a Geoff Gander has been heavily involved in point of taking gaming seriously, and real life the Mystaran community for longer than he casually. Besides Mystara, his gaming interests cares to remember. He has since been include (among others) Dark Sun, Planescape, 3 THRESHOLD: The Mystara Magazine Issue #3 This Issue s Contributors This Issue’s Contributors published by Solstice Publishing, Metahuman Maxime Beaulieu's first roleplaying session Press, AE SciFi, and