M3E - Vaults of Pandius

Introduction
conflict between Stefan Karameikos and Baron
Ludwig von Hendriks is probably the closest thing
to a classic Good vs. Evil plot in Mystara, but even
Stefan made decisions that lead to actions that
resulted in significant misery for others. First, he
was granted autonomous rule of Traladara—a
subject-nation that hadn't exactly been happy about
being under Thyatian control to begin with—and
immediately invited his fellow Thyatians to help him
colonize the country. The Thyatians came in droves
and their subsequent land-grabbing actions and
contempt for the native Traladarans caused
widespread misery and suffering. He also allowed
his cousin, Baron von Hendriks, to get away with
terrible persecution and tyranny for years simply
because he was too naive to believe the reports was
hearing which, to him, could only be outrageous
exaggerations. He would even abandon his Thyatian
allies in their hour of need—breaking a mutual
defense treaty that he had signed with his former
homeland when he felt that his young country's
survival could only be guaranteed by forging a deal
with Alphatia, Thyatis' enemy. Stephen is certainly
good in comparison to Ludwig but, objectively
speaking, he's a far cry from being good 100% of
the time, yet he remains one of the shining
examples of enlightened goodness in Mystara.
All the above is focused on the Known World, the
original campaign setting of Mystara. Adding even
more spice and variety to an already flavorful roleplaying
meal are the two other campaign settings,
RED STEEL/SAVAGE COAST and the HOLLOW
WORLD.
The Savage Coast is found to the far west, a
long way from where the countries of the Known
World are nestled in their small corner on the south
eastern tip of the continent of Brun. Few merchants
and explorers of the Known World who travel so
far venture past the port of Slagovitch and into the
regions beyond and those few that do rarely, if ever,
return to their homes. Rumors abound about the
region, ranging from stories that claim most people
from the region have superhuman abilities that
seem like arcane magic but are something else, to
the existence of a strange metal, that cannot be
mined anywhere else, that is as strong as steel but
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much lighter and has certain innate magical
properties. It is a region full of swashbuckling
heroes and strange lands that may just as easily be
run by civilized societies of monstrous humanoids,
such as the feline Rakasta or the canine Lupin, as by
humans or demi-humans. It is a place unlike any
other you've ever seen—assuming you're brave
enough (or foolhardy enough) to actually go and see
it.
The Hollow World, in its turn, is something else
again. There are very few people on the surface
world who are aware of the fact that the planet of
Mystara is a hollow sphere, and even fewer still who
suspect that beneath their very feet rests a whole
other world full of nations and cultures that were
once found on the surface but have not been seen
for centuries and even millennia. Although many of
those who hear this tale wave it off as pure
nonsense, they would be wrong for, unlike most
celestial bodies, the planet of Mystara is a hollow
sphere. Instead of a hot core of magma, there is
open space, and it holds another world on the
interior surface of the sphere and upon "floating
continents" and "islands" that circle a small redcolored
sun located at the exact center of the planet.
This world is a museum; a store house of lost
cultures from the surface world, placed on the
inside of the planet by the Immortals, ostensibly to
save them from extinction and preserve their ways
forever. And, as with any museum, there are checks
and balances to preserve and protect what is kept
there, and so characters from the surface world who
somehow manage to stumble into the Hollow
World will be in for lots of surprises beyond the
most obvious ones.
In conclusion, Mystara is a whole world of many
diverse cultures with a distant, mythic origin that is
based on a techno-magical disaster. It is also a world
of peers where a lowly gladiator can rise to be
Emperor and where those with the diligence and
the courage can even ascend to immortality,
transcending the barriers of life itself.
Sounds like just the sort of setting you've been
looking for? Then feel free to stay awhile and check
it out.