08-03-2012, 12:14 PM
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That makes sense, though to what extent did Blackmoor advance in technology? I've seen reference saying they were working into a nuclear age of power with the Radiance generators while others say they were highly advanced to the point mimicking the technology of City of the Gods, even to the point of building their own automatons and war machines. Can you give me a rough idea of how advanced they got? I get that they may have recreated the power armor and the armor of the Blue Rider.
The Techno-Undead would be interesting to see in the Fallout of the Radiance, I've introduced crude techno-liches in service to the Egg of Coot before and going through the Temple of the Frog episode of the Blackmoor MMRPG I read the starmetal segment and made me think, is this Coots connection to the Outer Beings? Could he really be from beyond the stars? Would explain his need to devour arcane energies and maybe that Starmetal is part of what Coot was or a part of another Outer Being.
Eldritch Horrors, those things born from the primordial void between the stars and alien dimensions. They are the spawns of the Outer Beings and the Immortals of the Sphere of Entropy. Since I'm a big Lovecraft's man I might be able to introduce the Outer Beings as Cthulhu Mythos deities or atleast make comparisons to them so I can toss more horrors into the aftermath, I thought maybe with magi being warped the barriers between dimensions has weakened and the Outer Beings are now attempting to squeeze into this reality. Would be good for those exploring a hidden dungeon/lab filled wtih experiments and dimensional breaches.
From what I understand there are few races on Post-Radiance Mystra correct? Humans, elves, dwarves, Beastmen? Were there any others mentioned? I thought maybe introduce ratfolk in the game, possibly the result of Blackmoor genetic tampering that after the Great Rain of Fire took up living in their creators shadow by collecting 'sacred' relics and technology. They were bred to study disease on sentient creatures and they played that role till Blackmoors demise, they were not affected by the Wasting like other races and discovered a cure usable only by their kind. I could also introduce a race or two of constructs acting as vessels for those who worked in the Radiance generators but lost their bodies in the process.
Also what of the Immortals? I understand they were caught off guards by the Great Rain of Fire but how did they react besides shifting most cultures to the Hollow World? What of the other religions? The Cult of the Frog is a good example of a group who could possibly live through the Great Rain of Fire, St.Stephen mutated the froglins and in my campaign at least two other races of amphibians. Does their patron still exist? Was that thing even a immortal of entropy or just some demon lord of the past? What of the Egg of Coot?
You mention living spells and demon possessed armor and weapons, those seem like they would fit right in. I could see living spells being manifestations of the knowledge of Blackmoors technomancy and the demon possessed items as paragons of a technomancers attempt at conjuration and infusing.
Those who were touched by the wasting would probably be sent back to where they came from, told to accept their fate or a cure was being worked on and in truth their was no cure for mankind. Though not all would die from the wasting, through breeding they bred stronger individuals with powers, these wasteland mutations made then have the appearance of the undead to some and othwers hulking monstrosities who lash out at their own kin who denied then safe haven. They worship entropy and death, to fight back the wasting they've gone as far to rip mechanical grafts from their owners and plant them onto themselves. They also partake in the study of the Radiance and are attempting to build new grafts or bodies to support their elders as the wasting takes full effect, some have been seen looking gaunt and deadly but armed with the deadliest of graft that replace whole arms and make these savages even more deadly.
RobJN Wrote:This answer is probably as varied as the number of DMs running games on Mystara.... There is very little canon information about the world after the Great Rain of Fire.I've thought of mega fauna with mutations would be good, possibly look at the legacies or sorcerer(PF) or Summoner(PF) for possibly ideas on the mutations.Though the use of the Coeurl can be attempted making even more references to the Voyage of the Space Beagle, might have to dig around for other mutagenic critters to live in the fallout.
A blast of the magnitude to actually shift a planet on its axis outstrips even the dinosaur-killer asteroid or comet from Earth's ~65Mya. We'd be looking at a glancing blow from a planetoid roughly Mars-sized, which is what some scientists think gave us the moon.
So, I'm inclined to think that the devastation is somewhat less than what our real-world models come up with.Then again, the version of the Great Rain of Fire is vastly different from the baseline material, the result of a backblast of magic that scoured demons from the surface of the world, tainted the planet's magical field, and drove the wizards insane, causing them to remade the world in their madness. But the end result would be the same:
Immediate area(s) around Blackmoor are obliterated, continents reshaped, oceans and mountains changing places.
A sickness known as the Wasting takes root among the survivors, and can probably be likened to the various stages of radiation sickness. With the quasi-magical sourcing of the Radiance, one might imagine it would be especially deadly to those races with "magic in the blood."
Certainly, insect life would remain -- perhaps the "giant" variations of insects that seem to scurry around in dungeons had their beginnings amidst the Radiance-laced fallout in the ruins of Blackmoor?
Outlying colonies may or may not have survived the destruction. Would they have been flooded with refugees? Would those refugees-- possibly tainted with the Wasting-- be allowed anywhere near the cities and outposts?
For those with Blackmoor tech, there would be those wanting it for themselves, to start carving out their own city-states, and those who would eschew such devices. Again, the line between have and have-not would be very stark indeed. Would those with the Tech use it to lord over the tribes and clans without? Or would they not bother with those who turned back to "barbarism" and only seek to deal with (read: conquer) other city-states still hoarding other caches of Tech?
As the elves of proto-Glantri show us, some colossal devices of Blackmoor Tech still lie scattered across the expanse of the Old Empire.
Some speculate that the current goblinoid races are the result of Radiance stabilizing the breeds of Beast Men. Or perhaps they are the result of Radiance mutating demi-human races.
On Thorn's Mystara, the wastes surrounding Blackmoor are haunted by Radiant shadows, living spells, burnt-out magitech warrior-shells, demon-infused weapons and armor, great swathes of undead Visions...
That makes sense, though to what extent did Blackmoor advance in technology? I've seen reference saying they were working into a nuclear age of power with the Radiance generators while others say they were highly advanced to the point mimicking the technology of City of the Gods, even to the point of building their own automatons and war machines. Can you give me a rough idea of how advanced they got? I get that they may have recreated the power armor and the armor of the Blue Rider.
The Techno-Undead would be interesting to see in the Fallout of the Radiance, I've introduced crude techno-liches in service to the Egg of Coot before and going through the Temple of the Frog episode of the Blackmoor MMRPG I read the starmetal segment and made me think, is this Coots connection to the Outer Beings? Could he really be from beyond the stars? Would explain his need to devour arcane energies and maybe that Starmetal is part of what Coot was or a part of another Outer Being.
Eldritch Horrors, those things born from the primordial void between the stars and alien dimensions. They are the spawns of the Outer Beings and the Immortals of the Sphere of Entropy. Since I'm a big Lovecraft's man I might be able to introduce the Outer Beings as Cthulhu Mythos deities or atleast make comparisons to them so I can toss more horrors into the aftermath, I thought maybe with magi being warped the barriers between dimensions has weakened and the Outer Beings are now attempting to squeeze into this reality. Would be good for those exploring a hidden dungeon/lab filled wtih experiments and dimensional breaches.
From what I understand there are few races on Post-Radiance Mystra correct? Humans, elves, dwarves, Beastmen? Were there any others mentioned? I thought maybe introduce ratfolk in the game, possibly the result of Blackmoor genetic tampering that after the Great Rain of Fire took up living in their creators shadow by collecting 'sacred' relics and technology. They were bred to study disease on sentient creatures and they played that role till Blackmoors demise, they were not affected by the Wasting like other races and discovered a cure usable only by their kind. I could also introduce a race or two of constructs acting as vessels for those who worked in the Radiance generators but lost their bodies in the process.
Also what of the Immortals? I understand they were caught off guards by the Great Rain of Fire but how did they react besides shifting most cultures to the Hollow World? What of the other religions? The Cult of the Frog is a good example of a group who could possibly live through the Great Rain of Fire, St.Stephen mutated the froglins and in my campaign at least two other races of amphibians. Does their patron still exist? Was that thing even a immortal of entropy or just some demon lord of the past? What of the Egg of Coot?
You mention living spells and demon possessed armor and weapons, those seem like they would fit right in. I could see living spells being manifestations of the knowledge of Blackmoors technomancy and the demon possessed items as paragons of a technomancers attempt at conjuration and infusing.
Those who were touched by the wasting would probably be sent back to where they came from, told to accept their fate or a cure was being worked on and in truth their was no cure for mankind. Though not all would die from the wasting, through breeding they bred stronger individuals with powers, these wasteland mutations made then have the appearance of the undead to some and othwers hulking monstrosities who lash out at their own kin who denied then safe haven. They worship entropy and death, to fight back the wasting they've gone as far to rip mechanical grafts from their owners and plant them onto themselves. They also partake in the study of the Radiance and are attempting to build new grafts or bodies to support their elders as the wasting takes full effect, some have been seen looking gaunt and deadly but armed with the deadliest of graft that replace whole arms and make these savages even more deadly.