(12-31-2024, 06:27 AM)Havard Wrote:(12-30-2024, 07:33 PM)Greg Wrote: On p. 15 of DA1, in the description of casks and bottles in the wine cellar, some are said to be "distilled and bottled at Vestfold in the 12th year of the Reign of Ning." DA1 also says that these casks and bottles have been magically preserved in the Comeback Inn for thousands of years. So, Ning could be a past ruler who was possibly the earl or baron of Vestfold or even Blackmoor, and the channel might be named after him. The channel is far away from Vestfold, so if he was a local ruler of Vestfold, then it seems strange that a channel so far away would be named after him.
However, there was a discussion of Ning in this past thread, where LoZompatore's timeline had him as a future ruler of Blackmoor, in 3030 BC. But Ning's Channel is on the D20 map, so my interpretation is that he clearly had to be a past ruler and possibly was an earl or baron of Vestfold or one of the rulers of Blackmoor.
Ah yes!
Zompatore's information is based on details from DA1 which does detail Blackmoor's future history as well. So Ning I is canonically a future ruler of Blackmoor. ...
Not necessarily. There is no particular reason to think the wine bottle or the king list in the desk drawer is from a post-Uther age. Actually there are several reasons to think otherwise.
First, the general description of the layout and contents of the Comeback Inn go back to Arneson. Yes TSR totally re-wrote it to fit the time travel narrative that allowed them to shoe-horn the setting into ancient Mystara, but the Inn was fleshed out to some extent by Arneson prior to turning over materials to TSR. So it's conceivable that Arneson came up with the name - maybe.
Second, the contents of the Inn regenerate every night. So a bottle of wine could be used endlessly and be quite old.
Third, the presence of the name on the map indicates that it was named after somebody named Ning, and that would suggest pretty strongly Ning I was a former king of Thonia. (or the Great Kingdom if going back to Arneson).