Mystara



Mystara is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons role playing game. It originated as the Known World, a semi-generic setting used in early adventure modules, which was expanded upon in various D&D modules and sources.

The Known World
Mystara's outer surface consists of three principal land masses: the continents of Brun, Skothar, and Davania, plus the island continents that constitute the Empire of Alphatia.

The inhabitants of Mystara are diverse: humans of all races can be found here, along with myriad creatures such as elves, dwarves, halflings, orcs, dragons, and so on and so forth.

Some of the notable nations of Mystara include the Empire of Thyatis, the Grand Duchy of Karameikos, the Principalities of Glantri and the mysterious Alphatian Empire.

The Savage Coast
Mystara includes the Savage Coast, an area under the Red Curse, which eventually kills its inhabitants by mutating them unless the metal cinnabryl is worn in contact with the body. This area was published in its own module entitled Red Steel.

The Hollow World
Unlike most worlds, Mystara is a hollow planet, with a habitable surface on its interior called the Hollow World. This world is lit by an eternal red sun at the center of Mystara, and serves as a 'cultural museum', preserving the societies that have become extinct in the outer world. The existence of the Hollow World is not, in general, known to the inhabitants of the outer world. The poles are actually curving, huge holes that allow passage between the outer and inner world, although it is a long, hard trek through a cold, unlit, stormy and anti-magic area.

Moons
Two moons orbit the planet. Matera is a moon much like our own whose phases govern lycanthropy, uninhabited except by the Immortals who have built a city, Pandius, where they can meet and from where watch over Mystara. Patera, or Myoshima, is an invisible moon.

Blackmoor
Mystara also incorporated the Blackmoor setting by describing Blackmoor as a highly advanced civilization that existed in the distant past.

Mystara Video Games
Mystara is the setting for the Capcom arcade Beat 'em up/RPG games Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom (1993) and Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara (1996). Other Mystara video games are: Dungeons & Dragons: Warriors of the Eternal Sun Sega Genesis, (1992), Fantasy Empires (PC, 1993), AD&D: Order of the Griffon Turbo-Grafix 16, (1992).