-------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 09 Feb 1997 18:39:00 -0700 (MST) From: "Cthulhudrew, The Great Old One" Reply-To: mystara-l@lists.io.com To: Mystara Subject: [Mystara] Myoshima/Patera stuff (fwd) First off, let me say it's good to be back! :) Well, folks, it just so happens that I am currently enrolled in two, yes, two courses on Southeast Asia this semester. Figuring that I might as well put the knowledge thus gained to use (since come May I'll probably never use it again ;) , I thought I might try and come up with some information on the Rakasta world/moon of Myoshima. What does this have to do with Southeast Asia, you ask? Well, a quick reading of the (all too brief) writeup on Myoshima in Dragon Magazine 161? 162?, seems to indicate that Southeast Asia is the major inspiration for the world of the cat men. You've got it all- tropical environment, island nations, perpetual rain... and cats. Lots and lots of cats. At any rate, I've started to gather information on this place, and am calling for help from anyone who would like to join me. Specifically, I'm hoping there's someone out there who is somewhat knowledgeable in astronomy, to try and come up with a calendar of sorts for Myoshima, not to mention any other pertinent astronomical data. Also, anyone who would care to send me any relevant historical info on the Rakasta- specifically if there is any info on them in Red Steel (as I don't own that supplement). Thus far, here's my thoughts on the nations of Myoshima/Patera: Empire of Myoshima- Based on the info given, I think it's rather obvious that this is based on feudal Japan. Rajahstan- I gather that this is based on India, but given size constraints (Myoshima isn't that large a world, and SE Asia is a huge area), and not wanting to duplicate other material (spec. Sind), I decided to base Rajahstan on the four Hinduized areas of SE Asia- Laos, Burma, Cambodia, and Thailand. Selimpore- My thinkings that this is based on the tiny yet rich city state of Singapore. Surabayang- I've based this loose confederacy of pirates on Indonesia (Surabaya is a city on the isle of Java in Indonesia... or is it on Sumatra?) Malacayog- Though head hunting is a common cultural trait found in SE Asia, I've based the head hunters of Malacayog on Malaysia. (Actually, I've recently been told by Bruce that he based Malacayog on pre-spanish colonial Philippines, rather than Malaysia. Thanks, Bruce! :) Kompor-Thap- The land of a thousand hidden temples seems based on Burma, but I've sort of combined this aspect of that land with Tibetan culture. Basically, rather than Hindus, the Kompor-Thap are more strictly Buddhist (I'm not actually using these religions, just as an example for you all). (Another note or two- Bruce was basing this region on a combination of Burma and Cambodia. My thinking is to populate it with Pachydermions, as opposed to Rakasta. Any thoughts on this?) Anyway, I figure I'll pretty much just use the maps of SE Asia and Japan as is, to map out Patera's surface. That's about all I've come up with thus far, but I do have a couple of other ideas I'd be willing to share with anyone who'd care to help out. (Among them are ideas about cultural exchange with Mystara. Currently my thoughts are that the Rakasta influenced the culture of Ochalea at some point in the pre-Alphatian past, then were expunged, leading to anti tiger sentiment in the Ochalean territories. Further, I'm leaning towards Rajahstan being created by shapeshifters fleeing persecution in Sind in 528 (I think). Any thoughts?) -------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 9 Feb 1997 22:24:14 -0500 (EST) From: Daniel Boese Reply-To: mystara-l@lists.io.com To: "Cthulhudrew, The Great Old One" Cc: Mystara Mailing List Subject: Re: [Mystara] Myoshima/Patera stuff (fwd) Well, you've started what I was planning to. :) I compiled all the extant data on Patera/Myoshima, and was playing with the World Builder's Guidbook (an /excellent/ reference, by the way). I'll forward you what I've typed out in this message, and respond to your own message in my next message. The Visible Moon: Matera This moon, well known to anyone living on the outer surface of Mystara, is a silvery, lifeless, crater-marked satellite. Like the moon of our Earth, it waxes and wanes in a predictable pattern, controlling the tides and lycanthropy, but it isn't very interesting to Mystaran adventurers - unless, of course, they know of the gateway to the Immortal City of Pandius located in one of Matera's large craters. As of AC 1013, the moon has remained unexplored. Matera has a diameter of 2,160 miles and orbits 238,600 miles above Mystara's surface. DMs wishing to liven up Matera up a bit may place unknown, secretive, and very reclusive underground creatures on this moon. Or explorers looking past the uninspiring exterior of this "lifeless chunk of rock" might find evidence of long-lost civilizations here. How about the wreckage of Voidships that undertook the perilous voyage from distand worlds only to crash on an inhospitable moon within sight of a magnificent world? The Second Moon: Patera (Myoshima) Mystara has a second moon, unknown to all but its inhabitants and a very few other mortal creatures. The Immortals call this moon Patera; its inhabitants call it Myoshima. The moon can't normally be seen by anyone outside its Skyshield, due to its core's unusual light-bending properties. It is small, with a circumference roughly equal to 3,000 miles, and a diameter of 950 miles. The central core of Patera is extremely dense and magical, allowing a gravity comparable to that of Mystara. It orbits a scant 34,200 miles above Mystara's surface. This moon completes a full revolution around Mystara in three days and twelve hours (or two revolutions per week). Patera follows an exact polar orbit above the Known World, so that the moon passes above almost every point on the globe. Patera does not have a rotation of its own. One hemisphere (called Nearside) always faces Mystara, and viewers on the opposite side of Patera (Farside) never see the world they orbit. The pattern of day and night cycles on Patera is thus very complex because of Mystara's axial tilt, which provides Patera's seasons. The sun appears to wobble back and forth across the sky over a 3 1/2-day period as it also appears to travel around the Patera globe along a great cycle every 336 days, Mystara's year. (Myoshiman calendars take a year of study to be understood, and its inhabitants have no fixed cycle of wakefulness or sleep.) Nearside usually continually receives a small amount of light reflected from Mystara. Full daylight on Patera is not as bright as on Mystara, being more like twilight. The sky changes color during a "day", ranging from fiery tones at noon to tamer red and purple hues at dusk or dawn. This happens because Patera has a light-reflecting shield at the immediate edges of its atmosphere. This shield bends light rays except at the extreme ranges of the visible spectrum - ultraviolet and infrared are unaffected by the shield. Light rays hitting Patera's atmosphere are deflected back to the surface or off into space. In effect, this causes the planet to be nearly invisible from the outside and allows little light to filter in (only Mystara, Matera, and the sun can be seen from Patera's surface). Patera's core generates the light shield's effects. Patera is mostly covered by steaming jungles and earthquake-prone volcanic mountains that surround three freshwater seas. Rain clouds cover a third of Patera at all times, and precipitation is abundant. The two polar areas of the moon offer at worst a temperate climate. The vast majority of the sentient population is made of various breeds of rakasta, humanoid felines with human intelligence. Unlike the Mystaran species, these all have infravision good to 60'. It is known that they have an architectural sense similar to the inhabitants of Ochalea - exotic, tiered, slope-roofed structures - and that they breed riding sabre-tooth tigers which, through the use of magical /flying collars/ and /airmasks/ for their riders, fly through the airless void between Patera and Mystara. Patera is divided into three major political blocks. The largest and potentially most aggressive is the Empire of Myoshima itself, a nation of feudal provinces controlled by daimyos, with a dingle emperor who rules them all. Next is the nation of Rajahstan, made up of twelve allied realms. Each realm is a sovereign state ruled by holy gurus (who handle law, education, religion, and internal politics) and maharajahs (who handle the economy, military, and foreign politics). Together these form the Spiritual Council to run Rajahstani affairs as a whole. The third block consists of many loosely allied petty kingdoms and principalities. Among the more prominent territories are Kompor-Thap (a valley of a thousand temples), Selimpore (a mercantile matriarchy), Malacayog (a nation of headhunters), and Surabayang (fierce island pirates). These territories are politically aligned with placid Rajahstan against imperial Myoshima - when they are not fighting each other. DMs may wish to map out the various Rakastan dominions - or nations ruled by even stranger creatures. Myoshima could provide an excellent way station for adventurers just venturing out into the Void from Mystara's atmosphere. There are plenty of opportunities for adventure in the rakastan cities or in Patera's wilderness. If the PCs get bored with Myoshima's surface, they can get involved in skirmishes between Rakastan Voidships and Heldannic Warbirds or try to negotiate trade agreements between inhabitants of Mystara and Patera. There are at least two Myoshiman languages: "common" and "poetry". Very little is known of Myoshima; it was visited twice in recent history by Alphatian adventurer Haldemar of Haaken, and the Heldannic Knights have apparently had unfriendly contact with the Myoshimans, but Patera has not been visited by diplomats or scholars from Mystara since Prince Haldemar, in AC 965. Sources: The Voyage of the Princess Ark, episode 7 (Dragon #160) Champions of Mystara boxed set Poor Wizard's Almanac, PWA II, PWA III Sources missing: Polyhedron #120 (Provides some details on how one RPGA member detailed Myoshima, using material from Oriental Adventures (both rules and modules).) -- Daniel Boese dboese@freenet.npiec.on.ca -------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 9 Feb 1997 23:06:00 -0500 (EST) From: Daniel Boese Reply-To: mystara-l@lists.io.com To: "Cthulhudrew, The Great Old One" Cc: Mystara Mailing List Subject: Re: [Mystara] Myoshima/Patera stuff (fwd) > What does this have to do with Southeast Asia, you ask? Well, a quick > reading of the (all too brief) writeup on Myoshima in Dragon Magazine > 161? 162? 160, actually, with a few extra details about the rakasta (primarily Myojo Katamura) in later episodes. > At any rate, I've started to gather information on this place, and am > calling for help from anyone who would like to join me. Specifically, I'm > hoping there's someone out there who is somewhat knowledgeable in > astronomy, to try and come up with a calendar of sorts for Myoshima, not > to mention any other pertinent astronomical data. I volunteer for this one. Mind you, the calendar would be rather different depending on where on Patera you are. Hm... to help avoid confusion, maybe we should use "Patera" to refer to the moon, and "Myoshima" for the Empire. Or not, if it's obvious. > Also, anyone who would care to send me any relevant historical info on > the Rakasta- specifically if there is any info on them in Red Steel (as I > don't own that supplement). I'll get back to you on this one. I do recall that the rakasta of the Savage Coast were originally nomadic sabre-tooth-riders, before they found the felequines and their current culture. They seem to have some oriental influences, though, with the Wu Jen kit and Honorbound warriors. > Empire of Myoshima- Based on the info given, I think it's rather obvious > that this is based on feudal Japan. That sounds about right - daimyos, feudal provinces, and a single emperor in charge. > Rajahstan- I gather that this is based on India, but given size > constraints (Myoshima isn't that large a world, and SE Asia is a huge > area), and not wanting to duplicate other material (spec. Sind), I > decided to base Rajahstan on the four Hinduized areas of SE Asia- Laos, > Burma, Cambodia, and Thailand. Well, considering that there's a region in India called Rajasthan, India seems a reasonable start. I'm not well-informed about SE Asia myself, so I'll take your word for any data there. > Selimpore- My thinkings that this is based on the tiny yet rich city > state of Singapore. "A mercantile matriarchy", quoth the Dragon (#160). If Singapore counts as one of "many loosely allied petty kingdoms and principalities" - and city-states are one form of principality - this sounds reasonable. > Surabayang- I've based this loose confederacy of pirates on Indonesia > (Surabaya is a city on the isle of Java in Indonesia... or is it on Sumatra?) Don't forget that Patera is "mostly covered by steaming jungles and earthquake-prone volcanic mountains that surround three freshwater seas." Surabayang would probably claim one, or possibly parts of two, of these seas. > Malacayog- Though head hunting is a common cultural trait found in SE > Asia, I've based the head hunters of Malacayog on Malaysia. > (Actually, I've recently been told by Bruce that he based Malacayog on > pre-spanish colonial Philippines, rather than Malaysia. Thanks, Bruce! :) Hm... here's an interesting question: should we accept Mr. Heard's unpublished comments, or take things up ourselves from just what was published? I lean towards the former, but we'll probably end up combining the two - especially since I'm naive enough not to know the difference between ancient Malaysia and the Philippines. :) > Kompor-Thap- The land of a thousand hidden temples seems based on Burma, > but I've sort of combined this aspect of that land with Tibetan culture. > Basically, rather than Hindus, the Kompor-Thap are more strictly Buddhist > (I'm not actually using these religions, just as an example for you all). > (Another note or two- Bruce was basing this region on a combination of > Burma and Cambodia. By all means, base the valley of Komor-Thap on Burma (and possibly Cambodia). > My thinking is to populate it with Pachydermions, as > opposed to Rakasta. Any thoughts on this?) Hm... "The vast majority of the sentient population is made of various breeds of rakasta". Perhaps Komor-Thap is an analogue of Shangri-La... mind you, I would still like to see some phanatons gliding about the jungles. :) > Anyway, I figure I'll pretty much just use the maps of SE Asia and Japan > as is, to map out Patera's surface. Um. I'm not sure this is an especially good idea, easy as it might seem. To re-quote: "Patera is mostly covered by steaming jungles and earthquake- prone volcanic mountains that surround three freshwater seas. Rain clouds cover a third of Patera at all times, and precipitation is abundant. The two polar areas of the moon offer at worst a temperate climate." So, we have a hot, volcanic, quite humid moon to work with. Mostly land, with only three seas. The poles are warm temperate climes. Should all of Patera be claimed by some nation or other, or should there be regions that not even the hardiest rakasta lays a claim to? How do the river systems and drainage work? Where are the seas, and what are they shaped like? Are there any non-volcanic mountain chains, implying crustal plates and all that entails? How do the dense core and Skyshield affect all of this? Are the nations like modern nations, each one giant lump, or do they have colonies, territories, and uninhabited/able areas? Are there any extra-Mystarestrial influences, beings, races, or nations (Perhaps the illithids are trying to build a spelljamming base in an isolated locale - Patera seems to be "Class M" for them, based on the Dragon (I forget which issue) article, "The Sunset World".). Are there any /roads/, even, carved and maintained through the dense jungles, or is each community mostly isolated from the others? Perhaps the reason Myoshima is such a large empire, relatively, is that they have control of the secrets of the /flying collars/ for their tigers, enabling long-distance communication? What other sentient races exist on (or in!) Patera? Pachydermions seem a good idea, as do phanatons... have any humanoids migrated from Mystara, or is Patera goblin-free? Are there any humans or demi-humans, such as stranded Heldanners? What neat questions haven't I thought of here? :) > That's about all I've come up with > thus far, but I do have a couple of other ideas I'd be willing to share > with anyone who'd care to help out. (Among them are ideas about cultural > exchange with Mystara. Currently my thoughts are that the Rakasta > influenced the culture of Ochalea at some point in the pre-Alphatian > past, then were expunged, leading to anti tiger sentiment in the Ochalean > territories. Further, I'm leaning towards Rajahstan being created by > shapeshifters fleeing persecution in Sind in 528 (I think). Any thoughts?) 451 AC, actually (quoth the Timeline-keeper :) ). And there's already a shapeshifing-dominated Sindhi culture in the Hollow World - it was in the Nightwail/Nightstorm/Nighthowl adventure trilogy. Here's an idea - perhaps a few Immortals didn't especially care for the Hollow World, and decided to use Patera to preserve some rakasta. However, without the Spell of Preservation, they created (and destroyed?) their own cultures... Hm... I'm going to dig through that Timeline I play with, and see what useful tidbits turn up. -- Daniel Boese dboese@freenet.npiec.on.ca -------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 10 Feb 1997 17:09:51 -0500 (EST) From: TSRBruce@aol.com Reply-To: mystara-l@lists.io.com To: mystara-l@lists.io.com Subject: Re: [Mystara] Patera/Kompor-Thap In a message dated 97-02-09 20:55:12 EST, you write: >My thinking is to populate it with Pachydermions, as >opposed to Rakasta. Any thoughts on this? Good idea! Some variety couldn't hurt the setting. Indeed Rakastas dominate Patera, but this does not mean other races didn't manage to create a niche for themselves. If anything, it would add some interesting twists to the Rakastan *hegemony* on this moon. Bruce Heard -------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 10 Feb 1997 17:41:00 -0500 (EST) From: TSRBruce@aol.com Reply-To: mystara-l@lists.io.com To: mystara-l@lists.io.com Subject: Re: [Mystara] Myoshima/Patera stuff (fwd) In a message dated 97-02-09 23:32:04 EST, Daniel Boese wrote: > Hm... here's an interesting question: should we accept Mr. Heard's >unpublished comments, or take things up ourselves from just what was >published? I lean towards the former, but we'll probably end up combining >the two - especially since I'm naive enough not to know the difference >between ancient Malaysia and the Philippines. :) Be my guest! :) It would interesting to know how goblins made it to Patera. I'd assume Rakastas visiting Mystara would have captured a number of them and hauled them back to the moon. Since then, they would have become slaves, except those that escaped to caverns and unexplored jungles (probably breeding like fiends and plotting a revenge). >Currently my thoughts are that the Rakasta > influenced the culture of Ochalea at some point in the pre-Alphatian > past, then were expunged, leading to anti tiger sentiment in the Ochalean > territories. That's a good point. The expunging of rakastas makes perfect sense, especially in the light of the article I wrote about lupins (the very next issue of DRAGON). The article implies an important community of lupins in Ochalea (among many other places on Mystara), various sub-breeds of lupins specific to this "oriental" setting. Of course, we don't have to agree that lupins necessarily dislike rakastas, but it would easy to assume so. Bruce Heard -------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 11 Feb 1997 00:27:14 -0500 (EST) From: Kaviyd@aol.com Reply-To: mystara-l@lists.io.com To: mystara-l@lists.io.com Subject: Re: [Mystara] Patera/Kompor-Thap In a message dated 97-02-10 17:12:41 EST, TSRBruce@aol.com writes: << Good idea! Some variety couldn't hurt the setting. Indeed Rakastas dominate Patera, but this does not mean other races didn't manage to create a niche for themselves. If anything, it would add some interesting twists to the Rakastan *hegemony* on this moon. >> To really keep things interesting, might I suggest that Rakastas dominate Patera in the same sense that humans dominate Mystara itself? While humans make up over 90% of the population of that world, there are MANY other races present. -------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 11 Feb 1997 02:34:37 -0600 From: "George E. Hrabovsky" Reply-To: mystara-l@lists.io.com To: "'mystara-l@lists.io.com'" Subject: RE: [Mystara] Patera/Kompor-Thap Parts/attachments: 1 Shown 26 lines Text 2 1.8 KB Application ---------------------------------------- Would this imply that the other races would form a sort of barbarian enclave? George ---------- From: Kaviyd@aol.com[SMTP:Kaviyd@aol.com] Sent: Monday, February 10, 1997 6:27 PM To: mystara-l@lists.io.com Subject: Re: [Mystara] Patera/Kompor-Thap In a message dated 97-02-10 17:12:41 EST, TSRBruce@aol.com writes: << Good idea! Some variety couldn't hurt the setting. Indeed Rakastas dominate Patera, but this does not mean other races didn't manage to create a niche for themselves. If anything, it would add some interesting twists to the Rakastan *hegemony* on this moon. >> To really keep things interesting, might I suggest that Rakastas dominate Patera in the same sense that humans dominate Mystara itself? While humans make up over 90% of the population of that world, there are MANY other races present. -------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 11 Feb 1997 18:54:09 -0700 (MST) From: "Cthulhudrew, The Great Old One" To: Daniel Boese Subject: Re: [Mystara] Myoshima/Patera stuff (fwd) On Sun, 9 Feb 1997, Daniel Boese wrote: > Well, you've started what I was planning to. :) I compiled all the extant > data on Patera/Myoshima, and was playing with the World Builder's Guidbook > (an /excellent/ reference, by the way). I'll forward you what I've typed > out in this message, and respond to your own message in my next message. Heh. :) I hadn't planned on it, but my classes so paralleled Patera, that I felt I might as well put the information gained to some sort of use. :) > The Second Moon: Patera (Myoshima) I've started doing a similar writeup to yours, based on the information and presentation given in the PWA's. I'll let you know how our information compares. :) > It is small, with a circumference roughly equal to 3,000 miles, and a > diameter of 950 miles. I think this is about what I came up with. My circumference actually comes out to 3015 miles, as I opted for making the diameter an even number, but 3015 is still roughly equal to 3000. > It orbits a scant 34,200 miles above Mystara's surface. This is good. I'm not sure where you came up with this, but this is sort of the information I was looking for. Is this in the PWA's or just similar to the distance of the real world moon from earth? > One hemisphere (called Nearside) always faces Mystara, and viewers on the > opposite side of Patera (Farside) never see the world they orbit. I was thinking of Myoshima (the Empire) being on Nearside, and most of the other 'nations' being on Farside. > The vast majority of the sentient population is made of various breeds > of rakasta, humanoid felines with human intelligence. Unlike the Mystaran > species, these all have infravision good to 60'. It is known that they > have an architectural sense similar to the inhabitants of Ochalea - > exotic, tiered, slope-roofed structures - and that they breed riding > sabre-tooth tigers which, through the use of magical /flying collars/ > and /airmasks/ for their riders, fly through the airless void between > Patera and Mystara. As I mentioned in my earlier post, I was thinking of tying the Ochalean-like culture of the Rakasta to the Ochalean culture of Mystara. > There are at least two Myoshiman languages: "common" and "poetry". Interesting. I take it this information comes from the Red Steel set, or something? > Very little is known of Myoshima; it was visited twice in recent > history by Alphatian adventurer Haldemar of Haaken, and the Heldannic > Knights have apparently had unfriendly contact with the Myoshimans, but > Patera has not been visited by diplomats or scholars from Mystara since > Prince Haldemar, in AC 965. I remember reading this (I think it is in the PWAs) but I find it rather unlikely that there has been _no_ contact between the two, if only because Haldemar had opened up diplomatic relations between Alphatia and Myoshima. Still, in lieu of other info... -------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 11 Feb 1997 19:27:35 -0700 (MST) From: "Cthulhudrew, The Great Old One" To: Daniel Boese Cc: Mystara Mailing List Subject: Re: [Mystara] Myoshima/Patera stuff (fwd) On Sun, 9 Feb 1997, Daniel Boese wrote: > I volunteer for this one. Mind you, the calendar would be rather > different depending on where on Patera you are. One of my biggest problems when trying to work on my Patera information... I should have paid more attention in Astronomy. :p > Hm... to help avoid confusion, maybe we should use "Patera" to refer to > the moon, and "Myoshima" for the Empire. Or not, if it's obvious. I agree. I have taken to calling the moon by it's (Mystaran?) name of Patera, and Myoshima as just being the Empire. Perhaps Haldemar's use of Myoshima in reference to the moon as a whole has to do with the fact that he only encountered the Myoshimans themselves, who seem to be more than a little imperialistic and self important. > > Rajahstan- I gather that this is based on India, but given size > > constraints (Myoshima isn't that large a world, and SE Asia is a huge > > area), and not wanting to duplicate other material (spec. Sind), I > > decided to base Rajahstan on the four Hinduized areas of SE Asia- Laos, > > Burma, Cambodia, and Thailand. > Well, considering that there's a region in India called Rajasthan, India > seems a reasonable start. I'm not well-informed about SE Asia myself, so > I'll take your word for any data there. I have it on good authority that India was the inspiration for Rajahstan (I didn't know about the region called Rajastan, btw. Thanks. :) My reason for wanting to make a change was mainly so that there wouldn't be so much duplication of cultures- one of my favorite things about Mystara is that there are so many diverse and unusual cultures- and I sort of hoped to make them a bit different. > > Selimpore- My thinkings that this is based on the tiny yet rich city > > state of Singapore. > "A mercantile matriarchy", quoth the Dragon (#160). If Singapore counts > as one of "many loosely allied petty kingdoms and principalities" - and > city-states are one form of principality - this sounds reasonable. The whole region of SE Asia, during pre-Islamic times tended to be one of many petty kingdoms and city states, rising and falling over the course of time. There were many major port cities along the trade route between india (and the west) and the Orient. Singapore was the most recent of them, and arguably the most important and successful. > > Surabayang- I've based this loose confederacy of pirates on Indonesia > > (Surabaya is a city on the isle of Java in Indonesia... or is it on > > Sumatra?) > Don't forget that Patera is "mostly covered by steaming jungles and > earthquake-prone volcanic mountains that surround three freshwater seas." > Surabayang would probably claim one, or possibly parts of two, of these > seas. I agree- more on this later. :) > > Malacayog- Though head hunting is a common cultural trait found in SE > > Asia, I've based the head hunters of Malacayog on Malaysia. > > (Actually, I've recently been told by Bruce that he based Malacayog on > > pre-spanish colonial Philippines, rather than Malaysia. Thanks, Bruce! :) > Hm... here's an interesting question: should we accept Mr. Heard's > unpublished comments, or take things up ourselves from just what was > published? I lean towards the former, but we'll probably end up combining > the two - especially since I'm naive enough not to know the difference > between ancient Malaysia and the Philippines. :) I'm not too sure myself, to be quite honest. My reasoning for Malaysia was primarily due to the similarity between names- Malaysia, Malacayog. As it is, I'm sort of more inclined to the Philippines version, if only because the Philippines take up less surface area than Malaysia, and will be easier to fit onto a map of Patera. (For the record, this is part of what I said "More on this" above. My idea was to basically transplant the map of Southeast Asia, plus Japan, and minus one or two other extraneous spots, onto our globe of Patera.) > > Kompor-Thap- The land of a thousand hidden temples seems based on Burma, > > but I've sort of combined this aspect of that land with Tibetan culture. > > Basically, rather than Hindus, the Kompor-Thap are more strictly Buddhist > > (I'm not actually using these religions, just as an example for you all). > > (Another note or two- Bruce was basing this region on a combination of > > Burma and Cambodia. > By all means, base the valley of Komor-Thap on Burma (and possibly > Cambodia). > > > My thinking is to populate it with Pachydermions, as > > opposed to Rakasta. Any thoughts on this?) > Hm... "The vast majority of the sentient population is made of various > breeds of rakasta". Perhaps Komor-Thap is an analogue of Shangri-La... > mind you, I would still like to see some phanatons gliding about the > jungles. :) My thinking was that the Pachydermions were sort of isolated in this one area. They are powerful and influential enough to keep more aggressive Rakasta from their territory, and yet not interested in expanding themselves. Elephants are not uncommon in the sort of climate that Patera seems to cover, and these guys have never really fit much of anywhere else. I just there on Patera. > > Anyway, I figure I'll pretty much just use the maps of SE Asia and Japan > > as is, to map out Patera's surface. > Um. I'm not sure this is an especially good idea, easy as it might seem. > To re-quote: "Patera is mostly covered by steaming jungles and earthquake- > prone volcanic mountains that surround three freshwater seas. Rain clouds > cover a third of Patera at all times, and precipitation is abundant. The > two polar areas of the moon offer at worst a temperate climate." > So, we have a hot, volcanic, quite humid moon to work with. Mostly land, > with only three seas. The poles are warm temperate climes. It works out pretty well- I've calculated the surface area of Patera to something like 240,000,000 sq. miles, and the surface area of portions of SE Asia that I'm thinking of, plus an approximation of the size of Japan, comes to around 160,000,000 sq. miles- about 60% land. (Note, I'm going from rote memory here, these numbers may not be what I've actually worked out... :( Also, I figure that Patera must have numerous wormhole access to both the Planes of Fire and Water, if only to help account for its unusual climate. > Should all of Patera be claimed by some nation or other, or should there > be regions that not even the hardiest rakasta lays a claim to? A good question, and I figure that with some of the broken island chains, etc. there is still quite a bit of free area to work with. Remember the scale we're working with- even if Patera is substantially smaller than Mystara, it still covers quite a huge amount of area. SE Asia is one of the largest regions (in rough sq. mileage) in the world; not to mention it's vast diversity of wildlife and cultures. > Are the nations like modern nations, each one giant lump, or do they > have colonies, territories, and uninhabited/able areas? I have a few thoughts here, tied in with the nature of the Rakasta. As I see it, the Rakasta should be as culturally and ethnically diverse as humans of Mystara- if only due to the fact that there are so many different species of cats (in the real world). My view is that the Rakasta are mainly related to Tigers, with mixed amounts of other representatives. Thing is, as far as I can determine, there is only one type of large cat found in Japan. My theory here was that this type of Myoshiman Rakasta is very territorial, and very prejudicial. The Myoshiman Rakasta are xenophobic and aggressive (IMO). Rather than dominate other Rakasta, they'd prefer to wipe them out. Just a few thoughts on my end, though. > Are there any extra-Mystarestrial influences, beings, races, or nations > (Perhaps the illithids are trying to build a spelljamming base in an > isolated locale - Patera seems to be "Class M" for them, based on the > Dragon (I forget which > issue) article, "The Sunset World".). Interesting theory. If there are Phanatons, they would definitely be an "otherworldly influence". I could also see perhaps some colonies of the Emerondian peoples here on Patera (beleagured though they might be). More on this below... :) > What other sentient races exist on (or in!) Patera? Pachydermions seem a > good idea, as do phanatons... have any humanoids migrated from Mystara, or > is Patera goblin-free? Are there any humans or demi-humans, such as > stranded Heldanners? Pachydermions, isolated in their valley is one thought we've discussed. I like the thought of Phanatons (they seem appropriate to the climate). Another thought I've had is that perhaps Patera is the original homeworld of the Tabi- the monkey-cats from X4 and PC2. They might be relatives of the Rakasta. I also seem to recall that they hail from more tropical environments such as Patera. I was also thinking that perhaps the Rajastanians hunt (non-intelligent) Orangutans and other primates for sport, much as Indians hunted tigers on the real world. Which might help explain why the Myoshimans at least seemed to harbor such disdain for the humans of the Princess Ark and the Heldanners ("I don't like him- he looks like an ape...") > 451 AC, actually (quoth the Timeline-keeper :) ). And there's already a > shapeshifing-dominated Sindhi culture in the Hollow World - it was in the > Nightwail/Nightstorm/Nighthowl adventure trilogy. I recall- which, incidentally is sort of where I got the idea for the Pachydermions. They could be followers of that elephant immortal in Nightrage, Ganetra. Also, given the preponderance of Rakasta on Patera, I thought that some high placed Rakshasa (an AD&D monster, I know, but it's one I'd be willing to make a concession to. ;) would fit in perfectly. -------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 12 Feb 1997 17:50:09 -0500 (EST) From: TSRBruce@aol.com Reply-To: mystara-l@lists.io.com To: mystara-l@lists.io.com Subject: Re: [Mystara] Myoshima/Patera stuff (fwd) In a message dated 97-02-11 21:29:57 EST, you write: >Perhaps Haldemar's use of >Myoshima in reference to the moon as a whole has to do with the fact that >he only encountered the Myoshimans themselves, who seem to be more than a >little imperialistic and self important. Correct. Haldemar did not have the opportunity to visit the rest of the moon, thus his assumption that Myoshima controlled all of Patera. >> Should all of Patera be claimed by some nation or other, or should there >> be regions that not even the hardiest rakasta lays a claim to? > >A good question, and I figure that with some of the broken island chains, >etc. there is still quite a bit of free area to work with. Remember the >scale we're working with- even if Patera is substantially smaller than >Mystara, it still covers quite a huge amount of area. SE Asia is one of >the largest regions (in rough sq. mileage) in the world; not to mention >it's vast diversity of wildlife and cultures. If the size of the moon is a problem here's a weird fix. Assume that anything within a certain distance of the moon shrinks to a smaller size. This would means that the moon is in fact much larger to its inhabitants than it would appear from the outside. Of course, this poses several problems -- all items carried by outside visitors and visiting ships would also have to shrink/unshrink everytime they travel to/from Patera, grains of sand on this moon would look more like small pebbles, etc. Laws of physics may get a bit weird too. Just a thought. Bruce Heard -------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 12 Feb 1997 23:31:28 -0500 (EST) From: Daniel Boese Reply-To: mystara-l@lists.io.com To: mystara-l@lists.io.com Subject: Re: [Mystara] Myoshima/Patera stuff (fwd) On Wed, 12 Feb 1997 TSRBruce@aol.com wrote: > If the size of the moon is a problem here's a weird fix. Assume that anything > within a certain distance of the moon shrinks to a smaller size. This would > means that the moon is in fact much larger to its inhabitants than it would > appear from the outside. Of course, this poses several problems -- all items > carried by outside visitors and visiting ships would also have to > shrink/unshrink everytime they travel to/from Patera, grains of sand on this > moon would look more like small pebbles, etc. Laws of physics may get a bit > weird too. Just a thought. My, oh my... this would make for an interesting little extra. If Patera is merely an extreme case, due to its core, it might also help explain things like why when a voidship is far from a planet, it goes faster. (Also, why wouldn't grains of Pateran sand be the right relative size? :) ) Anyway, if anybody wants to expand on this idea, please, feel free.. I would, except I'm in the middle of the Myoshiman calendar. -- Daniel Boese dboese@freenet.npiec.on.ca -------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 13 Feb 1997 21:14:28 -0700 (MST) From: "Cthulhudrew, The Great Old One" Reply-To: mystara-l@lists.io.com To: mystara-l@lists.io.com Subject: Re: [Mystara] Myoshima/Patera stuff (fwd) On Mon, 10 Feb 1997 TSRBruce@aol.com wrote: > That's a good point. The expunging of rakastas makes perfect sense, > especially in the light of the article I wrote about lupins (the very next > issue of DRAGON). The article implies an important community of lupins in > Ochalea (among many other places on Mystara), various sub-breeds of lupins > specific to this "oriental" setting. Of course, we don't have to agree that > lupins necessarily dislike rakastas, but it would easy to assume so. Oooh! When is this issue coming out? What number is it? (I'm not up to date on Dragon, as I stopped collecting it around the time of the last Princess Ark articles...) This one's a definite must get, though. :) -------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------- Taiwan, Vietnam Bhutan (Druk-Yul), Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh Japan (Nihon): Empire of Myoshima India (Bharat), Laos, Thailand (Prathet Thai): Rajahstan Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia (Kampuchea): Kompor-Thap Singapore: Selimpore Indonesia: Surabayang Malaysia, Philippines: Malacayog -------------------------------------------------------- Aranea, Phanaton Dragon: Black, Green, Jade, Onyx Orc, Lizard Man, Ogre Cayman, Gator man -------------------------------------------------------- More 'little details' about Myoshima: Names: Myojo Katamura Kenju Fuurifesu (the shogun's cousin) Jiro Tomokato (Myojo's brother-in-law) Lord Katayama Creatures: winged sabre-tooth tigers are common Objects: Saddles for the winged sabre-tooths have straps to keep the rider in place. Myoshiman banded armor is equivalent to plate armor. A Daikyu great bow is equivalent to a long blow, a katana to a normal sword, and a wakizashi to a short sword. Myojo's room: A tatami (woven mat) covers the floor, while a futon (low mattress) lies in the far corner of the room. Myojo's swords normally rest on a small wooden stand near the futon. A number of fine tapestries cover the bulkheads. Myojo's other personal belongings remain in a wooden chest. Other: Heldannic Knights are decidedly unwelcome on Myoshima. The Katamuras are vassals to the Katayama clan. A rakasta would gain great honor by deflecting an arrow meant for one's shogun. -------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------