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#25Download for Free from www.pandius.comThe Mystara MagazineSTRONGHOLDSThe twenty-fifth issue of Mystara’s premier magazine leadsyou to explore cities, palaces, castles and secret lairs,refuges or obstacles for brave adventurers!A free download frompandius.comthepiazza.org.uk

Previous IssuesFREE Downloads of Previous IssuesPrevious issues of THRESHOLD - the Mystara Also available at the same location are higherMagazine, are available for download from the resolution versions of the maps that wereVaults of Pandius website.included in the issue’s PDF, allowing greaterdetail to be viewed.#1 - “Karameikos”#2 - “Vaults of Pandius”#3 - “The Sea of Dread”#4 - “Return to Dread”#5 - “Exploring Davania”#6 - “The Northlands”#7 - “Exploring Norwold”#8 - “Warlordsof Norwold”#9 - “Hollow World”#10 - “Elven Realms”#11 - “Thyatis & Alphatia”#12 - “Ages Past”#13 - “A Crucible of Creatures”#14 - “the Shadowdeep”#15 - “Mystaraspace”#16 - “Dwarves, Gnomes & Hin”#17 - “Western Brun”#18 - “Savage Coast”#19 - “Planes and Immortals”#20 - “Skothar”#21 - “Specularum”#22 - “Adventures & Campaigns”#23 - “Adventures & Campaigns 2”#24 - “Adventures & Campaigns 3”: The Mystara MagazineIssue #25

ContentsContentsEditorial.3This Issue’s Contributors.4Call for Contributors.6A Mystara Glossary.7Imperial Palaces & Castles of Thyatis & Alphatia.8The City-State of Saffir.25Specularum’s Stronghold District part 1.43Port Blight.51Encounters in the Dymrak Region.56The Tale of the Dark Knight.101Warriors of the Eternal Sun - part 3.108Mystara Sub-Settings Prt 3.128Artwork Sources and Credits.140Next Issue.148Submission Guidelines.149First Published: May 2020Threshold: The Mystara Magazine is a non-commercial, fan-produced magazine. There isno intention to infringe on anyone’s rights, and in particular not on those of Wizards of theCoast, which holds all rights to the original material on which the magazine is based.All issues of Threshold are available for FREE download from the Vaults of Pandius website1: The Mystara MagazineIssue #25

Editorial CreditsEditorial CreditsEditors Issue 24:Francesco Defferrari (Sturm)Allan Palmer (AllanP)Giampaolo Agosta (Agathokles)Threshold Editorial Team:Allan Palmer (AllanP)Giampaolo Agosta (Agathokles)Francesco Defferrari (Sturm)Layout:Allan Palmer (AllanP)Editors EmeritiAndrew Theisen (Cthulhudrew)AshtagonAngel Tarragon (The Angelic Dragon)Geoff Gander (Seer of Y'hog)HåvardJesper Andersen (Spellweaver)John Calvin (Chimpman)Joseph Setorius (Julius Cleaver)Leland (Argentmantle)LoZompatoreMickyRobert Nuttman (RobJN)Simone Neri (Zendrolion)Thorfinn Tait (Thorf)Troy Terrell (CmdrCorsiken)Art:Justin PfeilDario OdilloLadyofHatsRobinV ShaneWilliam McAuslandCartography:Allan PalmerGiampaolo AgostaIrving GalvezDouglas LanfordRobinSturmThorfinn TaitAdditional Reviewers & Proofreaders:Allan Palmer (AllanP), Giampaolo AgostaJohn Calvin (Chimpman), Robin, SturmTHRESHOLD logo designed by ThorfThanks To: The Mystara Community, for your support, hard work, and dedication to Mystara.The aims of Threshold magazine: to provide a venue for community members to present material to promote the Vaults of Pandius and the material there to increase the exposure of existing and new articles2: The Mystara MagazineIssue #25

EditorialAnd now to the content of this issue: welook for the first time inside the ImperialPalaces of Thyatis and Alpharia, then wetravel to the city state of Saffir in Norwold,the Stronghold district of Specularum, PortBlight in Karameikos, and then to thestrongholds of the friendly and not-sofriendly inhabitants of the Dymrak forest,continuing the detailed description of thisregion from the previous issues of Threshold magazine! After meeting a very evilknight, we will continue with the third andfinal part of the big tabletop conversion ofThe next issue of Threshold, to be pub- the classic 1991 Mystara videogame, Warrilished by end 2020, will focus on another ors of the Eternal Sun. And finally we willfundamental theme of fantasy roleplaying: continue exploring the many subsettings ofHeroes, Villains and Organizations! Send Mystara with the third and final part of theyour proposal to the Threshold mail (check article.Submission guidelines and mail on the lastpage of the issue) or write in the Theshold Special thanks also to Justin Pfeil (aka warriorneedsfood) the famous author of theproposals thread at The Piazza forum“Keep on the Borderlands” webcomic and to.Even if we usually have no shortage of arti- Dario Odillo, who both provided originalcles, we always need help for proofreading illustrations for this issue!and editing the submissions. Indeed at themoment we are left with two active editors, The Threshold Editorial Team and thetherefore it is likely the issues schedule will authors hope you will enjoy this new issuehave to be scaled back to two issues a year. as much as we enjoyed putting it together,So anyone willing to help the Threshold and stay tuned for the next issue!Editorial Team please come forward and letus know through the mail or in the abovethread at The Piazza. Helping Thresholdmagazine certainly needs some time comFrancesco Defferrari (Sturm)mitment, but is creative and rewarding work!Editor, Threshold Magazine Issue #25Despite the Covid-19 crisis which as everyone knows is affecting the whole world, wemanaged to produce another great issue ofThreshold magazine. I assure you this wasnot a small feat as the editors were affectedby the lockdown in their countries as everyone else, and I had the virus myself, even iffortunately with very mild symptoms. Nevertheless, we hope Threshold magazine,with your help and contributions, will continue on as we now have reached sevenyears of publication!3: The Mystara MagazineIssue #25

This Issue’s ContributorsJustin Pfeil draws comics, is a historicalfencer in the Italian tradition, makes armorfor his friends, and has played D&D sincethe Red Box was first published. Hiscurrent project is a webcomic about characters attempting to survive The Keep on theBorderlands module from the players perspective.Giampaolo Agosta (a.k.a. Agathokles)agrees with Schiller that “man is only completely a man when he plays". Therefore,he makes a point of taking gaming seriously, and real life casually. Besides Mystara, his gaming interests include (amongothers) Dark Sun, Planescape, Ravenloft,Birthright, Call of Cthulhu, Star Wars andWitchcraft RPG.Robin (at The Piazza, Robin D elsewhere)Female from 1962, she began playing D&Dsince its earliest days as far back as 1978,soon after becoming “addicted”. Ultimately,she was intimately bound to the world ofIrving Galvez (a.k.a. Oleck) Mexican Mystara, because of its complex diversity. Aplayer since the early 80s, amateur Mystara current compiler of massive materials availwriter since 1996. The time passes and able on Vaults of Pandius & her “Breath ofwhen the days of fantasy flew away with Mystara” blog; and former Teacher of Biolthe age and you reach the stage of responsi- ogy, Ecology, Chemistry, Physics, once travbilities, work, family and everyday prob- elling all over Europe as a stage dancerlems, you look back and take those dusty including house parties. Once called “Thebooks of D&D, and escape a moment to Fletcher” at UK GenCon by Bruce Heard forher extensive compilation in “Revenge ofyour childhood. Keep on playing!!!the Little Ones”.Allan Palmer (a.k.a. AllanP) was firstintroduced to D&D a long time ago (but Even though Sturm (a.k.a. Francesco Defnot quite in a galaxy far away) by a work ferrari) loves any alternate world, hecolleague who set up a gaming group using believes Mystara is incomparably the bestthe last version of the “blue book” rules. for its vibrant community endlessly delvingWhile dabbling with RuneQuest and Travel- into ethnography, linguistics and historyler along the way, he developed a liking for just to make a little sense of it. Somethingwhat would become the world of Mystara like the real world, but with dragons.as the BECMI box sets were released. Hehas always been fascinated by maps. He isan IT professional and when not indulgingin hobbies of panelology, retro tv watchingand family history research,uses his variousPC skills to consolidate the writings ofothers into the issues of Threshold.Kyle Knight (aka Gravesguardian on ThePiazza forum) is wandering Thunder Riftdealing with the threats that spring up.4: The Mystara MagazineIssue #25

EditorialFrom theMystaraForum atSome features in issues of Threshold carry a “Fromthe Mystara Forum at The Piazza” tagline. Theses Discussion Boards are an active and dynamic home ofcreativity for the Mystara community and many othergame worlds. We hope you will enjoy the articlesthat have arisen from that website.Some features in issues of Threshold carry a “Fromthe Vaults of Pandius” tagline. As one of our statedaims is “to promote the Vaults of Pandius and thematerial there”, we hope you will enjoy these revised or extended treasures from that website.5: The Mystara MagazineIssue #25

Call for ContributorsThe Threshold editorial team invites all fansof the Mystara setting to submit contributions to the magazine's next issue. We areespecially looking for contributions fittingthe following themes:Call for proposals for main themes offorthcoming issues:Issue 26 - Heroes, Villains & OrganizationsThis issue will focus on NPCs and theOrganizations that PCs can meet as enemies or allies in their exploits acrossMystara.Proposal Deadline: July 15th, 2020Manuscript Deadline: October 15th, 2020Issue Published: December 2020Issue 27 - Theme to be determined2021 issues themes are still to be determined, so we will soon create a poll onThe Piazza! Let us know your preferences!Proposal Deadline: January 15th, 2021Manuscript Deadline: April 15th, 2021Issue Published: June 2021Articles about other topics are still welcome and the editorial team will evaluatetheir publication for any upcoming issue,taking into account available space andthe issue’s theme.The Threshold editorial team strives for edition neutrality, but edition specific articles(e.g., conversions) are also accepted. statistics for new monsters and NPCs may be included in articles (e.g., adventure modules,new monsters or NPCs) in any version ofDungeons & Dragons. The editorial teamalso offers help in providing conversions tosome specific rules set. includingBECMI/RC, 2nd Edition, 3rdedition/Pathfinder. However, this materialshould be limited to a minimum. For mostNPCs, it is sufficient to mention class, level,and alignment. For important NPCs, a oneor two line stat block may be included.Threshold accepts and invites submissionsof extended or revised versions of workshaving appeared on The Piazza or Vaults ofPandius.Contributions may include, but are not limited to: Articles: short stories, short adventure modules, NPCs, historical treatises andtimelines, geographical entries, new monsters and monster ecologies, etc.; and Illustrations: portraits, maps, heraldry,illustrations, etc.Please refer to our Submission Guidelineson the inside back cover of this issue.6: The Mystara MagazineIssue #25