Preface I T D NsIde HIs OcumenT

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PrefaceThe Savage Coast, specifically the Voyages of thePrincess Ark, was a large part of the reason thatI started playing RPGs and enjoying the settingof Mystara. From the lofty mountains along theArm of the Immortals to the dark jungles of theOrc’s Head Peninsula to the Savage Baroniesthemselves, the Savage Coast, Red Steel, and Savage Baronieshelped cement my hobby. This is an endeavor to get put theRed Steel setting and the Savage Coast, along with Mystara asthe backdrop, to new gamers with new material for 5E D&D.Naturally, this PDF is available for free as a fan work and nota challenge to the copyrights of Wizards of the Coast. Muchof the words, rules, art, layouts, fonts, styles, and maps are myown. They are distilled and expanded from material in theMystara line, Red Steel line, Champions of Mystara, Dragonand Dungeon Magazine, and Savage Coast materials productsreleased by TSR as well as the amazing fan materials on theInside This DocumentA final note is that this PDF will include a lot of extra features and is quite large. Between links, globes, and the likeI am creating a second version that doesn’t include all theextra features and a print friendly version. Throughout thedocument, you’ll find words that bold and in red. Like this“Preface,” which will take you to the appropriate section.You’ve probably already read past an example or two,you’ll already see the some of the words above in the formatdescribed. These words on linked to the other pages in thedocument or cited references at the end of a given chapter.The links throughout the body of this PDF will not take you toa webpage or other material outside the document. Thereare links at the end of the document that indicate externalreferences. These links will take you to listed source materialavailable online.Vaults of Pandius and The Piazza. Hopefully, we’ll see someprofessional coverage of the Savage Coast as part of Mystaraand the Known world, but until then, I hope this fulfills anyneeds for converting or inspiring adventuring along on theSavage Coast. In the end, this is a fan-based project for fellowfans of Mystara and the Savage Coast.My biggest question or concern is whether to make theSavage Coast fit with 5E rules or make the 5E rules fit withthe Savage Coast. I think sometimes, it’s a little bit of both.For each significant section of the book or componentsof either the 5E material or Savage Coast material thathave seen significant changes, I’ve included notes atthe end of the section to explain my reasoning for thematerial. If something doesn’t make sense, feel free tostrike it, change it, or create something new. Use mynotes if you don’t feel like starting from scratch.For the purposes of my own sanity, I’m vaguely setting thetimeframe to before the Wrath of the Immortals, i.e. 1000A.C. At the same time, most of the material is based on 1010AC time period covered in the Red Steel campaign settingand the later Savage Coast materials. However, I’m going totag things that occur between 1000-1010 A.C. wherever possible, so that people can freely use the material in the classicGazetteer era. In addition, there might be a little material thatis useful for people carving out a 5E campaign set in Mystaraproper. I’ve tried to include a few bits and pieces from theSavage Coast that can be dropped completely into Mystara,other pieces are actually Mystaran ideas that are droppedinto the Savage Coast. If you are interested in more materialabout Mystara, check out the Vaults of Pandius, thepiazza.org.uk, and, of course, the amazing Mystara Player’s Handbook.Now, one of the things that I want to point out and ask thatpeople keep in mind is that this is a project that can alwaysbe improved upon. An ability, background, legacy, or the likedoesn’t make sense, too weak, or seems too powerful, let’sdiscuss it, change it as necessary, and move on to the next.The great thing is, since this is not a book in the traditionalpen and paper form, it can be edited relatively quickly.Things that are already haunting me are how much description for things like the Immortals or nations beyond theSavage Coast? Should it be a list of say 300 words each foreach Immortal and a limit of 600 for each nation? Additionally, there are so many amazing sources for material that havebeen produced by other fans, it’s hard to include those here.A final note is that this PDF will include a lot of extra featuresand is quite large. Between links, globes, and the like I amcreating a second version that doesn’t include all the extrafeatures as well as a black and white print-friendly version.

Chapter One: Welcome to MystaraOn the world of Mystara, bracketed to the west in theFar End ocean and the east by many seas of the centralworld to the north of the Izondian Deep and the southernlands of Davania is Brun, home to the Known World, itsmany nations, varied lands, and strange cultures. Brunis dominated by the lands of the Known World, mostlyhuman lands that have sprung up along the eastern shoreof the continent. Mystara is a world of grand adventure,where adventurers grow from the lowliest starts, delvinginto the sewers and wilds to protect villager and farmers,to the protectors of cities, to lords and ladies themselves, and finally for some, the path to Immortality.Dark forests, treacherous mountains, ancient ruins,brooding castles, open plains, stormy seas, and parcheddeserts paint across the world in a tapestry of places hidingeverything from lowly bandits to wondrous artifacts towandering merchants or even mighty dragons. Mystarais a land of adventure, magic, heroes, and villains but it isalso a land of the people. Farming is the mainstay of mostthe rural folk in the world, labor both skilled and unskilledfuels the more urban towns and cities, and bringing it alltogether are the traders and merchants traveling across theland in caravans or over the oceans in great ships. Greatleaders, kings, dukes, empresses, and barons all rule overtheir lands, governing their people, and calling upon adventurers to keep their charges safe and in other cases thepeople call upon adventurers to depose those very rulers.Most of the people of Mystara know the something of thelands of the Known World, they’ve heard of the cosmopolitan cities of Thyatis and the underground cities ofthe dwarven nation of Rockhome. Some, have even beento a nearby nation or traveled to the next city. They maynot know more than a passing fact or stories of magicalAlphatia across the sea or nothing of the Savage Coastbeyond the Great Waste, but they still have become accustom to people of different cultures and races travelingthrough or passing by even if they don’t trust them.Only adventurers and scholars understand thatthere is a whole world of adventure out there.The Savage Coast andSavage BaroniesFar to the west of the Known World, the Savage Coastlays on a strip of coastland along the Gulf of Hule. Bracketed between the Orc’s Head Peninsula and Trident Bayin the west and the Serpent Peninsula in the east, theSavage Coast runs for almost 2000 miles to the Arm ofthe Immortals, the last land mass before reaching theWestern Sea. Much of these lands are located withinthe Haze, vermeil dust that has been cast up into theair by the winds, giving the sky and everything underit a reddish hue in the Mystaran sun. It is also home tothe Red Curse, boon and bane to all who live there.So far from the Known World as to often be forgottenlays the lands of the Savage Coast. This region is filledwith exotic races such as the feline rakastas and orcanine lupins or more familiar ones like dwarves andelves. This area is also home to a rich history, entwinedwith that of the Known World, the long-ago home ofmany nations populating the coast. It is a place wherethe many different races live together within nationalcultures and not racial ones, colonized over the march ofcenturies. It is an expanse that covers civilized cities anduncharted frontiers. Here, heroes and villains are largerthan life, fueled by the powers granted by the Red Curse,abilities that come with a price. More than one story hasstarted by the need to explore, others by the strugglefor power, more tales come from the race to acquire redsteel, and of course nations and races all have schemedto unify the Savage Coast under their own banner.The Savage Coast is a frontier area, peppered with nationsthat don’t quite yet qualify as kingdoms in the KnownWorld, though they’ve managed grow to include populations in the thousands. Some have been around longenough to start establishing their own colonies along thecoast. Others have fallen, swept away by the humanoid invasions, lain to ruin, and some have simply withered away.Most of the population is human, though more than onenation is composed of races that most Known Worlderswould find strange. As different as some of the nationsare, they share one thing in common, the Red Curse.In the east, where the Serpent’s Peninsula hooks back intothe coast is the city of Slagovich, the so-called gatewayto the Savage Coast. This mercantile city is fraught withpolitical intrigue that would make the most seasoned Thyatian courtier feel at home. Slagovich is not quite withinthe lands of the Red Curse but sits close enough, and isblanketed by the Haze, to be considered part of the region.North of the Slagovich and the other city-states is thecountry of Hule. This nation is ruled by the churchof Bozdogan, led by the cruel Master. The bulk ofHule lies beyond the areas covered by the Red Cursewith only its borderlands covered under the Haze.West of Hule and north of the true Savage Coast are theYazak Steppes. The southern fringes are blanketed by theHaze, but the vast majority of the lands extend far to thenorth, sweeping away from the Red Curse. This regionis home to humanoids of all types and tribes, steppewanderers, riding horses and beasts into battle. Thesetribes sometimes raid down into the ‘settled’ lands ofthe Savage Coast, occasionally wiping out an ill preparedstate before being dispatched by a makeshift alliance.At the western end of the Savage Coast is the Orc’sHead Peninsula, almost all laying within the Haze. Thesavage jungles on the southern part of the peninsulaare home to many tribes of orcs while the north ishome to lizardmen. Yet still, there are other darkerand older things that inhabit the mysterious region.The Red CurseThe Savage Coast is the land of the Red Curse, a curse thathas come to define the region. Millennia ago, the Immortals laid waste to the region with magics so powerful thatthey linger, plaguing the denizens to this day. The curse isso powerful that it has left physical traces throughout theregion, a reddish powder called vermeil. The dust lingersin the air, coating everything, and eventually, permeatinginto everything. Everything within the Savage Coast fromthe plants to metal to skin and hair of men and beasts tothe very rain that falls from the red hued skies is taintedby the Red Curse. In fact, so prevalent is the crimsontinting, one can recognize a newcomer simply by theirlack of a reddish tone to their skin, equipment, or hair.The Haze itself is just a manifestation of the RedCurse though, just vermeil hanging in the sky. Onlyby staying in the Savage Coast itself is the Red Curseinflicted on something. The Haze does however

contain enough of the energies of the Curse to allowthose Afflicted to travel within it without sufferingthe effects of leaving the vermeil laden lands.Within the Savage Coast, everyone, every living animal,every monster, and perhaps every undead is under theRed Curse. They develop strange powers and often mutations, called Legacies, that signify the weight of theirburden and the curse. There are ways to hold the mostdetrimental effects of the curse at bay, often by wearinganother metal called cinnabryl or using powerful magics.A small group, called the Inheritors, are even able to harness the powers of the Red Curse, gaining more than oneLegacy, bending the very banes of the taint into boons.ImmortalsUnlike most other worlds, Mystara does not have truegods. Instead, it has Immortals, greatly powerful beingsthat grant clerical abilities, create religions to worshipthem, and engage in cosmic intrigue and infighting.These beings are all believed to have been mortals atsome point in their pasts and as such, reaching immortality through various means, and as such, they have awillingness to meddle in the affairs of man. Additionalinformation on the various immortals of Mystara andspecifically the Savage Coast is contained within the Religions of the Savage Coast section, later in this chapter.The City StatesThe City-States, Hojah, Nova Svoga, Slagovich, Zagoraand Zvornik, lay at the very edge of the Red Curse,covered by the Haze. They are separated from the Savage Baronies proper by a swath of land held by theirpowerful northern neighbor, Hule. More than onceover the last few decades, the Master has turned hiseyes south, launching attacks into these small nations tounify his people or for some gain that only he knows.The city states are each around half a millennium old,colonized in the past by a mixture of Yavdlom, Oltec,and Traladaran humans. These three groups have mixedover the centuries into a more homogenized people withdark, sometimes curly or wavy hair, and reddish-brownskin that most Known Worlders would find to be slightly short preferring to wear dark clothing punctuatedwith a brightly colored scarf or sash during festivals.The Savage BaroniesFurther west than the City-States and wholly withinthe region of the Red Curse, the Savage Baronies aremade up of nine small and independent nations founded by conquering adventurers about a century ago inwave of colonization from the Known World. Thoughmost of these conquerors were human, the small little colonies include elves, dwarves, and halflings.Three of the nations are landlocked and six have at leastsome access to the seas. Both Vilaverde and Texei

Mystara line, Red Steel line, Champions of Mystara, Dragon and Dungeon Magazine, and Savage Coast materials products released by TSR as well as the amazing fan materials on the Vaults of Pandius and The Piazza. Hopefully, we’ll see some professional coverage of the Savage Coast as part of Mystara and the Known world, but until then, I hope this fulfills any needs for converting or inspiring .