There are ruins in the Great Waste of Sind. They are not prolific, but the sages of Sayr Ulan, the main city of Sind, believe that these ruins predate the Great Rain of Fire that devastated the ancient civilizations of Blackmoor and Arvoria, causing the collapse of the first and forcing the survivors of the second underground. The Great Rain of Fire caused massive dramatic climactic upheavals as Mystara was tilted on its axis. What was the north pole became southeastern Brun and the pole shifted to where it is now, where a continent-sized hole in the crust leads to the Hollow World.
Before the Great Rain of Fire the area that would become the Great Waste was the Kallinth Forest, a great woodland, mostly conifers to the east but shifting to deciduous woods such as oak and elm towards the west. As well as plentiful wildlife the Kallinth forest host several different tribes of humans as well as sylvan creatures such as dryads, centaurs and pixies. Some of the tribes stayed nomadic, wandering the forest but others, most notably the Kallinthians (naming themselves after their forest home), the Hyskians and the Darvonians settled into early cultures with cattle and horse farming in cleared areas.
The Kallinthians
The semi-nomadic Kallinthians espoused moderation and common sense in their approach to life. Of the three, the Kallinthians were the closest to nature, and also were friendly towards tribes of elves and centaurs in the forest. They dwelt in the eastern part of the forest, around what is now Sind.
The Hyskians
These were the most volatile and ruthless of the three tribes, and their clerics would worship the primal forces of Chaos. They also had great mages and were pioneers in their explorations of magic, some of which would be considered dark sorcery. It is believed that their most powerful sorcerers opened up portals to the Planes of Chaos, one of which is still found in a ruined temple in the Great Waste (see B4: Master of the Desert Nomads, the section on the Buried Temple). Some of these mages would use corrupted forms of magic to extend their lifespans, and inadvertently turned themselves into the first nagpas, vulture-like creatures with magical powers, though the Hyskians are not the only culture to have spawned these vile sorcerous monsters.
The Darvonians
The Darvonians were great craftsmen, pioneers of bronze and copper as well as pottery and architecture. Some suggest they learnt this from the dwarves or gnomes, though their own legends speak of being gifted this knowledge by the scorpion god Ixitak (possibly the avatar of an immortal). They also used cuniform writing on clay tablets and became a structured society with laws.
Their most devoted clerics were sometimes transformed by Ixitak into Scorpion-men, monstrous looking centauroid beings with the lower bodies of giant scorpions and the upper body, arms and heads of humans. Despite their scary appearances, these scorpion-men remained benevolent and lawful at least until the Great Rain of Fire.
The Great Rain of Fire
The first effect to be noticed in the Kallinth Forest when the Blackmoor device exploded was the massive earthquakes as shock waves rippled out from the epicentre of the explosion and travelled across the planet of Mystara. Many were killed as buildings collapsed, crushing people in and around them. Others fell into the crevasses that suddenly opened up across the lands. Further to the east a chunk of Brun was torn from the south coast; The parts that did not sink beneath the waves would become the Ierendi Islands. To the east the previously modest Black Mountains had been pushed up into taller, more jagged and volcanically active peaks.
Then came the actual rain of fire, the fallout of the explosion. Flaming hot debris fell from the sky, catapulted from Blackmoor. Conflagrations fell amidst the devastated towns and farmland, setting buildings, crops and people on fire. The people were in abject terror, convinced it was the end of the world and they were all going to die. For some of them this was true.
This all happened within a space of three days as the ground convulsed and the sky pelted the land with fire. Afterwards there was an eerie calm. The survivors had no idea what had happened. Were the immortals angry with them? They noticed that the stars in the sky had changed position - even the heavens had been shaken. There were various attempts to rebuild shattered towns and livelihoods .
Then the climate shifted. The change in Mystara’s axis meant that temperatures became warmer, the rains stopped falling on the forest and after a year or two the process of desertification began. The smaller plants died first, then the trees, then grazing animals and after three years the human survivors of the Great Rain of Fire realised that the disaster had not concluded yet.
The Migrations and Aftermaths
As the land dried up and became a desert waste, the Kallinthians, who were already used to migration, set off east into what is now Atruaghin and Darokin. Their connection to nature and balance may have been shaken by the cataclysm but still remained. Their flexibility and adaptability allowed many of them to survive though no longer in their homeland. Their culture disappated but many of their lineages blended in with the human tribes that would become the Atruaghin clans.
The Hyskians did what they had to do to survive and moved west through the Black Mountains which were now far more formidable. Not all the Hyskians survived that journey west, but those that did found themselves in the great basin that would eventually become Hule. Their belief in Chaos has remained, and Hule these days is still a chaotic hagiocracy. There was a split, as some Hyskians decided to stay and endure the changing climate. Many of them became the ancestors of the human desert nomads that now roam the great wastes.
The Darvonians suffered the most. They had become so reliant on a stable, predictable society that when the Great Rain of Fire struck, they had no way of coping with the complete upheaval of the world around them. Some of their clerics and even the blessed scorpion-men lost their faith and renounced their patron Ixitak. They instead turned to Chaos. Some of them joined the Hyskians in Hule, while others were offered a new transformation to help them survive in the desert. A mysterious being (actually a Chaos Prince) called Serathis transformed those who swore loyalty to him into Manscorpions, vicious and corrupted versions of the noble scorpion-men of Ixitak. A lucky few found the newly formed Asanda river and settled along its banks. Although not the true founders of Sind, they would merge with the Urduks, a tribe migrating from the east that would also settle in the fertile Asanda valley who would be instrumental in the settling and growth of Sind.
 |
| source |
Author’s Note
I was considering moving B4: The Lost City to this region but I think at the moment it is well established to be in the Emirates of Ylaruam, as indicated in the Mentzer Expert set. The culture of the Cynidiceans seems closer to Mesopotamia or maybe ancient Turkey than ancient Egypt (which is the inspiration for the Nithians of northern Ylaruam). Nonetheless I believe it is simpler to go along with canon on this one. There is also the level difference - B4 is for levels 1-3 while the adventures set in the Great Waste are for levels 6 to 10, both official ones and my own humble attempts. In terms of the flow of the campaign, B4 seems more suited to Ylaruam.
The principal published adventure set in the Great Waste is of course X4: Master of the Desert Nomads. The sequel, X5: The Temple of Death is really set in the land of Hule to the west of the Great Waste. There are two main ruins in X4: the Buried Temple and the Abbey of Evil. The Abbey of Evil feels too new to be linked to the ancient cultures discussed here. My suggestion is that it was originally founded by Sindhi Mystics and built about 100 years ago, but they were infiltrated and then killed by the Bhuts about 10 years ago.
The Buried Temple dates back to those pre-cataclysmic centuries and is actually my main inspiration for this blog post. My two dungeon posts set in the Great Waste, The Pillared Halls of Serathis and The Tower of the Nagpas have both drawn from B4, especially the section on the Buried Temple. This post is my attempt at explaining and giving historical context to the Buried Temple as well as my own two dungeons of the Great Waste. I hope it proves satisfactory.
