Dark Karameikos: Introduction and Prehistory

Not too long ago, I was talking with a bunch of my D&D 5E buddies and lamenting the "good old days".  My premise was that back in those "good old days" most people created their own D&D settings and adventures, or tweaked the settings that TSR was putting out to conform to their ideas, whereas now, it seems like most D&D players buy the WotC "adventure paths" and just run those.  Even GMs that ran TSR modules tended to place them in their own worlds where they made sense to the GM.

I'm starting up a B/X D&D game soon, and so I decided to approach it as if I were the Tim of old and tweak something I already knew and enjoyed into what I wanted.  I decided to use Mystara's Grand Duchy of Karameikos as my starting point, as that's always been one of my favorite settings.  Coining this "new" setting Dark Karameikos, I found a map I liked, made some changes to it, and set to work.  The map appears at right.

Basically, this will be a human-only, much more gritty and dark version of Karameikos than what's been published by TSR/WotC.  Think... Mystara meets Warhammer's Old World, and you'll get an idea what I'm going for.

Prehistory

Originally, the elves were the only inhabitants of the land that would come to be known as Karameikos.  Tall, fair, lithe, haughty, and proud, they believed all other life to be beneath them, and considered the world to be their own.  Powerful arbormancers, they lived in the woods of the region, bending, shaping, and growing trees, bushes, and plants into anything they needed, and rarely left their precious woods.  During the day they'd lounge in the cool shade of the trees, and at night they'd frolic under the moon.

At some point, the elves noticed something outside of their woods they had not seen before: short, stocky beings similar to themselves.  At first, the elves were amused by these creatures; they called them "men" - an elven word meaning "low" or "lower than".  The elves interacted with men; they taught men about fire, and the basics of survival.  After a while, the elves grew bored with men's simplicity, and they retreated into their woods.

Much time passed before the elves once again encountered men, and they were horrified by what they saw.  Men had... advanced significantly.  They had organized into towns and cities, and established trade with each other.  They farmed, hunted, and fished.  When news of this reached the Elvenking, he saw a true challenge to the elves supremacy and stewardship of the world, and it frightened him to his core.  A powerful arbormancer, the Elvenking grew a powerful, sprawling, and sealed fortress in and of the western woods, and called all elves to it.  There they remained for years, hidden from the sun and moon, waiting for the time that men ceased to be so they could reclaim their world.

That time never came.  The Elvenking decided it was up to the elves to cleanse the world of men.  As the sun set one fateful night, vengeful elves - long deprived of the sun and moon - poured out of the Elvenking's fortress, descending upon the first settlement of men they found.  Men fought well, but as the night went on, the elves eventually completely razed the town and all its inhabitants.  They then turned their focus onto Luln, however, messengers had succeeded in breaking through the elven assault and Luln was aware of the attack.

As dawn broke the next morning, the elves found men waiting for them outside of Luln.  Between the defensive vigor of men protecting their own, and the elves unpreparedness for the brightness of the morning sun - having been sequestered in the Elvenking's fortress for so long - the elves were defeated.  The Elvenking was never found; it was assumed that he and some of his closest advisors and supporters made it back to the Elvenking's fortress where they eventually fell victim to their wounds.  It is rumored that they haunt the fortress to this very day.  The name of the settlement the elves razed has been lost to time, but the ruins still remain as they were left by the elves.