Mystara

Mystara was a planet located in an unknown crystal sphere, yet was numbered among the worlds best known throughout the multiverse.

Cosmography
The planet of Mystara was orbited by two moons, a visible one known as Matera and an invisible one known as Myoshima. And the wildspace of their crystal sphere differed from others in that it was extremely cold.

Portals & Gateways
A good deal of portals and other planar accesses existed on Mystara, yet its inhabitants weren't as active across the multiverse compared to the inhabitants of Oerth and Toril. They rarely left their home world for long, viewing other planes as places unsuitable for long-term habitation.

Spheric Worldview
Mystarans conceived of the multiverse as being governed by what they called Spheres of Power. There were five of these Spheres of Power &mdash; Energy, Entropy, Matter, Time, and Thought.

Each of the spheres was associated with a particular alignment and element. Matter was associated with lawfulness and earth, Energy with chaos and fire, Time with neutrality and water, and Thought was associated with all alignments and the element of air. Entropy was the outlier, not being associated with anything but destruction and stood in opposition to all the other spheres.

Mystarans believed that the Prime Material plane was the only plane of existence in which all five of the Spheres of Power were perfectly blended in proportions that were precisely equal. They also believed that this was the case with the four fundamental elements. In their eyes, every other plane contained some imbalance of the elements, the spheres, or both. And like many worlds on the Prime, the people of Mystara viewed their planet as the center of the multiverse.

Mystarans also believed mortal magic was governed by four of the five spheres (not Entropy).

Geography
The planet Mystara was spherical in shape, though some of its inhabitants believed it to be flat. It was smaller than the planet Earth, measuring roughly in diameter, but its gravity was the same due to a layer of magic molten rock that ran through its core. Known as the Worldshield by immortals, it produced a gravitational field that pulled things towards it from both directions and gave off a dead-magic zone that stretched out from it. Additionally, Mystara's continental positions were similar to an ancient landmass on Earth known as Pangea. The major landmass on its surface was referred to by Mystarans as the Known World, which was part of a larger continent known as Brun.

Mystara's atmosphere extended up to and maintained the same pressure throughout, though oxygen levels would deplete at higher altitudes. The planet was surrounded by a natural bubble of transparent energy, known as the "skyshield," which was a common facet of planets within Mystara's crystal sphere. The skyshield kept the planet's atmosphere in and anything larger than a horse that tried to breach into wildspace would be slowly deflected as they neared it, though objects entering the skyshield from the outside did not experience this same resistance.

Some believed the planet to be a living entity, what the planetary scholars of Shou Lung would classify as a rare live world, and that the world's Immortals had to make special arrangements with it before they could cultivate life both on its surface and within its Hollow World.

Calendar
Unlike the Calendar of Harptos, which marked its months based on 30-day lunar cycle periods and years totaling 365 days, the major calendar used by the people of this world had only 336 days and had its months based on a lunar cycle of 28-days.

Hollow World
The interior of Mystara was hollow, with an interior diameter of. It featured a gate to the Sphere of Energy, that acted as a sort of Sun at its centre that made it perpetually noon, floating landmasses that encircled it, as well as creatures (such as dinosaurs) and cultures that had at various points in Mystara's past been on the verge of extinction on the surface. All had been placed there by the Immortals that governed the world and were subject to a magically induced state of stagnation by the Spell of Preservation &mdash; the cultural characteristics, language, and technology of a culture always remained the same.

Due to a combination of the Spell of Preservation and the Worldshield, a number of spells or forms of magic would not function within the Hollow World. These included divination and summoning. Spells of communication like commune, contact other plane, and ESP. Spells of instantaneous transportation like dimension door, gate, teleport, teleport without error, and word of recall.

There were enormous openings to this Hollow World at the north and south poles of Mystara, measuring, through which its motionless sun radiated light out from. They were rarely ever traversed due to both having freezing cold temperatures, perpetually stormy weather, and (due to the Worldshield) a thick zone of dead-magic. Notably, lodestones always pointed towards the center of the nearest polar opening.

Religion
Much like the planet Athas, Mystara completely lacked deities. Instead, the planet had mortals that raised themselves to an equivalent status, becoming beings known as Immortals. Though some still tried to classify them within the power level paradigm of deities, such as lesser power and intermediate power. Like deities, the Immortals had their own divine realms, but they could not create Immortal offspring; any pairing between an Immortal and a mortal resulted in a mortal child.

Each Immortal was associated with one of the five Spheres of Power      and often would work together with those of different spheres to explore the Outer Planes, but each always desired furthering the goals of their own sphere along the way.

Many cultures in the Known World worshiped the same Immortals. And some in other crystal spheres believed that all the Immortals could be considered a single pantheon.

Name Similarities
By chance, some of Mystara's Immortals had names similar to those of deities across the multiverse, as sometimes deities in different crystal spheres came to have the same name by pure chance. In other cases across the multiverse, there were some deities who purposely adopted the moniker of one from another crystal sphere because it was consistently found to invoke awe, respect, or terror in mortals.

For example, the people of the Northern Reaches worshiped a pantheon whose members included Immortals with the same names as the Norse deities Freyja, Loki, Odin, and Thor. Though some speculated whether or not Odin was in reality the same Odin that was worshiped on many other worlds, simply masquerading as an Immortal. Another was the Immortal patron of Mystara's gnomes, Garal Glitterlode, whose name resembled the Gnomish deity Garl Glittergold.

Some of the Immortal patrons of humanoids also shared names with monstrous deities &mdash; Bartziluth, patron of bugbears, was also known as Hruggek; Jammudaru, patron of ogres, was also known as Vaprak; and Ranivorus, patron of gnolls, was also known as Yeenoghu in the gnollish tribal dialect.

Three odd outliers were the Immortals Karaash, The Shining One, and Wogar &mdash; the patrons of orcs, kobolds, and goblins respectively. The three of them were once mortals by the names of Illneval, Kurtulmak and Maglubiyet. Coincidentally, Ilneval, Kurtulmak, and Maglubiyet were also the names of deities respectively worshiped on other worlds by orcs, kobolds, and goblins on other worlds.

History
Throughout Mystara's history, much like Krynn and Oerth, its astronomical and astrological records commonly featured phenomena that were caused by either magic or Immortals.

At some point, members of the halfling family Minstrelwish traveled between their home planet of Toril and Mystara.

Some time in the 14 century DR, an Immortal by the name of Kagyar reached beyond his native world and contacted a dwarf on Toril by the name of Norin Bonebreaker. He granted the man a limited list of clerical spells and tasked him with helping the unfortunate, but only in secrecy.

During that same century, a giff by the name of Captain Blotomus landed a hammership on Mystara and picked up some adventurers to help him in rescuing his former crew from pirates led by a neogi named Raver. After Blotomus discovered some of the neogi's hobgoblin crew on an asteroid&mdash;left stranded there for having attempted a mutiny&mdash;and interrogated them, he learned that Raver was sailing to the Rock of Bral in Realmspace.

Years later, Volothamp Geddarm visited this world's continent of Brun.

Notable Locations

 * Atruaghin Plateau: a large isolated plateau in the western region of the Known World that was the homeland of the Atruaghin people.
 * Broken Lands: A desolate stretch of land near the center of the Known World that had many similarities to north Faerûn's similarly named Thar region. It was covered by rugged hills, mountains, and narrow canyons plowed by two major rivers. It also had a huge network of underground caverns and rivers. Both were inhabited by ten tribes of humanoids, each consisting of autonomous hordes composed of several racial clans. These rival tribes were all united under one king by their hatred of dwarves, elves, and humans.
 * Colony Isles: An archipelago controlled by the Minrothad Guilds, an organized coalition of seagoing merchants. The largest landmass in this archipelago, Trader's Island, had a mountain with a planar gate that could take one to Toril, Oerth, and other worlds.
 * Cynidicea: An ancient subterranean city, that housed an elder evil known as Zargon. According to some planar accounts, both resided beneath the Giant's Belt Mountains of Toril rather than this planet.
 * Ethengar: A large grass plain nation.
 * The Five Shires: The homeland of this world's halflings. Underneath a mountain range in this region, known as the Black spires, there existed a persistent portal to Toril's halfling homeland Luiren.
 * Karameikos: A very young kingdom on the southern coast of Brun.
 * Northern Reaches: A region in the northernmost reaches of the Known World that consisted of three independant countries.
 * Rockhome: The homeland of this world's dwarves.
 * Savage Coast: A region west of the Known World, comparable in some ways to the Chultan Peninsula, that was notable for being the only place on Mystara where one could find firearms.
 * Serraine: A flying city constructed and inhabited by gnomes, as well as other flying creatures.

Notable Inhabitants

 * Atruaghin: A tribal human culture divided into five clans, each guided by a chief advised by shamani,  that were composed of several tribes or communities. They had a distinct pantheon of immortals and totems were a major aspect of their culture. With each individual, clan, and tribe having their own totem. Some of the Atruaghin's more powerful shamani were capable of entering the Ethereal Plane and through it visit other worlds. Most often, their shamani were attuned to places like Maztica. Anyone accompanying a shamani or sent by one to another world usually seemed to phase out of some animal when entering the other.
 * Beholders: The beholders on this world were slightly smaller than those of Toril. They tended to have brown or green mottled skin. Their tentacles measured in length, were unsegmented, and sported eyes the size of a human's.
 * Dwarves: Unlike the dwarves of Toril, which credited their creation to the deity Moradin, the dwarves of Mystara were created by an Immortal known as Kagyar. They often got along well with the gnomes and halflings on this planet, as they had similar drives and characteristics.
 * Ethengar: A human culture consisting of a loose confederation of nomadic tribes ruled by a great khan. Much like the Atruaghin, some of Ethengar's more powerful shamans were capable of entering the Ethereal Plane and through it visit other worlds. Most often, their shamans were attuned to places like the Plain of Horses. Anyone accompanying a shamani or sent by one to another world usually seemed to phase out of some animal when entering the other.
 * Gem dragons: There were a variety of gem dragons that were unique to Mystara, though one that it shared with Toril was the ruby dragon.
 * Fachan: An unusual variety of ogre-descended creatures found in the Savage Coast. Like the fachan of Toril, their ears could be used as material components in brewing a potion of clairaudience. But unlike the fachan of Toril, who stood only tall, the fachan of Mystara loomed at a height of.
 * Halflings: Generally known as the hin, they were a bright, adventurous, and intelligent people who generally strove for peace.
 * Humanoids: The humanoids on this planet consisted in part of bugbears, goblins, gnolls, hobgoblins, kobolds, ogres, orcs, and trolls. All of which could be found in the Broken Lands. And each of them had two to three distinct subraces.
 * Lupins: A race of canine-like humanoids that were unique to this world. They were somewhat similar in appearance to werewolves, but were in fact wholly unrelated and despised them, sometimes to the point of hunting them down. There were no widely known instances of lupins appearing on Toril, though it wasn't considered impossible that some may have planeswalked between the worlds.
 * Thri-kreens: These insectoid humanoids were unheard of in the Known World, but small packs of them could be found in an area of the Savage Coast known as the Yazak Steppes.
 * Tortles: A race of humanoid tortoises. Unlike the tortles of Toril's Chultan Peninsula, the tortles of Mystara had a marine offshoot, known as "snappers." These were broader and larger in size, well adapted for swimming with webbed hands and feet, and couldn't hide within their streamlined shells.
 * Pegataurs: A race of winged centaurs that were unique to this world.
 * Velyas: A race of aquatic vampires that had once been surface dwelling humanoids until they were stricken by an ancient curse.
 * Werejaguars: A variety of lycanthrope found in the tropical rain forests of Mystara.

Trivia

 * Rudolph Van Richten, renowned monster hunter, owned a map of the Known World that he kept within his study in his herbalist shop in the Domains of Dread.

Background
Mystara is the world of the campaign setting of the same name. In later publications for this setting, a number of sourcebooks offered suggestions on how one could connect the world to the Forgotten Realms setting. Due to the way these were worded, most of them cannot be considered definitive facets of Mystara, but they are still documented in this section. These suggestions included the following:


 * The sourcebook The Dwarves of Rockhome suggests to Dungeon Masters that, if they so desired, there could be a magical rock hidden at the heart of the city Dengar that allowed entrance to the Elemental Plane of Earth and from there reach Toril's dwarven nation Great Rift.
 * The sourcebook The Northern Reaches suggests that if Mystarans were to reach Yggdrasil, through such means as the gate or plane shift spells, they could potentially travel to Toril's Sea of Moving Ice or the lands of the Northmen in the Moonshae Isles.
 * The sourcebook The Orcs of Thar suggests to Dungeon Masters that, if they so desired, there could be a magical portal in the Broken Lands in a city known as Oenkmar that could allow travel between that region and Toril's region of Thar.
 * The sourcebook Top Ballista suggests to Dungeon Masters that the gnomes of Serraine could "reasonably invent some planar-shifting drive unit" for their city, allowing them to plane shift the city to either Oerth or Toril.