Alphatia

Alphatia is a continent and empire in TSR's fictional fantasy game setting, Mystara for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. The continent of Alphatia is nearly 2,000,000 square miles (5,000,000 km2) in area and has approximately 7,500,000 inhabitants. The continent of Alphatia is the center of the Alphatian Empire, which is founded on the exploration and exploitation of magic.

Unlike most humans on Mystara, Alphatians are a human race of ancient "alien" origin, having arrived 2,000 years in the past from another world after they destroyed their original homeworld, also called Alphatia (now known as "old" Alphatia), after a war between two factions of wizards devoted to the elements of air and fire respectively. The Alphatian people are the descendants of the faction devoted to air and consist of two sub-races, the pale-skinned, dark-haired "pure" Alphatians and the more common copper-skinned "Cypri" Alphatians.

Alphatia is described in the boxed set Dawn of the Emperors: Thyatis and Alphatia (1989).[1]

The Alphatian Empire

Alphatia is a large empire within the Mystara campaign setting, in the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game. It is located east of the continent of Brun and west of Skothar. It is a large imperial magocracy (ruled by spellcasters), consisting of numerous Kingdoms loosely united under the rule of an Empress (or Emperor).

Individuals with the ability to cast magical spells are automatically considered nobility and given the rank of aristocrat, regardless of their skill at spellcasting. Only aristocrats may attain the noble rank of Lord. People without the ability to cast magical spells are called "commoners" and can at best attain the rank of gentry or, at worst, the ranks of servants or slaves. Alphatian law distinguishes between aristocrats and commoners with crimes committed by commoners punished more severely, especially if committed against aristocrats.

In the module CM1, Test of the Warlords, three crones call Alphatia "Atlantis". This direct reference is not repeated again in canon, but Alphatia is partly inspired by Plato's description of Atlantis, and its ultimate fate draws upon the legend of Atlantis. However, the Dawn of the Emperors boxed set, which details both Alphatia and Thyatis, gives Alphatia a unique flavor.

The territories of Alphatia include the island-continent of Alphatia itself, the somewhat smaller island-continent of Bellissaria, the eastern half of the Isle of Dawn, the Alatian Isles south of the Isle of Dawn, Esterhold, a large peninsula of Skothar, and the disputed lands of Norwold. Alphatia's capital is Sundsvall, the "City Built by Magic", a large city in south-central continental Alphatia. Sundsvall is also the capital of the Kingdom of Vertiloch, which is ruled directly by Alphatia's reigning Empress Eriadna. Other major cities include Aasla, in the Kingdom of Haven, and Draco in the Kingdom of Stonewall, both of which are port cities.

Alphatia's traditional rival is the Western Empire of Thyatis, which was ruled by Alphatia for two centuries (BC 192 - BC 2) until it successfully rebelled and carved its own Empire out of former Alphatian territories. In the AC 1000 timeline, the two powers are locked in a fantasy version of the Cold War.

Alphatia is ruled by an Emperor or Empress who is advised by a Council of Wizards. The power of the Empire is mitigated by the fact that Alphatia's fractious Kingdoms, with their own rulers, are only loosely controlled and normally very hard for the central government to coordinate. An exception to this came in the Wrath of the Immortals, where immortal interference caused the normally disunited and chaotic Alphatians to unite in the cause of destroying Glantri. At the end of this campaign, the continent of Alphatia was destroyed, though numerous Alphatian kingdoms on the imperial fringe remained active.

After the events of The Wrath of the Immortals, the continent of Alphatia is destroyed and sinks into the ocean. But the Immortals save the majority of the population by putting them into a state of unconsciousness and then moving them temporarily onto another plane. They then rebuild the main continent of Alphatia as a floating continent in the Hollow World before bringing the population there. The Immortals change the memories of the mortals, however, so that the majority of the population does not remember their life in the outer world and thinks they always lived in the Hollow World. The Immortals also implant memories among the majority of the population that a series of earthquakes ravaged most of the continent rather than that the continent sunk into the ocean. Only very experienced mortals remember the truth and their former lives in the outer world.

References

  1. ↑ Schick, Lawrence (1991). Heroic Worlds: A History and Guide to Role-Playing Games. Prometheus Books. p. 139. ISBN 0-87975-653-5.

Additional reading

External links

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