Dragon #344

[Alzrius]

Are there stats in the Princess Ark article? Or is it all descriptive?

Except for the sidebar with the elixer, it's all descriptive. Not even the most abbreviated stat blocks are given. The sidebar on the ship itself just refers you to the Champions of Mystara boxed set.

What sort of information does it have on Alphatia?

It's totally fluff text, if that's what you mean. The sidebar is three paragraphs long. The first one gives an overview of the nation itself. The second one largely deals with how Alphatia views the Empire of Thyatis and the Principalities of Gantri. The third one talks about their artifact, and how the the immortals are disputing regarding it, since it might "run amok if tampered with" and that would "erase magic on Mystara for some time."

 

[Alzrius]

Bit of an oddity to toss out. This is the last paragraph of the sidebar "Dracoliches in Eberron" in "The Ecology of the Dracolich" article:

As an aside, the Keeper, one of the Dark Six, also takes the form of a skeletal dragon, and makes his lair in the Demon Wastes.

Is it just me, or does that seem to fly in the face of how gods in Eberron are presented, since they never take on a physical form or manifest in the world.

 

[demiurge1138]

Bit of an oddity to toss out. This is the last paragraph of the sidebar "Dracoliches in Eberron" in "The Ecology of the Dracolich" article:



Is it just me, or does that seem to fly in the face of how gods in Eberron are presented, since they never take on a physical form or manifest in the world.

I think the article's taking things too literally. The Keeper is represented by a dracolich, and the Demon Waste does have an awful pit of despair called the "Lair of the Keeper". But that was intended to be metaphorical/allegorical/folkloric.

Demiurge out.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Um, they're referring to a boxed set that's been out of print for more than a decade? Huh?

 

[mhacdebhandia]

Is it just me, or does that seem to fly in the face of how gods in Eberron are presented, since they never take on a physical form or manifest in the world.

Yes, it's a literal reading of a rumour. On the other hand, it's not likely to be taken as canon, and it's easier than explaining the unusual (for D&D) nature of the Eberron deities to people unfamiliar with the setting.

There's a skeletal dragon in the "Lair of the Keeper", but that doesn't make it the Keeper . . .

 

[Nightfall]

Can't wait to pick up this issue. From what I've seen so far, it seems pretty nice, but the next issue should be even better!

 

[Osieu]

Hi Alzrius,

May I ask what are the alternate dracoliches please? And the stats of Aurgloroasa?

Thank you very much!

 

[Shade]

Serpent of the Seas
by Morgan Peer and Tracey Peer
Three new dragons of the depths.

Three issues of back-to-back true dragons! Year of Dragons indeed.

 

[Cthulhudrew]

It's totally fluff text, if that's what you mean. The sidebar is three paragraphs long. The first one gives an overview of the nation itself. The second one largely deals with how Alphatia views the Empire of Thyatis and the Principalities of Gantri. The third one talks about their artifact, and how the the immortals are disputing regarding it, since it might "run amok if tampered with" and that would "erase magic on Mystara for some time."

This is an Alphatian artifact? Or the Nucleus of the Spheres (a Glantrian artifact)?

Also, is there a timeline given for the article? It sounds like it takes place around 1001 AC or so when the last one left off, and not post-Wrath of the Immortals, but I can't tell for sure.

BTW, thanks for answering the questions- myself and other Mystara-philes have been itching to see this article for a while now.

 

[James Jacobs]

Kostchtchie? Isn't he being covered in FCI? I hope I don't see reprints, those annoy me to no end.

Kostchtchie is indeed being covered in Fiendish Codex I. HOWEVER: There's very little reprinted information between the two sources; the Demonomicon articles and the Fiendish Codex support each other quite nicely without reprinting too much information.

The Demonomicons present a LOT more information about specific demon lords, but they do so only one at a time. The Fiendish Codex presents a LOT more information about multiple demon lords (there are 14 with stat blocks and nearly 80 in all with at least a sentance or two of info).

I suppose the closest analogy between the Demonomicon articles and the Fiendish Codex would be to compare them to the monster ecology articles Dragon runs and the Monster Manuals they come from originally.