To the West!

The West is an iconic theme not only for Americans but also for the rest of the world, thanks to the influence that the Western movies and their epic had all over the globe. Mystara has its own mysterious and savage West: part of it was developed in the Voyages of the Princess Ark by Bruce Heard, and then gathered in the Savage Coast and Red Steel boxed sets. The Mystaran West imagined by Bruce was indeed partially inspired by the American West, Northern and Southern, with pistols, cowboys and gauchos. In a typical Mystaran style the picture was completed by a mashup of cultures inspired by other regions of the real world, from French-like rakasta to English-like lupins, ancient Gauls, Australian natives and much else.

Later the active and imaginative Mystara fan community added a lot more to the West of the continent of Brun. As canon Mystaran products placed in Brun people inspired by cultures from all the real world continents, fans created more nations inspired by Persia, Russia, Siberian people, Native Americans or Japan, and added also more fantastic cultures and people.
This issue of Threshold should be considered a starting point in a great voyage to the West of Brun, with the help of the maps and the reports sent by previous explorers.
We will indeed begin by examining the maps of Brun produced over the years, and then we will look at the timeline of the great continent and at the people and creatures who inhabit it.
Special focus of this issue is on the Arm of the Immortals, with Ignacio Ramos’ maps and Atila Pires dos Santos’ original nations and cultures.
To complete the issue two adventures which continue from issue #16: the second part of the BC 2300 adventure path and of the Loktal’s Vault megadungeon.

As the material submitted by contributors was too much to be fitted in just one issue, our voyage in Western Brun will continue in issue #18 with the Savage Coast.
Enjoy your voyage to the savage lands and remember that Here Be Dragons!

Francesco Defferrari (Sturm)

Editor-in-Chief, Threshold Issue 17

Next Issue

Issue 18 - Savage Coast
In Western Brun there is a wild, untamed land with ancient ruins to explore, proud people and nations to meet, an ancient curse and strange weapons. The Savage Coast needs women and men, brave and free!

[Image: Mockup Cover of issue 18]

Anticipated content includes:
● People of the Savage Coast

● Torreon Mini Gazetteer

● The Great Northways Lands
● The Trident Isles
● The UnKnown World Trail Map part V
● Dwarven families of Rockhome

… and much, much more!

BackCover

[Image: Back Cover of issue 17]

[Back Cover Blurb: Issue 17]

The Unexplored West!

You can cross the Sind desert or dare the trails of the Adri Varma Plateau. You can sail to Yavdlom or trek through the frozen wastes of Hyborea. Beyond lies Western Brun, the unexplored and unknown part of the continent. Only some incomplete and perhaps unreliable maps and reports describe the Western lands, what was left by the few explorers who went that far. Yet many people, humans and not, call the West their home. Maybe you could find a guide among them, a saviour, a friend, or maybe a mortal enemy.
From the lost Sylvan Realm of the elves to the mythical Urzud, to the Yalu sea and south to the Savage Coast and the Immortal Arms, behold the vastness of the unknown Brun!

Images