Myra, Machairas, Magic...... and More

Some basics on MYRA to get you going with your imagination

Sun(s):

Myra has two suns. Now that you know that, you can forget it again. The second sun, the dark sun Yino, is rarely seen except by dark magic, and only every eight years is it close enough to be seen as a glowing crimson ball near Myra. Some astronomers from the VFA of Athanesia say it is rather some kind of comet, but as I said, you're free to ignore that.

Moon(s):

Myra has two moons, a large light-moon which behaves pretty much like ours. If it is full moon here, it will be full moon on Myra too. There is a smaller, reddish dark-moon, kind of a spooky athmo-moon, with extremely regular moon phases, exactly 16 over the course of one year.

World-Map

MYRA is a globe (and there is an actual globe of this world offline in my room, on a pedestal) though for simulation purposes we have projected the globe on the surface of a icosahedron, a d20, so to speak. Each side of that d20 is covered with a hex grid (48 small hexes in one big hex), that gives us a rough idea what the terrain in a certain area is like, predominantly. How rough? One hex covers about 100x100 miles, all deeper detail is up to the person who adopts (or in the simulation: rules) that part of our world.

Therefore: while a rough map of the world is provided by the team, detail is up to the storyteller, gamemaster or artist.

Oh and the surface is three times as large as that of earth. So there is plenty of room for your imagination.

The Compass-Rose and the two halves of Myra

There are, as you can see from the compass-rose in the picture above, twelve winds, twelve directions and twelve major star-signs in the upper hemisphere. Six major directions (sides of a big hex), six minor (sides of a small hex). For the start you will need just two: the upper one (in other worlds called 'north') is Machairas the sign of the sword, the lower one (in other worlds 'south') is called Ophis, the sign of the serpent. (Please *do* use these terms, instead of north, south etc) (more on directions)

Machairas - The World of the Warrior

Myra is separated in two halves by a large chain of vulcanic mountains, the 'bloody belt'. Machairas is the world of the warrior, male dominated and mixed like a standard fantasy world on a medieval tech-level, though you'll find amazons and queens aplenty. Each of the 12 segments (continents) of Myra's Machairas is odd-shaped and has a guardian, a wise keeper who rarely interferes with politics and mortals and need (or should) not appear in the stories. Everyone can adopt a part of the Machairas of Myra, be it a single character, a whole country or a part thereof, or even, rarely, a whole continent. All gameplay is set here, most stories and pics will be

Ophis - The World of the Witch

Things are complety different in the Ophis of this world, which is one straight matriarchy, ruled by a circle of 12 wise women, witch-queens, who have split the ophis-world like a cake with 12 slices, where witches act like local queens and have amazons to act out their petty wars. Man-servants are nice playthings, but rather weaklings, bred and raised as the inferior species.The Ophis of Myra has no simulation of the politics and thus no gameplay, but stories can be set there.

Magic and Technology

Myra is a fantasy-world, so there is magic. If you know D&D or related D20 material, you will more or less know what is possible and what isn't. Exceptions can and will be made for an exceptionally good story, as long as the balance of the world isn't toppled. Some wise men control even greater magic that spans (or burns) hundreds of miles and affects thousands of people - but such magic is extremely rare and only taught in the great Schools of Wizardry, of which the MSM Esoteria, the Myra School of Magic, is the greatest.

The level of magic you'll find is much lower than in classic D20 worlds (but higher than for example in Tolkien's Middle-Earth), magic treasures and magic weapons will be extremely rare but can happen and can be very powerful.

Technology is on a comparatively low level also (many human nations are not above what you'd find on earth in the early middle ages between 500 and 1000 AD). More is possible though, basically what would have been possible in the middle ages, not what actually was there. Three notable exceptions, though:

(1) a magnetic compass would not work, as there are no magnetic poles in this world. This makes sea-travel slower and mostly coast-bound.

(2) gunpowder would not work as the Powers-that-be have ruled that out

(3) glass is (and thus effective mirrors are) only available for followers of the demigod of light and good magic, Seeker, the hermit in the desert of Zun. The mystery of glass-making is a well-kept holy secret, not common knowledge.

Any questions, so far? Feel free to comment and ask.