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Slouching Towards Reunion

The Ataniel Five-Year Reunion Newsletter
Issue One - June 1996
(apologies to Joan Didion)

How are you going to bridge the five year gap? Look inside for Character Update Info, a first Five Year Timeline, NPC biographies, and much much more!

In the next Who's Who: Ataniel's Most Wanted!

Vote for your five favorite villains from the three years of the Ataniel Campaign and send them/phone them/email them to me... results in the next STR!

1. ____________________________________
2. ____________________________________
3. ____________________________________
4. ____________________________________
5. ____________________________________

Reunion RSVP Results In!

Well, I finally tracked down all of you guys to get your RSVPs for the reunion, and I was tremendously pleased by the number of y'all who would be able to attend. Thus, without further ado, I present the roll call for the Five Year Campaign Reunion adventure!

• Kay Carter as Tila
• Jeff Hersh as Shilree
• Jonah Cohen as Praxis
• Laura Redish as Flicker (Sunfighter 4)
• Evan Haag as Luthien
• Kristin Andersen as Khyrisse
• Scott Borst as Maxwell Silverhammer, and
• Edward Einhorn as Ulmo Glub (Signet)

The only absences are Alyssa, who said that she would be unable to commit due to expected financial and geographical problems and Liz, who no one was able to find. Oethnar is still in a forest.

This leaves us with an interesting balance of characters... no clerics, a lot of thief and mage types, two husbands without their wives, two-and- a-half Significants , four-and-a-half Sewer Tourists, and four-and-a-half Sway members, as well as one character no one's ever met before. I'd like to thank you all for making this so very easy on me.

NPC Contest Results

When I wrote up the RSVP forms with the NPC contest, I told Kay who I suspected the winning NPCs would be. Would that I had offered myself a prize of some sort, as I was completely and totally right. Who says a DM can't predict his players? There were three forerunners, of which only two would be accompanying y'all, so I wasn't certain until the last vote (Ed's, natch) came in, but the final results were:

• Zzenith (18 pts), and
• Quell, Scourge of all Evil (16 pts)

The other results were:

• Kieran Talbot (11 pts)
• Noyarc (6 pts)
• Javert, Head of the Police (6 pts)
• The Sheepherder (4 pts)
• Gdeon (3 pts)
• Flintfoot (3 pts)
• Magnate (2 pts)
• Savis (1 pt)
• Trissia Madyx (1 pt)
• Rip Hunter (1 pt)

Some good attempts amongst you all to get some all-powerful beings, demigods, mysteriously absent or dead friends, reincarnators and bimbos included, but the wisdom of Zzenith and the stupidity/nobility of Quell won your hearts in the end. Just like I predicted.

I will try to make certain that everyone who got votes will at least have a cameo somewhere in the game, though, so don't worry if your favorite NPC didn't win... we'll catch up with everyone!

What to Expect in your Slouching Towards Reunion

The actual purpose of this newsletter (besides giving me my first real forum since the late, not-quite-lamented Ultra-News) is to prepare us all for the four-day AD&D bacchanalia that will be the Five Year Reunion Game (FYRG). Here are some of the useful articles you'll find in here over the next year:

• Reunion Updates: This, the most important reason for the STR, will keep you up to date on hotel information, transportation, players in need of roommates, etc. Anyone who remembers the planning coup that was JohnCon will know why this is gonna be reeeeeal necessary.
• Five-Year Gap History: Five years have gone by for our heroes, and the world has continued to progress. I'll bring you up to date bit by bit as to what's gone on in Ataniel so that you can waste more of your valuable time worrying. I'll even probably do some stories of various events in the intervening time.
• Who's Who Updates: Even I don't remember who everyone was, and I made it all up, so believe me, I don't expect any of you (except Jonah) to remember either. WW Updates will remind you of everyone important and a few other people as well.
• Your Space: Hopefully, you all will feel free to use the STR as a place to let the other readers know what's up in your life, what your character's been up to, and anything else you'd like to send me to include in here. Not everyone's on email (Ed), so I'd like to keep the STR as a clearinghouse for all the important discussion and updates. I've also enclosed an address list in here so that you can all keep in touch with each other.
• Neverwhere Tales: There's a lot of Ataniel plot material that never quite made it to completion. I'll let you know all the secrets of the email game, the Null and Void stories from the post-campaign STRs, even some stories I've written since then like "Alternate Trishas." All the non-canon stuff you can imagine!

How To Prepare for the Five Year Reunion Game

Obviously, we're not going to be picking up exactly where we left off. Five years is a long time for the characters (let alone for us) and most likely, they've all been up to something. In some cases, you may have decided to settle down, others may have decided to travel the depths of the world in exploration. Over the next year (our time, not theirs), I'll be calling on each one of you to help me plot out the last five years of your character's life. This is something that will have a significant effect on the state of your character come the FYRG. Shortly before the game, we'll work up a revised character sheet, on which your character will have gained somewhere from three to seven levels since last playing (more, if the character was not a third-year character, natch). How many levels gained will be up to you... so fill those five years with a lot of story and plot (adventure will not necessarily be more experiential than dramatic content... five years of raising a kid can be worth seven levels, while five years of dungeon hacking may only be worth three levels if the dungeon isn't very interesting).

Here are some guidelines to begin thinking about what your character may have been up to:

• What were your character's goals five years ago? What did he/she try to do to accomplish them? Is your character still adventuring? Did you start a business? Enter politics? Travel to distant lands or worlds?
• Who was important to your character? How might those relationships have developed or changed? Is your character still single? Still married? Who are your new friends? Are you still on good terms with all your old friends?
• How have the changes in the world affected your character? Where does your character currenty reside? Obviously, for some of this you'll need more details about the world, so see later in this issue for the "status quo".
• What "old business" plots might your character have followed up on? What new enemies or problems might your character be currently involved with? Feel free to make up adventures, plots, enemies, friends, etc. that your character may have dealt with in the last five years. I'm always flexible in terms of personal plots.
• Has your character kept in touch with other characters? Get in touch with other players and see what they've been up to... their stories might mesh very well with yours.

The Status Quo

The world of Ataniel in the year 813 T.Y. is somewhat different than the way you remember. A lot of the details touched on herein will be expanded on in future issues, but this general overview will help to keep things clear for the purposes of character updating.

808

--Trade disappears, along with Magnate, due to the plots of Wyvern. It reappears, sans Magnate and Wyvern. Knighthawke takes charge of Trade.

--Cynystra completes their invasion of Western Diaria. Eastern Diaria cuts off all contact with the ouside world, preferring to hide behind the newly-completed Great Diarian Wall.

--Sway disbands.

809

--The Trade Heroes Guild is disbanded in favor of independent heroic representation of countries. Trade instead musters an army to protect its member states.

--Under continued attacks from Cynystra, Brytannwch disappears completely from Ataniel. They are not heard from again.

--The Mithril Dagger hero once known as Torin, thought dead, crawls down from the Plateau, quite mad.

810

--Rumors of a new nation of monsters within the Doomlands are confirmed when an illithid named V'Nos, representing the sovereign nation of New Gila, petitions for Trade status. He is accepted onto the Trade Council.

--The Elves of Dyved leave from the world.

--Magnate sightings continue, the latest one in a tavern in Sturtevant.

811

--Nylevia signs an agreement with Cynystra to become a protectorate of the Cynystran Empire. Duke Sturoster abdicates his position. They are quickly followed by the Land of the Little Folk, who renounce Trade status to join the Empire.

--Attacks throughout Trade by a group of bandits known as the Soulless Riders continue. A band of Significants sent to stop them is found massacred.

--Part of the Ansalia Expedition returns, claiming to have reached the other side of the world.

812

--Trade contact with the spelljamming port of South Diaria (discovered by Maxwell Silverhammer) is cut off. An expedition to the Southern Edge reports that the port has been completely destroyed.

--Cynystra signs a non-aggression pact with New Gila. They decline further protection from Trade but maintain a Council member as an ambassador.

--On November 14th, all magic ceases to work for a period of nine hours. The chaos is eventually brought under control. The only strange thing that remains afterwards is a third moon that has come to be named "Bane".

813

--The present.

Trade consists of most of the northern countries. These states remain independent but have the protection of the Trade Army and maintain Trade Gates. These include: Dalencia, the Meadowlands, Salagia, the Seven Princehoods (including Javin), Sturtevant, Talaria, Tobrinel and, of course, Trade itself.

The Cynystran Empire controls Cynystra, Nylevia, the Land of the Little Folk, Rimbor and Eastern Diaria. Emperor Eric's army and the Wild Pack protect these states.

Independent states include: Eastern Diaria ("True Diaria"), Kaltr, Kyoko-ra, the Montas Archipelago, the Northlands, Riklandir and Shikintu. The current status of Brytannwch, Liratyn, Cynosure, the Shadowlands and Ansalia are unknown.

More details about the five year gap will be made available as they become clear. Remember, you all have a responsibility to include the events of your characters' lives into the timeline, so keep in touch with me about how y'all interact with the world of Ataniel!

Who's Who Update #1

This time, I'll just give you a quick Who's Who update on the twelve characters who made the "resident NPC" grade. You voted for them, but you might need a quick refresher on who they are.

• Zzenith: An alien being, trapped on a world he never made. Zzenith is an amorphous blob with a variety of eyes and mouths. He was first encountered in the Doomlands by Tila, who tried to kill him. However, after it was realized that he was not only sentient, but kind and wise, Zzenith became one of the Sway's most helpful allies. Zzenith has a variety of clerical abilities and eats dead human flesh to survive. Zzenith hopes one day to return to his true home, the vacuum of outer space.
• Quell, Scourge of all Evil: The son of Duke Ravenhill, Quell was once a priest of Tal until he found his true calling: the extermination of demons. Not very bright, he is very dedicated to his task, his beliefs, and his friends. When one person had to guard the rear to cover the Sewer Tour's escape from the dimension of the Iron Tyrants, Quell sacrificed himself, and was trapped in the dimension of the beholders. There, he was impregnated by a beholder-spawn, but his faith and force of will purged the egg from his body. He has since escaped and returned to Ataniel with Maxwell Silverhammer. His experience with the Sunfighter has caused him to adjust his beliefs to oppose Evil, not simply Demons.
• Kieran Talbot: One of the most talented and promiscuous of the ancient bards, Kieran Talbot was slain by a jilted ("misunderstood, darlin'") lover, but his spirit was too irrepressible to go on to Annwn. He survives (?) as a ghost and joined Sway when they discovered and buried his remains, freeing him from the house where he was killed. He has been romantically linked to Tila and was last seen as the companion of Threnody (Sunny 3). Kieran loves women, and they love him.
• Noyarc: A member of the LSRIA (Lycanthropic Self-Regulatory Intelligence Agency), Noyarc is a werewolf secret agent. He joined the Sewer Tour in a town north of Dalencia where he was exposing the evil of the Huntsman. He travelled with them for a time helping them against Malcar. After returning, he was kidnapped by the Web to use against the Sewer Tour, but before he could be broken, the Tour rescued him. He helped them find the City on the Edge of Forever, and is now back working for the LSRIA.
• Javert, Head of the Police: A man obsessed with upholding the law, he was head of the police in Neporris until Duke Faraker summoned him to take that same position in the city of Lianth. He accompanied the Sewer Tour to Dalencia as an envoy where he was put on trial for killing the traitorous Dalencian Lord High Justice, Dred. He was found not guilty. Later, he gathered a group of the Sewer Tour's friends together to rescue the Tour from Rimbor City. Afterwards, he took control of the police force there and brought the law to Rimbor. When Cynystra took over Rimbor, Javert left to hunt down the escaped convict Palmer Khan. Finding Sturtevant oppressed by the reincarnated Warrior King Bloodscar, Javert became leader of the resistance and helped Sway to defeat Bloodscar and Trillarillia Cararia. Javert returned Khan to Rimbor to face trial. Afterwards, Javert offered Khan a pardon to join him in bringing the law to the lawless Northlands.
• The Sheepherder: One of the five Deathless Eternals, the Sheepherder has only one thought on his mind: his sheep. His immortality is as inexplicable as his ability to reincarnate beings in an attempt (usually failed) to make them into sheep. He currently tends a miniature flock created by Sway in the fields outside Trade.
• Gdeon: The son of Shilree and a raping doppleganger posing as Ralchar, Gdeon's malleable embryonic DNA was affected by a passage through The Wall that once surrounded Nylevia. When he was born, he was infused with the spirit of the Ataniel Dragons who had left Ataniel for the City on the Edge of Forever. He grew at a magically accellerated rate in the custody of Rhynwa and Maxwell Silverhammer while he travelled with the Sewer Tour. He had a particular attachment to the merchant Khyrisse, whose similar avatar spirit called to him. Upon finally learning his true nature, he fled Ataniel to learn to understand his position in the universe. When Wyvern seized the City on the Edge of Forever, Gdeon attempted to contact his foster parents to warn them of the danger. He has since returned to space.
• Flintfoot: A halfling friend of Signet who was devoured by a demon after the demon promised that he really wouldn't do anything bad if Signet let the demon go. His spirit was later experimented on by the Eternal Mage, Arturian, until it was freed by Signet and the Significants.
• Magnate: The archetypal businessman, Magnate has risen from a mere shopkeeper to being one of the most powerful men in all of Ataniel. Operating a trading post out of a pocket dimension of his own, he used his influence with the Sewer Tour to lead them down the path they needed to follow to defeat Tres and find the City on the Edge of Forever. His agent, Shilree, accompanied them and claimed the city in his name, and he became High Tradesman of the city of Trade. He is one of the Deathless, having traded the secrets of immortality from the very stones. His tenure as High Tradesman ended when he was kidnapped by the renegade Space Dragon Wyvern. He has still not been found.
• Savis: A mudwoman that Max met while adventuring through space. She fell in love with his strong and noble personality and accompanied him to Ataniel. Savis suffers from low self-image as a result of being made of mud.
• Trissia Madyx: A bard in the troubador group Death's Tender Finger, Trissia was possessed by a demon in an attempt to refine the Sunfighter process. She travelled with Sway for a time, hoping to find a way to exorcise her demon. She was finally freed by a staff of demon destruction designed by Iellan Tach to use against the Sunfighter. Trissia has one daughter, Johnette, who she is currently raising in Talaria after the Farstalker was destroyed by Kynvelyn and Fleegle.
• Rip Hunter: The demigod of Time, Rip Hunter is a man from the future who designed a massive Time Sphere that he uses to keep the timestream clear of paradox. Rip helped the Sewer Tour free Warp from The Wall, and later assisted the future Sunfighter, Timrin Dalliar, to stabilize the Sunfighter's existance by helping Threnody to rescue Sway from the future. He later helped Sway find the lost city of Trade, though he lost an arm in combat with Wyvern. Reports of his death have been highly exaggerated.

Upcoming Events

Well, that's the first issue of the all-new STR... hope you found it enjoyable and all that whatnot. Even though there's a year before the actual game, there's a lot to do to get there, and I'll need your help to do it. Please please please please reply to all the important questions that come up, ranging from character stuff to reservation stuff. If I'm going to plan this well, I'll need to hear back from people quickly on matters. Remember, I can only do STR updates when I've heard from everyone!

Also, if you've got any documentation from the Ataniel Campaign, please send me a copy. I'm trying to work up a universal archive of the game, so if you've got stuff, whether it be stories, notes, pictures, whatever... please let me at it!

I'm enclosing an address list so that everyone can get in contact with everyone else. Send all character/NPC/villain/plot song suggestions to Jonah, who has volunteered to do a Three Years of Ataniel soundtrack.

Next time out, I'll have a big article on Dexy LaRue and the Email Game. If you've got any of those mails archived, I'd love a copy! Also, the Villains Who's Who and (hopefully) all of the hotel information. Remember... plan around the weekend now so that nothing comes up when it gets closer!

Anyway, looking forward to all of this, and believe me... it's great to be back on Ataniel.

Doug

Get in touch with me at:

Douglass Barr / blackflak@aol.com

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