Historic Notes

While cleaning up, I ran across some old notes I had scribed from some books. Of course I didn't actually, you know, write down the books. That would have made too much sense. These must come from another really old notebook as they're on the tiny paper.

The Mongols kept power in the Eastern Steppes and the Khanates of the Chagati and the Golden Horde survived at the end of the 15th Century.

In the Middle East, many of the Mongols turned to Islam and were assimilated by their Persian and Turkic subjects.

Timur the Lame (Chingis Khan?)

Ilkkhanate

Delhi Sultanate

1420-1432 Bohemian Crusade: Emperor Sigismund, Hussite Heresy

1454 Construction of the Topkapi palace is begun at Istanbul.

1467-1477 Rise of the daimyo and feudalism (Onin War)

1478 Moscow refused to pay Golden Horde.

1478 Foundation of the Spanish Inquisition

1480 Ivan III stops payment to the Golden Horde

1484 Papa Bull Summis desiderantes affectibus

1492 Jews expelled from Stalin


1492 The Fall of Granada is the final piece of Christian Victory in Spain.

1449 Oirat Mongols capture the Ming Emperor at Dumv.

1502 Final breakup of the Golden Horde

1517-1526 Babur- descendant of Timur and Chingis Khan invades India and founds Mughal Empire.

Mamluke Sultanate
Alexandria
Giza
Damietta: Sugar, Cotton
Cairo
Ivory from central and southern Africa.

Silk, gems, spices, drugs, ivory, aromatic gums, dyes, Arabia, India, Southeast Asia and Eastern Africa.

Alamut: Assassin stronghold

Al-Qadmus
Khawabi
Tripoli

Isfahan: Towres from Skulls

Timur the Lame

Matrix

Matrix

In the underworld, many horrid and terrible creatures live and prosper. Among those are trolls, skeletons and the drow.

Matrix is the last of these horrid beings and loves it. The drow are dark elves who were driven to the lands below the surface but only became stronger.

Recently a great war of light and darkness tore through the core of the planet. Matrix's parents were but a few of those slain. Thus Matrix practiced both fighting and shadow skills or thieving skills.

Now three years after his initial training, Matrix was ready to leave his clan. Yet the House of Sodidl would not allow him to, for assassin fighters were rare, and those with his fiery determination were fewer.

But the will of Matrix was not to be denied...

And Matrix knew of a resting place for a great old troll. This would prove to be the perfect chance to escape unto the surface world, and extract harsh vengeance.

The troll's eyes awakened. Blood red with sleet and an erie look of tiredness. It had slept long but now, it was awakening, it was awakening to the scent of fresh meat, of drow.

It burrowed into stone with claws able to rend metal into dust. It completely surprised the drow party, save for one with two daggers and a sadistic smile.

Writer's Current Notes

WOW. That's terrible for me to read. I have no clue what this one was, I'm suspecting the background to a drow fighter assassin NPC I had called Matrix. Now that may seem obvious, but I don't know if this was actual NPC background or if I was attempting to write something inspired by the character.

I was at the height of Drizzt is terrible and you should feel bad for liking him so I made a drow NPC. This had to be around the time 2nd edition first started as I'm sure this guy would have been rolled up using the old Unearthed Arcana rules where you got something like 9 Dice for your primary stat.

I keep meaning to pick up that reprint of Unearthed Arcana  for 1st edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons just for S&G sake.

On the other hand, it could very well have been the old Polyhedron magazine where it had customized xp charts for multi-class characters combined with the Dragon magazine that had the Unearthed Arcana methodology for rolling races or multi-class characters? Been a while.

That fragment was found on a folded sheet inside of another piece of paper. Ancient writings indeed!

Matrix Fragment 2

The now defeated wizard, Hork Thesis, slayer of a legend, and the scourge of truth, now found himself being stalked.

The strange human body he gained control of with the now useless bloodstone grew tired. Hork turned around to see if the hunter was still alive. The fireball he had cast should have totally burned the flesh off it.

Yet only fiery eyes and a shrewd smile was behind him when he turned. Matrix the dark grand father had come to take vengeance for an act committed decades ago.

Panic filled Hork's heart as he lifted his hands to unleash mystical bolts, yet Matrix leapt upon Hork screaming oaths of a horrid nature.

Somehow Hork managed to hit Matrix with one of the bolts. Matrix screamed as shattered chain mail pierced drow flesh.

Now a surge of confidence arose from the high elf. His foe was one of the cursed ilk of elves, a drow. He arrogantly stood over the wounded drow and drew his magical longsword.

Even in his pain, Matrix could smell the magic. Quickly he called upon the natural ability of all dark elves. The ability to cast darkness, and aimed at Hork's head. He could barely stand much less attack.

Matrix kicked Hork in the groin and unsheathed his own magic sword. Hork fell to his knees with bears beginning to fill his eyes.

Hork slashed in a blur of agony and desperation and was easily blocked by Matrix who was ignoring the shrapnel in his left side.

Now it was HOrk's turn to scream as Matrix attacked and severed his hand.

Blood flowed freely and Matrix relished in his almost too easy victory for Hork was crawling away.The taste of victory almost became those of ashes for with the one good hand, Hork hurled a dagger at the dark elf's heart.

Writer's Current Notes II

Oh man, it only gets worse in that second fragment. I have no clue if I had an actual story going on here or was somehow involving the PC's in a quest to kill a corrupted high elf or what.

It looks like Hork was a high elf who used a magic item called a bloodstone to transfer from body to body, and that Hork was responsible for the original catastrophe that claimed the lives of Matrix's parents and that Matrix would have vengeance!

The fight scene is also terrible. It reads almost like an anime in how quickly the character goes from so wounded he can't stand to cutting Hork's hand off.

Ah well. Interesting to see what the writing was like back in the day.