Mauristatia

Mauristatia is one of the major lands of the Old World in Titan. Mauristatia is situated between Kakhabad to the east and Femphrey to the west. Mauristatia is north of Lendleland, and south of Gallantaria, Brice and Ruddlestone.

It is a large but generally inaccessible region, covered with mountain ranges and alpine forests. Mauristatia has been described as "that cloud-capped, frost-bitten realm of unforgiving mountain peaks and brooding forests." Mauristatia lacks a central government, and is split between several pettily feuding principalities. Mauristatia is infamous for producing many of the greatest Vampire dynasties of all time. In particular, the Heydrich family dominated the province of Mortvania for centuries, whilst it is possible that the Vampire Lords of Vannan also originated here.

Another of its better known provinces is Lupravia, which has long suffered from the depredations of were-beasts, including the House of Wulfen. The province of Bathoria also lies within Mauristatia, although the only thing known about it is that it is infamous for producing numerous death-cults. Crolia is a province whose inhabitants often serve as soldiers in Kharé. The eastern part of Mauristatia is the home of several strange races of Ape.

History

Main article: A History of Mortvania

According to one source, in ancient times King Harar reigned over the Irritarian kingdom of Granat, in the lands that would, after the Splitting of Irritaria, become Mauristatia. It is also believed by some that the Kingdom of Karazan, home of Prince Goldhawk, was in Mauristatia, after the Splitting.

As civilization began to return to the region later called the Old World, Mauristatia was initially shunned by the Human tribes settling the various lands, due to its montane geography. Despite this, some groups of Human ramblers settled in the country. These included the peaceful Klanywar peoples, who fled to northern Mauristatia from Gallantaria to escape being enslaved by Orjan the Builder and his son Regulus. In Mauristatia the Klanywar befriended the Mortani, wanderers who worshipped trickster gods. The Mortani were the descendants of the nomadic tribesmen who first settled that mountainous land. Some years afterwards, the famous warlord Crol led a group of tribes from the south, who settled in the eastern area of Mauristatia. Crol's tribes intermarried with the the Mortani and the Klanywar. However, the tribes retained their distinctive language, Crolian. Most Humans in present-day Mauristatia are descended from Crolians, though some have Klanywar and Mortani ancestry as well.

Some years after the Splitting, a mysterious, evil magician called Marrangha, a renegade member of the Netherworld Sorcerers, began practicing evil magic in eastern Mauristatia, not far from Lake Lumlé. Marrangha's depraved enchantments involved mixing and warping different creatures of different species. The magician had two daughters: Alaralamalatana and Alaralatanalara, one good and the other evil, but nobody remembers which was which. One of them killed her father and burnt his books, so that his father's disciples never managed to control again her father's eponymous, evil magic art. It is not known which of Marrangha's daughters murdered him.

Centuries ago, a grisly experiment by Marrangha in the Cloudcap Mountains in Mauristatia generated the race of the Fish Men.

More recently, the name of Mauristatia was given after the name of King Mauristat, son of Vengistat.

In 1998OT, the Minimites and their human allies gathered on a peak in eastern Mauristatia during the Rise of Kakhabad and carried out the powerful ritual that defeated the Kakhabadian armies of Chaos.

In the years before the War of the Four Kingdoms, the secretive group called the Cadre Infernal was very powerful among the Mauristatian aristocrats of Lupravia, Mortvania and Bathoria. After the War, the Cadre went into decline. In the later decades of the third century After Chaos, there were reports of the Cadre being revived.

Geography

A map of western Mauristatia

Although we have a map of the whole of Mauristatia in Titan - The Fighting Fantasy World, of Mortvania in Vault of the Vampire, and of some of eastern Mauristatia between Cloudcap Mountains and Lake Lumlé, there is no map showing where the various principalities lie. Nevertheless, there is some evidence suggesting the relative positions of Mortvania and Lupravia within Mauristatia (see the map to the right).

The evidence for this comes from a number of sources. In the "Background" sections of both Vault of the Vampire and Howl of the Werewolf, YOU are described as having come to Mauristatia from Femphrey and Lendleland, suggesting that both Mortvania and Lupravia are in the part of Mauristatia nearest these two lands - i.e. the (south)west.

In the map in Vault of the Vampire, the River Bloodsedge appears to flow west/north-west, with mountains to the north of Castle Heydrich. Although it is impossible to draw firm conclusions from this, locating Mortvania at the eastern end of the river flowing into Lake Cauldron north of Rorutuna would certainly make sense geographically. If so, this means that the Bloodsedge River feeds into the river which flows into Lake Cauldron or that this river is in fact the Bloodsedge.

In Howl of the Werewolf, we learn that the village of Strigoiva lies to the east of Pritzbad and Saarven in Mortvania. Saarven and Pritzbad are in the south-east of Mortvania (as revealed in the Vault of the Vampire map), and Strigoiva is in the south-west of Lupravia - see the Lupravia article for details. As indicated in this discussion of the geography of Lupravia, Strigoiva is at the south-west corner of Lupravia, whilst Wulfenstein is in the far north-east, in a gorge (Garou Gorge) in the Orsov Mountains. The Orsov Mountains, which are high, snow-covered peaks, form the northern border of Lupravia, and perhaps also the eastern border. Although the Titan map of Mauristatia is not very detailed, and the placement of the name Mauristatia may obscure other features, there seem to be two large mountain ranges in Mauristatia other than the Cloudcap Mountains in the east - one above the Mauristatia label, the other below it. Given the likely location of Mortvania to the east of the river flowing into Lake Cauldron, it seems most likely that the mountains north of the Mauristatia label are the Orsov Mountains (see the map to the right). Certainly this seems to rule out the possibility that Mortvania (and, as a consequence, Lupravia) are north or north-west of these mountains, as there are no other high mountains further north on the Titan map.

The north west of Mauristatia borders the Badlands, a lawless region between the frontiers of Mauristatia, Gallantaria and Brice. Also in the western part of Mauristatia is Mount Pyre, an active volcano.

The province of Bathoria lies in the country's north. The protagonist of Night of the Necromancer was able to travel from Ruddlestone to Bathoria and back without travelling through one of Ruddlestone's neighbouring countries, which means Bathoria must share a border with Ruddlestone. The region of Crolia lies in the country's east, on the border with Kakhabad.

Demographics

The majority of Mauristatia's inhabitants are Humans. Most live in small, poverty-stricken villages. Many of these Humans speak the Crolian language. Gnomes have been recorded living in Mortvania. There are small groups of Elvins and Black Elves dwelling near the border with Kakhabad.

Politics

Mauristatia is split into numerous provinces. Each one is governed by a different faction. Known provinces of the region include Mortvania, Bathoria, Lupravia, Crolia, Skeln and Throngard. Mortvania was long under the sovereignty of the Heydrich family of Counts. Lupravia was governed by the House of Wulfen, another dynasty of Counts, that were rumored to be cursed. Skeln is ruled by a Duke. Since numerous cult groups are based in Bathoria, it is possible this province is governed by a theocracy. The activities of the cults in Bathoria were seen as a serious threat by the other Old World nations, resulting in a military Crusade into the region.

Economy

Many Mauristatians farm or trade goods for a living.

Religion

The God of Learning, Hamaskis, is venerated by some Mauristatians. A holy man called Saint Crucius was active in Mauristatia in the past, putting right wrongs and banishing the servants of evil. Even today, Mauristatians call on his name to harm corrupt creatures. Malevolent cults devoted to the god Death are openly active in Bathoria, resulting in frequent attacks on the principality by the Lawful nations of the Old World.

Culture

"Mauristatian fine silver goods" are prized across Titan, and sold as far away as Arion in Khul. Mauristatian Chardonnay is a drink famed across the Old World. The contents of a typical Mauristatian kitchen include bread, cheese, biscuits and sweet dried fruits. Mauristatian houses are often decorated with mosaics.

Further Notes

Jonathan Green stated that Keith Martin was inspired by traditional vampire novels and films. So, in Vault of the Vampire Martin gave readers a "Fighting Fantasy version of Transylvania, realised within the mountainous Old World realm of Mauristatia, with the obligatory wolves howling at the moon, creepy forests, headless coachmen, and bat-haunted castle". Later Fighting Fantasy books that feature Mauristatia, (Green's Howl of the Werewolf and Night of the Necromancer) also use Mauristatia as the location for adventures inspired by Gothic horror.

See Also

• Vannan

Titan - The Fighting Fantasy World, (LF): (pgs. 18 )

Beyond the Pit, (pgs. 18, 26, 31, 37, 38, 57, 93, 108, 125, 130, 139, 142, 143)

Return to the Pit, (pgs. 76, 108, 126 134, 151, 155, 178, 180-1, 190, 195, 203, 208)