The Free Anachronic Society of Aalban

Few have heard of the underground faction known as the Free Anachronic Society. Based in the mechanically progressive Principality of Aalban, the Anachronics are reputed to detest all forms of science and employ subversive methods to destroy machinery and other technological creations. Little do these wizards realize that theirs is a long and dangerous tradition shadowed in deceit and conspiracy.

Flaemish Origins

After the arrival of the Flaems on Mystara and their settlement in the Highlands, most of the Flaemish wizards sought to work their traditional sorceries in this new world. Very few were inclined to explore the new magic of this world, as such unorthodox pursuits were considered impractical, and ultimately useless.

It was a young Flaemish pioneer named Derk Aelden who unearthed the bizarre artifact called the Slate of Gray Sorcery, a single flat square piece of a light yet durable slate-gray material that flashed with scintillating images and whistled with discordant chirps and tunes. Ever the showman, Derk Aelden frequently exhibited his fascinating discovery to the stodgy Flaems, demonstrating its inexplicable "Gray Sorcery" that defied the magic of the Flaemish wizards, as well as a melodramatic (yet surprisingly accurate) recounting of its mysterious origins from an ancient civilization of strange and unparalleled magic that eventually destroyed itself with its own magnificent power.

In Search of Blackmoor

Using the Slate of Gray Sorcery, Derk was able to locate other Blackmoor artifacts found within the Highland territories, until his collection expanded to a remarkable seven pieces over the decades. His knowledge and expertise about Blackmoor devices grew significantly, and his fascination over Blackmoor soon turned to obsession. His final dream to travel back in time to the era of Blackmoor remained unfulfilled at his death.

The most tragic irony of Derk Aelden was that he was not a magic-user. Because of this, his usage of the "Gray Sorcery" became all the more baffling to the Flaems; by the token, the Flaemish wizards could never accept nor give credence to Derk Aelden's wondrous discoveries.

Shadow Over the Highlands

Daneel Hasvoen was the daughter of the Blackmoor antiquary Derk Aelden, and an equally eccentric Flaemish sorceress. Though she never took her father's name, she had never forgotten his legacy. Daneel was a brilliant student of magic who rose up the elite ranks of the Flaemish Fire Wizards, until she became one of the secret practitioners of the mysterious Radiance. Daneel was convinced that the source of the Radiance, the Nucleus of the Spheres, was itself an enormous Blackmoor artifact, and she soon undertook an experiment employing the Radiance, in conjunction with her father's most treasured device, the Slate of Gray Sorcery.

The results were swift and catastrophic. Daneel was vaporized by the implosion of pure magical energies. Her accomplices also died, and were reanimated as lightning zombies. Worst of all, magic ceased to function for nearly an hour all throughout the Highlands, and perhaps beyond.

A tribunal of Fire Wizards investigated the circumstances surrounding the Hour of Dread. And since the perpetrators had already been punished by their own misdeeds, the Flaemish wizards instigated a radical campaign, with the singular purpose of "keeping the Light of the Radiance from ever being shadowed by Gray Sorcery."

The Keepers of the Radiant Flame

Thus began the frantic, if fanatic, hunt for Blackmoor artifacts and all things scientific and technological. Those who resisted surrendering such devices were duly feebleminded, or even executed, by the Flaemish militants who dubbed themselves the Keepers of the Radiant Flame.

Within a year, the ranks of the Keepers swelled to a veritable army of apprentice magic-users, soldiers, and thieves. The Keepers also began abusing their power, engaging in theft and unlawful arrests, accepting bribes, or keeping the Blackmoor devices for themselves, instead of properly destroying or disposing of them. And when all technological devices were effectively eradicated from the Flaemish Highlands, the Keepers turned to confiscating legitimate magical treasures, claiming them to be artifacts of Blackmoor!

As a result, the Flaemish authorities greatly curtailed the Keepers of the Radiant Flame, limiting them to a select cabal of Flaemish wizards. But like a great blaze smothered to a tiny ember, their fiery conviction and heated vigilance could not be sustained, and the campaign against science and technology was eventually relegated to a mere anecdote of magical history and a minor policy of Flaemish law.

Gray Sorcery Descending

Centuries passed, and only the few stalwart guardians of Flaemish tradition could even remember the Keepers of the Radiant Flame and their original mission. In the past century, the Flaemish Counts of High Sonden, Vexer Verlien and the famous archwizard, Garnaar Verlien, observed the rising once more of the dreaded "Gray Sorcery" in the Highlands, now called the Principalities of Glantri.

In the Principality of Aalban, populated by a race of mixed Hattian and Alphatian bloodlines, the people had an unhealthy fascination with machinery and technology, from miniature clockworks to gargantuan war machines. Moreover, the Aalbanese harbored many gnomes—considered puny offshoots of dwarves and hin, but cleverly disguised with illusions—who manufactured gadgets and tinkered with gizmos that defied the logical laws of magic.

Following the traditions of the Keepers of the Radiant Flame, Lord Vexer and later Lord Garnaar occasionally hired covert operatives to sabotage the machine works of the Aalbanese, perhaps enough that technology would never threaten the progress of magic, but not sufficient to halt the advancement of scientific invention.

The Free Anachronic Society of Aalban

In AC 959, Countess Sinaria Verlien of High Sonden, daughter and successor of Lord Garnaar Verlien, took on the mantle of the Keeper of the Radiant Flame to a more militant, if rather subversive, level. Together with her close friend and another staunch advocate of Flaemish traditions, Lady Wilhelmine Vlaardoen, wife of the Prince of Bergdhoven, Lady Sinaria concocted an intricate plot to prevent the progress of scientific technology, as well as to undermine the political stability of the Principality of Aalban, where the ruling House Ritterburg was already divided into Hattian and Aalbanese factions.

The two Flaemish wizardesses sent agents disguised as Alphatian wizards to Frau Gertrud von Drachenfels, wife of Prinz Jaggar von Drachenfels of Aalban and the highest-ranking Alphatian in Aalbanese society, with the plea to join the Free Anachronic Society of Aalban, a secret group dedicated to the halting of technology lest it hinder the ways of magic. The Anachronics would target the developers of machinery and gadgetry, most of whom were Hattians—an aspect that appealed to the Alphatian Frau Gertrud, who agreed to become its leader. The belligerent Anachronic Society successfully sabotaged many technological undertakings in Aalban for many years, which pleased the Alphatian powers that be, as well as the Flaemish masterminds behind the scenes.

The Wrath of the Immortals War and the subsequent events that followed greatly affected the powers behind the Free Anachronic Society of Aalban. The Alphatian leaders were all but decimated, with Lady Serena Aendyr, wife of the Alphatian Prince of Blackhill, killed in the Great Meteor crash in AC 1006, and Frau Gertrud von Drachenfels murdered in AC 1010. Even the two Flaemish instigators became ineffective in the direction of the Anachronics, with Lady Wilhelmine Vlaardoen dying in AC 1009, and Lady Sinaria Verlien descending into madness.

The leadership of the Anachronic Society fell into the hands of a most unlikely candidate, Frau Helgar von Drachenfels, the ineffective sister-in-law of Frau Gertrud, who espoused the agenda against technology even less that Frau Gertrud did, and was decidedly against the anti-Hattian inclinations of the Anachronics.

The Oard Menace

Because of Frau Helgar's lack of involvement with the recent activities of the Society—or perhaps, in spite of it—she has noticed that the Anachronics have continued their operations on their own. She has come to conclusion that some other entity has made a bid for control of the Anachronic Society, most likely her cousin and Frau Gertrud's former confidante, Frau Viktoria von Drachenfels, who allegedly stole documents pertaining to the Anachronics after Frau Gertrud's death.

Little do the Anachronics suspect that Frau Viktoria von Drachenfels is not the young Aalbanese magic-user they believe her to be. In fact, she is no longer the same person. The true Viktoria von Drachenfels was replaced by an agent of the oard, a highly technological race of cyborgs from the future, come to the present time from the future. Using alien technology, the oard has been manipulating the technology-hating wizards to carry out the mission: to locate the engine of the Federation Survey Ship Beagle, source its vast amounts of power, and launch a base of operations for domination over the world of Mystara.

Author: Kit Navarro