Big Ticket Mystery Theatre

The second post about questions posed by G+ readers. It's a few days late as I was away at the weekend at a birthday party, and I had a very busy week in general. However, here we are. This weeks question was from Chris Kutalik of Hill Cantons fame. His question was this:

What about the big ticket mysteries? Without spoilers, what are the strangest and deepest unexplained things about the world the players might encounter in their adventures?

The primary game mystery (or mysteries, really) revolves around the island of Thyle. What really happened there 200 years ago? What caused the Cerulean Plague, aka the Blue? What happened to the people who didn’t get off the island before the cordon was put in place? What happened to the Dwarves (and their goblin slaves) and the Elves, who retreated into their Vaults and forests respectively? What happened to the previous expeditions?

Then there are some less immediate mysteries:

What’s going on in distant Lutha? Once, Luthan merchants brought spices, foreign metals, woods and cloths to market from the far West. In recent years this trade has all but vanished, and no-one seems to know why. There are rumours of conquest and war, but no concrete information has filtered down to the ears of the common folks.

What do the Dwarves do with all their gold? Dwarves *never* make payments in gold. They will merrily make purchases in silver, gems and other valuables, but gold is strictly a one way deal. What do they do with it?

How does someone become a Saint? Pretty much everyone knows that the Saints were once mortals and that they somehow achieved apotheosis. However, there’s little or no information about how they managed it – even those Saints who have manifested to their followers are hazy on the subject.

Who are ‘The Makers’, the gods of the Dwarves?

Who or what is behind the Drachenmen? (Think Reavers from Firefly)