Inspiration: Thieves World

I've mentioned before my desire to take elements of Mystara as a template for an adventuring setting, mix in other elements of interest like Freeport and the Majestic Wilderlands, and have a slightly familiar, slightly different setting to play in.

And, despite the knowledge that I don't currently have a regular gaming group that would play in such a setting, it's a part of the hobby that I do enjoy working on.

Thieves' World is another element of interest that I would draw from. It was a series of anthologies detailing a city full of cutthroats and worse -- so much so that one character was known as "the only honest man" there.

It was part of a larger Rankan Empire, and as the Rankan Empire slowly eroded and fell, the city -- called Sanctuary -- began to take on importance as (possibly) the center of a new Empire that would grow and change the face of the world.

In Mystara, the Rankan Empire could quite easily by substituted with the Alphatian or Thyatian Empire. Alphatia will, of course, disappear from the face of Brun in the War of the Immortals -- and Thyatis, much weakened, is very much like an evaporating Empire.

Other element of use: different schools of magic (ones that will never be available to PCs due to their rarity and secrecy) like the cursed mage Enas Yorl and the mysterious mage of the blue star Lythande, locales like the Vulgar Unicorn, insight into the dealings of a Prince sent away from his family, and more 'mature' elements of fantasy like the slave trade and the Sacred Band of Stepsons.

Interestingly enough, several RPG supplements have been out for this shared world setting -- though I've never been able to pick one up and indeed only played a boardgame based on it!