OSR Campaign Commentary And D&D Monster Ecology - The Cancer From Below In The Hollow World - Part II

"Unseen horror in a tropical primeval  paradise as your actions are not your own! Your thoughts can not be trusted, & there's a growing lurking horror of something alien within your thoughts guiding you while your will seems to be sucked away! Your unseen masters have come to call! "

Alright last time we got together gentle I spoke about the growing cancer that manifests in the Hollow Earth setting for BECMI Dungeons & Dragons in Mystara. Well, that's only a part the Kopru cancer that once ruled a good section of the world's ocean islands of Mystara. In the Hollow World they rule entire continental empires & they have a few holdings above on the surface world especially the  X1 The Isle of Dread location.



Not only is this a central location but with its connection to the Elemental Plane of Water its a perfect launch point continue their covert war with the Mind erm Brain Lashers & Aboliths. These races have had an on going war for eons! But surely the Kopru are no match for the sheer malice & malignacy of the Brain Lashers or the Abolith?! Well in point of fact the Kopru can control thousands of humans & demi humans with their mind altering abilities. You can see the Lovecraftian danger of the the Kopru in this unofficial fifth editition fan update of the race I stumbled across.
But its really X1 The Isle of Dread adventure that's the key to some of the alien  operations of Kopru.
If you accept the cannon of  Issue No. 114 of Dungeon magazine which saw the Isle of Dread's incarnation into the Greyhawk setting!




We get some really nasty details & updates;

"Issue No. 114 of Dungeon magazine features an update on the Isle of Dread as a Greyhawk setting, a remake-sequel to The Isle of Dread entitled Torrents of Dread,^[12] and a poster-style map of the island, as well some smaller surrounding islands.^[4]
In this update, the island was located in the Densac Gulf, a region bordered by the Azure Sea to the north, the Pearl Sea to the south, the Amedio Jungle to the west, and Hepmonaland to the east. This large expanse of ocean contains several island chains, one of which is the Isle of Dread itself. The update details a kopru plot that destroyed the city of the original Olman settlers through the power of a giant black pearl imbued with the influence of Demogorgon, the demonic god of the kopru. The isle has become a mad collection of kopru, other aquatic races, demonic beings, dinosaurs, and savage Olman natives."

There are some really weird & very alien qualities about the Kopru:

• They are neutral evil yet they worship Demogorgon a chaotic evil god but I suspect they worship a vast array of weird Lovecraftian gods. 
• Their biology is very specifically geared to their environment meaning that their home plane is very tropical & deadly in nature. 
• They cause ruin & chaos where their found across the multiverse & they are truly one of the more alien monsters in Basic Dungeons & Dragons. 
• The Kopru are universally hated by almost every player I've talked with. They make excellent background adventure masters. 
• In OSR games the Kopru are still pursuing their slow conquest & war. Many races hate them with a vengeance & destroy them wherever their found.
• In Dark Albion they'd be chaotic horrors who would be outright warred upon & their followers exterminated without mercy.

So what are they doing in the Hallow World ?! Well, the Kopru are a neutral evil race who worship a Chaotic Evil demon god. They're origins I would suspect are strongly connected with many of the other alien Lovecraftian eldritch abomination gods we've seen as fans of Dungeons & Dragons . That means that we might see hundreds of cells of Kopru headed Lovecraftian  cults across the multiverse.
But what is their real agenda? Next time we dive into the deep end of the Kopru's operations & their enemies!