Specularum is a large city on the world of Mystara that can serve as an alternative starting location for the Tomb of Annihilation adventure. It functions as one of several possible replacements for the default starting location of Baldur’s Gate in the Forgotten Realms.
Role in the Adventure
Specularum is mentioned only as a suitable starting point from which the characters can learn about the death curse and begin their journey to Chult. Like other major cities in D&D settings, it provides an urban environment where rumors of the death curse would spread through streets and taverns, and where temples and scholars struggle to understand the mysterious affliction affecting those who have been raised from the dead.
The city serves the same narrative function as Baldur’s Gate, the Free City of Greyhawk (Oerth), or Sharn (Eberron) - a large settlement where the adventure can begin before the party travels to the jungle peninsula of Chult.