Domain of the Month
Liffe
Adventure Hooks
Darklord: Baron Eversong
Liffe info in 3e: none yet
Second edition: Book of Crypts, Domains of Dread
Joël of the Fraternity
In my campaign, I had Baron Evensong's Manor as a floating domain à la Phantom Lover tower. IMHO, Evensong is an adventure useable once only, so a pocket domain was more approptiate.
ScS of the Fraternity
Baron Eversong has got to be one of the most pathetic, most poorly written lords of all time. Read his background - it looks like something from an Kargatane BOS_ reject-pile. Why he deserved such a huge domain, while excellent lords got the shaft is a mystery that would have Azalin scratching his head. But, since Bards rule in 3.5, perhaps some of the ideas can be salvaged...
I once proposed an alternate Liffe, populated by three different ethnic groups. Perhaps three different faiths, or three races (elves, humans, dwarves?). For now, let's call them A, B and the relatively newcomer group, C.
Baron Eversong would be a commoner bard, who traces his family past all the way back to ancient nobility - hense the title Baron. His native land was populated by the people known as AB, and a tiny minority of merchants from group C. A natural born bigot, Eversong blamed his family's downfall on the merchant caste C. He used his potent mind control abilities to gather more men of his thinking, and influence others to violence. He organized several race riots, pogroms and ect... The local Duke, irritated by the unrest caused by Eversong, ordered Eversong's death. Fleeing the squad sent out after him, Eversong ducked into a fogbank, and emerged in Liffe.
Liffe is now a domain populated by groups A, B and C. Group A and B represent Eversong's own race - either group representing one of two aspects - ex: one signifies Religion, the other a code of Honour. Both of these groups are at each other's throats. Group C, on the otherhand, is very prosperous - neither A nor B has any beef with them, and they need the goods that C imports and access to the markets to which C sells.
Eversong is baron, his birthright finally acknowledged. Yet, he must watch as his people die while his enemies prosper. His attempts to reconcile a peace between A&B always fail - some loud mouth always appears at the right moment and organizes a new riot. Furthermore, every time he tries to use his abilities to incite violence, his curse switches the blame from C to A or B.
David of the Frat
Well, since the best adventures need not revolve around the Lord I see no problems with Liffe. Heck, the land is pretty much a Tabula Rasa, anything is possible.
The main things with Liffe are the struggle between the commoners and nobility and rising middle-class as well as the Baron's struggle to keep the island independent and yet the increasing ties between the nobles and the mainland. That almost justifies the large island on the Core, the fact that you have this Lord that would appreciate being an Island of Terror due to the total solitude.
I'd play up that aspect. The tourists from the Core come to this land, the influx of settlers hoping for a better life and the people who now spend their lives in trade and profiting from the position. Farmers work harder to produce more crops to sell across sea which they use to hire more hands and produce even more product. Meanwhile there are the newly starting craftsmen anxiously producing their wares for sell overseas and the traders and explorers hoping for new exotics to bring back. Heck, you could run a whole campaign of explorers from Liffe doing reconnaissance for a wealthy noble looking for the next 'new' thing.
Given that many craftsmen are so new to their skill and may lack the years of experience they might be better are mimicking the crafts from Darkon and Nova Vassa producing copies and knock-off products. I can see waves of cheap supposedly masterwork Darkon pottery being sold in ports across the Nocturnal Sea. This adds an irony to the situation, one class of people is desperate to trade and so much needs to be imported that there is little to offer. The wealthy nobles risk spending more than they are making and everyone scrambles to produce wealth, players might be needed to see out new ore veins, guard what little valuables are there, procure something of tradable value and the like.
There might also be heavily xenophobic elements, the language barriers and the like being mixed with the lord's wish for isolation. I can see problems such as crime and the rise in depravity and social unrest being blamed on outside influence and sedition. There might be strong groups working against the foreign devils and trying to keep the land pure. This is especially hard on the influx of colonists and settlers as well as the traders.
As for the lord himself… Okay, this is harder without changing any elements as presented but lets see if I can fan-wank some explanation or offer some improvements.
Baron Eversong strikes me as a sociopath, he simply cannot express empathy for any other living thing, it escapes him. It would be easy to play him as a tortured failure of a bard then, unable to capture emotion, but that darklord role has been filled (too Juste as Igor might say). Instead he became a bard strictly to manipulate the emotions of these inferior people and abuse the empathy they felt; manipulate them through song or his spells and where that failed a little physical persuasion. This led him to enchant his harpsichord that I would rework as a phylactery. That makes that Baron a manipulative control freak which adds that much more emphasis to his ruling an island filled with people he can't control. A tad too much like d'Honaire but it's a start.
I'd also make Baron Eversong impatient; he has the raw talent to convince people through song and music, saw them to his cause and philosophies but quite frankly he just does not have the patience to slowly work away at them. He makes token efforts to impart his 'wisdom' before he gives up and resorts to magic or force. He's a thinker and a dreamer, a philosopher with a twisted outlook who believes he must convince others to follow his beliefs. Ravenloft's version of Descartes but with a musical edge. This adds a twist to his curse, how every night for him lasts a hundred years. He has all the time in the world, he is practically an immortal and he has naught to do but theorize and think and debate with himself but during the day he must act quickly. He has centuries to plan for the weekend but he always feels rushed when the time comes. Of course if he slowed down he could easily plan out his actions and prepare the perfect plans that could sway the masses to his will, but he always fails. He always botches his plans.
According to the Book of Crypts the Baron cannot leave his manor. I would adjust that so he cannot step too far away from his harpsichord and thus effectively the manor. But at the end of the adventure it was presumably destroyed along with the rest of the study. So that changes things. Instead the Baron managed to survive as it was merely smashed not totally destroyed. After repairing it he had the intelligence (after 200 years of thought of course) to keep a sliver or two separate and on his person and thus he can freely roam the countryside. Of course every night, wherever he is, he is transported back to the study. I can't decide if after the night he is returned to where he was or always returns to the manor. It might just be easier to say he has three harpsichords in three identical studies and he returns to the nearest each night to give him more free reign of the domain opposed to being trapped in a 60 mile radius.
Manofevil: Your descriptions remind me of Bill the Butcher from the movie 'Gangs of New York'. If you're looking for a model for this DarkLord, perhaps that's it.
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