Domain Idea: New Phrenesis, Land of the Hidden Madness

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Leliel
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Domain Idea: New Phrenesis, Land of the Hidden Madness

Post by Leliel »

Anyway, been watching a game called "Fran Bow" recently, and while I won't spoil it for you, I was struck by how much of a Ravenloft domain it is. Hell, we even have an all-too-human darklord pulling the strings of the far more obvious monster (assuming it's not all in the titular Fran's head of course-in which case he created the monster, as what that man did? Is awful).

So, in honor of Savage Ravenloft coming out, I've decided to throw out some ideas to expand the idea into a full domain, to be expanded on (maybe) after I get back from Hawaii.

So, to start with; New Pherensis is a new neighbor to Paridon, the slightly larger domain having attached itself to Zhestria by a suddenly-appearing large lake (the joke is that the lake is, in effect, a Pond, since Pherensis is more akin to 1930s-40s America than Victorian England). Its big thing is psychological horror and hidden reality; if you push against the veil of secrecy hiding the corruption and blatantly supernatural elements, you quickly find nobody's sure what's real anymore. Worse, a lot of it is, or at least real enough to the point where strangers can agree on what it is. What is definitely real, though, is the callousness; I'm aiming for, I guess you could say, a somewhat Punk vibe, in that it turns out the higher one is in society, generally speaking the more corrupt one is, to the point where "tearing it down" is probably not a bad plan. The main theme of the villains is "callousness"; using and abusing others simply because it was expedient to their goals, not out of any actual (personal) malevolence. The banality of evil.

So, the big three themes are:

* Psychological Horror/The Uncertainty of Reality: Really the same thing, but let's just say that just because it's all in your head doesn't mean it isn't really happening...but what's happening is a little vaguer. Difficulty in communication is covered by this theme too.

* The Banality of Evil: Just how normal corruption is should alarm people. New Pherenesis is very much a society stuck in gangster and organized crime culture, and the government is even worse, to say nothing of openly operating hate groups. Just how much is due to people just thinking it's normal and how much is malice should be a question up in the air.

* The Hidden World: A subset of the Uncertainty of Reality, this is my love letter to White Wolf; there's a huge supernatural world out there, wonderful and terrible, that is waiting to greet you if you go to seek it. Unlike classic White Wolf, the idea is that everyone is actually in on the secret, but loudly chooses to not find actual concrete information out of fear; it's gotten to the point where denial is a daily part of every life, to tie in with the Banality of Evil theme.

Any other thoughts?
I am The Archangel of Night.
I am the Guardian of Shadow
I am the Vindicator of the Unknown
I am..Leliel.
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