The story before the history?

[Nox]

So, question is: I saw some timelines, and in those i saw i see there are events prior to Barovia. what does this means? like -1500, -1450 and so on.
What happened and where those event happened? What was demiplane of dread before Barovia appears?

Thank you in advance

[thekristhomas]

Because RL is made up from many worlds, some of the stories of the characters start before the story of Strahd and Barovia start, for example Soth is from Krynn, and was an undead knight centuries before Strahd was even born, his timeline then starts way before that of the demiplane itself and he doesn't enter RL until after it has coalesced around Strahd.

Also, the demiplane we know is not the first demiplane of dread, merely the current one, there have been previous demiplanes and it maybe that there will be future versions, and some of the inhabitants and relics of the current age are in fact refugees/leftovers from the last, now defunct, incarnation of what we call Ravenloft, examples of these might be the Paka and the Crown of Souls.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Also, there's false history in many domains. Events that the inhabitants remember, and may have records and even evidence of, but that couldn't have happened because the domain didn't exist.

[Nox]

Also, there's false history in many domains. Events that the inhabitants remember, and may have records and even evidence of, but that couldn't have happened because the domain didn't exist.

thanks to both. But if the domain is old (100+years) people will
know the stories of the "false history" but they will not remember the events right?.

[ewancummins]

Given the possibility of many alternate prime planes/crystal spheres, some of which are close to one another in historical and cultural development, it seems to me that the " false histories' could be mostly true. The Mists steal people and even villages and countryside from other worlds, and then something edits the memories of the abducted people to fit into existing stories.
Maybe something generic(and true) like " invaders" becomes specific (but false) "Invidians."
References to nomads and tinkers are now remembered as accounts of the Vistani.

[thekristhomas]

It can get quite confusing when it comes down to those domains that have "no" history because their DLs are natives of RL. I'm still not sure what happened to Borca in between the formation of the demiplane and Camille Dilisnya entering the mists, whether it was surrounded by mists but separated from Barovia as it's inhabitants believe or created from scratch. Also it's entirely possible that Borca is not a reflection of any PM location and that historical links between Borca and Barovia are false histories from both nation

[ewancummins]

It can get quite confusing when it comes down to those domains that have "no" history because their DLs are natives of RL. I'm still not sure what happened to Borca in between the formation of the demiplane and Camille Dilisnya entering the mists, whether it was surrounded by mists but separated from Barovia as it's inhabitants believe or created from scratch. Also it's entirely possible that Borca is not a reflection of any PM location and that historical links between Borca and Barovia are false histories from both nation

My preferred way to handle it:


Borca and Dorvinia were principalities formed from the rump of Barovia, the border provinces left behind on the Prime when the Mists descended on the heartland of Barovia.

The border region remained inhabited, but suffered a period of faction wars as noble families, guilds, and sects vied for dominance.

Outside empires did not see this region as an attractive conquest, because it bordered the cursed land of Old Barovia, from whose choking mists few escaped.

Later, the mists expanded. The border country people found they could once more travel into Barovia, but the routes to other, more familiar countries were blocked or led elsewhere.
This revelation caused social and religious chaos.

[thekristhomas]

It can get quite confusing when it comes down to those domains that have "no" history because their DLs are natives of RL. I'm still not sure what happened to Borca in between the formation of the demiplane and Camille Dilisnya entering the mists, whether it was surrounded by mists but separated from Barovia as it's inhabitants believe or created from scratch. Also it's entirely possible that Borca is not a reflection of any PM location and that historical links between Borca and Barovia are false histories from both nation

My preferred way to handle it:


Borca and Dorvinia were principalities formed from the rump of Barovia, the border provinces left behind on the Prime when the Mists descended on the heartland of Barovia.

The border region remained inhabited, but suffered a period of faction wars as noble families, guilds, and sects vied for dominance.

Outside empires did not see this region as an attractive conquest, because it bordered the cursed land of Old Barovia, from whose choking mists few escaped.

Later, the mists expanded. The border country people found they could once more travel into Barovia, but the routes to other, more familiar countries were blocked or led elsewhere.
This revelation caused social and religious chaos.

So in your PM Barovia there is mist surrounding the domain?

[ewancummins]

In my take on it:

Before the massacre at Castle Ravenloft Barovia was fully a part of its Prime world.

After the massacre, the choking fog rises. Barovia became a fading land (a Greyhawk thing, basically a small Demiplane coterminous or linked with the Prime instead of existing as an island in the Ethereal). You could walk right in, but the choking fog made getting out harder.


Over time, the fading land of Barovia transitioned into the Ethereal, forming a new Demiplane. Now the Mists liked it to other worlds, but only intermittently and mostly one way.
It was becoming a Demiplane when Strahd entered Mordent during a planar conjunction.

After that transition from fading land to Demiplane was complete, only wilderness and ruins remained in what had been prime planar Barovia. The choking fog dissipated. Explorers and adventurers entered. The land was resettled by Balok-speaking people led by a scion of the ancient Von Zarovich family, who re-established the fallen Kingdom. Only fragmentary records and garbled legends survived from the old realm, so the truth about Strahd and what happened at the wedding and after was lost.



I'm not by any means a canon purist, but this seems like a good way to reconcile conflicting information from various editions and modules.