New World Order, or, Ravenloft Reorganized

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DeepShadow of FoS
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Post by DeepShadow of FoS »

Basic notes from 2GC IMC:
My recent campaign, Awakenings, is set in a drastically altered version of RL. The DP's have left, and the forces of the universe have caused RL to become much more like a prime material plane. Among other changes:

Strahd and Inajira were both destroyed in the conflict that drove out the DP's.

Sergei von Zarovich was resurrected as part of the same conflict, and now rules Barovia

The Mists have receded to small pockets, although they can still be summoned by Anchorites and some of the Vistani (see below).

The Vistani have begun settling down, and their powers are changing. Mist travel, curses and fortunetelling are becoming rarer, replaced by strange powers such as the ability to learn any language in seconds.

The Eternal Order, the Overseer, the Lawgiver, Zhakata and many other gods have ceased granting spells.

Gods of many worlds are vying for positions in the new pantheons.

Many inhabitants are turning their worship to powerful beings within the plane itself. Ankhtepot, The Gentleman Caller, the Illithid God-Brain, Death, Malistroi, Styrix and many others are dangerously close to godhood. There are even rumors that Madame Eva has already achieved such status, becoming the first deity of the new Vistani pantheon.

While there are no more Dark Powers checks, transposition with fiends is skyrocketing, as the inhabitants of the lower planes seek a foothold in a world with few gods left to defend it.

Darklords are free to roam, and some may even be free of their curses, but even the greatest are ill-prepared to deal with the power vacuum caused when their tormentors left.
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Nathan of the FoS
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Post by Nathan of the FoS »

Tentative groupings. When you see domains grouped like this:

Darkon
.Lamordia
.Sanguinia
.Romagna (BoS)
.(Necropolis)
.(Keening)

it means that Sanguinia, Lamordia, and Romagna are all part of Darkon politically (in this case, their political rulers are, at least nominally, vassals of Azalin Rex), and that Necropolis and Keening are located in Tir-na-Nogth and are most easily accessible from Darkon.



So:

The Core (north to south)

Vorostokov

Darkon
.Lamordia
.Sanguinia
.Romagna (BoS)
.(Necropolis)
.(Keening)

Mordent
.Dementlieu
.Staunton Bluffs
.Vultharesk (BoS)
.Paridon
.(Timor)

Falkovnia
.Seradan (BoS)
.(Faerie)

Nidalia
.Tepest
..Castle Island
.Shadowborn Manor
.Avonleigh
.(Faerie)
.(The Shadow Forest) (BoS)
Nova Vaasa
.Nosus
.Locknar Cove (BoS)
.(The Nightmare Lands)

Ricoba

Borca
.Odiare

Barovia
.Forlorn
.(Faerie)

Valachan

The Wolfwood
.Verbrek
.Invidia
.Kartakass

Hazlan

Kislova
Last edited by Nathan of the FoS on Sat Mar 17, 2007 8:56 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Post by Nathan of the FoS »

Outside of the Core:

Arkandale
Souragne
Nueva Aragona (USS)
..Resistencia (USS)
Mictlan (BoS)
..Cumbre de Oro (BoS)
Yatehcaa (USS)
Wayward (BoS)
Farelle

***
Har'Akir
..Sebua
Pharazia
Al-Kathos
..The Wounded City
The Wildlands
Nzari (USS/QtR)
***
The Sea of Sorrows
..Whal
..Blaustein
..Markovia
..Ghastria
..Vin'Ejal (BoS)
***
Coral Sea
..Portorai (homebrew, not published)
***
Nocturnal Sea
..Isle of Ravens
..Liffe
..Vechor
..(The Nightmare Lands--relatively accessible from any and all of these domains)
***
Sea of Venomous Tears
..Rokushima Taiyoo
..I'Cath
..Igid Rabi'i (BoS)
..Sri Raji
..Saragoss
***
Saarkaath (BoS)
Tovag
Kalidnay
Annaes (homebrew)
..Karst (USS)
Scarebraech (QtR)
Tsuu-y-Teke (BoS)
Last edited by Nathan of the FoS on Sat Mar 17, 2007 8:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Nathan of the FoS »

So, with this list we have some obvious points that are crying out for more detail--the seas and the "Asian-esque" domains. There's no reason for the reorganized Ravenloft to have the same proportion of "Asian" to "European" tropes we see in the real world, but it would be nice to have more than four! Also, more sea would be nice so we can space our "continents" better.

With only a few exceptions this arrangement is based on the real-world culture reflected in the domain ("Asian" domains with "Asian" and so forth), which is certainly not the only way to do it. Any ideas on what other means of organizing them might be interesting?
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Post by DeepShadow of FoS »

Nathan of the FoS wrote:Tentative groupings. When you see domains grouped like this:

Darkon
.Lamordia
.Sanguinia
.Romagna (BoS)
.(Necropolis)
.(Keening)

it means that Sanguinia, Lamordia, and Romagna are all part of Darkon politically (in this case, their political rulers are, at least nominally, vassals of Azalin Rex), and that Necropolis and Keening are located in Tir-na-Nogth and are most easily accessible from Darkon.
The notation is great, but I'm wondering about the political division. If you wanted Darkon to be an empire or hegemony, why not chop up Darkon proper into the divisions we've already seen--Mistlands, Boglands, Mountains of Misery, etc.?

Other than that, could we make the domain of Addar an umbral extension of the Forest of Shadows?
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Post by Nathan of the FoS »

DeepShadow wrote:The notation is great, but I'm wondering about the political division. If you wanted Darkon to be an empire or hegemony, why not chop up Darkon proper into the divisions we've already seen--Mistlands, Boglands, Mountains of Misery, etc.?
Well, the idea is that Darkon exerts a strong centripetal force on relatively weak polities, and so Lamordia, Sanguinia and Romagna fell beneath Avernus' sway. (It also does away with the somewhat weird question of why these "independent" places are being ruled by barons and what not.) Neither von Aubreker nor Mircea is all that hot on really ruling, Azalin is far enough away that he can pretty much be ignored when convenient, and they get the security of being protected against Falkovnian or Nova Vaasan aggression (for Lamordia and Romagna, respectively) and the perks of having the roads and other infrastructure maintained (in Sanguinia) without having to arrange for all that sort of thing themselves.
Other than that, could we make the domain of Addar an umbral extension of the Forest of Shadows?
Why not? In it goes.
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Post by DeepShadow of FoS »

Nathan of the FoS wrote:Well, the idea is that Darkon exerts a strong centripetal force on relatively weak polities, and so Lamordia, Sanguinia and Romagna fell beneath Avernus' sway. (It also does away with the somewhat weird question of why these "independent" places are being ruled by barons and what not.)
Ah, that last part's the most crucial to me. I'd prefer that all changes we implement be corrections of "giveaways" or the logical extensions of other such corrections.
Neither von Aubreker nor Mircea is all that hot on really ruling, Azalin is far enough away that he can pretty much be ignored when convenient, and they get the security of being protected against Falkovnian or Nova Vaasan aggression (for Lamordia and Romagna, respectively) and the perks of having the roads and other infrastructure maintained (in Sanguinia) without having to arrange for all that sort of thing themselves.
Sounds like we're talking about a hegemony rather than an empire, yes? Are we going to recraft the false history so that these lands were always next to each other, and have dates as to when X land was subsumed by Darkon?
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Post by Nathan of the FoS »

Oh, yes. Bluetspur goes on the moon.
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Post by Nathan of the FoS »

DeepShadow wrote:Sounds like we're talking about a hegemony rather than an empire, yes? Are we going to recraft the false history so that these lands were always next to each other, and have dates as to when X land was subsumed by Darkon?
H'm...could you clarify what you mean by "hegemony" vs. "empire"? The political rulers of these realms are (nominally) feudal vassals of the Emperor, in a way similar to the way the Electors and other princes and lesser nobles of
Germany were vassals of the Holy Roman Emperor. (There are others in Darkon proper, but we haven't gotten to that level of detail yet.)
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Post by DeepShadow of FoS »

I mean the borders of Darkon have not officially moved to encompass Lamordia--for example--either with troops or the threat of them. Imperialist powers tend to take over a nation-state by force and either install a puppet government or just totally redesign the land. Hegemonical powers tend to conquer by less ruthless means and leave the leader in place if he/she swears fealty. The latter is cheaper economically, but can lead to more rebellion. Of course most states are a mix of both.

So I guess the questions are, do the Lamordians swear loyalty to Von Aubrecker or to Azalin? Do the Kargat operate in Lamordia? If a Lamordian criminal is put on trial, does Darkonese law ever figure into it?
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Post by DeepShadow of FoS »

May I suggest that we do away with false history entirely? In terms of raw real estate, the domain was always there; Adam's darklordship coincided with political upheavals that "happened" to produce the barony of Lamordia. The upheavals could actually have started long before hand, but simply came to a head on the same night.

Now THAT's subtle.
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Post by Nathan of the FoS »

DeepShadow wrote:I mean the borders of Darkon have not officially moved to encompass Lamordia--for example--either with troops or the threat of them. Imperialist powers tend to take over a nation-state by force and either install a puppet government or just totally redesign the land. Hegemonical powers tend to conquer by less ruthless means and leave the leader in place if he/she swears fealty. The latter is cheaper economically, but can lead to more rebellion. Of course most states are a mix of both.

So I guess the questions are, do the Lamordians swear loyalty to Von Aubrecker or to Azalin? Do the Kargat operate in Lamordia? If a Lamordian criminal is put on trial, does Darkonese law ever figure into it?
Let's take Lamordia as an example; the same could be said for Romagna, and, to a lesser degree, of Sanguinia (which is more remote and more independent):

Lamordia is not, and never was, an independent country; it was incorporated into Darkon as it formed. (This was probably an elaborate and obscure practical joke on both Mordenheim and Azalin--putting Lamordia in the hands of a wizard, and giving Azalin a territory he's responsible for and can't administer "properly".)

Lamordians recognize Azalin Imperator as their head of state, but they're notoriously noncommittal citizens of the empire at large. The Kargat operate in Lamordia, but they get a lot of interference from local authorities, and their network of secondary spies and informers is weak. Almost all legal matters are handled at a baronial/state level, and imperial cases ("federal offenses") are quite rare and are handled with different police (the Kargat) and in a different court system than are common-or-garden variety crimes.

Imperial cases would include treason (obviously), assault on or murder of an Imperial official (the Kargat, imperial messengers, imperial tax collectors), crimes committed on imperial holdings (forts and courthouses), and counterfeiting (since coinage is handled centrally), whereas murder, robbery, etc., of the ordinary sort would be handled in baronial courts.
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Post by DeepShadow of FoS »

Last post was out of order, apparently altered by the time difference. Wondering if this one will go last.

Either way, I'm heading to bed tonight. Hope it's all fixed in the morning.
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The Orphan Queen must take the throne
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Post by Nathan of the FoS »

The introduction of Lamordia hints at another thing: false history is more complete and harder to see through than in canon Ravenloft. The false history of all domains in, say, the Core, references the other domains present there now.

A dedicated historian can tease out impossibilities and evidences that Ravenloft was "compiled", rather than developing naturally, but it's not obvious just from quizzing domain inhabitants about their domain's history that the various domains of Ravenloft haven't developed their history normally.
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Post by DeepShadow of FoS »

Oh, so my post still ranks behind yours, even though they rate the same time?! What gives?
The Avariel has borrowed wings,
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The Orphan Queen must take the throne
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