Fan made domains list

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Joël of the FoS
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Fan made domains list

Post by Joël of the FoS »

A list of fan-made Ravenloft domains…

Name of Domain: Agonia
Author: D.A.Rathburn
Sourcebook: Alanik Ray's Library

Location: Isolated island in the mists.
Darklord: Dargen Blackborn (Human Warlock 14, NE)
CL: Early Medieval (6)
Ecology: Full
Climate/Terrain: Temperate Hills and Plains

Summary of Plot/Feel: Dargen Blackborn tried to give up his days as a warlock and his way of giving human sacrifices to the demon Marikoth after falling in love with Melyssande, his true love. He married her and both had a son, but his former mentor, Selune, kidnapped him to gave him as sacrifice to Marikoth. Dargen killed her just as the ceremony was about to get completed, but Marikoth managed to steal his son and give him a scar that will never heal. Today, Marikoth is trapped in a pocket domain, and Dargen is still giving him sacrifices in order to summon him to Ravenloft, steal his son, and destroy his patron.

Name of domain: al-Kathos
Author: Gomez
Sourcebook: Mordent Cartographic Society website, from the short story "The Judgment of abd-al-Mamat" by Jeff Grubb (Tales of Ravenloft).
Edition: 2nd

Location: Island of Terror in the Mists
Darklord: Khaizuran-al-Mayfit ["Malbus"] (LE Male Efreet)
CL: Mostly Medieval (7), occasional areas of Chivalric (8 ) or Classical (4)
Ecology: Full
Climate/Terrain: Hot Aquatic, Desert, Jungle & Mountains

Summary of plot / feel: al-Kathos is a huge but sparsely populated Arabian-themed Domain, from the subcontinent of Zakhara on the prime world Toril. It is roughly 160 miles by 120 miles. Leaving the Domain by sea occasionally leads to the Nocturnal Sea, or more rarely Saragoss.

Though there is an overall culture in the land, there is in theory no one government. It is divided into independent cities and nomadic tribes, but in practice none of these will disobey an order from the Darklord. The Vistani will not visit al-Kathos.

Magic is accepted in the Domain, if not common. There are no true sha'ir (genie-summoners), due to the Demiplane's isolation, but the Dark Powers give those who try access to a similar set of powers - suitably twisted. Rules for this are presented in the main article.

The Darklord "Malbus" is a Genie who delights in causing strife in conflict in everything around him, from man to spirit. He was claimed by the Dark Powers after surrendering to a noble foe, then cutting this enemy down when they accepted. His curse comes from the sparse populace and isolation of his realm - the people are too few and cowed to make war on one another, robbing him of his sole enjoyment. Few know he is a Genie, but most of the folk know he is some form of abomination. He cannot close the borders of al-Kathos.

Several other powerful Outsiders - including genie & tanar'ri - exist in the Domain, almost all seeking to escape the Demiplane. They will cause as much suffering as need be in their attempts.

al-Kathos contains the Pocket Domain of the Wounded City (qv).


Name of domain: Arlington Farm
Author: Eddy Brennan (Wiccy of the FoS)
Sourcebook: QtR 11 / USS 01 Edition : 3rd / 2nd

Location: floating pocket domain
Darklord: Henry Arlington (Male Human Undead Construct (Dread Flesh Scarecrow) Ari3/Exp6)
CL: Once Renaissance (CL 9 ), now slipped into Dark Ages (CL 5)

Summary of plot / feel: this circular domain is a very large field of corn, abandoned, with decrepit farm buildings in the middle. Possibly the most haunting presence within the fields is the scarecrows perched on poles that are almost twice the height of any man. In a kind of dark pact, the prideful farmer Arlington has killed his family to get the best harvest possible. To hide the remains, Henry cut up the body and placed parts of it in many of the scarecrows scattered across the fields. Though dormant by day, the fields become a centre of activity and horror each night.


Name of domain: Callista
Author: Carrie Kube (Yaoi Huntress Earth)
Sourcebook: USS 02 Edition : 3rd

Location: unspecified (sea)
Darklord: Rafe Ungard (Half-Vistani Brd10) (a NPC from CotN:G)
CL: Renaissance (9)

Summary of plot / feel: a group of tiny inlets in the middle of the sea. This are was flooded sometimes ago, forcing its inhabitants to live on the crowded inlets, or on their vargo boats. The poeple living there claim to be Vistani, yet they don't dress like Vistani nor do they share the same amount of wanderlust - the Callistans are in fact reincarnations of dead «ground based» Vistani. They are at war with pakas. The darklord exploits this conflict with a protection racket.


Name of domain: Carcharodon Isle
Author: Geoff Kimber
Sourcebook: Bo Souls 1997 Edition : 2nd

Location: island of the Sea of Sorrows, 3 miles off the north-west coast of Darkon (Martira Bay)
Darklord: Sean Mako (Wereshark, Neutral Evil / 0-level human, Neutral Good), and Alice/Alison Marjory (1st-level Mage, Lawful Good / Greater Seawolf, Chaotic Evil)
CL: Chivalric (8 )

Summary of plot / feel: Carcharodon Isle is a 5 miles rocky island, with dense pine forests. It has only one fishing and farming settlement: Mistlington (approximately 100 people). Elsewhere on the island there are another 50 people on small farms. All are deeply mistrustful of outsiders. The administrative lord of Carcharodon Isle is Baron Mikhail Ulyanov (greater wolfwere) and his lieutenant is Sir Harrod Fisk (wererat). Both are Kargat agent. They use the threat of sea monsters to tame the population.

The Lover’s Curse: Alison Marjory is cursed to monthly transformations into a greater seawolf and eternal longing for her lost love. The other demilord of the island is the fisherman Sean Mako. He spends the majority of his time in the shape of a giant shark — he is a wereshark with no control of his affliction. On those nights when he is in human form, Alison is in seawolf form, such that they can never be together…


Name of domain: Chamhok Mun
Author: Dion of the FoS
Sourcebook: Nebula Obscura: Worlds of Ravenloft (Midway Haven) Ed.: 3rd

Location: Large enclave in the mists (thirty-five miles from north to south by twenty)
Darklord: Heol Jon-Woo (Dark Naga: CR 9)
CL: Oriental Classical Age (4)

Summary of plot / feel: This asian feel domain has two towns: Haejong (pop. 4,000) and Ginjae (pop.1,200). Each of the two towns had its own hereditary governor. A third of the domain population is Nagas, half-human, half-serpent creatures. These nagas, however, act much like humans and are civilized. The folk of Chamhok Mun, both human and naga, did find beauty and inspiration in the simplicity of life and nature around them.

Heol Jon-Woo is the exact opposite of his benevolent naga counterparts in Chamhok Mun. He was conjured by the Haejong’s governor, who wanted to revenge on her daughter and her new friends (she had refused to be married to an aging vizier, and became a nun with other religious devotees in their cavern sanctuary). The dark naga revenged the governor, then took his place after slaying him. Then he built hatred for a town to the other: Haejong’s folk now think that Ginjae is a town of religious fanatics, while Ginjae in turn wants vengeance for the burning of a beloved sanctuary. Now, Heol Jon-Woo quietly watches the people of Chamhok Mun from a wall of solidified venom that separates Haejong and Ginjae.



Name of domain: Charity Cove
Author: Dion of the Fraternity
Sourcebook: Navigaccio: Worlds of Ravenloft (Midway Haven) Ed.: 3rd

Location: Unspecified, very isolated or in the mists.
Darklord: Jonathan Cadderly (Human Male Clr12; CR 12)
CL: Once Charity Cove maintained a fairly Renaissance (9) culture. But after the flooding the few people left live in Dark Ages era (5).

Summary of plot / feel: Charity Cove is a rocky woodland beach about six miles across, and is surrounded on three sides by dense pine forests. The town of Charity Cove itself lies under the water of the river, inundated by a disaster: where once was a religious town now sits a ruined haven for fish. The folk of Charity Cove are so few they could be counted with one’s fingers. They live a simple hunting and farming lifestyle, and reside in simple houses far from view of the cove itself. These simple folk fear the Cove; they believe that the sunken town harbors the tormented spirits of those who drowned in the disaster long ago. When asked about the disaster, all they could say is that it was the result of the wrath of a holy man to punish the folk.

Liturgicant Jonathan Cadderly, whose passionate devotion to a married woman cost the lives of hundreds of innocent souls, is now an ageless elderly, filled with remorses. The married woman became pregnant, but never revealed the name of her secret lover. Angry of seeing her branded an adulterer, Cadderly, using all his strength, broke down the dam and let loose the onrushing current on the town. After, the destruction was complete: Charity Cove was not just under fifty feet of water, but inside the Demiplane of Dread as well…


Name of domain: Dorjiloka
Author: Dion of the Fraternity
Sourcebook: Navigaccio: Worlds of Ravenloft (Midway Haven) Ed. : 3rd

Location: unspecified, an arid plateau at the top of a high mountain range thirteen thousand feet above sea level
Darklord: Dorji Kerima (Large Outsider (evil, chaos); CR 14) (extraplanar creature with deep-blue skin and an aura of bluish-white electricity surrounding him, standing seven feet tall)
CL: Dark Ages (5)

Summary of plot / feel: The domain itself is over a hundred miles wide, made up of steep gorges, high cliffs topped with hilly plains offering breathtaking views of even higher mountains in the distance. Summers are brief, lasting only three months at best, while snow covers much of the domain for the rest of the year.
Villages and monasteries are scattered all over the plateau. A large abandoned settlement, the City of the Shattered Bolt, lies to the northeast, while a smaller but sparsely populated town called Gzigkhai lies at the bottom of a fertile valley to the west. Monks are unusually common in Dorjiloka, and prefer to shave their heads and wear saffron-red robes (Tibet).
The darklord is an angry monk who felt frustrated from the supreme god-like title of their monk hierarchy. Dorji studied dark arcane magic in secret and became a being filled with lightning energy. But his followers were aghast by his angry demonstration of lightning power, so in the end none do worship him as he wanted.


Name of domain: Dur-Anea
Author: Dion of the Fraternity
Sourcebook: Nebula Obscura: Worlds of Ravenloft (Midway Haven) Ed.: 3rd

Location: tiny, ancient Island of Terror, actually traveling in the farthest and darkest seas of the demiplane
Darklord: Narmu-Shurpak (Medium-size outsider (law)) (Annunaki; a race of outsiders from a distant sphere CR 11)
CL: Savage (0), the ruined temple suggests Bronze Age (2) in the past
Ecology: Sparse ecology
Climate/Terrain: Temperate hills

Summary of plot / feel: Its inhospitable surface area covers roughly two square miles. Travelers who have set foot on the island--and survived long enough to flee--tell of the ground littered with broken pottery and humanoid remains. Furthermore, hidden somewhere in Dur-Anea's stands a stepped temple ruin carved out of the jagged rocks.

Dura-Anea actually rests on the back of a colossal sea turtle, a creature set to die by the gods, but saved by its master Narmu-Shurpak, who was angry at the gods and didn’t want to let his pet go. They roam the seas, and Narmu-Shurpak sees in any visitors dangerous emissaries of the gods he now loathes.


Name of domain: Farelle
Author: Ryan Naylor
Sourcebook: Bo Sacrif. 2001 (original concept: Black Box) Edition : 3rd

Location: Island of Terror
Darklord: Jack Karn (Male Jackalwere; CR 6)
CL: now Early Medieval (6), but evolving fast due to trade

Summary of plot / feel: Unlike many domains, it is relatively easy to navigate the Mists to Farelle, and many merchants from Ghastria to Pharazia do just that. The twin villages of Kaynis and Mortilis (home to around a thousand people each) welcome travelers readily. Farelle is wild and thickly wooded, although civilization and agriculture claims more and more terrain every day. The land is rich, although extreme— summers are hot and winters are frigid—and full of animal life.

Jack Karn continues to live out his cursed life as a jackalwere and a tinker. As lord of Farelle, Jack has found great power. He is able to command any dog, wolf, fox or other jackal-like animal in the domain, and seems immune to old age. Of course, these benefits are not without their price—he is only able to escape back to his natural jackal form for a few minutes each day, and crippling nausea strikes him whenever he attempts to indulge his bloodlust against humans.

Name of Domain: Fairhaven
Author: Wolfgang E. Kook (aka WolfKook)
Sourcebook: Quoth the Raven, issue 15

Location: Isolated island in the mists
Darklord: Queen Avarein (Female Human Ari5, Sor10)
CL: Medieval (7)
Ecology: Full
Climate/Terrain: Temperate Mountains, Hills, Forests and Plains

Summary of Plot/Feel: After widowing her first husband, Avarein married king Drosselbart and became princess Rosenbriar's stepmother, moving to their castle with her two ugly daughters and making things difficult for the princess, as her father fell sick and she got demoted to a mere servant of her stepmother and sisters. When the king died, Rosenbriar became the rightful ruler, but Avarein put her in a deep sleep from which she hasn't returned for 30 years.

Fairhaven is still a beautiful land, in which tales of hags and wolves, of trolls under the bridge and swan lakes become true, and the despotic queen still rules it, though she depends on too many people (The princess, her corrupt uncle and her own two spoiled daughters) to keep her power, and that prevents her from fully enjoying it.
Last edited by Joël of the FoS on Wed Jan 28, 2009 3:59 pm, edited 11 times in total.
"A full set of (game) rules is so massively complicated that the only time they were all bound together in a single volume, they underwent gravitational collapse and became a black hole" (Adams)
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Post by Joël of the FoS »

Name of domain: Gustavsan
Author: Stefan Mac (Kargatwannabe)
Sourcebook: USS 2001 Edition: 2nd

Location: Island in the Sea of Sorrows
Darklord: Gustav the Younger (CE Human Ftr3), Gustav the Elder ( LE 2nd Magnitude Human Ghost)
CL: Chivalric (8 )
Ecology: Full
Climate/Terrain: Temperate Forest & Hills

Summary of plot / feel: Inspired by Hamlet. Gustavsan is a teardrop-shaped island equidistant from Dementlieu and Blaustein, bearing a single mountain and covered in hardwood forests. A previously landlocked nation, it was transformed into an Island by the Dark Powers three years before play starts. The outlander Darklords are father and son, turned to enemies following the elder's death and their attempts to manipulate each other. They are incapable of direct conflict, so have turned to using their followers as pawns. This obsession has just begun to bring corruption to the formerly meritous country and the people watch as their trusted system is replaced by bribery and assassination. Gustavsan has diplomatic ties & peace treaties with Falkovnia, and is becoming known for its primary export of quality lumber and woodcarvings.



Name of domain: Hibernate
Author: D-Kun / Darksoldier
Sourcebook: USS 2001 / 2002 Edition: 3rd

Location: Island in the Sea of Sorrows
Darklord: Elizabeth (CE / LE Human Vampire Ari9 ; CR 13 / Ari14 CR 18 )
CL: Renaissance (9)
Ecology: Full
Climate/Terrain: Temperate Forest & Hills

Summary of plot / feel: Founded circa 735 BC. A small island in the Sea of Sorrows, 20 miles w-sw of the Isle of Agony. Known for its extreme seasons. The nation is ruled by a wealthy, patriarchal gentry and a powerful (but totally magic-free) church; it is maintained by a severely impoverished lower class. Reminiscent of Victorian Britain, Hibernate espouses great virtues and then indulges heavily in drugs and sex in secret. The outlander Darklord is a vampiric madam, who uses her mortal and vampire spawn callgirls to keep track of the islands vice trade. She fears the Kargat, having run afoul of them when she entered the Demiplane. As in Valachan, "white fever" is commonplace.

Entries before the / are for Elizabeth as presented in USS 2001, entries after are for Elizabeth as presented in USS 2002.



Name of domain: Hiva Motu
Author: Dion Fernandez
Sourcebook: Nebula Obscura: Worlds of Ravenloft (Midway Haven)
Ed: 3rd

Location: Collection of Islands in the Mists
Darklord: Kapo-Wairua (NE Medium Outsider; CR 9)
CL: Bronze Age (2)
Ecology: Full
Climate/Terrain: Warm Aquatic, Hills, Forest, & Mountain

Summary of plot / feel: This Domain is far removed from any other - the only known way to access it is a moderatly reliable, one-way Mistway from Sri Raji that takes 15 days to sail. Eleven of the twelve tropical islands that make up Hiva Motu are populated by a peaceful if suspicious peoples. The final island is the domain of the Darklord, a Heavenly Spirit who devours human souls so that it can dream. The locals are enchanted so that to do not realise this, instead revering the spirit as a peacekeeper. Before it came, the islands were harsh, warlike and stormy - now they are a paradise. Any who break the peace are sent to Kapo-Wairua for "healing", but never return.



Name of domain: Huninfjord
Author: Dion Fernandez
Sourcebook: Navigaccio: Worlds of Ravenloft (Midway Haven)
Ed: 3rd

Location: Island in the Mists
Darklord: Uruni Njorlvalik (Female Unique Fey; CR 10)
CL: Bronze Age (2) [human] to Renaissance (9) [dwarves]
Ecology: Sparse
Climate/Terrain: Cold Mountain, Forest & Fjords, contains a volcano & glacier

Summary of plot / feel: A freezing Domain populated by dwarves, fey & humans. Originally this was solely a fey haven, which was colonized by dwarves fleeing the worsening cold. Thoughtless mining soured their initially good relationship with the fey, whose queen led a slaughter that made her a Darklord and created the corpse-filled glacier Isjöld.

The dwarves now live entirely underground, never surfacing. Most of their settlements are abandoned ruins. A small number of humans have appeared on the surface, mostly unaware of what's going on. The fey treat all as threats. Uruni can only be killed by a dwarf, and even then she will be reborn in a year if they do not undo the ecological damage they have done.

Huninfjord is 90 miles long and 20 miles wide.



Name of domain: Igid Rabi-i (“Night’s Edge”)

Author: Dion Fernandez
Sourcebook: Book of Sacrifices Edition: 2nd

Location: Island in the Mists, very isolated
Darklord: Arcapatos Miguel Agustin (LE Human Clr14)
CL: Dark Ages (5) to Chivalric (8 )
Ecology: Full
Climate/Terrain: Subtropical to Temperate Forests, Mountains & Plains

Summary of plot / feel: Igid Rabi-i is an Island Domain just over 60 miles across from the same Prime world as Mictlan (qv). Shortly before entering the Mists, it was the target of a mostly bloodless conquest by the Holy Empire of the goddess Matherion; a conquest based on religious hype, but for fiscal purposes. Most of the islanders have converted to worshipping & acting like the invaders, but tribes still exist who stick to the old ways.

The Darklord is a high priest more interested in material wealth than anything else. His elusive target is a genuine Good relic - a cloth bearing writing concerning either Matherion or the native deity Angarab. Miguel became a Darklord for slaughtering natives to acquire the cloth. It hides amongst the independent natives, but in doing so brings Miguel's wrath upon them.

The population of the island is mostly human, but there are a small number of elves & half-elves.



Name of domain: Immerabt
Author: Hugo Viegas Nascimento & Luiz Eduardo Never Peret
Sourcebook: USS 2002 Edition: 2nd

Location: Archipelago in the Mists
Darklord: Dr. Dorothy Hemphyll (NE Human Exp3/Wiz5/Alp7; CR 16)
CL: Renaissance (9)
Ecology: Full
Climate/Terrain: Temperate and Cold Aquatic, Mountain & Plains

Summary of plot / feel: A two-island archipelago in the Mists, most reachable from Egertus & Nevuchar Springs. Immerabt has undergone an Industrial Revolution, and uses steam-based machinery. This technology has caused serious problems with disease & pollution. Many creatures on the islands have become dangerously mutated due to this environment. The realm is governed by a Guild-based republic. Almost no-one publicly dies here, instead being taken by the Healer's Guild. There are almost no graves on the island. Immerabt is also very irreligious, and has no churches, native Clerics or Monks.

The outlander Darklord is the leader of the Healer's Guild, a mad scientist obsessed with eradicating disease and overcoming death. She keeps as many of the inhabitants alive as possible, in horrible agony attached to alchemical life-support machines. She recognizes the harm that the unrestricted industrialization is bringing on the land, and wishes to rectify this, but her work keeps her too busy to direct her attention to the problem.



Name of domain: Incitatus
Author: The Stoic (John Kristian Spangberg)
Sourcebook: USS 2002 Edition: 3rd

Location: Wandering coastal pocket Domain
Darklord: Ahasveros (Human Rank 2 bussengeist Exp12; CR 14)
CL: Savage (0), formerly Classical (4)
Ecology: No Ecology
Climate/Terrain: Temperate Forest & Hills

Summary of plot / feel: Incitatus consists of a small unpopulated island called Misenos. It can appear of any coast of any land in the Demiplane. It was once home to a learned society, but ruin was brought to them by the current Darklord when he built a device capable of causing tidal waves. He intended this to be used to defend his nation, but in his rush to finish it he was careless and wound up killing everyone on the island - including himself. Ahasveros can use his powers to make the island seem like it did before, during or after the flood.

Though the island is usually devoid of live, the Mists sometimes place creatures on it to draw in or torment visitors.
Last edited by Joël of the FoS on Thu Aug 30, 2007 10:53 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Post by Joël of the FoS »

Name of Domain: Kislova
Author: Eric C. Daniel (Based on the novel Baroness of Blood, by Elaine Bergstrom)
Sourcebook: Book of Souls

Location: Isolated island in the mists
Darklord: Baroness Ilsabet Obour (Female Human Wiz11)
CL: Medieval (7)
Ecology: Full
Climate/Terrain: Temperate Mountains, Hills, Forests and Plains

Summary of Plot/Feel: After Kislova was conquered and before he was murdered, Janosk Obour charged his three children with avenging his death and taking the rulership of the realm. Ilsabet, the youngest of the three, studied alchemy and working her way into Baron Peto's -the new ruler -affections. After murdering her brother, who she had judged disloyal to their father, she stumbled across an ancient tome which contained a formula for the creation of undead. She tried to poison her husband, but she only managed to get him into a commatose slumber.

So far, Baron Peto has proven immune to all of Ilsabet's poisons, and she has become addict to pain, feeding on it the way a vampire feeds on blood. As she rules on her husband's behalf -much against her desires -she's seen as an usurper by her subjects, and groups of rebels have arisen, but she keeps a guard of alchemical vampires to fend her, and to capture rebels to satisfy her hunger.


Coming soon:

The City of Summer Stars
Isle of Ravens / QtR 11
Karss /USS 2002
Kislova /Bo Souls 1997
Kungthrom Sound /Navigaccio: Worlds of Ravenloft (Midway Haven)
Locknar Cove /Bo Sacrif. 2001
Lost Wizard's Tower /USS 2002
Mictlan /Bo Shadows 2000
Mictlan - Cumbre de Oro /Bo Sacrif. 2001
Last edited by Joël of the FoS on Wed Jan 28, 2009 3:57 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by Joël of the FoS »

Name of domain: Miseria
Author: The Brotherhood (collective)
Sourcebook: USS 2001 Edition : 2nd

Location: Island of Terror
Darklord: Cassandre Desesprits (Human, 2nd-Level Diviner, NE)
CL: Chivalric (8 )

Summary of plot / feel: Living conditions are difficult at this inhospitable place, and human populations do their best to feed, and protect themselves from the many spectral creatures roaming the countryside. The land is vastly forested, but much of the trees are twisted, and gnarled, as if the very forests were growing in agony. The majority of the living population lives in the port city of Notre-Dame-Des-Récifs with a population of 2,500 habitants.

The most creepy and morbid feature of the land is its status as a magnet for spectral activities. All manner of ghosts, and incorporeal undead can be encountered roaming the wilds. The appearance, and disappearance of ghost towns is frequent, and most disturbing.

Cassandre Desesprits is a simple barmaid. If one is careful not to be noticed, one might see her gazing around the taproom, the purest look of disgust on her face. Strangely enough, all that attempt to press themselves upon her, or accidentally spill a mug of ale on her shoes, have been known to disappear, or even be found as little more than ancient husks with all their vitality drained away. The people that know of this coincidence often think that the girl has some sort of overzealous guardian taking care of their helpful orphan. Any that insult her (whether in reality, or just in her mind) find themselves the target of an onslaught of ghostly attackers, an impish spirit, or maybe possession.


Name of domain: Monte Mal
Author: Ben Toth aka Scipio, Zachary H. Hicks aka Reginald de Curry
Sourcebook: Monte Mal website Edition : 3rd

Location: Enclave city in Richemulot
Darklord: Raffaele Feudale (Ari 1/ Clr 14)
CL: Renaissance (9)

Summary of plot / feel: The Republic of Monte Mal is a city built on wooden pylons which support the weight of the streets and buildings. The waters of the lagoon are diverted through canals, which serve as a main source of transportation (but are infested with undead sea snakes. The city itself is divided mainly into four sections: the slums (lowest class citizens), the main residential area (where the majority of the city’s populace makes its living. Throughout the area are many shops and other small businesses), the palatial estates (home to Monte Mal’s social elite) and the forum (where the main governmental affairs of the city take place, the beating heart of the governmental bureaucracy, with a museum and other cultural places). The sewers are strange places too, with very old unsafe tunnels.

Monte Mal’s residents tend to be a friendly folk. However, this friendliness towards outsiders belies a general dread of their own government. If asked about them or any other political topic the people quickly change the subject.

Raffaele Feudale was born into a powerful family in the Monte Mal aristocracy. At the age of 18 he was initiated into the priesthood, his natural magnetism made people flock to him. Later, Raffaele was elected Doge. He rules over the city with an iron fist. Raffaele created laws that were progressively more oppressive, all in the name of improving the public image of Monte Mal. Anyone who did the slightest unseemly thing disappeared into the night, never to be heard from again; those who attempted to flee the city to report on the state of affairs suffered a similar fate.


Name of domain: Mubonyete
Author: Dion of the Fraternity
Sourcebook: Navigaccio: Worlds of Ravenloft (Midway Haven) Ed. : 3rd

Location: Island of Terror (land of the Brambled Karoo. Extends 225 miles from north to south, east to west)
Darklord: Komozundu (Male Lich Clr13; CR14; NE)
CL: Stone Age (1) and Bronze Age (2)

Summary of plot / feel: Mubonyete is an arid plain, where wide arrays of animals survive and devour each other. At daytime the sun beats mercilessly down with its heat. Rainfall is sparse: the domain only gets about 10 centimeters of rainfall each year.

Mubonyete folk have an animistic world-view: everything has an orisha, or spirit, and they must be appeased or they cease to exist. Spirits are invoked through ritual dancing and singing with the aid of a fast-pounding drum, which induces trance states.

When an animal dies, either by natural causes, by hunting, or by a supernatural death the previous night, mysterious aloof people known as Bone Collectors gather up the remains the next morning and haul them to the dreaded and isolated Bone Citadel.

A long time ago, Komozundu was a priest of the Keepers of the Brass Gazelle. There is a saying in Mubonyete: "The power of the land lies within one's lifeblood." The Keepers, too, preached of the power from within, but they taught more: none held more inner power than the great Brass Gazelle, the object of their veneration, which visited the land on rare occasions. Once, misled Komozundu killed the great Brass Gazelle incarnation, in order to gather its inner power by releasing it from its flesh. The Keepers make him pay with his life. Three misty nights after the Keepers abandoned his corpse, he arose in undeath. His first action was to seek vengeance against the Keepers, and he slew them all in their sleep.

Komozundu had been cursed to never truly realize the true meaning of the true power from within. To this day Komozundu still seeks the inner power, which he wrongly thinks could help him ascend further into higher levels of consciousness. Every morning, Komozundu relays a telepathic message to the Bone Collectors to scour Mubonyete for animal remains. After the remains have been collected, they are then brought to the lich for his study.


Name of domain: Nedragonne
Author: Adam Garou
Sourcebook: QtR 9 Edition : 2nd

Location: Northern Nocturnal Sea, an island (150 miles north-south and approx. 75 miles east-west) and surrounding waters 10-mile radius
Darklord: Xanthos Kastigir (12th Fighter, Half-Sea Elf, Greater Seawolf, CE)
CL: Medieval (7)

Summary of plot / feel: The large land in Nedragonne incorporates a number of different terrain types. There are six settlements throughout the land, including the trade city of Tenebria (2,000 inhabitants). There is no official ruler unifying the island - each town elects a council of governors and a mayor. The land is far safer than the surrounding ocean: the natural predators—orca, sharks, sea snakes, and other such animals—are numerous, plus sentient being hunters like lacedon, merrow, or scrags.

Xanthos Kastigir was born on the world of Krynn, his father a pirate and her mother an elven captive. She escaped but she became pregnant. When Xanthos was young, because he was different from most of his elf kin, he was treated with taunts, threats, and even blows. However, at his teens, the half-elf found he was able to take on the form of a dolphin and was joined by a pod of true dolphins, who invited him to play at their games. He had never felt anything similar before, and felt joy for the first time. He then became accepted in his community, now a powerful ranger fighting against the sahuagins. One night after a clash with the sahuagin, Xanthos happened upon a prisoner who had been captured in another raid—an elven woman who was, like him, torn between two worlds. They felt a kinship and the two eventually married.

However, a vast sahuagin force later attacked the city. When all appeared lost under the huge number of sea monsters, a cruel voice murmured in Xanthos’s head, and made promises of new powers he accepted. He fought without remembrance. When he came to himself again, his wife was beside him. Then, since a priest noted the lack of visible wounds, an impossible feat considering the fierce battle, and he was tested positive for lycanthropy - the curse of the seawolf. The community he fought for banished him with sadness. Even his wife and mother refused to leave with him. The rage that descended over him was conscious. The giant seawolf gorged itself on elven flesh, and finished the slaughter by tearing out the limbs of his wife and mother…

Xanthos Kastigir lives alone on the outskirts of the capital city of Tenebria—unable to bear the company of its human inhabitants… and yet unable to completely do without them either. Xanthos’s curse: he wishes to be living back among the dolphins who accepted him as one of their own, but dolphins will only rarely enter his domain, repelled by something about it. And when they do, he is compelled by the lycanthropic blood he carries to hunt and eat them, further adding to his mental anguish and guilt.
Last edited by Joël of the FoS on Mon Jul 09, 2007 4:00 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by Joël of the FoS »

Name of domain: Northlands
Author: John Kristian Spangberg (The Stoic)
Sourcebook: USS 02, later expanded as a Gaz in USS 03 Edition : 3rd

Location: Island of Terror
Darklord: Gravstein Hansen (“the Brutal”, Male human Barbarian 2 / Fighter 8, NE, CR11)
CL: Southern part of the domain: Medieval (7); Northern part: Dark Age (5).
Ecology: Full Ecology (Temperate forests, hills, mountains, plains and swamps)
Summary of plot / feel: The Northlands is a varied domain, ecology - wise. It has hills and mountains in the north, where the sun never sets in the summer, leaving the land dark and cold during winter. Deep fjords cut through the landscape, imitating claws. In the east, the mountains give way to cold plains and swamps.

The domain has seven settlements, the largest being Miklaheim (pop. 4,000). The population has a simple way of life, and they are very religious (puritanical). The head of the Kosti people governs the earldom. His name is Jarl Gravstein Hansen, also know as "the brutal", for he is not a ruler by heart nor brains. The Jarl controls his lands from the fortress of Miklaborg. The black fortress is situated on a fell overlooking the city.

His wise father established peace betweens the tribes through trade. But after his father’s death, the new Jarl wanted to gather all the fighting means he could to conquer the land, so that swords could be made, and mercenaries paid, plunging the prosperous population into misery. Since the bloody war, the Jarl now spends most of his time in Miklaborg, where he spends hours every day training and improving in the one art he appreciates: War. Affairs of the state have never interested him, but he won’t let his advisors help him in any way.


Name of domain: Nueva Aragona cluster (Resistencia and Maconda)
Author: Nathan of the Fraternity
Sourcebook: USS 01 Edition : 2nd

Location: Island of Terror
Darklords: Don Santiago de Quijada y Alvarez, Darklord of Resistencia (4th magnitude ghost, lawful evil)
General Martín José Maconda, Darklord of Maconda (8th level fighter, were-anaconda, NE)

CL: Renaissance (9). Culturally, the Republic is a backward colonial outpost. In fact, the upper class of the Republic is rapidly become a cultural colony of Port-a-Lucine.

Summary of plot / feel: The cluster of Nueva Aragona consists of several tropical islands. Libertad and Ascension are the main cities of the archipel. The economy of Nueva Aragoña is largely based on a thriving trade with the Core: exotic fruits and pearls.

Don Santiago de Quijada y Alvarez was born as the eldest son of an impoverished nobleman of Aragoña. He was often taunted for his situation by other young noblemen, and this mockery had two effects on Don Santiago; it served as a spur to his desire to succeed, and it bred in him a hatred for the peasantry from which he so desperately desired to differentiate himself. He determined that the best place to win advancement and respect was as a member of the army, where he became a ruthless leader.

Appointed by the King to take the island of Manzanilla (now called Resistencia by rebels) and quell an insurrection, he led a bloody and cruel war, being without any pity for the population, earning him the nickname « Santiago the Butcher ».

But a man named Martín Jose Maconda lead daring raids and wore away the resistance of the royal army. Don Santiago grew to hate him and plotted to find some way to catch and destroy this rebel, and eventually arrested Maconda’s young pregnant wife, Isabel de Maconda. Don Santiago placed her in solitary confinement at his headquarters. But Maconda didn’t fell for the trap and fired by his hatred, he led the patriots to victory after victory.

Don Santiago continued to hold Isabel de Maconda captive, partly in the fading hope that she would offer the clue to victory, but mostly for a reason which he hardly dared admit, even to himself: he had become desperately enamored of the young woman. But she never had but harsh words for him. Months later, she died in childbirth, as Don Santiago refused that she would have a midwife for her birth.

In the days after her death Don Santiago’s government of the island became ever more despotic and less effective; spontaneous outbreaks of rioting weakened the army, and Maconda and his forces soon regained a toehold on the island. Don Santiago’s health worsened dramatically, to a feverish delirium. He died on the day the last royal army was captured and the final defeat of the king’s forces assured.

That evening a fog from the sea enveloped the island; as the sun set Don Santiago rose as a ghost, pacing the fortifications of the Castillo Ascension and attempting to plan his counterattack against the rebel forces he knew were attempting to thwart his return to honor.

---

When Maconda heard of his wife’s death, effectively murdered by Don Santiago, he went into the hills alone for a whole night, for a dangerous ritual told to him by a priest. From that time forward he threw himself into battle, careless of his personal well-being; many claimed to have seen bullets strike him to no effect and sword cuts heal within moments of their being given.

The day he invaded Don Santiago’s keep, on discovering that his old enemy had died, Maconda’s rage exploded: feeling cheated of his vengeance, he ordered the massacre of the royalist troops on the spot. By the end of the year Martín José Maconda, hero of the revolution, had been elected president of the country, but within months, Maconda’s tyranny had surpassed that of the royal government…


Name of domain: Nzari

Author: Lenard Molina
Sourcebook: USS 2003 Edition : 3rd

Location: Island of Terror, about 30 miles wide
Darklords: Gatwe (7th level broken one fighter, CE) co lord with Mr. Klein (5th level human fighter, LE)
CL: The Mwele are a Stone Age (1) culture; only Mr. Klein has access to higher technology, up to Renaissance (9) level.
Ecology: Full Ecology (Warm Forests)

Summary of plot / feel: The jungles of Nzari are hot and humid, beset by great, booming thunderstorms that appear without warning and disappear similarly. Little human villages (no more than 200 or 300 people) dot the domain, each surrounded by several acres of cleared farmland. Mwele villages are insular, and largely self-sufficient.

Gatwe is a former shaman and appears to be a demonic cross of Mwele and leopard. Treacherous shaman he was, never hesitating to do whatever he felt was needed for his own power, he once struck his master dead. When their master was found killed, the Mwele turned to Gatwe, their new shaman, for guidance. Laughing inside, he pointed the finger at a neighboring village, and the outraged villagers prepared for war. Reveling in his new authority, Gatwe used his powers to maintain a state of constant war. Once he used a leopard form to make a dirty deed. But in that moment, the Dark Powers struck, carrying him in the mists and twisting his body.

The most notable village is infamous as the home of Mr. Klein. Klein’s large, Dementlieuse-style mansion sits just outside the village, separated by a low fence of stakes topped by decaying human heads. Mr. Klein exudes tremendous charisma. The mere sound of his deep, powerful voice is enough to make anyone stop and listen in awe. Mr. Klein was born to a moderately wealthy Dementlieuse merchant family. Much to his parents’ chagrin, however, Klein found himself drawn to the Ezrite clergy instead. He signed on with a vessel seeking to uncover new lands. He discovered a new island in the mists, where ivory was available. It was the chance Klein was looking for. Klein headed up the first expedition into the land of the savages. At first the natives were cautiously friendly, but soon it became clear that the white strangers intended to stay. Annoyed that the strangers were killing so many elephants, the Mwele resolved to drive them out. Kidnappings and attacks became common, and soon the extent of the natives’ cannibalism became clear. Horrified, many of the explorers wanted to return home, but Klein managed to convince them and the backers in Dementlieu that this only exhibited the great need for a civilizing influence.

One day, a terrible battle happened after a deadly attack of the Mwele. All Klein’s men were killed, but Klein fought bravely with Greek fire and flint and steel, and the entire area went up in flames. The Mwele, awed by the white man’s courage and his defeat of the jungle terror, became convinced that Klein was a god made flesh. Triumphantly, Klein built a home in the village of Kala, and his men began to hunt the most profitable parts of the jungle. Klein, meanwhile, focused his efforts on conversion and preaching. Only then did Klein realize that his most loyal servants among the Mwele were not, in fact Ezrites, but instead worshipped him.

Infuriated at this lapse into savagery, Klein quickly marshaled his Mwele forces and directed them to capture the rebels alive. After a long and intense battle, Klein’s warriors triumphed and brought the captives to Mr. Klein. The whole village of Kala was brought forth to watch as Mr. Klein had the rebels and their families dragged by their ankles to the edge of town. There he had them flayed and beheaded, and finished by impaling their heads on stakes around his house. As the headless bodies were flung into the river, the Dark Powers took notice, making Mr. Klein co-lord of Nzari.

Now that the Dark Powers have made Mr. Klein co-lord of Nzari, Gatwe’s torment is only heightened. That a foreigner, of all people, should exercise the total control that Gatwe craves infuriates him even more.

Klein’s long residence in the savage jungle among the cannibals has changed him. He has grown to loathe humanity, which he has decided is composed of weaklings and savages. For this reason, Klein is likely to test any newcomers to Nzari, to see if they are strong and civilized enough to deserve survival. Anyone proving themselves too soft or too savage is likely to be killed.


Name of domain: Okraina
Author: Dmitri Zorin
Sourcebook: QtR 2 Edition : 3rd

Location: Island in the mists
Darklord: Anna Sparatoga (Female human Sor 10)
CL: Chivalric (8 )
Ecology: Full Ecology
Climate/Terrain: Temperate Forests and Hills

Summary of plot / feel: The domain of Okraina is a region of rolling hills, pristine evergreen forests, small springs and the large river Volra. Large packs of wolves, ferocious bears and mystical “feys” keep people at bay. The Volra River is the only route for trade. The five main villages are centered around churches, usually on the hill overlooking the river. Townsfolk are crowded behind the thick walls of white stone, dwelling in houses built wall-to-the-wall along narrow streets. At the heart of either town there is an inner fortress, called a “Kremlin”. It contains the palace of the local ruler as well as churches and barracks of town militia. The people of Okraina are perfectly adapted to the cold climate. A hereditary aristocracy, led by Prince Vasili the Cruel, rules Okraina. Vasili resides in his palace in Yargorod and is known, as it is reflected in its name, for the severe punishments and taxes he issues to disobedient boyars and commoners alike.

Anna is a woman in her mid 20’s, her hair is raven black and her eyes as green as a cat’s. Long ago on a distant world, a fiend known as Chort delighted in playing cruel tricks on people. He tempted Anna with promises of wealth, power and the influence over men she secretly craved and the two managed to strike a bargain. In return for magical powers, he would have possession over her soul after death. Chort thought he had gotten the best of the foolish girl but he would soon come to regret his bargain.

Many murders were done to fulfill her craving for power and influence. One day, she had fey creatures executing her orders to find and lure a woman rival to the riverbank and drown her. All went according to plan and the man later gladly married Anna. Many more murders followed the whims of the cruel woman.

The fiend Chort is unable to leave the secluded land in the mists. Incapable to bring woe to others, he is cursed to play out his frustration on the few denizens of the domain. He hates Anna for ensnaring him but he can do her no harm since she possesses his phylactery.


Name of domain: Olympus
Author: Luiz Eduardo Neves Peret
Sourcebook: USS 2002 Edition : 3rd

Location: Island in the mists (vast land, comparable in size with Vorostokov, surrounded by a warm sea with several islands)
Darklord: “Hercules” (Medium-size Male Outsider (7’ tall), 1st-level Aristocrat/12th-level Fighter, Neutral Evil, CR15)
CL: Classical (4) in the city-estates, although the scientific, cultural and philosophic advancements rarely spread to the countryside, which remains mostly under Iron Age (3)
Ecology: Full ecology
Climate/Terrain: Temperate Forests and Hills; Cold Mountains; Warm Aquatic

Summary of plot / feel: This is Olympus, a land where creatures posing as gods walk among men and abuse them at any chance, and the people’s hero is no less than the darklord. This fair realm was unfortunately ruled by unfair tyrants. Hordes of commoners were working in the fields, not for themselves but for their rulers, members of the high priestly caste. Said to be the voice of the gods themselves, seven high priests established a rigid and complex administrative system, where favors, bribes and blackmail were commonplace. Outside the inner ring of clerical nobility, few people held any power. The population worked hard, but their masters were never satisfied, and pushed them ever harder.

One day, though, the son of the High Priest of Zeus, a bold and brave young man, began to speak aloud the fears, frustrations and hopes of the commoners. Although the nobles were shocked and disdained his words, the masses heard him gladly, nicknaming him “Hercules”, considering more than mere coincidence that he was the son of the High Priest of Zeus himself. This young man was as intelligent and charismatic. He realized that fair play would not help him achieve his goals, and, slowly, he began to believe that, if he was going to win over his corrupted peers at the political arena that was theirs by right, then he would have to use the same weapons they used.

He repeatedly told himself that the ends justified the means, and that, once the Seven Houses were down, he would be able to cleanse the government and society from all corruption. However, the Council heard of his goals, and approved plans to corrupt and tarnish the would-be hero. Eventually, during a fiend summoning ritual by the high priests, Hercules coldly killed a woman sent to seduce him and with whom he fell in love. As her blood poured from the girl’s body, and Hercules murdered his father, something went wrong with the ritual. The entity never fully entered the world, but its consciousness and essence was split among those in the circle, driving them mad with pain and the sudden burst of energy.

The six realms of this island in the mists are governed by the Living Gods themselves: Ares, Aphrodite, Apollo, Athena, Hades and Hermes. The former priests are part fiend, part human.

Hercules is just a shadow of the great, inspiring hero he once was. After waking up in this new land, he soon found that his lover remains attached to him as a geist, and that terrifies and disgusts him. Where once people saw him as their last possible hope for salvation, now they see him as a brawler and a bully, someone who only attracts the unwanted attention and wrath of the Living Gods upon himself. Most people shun him.


Name of domain: Raging Tears
Author: Jon “Kitsune” Stacey
Sourcebook: Bo Sorrows 1998 (“The return of Urdogen”) Edition : 2nd

Location: Urdogen’s domain consists only of his ship, the Raging Tears (a floating pocket domain capable of appearing within any sea in Ravenloft)
Darklord: Urdogen “the Red” (Spectre, Lawful Evil)
CL: Medieval (7)

Summary of plot / feel: The Raging Tears is a spectral caravel. The ship is overgrown with seaweed and barnacles, giving the appearance it as been under the sea for a long time. The Raging Tears gives off a faint, sickly green glow and is semitransparent. The only inhabitants of the Raging Tears are Urdogen’s crew of forty spectres.

In his day, Urdogen “the Red” was a much-feared pirate lord on Faerun. A man well known for his viciousness, he was known to cut off the ears, nose and lips of his captives, then force them to eat those severed body parts. His victims were then released as living examples of Urdogen’s wrath.

When the nations of the Inner Sea united and then defeated his fleet of pirate ships, Urdogen fled—directly into the Mists of Ravenloft. The Raging Tears was now a ghost ship and the domain of Urdogen, now a spectre. Urdogen appears as he did in life: flame-red hair, pirate clothing, and a savage scowl on his face. He appears semitransparent.

Urdogen desperately wants to reclaim the status he had as pirate lord on the Inner Sea, but the dark powers thwart his every attempt. He had built his reputation by systematically pillaging village after village on the coast of the Inner Sea. In Ravenloft, however, he is cursed never to come within sight of land, preventing him from raiding the coastal settlements.


Name of domain: Romagna
Author: Nathan E. Irving
Sourcebook: Bo Sorrows 1998 Edition : 2nd

Location: Island in the mists, with mistway to Nova Vaasa
Darklord: Serenissa D’Aubliet (Spectre (third-magnitude), Chaotic Evil)
CL: Chivalric (8 )

Summary of plot / feel: Romagna is a small, pastoral domain approximately 30 miles in diameter. Romagna is a much safer domain than many others are. The militia and guard keep the settled area of the land clear of most dangers. Nearly all of Romagna’s inhabitants are serfs, bound to the land of their lord, Baron Etain, a fair ruler.

Serenissa Marie D’Aubliet was born, so to speak, an orphan. Her father was a miller’s son and her mother, little more than a girl, had died in the birthing. Bereft of a family, Serenissa was taken in and named by the family of the local lord. Serenissa was then given all the benefits of a noble upbringing, but it was not many years before she began to realize the differences between herself and her compatriots. She invented grand and wild tales of her “true” birth and parents. It is in this time that the stalk of Serenissa’s secret madness came into flower, for the more she repeated her fanciful tales, the more she believed them.

Serenissa eventually pushed young twins over the edge of the tower to their death. They had just told her that her grand stories of her past are lies, and that everybody in the keep knows of her lowborn heritage. Between sobs she told of how the children had leaned out to look over the courtyard while her back was turned, and fallen to their deaths. For two weeks she was ministered to for grief. But she plotted her revenge on these “liars”: two months later, she lit the keep afire in the night, and watched from outside as the great wooden keep burned.

Serenissa crept away in the darkness, crossing the kingdom in a few weeks, stealing food and shelter when she could, until she came to the keep of Baron Etain of Romagna, a young and able man not yet wed. She climbed the ladder of men, and flirted with Baron Etain himself. They dallied for a few months, until Etain told her he had a surprise, and gifted her with a gemstone brooch. However, the following day, he announced his upcoming nuptials—to Lady Fialle, the daughter of a nearby lord. As the court roared at the news of Baron Etain’s engagement, Serenissa smiled and cheered with the rest, while her heart and soul plotted final vengeance.

She drew him to a high tower. As he came for her, she opened her arms and clasped him to her, and with the strength of the mad, leapt from the tower. And the dark powers plucked them from the air, and drew Romagna into the Mists. Serenissa got her wish, though not how she had desired. Her own body cushioned Etain’s fall and allowed him to survive, albeit gravely injured. When she awoke as a spectre, it was six months later, and a week before the wedding. Powerless, unable to influence events, she watched helplessly as Etain married Fialle. She cannot be seen, touched, heard, or felt by the natives of Romagna, and she can influence them only indirectly. It is only to visitors to Romagna that Serenissa is truly dangerous, for they can see and interact with her.


Name of domain: Rose Garden
Author: Jaleigh Johnson
Sourcebook: Bo Secrets (“Beauty’s Garden”)/ Haunted Sites 98 Edition : 2nd

Location: pocket domain
Darklord: Sarafine (3rd Magnitude Ghost, mutable, Lawful Neutral)
CL: Dark Ages (5)

Summary of plot / feel: Centuries ago, a wealthy merchant purchased a tract of land deep in the countryside as a safe haven for himself and his family. The land boasted only a small estate large enough for himself, his wife and their daughter Sarafine. The area also contained, to young Sarafine’s delight, an immense, walled garden with soil that was so fertile that local folk claimed it held magical properties. The garden produced the largest and most impressive display of roses and other exotic flowers ever seen in the region. Only Sarafine was allowed inside the garden walls to tend her precious plants.

When a stranger arrived at the estate and demanded entrance to the garden, the merchant flew into a rage and had the man thrown off his property. Vowing revenge on the merchant, the man—a wizard—returned to the estate late one evening and set the garden ablaze. Horrified, Sarafine ran blindly from the house and into the garden in a vain attempt to save her flowers. The wizard also invoked a dark spell of his own creation that caused a black, choking mist to seep into the flowers and the earth beneath them. The magic corrupted the land’s enchantment and slowly killed everything that lived within the garden walls. In the morning, the garden had become a twisted mockery of its former glory. Sarafine was not seen again, and was presumed to have died in the fire along with her roses. To this day, the roses and plants exist in a perpetual state of rot, and the stench of decay fills the air.

Today, Sarafine appears as an incorporeal child-spirit, standing 4’4”. She dresses in a flower-patterned sun-dress that is torn and infested with brambles. Her hair is long and tangled and her hands and bare feet are scarred with large, ugly slash marks that appear to have been made by thorns. Sarafine “lives,” plays, and tends her roses in her current state in much the same way she did while alive. In her mind’s eye, the garden flourishes under her care and the world outside the garden walls simply holds no interest for her.

However, Sarafine is painfully aware that she is not alone in her world, and has taken it upon herself to warn away travelers who seek entrance to the garden in order to confront this shadowy presence that she refers to as a beast – a malevolent and vengeful spirit. It keeps Sarafine within the garden as a lure for its victims, even as she tries to warn them off.

Name of domain: Saarkaath
Author: Nathan Okerlund
Sourcebook: Bo Sacrifices Edition : 3rd

Location: Large island in the mists
Darklord: Hakaan Na Uruk (Half-orc Male Ftr12)
CL: Iron Age (3)

Summary of plot / feel: Saarkaath is a very mountainous and heavily forested domain; the forest is only broken by the occasional homestead or small village and the few peaks which rise above the timberline.

The population of Saarkaath is divided into two parts, those living in the underground tunnels and those living above ground. Those living underground show their orcish heritage more strongly; those who are human or near-human in appearance are abused and enslaved. They often raid the surface communities for foodstuffs and slaves.
Many of the more human folk have escaped to the surface, where they have formed small villages among the mountains.

Hakaan na Uruk was born to a human woman enslaved by the orcs. He was raised by Leith Kelbar, a member of the Storm Templars (Paladins). When Leith Kelbar was killed, the Order of Templars denied him membership because of his half-orc blood. Embittered and angry, he offered his services to a mercenary company, where he eventually became Captain-General. When the human kingdom of his residence became embroiled in a war with hobgoblins, Hakaan used treachery to see destroy the Storm Templars by the hobgoblins. Treacherous again, Hakaan soon fell out with the hobgoblins and was forced to retreat into the mountains into a heavy mountain fog, pursued on every side by hobgoblins, goblins and worgs.

When the fog cleared and they found themselves completely lost, entirely unable to identify the mountains around them. Hakaan na Uruk has an absolute hatred of human fighters, especially paladins. Hakaan labors under a curse: he had wished all of his life to be a pure-blooded human, but the Dark Powers have twisted his features to those of a pure-blooded orc.


Name of domain: San Bartolomé
Author: Jesse Avilés
Sourcebook: Bo Sacrifices Edition : 3rd

Location: Unknown, probably an island in the mists
Darklord: Isabel de Sargas (Female harpy Brd 10; CR 18 )
CL: Chivalric (8 )

Summary of plot / feel: San Bartolomé is a wedge shaped island that is 200 miles long and 57 miles wide at its biggest. The island has a warm climate and is quite rugged and mountainous. Forests cover most of the area. The capital, Villa de la Aguada, has a population of approximately 2,000 people. Bartolomeans make a living mainly by agricultural means or by sailing.

San Bartolomé’s government is a theocracy. It is believed that every person will be tempted everyday but they must have the will to hold off the temptation, as every deed, good or bad, is watched by the Njelx [sort of Solar outsiders].

Isabel de Sargas is 31 years old now, a bard by nature and a beast by choice. Isabel was beautiful and talented since she was a little girl. She charmed her way into other people’s affections and always got what she wanted. But none of the charms that worked with everyone else seemed to work with Fernando, a monk. Isabel’s was obsessed with trying to make Fernando reciprocate the feelings she felt for him. It occurred to her that if she made Fernando believe that she was a Njelx, he would love her as she loved him.

Ezimel, a dark Njelx, heard her plea. He whispered to her that he could make
her into a Njelx. Eventually, she accepted and went for the magical ritual. She looked like a Njelx (pearly white wings, voice of a nightingale, and smell that of orchids in bloom). She flew to Fernando, and the delighted priest yielded to her embrace. However, as the sun rose, she became a harpy. Since that day Isabel isn’t able to use men as she had previously, to get food, clothing, and all the things to which she was accustomed.



Name of domain: Sanzhou Grove

Author: Dion of the Fraternty
Sourcebook: Nebula Obscura: Worlds of Ravenloft (Midway Haven) Ed: 3rd

Location: Island in the mists
Darklord: Zhi Yang (Evil Treant: CR 11)
CL: Oriental Dark Ages (5)
Landscape: Full ecology (temperate hills, forests and mountains).

Summary of plot / feel: Sanzhou Grove is a mountainous, forested land, 80 miles in diameter. Evergreens, oaks, acorns and sturdy bamboo cover the landscape. The oriental folk of Sanzhou prefer to live simple lives; common industries include agriculture, tea cultivation and homemade art.

In times long forgotten, there was only the forest of Sanzhou. However, a human war happened in the forest, and smoldering fires and rotting trees were all that remained in Sanzhou. From the now corrupted soil grew a seedling, a young acorn. It gained sentience, and called itself Zhi Yang, the Resplendent. As Sanzhou’s second genesis blossomed forth, peaceful humans wandered into the growing grove and settled there as well.

But the feys were still angry at the humans. One morning the village of Ch’a Zhen sent woodcutters to clear a tract of forestland for farming. Zhi Yang grabbed the first woodcutter and forced her cones into his mouth. The cones grew into seedlings that germinated within his body. Within short moments, a new bloody acorn tree grew where an elm was cut in its prime.

Vengeance had been served, but Zhi Yang lusted for more. For every tree that suffered and died in the ancient wars that ripped through Sanzhou, three human lives would pay
the price. A hundred innocent lives were taken that fateful day.

The evil treant darklord demands tribute through the Pact of Zhi Yang: for every tree cut and for every bush uprooted, three human lives must pay.
Last edited by Joël of the FoS on Thu Aug 30, 2007 10:54 am, edited 5 times in total.
"A full set of (game) rules is so massively complicated that the only time they were all bound together in a single volume, they underwent gravitational collapse and became a black hole" (Adams)
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Joël of the FoS
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Post by Joël of the FoS »

Name of domain: Seradan
Author: Les Mozingo
Sourcebook: Bo Secrets Edition : 2nd

Location: Island in the mists
Darklord: Geren Horstadt (Haunt, CE)
CL: Chivalric (8 )

Summary of plot / feel: pocket domain comprised of a town and the outlying hills. The people of Seradan are automatons, living without feelings or opinions.

Geren was the favored son of a minor noble family. He grew to be a bully, but at the age of seventeen an illness left him unable to use his legs. His hatred grew. In an aged trunk he found several tomes that dealt in the dark arts. Geren summoned a fiend: the yugoloth agreed to “help” Geren “feel what others feel”, but the price would be the souls of his entire family. Geren agreed, imagining his entire family downstairs, sneering at him. Geren’s family died in a series of horrible accidents soon after.

Geren found to his horror that he was still confined to his crippled body. It was in dreams that he discovered he was able to feel everything they felt, from joy to sorrow to pain. He was even able to see, smell, and hear properly through these unwitting people. After every session, he was returned to his own crippled body.

By exerting even more willpower, Geren finally found himself able to control the bodies of others. He began to use others to steal and kill for money. But the townsfolk were plagued by dreamlike memories of the things they had done while Geren was in control of their bodies. The people eventually dragged his crippled body out into the streets, where the crowds beat him to death. His last sight was of a hundred leering faces, and of torches being set to his family’s home.

Instead of passing away that night, Geren’s need for vengeance was so great that he became a haunt. He possessed one people, who set the town on fire in the night, then possessing those attempting to flee to bring them back to the flames. The Mists crept in and the domain of Seradan was formed. Geren spent years living through the lives of others, and now he dwells in a domain where the people are dull and unimaginative, and almost totally without feeling.


Name of domain: Session Road
Author: Dion of the Fraternity
Sourcebook: Nebula Obscura: Worlds of Ravenloft (Midway Haven) Ed. : 3rd

Location: Floating pocket domain
Darklord: Henry C. Essem (Male human Ari9: CR 9)
CL: varies according to which place it sets, but never below the Classical Age (4).

Landscape: Sparse ecology (settled area, climate varies according to surrounding environs).

Summary of plot / feel: Session Road is a floating domain that wanders the cities of Ravenloft and beyond; it can as easily appear in Port-a-Lucine as it can appear in other worlds. When Session Road appears, ordinary people who wander along it see it as part of their city, a part of their history and heritage. When it disappears, they usually don't remember it ever even existed.

Session Road itself is four miles long, with strong buildings on either side, except where other roads and streets intersect. A few landmark buildings always appear in every version of it. Many of Session Road's natives are its shop owners and storekeepers, who never seem to leave the confines of their Road home. They always accept outsiders; after all they are traders by heart.

Henry C. Essem is a gaunt old man with a balding head and bloodshot eyes. His features
are elongated and weak, and is usually seen walking with a cane. He built an hotel on a land marked as hallowed ground after the victims of a fire. People protested, and Essem eventually had twenty protesting people killed by snipers. Session Road was wrapped in the thickest fog its folk have ever seen. The ominous Mists never lifted until midafternoon, when they found both themselves and their beloved Road in the middle of a strange city named Martira Bay. The unfinished building, once the beautiful Pines Hostel, serves as Henry C. Essem’s lair.

Name of Domain: Solanica
Author: Charles Phipps
Sourcebook: Alanik Ray's Library

Location: Isolated island in the mists.
Darklord: Prince Cyrus (Human Wizard - Illusionist 8, LE)
CL: Classical (4)
Ecology: Full
Climate/Terrain: Temperate Forests, Mountains, Hills and Plains

Summary of Plot/Feel: As the eldest son of a foppish king, Cyrus heard that only through hard work can people keep what they have, so after rebellion stroke and his father was murdered, Cyrus dedicated entirely to hard and honest work. After amassing a fortune, he raised a huge army and got back to claim the throne. He was offered his post by the new king, an old paladin who had pardoned his life before, but he decided to murder him to give everybody a lesson.

Since then, Cyrus has been king of a kingdom where nobody wants to work and where everybody wants to enjoy as much luxury as possible, he sees himself as unworthy of his throne and is constantly haunted by the ghosts of those he murdered to claim it.

Name of Domain: Tragathos
Author: Dion Fernandez (aka Dion of the Fraternity)
Sourcebook: Navigaccio: Worlds of Ravenloft

Location: Isolated island in the mists
Darklord: Kalliope Droniketa (Female Human Sor6) and Nikolai Serres (Male Human Ftr8)
CL: Classical (4)
Ecology: Full
Climate/Terrain: Temperate Forests and Plains

Summary of Plot/Feel: Most people in Tragathos are very beautiful and athletic, seeing those unlike themselves with contempt. Ugly people usually become outcasts. Kalliope and Nicolai used to be part of those people, until a shadowy figure appeared making promises of beauty. They accepted, and suddenly became beautiful and accepted, but the transformation was short-ended, and soon they became as ugly as they were before.

Unable to accept this, they both went to the strange being, who would perform the change only if they would bring it the human essences needed for the process. As both agreed, they became demilords of the domain of Tragathos.

The city of Tragos has long since been abandoned, as dried-up corpses started appearing in the streets. Nicolai and Kalliope still perform the ritual of beauty periodically, and thus they have become the most beautiful and arrogant people in Tragathos, but they'll always appear as ugly as they are inside to each other.

Name of Domain: Virisa
Author: Alan Lafond
Sourcebook: Alanik Ray's Library

Location: Sea of Sorrows, south of Blaustein.
Darklord: Lord Willem Ducas (Human Fighter 13, LE)
CL: Medieval (7)
Ecology: Full
Climate/Terrain: Temperate Forest and Plains

Summary of Plot/Feel: Lord Willem is a huge man who has always used his size and strength to bully those around him, so badly that he eventually killed one person. Luckily for him, nobody pointed at him when the body was found, but he still swore to be more careful next time.

So, the next time he killed someone, he ate him.

Willem used the same modus operandi for years, but he was eventually discovered by a villager, who told his parents. Confronted by the truth, Willem resorted to killing the three of them, and eating them before word got out. So, he became darklord of Virisa.

Today, Lord Willem not only enjoys eating other people, he needs to do so to keep his eternal youth. He has instituted an anual feast where prisoners are released from their cells and given the chance to escape the island as he and his men hunt them. So far, nobody has ever got out of the island on the day of the Great Hunt, and locals try to hide the gruesome truth about their rulers from foreigners.

Coming soon:

Stonewall /USS 2002
Tsuu-Y-Teke /USS 2002
Ukhu Pacha /Nebula Obscura: Worlds of Ravenloft (Midway Haven)
Verbena / Qtr 15
Vin'Ejal /Bo Souls 1997
Vulnara /USS 2002
Vultharesk /Bo Shadows 2000
Wayward on the Bone Sands /Bo Secrets 1999
Wellsping /Haunted Sites 98
Whäl /Bo Sorrows 1998
Xi’anlin /Navigaccio: Worlds of Ravenloft (Midway Haven)
Yatehcaa /USS 2002
Last edited by Joël of the FoS on Wed Jan 28, 2009 3:58 pm, edited 10 times in total.
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WolfKook
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Post by WolfKook »

I've done summaries of all the BoSacrif domains. Don't have them with me right now, but I'll post them soon!
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Post by Joël of the FoS »

Well instead email or PM me with them: I'm going to compile the master document then post them here at the right alphabetical place.

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Post by Scarycount »

Are there anymore travelouges coming up, like the one for the Northlands? If not, would you consider one were someone to submit it?
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Post by Joël of the FoS »

Scarycount wrote:Are there anymore travelouges coming up, like the one for the Northlands? If not, would you consider one were someone to submit it?
Sure! The Northlands Gaz is a very well made article and a good addition to the first article. If you plan to write about another author's domain, i suggest you ask for permission before writing the Gaz / Travelogue.

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Post by Drusilla »

Mmmm... yummy. My playground is growing bigger and bigger, oh, it's like the swelling of a woman bearing the heavy burden of piglets in her tummy. Now I'll go to Olympus I think, the thought of God blood whets my appetite :twisted:
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Post by Sylaire »

Drusilla wrote:Mmmm... yummy. My playground is growing bigger and bigger, oh, it's like the swelling of a woman bearing the heavy burden of piglets in her tummy. Now I'll go to Olympus I think, the thought of God blood whets my appetite :twisted:
You know, during the twenty-second delay while waiting for my brain to catch the Buffy reference, this post (including sig) really creeped the living heck out of me.
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Post by tec-goblin »

Do Masques count? For example in the Sea of Knowledge netbook where 7thSea countries (or parts thereof) were separated into domains?
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Post by Joël of the FoS »

I'm not that famliar with this place, but if anybody wants to make a summary of it, sure, we will include it!

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Post by Joël of the FoS »

Done - see pst in this thread where they are in alphabetical order:

Nzari /USS 2003
Okraina /QtR 2
Olympus /USS 2002
Raging Tears /Bo Sorrows 1998
Romagna /Bo Sorrows 1998
Rose Garden /Haunted Sites 98
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