RLR: Domains looking for a Darklord 1: Mordent

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Who should be the darklord of Reanimated Mordent?

Keep Godefroy as is, with no change
8
29%
Keep Godefroy with a serious retcon to increase his appeal
11
39%
Use another (existing) mordentish character (Please explain)
6
21%
Create a new darklord to fit the domain
3
11%
 
Total votes: 28

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Post by WolfKook »

...and now, on to Godefroy!!!

That's easy. Why is he a small man? Read any description prior to GazIII: He's just a misoginistic bully who wanted a boy and murdered his wife and daughter in a fit of rage, and killed his own horse to escape justice. To me, that sounds cowardly, hardly the work of a villanious mastermind; and call me jaded, but such a crime is a relatively common fact... I really expect more from a darklord, especially from the darklord of such a crucial domain.

But what's the official explanation for him being the darklord of Mordent? He was the most powerful evil creature there when the domain got to the mists, and both Strahd and Azalin left in a hurry. Again, nothing that really gives him any more "umph" than he already had.

And the people of Arthaus saw the lameness in him, and attempted to fix him. And I have to agree they did a wonderful job, giving him motivation he did not have before, an army of bound souls he "happened" to discover at his disposal (They're attached to the house, not to him), and tiwsted plots of manipulation and doom he hadn't use ever before.

So, yes... In some way they made Godefroy much more interesting, but they did so by creating an artificial turning point that transformed him from a lame, weak, cowardly and stupid bully into a self-assured, motivated, brave and macchiavellian... er... bully.

Puff, puff... I guess I got carried a little in this one... :lol:
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Post by DeepShadow of FoS »

WolfKook wrote:That's easy. Why is he a small man? Read any description prior to GazIII: He's just a misoginistic bully who wanted a boy and murdered his wife and daughter in a fit of rage, and killed his own horse to escape justice.
As opposed to Ivan, who murdered his sister in a fit of rage, then ran into the Mists?

Most DL's start out with petty betrayals of family. Ivan, Yagno, Ivana, and more. We could add Strahd to the list if it weren't for the bodycount at the wedding, but I think we've already established that the Mists aren't looking for the bodycount.
To me, that sounds cowardly, hardly the work of a villanious mastermind; and call me jaded, but such a crime is a relatively common fact... I really expect more from a darklord, especially from the darklord of such a crucial domain.
First, I don't think Godefroy is quite the mastermind he appears to be, and he certainly wasn't back then. Does every DL have to be a mastermind?

More to the point, I think everything you've brought forward is stuff that would be worth improving if Godefroy is to be the DL. You have yet to show me that there's anything here that's harder to fix than inventing a new DL out of whole cloth.
But what's the official explanation for him being the darklord of Mordent? He was the most powerful evil creature there when the domain got to the mists, and both Strahd and Azalin left in a hurry. Again, nothing that really gives him any more "umph" than he already had.
Again, easy to tweak, rather than create an entirely new character.
And the people of Arthaus saw the lameness in him, and attempted to fix him. And I have to agree they did a wonderful job, giving him motivation he did not have before, an army of bound souls he "happened" to discover at his disposal (They're attached to the house, not to him), and tiwsted plots of manipulation and doom he hadn't use ever before.
...yep!
So, yes... In some way they made Godefroy much more interesting, but they did so by creating an artificial turning point that transformed him from a lame, weak, cowardly and stupid bully into a self-assured, motivated, brave and macchiavellian... er... bully.
First, I don't see what's wrong with a 4th rank ghost learning and growing just like a person. Artificial or not, we all have turning points.

Second, this is a retcon. That means you fix what's wrong, right? Give him a better backstory, give him sympathetic traits, give him additional crimes worthy of his status. Hell, why not make him involved with the Apparatus and the Alchemist, to better explain why he became DL? If Strahd and Azalin were able to leave, it shows neither was bound as a DL at the time. So who was? Maybe he was temporarily co-DL with both of them--what difference would it have made in what people saw? Nothing,

For that matter, the very fact that Godefroy wasn't doing anything all those years leaves plenty of room to say that he WAS actually doing something! We could find out that he spent a decade hiding from his wife and daughter in the bodies of the noblemen of Mordent, making him partly responsible for the families dying out. Maybe he chased the Blackburn-Bruce's out of Mordent--why would that be public knowledge?

Just because previous canon said he was sitting staring at his toes doesn't mean it's so. That's the very canon we're ignoring, right? So why not say that he was always a schemer, and that he was partly responsible for the formation of the Fraternity of Shadows, or any other group that has an incomplete story? Seriously, there are volumes of schemes he could have had a hand in all these years, and nobody would have been the wiser.
Puff, puff... I guess I got carried a little in this one... :lol:
NP here. We're all big kids, and I believe we all want what's right for the game. :wink:
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Post by WolfKook »

DeepShadow of FoS wrote:I try. I hate to see a project get bogged down in fixing things that needn't be fixed, and that happens a LOT when you start questioning the fundamentals.
Well, in some way, that's what this project's all about. Questioning even why people need two kidneys. :wink:
Okay, most of that is canon, up to the part where it predated the builder Renier (his first name has never been made known, IIRC). That last part is unclear whether the house-entity predated the construction or was constructed/born along with it.
Yeap, you're right (Though I'd swear his name in Gaz3 was Jacques). It's never been clearly stated. The only thing explicitly said was that there was something wrong with it from the moment the first stone was set (Perhaps there was a singing frog hidden in that stone :shock:).
Okay, here you're getting a little fuzzy with canon. The murders of Lilia and Estelle Godefroy awoke something in the house that was malevolent, yes. Where does it say that presence then took on Godefroy, and/or all of Mordent?

If you're extrapolating, fine. Up til now you've been strictly by the book, but I figured you'd diverge eventually, and if this is it, all well and good. It just sounded like you were citing Gaz 3 as the source, which could be debated.
Well, perhaps I was extrapolating, but from the description, Lady Godefroy and her daughter didn't seem malevolent enough to come and torment him on their own, so I assumed it was the presence in the house. Perhaps I got too carried away when mentioning "all of Mordent", so I decline that one.
What I'm trying to say is that we're not talking about four walls and a roof (Which, I agree, is not a darklord), but about a ghostly presence (Ghost, nightshade, animator, fiend, caller in darkness or whatever you want to call it). Once we agree on that, it stops being so alien, starts being sentient and not just a phantasmagora, and -with a good backstory to support it -begins to elicit enough sympathy as to becoming worthy of darklordship, while it stops contradicting canon rules.
This I can see, but you say "we" as if the others in this thread are with you on this being less alien and more sentient.
By no means! I said "once we agree" as in "if we agree", not as in "we all agree". I apologize if it sounded otherwise, by no means do I want to sound that megalomaniacal!
I think you need to make it clear to the others here on the thread that the presence in the house is going to get a backstory that will elicit sympathy in order to be a DL.
It has to, so I make it clear: If the presence in the house is to be a darklord, it has to get a backstory, a motivation, a personality, and all other things that make great DLs. It even has to get some kind of "statable template": It has to be a ghost, a fiend, an animator or something else we can call it, instead of just "a house".

And we all agree on that. :lol:

(BTW, great debate, DS).
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Post by Irving the Meek »

I'll agree that there has to be a "presence" in the house, but I really would like to keep that presence as mysterious as possible. When I think of the really effective ghost stories that I've heard recently - like "The Ring" - I can't help but notice that a lot of their creepiness comes from their mystery. One of the most horrifying twists in "The Ring" comes from a fundamental misunderstanding of the ghost's nature. I know it's asking a lot from the DMs out there to leave some gaps in the Darklord's backstory, but ultimately I think we'd be benefited if we left some things wide open in regards to what The Thing In The House is and wants.

Think about the very first time you read through the list of Darklords, and some of the surprises and excitement that came from that. Here' a chance to recapture some of that lightning in a bottle. Is it possible to do it?
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Post by Isabella »

DeepShadow of FoS wrote: I think you need to make it clear to the others here on the thread that the presence in the house is going to get a backstory that will elicit sympathy in order to be a DL.
Jeez, Deepshadow. Could you sound any more like my mom? Should I go sit in the corner with a dunce cap on? :P Did anyone even contest that?

My hatred of the darklord system is why my revision of Ravenloft is staying separate from this project. I'm totally stealing the house for my own writeup.
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Post by Irving the Meek »

I actually agree with Isabella on two fronts:

One, I don't like being condescended to.

Two, there is an awful lot of emphasis on "the Darklord" in Ravenloft, and that's not always healthy. What's a Darklord? I've seen some fairly involved answers, but as far as I'm concerned it boils down to this:

The Darklord is the primary plot hook in the Domain he resides in.

That's "primary", not "solitary". Not every story in the Domain uses that plot hook in its tales, but every story in that Domain uses the themes the Darklord offers. You can tell a tale in Borca that doesn't involve Ivana, but you can't tell one without poison and treachery. The Darklord might be the villain, the antihero, or anything in between, but he cannot show up in an adventure without creating story.

What themes does Godefroy offer? What stories does he tell?

Bluntly, not a lot. It's great that you managed to squeeze one out of him, but I feel that that's a testament to your skill as a DM, not anything implicit in the material that's been written to date. He doesn't inspire me, and I don't think he inspires a lot of people.

The House creates story. You cannot show up on its doorstep without an adventure happening. And the raw mystery of its motives and actions provide a huge number of plot hooks.

Nothing else about the Darklord matters. If the Darklord does not generate story, he's not a good Darklord. It's absurd to get hung up on the definition of the Darklord based on Domain size, or what tortures the Darklord endures, or any other arbitrary rules of Darklordship we assign to them. On one level, it's absurd to assume that unnamed and unknowable Dark Powers must follow rules we can easily codify and understand. On another level, the Darklord is being tortured for one reason only - to generate story. If that trope doesn't work for a given Domain for any reason, screw it. Toss it out.

It is vital to the health of the Ravenloft setting to break "rules" and expectations. Entirely too much is known about the setting after all this time - we know where Ravenloft is, what every Darklord wants, why they're locked away, et cetera. There are no skeletons in the closet anymore. It is terribly important to re-insert some mystery into Ravenloft, and make the players question everything they think they know.

This is a good start.

Make the House the Darklord. And if that breaks some rules the PCs think they know... excellent.
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Post by DeepShadow of FoS »

Isabella wrote:Jeez, Deepshadow. Could you sound any more like my mom? Should I go sit in the corner with a dunce cap on? :P
I'm deeply sorry you took my post that way. I wasn't even replying to you, and I don't see anywhere in your posts where I disagree.
Did anyone even contest that?
Yes, they did. The people I was responding to were arguing for a house that was less human/sympathetic and more unknowably alien.
My hatred of the darklord system is why my revision of Ravenloft is staying separate from this project. I'm totally stealing the house for my own writeup.
Sounds like a great idea!
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Post by DeepShadow of FoS »

Irving the Meek wrote:One, I don't like being condescended to.
Again, I'm really sorry if I came across as condescending. From where I sit, the focus of this project was being pulled multiple directions, and it seemed to stem from people having different ideas of what was "wrong" with RL as written. Based upon the other threads on the subject, I understood the intent of this particular project was to patch up the holes in canon inconsistencies, but some people weren't satisfied with that. Let me be clear: IF YOU AREN'T SATISFIED WITH JUST PATCHING HOLES, THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH GOING FARTHER IN YOUR OWN CAMPAIGN!

I've seen many of these projects over the years, and this is where the problems start. People hear that someone is trying to fix Ravenloft, and they offer their own fixes that are utterly contradictory. Either fix would work on its own, but together they create a bigger mess than they were trying to clean up.

Since I've become the official jerk on this thread, I might as well say the rest of my piece and then bow out. I think WolfKook, as the initiator of the project, has the greatest vision for what this project is. He's opened it up for the rest of us to contribute, but the vision must remain singular even as the ideas are collected in democratic fashion. He's now made it clear that "If the presence in the house is to be a darklord, it has to get a backstory, a motivation, a personality, and all other things that make great DLs." If someone disagrees with that vision of DL's, or of Ravenloft in general, then I respectfully submit that such a person should reread the original intentions of the Ravenloft Reanimated project, and then consider whether their vision is best implemented in their own campaign or group project.
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Post by Isabella »

Deepshadow, the smilies were there to indicate the post was meant lightheartedly. I'm not offended (others, maybe). You don't have to go live in a cave now. No one accused you of saying we couldn't do things for our own campaign. I was just pointing out that telling Wolfkook he needed to tell us how to do things (we're right here) made it sound like he was our chaperon on a school field trip.

I don't know if the question of who had the final say ever got answered; I don't think anyone wanted the responsibility. If it's anyone, it's Wolfkook, but at that point it becomes Wolfkook's Ravenloft (with fan suggestions). On the other hand, it's more likely to get done. Otherwise, I think any absolute design goals need to be compiled and stated clearly right now, in specific terms, before we even touch the domains again.
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Post by Irving the Meek »

I do think that it's time for a clear mission statement for this project.
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Post by Baduin9 »

So let's steal an idea from the original Gothic story "Castle of Otranto" by Walpole and Shunned House of Lovecraft - an undead physical being buried under the house - and still growing underground, until it assumes grotesque and monstrous proportions. It "sleeps" but its psychical presence is warping and destroying anyone living in the house or its vicinity.

http://www.dagonbytes.com/thelibrary/lo ... dhouse.htm

"We never - even in our wildest Hallowe'en moods - visited this cellar by night, but in some of our daytime visits could detect the phosphorescence, especially when the day was dark and wet. There was also a subtler thing we often thought we detected - a very strange thing which was, however, merely suggestive at most. I refer to a sort of cloudy whitish pattern on the dirt floor - a vague, shifting deposit of mould or nitre which we sometimes thought we could trace amidst the sparse fungous growths near the huge fireplace of the basement kitchen. Once in a while it struck us that this patch bore an uncanny resemblance to a doubled-up human figure, though generally no such kinship existed, and often there was no whitish deposit whatever. .On a certain rainy afternoon when this illusion seemed phenomenally strong, and when, in addition, I had fancied I glimpsed a kind of thin, yellowish, shimmering exhalation rising from the nitrous pattern toward the yawning fireplace, I spoke to my uncle about the matter. He smiled at this odd conceit, but it seemed that his smile was tinged with reminiscence. Later I heard that a similar notion entered into some of the wild ancient tales of the common folk - a notion likewise alluding to ghoulish, wolfish shapes taken by smoke from the great chimney, and queer contours assumed by certain of the sinuous tree-roots that thrust their way into the cellar through the loose foundation-stones."

So, what is the source of that presence or curse? There was once a cruel belief or custom: when laying a foundation of any great building, a living sacrifice was buried under it, so that its spirit would guard it, and its life-force strengthen the builiding. Of course, when building a palace or an especially important house, the sacrifice had to be human. Sacrifices of infants were deemed especially valuable, as their life-force is especially fresh and plentiful.
http://www.paolaraffetta.com.ar/extensi ... ifice.html

http://books.google.pl/books?id=h7mlAHi ... &ct=result

http://theshadowlands.net/places/Netherlands.htm

"Denekamp - Singraven Manor - At the beginning of the sixteenth century Singraven Manor became shortly the residence of some Franciscan nuns. As a building sacrifice a nun was bricked up alive. Since then there was not much happiness at the house anymore. Owners and family died young, got in serious financial trouble or were the victime of some deadly accidents. One of the owners burned alive after an oil lamp fell over and set the unhappy man on fire. The ghost of the nun still haunts the house, which is now a museum. Her appearance predicts disaster and shame. "

http://mek.niif.hu/02700/02790/html/139.html

"Once more they took counsel, all twelve master masons,
How to stop walls crumbling, how the building hasten;
Till at last agreed they, came to this solution,
All between themselves they made a resolution:
“Any of our wives who be the first arriver,
Gently we should take her, throw her in the fire,
Mix with lime her ashes, tender ashes softly
For to strengthen with it Déva’s castle lofty.”"

Now let us imagine a noble necromancer, who wants to ensure the future domination of his house (ie, family) over the whole Mordent. When he begins to build his house, he secretly, using his magic, abducts his chief enemy and his three children and ritually kills him as a building sacrfice, burying their bodies beneath the cornerstone. His spell was to ensure that his House (ie family) should rule over all great houses of Mordent. The dead were transformed into a single mindless force, a spirit-guardian, bound to ensure the fulfillment of the spell, but at the same time hating their creator, his family, and all inhabitants of the building. Moreover, the curse was planned to grow with time, since all its victims were to be imprisoned in the House, serving to strengthen it.

When later the last descendant of the necromancer was killed for treason, the spell lacked the original focus, and transformed into ensuring that the actual physical House should rule Mordent. Its malice was now free to seek revenge on the inhabitants, and as it grew in power, it began to gain control over all great houses of Mordent, destroying the noble families living there.

And during all that time, the bodies of the original sacrfices have dissolved together into one putrid mass, which gradually formed into one, monstrous body - the physical embodiment of the Curse. And as the Curse gained power, the body grew, until it could barely fit, doubled together, under the whole House.
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Post by WolfKook »

Isabella wrote:Jeez, Deepshadow. Could you sound any more like my mom? Should I go sit in the corner with a dunce cap on? Did anyone even contest that?
Well, I didn't feel being condescended to, but I guess the discussion wasn't as enjoyable for everyone as it was to DS and myself.
My hatred of the darklord system is why my revision of Ravenloft is staying separate from this project.
I would be interested in hearing about your ideas, though...
DeepShadow of FoS wrote:From where I sit, the focus of this project was being pulled multiple directions, and it seemed to stem from people having different ideas of what was "wrong" with RL as written.
Everyone has different ideas of what's wrong, and everyone has different ideas on how to fix it. We're trying to put them in a common ground to discuss them an armonize them, so when decisions are taken, they aren't taken arbitrarily, and everyone has at least a say on them. Of course, in the end, we can't please everyone, and I'm sure the final result will include things that some people won't like, but at least we would be giving everybody an opportunity to give their opinion freely, so we can take it into account when the hard work begins.
I've seen many of these projects over the years, and this is where the problems start. People hear that someone is trying to fix Ravenloft, and they offer their own fixes that are utterly contradictory. Either fix would work on its own, but together they create a bigger mess than they were trying to clean up.
But at least we're doing in a somehow orderly fashion, and we've been keeping our goals in mind at all times. We can say anything while we're brainstorming, but in the end the domain and darklord's write-ups will have to conform to those tenets, and that will ensure that the different fixes either armonize with each other, or the stronger wins.

Again, there's nothing wrong with discussion, as long as we don't linger endlessly on that discussion (And I hope we won't allow that to happen).
I think WolfKook, as the initiator of the project, has the greatest vision for what this project is. He's opened it up for the rest of us to contribute, but the vision must remain singular even as the ideas are collected in democratic fashion.
However, I have never wanted the project to be mine and mine alone. I want it to collect ideas and contributions from the community at large, for everybody has seen problems with the setting and everyone has had some thought on how to fix them... If I was just to create RL in my own image, I hadn't opened this project in the first place.
Isabella wrote:Otherwise, I think any absolute design goals need to be compiled and stated clearly right now, in specific terms, before we even touch the domains again.
Do you mean that the current goals aren't clear enough? Do you have any suggestions on how to make them clearer?
Irving the Meek wrote:I do think that it's time for a clear mission statement for this project.
Aye, aye. Will work on that.
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Post by order99 »

What if the House is only part of the Darklord equation?

What exactly IS the House? The result of great past betrayals? Sins of previous generations? Let's say that the House is founded on previous evils that tainted the land-the resultant Sinkhole doesn't have to be aware and sentient in and of itself. It could have some tenuous life, perhaps a great deal of power...but in the end it just poisons things due to its nature, like radiation or poison, only given a hunger. It needs, it wants, it hates-but is unaware of what or why. Mostly, it sleeps-and even in sleep it affects dreams of Man, attracts evil and fosters wickedness-again, not truly aware itself. Animals avoid it. Madmen dream of it. Nobody wants to buy the land-but no overt events occur.

Then Godefroy appears, and both influences and is influenced by the House. Upon Godefroy's demise, the spirit finds in the House strength to resist Divine Justice, and power to do great things. The House is his power now,and he can wield it...

But because the House is alive in its own fashion, because it hungers and because it hates-it hates Godefroy. The House is no more aware than before, but now its hungers have a focus point...and so the House seeps into Godefroy and becomes what the spirit fears and hates, just as it does to other souls ensnared in its rudimentary Creature awareness. In addition, the power of the House often undoes much of Godefroy's own plans-again, simply because a hungry, malevolent animal intellect is about as easy to manipulate as a hurricane.

The House is not a Darklord.
The House is not being punished.
The House merely IS.

Godefroy is the Darklord.
The House is both his greatest source of power-and the source of both his failures and his constant torment.

If Godefroy ever truly repents, changes his ways and accepts Divine punishment, he will be free of the House. And the House,with no intellect or focus of its own, will return to dormancy. A few unquiet dreams, a chill in the air, an unsavory reputation-

-until another mad, wicked fool tries to use it.

This would leave two means of defeating Godefroy-and some hanging plot hooks. Find a way to destroy the House-permanently-and Godefroy becomes a mere wandering spirit-perhaps even a mere Wraith-that can still do harm until vanquished for good. Destroy Godefroy-permanently-and the House becomes quiet but still hazardous in a Toxic Waste sort of way until permanently cleansed and 'killed' itself.

In the meantime though, the Darklord in his House is pretty durn tough, and his will directs and strengthens the House. Gonna be a tough slog...
"And did she ever come out?"
"Not Yet".
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Post by artemis wands »

I really enjoyed reading this thread, as IMC I've used the House as Mordent's true darklord for years.
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Post by Sorti »

A proposal for the history behind the HoGH (sorry for the bad English, still polishing):

The HoGH was commissioned by a rich retired adventurer named Renier to a famous architect named Samuel Brodsend.

Samuel was a man of humble birth; his parents were servants in a nobleman's house, and he had to work a lot to study and become an architect. His dream was to have his own huge mansion with his servants; but he was quite old already, and he understood he would have never had enough money for that. Still his hopes for the future were to make life as pleasant as possible to his only son, Stephan.

Renier promised Samuel a great amout of money to design his House and direct the works, so Samuel accepted and moved to a small house near Gryphon Hill with his wife Lucy and the aforementioned son Stephan. After nine months the project was ready, and two dozens of workers began the dig for the basement.

One month later, Samuel was awaken in the middle of the night by some weird lights in the dig; taking a brick with him, he approached the dig under the cover of darkness, but he was not prepared for what he saw: his own son Stephan was in an intimate embrace with one of his workers, a low-class boy!

Enraged he came out of the shadows screaming, and tragedy struck: Stephan took some steps back dazed and scared and hit a support of the dig. The wooden beam fell, and the architect's son was buried under two hundred kilograms of stones. Samuel's grief was so deep he could barely think; in a fit of rage he hit the son's lover in the head with his brick, again and again, until he stopped moving.

Then he thought, who could be to blame if his son had grown up like that? Surely his mother, always permissive with him, allowed him to ignore the right path! Surely not him, as he was so busy building his son's future that he barely spoke with him. So he went back to his small house and awoke Lucy, telling her Stephan had an accident and needed her help at the dig; when they were there he murdered her as well and buried all three corpses deep under the basement of would have become the Northern Tower.

The day after he told everybody that his son and wife went away from him because he was working too much and not giving them enough attention; ah, the ingratitude! But in his mind something snapped and another thought obsessed him: if he could not give his son a mansion and servants, at least he would have given him the most beautiful tomb in the world! He began studying tomes regarding tombs all over the world, and incorporating them in the project: many gargoyles and other strange quirks were added in this phase. In this period the project was changed almost every week, and this led to many weird things like useless stairs ending against the wall, crooked corridors, and hidden passages.

One day he read a book by a famous archeologist and esotericist, dr. Knutsen, about the ziggurat of an ancient king in a distant land; in the book dr. Knutsen described many symbols that, according to him, were supposed to bind eternally the souls of the king's servants to his will. In some way, it was exactly was he had in mind for Stephan, right? He hired dr. Knutsen himself, promising him a huge amount of money to reveal him the secrets of those symbols and add them to his project. Dr. Knutsen explained him all the complicated discoveries he made in that distant tomb, and that on the kings' sarcophagus he found a spiral symbol, that he thought was the key to gathering the spirits and making them obedient to their regent.

Samuel asked dr. Knutsen to write the symbol on the floor of the Northern Tower, and paid him enough to quell any question; after the archeologist finished his work, his payment was a hit on the back on the head and a quick grave under the floor of the Library. Now that the spell was in place, the architect just wanted some more spirits to serve his son, so he began to sabotage a stair here and a wooden beam there, to cause some accidents... Workers died, but Renier was enough rich and influent that the works were not stopped.

After another year of work a seer came to Samuel telling him she had a vision of darkness, and the House he was building was becoming something terribly wrong; to show her there was nothing to fear the architect brought her in the House at night, hit her with his faithful brick and buried her alive under the Western Tower. After some time he understood that he didn't even need to cause accidents anymore; they just happened anyway, as if the House was already able to nourish itself...

After many years and many lives, the House was finally ready and Samuel took Renier for a tour; sadly, just when he was showing him the top of the Northern Tower he slipped and fell down, his head cracking on the spiral symbol on the ground floor. Renier moved in the House anyway, but the presence inside led him to flee after a few months; and the rest is history...

The mix of esoteric symbols and deaths made the House into a spirit magnet; the people dying in some kilometer's radius risk being drawn to it and become servants of the House forever. The spirits of the family of three and the boy's lover are melted into a single semiconscious entity who just craves for power and servitude. Godefroy broke the spell by suiciding, and so became the master of those died after him, and the house hates him for this (see previous posts). We can also add the fact that the House envies the other mansions in Mordents and curses them, which is why noble families in Mordent tend to be unlucky.

Comments? Ideas? Thoughts?
Coltiviamo per tutti un rancore
che ha l'odore del sangue rappreso
ciò che allora chiamammo dolore
è soltanto un discorso sospeso
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