Blaustein!

[Irving the Meek]

My wife, "Griselda", who is far smarter than me, directed my to this Brothers Grimm variation on the Bluebeard tale.

http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm046.html

It's... different. Very different, in that somewhat surreal Grimm way. But there might be some material worth mining here to add to the setting.

Also, it's worth noting that Bluebeard may well be an actual person, Giles de Rais:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giles_de_Rais

Note that the "real" Bluebeard was a lieutenant of Joan of Arc! Wow. What was Bluebeard the Darklord's history again?....

[EO]

Also, it's worth noting that Bluebeard may well be an actual person, Giles de Rais:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giles_de_Rais

Note that the "real" Bluebeard was a lieutenant of Joan of Arc! Wow. What was Bluebeard the Darklord's history again?....

The Darklord's history is pretty much the fairy tale's. Actually, it literally sends us to the tale. It also mentions how despite his atrocious looks, Bluebeard "was nonetheless charming, overcoming his physical faults with good grace and enticing wealth."

As for Giles de Rais, it's hard to say if yes or no his story influenced the tale of Bluebeard. If I remember correctly, de Rais was accused and executed for having sacrificed dozens or hundreds of children and women in dark and devious rituals. This isn't really like Bluebeard, except for the brutal murdering part.

This may be another inspiration. Conomor had killed three of his wives. The fourth while looking around the Castle found the corpses of the former three wives in a room and was subseqneutly alerted by their ghosts that should she become pregnant, Conomor would kill her because of a prophecy (his son would kill him). It has many similarities with the Bluebeard tale.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conomor

[cure]

I have some material that might be of interest to you. I wrote up an article titled Sailing the Sea of Sorrows. Below are several snippets referencing Blaustein..

Pirate Havens: Lord Bluebeard has declared the harbour and docks of Blaustein an open port subject to the law that any vessel violating the peace shall be seized along with her cargo. Agreeing to not break the peace is a small price for a pirate ship to pay and small indeed when one considers that a foreign naval vessel pursuing a pirate into the harbour would find herself subject to the fire of the lord’s artillery and to seizure by the lord’s men. Blaustein then is a pirate port. Few brigs call it home although it is an obvious but distant destination for a brig fleeing pursuit or in need of significant repair. Principally it is home to caravels that raid coastal shipping between Mordentshire, Port-a-Lucine and Ludendorf and to carracks and galleons that prey upon the carracks and galleons trading with Paridon or more rarely Rokushima Taiyoo.

Ships - fluyt: Still it is exceptional to find [a fluyt] in the vicinity of Blaustein or sailing between ports not pledged to the fight against piracy, for they are the pirate’s preferred prey. Fluyts found where they have no business being should invite careful reflection: the captain may simply be a fool; he may be paying protection money to the agents (real or professed) of pirates which again marks him as a fool; he and his crew may not be what they seem; or they may be precisely what they seem but are betting that others will not accept them at face value.

Boarding: For a boarding to succeed the attackers must come to grips with the defenders and do so with little or no disadvantage. Thus the boarders must annul the advantages afforded their enemy by the arrows slits, the battlements and the very walls of the castles. To do such the attackers must break inside the vessel with all possible haste. The most obvious way is through the main deck hatch. Typically it consists of 10 inset wooden boards each 10’ long by 1’ wide by 3” thick secured from above by three like boards set crosswise, which are fastened in place with bolts, and that require someone above and below deck and about 5 minutes to undo. But the Blackhanded Lady sailing out of Blaustein, and not a few of her fellow pirate galleons I would imagine, has among its crew a powerful fighter who, fortified with magic and wielding what is said to be a great dwarven axe of unparalleled sharpness, can chop a way through a deck hatch for his fellows in but a handful of seconds with a mere three shattering blows. Put him on a brig, sneak in close to a galleon, grapple her, and he could chop a hole right through her side, sparing the pirates the bother of setting foot on the main deck.

[ewancummins]

Here are some other thoughts-

Assuming Blaustein has a Medieval CL, maybe they import cannon [or steal them]. These are mounted on coastal fortresses [maye Bluebeard's castle] to deter attacks from the ocean. The local economy may not produce items above CL7 , but you can buy them in port, from pirates and salvagers- as well as legitimate merchants willing to do business on the island.


Tariffs and taxes? Governance? I like the idea of Bluebeard running an efficient government, without opressive taxation. He isn't a bad ruler- in many respects, he's actually quite a good one. He may not be kind or merciful, but he keeps order. His people love him [not only because of the Powers, either].

Militia- the Blausteiners sound like a tough bunch. Factor in their known devotion to their ruler, and I'd say we're looking at an enthusiastic militia. Bluebeard may not bother with a large standing army [which would be very costly in money and resources], because he knows he can count on his subejcts to defend the island and his rights. The militiamen may be unpaid voluneteers, but receive free weapons and training [BB may even train some himself- he's a Fighter-type, isn't he?].

Weapons laws- Maybe Bluebeard places restrictions on foreigners carrying wepaons, but allows his own people to go about armed as they like [he has little to fear from them, after all]. Nice way to turn the tables on the PCs. Or maybe foreigners [as long as they aren't in large bodies] may carry weapons- with a very expensive writ from Bluebeard [good way to pick up some extra revenue].

[The Giamarga]

And as for a caliban, I've never seen him as such. I think he's a human, albeit one that was quite ugly and brutish. What I don't like about his Darklords version is that he is a wimp, really, he's a low level darklord. For someone described in Sights and Sounds as such a brutal and dangerous man, any low or mid level party can easily kick his ass.

Well a caliban seemed to fit his Darklords backstory quite well, where he is painted as originally being very monstrous looking and hideously strong. And what other is a caliban than a misshapen human? Only after he got his domain did the DPs tone down his ugliness, leaving only his blue beard. (See the comments on Outsider Rating in my 3.5 stats)

His low level is another point that needs to be adressed. Shall it be unchanged or (slightly) powered up? How much?

I don't think he needs to be powered up much. Ravenloft is a low to mid-level campaign setting after all and he is far from a wimp at level 6. Even keeping in mind SKR's Theory about peasants and commoner adavancement most normal people should not be much higher than 6th level, and then probably already in old age by the time they reach that level. With his high strength he is more than a match for normal persons. But I agree that some thoughts should be included on how to challenge a PC party "strike team". Another problem is that other NPCs to be introduced in the domain should not overshadow him (much).

BTW Sights & Sounds two protagonists (and the manservant) are also statted in the post with my 3.5 Bluebeard stats. Both are low-level even in comparison to Bluebeard and easily overpowered by Bluebeard with his enormous strength even without the help of the manservant.

[The Giamarga]

BB may even train some himself- he's a Fighter-type, isn't he?

Well he was statted as a Ftr 5 or 6 in 2E, but then there were no NPC classes back then. He had very high Strength but fought only with a dagger, wore no armour and was generally painted as a brutish nobleman. In my 3.5 conversion of Bluebeard I statted him as a caliban aristocrat 6 with enormous strength. (An alternate set of stats are given, with a few Thug levels put in, but in the end i like the pure Ari build more.)

Perhaps we could push him up to Ari7 or Ari8 or perhaps Ari4/Thug4, but i don't see us pushing him above CL 10 or minmaxing him into a combat monster. He should be able to overpower a low to midlevel (N)PC in a grapple, but I don't see him crossing swords with a PC. Even in the fairy tales Bluebeard is relatively easily overcome by the maidens two brothers, who are both fighters for sure, but no Herculeses or Sigfrieds.

But still some thoughts on how to use him and his domain to challenge a PC party should definately be put into the netbook.

OTOH he should not be overshadowed too much by other NPCs in the domain. Indeed how does he keep his authority over the pirate scum ?

[The Giamarga]

As for the fairy tales different versions: I don't think the Grimm's Fitcher's Bird version should be folded into our Bluebeard's story. But perhaps as the theme is similar it can be included into the domain Blaustein somehow. (The indian version where a girl marries a tiger would make a very good addition to Sri Raji)

There are some themes in most versions of the tale that i want to discuss:

"Bluebeard," for example, has little to recommend it as a children's story. Rather, it's a gruesome cautionary tale about the dangers of marriage (on the one hand) and the perils of greed and curiosity (on the other)

Bettelheim addresses this aspect of the story in his interpretation of the tale. He considers Bluebeard's anger to be just since his wife betrays him, but the extreme nature of his anger is where Bluebeard's fault is found.

Connected to the curiosity themes, this story warns readers or listeners of the effects of disobedience. The wife will be threatened with death by her husband for her disobedience. She will later repent of her transgression. The positive results of her repentance will be discussed in future notes.

Temptation is related to the curiosity and disobedience themes in the story. For some critics, the tale is a cautionary one against woman's innate wickedness that leads to the betrayal and ultimate destruction of her husband.[...] Christine Daae contends that the tale does not warn "against the moral consequences of sex, but of the practical consequences." In the days when childbearing was a principle cause of death, a husband essentially killed his wife by making her pregnant. In this way, Bluebeard is a story of everyday life (Daae 1998).

How do these themes of curiosity, greed, disobedience, repentance reflected in the society of Blaustein? Are all Blausteinian women as timid and passive as the unnamed wife in the fairy tales, who only calls her brothers to rescue her or are there women who are cunning and clever fully capable of rescuing herself, like the protagonists from "Silvernose" or "Fitcher's Bird"? How do the Blaustein peasants see the role of women, marriage and sexuality?

[Irving the Meek]

I agree that folding in Fitcher's Bird is impractical, but there might be some elements in there that might be worth playing with, just for color if nothing else. There might be room for a female wereraven in Blaustien, and a bejemmed skull as a scrying device always looks cool.

If we run a little bit with the Giles de Rais theme, there's no reason not to give Bluebeard fighter stats. I don't see a problame with making Bluebeard tough enough that a fight with him could be a challenge. If we really want to make PC's heads hurt, it's even marginally possible that this Bluebeard knew a different holy female warrior before they both became Darklords.... how does a Bluebeard/Elena Faithhold connection strike you?

As for women in Blaustien... oof. Let me get my first cup of coffee before I tackle that one.

[The Giamarga]

The more I read about him, the more I'd make him an aristocrat. Being an aristocrat and a caliban just seem to fit with the idea that he wanted a perfect wife, but could only get women who were willing to overlook his ugliness--usually because he was rich. His suspicions drove him to his series of "tests" of their loyalty, with death as the consequence of failure.

As he tested them, his criteria became more and more exacting, until his ultimate test was to see if a woman could actually, literally forget his bad traits or actions and see only the good. Thus his ability to change the thoughts of his citizens.

[Joël of the FoS]

Some thoughts.

I think Blaustein’s population should be in the range of 200 – 400 peoples. So there is a sufficient small but motivated militia and support. Otherwise, Bluebeard would have been killed by adventurers a while ago

So the island isn’t just a rock. It isn’t very big, but reminds me of the shape of Mont-St-Michel in the middle of the SoS http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont-St-Michel and change the magnificient cathedral by Bluebeard’s castle. About two-third of the island's surrounding is a dense port, while the remaining is the steep rock on which stands the castle (quite inaccessible to get in or out that way).

As cure first suggested, Blaustein is a pirate haven. But Darklords and RL3e say that any foreign ship is boarded by angry Blausteiners. Let’s add something to make it more practical in game: the ships not bearing a Blaustein pavilion are boarded. So pirates and other raiders and other criminal dwellers know and use that pavilion. Other foreign ship not knowing this are boarded and brought to Bluebeard.

I’d really like to keep that slaving idea, which didn’t get any reaction so far. Bluebeard and his thugs are providing living bodies to Markov and Heinfroth, as well as to other paying customers on the core with special tastes.

Keep on the reflections, it’s quite cool. I’d like to have more ideas on Bluebeard – where does he come from – background history and similar things story, motivation, theme and curse ?

The theme I’d like to test with you is the Worthiness. Darklords says he kills his wife when they have been proven unworthy of his trust. Quite easy to translate for the wives.

Now for the Blausteiners. You have the young Blausteiners – raiders, shady traders, slavers, whale fishers, etc (all tough guys). They revel in these tough / brutish activities, and alcohol is flowing in their veins. This is the source of revenues for the island, and Bluebeard has a % of the take (those evading this “tax” are punished by horrible death).

When they get older (40? 50?), if they reach this age, it’s time to retire. They proved their worthiness. They move one level up literally, moving in small mansions closer to the castle. They become (try hard anyway) gentlemen and gentlewomen. The façade is well maintained, and at first glance, they could look OK in a Dementelieuse salon, if a little outdated in fashion, and a few scars and broken limbs. But when alcohol is flowing, sometimes, this veneer melts and the pirate talk is back, as with the violence of the early age.

Does that make sense for you guys?

Joël

[The Giamarga]

pavillon = flag [in french.]

[The Giamarga]

I think we should not forget Bluebeard's aspirations to noblesse. He wants to be seen as a gentleman an aristocrat. So he can't be an overt pirate and smuggler king or villain. He's the noble ruler, harsh but still aristocratic. He has his values (see the quote from Deepshadow), misguided or overblown as they may be and he enforces them ruthlessly.

Another thing that sprang out to me when reading about the different versions of the fairy tale is that he is sometimes pictured as a turk, with a turban and a scimitar. We can easily include a small nod to this version of the tales by including that Bluebeard likes to dress up in the foreign finery sometimes, wearing a turban and wide pantaloons and carrying a scimitar. With all the traffic his port gets and the pirate theme already going this seems a nice addition. (It's not yet a dread possibility, that would need a bit more meat to it)

[Rotipher of the FoS]

I don't think anyone's suggesting that Bluebeard himself was ever a pirate, but only that his policies as a ruler make his island a convenient place for pirates to visit. Not unlike how 18th-century governors and town officials in the American colonies deliberately turned a blind eye to how the cheap goods brought in by "merchant seamen" were quite often pirated from other countries' cargo ships. (Hey, it was good for the economy at the time....)

Of course, if Bluebeard has chosen to directly fund or employ pirates from time to time, none of the Blausteiners will remember him doing so. The fact that this guy's been getting away with murder repeatedly is part of his image; the possibility that he gets away with other crimes just as casually, making him less of a one-trick-pony, shouldn't be ruled out.

[Joël of the FoS]

pavillon = flag [in french.]

Ooops. Thanks for catching this, Robert.

[Joël of the FoS]

Well I did sometimes envision him as a pirate king of sort, but I prefer the longuing aristocrat who wants to be counted as part of the select group of nobles. More fitting indeed.

Turban? Fun idea, but I'm not sure, he would look more like ridiculous, no?

Joël