showing falkovinian opression

[ewancummins]

One thing to play up might be the continual emphasis that "Darkon is the enemy". Most oppressive regimes rely heavily on an enemy and propaganda, with the increasingly oppressive measures being done to "protect" the people.

Darkon is a cursed realm ruled by a lich who employs vampire and werewolf secret police, and who guards the border using zombies and skeletons! It really IS the enemy.

not my Darkon! well Azalin is a lich and employs vampires and werewolf secret police, but they are well secret police. I like having the supernatural stuff in the background; so no necropolis and no zombie/skeleton border guards; that isn't to say there isn't rumour of necromancers who exist in darkon...but they are just rumours. probably saw skeletons hanging from the trees and got spooked.

I don't use that Grim Harvest/Necropolis stuff.

I do use Azalin's ability to close the border with zombies and skellies. That has cut off or held back invaders in the past. Of course, the Eternal order explains such things in religious terms.

Outsiders know little of Darkon. The Falkovnians know more than most people, but their knowledge tends to be distorted by fear and propaganda (some of that propaganda is true, though.)

The memory curse isn't well-understood, but people in other domains have noticed that those travelling to Darkon for long stays tend to never return home.
That's creepy, and people whisper frightful tales about it. As a result, many travelers from other countries avoid Darkon, or keep their stays brief.


The border closures are a matter of legend to most people, and some may dismiss them as Falkvnian superstition or lies. The Falkovnians know better, and Drakov has made sure his people hate and fear the foul necromancers of Darkon.

The true nature of the Kargat is known to Drakov. He doesn't squash the rumors of monsters working for Azalin. Instead, he uses the loathing and fear people feel for werewolves and vampires to more effectively crush any dissent or rebellion. He can blame such activities on “inhuman, evil Kargat spies.” Darkonese-sponsored rebels (whether they really work with Darkonese interests is irrelevant) are thus traitors not only to Drakov and Falkovnia, but to humanity.

YMMV

[HuManBing]

not my Darkon! well Azalin is a lich and employs vampires and werewolf secret police, but they are well secret police. I like having the supernatural stuff in the background; so no necropolis and no zombie/skeleton border guards; that isn't to say there isn't rumour of necromancers who exist in darkon...but they are just rumours. probably saw skeletons hanging from the trees and got spooked.

Same here. I keep the supernatural stuff tucked away far, far from the public eye.

Azalin is a lich ruling a nation that has become completely paranoid about undead. If they ever found out his true nature, there would be hell to pay. He's probably powerful enough to survive the revolt, but honestly, who needs that sort of dirty work eating into your research time?

I've even changed the zombies and skeletons at the borders somewhat. There are rumors of those, but they're very vague hints. Even during the Falkovnian invasions, Azalin waited until all surviving Darkonians were far from the borders before he raised all the corpses and slaughtered the invaders.

This has led to an extremely spooky superstition about the borders - nobody really knows what happens, but even when the Falkovnian badasses come over, they only survive a day or two and then something horrid comes along and murders them all.

[High Priest Mikhal]

I have to agree with Ewan and HMB. Playing up the supernatural aspects of Darkon too much is a bad idea. Yes, magic and monsters are more prevalent (and if you use the optional Magic Rating rules, Darkon is the only Magic Rating 5 domain in the Core), but otherwise it's a place not too different from other D&D locales.

Falkovnian demonization of Darkonians is all about propaganda and Drakov's personal hatred for Azalin. Stories of the Dead Man's Campaigns aside, it's not too different from Nazi Germany and their anti-Semitic propaganda. Further, Falkovnians are often poor, uneducated, and illiterate. They'll buy anything told simply because they don't know any better and likely couldn't find out otherwise if they wanted to. There's a reason the term "sheeple" has entered the urban lexicon.

[herkles]

I have to agree with Ewan and HMB. Playing up the supernatural aspects of Darkon too much is a bad idea. Yes, magic and monsters are more prevalent (and if you use the optional Magic Rating rules, Darkon is the only Magic Rating 5 domain in the Core), but otherwise it's a place not too different from other D&D locales.

At least canon Darkon is like that; however I am going to be running ravenloft with BRP/Cthulhu so naturally IMC Darkon is going to change. I am basing mine more on something akin to the Byzantine Empire, that is one of the main inspirations for it.

[ewancummins]

I have to agree with Ewan and HMB. Playing up the supernatural aspects of Darkon too much is a bad idea. Yes, magic and monsters are more prevalent (and if you use the optional Magic Rating rules, Darkon is the only Magic Rating 5 domain in the Core), but otherwise it's a place not too different from other D&D locales.

At least canon Darkon is like that; however I am going to be running ravenloft with BRP/Cthulhu so naturally IMC Darkon is going to change. I am basing mine more on something akin to the Byzantine Empire, that is one of the main inspirations for it.

Sounds cool, Herkles. I'm not a 'canonista.' I'm certainly not a 'you should do it this way, just like me' gamer. I was just sharing my personal approach to Darkon and Falkovnia.

[herkles]

Now a question comes how to contrast the harshness of drakov's falkovinia with its small joys. I think having joys and good things helps bring out the darkness of a realm.

a few ideas, more ideas are welcome of course.

• Showing some kind deeds of various soldiers; such as buying wooden dolls for his daughter or being invited to a dinner((which wouldn't be a big dinner but a family affair))
• having kids playing games/with toys. This one I want to use, as one of my toymakers plans to basically capture kids souls in his dolls for some cultish purpose, so having it start off as something normal and nice also helps here.

[HuManBing]

Oh, man. There are movies about unending oppression where you get one little moment of fleeting joy - and that, more than any misery, is what brings the viewer to their knees.

"City of God" - gang wars, corrupt police, and a fantastic chronicle of the slide into amoral violence of a once-noble policeman, Knockout Ned. The main narrator is a photographer, and he at one point sleeps with a female reporter. They have a moment of unguarded conversation where they're chatting about growing up in the slums. Unexpectedly tender, in the midst of an otherwise grim story. The movie itself is a fantastic study of shades-of-grey morality and unexpected consequences of one's actions. Well worth watching if you're into a chaotic gangster state, or even just to see how terms such as "good" and "evil" lose meaning in a state of sustained lawless violence.

"The Lives of Others" - East Germany during the Cold War. The protagonist is a member of the Stasi intelligence service, and he's been assigned to spy on (and destroy the reputation of) a charismatic, upright playwright. As he learns the true reason behind his task is merely to enable a lecherous government minister access to the playwright's girlfriend, he begins to rebel against the system, falsifying the records and covering up the subversive actions of the playwright. This also changes his own outlook, too. An otherwise sordid encounter with a state-provided prostitute has a surprising moment of attempted tenderness when he asks her to stay and chat, like a normal person. A potentially terrifying encounter with a too-talkative child is defused in nervous humor when the Stasi agent instead interrogates him about his ball and not his subversive father. The very last line of dialog in the movie ("Nein - es ist für mich.") also counts, as the Stasi protector finally receives the gratitude, however distant, from the man he protected years before.

"Lilya 4 ever" - Heartbreaking story of an Estonian teenage girl forced into prostitution. It starts off bad enough with her abandonment by her US-emigrant mother and the taunts of her neighbors, and quickly gets worse as a friend frames her as a prostitute to cover up her own activities as one. After selling the last of her possessions, she's forced into hustling bars and clubs - where at least she can make ends meet. Then it takes a turn for the horrifying as she meets a Swedish businessman who lures her overseas with promises of a job. The movie ends as it begins, with Lilya choosing suicide as a release. In the middle, she gets a few heartbreaking moments of respite in befriending a neighborhood waif, Volodya. After seeing him play basketball outside using a discarded soda can, she presents him with a basketball. It's a painfully touching gesture, in the midst of otherwise unrelenting misery and hardship.

"Grave of the Fireflies" - Extremely dark cartoon movie about the sufferings of Japanese civilians as their military government took them to war in WW2. A boy and his toddler sister struggle to survive as their suburb is firebombed. They slip in out and of petty thievery, uncaring exploitative relatives, and subsistence living in a desperate attempt to stay alive. The sister is too young to be much troubled by the horrors of her situation, but her pain and misery over more immediate things like hunger, sickness, and fatigue is very real. One deeply touching moment comes when her brother presents her with a fistful of candies - the only thing that can make her forget (momentarily) her misery. Her tears instantly stop, and she looks at the fistful of candies with a thoughtful air... and in a fit of conscientiousness both charming and faintly grim, she gives back all but one of the candies, preferring to save them for later. When her inevitable death finally occurs, there is a brief retrospective sequence of her at play, which ranks as one of the most memorable examples in film history of tragedy in the cathartic sense. Each scene is marbled with a gentle sweetness, but grimly ironic in the backdrop of her premature death in privation and misery.