What have you done with canon domains?

[Nevermorrow]

My thread about Inza and Sithicus got me to thinking. I know that quite a bit has been written on the the shape of Ravenloft itself and some stuff about domains (especially in the Personal Canon thread--very useful stuff in that!). And since we have an old thread about canon DLs, how about domains?

Here's my blurb on my version of Nosos, which I put in a cluster with Immerabt (Undead Sea Scrolls 2002, pg. 244) and Mortenhafen called it the Polluted Isles:

Analogue: Culturally none in particular, but comparable to many industrialized societies.
Language: Darassan (Nosos, native), Immeran (Immerabt), Domar (Mortenhafen)
Religion: In the past, the reverence of nature spirits and ancestors was the faith in this land, but few practice it now.
Ruler: The elected council are the official rulers, but everyone knows they are Soreda’s puppets.
Darklord: Mavir Soreda
Major Settlements: Bevingol (pop. 7,000), Ivinor (pop. 3,700), Moregaxx (pop. 50,000), Wulavir (pop. 49,800)
Location: Isolated (Polluted Isles)
Within living memory, the Darassan were an advanced people who strove to balance progress and nature, but those days are over. Now they live in a land marred by toxic waste, where the water is not safe to drink and nearly everyone has a cough.
Child labor is also a particular problem in Nosos; practically every child not of a family wealthy enough (or willing) to pay the mandatory tax (there is a tax for unemployed people under age 60) works around 8 hours a day, 6 days a week. Virtually none of these children receive any education and the earnings they bring their families are only about 1/2 what would be paid to an adult doing similar work. This has put many families in poverty as the adults can’t find jobs anymore; the factories only want to hire children because they get away with paying them so little. The working conditions are also dangerous and too many children are injured or killed every year. It has already become a tradition that most factories are haunted by the ghosts of children who died in accidents.

In addition to this, mercury pollution is becoming problematic as well. The waters in the rivers and lakes are contaminated. The seawater around Nosos is also tainted. This means that seafood and river fish, staples in the diet of the Darassan, are often unsafe to eat. The mercury is taking its toll in another, more mysterious fashion as well—mutations are appearing in the wildlife. Officially, the government denies that any such “weird” creatures exist and treat all such reports with scorn, even going so far as to threaten people who report sightings or encounters with misshapen animals, but the knowledge is growing in the rural areas of the island that these things are real.

Notes: I'm one of those people who habitually multiplies RL's population figures by 10. Even then, many of what are supposed to be major cities are under-populated by comparison to the real world (of a similar level of cultural development).

[The Lesser Evil]

Immurabt, combining that with Nosos, GREAT idea! Would be interesting to see how those two DLS interact.

I've put Paridon/Timor and Nosos together with a dash of Sharn from Eberron, shaken well and put into a post-apocalyptic Victorian age quasi-Ravenloft setting.

[Nevermorrow]

Another domain I decided to revamp is Verbrek. It just didn't seem to have any real background culture, though it seems like the idea for it came from The Howling (but with less obvious sexuality). One thing I learned from history is that France had the most werewolf trials during the witchcraft craze. How does a trial for werewolfism work? Well, lycanthropy wasn't contagious before The Wolf-Man. That movie was so popular that the particulars of the film's werewolf mythology entered the general modern folklore. In the old lore, the ability to shapechange was acquired through a pact with the Devil (cursed werewolves were those transformed into wolves against their will--they changed to back to human only if and when the curse was lifted). So essentially, these guys are shapechangers, not people afflicted with a supernatural disease beyond their control.

In addition, France also has a history with Satanic cults from that era, which evidently went right to the top (an investigation was abruptly dropped when a mistress of the King was implicated). Verbrek's werewolf circle is basically a cult, isn't it? Hmmm.

In the silly RL names thread I was going to rename Dementlieu Belleterre ("beautiful land") and have Dementlieu be a sardonic nickname. I ultimately chose the name Gallaire. I just made that up, going for something that had that "Gallic" sound to it. So I dropped the name Belleterre. You can see where I'm going with this. So I revamped Verbrek as Belleterre, basing it on medieval France. Also, I decided to make it live up to its name, so Belleterre is a land with a lush landscape. Since the Core of my RL is bigger than in canon, I had more room to stock it with more supernatural menaces.'

And with that, I suddenly realized that I had something like Averoigne in Ravenloft. Just with more werewolves.

[ewancummins]

In the past I have used a Southern Gothic theme for Arkandale and Verbrek, inspired in large part by Andrew Wyatt's reworking of the domain.


I think Belleterre sounds way cool!

You might look into the loup du noir werewolf variant. It's closer to folkloric/diabolical werewolves.

[ewancummins]

Immurabt, combining that with Nosos, GREAT idea! Would be interesting to see how those two DLS interact.

I've put Paridon/Timor and Nosos together with a dash of Sharn from Eberron, shaken well and put into a post-apocalyptic Victorian age quasi-Ravenloft setting.

I'm guessing

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Dorothy Hemphyll

would hate

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Malus if she discovered that he created diseases as a hobby and to use as weapons.
She is all about defeating disease and mortality, right? It's been a while since I looked in the USS.

But does she know?]

Nosos is so full of disease and filth that she probably hates the domain, at least.

Or am I not recalling her personality and history correctly?

[The Lesser Evil]

Nosos is so full of disease and filth that she probably hates the domain, at least.

Or am I not recalling her personality and history correctly?

You are indeed correct sir, though

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part of her curse is causing the same sort of pollution as he does, if on a much smaller scale. Of course, Malus could actually be part of her curse, and dealing with his messes was part of her duties, assuming they were part of the same greater metropolis (but in different district domains). I could see them as acting as a sort of symbiotic relationship though, because one makes waste and diseases and the other one cures it. Malus gets the opportunity to tweek off a possible parental stand-in, and he also doesn't have to worry so much about the fallout of his irresponsible decisions. OTOH, having a plethora of disease and other pathogens around means that Dorthy will always have a job and the funding she needs. So maybe, for better or worse, they might need each other.

Unfortunately at the time I had made the setting I had forgotten about Immeraubt, so it hasn't gotten put in yet.

My take on the DL of Nosos is that he's much more about greed than sheer spite. There's still plenty of the latter what with

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daddy druid issue thing. However, the joy he feels polluting and ruining the environment is secondary to the economic benefits he can reap. And even then, his joy outta ruining the environment comes from doing what he knows would make dear ol' dad roll in his grave. Basically, the way I do it is that Malus compensates for a lack of human connections for always wanting more, whether it be wealth, power, or revenge.

i've also taken a note from Autochon the Bellringer (from Planescape) and put Malus in between two tortures and having to choose the lesser of the two. I stole his "continual speak with plants" curse from one of the netbooks, and added a twist: the whispers he hears from plants drowns out the haunting words of his father. So he has to conserve a little bit of greenery to keep his dear ol' dad off his back. On the other hand, if he's surrounded by too much greenery, that get's unbearable as well. So it's something of a balancing act for him.

[thekristhomas]

Another domain I decided to revamp is Verbrek. It just didn't seem to have any real background culture, though it seems like the idea for it came from The Howling (but with less obvious sexuality). One thing I learned from history is that France had the most werewolf trials during the witchcraft craze. How does a trial for werewolfism work? Well, lycanthropy wasn't contagious before The Wolf-Man. That movie was so popular that the particulars of the film's werewolf mythology entered the general modern folklore. In the old lore, the ability to shapechange was acquired through a pact with the Devil (cursed werewolves were those transformed into wolves against their will--they changed to back to human only if and when the curse was lifted). So essentially, these guys are shapechangers, not people afflicted with a supernatural disease beyond their control.

In addition, France also has a history with Satanic cults from that era, which evidently went right to the top (an investigation was abruptly dropped when a mistress of the King was implicated). Verbrek's werewolf circle is basically a cult, isn't it? Hmmm.

In the silly RL names thread I was going to rename Dementlieu Belleterre ("beautiful land") and have Dementlieu be a sardonic nickname. I ultimately chose the name Gallaire. I just made that up, going for something that had that "Gallic" sound to it. So I dropped the name Belleterre. You can see where I'm going with this. So I revamped Verbrek as Belleterre, basing it on medieval France. Also, I decided to make it live up to its name, so Belleterre is a land with a lush landscape. Since the Core of my RL is bigger than in canon, I had more room to stock it with more supernatural menaces.'

And with that, I suddenly realized that I had something like Averoigne in Ravenloft. Just with more werewolves.

I really like this, it gels quite nicely with my take on Arkandale/Verbrek having a Canadian feel.

Also have you seen "Brotherhood of the Wolf"? it's a "werewolf" hunt film set in France, goes quite well.

BTW I come from Wales which has the second highest rate of werewolf trials after France

[ewancummins]

Ah, I learned something new.

I have read about the werewolf trials in France, but I really knew little about such trials in Wales.

[The Lesser Evil]

The feel I got from Verbrek was a bit Pacific Northwest, but also with a dash of riverboat gambling type stuff from the Southern US. I would also crib liberally from Golarion's Darkmoon Vale, as the Guide to Darkmoon Vale does a very good job of painting a wolf-phobic and generally dark and backwoods terrains vibe while still having the threat of encroaching corruption from certain elements of civilization. I have the Lumber Consortium working as an subsidiary company/agent of Sceleris Industries (a company from Nosos).

[Nevermorrow]

Ah, I learned something new.

I have read about the werewolf trials in France, but I really knew little about such trials in Wales.

Same here! I didn't know that about Wales.

And yeah, you can bet that the DLs of Nosos and Immerabt don't get along at all. (I renamed Malus because his name just means something like "Wicked bad" or whatever.)

[thekristhomas]

Ah, I learned something new.

I have read about the werewolf trials in France, but I really knew little about such trials in Wales.

I can't back that up with personal research, but John Landis talked about it when he was filming "American Werewolf in London" here

[thekristhomas]

The feel I got from Verbrek was a bit Pacific Northwest, but also with a dash of riverboat gambling type stuff from the Southern US. I would also crib liberally from Golarion's Darkmoon Vale, as the Guide to Darkmoon Vale does a very good job of painting a wolf-phobic and generally dark and backwoods terrains vibe while still having the threat of encroaching corruption from certain elements of civilization. I have the Lumber Consortium working as an subsidiary company/agent of Sceleris Industries (a company from Nosos).

When the Black Box talked about Nathan Timothy being a riverboat captain, it was very much the paddle steamer variety I was imagining, rather than the small river yacht that was revealed in "the Evil Eye" and I imagined Alfred's domain akin to the "hillbilly" settlements beloved of horror.

After the "Evil Eye" I thought a bit more about the origins of Verbrek and Arkandale, the Timothys are, after all, an old Mordentish family, dating back to before that domain entered the demi-plane. The Mordentish culture has two RW analogues, English and French, with the Timothys firmly in the English camp. Also given how long the Timothys have been in RL it took them quite a while to gain a domain then another quite quickly. The domains are relatively uninhabited, with some settlements on the river, and something about Nathan's quest to escape Ravenloft via it's rivers reminded me of the search for the North West Passage.

I have trouble keeping the pre-GC Verbrek and Arkendale straight in my head, but if I remember rightly Nathan's domain had some small settlements, while Alfred's had none (except werewolves). So Alfred's werewolf followers were probably nomadic, I thought maybe they had created a faux-First Nation style culture, hunting/herding deer/moose through the forest, which would fit with Alfred's belief in "purity"