Escape of a Darklord

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Escape of a Darklord

Post by Black Hawk »

Hello to all,

a Darklord goes beyond the border of his/her own domain (we know this is possible via the Dukkar). What happen to the domain and to the people inside, which are all creations of the Dark Powers ? The domain vanish with all the people inside it or another evil one of the domain became Darklord ?

I'd like to know how you would manage this particular condition. I would opt for the dissolution of the domain, you?

thanks
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Re: Escape of a Darklord

Post by Joël of the FoS »

Anything can happen, use the possibility you need for your campaign :

- the land is absorbed by another (ex. Gundar-> was absorbed by Barovia and Invidia)
- the land choose another darklord with the next most evil person present (Sithicus)
- the land quickly (or slowly) dissolves to nothingness (many examples)
- it shrinks to the darklord's lair end becomes an island in the mist or an oubliette
- it becomes a lost island in the mist, waiting to be rediscovered
- etc.

Many possibilities!

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Re: Escape of a Darklord

Post by Gonzoron of the FoS »

In my campaign, I had earthquakes and other natural disasters in both domains until the darklord was returned. (Mal took his mom to Falkovnia as a display of his power, then brought her back.) In this case, it was only a temporary trip, and when the DL was returned, everything went back to normal. I presume that long term, the domain would eventually act as though the DL were killed: i.e. dissolve, return to original world, merge with neighboring domains, or get a new DL, at the DP's whim (DM's choice).
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Re: Escape of a Darklord

Post by thekristhomas »

You could say that the GC was caused by Azalin leaving his domain (by being killed after his phylactery had been ejected into the mists), so minor conjunctions could easily be a result
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Re: Escape of a Darklord

Post by The Lesser Evil »

Ti was a very special case, but during the GC, Ivan Dilisnya left his domain for Borca. Following the GC, Dorvinia merged with Borca due to his close proximity to Ivana Boristi. So this seems to indicate that a domain can survive without its darklord at least under very special circumstances.

In one possible ending of Circle of Darkness, we learn that the death (or even enlightenment) of a darklord can result it the domain being deposited randomly on some prime material world.
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Re: Escape of a Darklord

Post by Dion of the Fraternity »

The Lesser Evil wrote:Ti was a very special case, but during the GC, Ivan Dilisnya left his domain for Borca. Following the GC, Dorvinia merged with Borca due to his close proximity to Ivana Boristi. So this seems to indicate that a domain can survive without its darklord at least under very special circumstances.

In one possible ending of Circle of Darkness, we learn that the death (or even enlightenment) of a darklord can result it the domain being deposited randomly on some prime material world.
Let's also not forget that in Ari Marmell's "Black Crusade," a domain can form WITHOUT a darklord (well, at least with the inevitability of a future darklord).
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Re: Escape of a Darklord

Post by Resonant Curse »

Dion of the Fraternity wrote:
The Lesser Evil wrote:Ti was a very special case, but during the GC, Ivan Dilisnya left his domain for Borca. Following the GC, Dorvinia merged with Borca due to his close proximity to Ivana Boristi. So this seems to indicate that a domain can survive without its darklord at least under very special circumstances.

In one possible ending of Circle of Darkness, we learn that the death (or even enlightenment) of a darklord can result it the domain being deposited randomly on some prime material world.
Let's also not forget that in Ari Marmell's "Black Crusade," a domain can form WITHOUT a darklord (well, at least with the inevitability of a future darklord).

Perhaps I am wrong, but wasn't the religious leader he killed the original Darklord and he replaced him in that role?
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Re: Escape of a Darklord

Post by The Lesser Evil »

Not to mention the House of Lament and Rods of Security.
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Re: Escape of a Darklord

Post by Black Hawk »

Thanks for the inputs, I'll probably opt for a slow dissolution of the domain
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Re: Escape of a Darklord

Post by Resonant Curse »

You could look at what happened in Where Black Roses Bloom as Soth defacto "escaping" for how a fomain might collapse.
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Re: Escape of a Darklord

Post by Dion of the Fraternity »

Resonant Curse wrote:Perhaps I am wrong, but wasn't the religious leader he killed the original Darklord and he replaced him in that role?
I already mentioned this in an older thread, but it bears repeating.

Malosia was created with no darklord. From the novel's PDF:
VIEW CONTENT:
It was not merely the wind that stood silent here, but the land itself. If a bird sang, a dog growled, a woman whispered, or a man laughed, Violca could not hear it. The land was empty. The land was hollow.

The land was waiting. The wind that marked its birth, howling through the Mists, was absent here because the land itself held its breath. And waited.

Violca shivered violently and opened her eyes. Her vision wavered briefly before the hillside snapped harshly, painfully, into focus. Only when she saw Pesha did the young Vistana realize that he held her upright, had clearly lifted her when she was not aware. Her skin was numb, as though she had danced naked through a snowstorm; she could not feel his touch.

“This place….” she whispered, staring at her aunt.
“Yes, child?”

“It’s empty. It has no—no….”

Tsura nodded slowly. “No soul.”

“It has no people, then?” Loiza asked. Violca felt herself jump; she’d forgotten he was there.

“Oh, it has people,” Tsura replied. “And it does not. The land stands before us, as real as we, and yet it is not.”

“I do not understand, Madam Tsura.”

“No, you wouldn’t. I am not certain I do, either. The land is here, but it is not… complete.” The old woman stared into the distance, then turned her attention back to her niece.

(Further in the novel:)

“I am Vistani,” Violca interjected where Leona paused. “We know the lands within the Mists. We know the Mists themselves, at least so well as any mortal might hope. We See.

“I tell you that I witnessed the birth of this land from the Mists. I felt the pains of that childbirth. I, and several of my cousins, have wandered this land since its beginning, seeking to understand how it came about, and why, to this day, it appears so empty, so hollow, to our Sight. "

(Last page:)

“Violca, please… don’t go.”

But already the Vistana had disappeared into the crowd. Only her voice lingered behind, a phantom on the cool night winds.

“I cannot stay, Diederic. I have learned all that my people must know. Malosia is no longer hollow.”
Maybe I'm wrong here, but the last sentence implies that Lambrecht Raes (the priest) was never a darklord in the first place.
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Re: Escape of a Darklord

Post by Resonant Curse »

Dion of the Fraternity wrote:
Resonant Curse wrote:Perhaps I am wrong, but wasn't the religious leader he killed the original Darklord and he replaced him in that role?
I already mentioned this in an older thread, but it bears repeating.

Malosia was created with no darklord. From the novel's PDF:
VIEW CONTENT:
It was not merely the wind that stood silent here, but the land itself. If a bird sang, a dog growled, a woman whispered, or a man laughed, Violca could not hear it. The land was empty. The land was hollow.

The land was waiting. The wind that marked its birth, howling through the Mists, was absent here because the land itself held its breath. And waited.

Violca shivered violently and opened her eyes. Her vision wavered briefly before the hillside snapped harshly, painfully, into focus. Only when she saw Pesha did the young Vistana realize that he held her upright, had clearly lifted her when she was not aware. Her skin was numb, as though she had danced naked through a snowstorm; she could not feel his touch.

“This place….” she whispered, staring at her aunt.
“Yes, child?”

“It’s empty. It has no—no….”

Tsura nodded slowly. “No soul.”

“It has no people, then?” Loiza asked. Violca felt herself jump; she’d forgotten he was there.

“Oh, it has people,” Tsura replied. “And it does not. The land stands before us, as real as we, and yet it is not.”

“I do not understand, Madam Tsura.”

“No, you wouldn’t. I am not certain I do, either. The land is here, but it is not… complete.” The old woman stared into the distance, then turned her attention back to her niece.

(Further in the novel:)

“I am Vistani,” Violca interjected where Leona paused. “We know the lands within the Mists. We know the Mists themselves, at least so well as any mortal might hope. We See.

“I tell you that I witnessed the birth of this land from the Mists. I felt the pains of that childbirth. I, and several of my cousins, have wandered this land since its beginning, seeking to understand how it came about, and why, to this day, it appears so empty, so hollow, to our Sight. "

(Last page:)

“Violca, please… don’t go.”

But already the Vistana had disappeared into the crowd. Only her voice lingered behind, a phantom on the cool night winds.

“I cannot stay, Diederic. I have learned all that my people must know. Malosia is no longer hollow.”
Maybe I'm wrong here, but the last sentence implies that Lambrecht Raes (the priest) was never a darklord in the first place.
Fair enough, it has been ages since I read that.
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Re: Escape of a Darklord

Post by Zilfer »

Dion of the Fraternity wrote:
Resonant Curse wrote:Perhaps I am wrong, but wasn't the religious leader he killed the original Darklord and he replaced him in that role?
I already mentioned this in an older thread, but it bears repeating.

Malosia was created with no darklord. From the novel's PDF:
VIEW CONTENT:
It was not merely the wind that stood silent here, but the land itself. If a bird sang, a dog growled, a woman whispered, or a man laughed, Violca could not hear it. The land was empty. The land was hollow.

The land was waiting. The wind that marked its birth, howling through the Mists, was absent here because the land itself held its breath. And waited.

Violca shivered violently and opened her eyes. Her vision wavered briefly before the hillside snapped harshly, painfully, into focus. Only when she saw Pesha did the young Vistana realize that he held her upright, had clearly lifted her when she was not aware. Her skin was numb, as though she had danced naked through a snowstorm; she could not feel his touch.

“This place….” she whispered, staring at her aunt.
“Yes, child?”

“It’s empty. It has no—no….”

Tsura nodded slowly. “No soul.”

“It has no people, then?” Loiza asked. Violca felt herself jump; she’d forgotten he was there.

“Oh, it has people,” Tsura replied. “And it does not. The land stands before us, as real as we, and yet it is not.”

“I do not understand, Madam Tsura.”

“No, you wouldn’t. I am not certain I do, either. The land is here, but it is not… complete.” The old woman stared into the distance, then turned her attention back to her niece.

(Further in the novel:)

“I am Vistani,” Violca interjected where Leona paused. “We know the lands within the Mists. We know the Mists themselves, at least so well as any mortal might hope. We See.

“I tell you that I witnessed the birth of this land from the Mists. I felt the pains of that childbirth. I, and several of my cousins, have wandered this land since its beginning, seeking to understand how it came about, and why, to this day, it appears so empty, so hollow, to our Sight. "

(Last page:)

“Violca, please… don’t go.”

But already the Vistana had disappeared into the crowd. Only her voice lingered behind, a phantom on the cool night winds.

“I cannot stay, Diederic. I have learned all that my people must know. Malosia is no longer hollow.”
Maybe I'm wrong here, but the last sentence implies that Lambrecht Raes (the priest) was never a darklord in the first place.

That's pretty cool! No Darklord at first? o.o' Obviously the Dark Powers had someone in mind though... xD
There's always something to lose.

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Re: Escape of a Darklord

Post by Dion of the Fraternity »

Zilfer wrote:That's pretty cool! No Darklord at first? o.o' Obviously the Dark Powers had someone in mind though... xD
That's why I love the "Black Crusade" novel. Not only does it
VIEW CONTENT:
take a domain from Earth (and not "Gothic Earth")
but it also bends to the point of breaking a fundamental convention on what a Ravenloft domain should or should not have.
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