Gazetteer Metaplot

[Seamus]

At all, this Gentleman Caller + family focused demiplane issues are starting to make me sick.... an entire setting depending on one being and his children.... doesn't make sense (for me).

Regardless of what you think of the idea, the developers have made it very clear that the GC and his children are relevent, so the suggestion that they shouldn't be so important really doesn't do anything to advance the discussion of just what was intended for the setting canon.

As well, why can't one being or family be integral to events in Ravenloft? After all the realm itself (in both its historical and real-world contexts) was created around one person, Strahd.

[Undead Cabbage]

On this whole 'what makes someone have a reality wrinkle' issue; Ravenloft is not a setting for rules lawyers. If the DPs decide that a rat native to the realm of dread has a reality wrinkle, are you stopping them?

Not to mention, Malocchio is the twisted Messiah of his time. He's the Ravenlofteque version of Neo from the Martix (I'm sorry to make that comparison if I've caused any maddness saves). He doesn't have to play by the rules and he knows it, hence his childish attitude on everything.

Or at least, that was the case until Madame Eva had something to say about it. But that's a separate issue.

Malocchio is more than a demonic-darklord mix. He's lineage includes a vistani with the 'sight' if I may recall. He's a giant cross roads of all the things that seem to be deeply routed into RL's making. If he has a reality wrinkle, it's not because of any standrard rule: it's because he's an annomily.

As well, why can't one being or family be integral to events in Ravenloft? After all the realm itself (in both its historical and real-world contexts) was created around one person, Strahd.

Sometimes the DPs will REALLY like a certain strand of lab rats. Albeit, they have other experiments to look after as well. Nevertheless, they are a KEY part, but not the only part. We know it involves them, the question is how.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

I wouldn't say the setting revolves around the Gentleman Caller at all. He's a popular character among DM's, so it stands to reason he'll make an appearance from time to time, but there are many threads of the campaign setting plot that don't connect to him at all.

What of the Weathermay/Van Richten family? I'd say the setting revolves around them much moreso than the GC's family. Then there's the Strahd/Azalin "family"? The Shadowborn saga, the Ezra factions, etc. And even the ToUD isn't the setting as a whole. Whatever sweeping changes it may be or would have been, it doesn't mean you can't still run personal horror adventures like haunted houses, serial killer chases, monters plague the village, and such.

Why would the ToUD centering around the GC and his family be any different than the Grand Conjunction centering around Azalin and Strahd, or the Grim Harvest centering on Azalin and his "family"? SOMEONE's got to be the star of any particular story.

[Jester of the FoS]

It not just him and his family, it's his family and their Vistani mothers as well. It's what they are and what they mean to the Land.

[Undead Cabbage]

It not just him and his family, it's his family and their Vistani mothers as well. It's what they are and what they mean to the Land.

Wait a tick, apparently I need to do more reading on this. Do all the GC's childeren have vistani mothers?

[Anthony Reuland]

So if a half-fiend flumph from the Lower Planes (Outsider [Evil, Lame]) came to Ravenloft, it wouldn't get a reality wrinkle...?

Correct...

[Jester of the FoS]

It not just him and his family, it's his family and their Vistani mothers as well. It's what they are and what they mean to the Land.

Wait a tick, apparently I need to do more reading on this. Do all the GC's childeren have vistani mothers?

* A concept I eventually formulated was that in terms of exact nature, powers, and personality, each individual "demonspawn" was an amplified reflection of its Vistani mother's worst fears and failings. Malocchio Aderre is the only one who actively seeks the destruction of the Vistani, because he's a dark reflection of the worst aspects of his mother, Gabrielle, and he's the most powerful, because he reflects the power of his mother.

Looks like. Which means there could be several that are Dukkar.

[Undead Cabbage]

Looks like. Which means there could be several that are Dukkar.

Well ok, lets take a look at this. We have one child in Invidia, Borca, Kartakass and Falkovnia. Falkovnia is attached to Borca, Borca to Invidia.

Assuming the GC walks to go to places (which, in RL, is a questionable assumption), perhaps the last domain will be one that connects with Invidia and Kartakass.

Hmm, well there are two domains that do this. One is Sithicus, the other...

...Barovia. Where the Vistani are most welcome, and the starting point of the dread realm.

^has the impossible idea of a Dukkar in the Zarovich line^

I'll can my imagination from now on...sorry about that

[The Dark One]

It not just him and his family, it's his family and their Vistani mothers as well. It's what they are and what they mean to the Land.

What they mean to the "land"?

[Jasper]

The vistani can be thought of as the jailers of the Ravenloft prison. They gain power from a unique as-of-yet unexplained connection to the etherial essiance of ravenloft itself so long as they keep aloof and free from evil taint. As such nothing could be more detramental to the ranks as having one of thier own children turn out evil.
You now have a handfull of Hanibul Lector level evil children who basicly have the keys to the prison. Mix in insane half fiend powers with A- Mist walking B- Evil eye powers and C- The Sight you have a creature that could give just about any darklord a run for its money.

[Ail]

^has the impossible idea of a Dukkar in the Zarovich line^

Possibilities: Lyssa von Zarovich with the GC... but she is not a Vistana. Can Half-Vistani be mothers of the GC's children?
Can vampires get pregnant? If yes to both, could some half-vistana daughter of Lyssa generate a Dukkar with the GC?

Also, why not a Dukkar in the Zarovan (note the difference) line?

Ail

[Seamus]

Can Half-Vistani be mothers of the GC's children?
Can vampires get pregnant? If yes to both, could some half-vistana daughter of Lyssa generate a Dukkar with the GC?

Also, why not a Dukkar in the Zarovan (note the difference) line? Ail

Anyone woman with Vistani blood could potentially be the mother of a Dukkar, given that Gabrielle Aderre, the mother of the confirmed Dukkar, is only 1/4 Vistani. As well, Gabrielle is decended from Madame Eva, so the existing Dukkar is of the Zarovan bloodline.

I'm of the opinion that despite all these half-fiendish Vistani roaming around that there is currently only one Dukkar. It makes sense to me that the GC's purpose has only been creating a Dukkar, and that he would have stopped tramping around with Vistani once a Dukkar had been born. Thus I imagine Malocchio Aderre is the only child of the GC who is both male and has the Sight.

[Nathan of the FoS]

Can Half-Vistani be mothers of the GC's children?
Can vampires get pregnant? If yes to both, could some half-vistana daughter of Lyssa generate a Dukkar with the GC?

Also, why not a Dukkar in the Zarovan (note the difference) line? Ail

Anyone woman with Vistani blood could potentially be the mother of a Dukkar, given that Gabrielle Aderre, the mother of the confirmed Dukkar, is only 1/4 Vistani.

Check that--she's half-Vistani. (Her mother was full-blood, her father is non-Vistani.) So Malocchio is one-quarter Vistani, which, apparently, with being a darklord's son, a half-fiend, and, quite possibly, a darklord's grandson, is apparently enough.

It makes sense to me that the GC's purpose has only been creating a Dukkar, and that he would have stopped tramping around with Vistani once a Dukkar had been born.

*lol*

[Malus Black]

Anyone woman with Vistani blood could potentially be the mother of a Dukkar, given that Gabrielle Aderre, the mother of the confirmed Dukkar, is only 1/4 Vistani.

Check that--she's half-Vistani. (Her mother was full-blood, her father is non-Vistani.) So Malocchio is one-quarter Vistani, which, apparently, with being a darklord's son, a half-fiend, and, quite possibly, a darklord's grandson, is apparently enough.

No, Seamus is right. To quote from Gaz IV, Gabrielle is the "daughter of the half-Vistana fortune-teller Isabella Aderre." Quarter-Vistani are apparently close enough to half-Vistani that there's no mechanical difference.

[Nathan of the FoS]

Woops. My bad. Sorry, Seamus.

I guess it takes a long, long time to dilute Vistani blood in the eyes of the Dark Powers.