Ravenloft Homebrew Clusters

[Speedwagon]

Did you have any specific sources of inspiration behind some of the Domains? From what I read, Lilliend had some inspiration from Carmilla, and the Broken Wheel's name reminds me of the Wheel of Time series. Also, when it comes to naming the Domains, there's more separation between them than others in the Core (there isn't an East Borca and West Borca aka Dorvinia but there is an East Lund and West Lund), what made you want to make those names like that? I'm guessing it fits with the 'wartorn/conflict ridden' motif? And can you share a small taste of details on North and South Raba, or would that be too much?

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Let's see...

North- and South-Raba are partially inspired by North- and South-Africa, with a history of the native population being oppressed by foreign settlers.
The Darklord of North-Raba is a Krinnish elf, who both serves as the head of the church of Ezra and the hidden faith of Takhisis; even he isn't sure who he really believes in, if anyone.
The Darklord of South-Raba is a dread doppelganger with perfect control over his transformations, unlike Sodo. In fact, they're too perfect; he can only hold a guise a limited time before he starts to believe it's his true identity and his memory starts to rewrite itself.
You might say the domain is inspired by Dragonlance and by Souragne, too.

The native population is dark-skinned, and appears to be related to the people of Souragne (as a none-too-subtle reference to the way slavers took slaves all over the world). They worship a body of loa all their own.
The 'ruling class' of the South is pale-skinned and claims to have roots in the Mordentish nations of the Core. (For most, this is simply False History.)
In the South, there is far greater unity in the population, as the modern political rulers are trying to do away with the apartheid and heal the wounds caused by the old institute of slavery. (This is partially stark pragmatism; the Mordentish people are vastly outnumbered by the natives and need their full support to ward off the northern zealots.)
The ruling class of the North claims to be of Darkonese descent, and is much more varied in appearance than their Southern counterparts.

The reason North- and South-Raba are divided by name, is because they used to be a small Cluster that united with the rest of the domains. As far as normal people know, however, it is one nation divided by religious conflict; the North holds to a very harsh interpretation of Ezra's word and the suppression of local belief in the loa, whereas the faith of Ezra has become absorbed into the native beliefs in the south.

The same goes for East- and West-Lund: this used to be a Cluster, divided due to the violent conflict between its Darklord and Darklady. Once they were lovers, rebels against his father's cruel regime and ambitions of world conquest in the East.
In their desire to overthrow daddy dearest, the two lovers went from idealism to pragmatism to flawed objectivism, justifying horrors with the greater good. In the end, they each separately performed Acts of Ultimate Darkness that left him the Darklord of East-Lund, and her the Darklady of West-Lund. Their curse: to believe their lover is dead, and that their respective father and mother rule the opposing half of Lund.
They've been at war ever since, building up armies and trying to cross the great canyon that physically separates them.
(Lund was inspired by Terry Goodkind's sword of truth-books, whose main characters really strayed very far from what I'd consider to be the heroic ideal.)

Malopelagio is inspired by a dark combination of Robert Silverberg's Majipoor Chronicles and the Dragonstar setting: a beautiful, subtropical domain of islands great and small in a blue ocean... traditions of psychic power... but things lie buried in the depths that once fell from the stars, including a dragon Darklord who committed vile crimes against his own offspring in a bid for godhood, and not all who sail the seas are well-intentioned.

The Broken Wheel is, indeed, inspired by the Wheel of Time.
It is also the source of a myth local to the Cluster, which is inspired by the works of Tolkien: that once, there was a dark god or an evil titan who walked the land and infested it with his essence. When this dark one was slain, his essence still remained, and can be used by those who know how to tap it.

Vieuxlyons is inspired by, of all things, the British sitcom Allo Allo. Maybe you've seen it? ^_^

Dread Obissol in the depths... That's inspired by several sources. The Hollow Earth-theory, Dante's Inferno, Weiss & Hickman's Deathgate Cycle, Hellraiser, and one particular webcomic I won't name.
It is a shifting, labyrinthine domain of extremes: primal terror on one hand, decadent civilization on the other.
Society - such as it is - exists on the knife's edge of ripping itself apart, as the owned class strains to free itself from increasingly frantic and obsessed attempts by the owning class to maintain control. Life beyond the darkly glittering cities is no better, as the tunnels and caves are the hunting grounds of feral monsters and full of traps.
The domain's Darklord forever yearns for a love and completion denied to him, and rages against the memory of the Domain's previous Darklady, who actually found redemption and trapped him in doing so.

[Speedwagon]

Wow, the amount of effort you put into the design of these Domains is honestly super impressive! I feel kinda greedy asking more questions but I can't help myself! How much time did it take you to come up with the concepts of these Domains, and were there any roadblocks in the creative process (writer's block, an idea not working like you wanted, needing to take a break due to real life)? Have you ever thought of putting your work up on other places than Quoth the Raven, like DM's Guild? And, if I may be so greedy (feel free to refuse me if you so choose), any chance of a taste of Umbrash? I honestly thought that Umbrash would be the 'deep down in the depths' setting given it looks kinda similar to the word 'umbral'.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

The ideas kind of organically grow over time, really. I read things, think about stuff, and occasionally an idea for the Cluster distills. Other times, I sit down to consider possibilities and work ideas out.

There have been many roadblocks; so it goes. The past two years have drained a lot of my creative energy, to be honest.
I've never considered DM's Guild, for the bare-bones reason that I have no experience with the platform and don't know how it works.

Umbrash is a land with lush nature, and a harsh divide in humanoid lands and Fey lands. Its inspiration lies halfway between the Land created by Stephen Donaldson for the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant and the Ponyfinder setting.
Yes, really. I went there.
There is only one Darklord, who is king of the humanoid lands ... and is also the Darklady, who is queen of the faerie lands.
I've mostly worked out a prestige class that is inspired by the Lords and Ladies of Stephen Donaldson's works. They worship, protect and enhance nature ... and are caught trying to guide the humanoids while trying to honor the Fey who are nature's voice and fist.

[Mistmaster]

I have read the Sword of Truth books, and your take on the main character seem to me a bit harsh. Nuce ideas thought.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Your mileage may vary, of course.
I did say Goodkind's main characters had strayed far from what I consider to be the heroic ideal.

If you enjoyed the books, more power to you. I didn't like how the story and the characters developed at all.
From a certain point, it seemed that only the mc's could be right about anything, and everyone else needed to be enlightened by them. That, combined with the torture scenes and the objectivist philosophy just turned me right off.

[Speedwagon]

Hey Rock, you mentioned that the struggle in Maldoma is between what's real and not real. Is it a Domain similar to the Nightmare Lands, then?

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Oh, not at all. The land is stable, the weather is natural - though bleak - and normal humanoids live in cities and villages.
But sometimes the Mists roll across the land, and people can't remember what happened in the fog. They notice subtle changes to themselves and their dwellings, their land. Some people are immune to the amnesia, and they say the towns and cities (and their inhabitants) mostly don't exist when fog rolls in.
What government there is denies this is true. What religious authority there is denies this is true. But there is an undercurrent of paranoia in Maldoma, which sometimes bubbles up into violence; violence against strangers, against the people who claim immunity, against neighbours because they might not be really real.
Monsters do dwell in the land, but unless the Darklord binds them to his will they are as lost and frightened that they might not be real as anyone. They lash out during the times they are real or hide in obscurity and permanent terror.

The domain's Darklord has a different problem. He knows he isn't real: he is the dark side of the man who almost became the Darklord, but turned away from his Terror Track at the crucial moment. Now the Darklord desperately wants to become real, to become a full being, but he exists as a thing of thought, dark impulses and shadow, while his source variously lanfuishes in sorrow and struggles to make Maldoma a better place - actually with some limited success.
If the Darklord could corrupt or kill his source, he might become fully real - or he might not. There's no way of knowing, because his source is stronger than him in every conceivable way. Only by making his source miserable can the Darklord hope to overcome him, and that becomes more difficult the more people and monsters join his source's side...