Pandora's Box

[Baron Von Stanton]

Some ghosts of a lawful bent to go with some of the more chaotic/neutral sounding ones above:
-a perfectionist devil of stagnation, ever at war with messy change, with control over time- including subjecting its victims into endless Groundhog Day-esque loops.

-the ghost of a brutal prison warden that allowed everyone in his facility to perish in a calamity rather than allow the possibility of escape during evacuation and transfer. Now he holds his victims in prisons of ethereal resonance in the Border Ethereal.

I once had an idea for a fallen angel who tried to solve the problem of "evil" by conducting an experiment where he stripped away the free will of various kidnapped mortals in order to make them into "better beings." The angel's peers found his experiments so repugnant, he was cast into the Abyss, where he converted an entire layer into a gaol-laboratory. He still doesn't realize that he is his prison's primary inmate, as those demons who are aware of him have sealed off his layer without his knowing in order to prevent his "solution to the evil of free will" from screwing up their own schemes.

[Baron Von Stanton]

Some ghosts of a lawful bent to go with some of the more chaotic/neutral sounding ones above:

-a perfectionist devil of stagnation, ever at war with messy change, with control over time- including subjecting its victims into endless Groundhog Day-esque loops.

Visually, I have several ideas for crystal monsters that either calcify the reality around them, or simply grow crystals at a dangerous rate around them. Shoehorning them into this project or Ravenloft in general will be an undertaking though.

[Baron Von Stanton]

"The Liar's Lucky Potato"
At first glance, this creature appears to be a cadmium blue potato that is abnormally warm to the touch. When it is alone with its designated owner, or in the presence of those who suspect what it really is, the creature will open its many eyes to glower at the world around it. The "Lucky Potato" pretends to be a good luck charm, and engineers situations to place it into the hands of a child so it can have a host with whom to grant good luck to and telepathically impart wisdom upon. Technically speaking, the Potato does not, actually grant good luck; it steals someone else's fortune. A gold piece on the ground? Someone who needed it to buy food dropped it. Bobby got an A on his arithmetic test today? His sister Henrietta flunked her spelling bee because she forgot how to spell "phylactery." Because the Potato can not abide naivety, if its owner doesn't realize where his good luck really is coming from, it will eventually break the news, preferably in a situation where it can encourage its owner to actively "seize (one's) own destiny," and thereby corrupt convince him into using its powers more actively and more maliciously.
What the Potato really is is anyone's guess. Ancient texts on demonology give the creature a thousand different names, and hundreds upon hundreds of different stories that all describe it as either the last remnant of some slain demon-god of unspeakable evil, or a larval obyrith that will herald the end of all worlds.
If asked, the Potato, itself, is coy about it, and will demurely suggest asking someone more knowledgeable, like Dagon or Pale Night.

[Mistmaster]

I would change it; And I would also rule that the ownerof the Box is invisible to the Dark Powers,

[Mistmaster]

The Dark Powers wouldn't tremble; they'd be laughing while they plotted some way to make the whole situation blow up in the face of whoever started collecting Darklords - i.e., compacting Big Evil in a very small vessel.

They would notlaught since the owner of thebox is unvisible to them.

[Baron Von Stanton]

I would change it; And I would also rule that the ownerof the Box is invisible to the Dark Powers,

If you have to make a Powers check from casting chill touch, I don't see how the current holder of the Bug Box could somehow hide themself from the Dark Powers, especially if they were using the device to literally magically eliminate Darklords and concentrating their evil in one location.

[Baron Von Stanton]

"The Gardener"
A miniature genius loci that manifests in the form of a roughly spherical boulder with an upside down mask. The Gardener's true name is unknown as it refuses to communicate with any sentient being who is not a child, nor a true innocent, or, most importantly, who does not share its passion for gardening and landscaping. The Gardener's modus operandi is to bind itself to a plot of land ranging between 1 to 3 square miles in size, and then terraform it into an environment its current whim deems aesthetically pleasing. After taking possession of a cattle ranch, it may transform it into a patch of rainforest, only to turn its new home into a sprawling topiary maze with carnivorous trees. The Gardener will tolerate squatters in its garden, provided they don't interfere or plead sacred hospitality. The Gardener prefers to drive pests away by scaring them into leaving, but will not hesitate to use lethal force if said pests insist on being persistent irritants.
In addition to the obvious situation of its power to radically disrupt the environment, another problem is that, if the Gardener is forced to abandon its garden, or is exorcised, the psychic and spiritual backlash of this severing risks blighting the land, rendering it unable to support plant life more complex than mold or lichen.

[Mistmaster]

I would change it; And I would also rule that the ownerof the Box is invisible to the Dark Powers,

If you have to make a Powers check from casting chill touch, I don't see how the current holder of the Bug Box could somehow hide themself from the Dark Powers, especially if they were using the device to literally magically eliminate Darklords and concentrating their evil in one location.

Easy, no power checks.

[Baron Von Stanton]

I would change it; And I would also rule that the ownerof the Box is invisible to the Dark Powers,

If you have to make a Powers check from casting chill touch, I don't see how the current holder of the Bug Box could somehow hide themself from the Dark Powers, especially if they were using the device to literally magically eliminate Darklords and concentrating their evil in one location.

Easy, no power checks.

But in the meantime, could we focus back on my original concept for the box?

[Mistmaster]

No

Jokes aside maybe there could be some innocent ghosts or spirit capured by mistake or zealotry.

[DustBunny]

The Primordial

While the primordial may be described as a force of nature, nothing could be further than the truth. It’s a fragment of what was before (if such a term even makes sense) the multiverse, a thing outside of reality. Ascribing terms such as nature, conscious, shape and even alive to it are meaningless as it is from a time/place before ‘the rules of the universe’ were set, it simply _is_
(Or is it? As _is_ implies it exists when such a concept is meaningless to something from before existence).

As one approaches the singularity that is the primordial, the rules of the universe start to become pliant and soft. Flickering distortions to the local area manifest - floating rocks, purple trees, water flowing backwards, random socks appearing (left foot only), etc.

As one gets closer, the distortion become more severe – times changes speed at random or even reversing, objects turn into other objects, molten gold rains from the sky, rips to other points in the universe appear, or all the molecules in your body decide to jump 10 feet in separate directions. And if one arrives at the primordial singularity they simply disappear from existence, as the very concept of ‘existing’ becomes meaningless.

Exceptionally dangerous, there is one thing which attracts the knowledgeable and foolhardy. When the rules of reality are reduced to soft clay, a skilled artisan can shape that clay. Conceivably one could simply will something to happen and it would – raise an army of Titans out of nothing, will a powerful artifact into existence, remove any curse (even a Darklord – though nothing is stopping the DP’s from reinstating it once outside the reality effect), or escape Ravenloft.

The catch is that the more pronounced the effect one wishes to create, the closer one must get to the primordial, as they need reality to be softer in order to shape it. And at the same time they are bending the universe to their desire, they must also be willing themselves not to be turned inside out and exploding or transforming into a bowl of petunias.

Somewhat simpler is supressing the effects of the primordial and reinforcing reality so the distortions are reduced, but this is a constant task as the moment one relaxes their mental grip, unreality comes roaring back.

Philosophers and theologians are also fascinated by the concept of the primordial, as if 'will' can shape reality did 'will' exists before the multiverse? Did the multiverse ‘will’ itself into being?

PS: There you go, tied MM and BVS together. Sure the box can de-darklordify you, or hide you from the DP's eyes, but doing so has more of a chance of turning you into a cloud free atoms, or possibility a penguin.

PPS: Yes I have read Hitchhikers Guide and the concept of the Improbability Drive

[Baron Von Stanton]

That's an interesting approach to the situation, but, I don't think the Bug Box would be able to contain a phenomenon as powerful as that.

[Baron Von Stanton]

"Alphavirus" is named so because it is the first of Megalovirus' offspring who has survived the longest and has developed its own personality. At one point, Alphavirus decided to become a foil to its parent, in that it would be crafty, cunning, and sly in contrast to Megalovirus' burning, unrelenting, yet often unfocused monomania. Soon after, Alphavirus then decided it did not appreciate being someone else's lackey, and sought to eventually free itself of its parent's influence so it could become "ruler of the world," but not as Megalovirus' idea as being some all-consuming parasite, but as a Satanic figure of blasphemous adoration. To this end, Alphavirus set up numerous cults and networks of sympathetic arcanists, only to see all of them fail, one after another due to its repeated underestimating its parent's might, and not anticipating interference with rival cults and adventurers. But before it could despair or have its perfidy be discovered by Megalovirus, Alphavirus discovered the schemes of the Cabal of Thirteen and the Chongguan. The greater feyir propositioned the Cabal, recommending Megalovirus as their next target, and offering assistance in capturing its parent in return for leaving itself alone long enough to see its own dreams of conquest come to fruition. The Cabal succeeded in capturing Megalovirus, but then repaid Alphavirus by ensnaring it in the Bug Box, too.
Alphavirus currently broods and stews, longing to be free so it can resume its dreams of conquest and manipulation, and see its vengeance eventually leveled upon the Cabal and its parent.

[DustBunny]

That's an interesting approach to the situation, but, I don't think the Bug Box would be able to contain a phenomenon as powerful as that.

Ah, but can you use the primordial to contain the primordial? A paradox for sure - but paradoxes are a result of rules. And with no rules....

Anyways, maybe this one stolen inspired from classic Dr Who - The Fendahl

The Fendahl is a gestalt entity, composed of thirteen organisms: the Fendahl 'core' and twelve 'Fendahleen'.

In a complete gestalt, the Fendahl fed on the life force of living things. It devours all the animating force of a creature reducing the unfortunate to a soulless husk which quickly decayed into a formless mush as even the forces holding the body together were gone. Even the unread or unloving (constructs) can and will be devoured by the Fendahl. It stores this colossal amount of this energy in itself to fulfill its needs, which it enacts through powerful psychic phenomena - mind control, astral projection, telekinesis, telepathy, etc. But regardless of its goals and methods, it will feed.

The Fendahl core appears as a golden-skinned, majestic being with large, unblinking eyes, long golden fingernails and an ornate hairstyle. The servitors of the core creature - the Fendahleen — appear as wrinkled green worm like creatures having a fringe of pink tentacles around their mouths, and two large fins running along the 'head'.

The core can exist independently of Fendahleen, as the servitors act more as remote eyes, and ears and psychic batteries. However a Fendahl with less than the full complement of 12 Fendahleen is significantly weakened. Fendahleen are created by the transformation of beings who meet certain required abilities in psychic or magical ability. On gazing on the Fendahl their souls are devoured and their bodies turned into part of the Fendahl gestalt.

Sometime in the unknown past, the Fendahl was defeated, the Mendeleev destroyed with all that remained was a jaw less skull. The skull proved almost indestructible so it was secreted away to prevent anyone trying to tamper with it. Regrettably, the Fendahl was not actually dead - after all, how does one kill death?

Using its stores of energy the Fendahl gaves 'psychic nudges' to living creatures, slowly forming a group of 12 lead by a high priestess. This proto coven had the dreams that such groups do, little realising they were to be converted into Fendahleen, with the high priestess beginning the new core. Thankfully something went wrong and there were only 10 Fendahleen present, permitting a window of opportunity before the Fendahl was reborn. In the aftermath, the skull of the Fendahl core had disappeared and no trace of it could be found in the ruins of the priory.

One thing of interest which has attracted some scholars is the 13 person coven - the core personage and 12 members. This often occurs in mystical settings and literature throughout the realms. Has the Fendahl been prodding things along for much longer than we think?

[Baron Von Stanton]

That's an interesting approach to the situation, but, I don't think the Bug Box would be able to contain a phenomenon as powerful as that.

...
One thing of interest which has attracted some scholars is the 13 person coven - the core personage and 12 members. This often occurs in mystical settings and literature throughout the realms. Has the Fendahl been prodding things along for much longer than we think?

Alphavirus was not the first, nor the last person to manipulate the Cabal of 13. It got caught because it was sloppy, too trusting, and didn't have a good enough contingency plan on hand/tentacle. Three mistakes it fully intends to avoid making as soon as it makes parole.

That, and that both Megalovirus and Alphavirus, and several other inmates of the Bug Box seek to become something similar to the Fendahl suggests that there is something much more to the criteria the 13 used to pick their marks.