A domain based on natural selection?

[Shadow]

I've had this idea for a domain for some time. The domain (an island of terror) is a savage land where the only law is the law of survival. The whole idea of the domain is the theory of natural selection-survival of the fittest- taken to extremes. Although there are human inhabitants, they are all savage brutes, barely human at all. Altruism and sacrifice are shunned as they help those who are not fit to survive in the first place.

Who or what should the darklord be? I've been thinking about some sadistic researcher obsessed with the idea of breeding the "ultimate race". What should his (or her) curse be?
I would appreciate any thoughts or feed back on my little idea.

[Mortepierre]

That actually sounds like a Vorostokov that would have degenerated quite a bit.

I had such a domain in my campaign. Actually, it was a dual-domain. One half was dominated by volcanoes, very hot, little to no water. The other half was like a Siberia perpetually locked in winter (again, a bit like Vorostokov). Both domains were settled by primitive humans (tech 0 to 1)

The domains were each governed by an elemental-lich darklord, one dedicated to cold, the other to fire. Twin brothers actually (when they were still alive, that is). Now, both determined to "force" his element of choice on the other. While their spells were causing cataclysms left and right, the humans were fighting terrible odds just to survive to the next day.

My players stayed a whole hour in it before jumping in the Mists. In their opinion, any place was better than that!

[Jason of the Fraternity]

Who or what should the darklord be? I've been thinking about some sadistic researcher obsessed with the idea of breeding the "ultimate race". What should his (or her) curse be?

The researcher would be a very interesting way to go, and I would make the darklord's curse to embody some obvious inherent flaw. The domain is about survival of the fittest, and the researcher should be rather low on the "fittest" end of the scale. Perhaps, he survives through the dark gifts of being the darklord. However, he is physically weak and rather mystically inept.

[Anubis]

The domain is about survival of the fittest, and the researcher should be rather low on the "fittest" end of the scale. Perhaps, he survives through the dark gifts of being the darklord. However, he is physically weak and rather mystically inept.

That is exactly what came to my mind when I thought about it. Perhaps this Dark Lord is seeking for a way to improve his own survival?

[The Lesser Evil]

This is a really great idea. The researcher one sounds promising. He could be a former student of Mordenheim or apprentice to Frantisek Markov (both sound like they would be involved in this sort of thing) who shares the hateful human supremecy beliefs of Vlad Drakov and Falknovia.


I think the Wildlands (part of the Verduous Lands cluster) would make a good domain for the more feral mold for survival of the fittest concept. King Croc is the mightiest, fittest creature in the swamp/jungle, yet he knows that he will oneday die and be devoured by the weakest of creatures: the fly. Not to mention the strange, possible new evolutionary manuver: the encroachment of man.

I think what also might be a good Ravenloft twist on the Darwinist concept of Survival of the Fittest is apply to Spence's twisting of Darwin's concept applied to human society: cultural/social Darwinism. That is, anything that one society (or social group/class) does to another is justified completely in what it does because society chooses its fittest to prosper and the lazy or incompetant wind up losing out and falling into poverty. This would give the "urban jungle" saying a whole new meaning. A good domain for this cultural/social Darwinist flavor might be Nosos, with its oppressive industrialist flavor. I could see its darklord Malus Sceleris thinking along these lines when taking advantage of everyone lower than him.

[Jasper]

You could turn it into a sort of twisted (more then it is allready) Lord of the flies.

A group of young children wash ashore on a tropical shore and set up two diffrent tribes. The Strong tribe made up of the largest and more barbaric children and the weaker intelectual tribe. Lacking in food the Strong tribe degrades into a form of canabalistic ape-men under the guidance of a misterious Lord of the Island (recluse Genetic resercher). The weak tribe begins offering trubutes of the sick and enfebled to the Beast-King of the strong tribe in return for another period of peace.

[Shadow]

Great ideas! I'm getting some wicked ideas for the domain already.

A little background. I came up with the idea of the whole savage, survival of the fittest concept from a combination of Lord of the Flies, the yahoos from Gulliver's Travels, and the evolutionary psychology theories of Richard Dawkins, which all suggest that underneath the facade, man is little but an animal.

While trying to think of what the darklord would be, I turned to the whole eugenics movement. Besides the murder of millions of Jews, the nazis exterminated thousands of physically and mentally handicapped people in the name of eugenics. The eugenics movement was even briefly popular in America around the early part of the last century. Allowing (or even sanctioning) the murder of innocents in the name of "improving the human race" would surely attract the attention of the dark powers!

[Brandi]

Saragoss seems to have a certain amount of this basic ruthlessness built into it already, though a domain based on eugenic notions gone horribly wrong seems a promising one...

[ScS of the Fraternity]

Eugenic notions, eh? Thats a good one. Sounds like something that Doctor Vjorn Horstman would be getting into if Drakov kicked the bucket, perhaps? Perhaps a Boys from Brazil adaption?

Faced with failure after failure, Drakov suspects that he must raise an army beyond his borders and conquer domains from within. Indeed, Horstman convinces his King-Feurer with a vision: an army of pure-blood humans, carrying the superior bloodline of the Falkon himself.
After discussing advanced biology with Mordenheim and Markov, Horstman is sure that he can create life. In the swealtering swamps of a forsaken wilderness, Horstman has created his perverted Eden. There he concocts human embryos and medels with them, eliminating weaknesses and transplanting superior genes. These enriched embryos are then implanted into a "Host" chosen from an unspeakably miserable collection of slaves.
Horstman has delivered countless subjects, yet each one is imprefect. In the begining, his creations were purely monsters - physically warped creatures whom he left abandoned in balmy swamps. Many of these creaturtes survived and even matured in the harsh forests, haunting the canopied moors.
Latter, Horstman produced physcially perfect individuals. Sadly, these successes were revealed to be wholly psychotic. Inhumanly intelligent, even from birth, the creatures planned and plotted until they had grown in size, strength and numbers. In one bloody night the children of evil struck. They killed their keepers and their own mothers; spreading fires, sewing poisons, springing traps and even using makeshift weapons. Horstman survived after being partially crippled by a leg wound.

Now the swamp is the playground of the children. They form loose knit tribes and war with one another constantly, trying to achieve dominance. These tribes constantly change shape as the boys switch allegiances and plot against one another. Each one is as ambitious, ferocious and treacherous as their progenitor.

Horstman, for his part, survives. He is watching with scientific curiosity as his creations war with one another. Horstman is convinced that a true leader will emerge amongst them - the stongest will inevitably survive and dominate. With this ubermench, this superman, Horstman hopes to usher a new world into being and create a perfect empire. Until then, he waits for natural selection to reveal the next evolution of man.

[Wiltrix]

The eugenics movement was even briefly popular in America around the early part of the last century. Allowing (or even sanctioning) the murder of innocents in the name of "improving the human race" would surely attract the attention of the dark powers!

I believe you're right, social darwinism started in America, they sterilized incoming "outlanders" that hand the potential to 'degrade the gene pool' or that didn't fit their vision of the 'mold'.

[Brandi]

I believe you're right, social darwinism started in America, they sterilized incoming "outlanders" that hand the potential to 'degrade the gene pool' or that didn't fit their vision of the 'mold'.

Actually, the Social Darwinism concept was advanced by an English philosopher (Herbert Spencer; read here for more); it just caught on particularly well in 19th-century America because it implied that the rich were obviously more suited/better evolved than others, which took root nicely in the go-go capitalist society of the time.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

To add a little thematic depth to the domain, perhaps you could add in a second academic-type -- perhaps even one based on Sir Charles Darwin himself -- who'd actually *invented* the concept of "natural selection", but who realizes that the darklord-scientist has grossly misinterpreted the theory's implications (i.e. there's no underlying moral imperative that says "the unfit deserve to die!", just a non-judgemental mathematical tendency for those less-suited to their environment to die at a higher rate than those better-suited to it). Such a character might be held prisoner by the darklord, who appreciates the Darwin-type's ideas too much to kill him, yet can't understand why his "fellow scientist" doesn't agree with or assist in his efforts to produce a "better" breed of human.

[Palin_IV]

I was rather lukewarm to the idea at the beggining but I must say it's taken a very interesting turn, and being an evolutionary biologist, the opportunity to see the dark side is very entertaining.
And Eugenics was popular in America really until Hitler's evil made it obvious how inhuman the idea was. In fact the founders of Planned Parenthood were motivated by Eugenic ideals to try and limit procreation of the poor, before later altering their message to fit with the population concerns of the 70's onward

[Gemathustra]

Perhaps to further frustrate the dark lord's scientific theories, perhaps some of the strongest/most powerful inhabitants show sympathy for their weaker peers, perhaps because of a genuine sense of altruism, or perhaps they just like to keep them around, not unlike the way one keeps a favorite pet.

[Desmond LaRouche]

The domain ScS postulated sounds very intriguing, but what I find even more intriguing is Horstman collaborating with Mordenheim and Markov, in any respect.