New World Order, or, Ravenloft Reorganized
Posted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 1:56 pm
This is a spin-off of the "What Projects Are Still Going On?" thread, in which I introduced the idea of assembling the various canon and semi-hemi-demi-canon domains of Ravenloft into a world which would pass inspection as "normal"--no Mists billowing at land's end, no Shadow Rift, nothing that screams This place is fake.
It still is fake, of course, but less overtly so.
This produces a host of questions, a very few of which I've considered:
1) The Basic Concept: Ravenloft could pass for a real world in the sense that Krynn, Faerun, etc. are real worlds. It isn't, of course, but it isn't immediately obvious to an outsider. So--a consistent geography and no outright bizarreness (chief offender: the Shadow Rift).
2) The Mists: They still exist, but they're no longer overtly omnipresent; essentially, they just blend in better.
3) Tir-na-Nogth: One can transition between the "normal" world and a shadowy world overlaying it (how and when this happens varies from place to place, although there are some commonalities). By day the Thousand-League Forest is a rather dangerous forest of the ordinary kind, just like the Wolfwood; but on moonlit nights one can transition into Faerie without realizing it, and (if one is unlucky) never get out.
At most points Tir-na-Nogth simply mirrors the waking world, but not everywhere. Faerie and the Nightmare Lands are the two most important examples of this, although others might exist. For example, I'm thinking of making Necropolis another one--in the "real" world, Azalin just destroyed Il Aluk, much as if he'd detonated a small atomic weapon there, but the inhabitants and buildlings were wrenched into Tir na Nogth, where they continue their "life" as they did before the Hour of Ascension. Il Aluk can't be resettled, though, because the boundary between the waking world and Tir-na-Nogth is extremely unstable there and if you're in the Shroud after nightfall...
Tir-na-Nogth is umbral, rather than ethereal, in nature; it represents the transition between Ravenloft and the Plane of Shadow. (I believe John Mangrum refers to this as the Umbral Curtain, but Tir-na-Nogth has better connotations for the way I want to develop this particular idea.)
4) How to group things: Yet to be determined. The Core demands to be kept together, and I'd like to keep existing clusters together, but beyond that I have only a few, rather vague ideas.
5) Limited flexibility of domain borders: It really is possible to enlarge one's domain at the expense of another; it's just hard. If you, as a warring darklord, can kill your opposite number, you may get the whole thing.
It still is fake, of course, but less overtly so.
This produces a host of questions, a very few of which I've considered:
1) The Basic Concept: Ravenloft could pass for a real world in the sense that Krynn, Faerun, etc. are real worlds. It isn't, of course, but it isn't immediately obvious to an outsider. So--a consistent geography and no outright bizarreness (chief offender: the Shadow Rift).
2) The Mists: They still exist, but they're no longer overtly omnipresent; essentially, they just blend in better.
3) Tir-na-Nogth: One can transition between the "normal" world and a shadowy world overlaying it (how and when this happens varies from place to place, although there are some commonalities). By day the Thousand-League Forest is a rather dangerous forest of the ordinary kind, just like the Wolfwood; but on moonlit nights one can transition into Faerie without realizing it, and (if one is unlucky) never get out.
At most points Tir-na-Nogth simply mirrors the waking world, but not everywhere. Faerie and the Nightmare Lands are the two most important examples of this, although others might exist. For example, I'm thinking of making Necropolis another one--in the "real" world, Azalin just destroyed Il Aluk, much as if he'd detonated a small atomic weapon there, but the inhabitants and buildlings were wrenched into Tir na Nogth, where they continue their "life" as they did before the Hour of Ascension. Il Aluk can't be resettled, though, because the boundary between the waking world and Tir-na-Nogth is extremely unstable there and if you're in the Shroud after nightfall...
Tir-na-Nogth is umbral, rather than ethereal, in nature; it represents the transition between Ravenloft and the Plane of Shadow. (I believe John Mangrum refers to this as the Umbral Curtain, but Tir-na-Nogth has better connotations for the way I want to develop this particular idea.)
4) How to group things: Yet to be determined. The Core demands to be kept together, and I'd like to keep existing clusters together, but beyond that I have only a few, rather vague ideas.
5) Limited flexibility of domain borders: It really is possible to enlarge one's domain at the expense of another; it's just hard. If you, as a warring darklord, can kill your opposite number, you may get the whole thing.