Malocchio Aderre

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Malocchio Aderre
Malocchio Aderre

Introduced as a major antagonist and villain in the module The Evil Eye[1], Malocchio Aderre is the current temporal leader of Invidia.[2] He is the child of the Gentleman Caller and Gabrielle Aderre, the latter of whom remains darklord despite the usurpation of her political authority by Aderre. His maternal grandmother is Isabella Aderre[3] and his grandfather is likely Vlad Drakov. Thus although he may or may not know it, he bears both the the bloodline of Madame Eva[3] and the bloodline of Vlad Drakov flowing through his veins in addition to being half-fiend.

Despite being only one eighth Vistani, Malocchio is and has been recognized as the second Dukkar, male Vistana with the Sight, prophesied to bring great evil to the Vistani people. He performs this role well. The hunting of Vistani is the passion of Malocchio Aderre, and there is no evidence that he draws a line at giomorgo ("half-vistani"), or even quarter-vistani, including his mother Gabrielle Aderre. No giomorgo is safe within Invidia or near its borders.[3]

Malocchio divides his time between Castle Loupet, the Citadel in Karina, and hunts.[4] Thanks to the bloody wars fought between the forces of Malocchio and his mother Gabrielle, Invidia remains a land divided.

History

Origins

In 746 BC, the Gentleman Caller beguiled Gabriele Aderre and left her pregnant with his seed.[5] Gabrielle gave birth to their child in the spring of 747 BC. From early on after discovering his nature, Gabrielle intended to raise her son to be a weapon of genocide against the Vistani people that had wronged her. Malocchio matured unnaturally quickly and took to the role like a fish in water. If anything, Gabrielle was too effective in building a hatred of the Vistani within her son.[6]

Within months, Malocchio rebelled against his mother's authority, usurping her authority and rendering her servants disloyal using his mystical talents. He imprisoned, tortured, and gaslighted his mother before leaving her to die in a bloody heap during the following Carnival of Karina of 747 BC[6]

Malocchio's unique heritage left him with powerful mystical abilities, including the theoretical ability to teleport anywhere in the Land of Mists and beyond.[6] However, the Vistani discovered his true nature. Led by Madame Eva, they built the Sphere of Binding and locked Malocchio within the borders of Invidia. Meanwhile, Matton Blanchard discovered his fallen lover and nursed her back to health over the following winter.[5]

Malocchio's Pogrom

Following the cooling of his savage nerves, Malocchio used mystical manipulation and bloody terror to bring the various communities of Invidia together under one banner. Malocchio called a pogrom of extermination against the Vistani. The Invidians, bolstered by a mercenary force hired by Malocchio, butchered and scattered to the winds the majority of Vistani and giomorgos within Invidia.[7]

To assist his planned vengeance, Malocchio constructed a series of military alliances. Malocchio first entered a secret alliance with Azrael Dak, giving the dwarf the artifact known as (but unknown to Malocchio) Novgor. Azrael in turn gave this dagger to Inza Kulchevich in trade for Nabon[8], solidifying the conspiracy the would hatch a number of years later (see below)

In 750 BC, Malocchio allied with Vlad Drakov and Falkovnia. Malocchio employed several hundred Falkovnian soldiers to augment the forces he already gathered.[9]

Yet Malocchio's encroaching control over Invidia did not go unopposed. In 748 BC, the Gundarakite rebel leader Ardonk Szerieza rose to prominence[10], eventually gaining leadership of the oppressed Gundarakites in Barovia. As the Gundarakites were similarly oppressed by Malocchio in Invidia, Gabrielle Aderre was quick to exploit the situation. She beguiled him, and they began an illicit affair. Gabrielle gained a valuable tool to manipulate the Gundarakites with. By the middle of 750 BC, Gabrielle and the Gundarakites had seized control of Castle Hunadora. They repulsed Malocchio's attempts at retaliation.[11]

After the above failure, Malocchio Aderre turned his vision outward, sending his forces over the borders of nearby domains, earning the enmity of Count Strahd[12], Ivan Dilisnya[13], and even Lord Soth. Malocchio and Soth had a particular antipathy towards Soth, for the death knight gave protection to a group of hated Vistani known as the Wanderers.[14]

Azrael Dak, Soth's traitorous steward, shared Malochio's enmity for the Wanderers and the Vistani in general. They entered into a collusion that would end in the disaster known as the Hour of Screaming Shadows. These events are depicted in the novel Spectre of the Black Rose and summarized in Gazetteer IV.

Conspiracy and Disaster

In 752 BC, Malocchio hatched a scheme with Azrael Dak (and through him, Inza Kulchevich) to destroy Soth and give political control of Sithicus to Dak.[15] Malocchio commanded his troops to amass at the Invidia-Sithicus border, where they were to remain as a distraction to Soth and enable Dak to enact his treachery. However, Dak bribed the Invidian troops to defect and go further into Sithicus to attack Nedragaard Keep.[16]

No fool, Malocchio realized Azrael Dak's betrayal. When Malocchio encountered the hero Ganelon in his "Dream Garden", the half-fiend charged Ganelon with undoing Dak's ritual, giving Ganelon a magic orb and some poppy seeds poisonous to Dak.[17] Ganelon's subsequent disruption of Azrael's ritual led to the Hour of Screaming Shadows and thereby the foiling of Dak's plot.[18] The entirety of the former Invidian incursion force was lost in the calamity.[19] As a result, Malocchio and Azrael's alliance became no more.[20]

The events as told within the in-character narrative of "S" in Gazetteer IV differs slightly from the events described above. In the Gazetteer IV descriiption, Malocchio is the one whom commanded his troops to go into Sithicus and lay siege to Nedragaard Keep. In any case, Vlad Drakov wisely commanded his troops in Invidia to refrain from joining in the mess with Sithicus.[19]

Current Sketch

Though he regrets letting his mother slip from his grasp, Malocchio Aderre no longer wishes to kill her, for that would mean him becoming the probable heir to the position of Invidia's darklord. Rather he seeks to capture her and keep her incapacitated, such that he may both keep her protected and torture her at his leisure.[7]

Beyond the capture of his mother and attaining some method of escape from Invidia, Molocchio's primary goal is seeing the suffering and death of the Vistani. Consumed by hatred of his ancestors and perhaps even himself, Malocchio may eventually even sacrifice Invidia itself to wipe out the Vistani. Curiously, he also spends a deal of time investigating his ancestral tree.[7]

As originally presented in the Evil Eye Module, Malocchio Aderre had a secondary goal to his persecution of the Vistani: he was gathering up a harem of concubines. According to the Evil Eye, he may be working for his father. If that is the case, then Malocchio is collecting brides not for himself but rather for his father.[21] However, later sources have refrained from explicitly mentioning this aspect of his goals.

When leading patrols of his minions, Malocchio rides on a warhorse named Redhoof.[7]

Statistics

2nd Edition

3rd Edition

Sources

As previously mentioned, Malocchio was first introduced in the module titled the Evil Eye, which explores his origins and the start of his plot to overthrow Gabrielle and her regime. He also receives a short profile in Domains of Dread, and the DoD write-up of Invidia is updated to take into account the events of the Evil Eye. Malocchio and Invidia both receive more indepth coverage in Gazetteer IV.

Trivia

The name "Malocchio" is the same as the Southern Italian term for the "evil eye."


References

  1. The Evil Eye p. 5, 24-25, 33, 49-55, 57, 61-62
  2. Gazetteer IV p. 39
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Domains of Dread p.53-55
  4. Gazetteer IV p. 149
  5. 5.0 5.1 Gazetteer IV p. 145
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 Gazetteer IV p. 147
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Gazetteer IV p. 148
  8. Heroes of Light p. 100
  9. Gazetteer IV p.47-48
  10. Gazetteer I, p 19.
  11. Gazetteer IV p. 47-49
  12. Gazetteer IV p. 57
  13. Gazetteer IV p. 32
  14. Spectre of the Black Rose p.
  15. Gaz IV p. 153, 157
  16. SotBR p. 267-271
  17. SotBR p. 232-251
  18. SotBR p. 286-296, 299-301
  19. 19.0 19.1 Gazetteer IV p. 49
  20. Gazetteer IV p. 124-125
  21. The Evil Eye p. 56-59
  22. 22.0 22.1 The Evil Eye p. 64
  23. Domains of Dread p. 54-55
  24. Gazetteer IV p.146-147

Data from the Ravenloft Catalogue

Ravenloft Third Edition
Domains of Dread
The Evil Eye

The Evil Eye - p62

Domains of Dread - pp54-55
The Evil Eye - pp61-62

Secrets of the Dread Realms - pp28-30,50
Ravenloft Third Edition - pp15,18,124
Domains of Dread - pp54-55
The Evil Eye - pp5, 24-25, 33, 49-55, 57, 61-62
Heroes of Light - p100