Dr. Germain d'Honaire

From Mistipedia
Jump to navigationJump to search

Dr. Germaine d'Honaire (unknown-707 BC) is a deceased former inhabitant of Mordentshire. He is the husband of Alicia Corgiat; the father Bernadette, Claude and Maurice d'Honaire, and the grandfather of numerous people, including Dominic d'Honaire.[1] His portrait hangs in the Saulbridge Sanitarium which he founded.[2]

Dr. d'Honaire has been described as a mesmerist who happened to be in Mordent when it was claimed by the Mists.[3][4][5] Given that Mordent became a domain in 579 BC[6], this would place him in the timeline before his given birth date (634 BC).[1]

Background

The patriarch of a middle class family that served Mordentish nobility, Dr. d'Honaire sought more for his family. He wished them to become nobles in their own right. He wanted Bernadette and Claude to become familiarized with culture and refinement as associated with the aristocracy and for Maurice alone to pursue a career as a physician. Of the children, only Claude seemed to fully embody his father's wishes. The family was rent in half when Bernadette married a giomorgo mystic named Hugues Mousel in 698 BC, preventing Germaine from seeing his family's ascension to true nobility through marriage into the Weathermay Family. Bernadette and Hugues immigrated to Valachan away from the rest of the d'Honaires. Germaine's bitterness and ill will towards the Mousels also tainted Claude's and Maurice's feelings towards them.[7]

Germaine's wishes would only be achieved following his death in 707 BC. That same year, Claude removed the d'Honaires from their homeland[8]. Claude believed this decision originated in his own mind, but this decision was in reality due to the subtle manipulations of then 7-year old Dominic d'Honaire. Young Dominic had driven his nanny to suicide and feared that Mordentish investigators would discover his involvement.[9] In any case, Claude led his family into the Mists, and they came out into the newly formed domain of Dementlieu,[8]. There the d'Honaire family- led by Claude and his brother Maurice d'Honaire- gradually built fame and fortune. Claude became a favored advisor to Lord-Governor Marcel Guignol.[10]

However, more sinister reasons laid behind the d'Honaire's windfalls, for the Dark Powers had created Dementlieu as the domain for precociously evil Dominic. As he grew of age, his manipulative abilities became supernatural, granting him the powers of mental domination by simple act of will. Dominic's mind games earned his family a place of honor as a power behind the throne.[10]

Possible correction of timeline differences:

Docteur Germain d'Honaire is described in I10 House on Gryphon Hill p.6 as "the resident physician for the Saulbridge Sanitarium. Docteur d'Honaire, be-sides being a general practitioner and fair surgeon, also experiments in the field of mental disorders. He is a capable mesmerist and may hypnotise willing subjects". Since Germain d'Honaire in Legacy of the Blood is considered to have made the d'Honaire name famous around the Core and is considered the greatest mesmerist the world has ever known, we could be talking about two different Germain d'Honaires.

References

Data from the Ravenloft Catalogue

NULL

Domains of Dread - p32
The Ravenloft Campaign Setting:Domains and Denizens - p59
Realm of Terror - p92,122