Duke Nharov Gundar

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Duke Nharov Gundar is the former ruler of Gundarak. The vampire lord resided in Castle Hunadora.[1] He was betrayed by Dr. Daclaud Heinfroth[2], who allowed him to be staked. (It is unclear why Heinfroth and his accomplices did not completely destroy Gundar, but his skeleton was found in Hunadora and sold to Professor Arcanus by Gabrielle Aderre. He was later revived by Jaybe and now walks the land, no longer a darklord.[3] He suffers amnesia due to his time as a skeleton, now roaming the land in a bestial state, with only foggy thoughts of revenge on Dominiani.[4]

Sources

As a darklord who vanished before the Grand Conjunction, details on Gundar are sparse in Ravenloft game products. He was first mentioned in the domain description of Gundarak in Realm of Terror (Black Box Set)[5] Although the reference in Feast of Goblyns to see RoT for information on play[6], no write-up of Gundar appeared in RoT. Duke Gundar plays a role as a background figure behind the conspiracies in Feast of Goblyns.[7] He is revived in Children of the Night: Werebeasts.[3]

Gundar and his the legacy he left behind are discussed in both Gazetteer I and Gazetteer IV. A sidebar on Gundar and his resurrection originally intended for Gazetteer IV was cut before publication.[4]

Duke Gundar is featured or mentioned in several Ravenloft novels. In Knight of the Black Rose, Gundar and his son, Medraut Gundar, run afoul of Lord Soth after Soth cuts his way through Gundarak.[8] In Tapestry of Dark Souls (Novel), life under his rule is briefly explored.[9]

Atrocities

In canon, there is little revealed about Duke Gundar's life before stepping into a gate to Ravenloft. As darklord, he executed horrible taxes among the downtrodden peasants he ruled over, going so far as to tax the gathering of firewood and even the birth of a girl instead of a boy (on the basis of a boy's contributions in labor will be greater than a girl's.) When the peasants tried to rebel, he mercilessly killed the insurrection leaders and put their corpses on display in the orchards of Castle Hunadora. The fruit given by these trees were so tainted they remain inedible to the peasantry to this day.[5]

One of Gundar's more specific acts of cruelty was the attempted subversion, imprisonment and torture of the traveling bard troupe Morts-Qui-Dancent in the year 641 BC or shortly thereafter. Gundar tried to get the bards to serve him as spies, but they refused. As punishment, he called on his son Medraut Gundar to torture them and curse them with a unique form of cursed undeath. They are required to regularly entertain others or face loss of the energy that animates them.[10]

Stats

Chaotic Evil male human Eminent Nosferatu Vampire fighter 13[11]

Neutral Evil male human Eminent vampire Ari6/Ftr10[4]

Chronology

  • 556 BC - Dr. Dominiani accidentally becomes a vampire with a transfusion of cerebral spinal fluid from one of Duke Gundar's vampire brides. Gundar refrains from killing Dr. Dominiani because the doctor is now Gundar's thrall.[13]


References

  1. ↑ Realm of Terrorp.70-71
  2. ↑ Ravenloft Campaign Setting: Domains and Denizens p.62
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Children of the Night: Werebeasts p.64-66
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Cut material from Gazetteer IV, as revealed by author Ryan Naylor in a post in the Cafe de Nuit
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Realm of Terror p.72
  6. ↑ Feast of Goblyns p. 11
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Feast of Goblyns p. 11, 13
  8. ↑ Knight of the Black Rose p. 265-272
  9. ↑ Tapestry of Dark Souls (Novel) p. 100-107
  10. ↑ Book of Sacrifices p. 74
  11. ↑ Book of Secrets p. 51
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 Gazetteer I p. 19
  13. ↑ Feast of Goblyns p. 13 gives the derivation of the date. Dr. D. has spent 180 years as a vampire at the time of Feast of Goblyns (736 BC according to Domains of Dread p. 17). Bleak House: Heroes, Monsters, and Settings p. 9-10 details how it happened. The date of his transition into undeath is highly questionable as it predates Gundarak's 593 BC date of formation as a domain. If the date is accurate, then this event is likely false history. Alternatively, Heinfroth may have undergone the transformation on the Prime Material Plane or elsewhere prior to the formation of Gundarak.
  14. ↑ Gazetteer I p.18
  15. ↑ Domains of Dread p.16
  16. ↑ Book of Sacrifices p. 74
  17. ↑ Lights in the Fog, Book of Secrets p.124-125
  18. ↑ Heroes of Light p. 92
  19. ↑ Knight of the Black Rose (Novel)
  20. ↑ Bleak House: Heroes, Monsters, and Settings p. 9-10
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Ravenloft Campaign Setting: Domains and Denizens p. 62

Data from the Ravenloft Catalogue

Realm of Terror
Feast of Goblyns Download Now!

Secrets of the Dread Realms - p30
Ravenloft Third Edition - p18
Bleak House:Heroes, Monsters, and Settings - pp9-10
Children of the Night: Werebeasts - pp64-66
Ravenloft Campaign Setting:Domains and Denizens - p35,62
Feast of Goblyns - pp11-12 Download Now!
Realm of Terror - pp71-72
Heroes of Light - p92


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