Category:Shadowborn Family

This section contains canon info from officially published sources

The Shadowborn family is a family of charitable benefactors and doers of good deeds^[1] as well as heroes, knights, and paladins featured in several products for the Ravenloft campaign setting. The Shadowborn themselves hail not from the Demiplane of Dread but rather from the outlander land of the Great Kingdom.^[2] The family seems to bear a curse, for the story of the family is associated with the formation of the Shadowlands cluster^[3] All of the darklords of the domains in said cluster at one time or another knew members of the Shadowborn family.^[4]

Publication History

The Shadowborn name is mentioned in the Darklords sourcebook, where the basic outline of Kateri Shadowborn's conflict with the infamous demon Ebonbane is detailed. A map of the Shadowborn family home, Shadowborn Manor, is also given in that accessory. The information from the Darklords sourcebook was further fleshed out in the Dungeon Magazine module Bane of the Shadowborn^[5], in which one of the player characters is a blood relative of Kateri chosen to destroy Ebonbane.^[6] In addition, several more names of past Shadowborn family members are given in the family tomb description.^[7] In the Islands of Terror, it is established that the fallen paladin, Elena Faith-hold, once was a companion of Kateri Shadowborn.^[8]

The exploits of other Shadowborns were included in later accessories. The tragic story of Ferran Shadowborn and Aurora Shadowborn were included in the adventure module, A Light in the Belfry. In Domains of Dread^[9] and then Champions of the Mists^[10] (1998), Alexi Shadowborn is mentioned as having founded the Knights of the Shadows. The Shadowborn novel establishes the Shadowborn family's homeland as the Great Kingdom of Avonleigh and Alexi as the son of Kateri and the cousin and adopted older brother of Ferran and Aurora. The book is also a novelization of the Bane of the Shadowborn module and features Alexi as Kateri's chosen successor to hold Ebonbane.

Family History

The Shadowborns were a wealthy family^[11] of nobles from the Great Kingdom of Avonleigh on an outlander world of the Prime Material Plane. Despite their wealth, the Shadowborns were known for charity and philanthropy.^[1] In addition, the family's history became intertwined with the Church of Belenus, for no fewer than a dozen of the Shadowborns went on to become part of the church hierarchy, a fourth of those became bishops, and one, Cassandra Shadowborn, went onto become Holy Mother, the highest position in the Church. In addition, the family boasted several members that fulfilled the cause of righteousness through martial means. Kateri Shadowborn was special in that she fulfilled both paths in her role as a paladin^[12] and a member of the Knights of the Circle.

The Heretical Wars

Kateri Shadowborn achieved numerous accomplishments; among the acts that made her widly known as a hero was her championing the Great Kingdom against the Southern Empire in the Heretical Wars. The fiend Lussimar, also known as Ebonbane, was ultimately responsible for the wars, as it possessed Grand Caliph Muhdar ab Sang, ruler of the Southern Empire, and caused him to provoke the war through acts of aggression. Although Kateri ultimately achieved victory over Lussimar and the villainous Ahltrian that served it, her victory was not without cost. During the war, Kateri and her knights were captured by Lysander Greylocks, one of the Ahltrian possessed by Lussimar. Under Lussimar's control, the knights were tortured and many murdered. Kateri herself was raped, impregnating Kateri with Lysander's seed. Kateri ultimately escaped with her surviving followers and eventually banished Lussimar from the heart of Lysander and all of the mortal world entirely.

In 608 BC, Kateri gave birth to Alexi Shadowborn.^[13] Outwardly a normal human child, Alexi was left to be raised by his aunt and uncle Lady Victoria Shadowborn and Lord Vincent Shadowborn.^[14] During the same year of Alexi's birth, the remaining members of the Ahltrian conjured Lussimar once again and placed it within a blade. Ebonbane, as they called it, broke free of the spells that bent it to their will though not its confinement in the sword. Once it slew and reanimated its captors as undead minions, Ebonbane spent the next three years preparing for its revenge against Kateri.^[15]

Weary of battle, Kateri eventually settled down into Shadowborn Manor. There, Ebonbane, taking possession of Lysander once again as its wielder, launched a terrible attack against Kateri in her own home. When Ebonbane at last struck Kateri down, the Mists surrounded the whole of the manor and drew into a domain of the Demiplane of Dread. Kateri rose again as spirit that confined Ebonbane inside its prison.^[16]Although confined to a comparatively small domain, Ebonbane demonstrated and gathered great power from within and without. It set about spreading its influence to all those from Kateri's former life to corrupt them and ultimately force them to occupy the Phantasmal Forest as quasi-darklords of their own pseudo-domains.

Alexi's Time

Although plagued by nightmares hinting at his dark origins^[17], Alexi grew up to not only be a normal child alongside his younger cousins Ferran Shadowborn and Aurora Shadowborn, but also to become a seemingly exemplary follower in his (thought to be deceased) mother's footsteps as a holy warrior and would be member of the Knights of the Circle.^[18] His Rite of Ascension to become a member seemed a success, but in fact the Darkening showed the disapproval of Belenus of his appointment to the Circle. Despite public sentiment to the contrary, it was not Alexi's personal failings that cause his rejection. Rather, he had a higher calling. As a Lodestone Paladin, he was called to confront his sire Ebonbane and contain it within his body. With his friend Dasmaria Eveningstar, Lysander, and Ferran at his side, Alexi confronted Ebonbane in Shadowborn Manor. Alexi faced the corrupting taint of Ebonbane's influence but ultimately triumped over it. Although Ebonbane was once again trapped, the young squire Ferran was the only one to return to his homeland.^[19] The year was 626 BC.^[20]

Ferran, Aurora, and Morgoroth^[21]

In the following years, Ferran grew up to become a paladin and eventually became leader of the Knights of the Circle. Aurora joined the Church and was slated to become the next High Mother. Morgoroth, a repentant necromancer from another world, came to serve Ferran as a valuable advisor and ally after he swore allegiance to Ferran and took residence at Tergeron Manor. Aurora and Morgoroth came to hold secret feelings for each other, but each believed their love to be unrequited. Thus they stayed apart and immersed themselves into their respective work.

The arrival of the paladin Lambert from Morgoroth's homeworld several years later ignited a conflict that ultimately ended in tragedy. Lambert's conflict with Morgoroth reawakened the necormancer's dark nature. Ultimately, Morgoroth decided repentance was but folly, and he murdered Ferran after the latter came to check in on Lambert. Morgoroth kidnapped Aurora before retreating back to Tergeron. The remaining members of the Circle attempted to rescue her, but they all met their doom at the hands of Morgoroth or his forces. For this act of evil, Tergeron and the surrounding lands were claimed by the Demiplane of Dread as the domain of Avonleigh (not to be confused with the Great Kingdom or the Province of Avonleigh with which the domain's land and name were drawn.) Aurora Shadowborn fell into a permanent stasis asleep in an impenetrable glass coffin where she remains to this day. The year was 646 BC.

References