Sunderheart
| Sunderheart | |
|---|---|
| [[Image:|350px]] | |
| Culture Level | xxx |
| Ecology | xxx |
| Climate & Terrain | xxx |
| Year Formed | xxx |
| Population | Humans, halflings, tieflings |
| Races (%) | xxx |
| Languages | xxx |
| Religions | xxx |
| Government | xxx |
| Ruler(s) | Lady Ivania Dreygu |
| Darklord(s) | Lady Ivania Dreygu and The Ghoul |
| Nationality | |
| Analog | xxx |
| Related Categories | |
| Locations in Sunderheart | |
| Transportation in Sunderheart | |
| Inhabitants of Sunderheart | |
| Former Inhabitants of Sunderheart | |
| Flora of Sunderheart | |
| Fauna of Sunderheart | |
| Native Monsters of Sunderheart | |
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This section contains canon info from officially published sources |
Sunderheart is a 4th Edition Shadowfell domain introduced in Dragon #368 article called Domains of Dread: Sunderheart, The Funeral City. As such beyond general planar mechanics such as the Mists and having a darklord, Sunderheart has no connection to the Demiplane of Dread Raveloft product line setting of 3rd Edition and earlier.
As a 4th edition domain, Sunderheart's origins lie in the Points of Lights implied campaign setting. It is a dark mirror of Harrack Unarth, a city that stood in the infernal empire of Bael Turath hundreds of years ago. Although the real Harrack Unarth now exists in mostly abandoned ruins on the Material Plane, Sunderheart is still inhabited in the Shadowfell even hundreds of years after the Harrack Unarth's fall.
Despite similar sounding names, Sunderheart should not be confused with Sundered Heart, an alias once used by Casimir Lukas.
History
Following the suspicious death of Harrick Unarth's previous lord-mayor, Lady Ivania Dreygu and Lord Torgo Kahneber made arrangements with the emperor of Bael Turath for control over the city. When they assumed control, Ivania and Torgo shifted the city into a more or less perpetual state of debauched festivities. In private, the pair continued the vile indulgences for which their meddling families had though to suppress. Yet Ivania and Vorno kept not their corruption to themselves, but rather the pair introduced all sorts of perversions and debaucheries to the other nobility of Harrack Unarth.[1]
The celebrations of Harrack Unarth's nobility encouraged delivery of exotic creatures and items into the city, getting the attention of the emperor once more. Ivania and Torgo agreed to the emperor's request to see that the creation of the Hellbound, devils fused into the bodies of humanoids, and their integration into society. However, the married pair had their own agenda in mind. Placed in close position to devils, Ivana and Vorno hoped to make the best deals with them. In the first of such deals, Ivania and Vorno became eternally young at the cost of their souls, forfeiting them to Nephigor. Upon their deaths, Ivania and Vorno would be consigned to Hell.[1]
Time did not affect Ivania and Vorno in the same way. While Ivania seemed to retain the same sadistic vibrancy she always head, Vorno became increasingly depressed, paranoid, and removed from everyday life and less able to be cheered up by Ivania's various attempts to forestall his decline. Eventually the pair became alienated from each other. Ivania came to view her husband as ultimately pathetic and boring, Ivania eventually arranged a trap for her husband to end his life once and for all. She drugged a young girl and left her to be eaten by the irresolute Vorno but also filled her blood with poison to kill Vorno when he ate her. Vorno died a horribly messy death reflective of how his life was.[1]
By the time of Vorno's funeral, Harrack Unarth, now known as the City of Carousal, had become such a dangerous place, the nobility followed by general trade began to leave the city. When a mass outbreak of deformities struck the born, this was taken as a sign that the city had become cursed. During winter, a huge blizzard enveloped Harrack Unarth for a considerable time. When the blizzard parted, leaving the city empty to outside observers, its previous inhabitants drawn into the Shadowfell.[2]
After the biizzard ended, Ivania rose from unconsciousness in the River Palace. Seemingly alone, she explored the palace and looking out over her new city, she questioned where she was. The Ghoul, her husband horrifically transformed and inextricably attached to her back, told her she was in Sunderhart. The madness in the days that followed now remain a blank in Ivania's memory.[3]
The Hellbound, whom had been designated experimental failures and all killed in Bael Turath, found their souls forced back into their bodies and now walked the land.[4]
Geography
Black Bay[5] is the body of water that comprises the southern border of Sunderheart. The Mists border it to the south, Glimmerhope Crag to the west, the Cliffs of Despair to is east, and the Living City to the north. Sunderheart's Grimriver and its associated canals are fed the dark waters that give the bay its name. The Farm Islands and Forest Islands are located in the Bay, though the latter is usually shrouded in the Mists.
The Living City is separated from the Bay by the First Wall and from the Tomb City by the Second Wall. Grimriver is fed by the bay, travels through the Living City and spawns numerous canal offshoots, and continues into the Tomb City. Grimriver's terminus ends in the Bleak Abyss, a seemingly bottomless void that consumes a little more of the Tomb City every year.[6]
Bodies of Water
- Black Bay
- Grimriver (Sunderheart) and its canals
Cliffs
Islands
Law and Authority
By day, Lady Dreygus holds rule over her people, and when she says jump, they say how high. Although the [[[Sunderheart City Guard]] has bee infiltrated by the yuan ti Cult of Zehir[7], the Hellbound remain (even though unacknowledged) her protectors and agents of her will. They are bitter opponents of Zehir's cult.[8]
The Ghoul takes over Lady Dregus' body by night, though he does not so much as rule but instead is left sacrifices in the undead section of the River Palace.[9]
Noncanon information
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This section contains FoS-canon info, from Fraternity of Shadows (non-netbook) projects |
The group of fans known as the Fraternity of Shadows (Real World) have integrated Sunderheart into The Hub Cluster, the product of an ongoing crowd-sourced fan project.
Introduction
Black pirate ships riding silently on the waves, strange wizards, priests worshiping otherworldly gods. . .
A dark domain ruled by two lords, joined together at the spine. . . One living, one undead. . .
This is Sunderheart.
There is no more mysterious port in all of Ravenloft than that of Sunderheart. It is feared and dreamed of by all who know its name. Many who come here never return.
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History
Sunderheart's origins coincides with the fall of Harrack Unarth, formerly the shining capitol of the empire of Bael Turath. When Lady Ivania Dreygu and her lover Vorno Kahnebor married against the wishes of their warring families, they were given Harrack Unarth as reward for uniting (through marriage and murder) their two powerful houses. The reign of Ivania and Vorno ushered in an era of prosperity and decadence, especially in their bed chambers. They made a deal with a devil to make it last forever, but one day Ivania turned on Vorno, unleashing his inner evils. When she killed him the mists came to claim their land.
Great storms had torn at the city, and the Grimriver had flooded its streets. Much of its population had either died in the storms, or fled. Those who remained stayed loyal to Ivania, though they rarely saw her after that. Vorno, they saw not at all. His tales were now told only in rumor.
After the storm had flooded the city, after the mists had cleared and the domain of Sunderheart had been formed, Lady Ivania Dreygu awoke from a long slumber with her dead husband suddenly conjoined to her back. Vorno Kahebor had risen from the grave, and was now fused with her spine as The Ghoul.
Biology
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Geography
Sunderheart is a domain in the northeast of The Hub Cluster, where dark skies and dark waters keep most travelers far from shore. The City of Sunderheart sits between two high and misty mountains, protecting the city from any possible invasion by land. A river flows from between these two mountain and down the center of the city, flooding much of the ruins of the lower levels before finally flowing out into the sea.
The cliffs to the east, after many treacherous miles, eventually connect to the mountains of Giddim. High up in these mountains, there are tribes and villages of goblins and humans who live together in an unsteady peace.
Beneath the cliffs in the west of Sunderheart there is a secret pirate's cave, large enough to house three large ships at once. A dangerous tavern and a trading post for merchants can be found inside. Few maps mark the cave's true location, and those that do are highly sought after.
And there are more secrets than this hidden amongst the cliffs and mountains. . .
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Mountains
Bodies of Water
Islands
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Population Distrubtion
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Cities
Towns
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Villages
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Hideouts
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Authority
Lady Ivania Dreygu and The Ghoul still hold control of this land.
Language & Culture
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Adventure Hooks
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World of Origin
Sunderheart comes from the Nerath region of an unnamed world.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Dragon #368, Domains of Dread: Sunderheart p. 71
- ↑ Dragon #368, Domains of Dread: Sunderheart p. 72-73
- ↑ Dragon #368, Domains of Dread: Sunderheart p. 75
- ↑ Dragon #368, Domains of Dread: Sunderheart, p. 78
- ↑ Domains of Dread: Sunderheart p. 75-76
- ↑ Domains of Dread: Sunderheart p. 77-79
- ↑ DoD: Sunderheart p. 76
- ↑ DoD: Sunderheart p. 82
- ↑ DoD: Sunderheart p. 79
