Help requested with a [narrative] Ravenloft Curse

[Boneguard]

Good Day,

I'm currently working on a new Ravenloft Domain and I looking for help with figuring out the Curse that the domain is Levying on the Dark Lord. [Incidently I would like to steer clear of the Undead/Werecreature Lord route if at all possible]

Origin of the domain: Greyhawk (shortly before the Invoked Devastation and the Rain of Colorless Fire).

Lord Background: The Lord is the current King. A Beast of a dwarf, a dictator who rules by fear and cunning. He killed his whole family (father, older brothers and all other relatives) to be crown the next king. As the youngest son (or maybe, on second though, a "recognized" bastard son), he was never considered in the line of succession, but he always felt that he was the better "dwarf" for the job (Hatred/Envy/Jealousy are some of his motivator). However he wanted it to be done in a way that he wasn't going to be blame and to be seen as a savior (deceitful/Vainglory maybe). He then struck a deal with Duergar and Derro to attack the city -promising them the riches of the Citadel- (Betrayal), allowing the killing many of his own people in the process, justifying it as an unfortunate mean to an end (Calleousness?), then turn the table and betrayed his new ally when all three sides were sufficiently weaken and his potential enemy out of the picture. But in the weaken state of the dwarven army, he couldn't eliminate them all, just push the back somewhat into a three way stalemate.

Current state of the Domain: Currently the Mountain dwarf controls the main Citadel and 2 mining outposts. The population is severely reduced and the erswhile Hill dwaves, gnome and stout halfling inhabitants are pretty much segregated if not virtual slave. The Duergar control one of the two secondary citadel and one mining outpost along with their steeders and mongrelman slaves. The Derro the second secondary Citadel and the last mining outpost with human slave and gargoyle ally.

The mountain dwarves has a bigger population, but not enough to tackle one foe and survive the brunt of the second foe's attack.

On another forum (The Piazza) I've received these two comments that may help with some of the designing (Especially for background motivation):

[SNIP]

Your dwarf could maybe even do something like that, to remove the old-king and his heir, and leave false evidence that makes it look like the second in-line to the throne was responsible for what had been done. Then he could "cease power to defeat the traitors" and plant more evidence implicating anyone that isn't on his side.

[SNIP]

Okay, if you're looking to design their curse, you first need to really consider what do the darklords want, personally. If Mjothvitnir killed his father for the kingdom, we need to ask why? It might seem obvious: he wanted to rule the kingdom. But I would suggest we dig a little deeper; it's almost always something more personal [...] So we want to know why Mjothvitnir wanted the kingdom and what, exactly, is withheld from him now that he's king?

Some ideas:

1. Mjothvitnir felt his father was weak. Maybe he was going to surrender to an enemy and Mjothvitnir wouldn't have that, so he made a deal with the duergar and derro. His father died, but when he went to take the throne, the other two blackmailed him and forced him to give up parts of the kingdom to them. Essentially, he was forced to do exactly what he killed his father for being prepared to do. (For bonus dramatic irony, perhaps the duergar and derro were the enemy or were secretly behind the enemy)

2. Immortality is key. Mjothvitnir spent his whole life preparing to be king when his father passes away. One day, the kingdom is exploring and breaks through to the surface, where they find a great magical tree with golden apples (taking a cue from the nordic names you're using). Legend has it that such a tree grants long lasting life to anyone who eats of it. The king, the most benevolent and good king the dwarves ever knew, was told he should eat of the tree and the populace agreed. Why not have a great king forever? And so he ate. Mjothvitnir seethed inside, knowing he would never be king now. He plots and has his father killed (because immortality doesn't mean invincibility), with the help of the duergar and derro, with the deal that they each will continue to eat of the tree so they may rule their kingdoms forever. But when the day comes, they each attempt to betray the others and take the whole tree for themselves. In the ensuing battle, the great tree is destroyed, but not before each leader gets an apple. They now have longer lives... but how long will it last? And now they each rule part of a kingdom, instead of a whole kingdom.

[SNIP]

Any help would be appreciated.

[Drinnik Shoehorn]

I can't think of a whole curse, but what about this for an aspect of it;

The Dwarf wants to rule, wants to be obeyed, right? What if he can't? Mountain Dwarves always fail to obey his commands, whether through accident, misunderstanding or simple defiance, but only direct commands. If he passes them through an intermediary, they can follow them, such as written down or through a non-dwarf subordinate maybe.

However, he can dominate derro and duegar and they will obey his commands. Maybe to keep control of the citadel, he has to put dwarves he loathes (allies of the real heir, perhaps?) in powerful positions to keep the population safe. However, to keep them occupied, he sends dominated derro and duegar at the defences to harry them.

He's stuck, he can't rule directly, and the only thing keeping him on the throne are attacks by evil dwarves he is actually controlling. He will never rule legitimately, because he can never stop the dark dwarves.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Seems to me he wanted respect more than power. Maybe for all his power, his people mock him as The Bastard King? And he's plagued by pretenders to the throne cropping up all the time with better claims than his?

(Not really a full curse, but possibly a small bit of flavor)

I must confess to not really remembering the difference between a duergar and derro, but maybe his curse involves turning into one of those, or some sort of hybrid of both.

[Boneguard]

Thank you guys.

I like the idea, of not being able to directly control mountain dwarves, but having power on the Derro/Duergar. Might explain why he's still keeping hill dwarves, gnome and halfling around.

And I like the idea, of the lack of respect, especially if I go the bastard route, that would be a great background element.

I must confess to not really remembering the difference between a duergar and derro, but maybe his curse involves turning into one of those, or some sort of hybrid of both.

Duergar, also known as Grey Dwarf, was asubrace of dwarf that live in the underdark, greyish in color, bald, tend to be Lawful evil.

Derro are a race of CE human/dwarf hybrid created by the Suel Empire in Greyhawk. Short, party white, bad vision and their Savant can cast mage spells.

Both can be pretty nasty.

[Boneguard]

Here is what I've been percolating over the week:

Mjothvitnir is the first born son of the last king. From a very young age he knew he'd be the next in line. Growing up, he always had that air of entitlement and arrogance, reacting harshly to any criticism from those he felt were beneath him...which was anyone but his Father and bullying his way around. As he grew older his bullying "refined" and he became more skilled in the art of presenting an image to his Father, but acting in a different way away from his peer.

Then one fateful day he found out that his father had decided that the Lord-to-Be was unfit to be the next King and that the crown would go to the King's second son upon his dead and nothing would change his mind on this. The lord-to-Be was enraged, his birthright taken away from him to be given to his Lesser, a weakling!

He hatched a plot to regain his Birthright, through shady channels, he contacted the Duergar who were besieiging the Kingdom, promising them riches and land if they would help him. Seeing an opportunity the Duergar took it, but prepared contigency plan in case of betrayal. The Derro involvement was coincidental, but prouved beneficial as his worked to "redirect" thos little bastards where he wanted them to strike.

On The Day, Duergar began pouring from various gates and newly created tunnels. The King's force tried to hold the main gate, but as reinforcement was near impossible with the variuos attack across the Citadel, he fell in combat. The new Heir to the Throne was defending a northern "pass" to prevent a large Duergar force to reach around to the mining outpost and descending south to the Citadel. Somehow the Duergar triggered the trap and the whole tunnel collaped on the Heir, his force and the Duergar force. Trapped in the Southern Keep, besieged by Derro, Mjothvitnir nephew tried to hold the line, but reinforcement forces got ambushed on their way to it and could not save him from a horrendous death at the hand of the Derro and their gargoyle allies. Some Duergar assassins (Psionicist/Thieves) gated into the palace, slaughtering the Queen, the wife of the Heir and their young son...as well as several guards.

With the Death of the young dwarf boy...the last to fall to his Uncle's treachery, the land was pulled away by the Mist. meanwhile The New Lord lauched the second part of his plan, using the "redirected" Derro and "delayed" reinforcement forces to defeat the Duergar. This part did not go as well as planned. The citadel was cleared of Duergar but when the three forces met in the Northern Keep, any form of coordination collapsed an a huge melee erupted, broken, by the untimely arrival of Duergar reinforment force. Defeated The Lord had retreated by "sea" to the Citadel. and the Derro entrenched themselves in the South Keep.

Now the land is oppressive, bleak, in a state of siege. Undead, and enemy forces are everywhere. Any one that his not a Mountain dwarf is either put to death or forced into "servitude". The Lord ir raging and plotting to get what is currently avoiding him: His Full Birthright.

So...Penny for your thought? What do you think?

[Manofevil]

Not bad but points of clarity:

1. How does the lord close the borders?

2. What powers has the lord gained with becoming Darklord.

3. Is the Darklord some form of undead, werebeast, or something else, or is he still just a dwarf?

[Boneguard]

Not bad but points of clarity:

1. How does the lord close the borders?

Excellents questions:

At the Piazza, Darkanth suggested "A horde of ghostly Duergar that can't be killed and force you back into the realm". and I really liked the idea. Fits the theme and would redirect suspicious towards the Duergar leader and away from the True Lord of the Domain.

2. What powers has the lord gained with becoming Darklord.

To be honest, I haven't thought about those yet.

3. Is the Darklord some form of undead, werebeast, or something else, or is he still just a dwarf?

He's just a Dwarf.

In fact, pretty much from the beginning, I wanted to stay clear from the Undead/Werebeast Lord angle as there are no Demihuman Lord/Domain so I wanted the horror of a "normal" Dwarf Lord...vicious and evil, but "normal" nonetheless who, through his action caused the creation of a new Dwarven Domain.

[ewancummins]

Sounds cool.


The Twin Cataclysms occurred in the fifth century before the Common Year. About nine hundred years before the period presented in the World of Greyhawk boxed set.

Has time passed at the same rate in this domain as in Oerth? That is, have nine centuries of subjective time gone by inside the domain? Or has it been a much shorter time?
Do things just reset after one generation, with the timeline stuck in a loop?

(This assumes you aren't going with that other guy's immortality appeals idea)

[Boneguard]

Sounds cool.


The Twin Cataclysms occurred in the fifth century before the Common Year. About nine hundred years before the period presented in the World of Greyhawk boxed set.

Has time passed at the same rate in this domain as in Oerth? That is, have nine centuries of subjective time gone by inside the domain? Or has it been a much shorter time?
Do things just reset after one generation, with the timeline stuck in a loop?

A bit over a thousand year with the The Adventure Begins (1998) "relaunch" but yes there is a huge time gap between the two events. and that was something I was considering of how to make it fit.

My solution was the The Grand Conjunction somehow shifted the Domain forward in time and made it appear in the Demiplane of Shadow as the various Domains were realigning. So in effect The Dwarven Domain has only exisited in the Demiplane for 11 years.

So any Greyhawk character that met them will have a fun time trying to figure out why these dwarves are speaking Ancient Baklunish and Ancient Suel fluently.

(This assumes you aren't going with that other guy's immortality appeals idea)

That is still a maybe in the long term.