Demihuman Heroes of the Domains of Dread

[Hell_Born]

Apologies for the title; I really couldn't think of a better one. One of the things I really like about the Ravenloft Gazetteers are the "Heroes of (X Domain)" sidebars, which break down in simple, easy instructions how best to make a thematically appropriate player character native to that particular domain. I didn't always agree with the notes, but I admit I have differing opinions and tastes. One of the things I don't like about classic Ravenloft, though, is how humanocentric it is. Inspired by a Let's Read that discusses a product from the DM's Guild called "The Multiverse Files: Curse of Strahd", which offers up a number of alternate universe versions of Curse of Strahd's Barovia, I thought it might be an interesting thought experiment to pick various Domains of Dread and break down what humanoids or demihumans or whatever you want to call them might be thematically appropriate to that domain and how they might be playable in an AU, more "High Dark Fantasy" take on Ravenloft. Anyone interested?

For an example of what I mean... Let's start with the obvious Domain, Barovia. In general, any demihumans native to this domain should be tied to the undead - specifically ghosts and vampires, black magic, or the savage wilderness, these being the "predominant" gothic themes of the domain, at least in my kneejerk opinion. So that would suggest, off the top of my head...

Ravenkin: These sapient ravens are canonically native to Barovia, they are tied to the lost solar deity Andral, they have a racial reason to hate Strahd and oppose his minions, and they were even canonically playable in 2nd edition (albeit in a Dragon article, not an official Ravenloft sourcebook). Why shouldn't they be an option?

The Cursed Get of Von Zarovich: We know from Legacy of the Blood that indirect descendants of Strahd are actually fairly common, and that due to their connection to the First Darklord, they are always watched (and to some extent touched) by the Dark Powers. In a more high fantasy take on Ravenloft, this family curse could easily result in the Von Zarovich's being dhampirs, vryloka, blood genasi, calibans or even a combination of two or more of those. In fact, a subtler curse on Strahd could be that when he or one of his vampire progeny bite a woman but she lives to bear a child, she may give birth to a demihuman who bears subtle Zarovich features - a mocking jibe from the Dark Powers at the children Strahd never got to have with Tatyana and never will.

Calibans: Whilst calibans should really be found throughout the Demiplane of Dread, Barovia in particular should be thick with them. I figure the most ubiquitous would be Banshees (symbols of the grief and loss bound up in Barovia through Strahd) and Cannibals with mutations evoking the more bestial strains/aspects of vampire. Next most common would be Witchspawn, tied to Strahd's status as "The Devil Strahd" and his association with Necromancy. Finally, Bestials with features of wolves or bats. Brutes would be incredibly rare, and tied to folklore of mountain ogres and cave trolls.

Tieflings: I'd see these as the rarest of Barovian demihumans, and mostly found in two variants. The first would be Arcanoloth tieflings, connected to Inajira - either directly sired as agents against Strahd/to recover his precious book, or the byproduct of his dark deals and reality winkle. The second, and even rarer, would be Incubus tieflings; as the Tser Pools are the one place where one can semi-reliably find Zarovan Vistani, so you just know that the Gentleman Caller is sniffing around like a fox around a henhouse. Honestly, that's probably one of the reasons why the Vistani deign to work for Strahd; he's one of the few allies they have who can battle a demon like the Gentleman Caller.

Dread Genasi: Given how strong the "elements" of Blood and Mists are to Barovia, I can just see dread genasi of those heritages showing up there. Don't have anything more than that.

Owlmays: ...Not sure why I can see these here, I'd need to double-check their lore. But one of the vampire legends in mythology is the Shtriga, who takes the form of an owl, and I think that's actually from Romania or Transylvania...

Deathtouched: Whilst Dhampirs are an obvious connection, given the strong tie between Barovia and vampires, Fetches at least would make sense given the strong presence of ghosts in the domain as well, and the presence of both would lead to Mortif. Ghedans and Ghuls, on the other hand, don't really have any special ties to Barovia thematically.

Vryloka: Honestly, there's a lot of thematic overlap between Vryloka and Dhampirs, and I can totally get behind any inclination to have either one or the other. But the specific lore of the Vryloka just screams for a presence in Barovia. I can easily see that in "High Fantasy Ravenloft", the entirety of the Von Zarovich family may now be vryloka - the Dark Powers mocking Strahd by leaving his living kin already one step towards following in his damnation, which has a lot of roleplaying potential. Also, the fact that the living Von Zaroviches are vryloka actually justifies Strahd's "serial son impersonation" strategy better, because it means that some of his vampiric quirks are things shared with his living kin.

Dusk Elf: With these, I'd go back to 4th edition's lore; though the presence of Strahd's banshee ex-bride in the crypts all the way back to I6 does suggest tying them to him in some fashion, I'd present Dusk Elves in Barovia as the denizens of a hidden town, guarded by powerful illusions and undead minions. Alone in the Demiplane of Dread, the dusk elves genuinely are happy to be here, since they believe the Mists conceal them from the vengeful gods Corellon and Lolth whose wrath they seek to avoid. But they still recognize the nights are dark and full of terrors, so they guard themselves with just as much paranoid vigilance as any other dusk elf enclave.

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

Hi Hellborn! This is really cool.
I'm also in the business of demihuman Ravenloft content, but I have another take on it.
My design philosophy is that horror is driven from the darkest corners of our culture's collective subconscious, our 'shadow archetype' (yes I heard about Jung in a writing workshop once and now I think I'm educated ), and another species' culture would have a slightly different shadow archetype.
So I try to think about a species' lore and analyze what would their shadow archetype be composed of. And no, it doesn't have to alienate the human players from the horror, cause eventually people are complicated and certain humans will have a reason to share a non-human's fear + also part of roleplaying is trying to put yourself in another character's shoes.
For example, I don't think elves would be as horrified as humans by a vampire. They aren't as familiar as we are with death, don't live in its constant shadow, so undead wouldn't hit them so close to home. Most vampires don't really get to survive more than a few centuries, so an elf vampire-hunter wouldn't face the same gap of experience and wisdom as we do. So the fears common to us and them that we associate with vampires - the fear of losing control over ourselves, the fear of exploitation and the fear of the vampire's sheer unnaturalness - would take a different form in their folklore.
And what are elves afraid of more than humans do? Their own power. They're one of the oldest and most magical species, which can easily lead to hubris and racism. They also know how their ancestors, the fey, tend to treat mortals... So they walk in a world made of paper, metaphorically, trying not to accidentally smash us. What if they hadn't? So I think fey-related tropes such as charms and cursed deals will be very present in their horror, and it will be centered less around outside threats - they can handle those - and more about the hidden evil inside breaking out. Expect werewolves to appear a lot, I guess, but also perfectly normal elves who turn to depravity.

To halflings, on the other hand, the idea of being dangerous themselves is ridiculous. They're small people living small lives. Their fear is that their smallness means they're insignificant, that the simple joys they center their lives around are actually hollow compared to the true depth of the world - which makes them perfect for a Cosmic Horror adventure.

So, you see, instead of just trying to fit more demihumans into core domains based on human fears, I try to create either homebrew islands of terror or plot hooks in a canon domain already containing a species, based on the species' own fears.