Required: Mordentish aristocrats who aren't dead

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

At this point I've read enough about Mordent to know that all major noble families except for the Weathermays are extinct or in diaspora.
But what about the minor ones? Are there any surnames we know from those? Any known characters? And what guidelines should I notice when making up new ones?
I'm asking because I need to somehow fill the setting for my fanfic. I understand that some writers or DMs would want Mordent to feel unnaturally empty, to emphasize the themes of grieve and isolation - But my fanfic, A Ghost Story* deals with the contrast between the living and the dead, the mundane and the supernatural. I need characters that will establish and demonstrate the norms my MCs are breaking. This means native ghosts who've accepted their bondage to Lord Godefroy that Eresmus will stir into rebellion in his plotline, and confromative young aristocrats that Gennifer and Laurie will be forced to mingle with between quests and... Ugh... Try and fail not to scare the **** out of with the weirder side of their lives.

So does anyone have advice?


*Eresmus van Richten might have died 42 years ago, but he's still here with us, just incorporeally. When a couple of artificers go missing, last seen dangerously close to Gryffon Hill, the friendly neighboorhood monster-hunters decide it's finally time to find out what's the deal with the most infamous haunted house in town - and who's best for the job of infiltrating a manor full of ghosts than, well, another ghost? Eresmus is as dedicated to the fight against evil as any living hero - but to outsmart the house's dread lord, he'd first have to face the shadow of his own death.
In the meanwhile, Gennifer Weathermay-Foxgrove and her sister Laurie intend to find whatever clues they can about the case from the living side of things - but their father has other plans. Worried that the girls will take after their uncle, forgoing their duty as rulers in favour of an adventuring career - thus leaving the family with no heir - is intent on finding a proper match for them before they 'run off to hunt wyvrens in Forlorn'. Between abandoned crypts and crowded social events, spellbooks and ball gowns, monsters and suitors, the young woman must decide what legacy she wants to continue: That of Weathermay or that of Van Richten.
(The first chapters are already posted, Look it up on the fanfiction forum)

[Rock of the Fraternity]

I homebrewed a living Mordentish aristocrat a while back. Look up Robert Gauldamon on Mistipedia, see if he floats your boat.

[Mistmaster]

I homebrewed a whole mordentish aristocracy bringing back all of the noble houses. Check Qtr 27 or 26 for my Mordent(shire) article.

[Speedwagon]

I don't know if this helps or fully answers your question, but the general approach to Mordent that I've taken is to bring back those major noble families. Granted, they're not thriving at all, but the bloodlines are alive enough that I can make NPCs out of them. So instead of them being all gone, there might be 3-4 family members per bloodline, and they're all precariously aware of how far their prestige has fallen.

Alternatively, you can create NPCs or characters that are descendants of these families. Those families might have intermingled with the other commoner families, but they still retain some of that prestige, albeit lessened. If you're looking for other sources of noble families, the folks over at the Prisoners of the Mists website have, thanks to their player-and-DM-driven community, created their own minor noble houses. Here's one that might be of interest: https://www.nwnravenloft.com/forum/inde ... #msg728920. Of course, I'd recommend reaching out to the person who made said house and asking if it's ok to use in your fanfic, even if their own creation is a fan-creation, as it's always good to credit others' work. And hey, you can always use that thread as a source of inspiration to get your own ideas going.

I've read what you've posted so far in the Fanfiction section, and I like it! Please do keep it up, it's always nice to see prose that takes place within the setting.

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

I homebrewed a living Mordentish aristocrat a while back. Look up Robert Gauldamon on Mistipedia, see if he floats your boat.

Oh, I've read about him a few weeks ago. You came up with him?
He's interesting. He wouldn't fill the role I need here (unless impersonates for a few chapters before being exposed), but he could still be an interesting side-villain. I'm trying to think what could bring him back home after a century and a half (He could pull off a 'My Grandson, Myself' ruse, but what's his interest?).
What do you think he'd be doing by the time of 748, 19 years after you left him fleeing Borca?
And is there a fuller version of the story than the Mistipedia article I can read?

[Rock of the Fraternity]

I homebrewed a living Mordentish aristocrat a while back. Look up Robert Gauldamon on Mistipedia, see if he floats your boat.

Oh, I've read about him a few weeks ago. You came up with him?
He's interesting. He wouldn't fill the role I need here (unless impersonates for a few chapters before being exposed), but he could still be an interesting side-villain. I'm trying to think what could bring him back home after a century and a half (He could pull off a 'My Grandson, Myself' ruse, but what's his interest?).
What do you think he'd be doing by the time of 748, 19 years after you left him fleeing Borca?
And is there a fuller version of the story than the Mistipedia article I can read?

He'd still be doing the same damned thing: teaching others music and song, and setting hideous traps for women artists whenever the mood takes him.
Post-Borca, he'd be looking for a new place to work and live. The old Gauldamon family home is going spare, so he could swing by. He wouldn't need to pay rent, and everyone who knew him in Mordent is dead by now.
The version you see is what there is, for now.

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

I homebrewed a living Mordentish aristocrat a while back. Look up Robert Gauldamon on Mistipedia, see if he floats your boat.

Oh, I've read about him a few weeks ago. You came up with him?
He's interesting. He wouldn't fill the role I need here (unless impersonates for a few chapters before being exposed), but he could still be an interesting side-villain. I'm trying to think what could bring him back home after a century and a half (He could pull off a 'My Grandson, Myself' ruse, but what's his interest?).
What do you think he'd be doing by the time of 748, 19 years after you left him fleeing Borca?
And is there a fuller version of the story than the Mistipedia article I can read?

He'd still be doing the same damned thing: teaching others music and song, and setting hideous traps for women artists whenever the mood takes him.
Post-Borca, he'd be looking for a new place to work and live. The old Gauldamon family home is going spare, so he could swing by. He wouldn't need to pay rent, and everyone who knew him in Mordent is dead by now.
The version you see is what there is, for now.

Makes sense. Thank you.

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

I've read what you've posted so far in the Fanfiction section, and I like it! Please do keep it up, it's always nice to see prose that takes place within the setting.

Thank you! I wasn't sure anyone is even reading that stuff. I'm used to posting in places where there's a feature like likes or kudos that lets you see how many people are interested in your content, and the forums don't have that sort of quick feedback, so here I really have no idea.

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

I don't know if this helps or fully answers your question, but the general approach to Mordent that I've taken is to bring back those major noble families. Granted, they're not thriving at all, but the bloodlines are alive enough that I can make NPCs out of them. So instead of them being all gone, there might be 3-4 family members per bloodline, and they're all precariously aware of how far their prestige has fallen.
Alternatively, you can create NPCs or characters that are descendants of these families. Those families might have intermingled with the other commoner families, but they still retain some of that prestige, albeit lessened.

That's kinda what I'm doing with the Westcotes. Burton actually had a distant cousin who's grandson is still alive, but that grandson - Andrew Westcote, who'd already established himself as a successful merchant by the time of Burton's death - doesn't really care about titles, and wouldn't bother to claim a ground 'full of nothing but bogs and ruins'.
His teenage daughter Jane, on the other hand, is a different matter. She'd built her popularity among the town's kids around her ties to the nobility, and has to maintain that reputation. She'd go to live in the Great Moor if that's what it takes - but nobody's asking her. So instead, she desparately tries to be seen as much as possible around the town's actual nobles - meaning she clings to the WF sisters like a gum to a shoe. And ever since the sisters started training as monster hunters, she'd been making up stories about sightings of supernatural creatures, solely to get their attention. Jane is meant to start as a foil to the twins and a comic relief - She makes an embarrassment of herself trying to marry into the aristocracy despite her father's complete apathy to them, while Gennifer and Laurie are currently uninterested in marriage and consider their father's matchmaking attempts a silly burden; The twins had gotten into the occult out of a deep devotion to the protection of the innocents and to continuing the heroic tradition they were raised on, while Jane tries to join them out of the misconception that it's 'trendy' - but she might get a positive (or negative) character arc later on.

[Speedwagon]

I've read what you've posted so far in the Fanfiction section, and I like it! Please do keep it up, it's always nice to see prose that takes place within the setting.

Thank you! I wasn't sure anyone is even reading that stuff. I'm used to posting in places where there's a feature like likes or kudos that lets you see how many people are interested in your content, and the forums don't have that sort of quick feedback, so here I really have no idea.

Yeah I get what you mean. I enjoy Ao3 for that function as well. I was also surprised to see how few the "Ravenloft" tag on Ao3 had for content. Ah well, something I can try my hand at later!