"S", the Gentleman Caller, and the Dark Children

[Teravala]

I'm pretty obsessed with the scholar "S" from the gazetteers, and the meta plot that was unfolding before their unfortunate cancellation. I've wanted to cobble together the bits and pieces of the planned lore into something playable for a while, and there are a couple hurdles that need to be overcome to make that happen.

I'm pretty confident that "S" storyline had been pretty well laid out, at least in so far as:

Who she was (a female clone of Azalin, iirc the LAST clone that wasn't sobbing insanely into a corner somewhere.)

What Azalin had planned for her (twofold plan, he wanted her to identify all of the Gentleman Caller's children, and he eventually planned to use her body to give birth to his resurrected son Irik. (which considering she is his clone, he is an undead creature, and Irik is long dead, I assume this involved magic and NOT sex.)

What her current sketch was (traveling the dread realms under the pretext of a survey of the realms in the wake of the Grand Conjunction. (side note, the bracer she had forcibly put on her kept her from being able to die, and in fact was supposed to be a plot point in a gaz that never was when she commits suicide, wakes up on the same island she swan dove off a cliff on, and then finds her own broken and drowned body.)

Where her story was going (she was planned to refuse to identify the 13th Dukkar, because she figured out Azalin's goal of identifying them all and knew he was up so some bullshit, as well as not wanting to be a part of his plans anymore. Also she was supposed to merge herself with the God-Brain of Bluetspur as a final "fudge you" to Daddy Azalin, finally removing herself from his sphere of influence)

So taking that all into account, the issues I'm having are as follows:

Even after scouring the forums and wiki pages, I was able to dredge up less than half of the Dukkar (makes sense as there was supposed to be 13, one for each Gazetteer I believe) and nowhere have I found much information on potential candidates for the others, even from a speculation/fannon point of view. (With the single exception being one as a child of Madame Eva. Which, LOVE this. Especially if it happened early in the Ravenloft timeline. I haven't seen a definitive timeline of when the Gentleman Caller or Isolde entered Ravenloft, just when he started impregnating people and when she took the reins of the Carnival.)

I'm really unsure how to tie it together, if there truly are no bread crumbs to follow for the identities of the other Dukkar, then I suppose I could pick a handful of domains to house one each, in the style of the gazetteers, but it seems so random, like obviously I would gravitate towards domains and styles that appeal to me, but I'm afraid that would actually hamper creativity a bit, and offer less variation than where things were headed. (In all, I guess I'm worried that I won't be able to do it justice)


Has anyone else messed around with any of this, and can offer some insights or suggestions on how to proceed? Also this was a pretty bare bones version, but did I miss anything important in the meta plot?

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Let's start with this: which of the children have you identified?

[Teravala]

Let's start with this: which of the children have you identified?

Fair enough, I meant to list them but it is very early or, since I have yet to sleep, very late lol.

I've got The Jongleur in Borca, Vigo Drakov in Falkovnia, Chezna the Blood Cat in Nova Vassa, Malocchio Aderre in Invidia, The Beast of the Hills in Kartakass, and The Familiar in the Carnival. Pulled from the wiki page and confirmed in a few chat threads by a few different people.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Keep in mind that "S" intended to deny Azalin information on the Familiar, and the skurra-vera face paint would hide him. Probably even the Gentleman Caller can't find the kid, if he even dared go close to Isolde.

So Azalin would need to find a replacement or give up on his icky scheme. Which do you think he'd do?

[Teravala]

Keep in mind that "S" intended to deny Azalin information on the Familiar, and the skurra-vera face paint would hide him. Probably even the Gentleman Caller can't find the kid, if he even dared go close to Isolde.

So Azalin would need to find a replacement or give up on his icky scheme. Which do you think he'd do?

Good point. Does the face paint conceal him even from other vistani's sight too? Like, I understand that "S" was going to deny Azalin the info, but I kind of felt like it was a delay in his plans, not an insurmountable obstacle. Once he knew where not to keep searching, he could definitely engage another third party to search the places that have yet to be scoured. Especially if he is aware of (and I feel like he is) Anton Misroi and his ability to scry on all of the other domains. I genuinely don't know a lot about the Skurra-vera face paint and it's limitations, so I'm definitely open to the possibility that Azalin would need another Dukkar if he can't get to the Familiar. I believe that some questions were also raised about the suitability of the Beast of the Hills as well, since unlike the others she is not evil, just gnarly looking.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Another Dukkar - or just another creature with a comparable reality wrinkle. Azalin's plan was to combine all the children's wrinkles into an area the Dark Powers could not interfere in, so he could cast (and learn) spells unopposed, after all.

I am also not sure of the skurra-vera's limits, but remember the kid is under Isolde's protection. And she can control the Twisting when she really wants to. The Kargat stands zero chance against her.

[Teravala]

Another Dukkar - or just another creature with a comparable reality wrinkle. Azalin's plan was to combine all the children's wrinkles into an area the Dark Powers could not interfere in, so he could cast (and learn) spells unopposed, after all.

I am also not sure of the skurra-vera's limits, but remember the kid is under Isolde's protection. And she can control the Twisting when she really wants to. The Kargat stands zero chance against her.

Yeah, I suppose a substitute for the Dukkar would work as long as they have a reality wrinkle of sufficient power, but it just feels kind of thematically wrong to me to have 12 Dukkar and then one creature. I agree that the Kargat would have no real shot against Isolde, if she knew they were coming and who they were. As far as I know, the skurra gave up their sight when they don the face paint, at least I thought I read something about that. I kind of think of it as her weakness, she definitely has a huge advantage in a head on confrontation in the carnival, but I feel like without Vistani foresight on her side, she has a weakness than can be exploited by a clever enough opponent, especially one willing to sacrifice his pawns in order to secure a bigger prize. A good old Kansas city shuffle seems like it would work on her, at least if my understanding of the skurra (again, pretty limited knowledge there) is correct.

Either way, I don't think Azalin would abandon his plans to get his son back, with out without "S", because while I'm sure she was his ideal plan, I doubt she was the only one. That dude always seems to have more irons in the fire. So I definitely think there could be merit to another being contributing it's reality wrinkle, even if aesthetically it is not my first choice of how it would go down.

Edit: I think I was confused, as it seems that only Madame Fortuna gave up her sight, in order to be able to speak for the skurra. I thought they all lost it as part of being in the Carnival, but this makes a lot more sense.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Azalin would expect - hope - that a substitute would work, yes.
But iirc, it wouldn't. It'd blow up in his face if he tried, and once again his absolute need to succeed would drive him to try anyway.

[Teravala]

Interesting. I always assumed his plans would end in failure, but I figured it would be that he would succeed, but only to a point, Yes, he would get his son back, but it would be no different than last time around because for all his experiences since he was a mortal man, he fundamentally has not changed as a person. He would have his son back, but he would not be any better of a father than last time, nor would he succeed in raising Irik to be an evil aligned heir apparent. Someone pitched on the forums that Azalin, newly resurrected baby Irik in hand, realizing that his son, who he had fixated on for so long and schemed so hard to get back, had been reborn a girl, which I do not think he would like one bit. (As I recall "S" was unusual in that she was a mutated, female clone of his, a deep flaw in his eyes, and the reason he ignored her for so much of her life.)

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Personally, I expect something more Core-shattering and worthy of the history books. The Grand Conjunction and the Requiem changed the face of the world as the people of the Demiplane know it.
Azalin mucking about with reality wrinkles, overwrites of what passes for natural law in the Demiplane, the Time of Ultimate Darkness, should lead to more than yet another ruined family dynamic.

Me, I'd like it to lead to alternate versions of the Demiplane leaking into this one, depositing extensions to existing lands and alternate versions of known characters.
Such as a human Firan Zal'honan who realised he'd been wrong and has left Darkon accompanied by Irik's ghost, leaving Azalin behind as the embodiment of all his faults. Something to deny and defy.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Keep in mind that "S" intended to deny Azalin information on the Familiar, and the skurra-vera face paint would hide him. Probably even the Gentleman Caller can't find the kid, if he even dared go close to Isolde.

So Azalin would need to find a replacement or give up on his icky scheme. Which do you think he'd do?

Good point. Does the face paint conceal him even from other vistani's sight too? Like, I understand that "S" was going to deny Azalin the info, but I kind of felt like it was a delay in his plans, not an insurmountable obstacle. Once he knew where not to keep searching, he could definitely engage another third party to search the places that have yet to be scoured. Especially if he is aware of (and I feel like he is) Anton Misroi and his ability to scry on all of the other domains. I genuinely don't know a lot about the Skurra-vera face paint and it's limitations, so I'm definitely open to the possibility that Azalin would need another Dukkar if he can't get to the Familiar. I believe that some questions were also raised about the suitability of the Beast of the Hills as well, since unlike the others she is not evil, just gnarly looking.

The latter part of this article states that the skurra-vera represses the Familiar's fiendish heritage. I assume that includes his reality wrinkle.
Without that and "S"'s report, Azalin has very little to go on unless he wants to abduct every half-Vistani child in the Demiplane - and at least some have full Vistani relatives who love them and would make their displeasure known.
Azalin has no defense against Vistani curses...

[Baron Von Stanton]

Another Dukkar - or just another creature with a comparable reality wrinkle. Azalin's plan was to combine all the children's wrinkles into an area the Dark Powers could not interfere in, so he could cast (and learn) spells unopposed, after all.

So he could resurrect/revive/clone Irik and "raise him correctly this time" without those pesky Dark Powers screwing things up.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Another Dukkar - or just another creature with a comparable reality wrinkle. Azalin's plan was to combine all the children's wrinkles into an area the Dark Powers could not interfere in, so he could cast (and learn) spells unopposed, after all.

So he could resurrect/revive/clone Irik and "raise him correctly this time" without those pesky Dark Powers screwing things up.

Exactly.
But he'll screw it up because he won't accept failure, and will try to push his plans through.

[The Dark]

Keep in mind that "S" intended to deny Azalin information on the Familiar, and the skurra-vera face paint would hide him. Probably even the Gentleman Caller can't find the kid, if he even dared go close to Isolde.

So Azalin would need to find a replacement or give up on his icky scheme. Which do you think he'd do?

Good point. Does the face paint conceal him even from other vistani's sight too? Like, I understand that "S" was going to deny Azalin the info, but I kind of felt like it was a delay in his plans, not an insurmountable obstacle. Once he knew where not to keep searching, he could definitely engage another third party to search the places that have yet to be scoured. Especially if he is aware of (and I feel like he is) Anton Misroi and his ability to scry on all of the other domains. I genuinely don't know a lot about the Skurra-vera face paint and it's limitations, so I'm definitely open to the possibility that Azalin would need another Dukkar if he can't get to the Familiar. I believe that some questions were also raised about the suitability of the Beast of the Hills as well, since unlike the others she is not evil, just gnarly looking.

This is why it matters that S wasn't giving up the Familiar. Carnival moves. They can go places that have already been searched.

As far as the face paint goes, Carnival is somewhat vague on what it actually does. It explicitly protects the Skurra from Isolde's Twisting effect. The in-character discussion of what it does sounds like it basically masks the wearer's true self away from the world. If so, a seer might be able to spot the boy incidentally if they were looking at a non-masked Carnival member, but wouldn't be able to directly target any of the Skurra because they're masked and the mask is not a person.

Just as a point of terminology, Azalin isn't looking for Dukkars (male Vistani with foresight), he's looking for giomorgo half-fiends (the Caller's half-Vistani children). Malocchio happens to be both, but e.g. Chezna is not a Dukkar.

[Teravala]

This is why it matters that S wasn't giving up the Familiar. Carnival moves. They can go places that have already been searched.

As far as the face paint goes, Carnival is somewhat vague on what it actually does. It explicitly protects the Skurra from Isolde's Twisting effect. The in-character discussion of what it does sounds like it basically masks the wearer's true self away from the world. If so, a seer might be able to spot the boy incidentally if they were looking at a non-masked Carnival member, but wouldn't be able to directly target any of the Skurra because they're masked and the mask is not a person.

Just as a point of terminology, Azalin isn't looking for Dukkars (male Vistani with foresight), he's looking for giomorgo half-fiends (the Caller's half-Vistani children). Malocchio happens to be both, but e.g. Chezna is not a Dukkar.

You're absolutely correct on the dukkar thing. I was sleep deprived earlier this morning and was 100% using that term incorrectly lol. The only criteria really seems to be at least half vistani mothers and gentleman caller as the father right? Technically anyone capable of generating a reality wrinkle really as was pointed out by Rock.

As for the ability of a vistana to penetrate the protective capability of the face paint, I definitely want to brush up more on it, been reading the carnival sourcebook but I haven't finished it yet. I do pose three questions though.

1: Would a vistana seer be able to penetrate the carnival in the first place? It is a reality wrinkle of isolde after all, at least while she is there.

2: Could a Diviner who is actively searching for reality wrinkles find them by lack of sight? Basically by looking for places their sight cant penetrate?

3: Do you believe that a dukkar (and here I do mean a male seer) could have the power necessary to see things other vistana cannot? For example things inside a reality wrinkle, or even the future of those using the face paint.