Some doubts about Falkovnia

[Rotipher of the FoS]

3) In Morfenzi's description, it is said that Weathermay-Foxgrove twins cooperated in the past to resolve one of the Morfenzi's murders. Now, is it likely to think that the daughters of the lord of Mordent (one of the reigns that subscribed the "Treaty of Four" against the militaristic expansion of Falkovnia) can moving here without any kind of problem?

Threatening or intimidating the granddaughters (not daughters) of Mordent's ruler isn't going to improve relations with any of the Treaty nations, is it? Particularly not when they're there to help with Falkovnian's own law enforcement, and have published books that make them mid-range celebrities in their own right.

Again, the definition of "Morfenzi's murderers" is said to be coined by the detective Alanik Ray, supposing he was involved into this cases in some way. But isn't he an elf? Aren't elves considered government property in the reign of the Hawk?

Considering whom Ray is an expy of, it's reasonable to assume that he's a master of disguise. That's assuming he wasn't acting under some sort of diplomatic immunity, or simply consulting with the W-F twins through the mail while they investigated on-site.

[cure]

River traffic has never been explored properly in Ravenloft. And the Gazetteers' treatment of the Core domain by domain, typically with different writers for each land, led to very little in the way of a co-ordinated attempt to make sense of the transportation backbone of the western core. So, for example, it is still not, clear to the best of my knowledge, whether the Musarde Delta is passable by a craft much larger than a canoe.

That being said, Darkon should be considered an exporter with the Vulchar and Musarde rivers being vital for the shipping of low value high mass items from the Vulchar river valley. High value low mass items can be carried over land to Martira Bay, shipped to Dementlieu or Mordent, and can be carried overland to Borca or Richemulot.

Silbervas is, of course, better placed to tax traffic on the Musarde. Although for my money, there would be control of the water ways at the frontiers, lest an attack by water be allowed to penetrate deeply into Falkovnia. Additionally, this would help prevent the emergence of smuggling networks within Falkovnia.

Insofar as Falkovnia is a military dictatorship, the idea that each city independently taxes river traffic might not make sense. There should be a global policy dictated by the Minister of Finance. The tax may be collected gradually, as one progresses further down or up the river, but each stop shouldn't be conceived as an additional instance of uncoordinated highway robbery. Except, of course, that local commanders may be corrupt, which, if exposed to the right official in the right way, would lead to their execution.

Also much of the river traffic may in fact be Falkovnian, the movement of troops and military supplies, among other things. Whether private Falkvonian river traffic receives 'special treatment', whether better or worse, is an interesting question. The charging of ruinous tariffs on foreigners would result in retaliation, which would hurt Falkovian external trade. But perhaps the Falkonvian authorities see no such limits on internal taxation, thinking that the private sector (i.e. non-military) really shouldn't even exist in the first place

[ewancummins]

River traffic has never been explored properly in Ravenloft. And the Gazetteers' treatment of the Core domain by domain, typically with different writers for each land, led to very little in the way of a co-ordinated attempt to make sense of the transportation backbone of the western core. So, for example, it is still not, clear to the best of my knowledge, whether the Musarde Delta is passable by a craft much larger than a canoe.

That being said, Darkon should be considered an exporter with the Vulchar and Musarde rivers being vital for the shipping of low value high mass items from the Vulchar river valley. High value low mass items can be carried over land to Martira Bay, shipped to Dementlieu or Mordent, and can be carried overland to Borca or Richemulot.

Silbervas is, of course, better placed to tax traffic on the Musarde. Although for my money, there would be control of the water ways at the frontiers, lest an attack by water be allowed to penetrate deeply into Falkovnia. Additionally, this would help prevent the emergence of smuggling networks within Falkovnia.

Insofar as Falkovnia is a military dictatorship, the idea that each city independently taxes river traffic might not make sense. There should be a global policy dictated by the Minister of Finance. The tax may be collected gradually, as one progresses further down or up the river, but each stop shouldn't be conceived as an additional instance of uncoordinated highway robbery. Except, of course, that local commanders may be corrupt, which, if exposed to the right official in the right way, would lead to their execution.

Also much of the river traffic may in fact be Falkovnian, the movement of troops and military supplies, among other things. Whether private Falkvonian river traffic receives 'special treatment', whether better or worse, is an interesting question. The charging of ruinous tariffs on foreigners would result in retaliation, which would hurt Falkovian external trade. But perhaps the Falkonvian authorities see no such limits on internal taxation, thinking that the private sector (i.e. non-military) really shouldn't even exist in the first place

Interesting thoughts. It's nice to see someone consider the interrelations of geography, political structures, and economics.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

1) In the Selberhas Aerie's description, in Aerie section, it is said:
"This stone spire, 500 feet in diameter, towers 60 feet above the town".
Now, i ask myself: does "spire" mean "tower"? Should not correct meaning of "spire" be "steeple, cusp of a tower", instead?. If Selbearhas Aerie is a tower... 500 feet in diameter??? How's possible?

I caught that too... gotta be a misprint.

4) If all Falkovnian natives are branded on forehead with the mark of the hawk at their birth, do such characters as Ivan Dragonov, Hildegren and others carry it too? If so, why doesn't it appear in any portrait of those npcs?

There's only one pic of Ivan that I know of, in CotM, and indeed, it's not there... or is it? If I squint, I can imagine the wrinkles on his forehead forming a hawk... maybe... Or perhaps his lycanthropic healing powers regenerated it. As for Hildegren, I don't know of any pic of her, or any mention outside of VRGtG. Do you?

But it is indeed rare to see the brand in any art... Offhand, I know it's on Marla in CotN:V and Commander Regress in TEE, and that might be about it. It's even absent in any of the Drakov art in LotB. (never noticed the lack on Sir Victor Helsinger before, but it's glaring now that I check... )

Do Falkovnian spies carry it too? If so, how can they fulfill their secretive duties without being discovered? If they do not carry it, must we suppose that Falkovnia's secret agents are choosen at birth and treated in consequence?

Probably pretty simple magic to conceal it. Magic is rare, but Drakov has the Radiant Tower to work with, even if it's distasteful to him. Also, if you meet a Falkovnian outside of Falkovnia, he's just as likely to be a refugee as someone who works for the government. It's a decent cover story.

Also... hats. and bandanas. and bangs.

5) The prison bridge of Lekar controls the river traffic between north and south of the western Core, "enabling city authorities to extract exorbitant tolls" from the sailors who pass through the city. But isn't true that no other river ports than Necopolis' unapproachable one lay at north of Lekar? So, what reasonable river traffic may be through Lekar?

As mentioned, there's Nartok and Rivalis, and Stangengrad and Mofenzi, and any number of unnamed villages. And there's a little tributary into Lamordia too. Also, it's as likely to be keeping stuff in as out. (refugees, grain, etc...)

[Garudos Celestar]

Do Falkovnian spies carry it too? If so, how can they fulfill their secretive duties without being discovered? If they do not carry it, must we suppose that Falkovnia's secret agents are choosen at birth and treated in consequence?

Probably pretty simple magic to conceal it. Magic is rare, but Drakov has the Radiant Tower to work with, even if it's distasteful to him. Also, if you meet a Falkovnian outside of Falkovnia, he's just as likely to be a refugee as someone who works for the government. It's a decent cover story.

I have always presumed that Drakov has effectively no out-of-domain spy operations of which to speak (Granted, I also heavily play up the "brains vs. brawn" sub-theme of the domain much more than canon does and assume that Drakov has no functional operations involved in magic, technology, or espionage). If he is getting info about his neighbors from anyone other than scouts, the refugee playing double agent sounds like a reasonable method to me, and even though they are overall mistrusted, Falkovnian refugees do occasionally end up in potentially useful positions (Kara d'Honaire being the primary example).

[herkles]

My Falkovinia is in a number of ways very different from cannon but in others still the same. So I will try to sum up the differences. My falkovina takes insperation from Ivan IV's russia, Qin Shi Haung di's china, and the holy roman empire, particularly folktales.

For the most my ravenloft has a longer history and the core is rather larger. also demi-humans are not in existence in my ravenloft. which removes them from being slaves in falkovinia.

History

Falkovinia's history is different in my version. It used to be a collection of princepalities that often fought against one another but when outside invaders came they banded together. Their main rivals were Darkon which sought to dominate them, but the other nations around them also tried to fight with them. But for the most part the princes fought with themselves.

Then Drakov came. Drakov did something no one else did in Falkovinia. United all of the lands under one Banner, his. Drakov's conquest was brutal but he conquered all of the lands in falkovina. He installed a military governement since that is what he knew. Drakov is preparing to strike against Darkon, Falkovinia's long enemy.

Government
Like with canon Falkovina, it is a military dictatorship. However, Drakov is changing the realm by allowing more peasants to become officers and establishing things that better the country. Ie, a pony express, civil service, more education, a national road service, and so on. Drakov sees these as methods for war. a pony express so that a general can get better roads, a civil service to get great generals, roads for his armies. The fact that they benifit the country is not much of a concern to him, it is a side effect.

The issue with Falkovinia's new governement is many. Drakov is not a peace leader, he sees only war but is smart enough to prepare for it. The peasants don't get as many opprotunities as they think, since most of them can't pass the insanly hard civil service tests. Nobles don't like it because they lost power.

As for spy agencies, Drakov has one which is modeled after the oprichnik in russia. But this is mainly for interior stuff. Part of this is due to the fact that falkovina has numerous people who want to restore their own power back. So he his spy agency focuses more on stopping the nobles from plotting against him.


Populace

One of my issues with cannon is how it basically said "all falkovinia soldiers are sadists who have little redeeming value to them" which I don't like. So there are a number of changes to the people.

As the land was divided until recently their are some differences among the people. People from near the Shadow forest(redone shadow rift) are extremly superstious and they are famous for their many folktales. The southern and western falkovinans have a history of trade, so those sections of the country are known for trade. The north is known for fighting Darkon, and is where Drakov came from.

As a whole, Falkovinans are devote Ezrites. Drakov while a warrior, does regonize that religion can give his soldiers moral and hope in war, plus as a method to keeping the priests from rebelling against him, he has made it the offical and state religion.

Most people fear and respect Drakov. By now he has cemented his rule long enough to be considered the legitmate ruler of all of Falkovina. Nobles though are different. Drakov severly distrust the nobles for schemes against him. Most nobles distrust him for taking their power and are exiled seeking to restore the rightful way of things, or just take the throne from him.


So that is some of my changes to falkovina.