Thoughts on...G'Henna

[Hamiclar]

Is their a QTR that has the mongreman that were transformed into the creatures controlled by Malistoi?

I like your take of the realm, I had a character from a previous campaign I ran; start from there which was a priest of the provider the last one before Yagno declared that aspect heresy.

[The Lesser Evil]

Is their a QTR that has the mongreman that were transformed into the creatures controlled by Malistoi?

I like your take of the realm, I had a character from a previous campaign I ran; start from there which was a priest of the provider the last one before Yagno declared that aspect heresy.

Are you talking about beyond what happens in the canon Ravenloft Circle of Darkness module?

[Hamiclar]

no, I thought I read somewhere the creature stats for 3.5

[tomokaicho]

I wrote some thoughts about G'Henna here -

http://www.fraternityofshadows.com/foru ... php?t=8604

[Hamiclar]

Thanks, but I'll just make my own conversions I'll post them late this weekend.

[The Lesser Evil]

Thanks, but I'll just make my own conversions I'll post them late this weekend.

That link tomokaicho posted isn't conversions related.

[brilliantlight]

Sorry couldn't help myself

So I've been thinking about G'Henna, and how it turned out waaaaay different to how I imagined it when I first flicked through the Black Box, back when the black box was new and the only sourcebooks for Ravenloft were two 1st ed adventures (I owned neither at the time) and my library of Gothic fiction. Back then I thought, I get this place, it's Paris from the Hunchback of Notredame, Petrovna's the priest, and when it comes right down to it, there'll be a Vistani girl and a mongelman who wishes to save her

My next encounter with G'Henna was at EuroGenCon in either 92 or 93, when I played the first round of an adventure called "Curse of the Casket" and I can't tell you much about it because we didn't even get to finish our first encounter, which maybe partially my fault, I'll let you decide:

DM: The group of peasants, thin and hungry looking, surround your party, one of them asks "Do you worship Zhakata?

Me: Oh No, we're in G'Henna. Yes, Yes we do

Other Player: What the hell are you doing?

Me: What do you mean?

Other Player: You're a priest! You're denying your god!

Me: Yeah but I'm Neutral Good, NGs can lie if the situation warrants it, and when zealots who are going to kill you or turn you into mongrelmen ask if you worship their god, that warrants it

Other Player: and how does your character know that these people are zealots?

Me: If the first thing a group of peasants asks a well armed group of strangers carrying a casket is who they worship, I think it's a safe bet!

Other Player: and the mongrelman thing?

Me: (mumbles) lucky guess?

And we pretty much wrapped it there.

So, I thought, OK, I think I get this place, in the novel the people of Paris were starving on the verge of revolt (aren't they always though?) part of what was holding them back was their faith, when they finally do riot Quasimodo's cries of "Sanctuary" remind them of the holiness that has been lost, the writers of this adventure have focused on the "hunger as holy" aspect

Then I read CoD and was surprised again, and suddenly I got why it had been removed from the core in the GC, it made no sense where it was. OK Geographically it is certainly possible for there to be an arid plateaux in the Balinoks, but culturally, it makes little sense for a nation spawned by Barovia to more closely resemble somewhere in the Middle East, and these weirdos make even the most xenophobic of Barovian villagers seem friendly.

Don't get me wrong, this is not a criticism of CoD, after chatting to Steve Miller about the module and the deadlines they were under, I have nothing but admiration for both it and them. That said it is very different from how I first imagined it so...

What if culturally G'Henna more resembled it's Balok kin? Closer to the Rennaisance Borca than Barovia it is a land of cathedrals where the power of the church is visible everywhere.

But which church? My preference would be to put aside Zhakata, for now, and look again to our Balok brethren, the Church of Ezra stems from Borca, might Petrovna be a priest of Ezra? If so, his beliefs would surely be heretical if the church were ever made public (even though we haven't really figured out what those beliefs are, he is the darklord so I think it's a safe bet). Heresy then, seems like a good theme for the land.

Might Petrovna have been sent to G'Henna to root out heresy, only to succumb to it's grasp? So, Petrovna's a Grand Inquisitor, a leader of Home Faith Ezrans, who while investigating heretics found himself secretly swayed by the arguments, and more importantly the belief, of then men he was torturing and immolating. Because each of these men, with their diverse and contradictory interpretations of the will of Ezra all possessed something that he lacked, faith.

It had not troubled him when he entered the priesthood, it was just a way to get ahead. It had not bothered him through the years of studying church traditional interpretations of canon and the application of them in law, Inquisitors did well in the church hierarchy nothing more. But now, when all he could see were those dying priests, pleading with him, not for themselves, but for his salvation, for him to see Ezra's glory as they had, now it seemed like his lack of faith was not a failure of his, but a failure of the teachings of the church, he could have no faith in them because they were falsehoods, it seemed so clear now.

Problem was, which heresy was correct? A quick review of the case notes regarding the beliefs of the heretics revealed that they held nearly mutually exclusive ideas, they could not all be right. Yet, the truth of the faith he had recognised in the men he had killed, convinced him that somehow they were, they must be for the men to have had such faith in them.

As he read the notes, he came across some ideas that he liked, sentiments he shared, opinions that he agreed with, amongst those that he did not. Inspired, he began tearing his notes into strips that isolated those sections of each man's beliefs the he agreed with, and was surprised to find a reasonably coherent philosophy "revealed" to him, in fact, he fancied that several sections were reminiscent of the Book of Ezra.

He realised a great truth had been revealed, he was to be the author of the next Book of Ezra, the work was begun, but what he had amounted to a few pages at best, more truth needed to be revealed, and even though the thought of it made him sick to his stomach, he knew what he must do, he must continue to hunt the heretics, even though he now believed them to be the mouthpieces of Ezra, he must investigate their beliefs by putting them to the question, and worst still, he must recognise their faith as true in their eyes as they burned. He would then pour over their beliefs and cherry pick those that he felt most closely matched his own beliefs, he knew that once he had compiled a book he could have faith in his work would be complete.

Of course, it shouldn't have really come as a surprise that sections of notes resembled the text of the Book of Ezra, the men that he was torturing were all Ezran priests who spoke largely in allusions to the canon even when they weren't trying to justify their beliefs. Nor should it be inferred that anything truly meaningful was happening when Petrovna saw something approaching a meaningful philosophy in them, again the men were all Ezrans, they differed on what were actually minor points of theology, once these were removed what was left was basically the beliefs of the Church of Ezra

So Petrovna is doomed to be constantly revising his version of the Book of Ezra, adding little bits and pieces that seem authentic because they are authentic, and making it a little bit more like the original each time. If he ever got to the point where he thought he was finished he would find himself laughed at by the Home Church, because the book would be a word for word copy of the first Book of Ezra with not an original idea or quote. He will never get to that point, however, for the same reason he hasn't read the original since his epiphany, he never had any faith in the original, so he will never have any faith in his copy.

And the land seems to spew forth heresy to feed his fires, and as much as his ambition rejoices in the truth being revealed, he is genuinely tortured by the process he must use on those he now believes to be good, holy men. He is always relieved when he breaks a prisoner and they renounce their heretical ways, for it means he was right to torture them. He spends longer and longer, becoming more and more elaborate in his tortures, not because he enjoys it, quite the opposite, it is because he wishes to spare himself the sight of them burning, spare himself the smell that never leaves his nose, spare himself the nightmares.

As a result, more and more prisoners survive Petrovna's interrogations, though they are horrifically disfigured, frequently mad. Large proportions of the beggars that litter G'Henna's streets were the lucky ones who broke early, rumors talk of mongrelman bandits who may be the victims of his more recent innovations. Almost in response the rate of calibans born bearing disfigurements, most are abandoned at birth, a few lucky ones are abandoned at churches, the High Inquisitor has declared that the calibans are to be helped as best as they can be (he knows that these infant's disfigurements are the result of his tortures and the guilt burns him, but he must endure)

One such caliban has become the bell ringer at the Great Cathedral, under the sponsorship of the Grand Inquisitor himself, he passes his time watching the city from his steeple, and enjoys watching the street performers in the piazza below, even though they look like well-dressed ants from up there. Recently though he has become interested in a Vistani dancing girl, interested enough to get down from his spire and move onto the roof for a better look...

I like this, I might eventually use it.

[brilliantlight]

I like how you've given him some concrete regret doubt (the torture and burning at the stake) rather than abstract doubt over the existence of Zhakata. This also seems to match the nature of witch burnings and torture in history (in order to purify the sinners soul and save them from ultimate damnation.) And your revision makes sense in context.

However, on the flip side, this character here is somewhat bland compared to both Claude Frollo and the original Yagno Petrovna. Yagno Petrovna is an originator of perverse ideas, not a mere follower/plagiarist. Frollo is a man not just of dogma but also of cognitive dissonance between his lusts for Esmerelda and the subsequent loathing for those lusts. Not to mention his preoccupation with alchemy and obeying fate. Between Petrova and Yagno, there's a lot of primal energy there to utilize as far as theme and tone go.

Considering that G'Henna forms after Petrovna leaves Barovia in canon, I think he should have some pretty perverse ideas before even leaving Borca (or wherever we're having him leave here.) In canon, he tries to sacrifice at least his baby sibling, if not more people. It could still be doable if he was with Ezra, but instead of murdering them as explicit sacrifices instead he murdered them to cleanse their souls or avoid an Antiprophet (Ezrite equivalent to Antichrist. (the latter could be particularly perverse if the sacrificed child was believed by Yagno (or at least, said by) to be the Antiprophet. Likewise, he might have a quasi-heretical idea that alchemy can be used to heighten a connection with Ezra much in the same way Timothy Leary called for drug use to heighten sensations of the ultimate reality.

The Petrovnas were a bunch of isolationist, inbred nobles who lived in the mountains. Yagno seems to be the exception, as he's very vocal about his religion, at least to native G'Hennans. Yagno was bullied there in the mountains for being "off", and it seemed like almost invented Zhakata as a sort of imaginary friend to help him get through it. We might see him fabricating a vision of Ezra to help protect his then fragile ego, only to have it grow and grow out of proportion until it starts to become a big lie. Worried about his possible indiscretions but not really able to prove anything, Yagno is banished to a backwater realm mostly out of the public eye to perform conversions of the heathen populace, watch out for heresy, etc. In truth it's mostly just to get a scandal out of the way.

Yagno arrives in G'Henna, and his full talents as an abuser and a bully (just as he was bullied and abused) came to the forefront of his personality. Here you can have him start to develop forbidden feelings for a Vistani girl, contrasted with a belief in living harsh lives free of starvation or sin. Fasting, denial of the pleasures of the flesh, and even starvation at the most extreme end could be symbols of devotion to Ezra. To die in such a way is to show ultimate discipline by becoming a martyr in example to others, to become immortalized as a saint within the canon of (Yangno/G'Henna's) church of Ezra.

You can even leave in Zhakata if you want but Zhakata would be a messenger of Ezra, probably an angel. Zhakata would then be a fictitious angel who suggests fasting and other denials of the flesh to get closer to Ezra. In any case most of the clergy should be corrupt IMO as that would remain tormenting to him.