An Illustrated History of the Core

[HuManBing]

From the Death Trilogy adventures, the EO was even more recent than that. Absent any attempt at retcon, the religion seemed like it had taken hold across Darkon in the space of a handful of years. While possible, that would require a huge amount of cultural indoctrination from the top.

Or a heavy dose of modify memory powers...

The chronology of this is problematic. Azalin only gained that power after returning from the Dreaming Years, long after the Requiem was resolved.

This assumes, of course, that we're talking canon. (And as everybody knows, I'm totally fine with breaking canon if it results in a fun story!)

[Zilfer]

Or the dark powers thought it'd be funny?

[Ryan Naylor]

From the Death Trilogy adventures, the EO was even more recent than that. Absent any attempt at retcon, the religion seemed like it had taken hold across Darkon in the space of a handful of years. While possible, that would require a huge amount of cultural indoctrination from the top.

Do you have a reference for this? The closest I can find is p57 of Death Ascendant.

But basically, whenever it's founded, Azalin says, "This is now my will. Do it." And everyone does or the Kargat vanishes them.

That's the advantage of being a despot wizard king. Beyond whatever supernatural powers he might have, he also has the entire weight of the barons, the army, the secret police, the constabulary and the newly-minted priests themselves to throw behind his commands. He does care if anyone actually believes, provided they do what they're told.


On Hala:

The problem is giving the church enough time to spread through all the domains, so false history isn't an option. Unlike the Church of Ezra, the Church of Hala has no reputation for aggressive proselytising, but is even more widespread and accepted, and that takes time.

However, you are right that it may have come from a domain that isn't part of the Core, or that no longer exists.

[Garudos Celestar]

The problem is giving the church enough time to spread through all the domains, so false history isn't an option. Unlike the Church of Ezra, the Church of Hala has no reputation for aggressive proselytising, but is even more widespread and accepted, and that takes time.

It might be if it's part of the false history of multiple domains. There doesn't seem to be much in the way of overarching hierarchy in the faith of Hala, and there seems to be a recurring history of small covens that move, disappear, and pop up again on a regular basis without necessarily being in contact with one another, so just because the witches of Tepest and the witches of Valachan and the witches of whatever other place had never heard of one another before they learned rumors about "hidden brethren" established in some other newly revealed part of the Core doesn't mean that they aren't all part of the same faith. Their innate ability to recognize one another (as per VRMHC III) seems to be more important in identification than any history of communication between different covens anyway.

The chronology of this is problematic. Azalin only gained that power after returning from the Dreaming Years, long after the Requiem was resolved.

Even if Azalin wasn't deliberately using the ability back in the pre-Requiem days, the book of names in Castle Avernus may have been...

[HuManBing]

From the Death Trilogy adventures, the EO was even more recent than that. Absent any attempt at retcon, the religion seemed like it had taken hold across Darkon in the space of a handful of years. While possible, that would require a huge amount of cultural indoctrination from the top.

Do you have a reference for this? The closest I can find is p57 of Death Ascendant.

Sadly, that's probably better than I could do. (My materials are away from me, and in any case I'm not certain there even is a hard-and-fast source for that.) My only basis for the above was the fact that none of the prior 2nd Ed. products had any mention of it, until the Death Trilogy boxed set, which introduced it for the first time while constructing something of a history for it.

But basically, whenever it's founded, Azalin says, "This is now my will. Do it." And everyone does or the Kargat vanishes them.

That's the advantage of being a despot wizard king. Beyond whatever supernatural powers he might have, he also has the entire weight of the barons, the army, the secret police, the constabulary and the newly-minted priests themselves to throw behind his commands. He does care if anyone actually believes, provided they do what they're told.

Actually, you're canonically right: An overnight top-down declaration could work - it would have to presuppose a tight authoritarian rule (which I think the rules books do support - Azalin as the "iron fist in the velvet glove" as quoted in the Black Box book). My campaign has Azalin as a much more distant and insidious ruler, so for fluff reasons I had to make the EO more of a historically-established, culturally-entrenched sort of organization.

[Bluebomber4evr]

Next in is the Gentleman Caller. His first recorded appearance is (possibly) inspiring Renthon Vorishtok in Borca to write the Revelations of the Prince of Twilight in 702 BC (although this may be Loht or someone else entirely instead). In 705 BC, he sires Vigo Drakov. In about 710 BC, he fathers Chezna the Blood Cat (assuming she’s about 19 when she appears in the Awakening; she may be a bit older, but it seems reasonable if she’s level 2). Around 730 BC (perhaps) he fathers the Beast of the Hills and the Jongeleur (we don’t know how old they are, although we do know the Jongeleur’s served Ivana Boritsi since 746 BC, so this would be reasonable ages for them to be). He inspires the creation of the Pipes of Mordent in 734 BC. In about 738 BC (based on CotN:V’s publication date), he turns Marla into a penanggalan and helps her massacre the residents of one of Hala’s hospices in Falkovnia. In 742 BC he re-opens hostilities with Isolde by sending an assassin to murder the first of the Skurra (and the assassin becomes the first Abomination). Over the next 10 years, he sends 5 more assassins. In 743 BC, he fathers the Changeling on the Crimson Rose (leaving her rather psychologically scarred). In 747 BC he fathers Malocchio on Gabrielle Aderre. In 750 BC, he appears to Loht and tells him where to find the Sword of Arak. In 752 BC, he seduces Blasse and then tries to destroy Isolde via Professor Pacali. In 758 BC, he meets Our Hero in Tepest and tells her to stop following his by-blows around. What a busy boy he is.

You left out his appearance in Bleak House.

[The Lesser Evil]

*Blinks* Where in Bleak House does he appear?

[Ryan Naylor]

Yes, you're right. I'll edit the original.

In Bleak House, he raises Baron Metus from the grave and shows Madame Radanavich how she can do the same with the spirits of Richten Haus.

[Boris Drakov]

Great and inspiring read!

Thanks!

[Ryan Naylor]

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[Ryan Naylor]

For those who may not have noticed, a pdf of all this (plus a little bit extra) is now available in the Library (to commemorate the 125th anniversary of Jack the Ripper's first murder!).

As always, I'm interested in hearing what people think.

[Nemesio]

Looks great Ryan. I skipped right the part about the forming of Tempest. What a resource!

[Zilfer]

It's great to read it all together like this. I'm hoping to run another ravenloft game here soon since my birthday month is around the corner!

[The Giamarga]

To round all this out, a history of the fiends of Ravenloft:

This is awesome stuff. I'll have to delve back and read the rest of the thread....

Do you have statblocks planned for the big name fiends/outsiders? Anyone get any class levels? The GC would be a prime candidate imho.

[The Giamarga]

763 Upheaval: The Dying Days begin.
764 The Final Sect of Ezra appears.
766 Hazlik commits genocide.
? The Core at War.
775 The Time of Unparalleled Darkness.

...Interesting. Want to share some thoughts about these?

*reads a few more pages back*

RL3e tells us that the Land of Mists goes through incarnations, and that this is just the most recent one.

Do tell! Really? Do you have a quote/citation for this?

*then finds the post on 763 – 775: The Dying Days. and reads a few more pages*

Swooon... Mindblown.

Awesome stuff Ryan.

Is there really nothing happening on Greyhawk in that time? I can't believe it.

What happens inside Falkovnia? Do the vampyrs rise up and try to take over?

What happens with some of the big player NPCs in that time? Jander Sunstar comes to mind. Samuel Cosse is a very high level NPC that i always wanted to know/do more about. George Weathermay, Alanik Ray, Ratik Ubel, ...

How could the big name NPCs gain (some) closure (or not) and be woven (peripherally or not) into the end times adventures of PCs? It'd be interesting do some some forecasting for them and see how their plots could play out. (...and maybe think about how PCs could get involved with their plots)