An Illustrated History of the Core

[Resonant Curse]

The Sithicus entry mentions a short story where Soth returns to life and Krynn, anyone know what this is? The only short story I remember for him is "Rigor of the Game."

[Ryan Naylor]

It's a Dragonlance story, not a Ravenloft story. Can't remember the title, and gave all my Dragonlance books away.

[The Giamarga]

From wikipedia Soth entry: The story of his ascension is told in Knight of the Black Rose,[5] the story of his temporary release is told in World of Krynn, and the story of his final release is told in Spectre of the Black Rose.[6]

[Rogold Gildenman]

Once again Master Naylor (or should that be Maester Ryan, given the context?) please accept my compliments for work wonderfully well-done, posted after what I suspect was an extended period of heroic labours.

Might I please as if you have ever considered posting articles concerning how the events of published Adventures have affected The Demiplane of Dread?

[Terminusvitae]

Phenomenal work on the maps and the write-ups! This is a great resource, and thank you very much for sharing it with us.

[Ryan Naylor]

Phenomenal work on the maps and the write-ups! This is a great resource, and thank you very much for sharing it with us.

Once again Master Naylor (or should that be Maester Ryan, given the context?) please accept my compliments for work wonderfully well-done, posted after what I suspect was an extended period of heroic labours.

Thanks. I get bored at work sometimes. Or if I'm at home, I could have a social life, or I could sit up until 3:00 am fiddling with maps in Paint. The right choice seems obvious.

Yes, Paint. I'm very high tech.

Might I please as if you have ever considered posting articles concerning how the events of published Adventures have affected The Demiplane of Dread?

I will have a look and see what I can come up with. The problem being, of course, that most adventures canonically don't have much in the way of historically important conclusions. House of Strahd, for example, could have the PCs killing Strahd in the fifth century, but canonically he kills them all instead. Feast of Goblyns creaters a new Core domain, but it could be under 2 different darklords, and it vanishes soundlessly from the Core by the Red Boxed Set 5 years later.

Some are just indeterminate: Shadow of the Knife (written by a truly superb intellect, I must say, while he was on holidays in South America) could end up with Sodo losing the Fang of the Nosferatu and/or the Hive Queen getting it, but that depends on how it plays out in your campaign.

Of course, the adventures did introduce a lot of important events (the seventh awakening of Ankhtepot in Touch of Death, for example, or Drakov's garrisons in The Evil Eye). Even then, some of those (Circle of Darkness, for example) are somewhat loose in time, so while you can put a date on it based on real-world publication date, it could really occur any time after the Grand Conjunction, which affect how its multiple-choice endings affect the timeline. CoD would be a great adventure to ring in the ToUD, if you're prepared to believe it happens in 770 BC instead of 745 BC.

Anyway, I will have a look.

[Rogold Gildenman]

Thank you very much; I can ask no more on such short acquaintance!

. . . unless of course you are kind enough to permit me to do so.

If I may ask, please - do you have any theories as to why Lord Godefroy was made Mordent's Darklord and concerning just what is likely to have happened to the Heroes of that adventure?

[Rogold Gildenman]

I am not sure this is the proper thread in which to ask this question, but as reading through the preceding pages inspired me to ask it … well, here it is;

Has any creator on this forum ever considered creating an issue of 'Quoth the Raven' centring around the History of Ravenloft? (featuring, for example, an Adventure set in one of the Domains snatched from a pre-existing world showing how it's inhabitants reacted to their new surroundings, articles depicting past Darklords not actually developed as yet - as was the case with Claude Reinier before the article that helped set me to pondering this questions, mini-Gazeteers giving life anew to forgotten Domains hinted at in passing yet never developed, an article on Ravenloft history as residents in the Land of Misters understand it and how the gap between 'False' and 'Forgotten' History can provide hooks for storytelling etc … such an issue might also have openings for articles on the Bardic Voices of Ravenloft or those Ancient enough to remember the entirety of the Demiplane's History by virtue of having shaped it!).

By 'False' I mean to indicate 'Assumed to be False by those educated in the occult, presumed to be true by anyone with a less eccentric education and seldom given brain-space by everyone else' and by 'Forgotten' History … well I think that one speaks for itself, even if no-one can ever quite remember precisely what it sounds like!

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

I am not sure this is the proper thread in which to ask this question,

Not really, (I would've opened a new thread or posted in a QtR thread) but don't worry too much about it. If the diversion goes long, I'll split it into another thread. The answer: No, it hasn't come up before that I'm aware of, but it does seem like a good idea for a QtR theme. We'll keep it in mind. It does have the possible issue that it's not much use to people whose game is set in the "present", but from what I've seen, some/most people set their campaigns somewhere in the "past" so their PCs can take part in the events we all know and love. (I know that's what I've done...)

[Rogold Gildenman]

Thank you kindly for your patience; in all honesty I elected not to start a new thread because I was not sure my query would amount to more than a brief digression in the course of a thread that had in fact inspired the question (I confess to being a little shy of starting a new thread when a pre-existing one suits the topic at hand!).


As far as playability goes, I would counter that by suggesting that even the most heartily-enjoyed campaign can use a 'change of pace' scenario now and again, with an 'episode' set in the past offering a fine way of presenting a new twist on a familiar setting (in the same way that the Horus Heresy novels allow us to understand not only just how badly that particular setting has been fouled up, but that it's transformation from 'Functional' to 'Uber-Dystopian' Sci-Fi need not be seen as preordained - at least from an In Universe perspective - while also allowing readers to cheer or shudder as we look over the shoulder of the titans that bestrode another Age).

Also that for residents of the Demiplane of Dread, some of whom can live for centuries WITHOUT imperilling or outright selling their mortal soul, 'Living History' can safely be said to cover a much longer span of time!

On a more serious note one need not focus exclusively on History of the Setting; one can also expand the concept to incorporate PERSONAL HISTORY (how to tailor a character's background to the setting or vice versa), as well as articles only tangentially-related to the Main Theme!


I admit that I'm not very good at argument, so I'll stop there before I clutter up this fine thread any further.

My apologies to Master Naylor if he resents the digression.

[Ryan Naylor]

I admit that I'm not very good at argument, so I'll stop there before I clutter up this fine thread any further.

My apologies to Master Naylor if he resents the digression.

Not at all.

Thank you very much; I can ask no more on such short acquaintance!

. . . unless of course you are kind enough to permit me to do so.

If I may ask, please - do you have any theories as to why Lord Godefroy was made Mordent's Darklord and concerning just what is likely to have happened to the Heroes of that adventure?

I thought your explanation was pretty good.

[Rogold Gildenman]

Thank you for the compliment!

[VikingLegion]

I just rediscovered this amazing thread while searching for a few specifics on domain formations. I notice Souragne is absent? There's a large post by Ryan regarding 630BC and the forming of the Sea of Sorrow. The next date listed is Nova Vaasa in 682BC, a fairly wide gap. I see Souragne has a founding date of 635, according to that domain's page in the Mistipedia. But where is it? It doesn't appear to be part of the Core, so it must be another IoT, and Anton Misroi's blurb states he specifically keeps his domain unattached to the core, despite its efforts (first of all, how does a Darklord have any say in this anyway?) Yet in the novel Dance of the Dead wasn't Souragne reached by the steam boat La Damoiselle travelling down the Musarde River? Or was that some kind of mistway that spirited the entire boat and crew into Souragne?

Ditto on Odiare, I don't see a formation date or a physical location for this tiny domain that will always have a fond place in my memories (The Created is amazingly fun to run with the right group).

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

But where is it? It doesn't appear to be part of the Core, so it must be another IoT, and Anton Misroi's blurb states he specifically keeps his domain unattached to the core, despite its efforts (first of all, how does a Darklord have any say in this anyway?) Yet in the novel Dance of the Dead wasn't Souragne reached by the steam boat La Damoiselle travelling down the Musarde River? Or was that some kind of mistway that spirited the entire boat and crew into Souragne?

Ditto on Odiare, I don't see a formation date or a physical location for this tiny domain that will always have a fond place in my memories (The Created is amazingly fun to run with the right group).

Yes, both Souragne and Odiare are officially island domains. La Samoiselle set out from Nevuchar Springs, and steered into the Mists, presumably discovering the The Wake of the Loa mistway, which connects the Nocturnal Sea to Souragne. (The mistway concept was added in the 3E RCS, and this one was no doubt added as a reference to the novel) In the novel, everyone seems to think the captain is mad for entering the Mists in desperation, so it's not likely they knew of the Mistway beforehand.

[The Lesser Evil]

603: Invidia forms.

The only detailed description of Bakholis (Invidia's first darklord) is in Gaz IV, but it's a great one. Bakholios crime's include murder, tyranny, crushing taxation, abduction, rape, torture, razing a village and crucifying everyone in it, feeding someone slowly into a pit of ravenous and rabid wolves, and leading a gang rape. He truly deserves his darklordship, obviously. Following his imprisonment, he actually gets worse apparently, so that when Gabrielle Aderre finally kills him in 729 BC (126 years later!) everyone was *extremely* happy. Then, only 20 years later, Gabrielle herself is overthrown (politically, if not metaphysically) by Malocchio, who actually has quite a similar style of governance to Bakholis. While Gabrielle was a pretty poor ruler (allowing banditry, purging Vistani, and destroying everyone else's happiness), her more personal evil must seem like a pleasant blip in comparison to the other 140 years of brutal tyranny Invidia has endured. So it just goes to show: all you need is historical perspective.

Actually, based on his description in Gaz IV, I've wanted to run a game in Invidia's past with Bakholis as darklord for years.

I agree, Bakholis has a pretty solid background of evil and sadism. He is perhaps one of the vilest (if not the vilest) darklord ever seen in the annals of Ravenloft's history. If I may ask, was it ever privately decided what happened to his curse when he adapted to living as a werewolf?