ewancummins wrote:Anyway, good point on the defeats.
Weaker point on "bully."
Unless most darklords who rule domains are "bullies."
Rule by fear is pretty common for darklords who are also political leaders. The Devil Strahd.
Azalin's let them hate so long as they fear attitude, and his use of the Katgat.
I disagree entirely with your argument about chattel. I mentioned that. What does enslaving halfbreeds or any demihumans necessarilly have to do with racism on Drakov's part? It could be entirely pragmatic. maybe he wants troops with infravision, superior mining skills, etc. It may be demihuman advantages and superior traits he is after. He would only be racist if he thought they were inferior to humans.
(If that word even applies to different species, which I think is a stretch.)
I will point out I used "racist" because you introduced the word into the discussion first. I'm fine with using the terms bigotry, prejudice, and discrimination if that would suit the conversation better.
The word "chattel" is straight from the book.
Falkovnia is no place for demihumans. Drakov has declared them state property, and en- slaves them like chattel. He encourages intermarriage, but the folk forbid it. Children with only one human parent are claimed by the state at birth. p. 70
Falkovnia is hell for almost everybody. That the text specifically points out it's even more horrific for nonhumans does not make me think he has some sort of enlightened attitude regarding them as equal beings to humans. Bigotry is not merely about the ability to do something, it's often also about inherent rights, dignity, and worth.
Treating people like chattel is basically valuing them as no better than animals. We don't see mention of systematic enslavement for humans for any such related tasks they might be better at. So it is at least species/kind oriented discrimination (as in, bigotry put into action), which means there's something inherent about being nonhuman that justifies lowering them (in his mind) even below the peasant class as far as rights and dignity go.
He may not personally have prejudicial (as in, bigotry in ideological form) worldviews going on. He might be tapping into prejudice against nonhumans as justification for slavery. However, considering the Black Box tells us the people have no strength to really rebel against anything he does, the need for external justification to the people seems unlikely.
I disagree about impalements.
Who says he depopulates whole villages? Is that in the text?
I said it's enough numerically to depopulate villages.
Drakov demands at least one execution each night, at the dinner hour. He takes his meal while observing the prisoner’s slow death. On special evenings, as many as 40 people are impaled on a tall, thick stake for his enjoyment. Occasionally he calls in an orchestra to accompany their screams. If Ravenloft is a prison for the damned, few deserve to be here more than Drakov. - p. 69
How do you know he isn't sending raiding parties to collect foreign prisoners for impalement?
Considering how much the neighbors freak out and give Malocchio heat for going over domain borders to hunt fleeing Vistani, I think Vlad kidnapping domain citizens in mass quantities would get a much bigger reactions if that's something he did.
The impalemnts may also be like the large wolf populations in some rather small domains. If you do the math, it does not add up. That many wolves would need much more territory. Yet there it is.
I suspect you like to justify such anomalies, though. I do.
Depopulation is one way.
I think raids is better, though. It seems more in character. All the more frustrating that he cannot lead the crossborder raids himself!
You're right, it doesn't add up. Nonetheless, you can vary some things with interpretation. The impression I've received from you (correct me if I'm wrong) is that you're arguing the Black Box objectively portrays a less Flanderized, more professional Drakov than later sources. I'm providing counterexamples to demonstrate how that may not be the case.