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Vistani question
Posted: Wed May 06, 2026 3:40 pm
by TheArcaneWeirdo
It just occured to me while writing my trans Dukkar fanfic:
If the problem is with a male vistana having the Sight, and the Vistani lose their powers permanently if they stay in the same place for over a week - why the hell don't they just drop Dukkar kids somewhere safe where they can stay until their Sight fades?
Like, it'll take some organisational work, but it seems a lot simpler to me than murder.
Re: Vistani question
Posted: Wed May 06, 2026 7:46 pm
by Igor the Henchman
I assume because the stakes are so high that they can't afford to take chances. The Vistani know better than most that the best laid plans can go awry, and one does not cheat fate by employing half-measures.
Re: Vistani question
Posted: Thu May 07, 2026 5:24 am
by TheArcaneWeirdo
Igor the Henchman wrote: Wed May 06, 2026 7:46 pm
I assume because the stakes are so high that they can't afford to take chances. The Vistani know better than most that the best laid plans can go awry, and one does not cheat fate by employing half-measures.
I guess there's logic to it. But it's not like for it to work you have to keep the kid in exile for their entire lives (as with other cases of 'baby of doom'). It's just one week. It's not without risks, but it's feasible. If I had to choose between taking these chances to killing my own child, I'd take them.
I guess it's a different mindset. Leaving anything to chance is giving fate a double turn.
Re: Vistani question
Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2026 9:49 am
by Gonzoron of the FoS
Rather than "Why don't they do it?" I'd use this as hook: Here's a character who did this. And maybe it went awry somehow. And adventure ensues. And that's why they don't all do it.
Maybe they can't trust non-vistani to watch him for a week. And any vistani who stays with him will feel the static burn too. They could take it in shifts and not stay the whole week, I guess. But maybe something goes wrong with the handover and the relief group never comes.
Maybe the burn removes not just the Sight, but his essential vistani-ness, making him feel a stranger in his own people when he returns. It's been a bit (of decades) since I read VRGttV, but I think the static burn is painful, resulting in a "Mortu", someone who feels dead inside, maybe even outcast from the vistani? I had a Mortu PC once upon a time, but I'm forgetting the details.
Maybe he tries to stay in one place, but destiny intrudes and some fateful event makes him move, ruining the plan.
Re: Vistani question
Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2026 12:10 pm
by Mistmaster
I fixed the problem making the "male kidsxwith tge Sight are Dukkar" a myth. There are been both male and female Dukkars. And their darkness were not related always with the sight.
Re: Vistani question
Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2026 11:50 am
by Hell_Born
The simplest explanation? The Vistani view succumbing to static burn as such a horrible fate that a quick death is seen as merciful by comparison. If you read between the lines in the Guide to the Vistani and, frankly, every depiction of them in actual Ravenloft lore... there's an elitist streak to the Vistani. Their name for a Vistani who has undergone static burn is literally "mortu" - "The Dead". Mortu aren't outright criminals like darklings, but they are still considered outcasts amongst the Vistani. They are not welcome in Vistani culture, they are begrudgingly tolerated around the caravan, but no Vistani actually WANTS them around. In the Vistani cultural hierarchy, mortu are subhuman - better than half-vistani, and certainly better than giorgio, but still less than human.
So, from the Vistani perspective, killing a dukkar is not only far more practical than trying to ensure they undergo static burn - a fate that might not even WORK to prevent their apocalyptic influence; after all, becoming a mortu doesn't stop a Vistani studying Wizardry, after all - but also far more merciful than condemning them to a shadow of true life.
Re: Vistani question
Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2026 5:31 pm
by TheArcaneWeirdo
Hell_Born wrote: Sun Jun 07, 2026 11:50 am
The simplest explanation? The Vistani view succumbing to static burn as such a horrible fate that a quick death is seen as merciful by comparison. If you read between the lines in the Guide to the Vistani and, frankly, every depiction of them in actual Ravenloft lore... there's an elitist streak to the Vistani. Their name for a Vistani who has undergone static burn is literally "mortu" - "The Dead". Mortu aren't outright criminals like darklings, but they are still considered outcasts amongst the Vistani. They are not welcome in Vistani culture, they are begrudgingly tolerated around the caravan, but no Vistani actually WANTS them around. In the Vistani cultural hierarchy, mortu are subhuman - better than half-vistani, and certainly better than giorgio, but still less than human.
So, from the Vistani perspective, killing a dukkar is not only far more practical than trying to ensure they undergo static burn - a fate that might not even WORK to prevent their apocalyptic influence; after all, becoming a mortu doesn't stop a Vistani studying Wizardry, after all - but also far more merciful than condemning them to a shadow of true life.
I had a hunch it's something like that. Personally I don't believe
anything is a fate worse than death.