Café de Nuit

Reading Gazetteer 2's domain of Falkovnia, i found some issues i would share with you.

1) In the Selberhas Aerie's description, in Aerie section, it is said:
"This stone spire, 500 feet in diameter, towers 60 feet above the town".
Now, i ask myself: does "spire" mean "tower"? Should not correct meaning of "spire" be "steeple, cusp of a tower", instead?. If Selbearhas Aerie is a tower... 500 feet in diameter??? How's possible?

2) In Stangengrad's description, we find:
"Near the northwestern corner of the city stands the Tower (singular) of the Horns. No one currently living knows what lies beyond the black towers' (plural) locked doors ... but from sunset until dawn the hollow notes of the towers' (plural) horns echo across the city each hour".
One tower? Many towers? Double grammatical mistakes?

3) In Morfenzi's description, it is said that Weathermay-Foxgrove twins cooperated in the past to resolve one of the Morfenzi's murders. Now, is it likely to think that the daughters of the lord of Mordent (one of the reigns that subscribed the "Treaty of Four" against the militaristic expansion of Falkovnia) can moving here without any kind of problem?
Again, the definition of "Morfenzi's murderers" is said to be coined by the detective Alanik Ray, supposing he was involved into this cases in some way. But isn't he an elf? Aren't elves considered government property in the reign of the Hawk?

4) If all Falkovnian natives are branded on forehead with the mark of the hawk at their birth, do such characters as Ivan Dragonov, Hildegren and others carry it too? If so, why doesn't it appear in any portrait of those npcs? Do Falkovnian spies carry it too? If so, how can they fulfill their secretive duties without being discovered? If they do not carry it, must we suppose that Falkovnia's secret agents are choosen at birth and treated in consequence?

5) The prison bridge of Lekar controls the river traffic between north and south of the western Core, "enabling city authorities to extract exorbitant tolls" from the sailors who pass through the city. But isn't true that no other river ports than Necopolis' unapproachable one lay at north of Lekar? So, what reasonable river traffic may be through Lekar?

In phase of meditation...

Zoria wrote:4) If all Falkovnian natives are branded on forehead with the mark of the hawk at their birth, do such characters as Ivan Dragonov, Hildegren and others carry it too? If so, why doesn't it appear in any portrait of those npcs? Do Falkovnian spies carry it too? If so, how can they fulfill their secretive duties without being discovered? If they do not carry it, must we suppose that Falkovnia's secret agents are choosen at birth and treated in consequence?

One of my players tried Erase spell on it. I ruled that "hawk mark" gets a save and if it fails, mark is erased. Same method could be used by Ministry of Arcane for spies.

And spells like Heal, Cure Moderate/Critical Wounds should work, too (if mark is burned, then scar could be healed).

Zoria wrote:5) The prison bridge of Lekar controls the river traffic between north and south of the western Core, "enabling city authorities to extract exorbitant tolls" from the sailors who pass through the city. But isn't true that no other river ports than Necopolis' unapproachable one lay at north of Lekar? So, what reasonable river traffic may be through Lekar

It used to be like this, but after Requiem river traffic dwindled. But there are still many ways to use the river: Rivalis is before Necropolis, Martira Bay (and possibly Nartok) and other may transport goods to Rivalis to be shipped forward etc.

Kessler wrote: It used to be like this, but after Requiem river traffic dwindled. But there are still many ways to use the river: Rivalis is before Necropolis, Martira Bay (and possibly Nartok) and other may transport goods to Rivalis to be shipped forward etc.

I've thought, however, that Martira Bay is more likely exporting its products mainly by sea, along the west coast, escaping moreover the tax imposed by the guards of Lekar. About Rivalis, I believe a small halfling village can hardly produce enough river traffic to justify the presence of the Bralgaoljanglangzeit, without considering that halflings are demihumans, and as such they'd fall under the racial laws of Falkovnia.
Nartok remains the principal reason of the bridge, in all likelihood...

a better strategic area for a toll bridge/gate would be the northern exit of Lake Kriegvogel; the majority of the interior Core would be dependent on that river traffic.

As far as Falkovnian spies, I imagine most intelligence is collected internally, against Falkovnia's own citizens. External intelligence could be bought, though I don't see Drakov having interest in courtly intrigues, such as in Dementlieu. The location of strongpoints and sizes of armies are the sort of thing any traveler could report without an extensive spy network.

There's a lot about canonical Drakov and Falkovnia that doesn't make much sense if you take it too literally. I suspect the domain and darklord were only ever really intended as a fairly flat 2nd-ed. morality tale about the cruelty of humans against humans outweighing all monsters of the night, or some such. Certainly the tales of Drakov impaling multiple people for each meal are not numerically feasible. Later on, with the increased level of realism in 3rd Ed., the writers dutifully preserved some of the most iconic excesses but scratched their heads over how to make them plausible.

If there are issues with the canon, just discard them and come up with your own. Branding a child at birth is probably extreme, and especially counterproductive for the forehead. You could easily change the canon to say that at every person's tenth birthday, they receive the Mark of the Hawk burned into their skin. For boys it's on the right arm, to show their duty to the army. For girls it's on the left arm, to show their duty to bear healthy children, or some other such justification.

Any injury to a child at birth will drastically increase their mortality rate, especially if it's an open wound that lets in germs and infection, and even moreso if it's on the forehead where an immature immune system and unformed skull joints allow easy access to brain inflammations. Honestly this is something I'd file under "common misunderstandings or myths about Drakov" and come up with something more realistic for your own use.

There's another way to account for the infant forehead brand thing. One of the most important characteristics of RavenLoft is how the Dark Powers control almost everything that occurs naturally, i.e. winds, storms, seasons, sickness, magic, plant growth, you name it. Everything that exists does so to serve that Dark Powers in purpose which seems to be either tormenting DarkLords or helping DarkLords torment others. Put simply, I got the impression that NOBODY dies in RavenLoft without the DPs say-so. As such, part their work in Falkovnia could be preventing such infections. Indeed, such things as this may well feed Drakov's delusions. He may well believe that he has the heartiest people in the would to do his fighting for him (one of Hitler's favorite beliefs). Also, there's no saying that the brands wouldn't cause OTHER forms of brain damage. Hemorrages, schitzophrenia, learning disabilities, psychotic rages, sociopathy...

One thing I had thought of doing for Falkovinia, is to be base it off the holy roman empire in the middle ages. Basicly a domian that is made up of bunch of small kingdoms that fight among each other. Vlad, could have been a leader who upset this by being both an outsider and uniting the land.

what do others think of this idea?

The Holy Roman Empire idea fits in nicely with the idea of the Silver Kingdoms Drakov is said to have conquered and unified to take control of Falkovnia. (Pretty sure the HRE is what Hitler considered the First German Reich). As for the Hitler parallels, I have to say I think the 3rd Edition canon took things a little too far, particularly the Gaz entry. That is probably my only complaint about the Gazeteers! HumanBing has Drakov's backstory fleshed out really well in a separate thread, and I like that he has pared a lot of the 3rd Reich aspects from the character--and I hope, by extension, the domain.

If all Falkovnian natives are branded on forehead with the mark of the hawk at their birth, do such characters as Ivan Dragonov, Hildegren and others carry it too? If so, why doesn't it appear in any portrait of those npcs? Do Falkovnian spies carry it too? If so, how can they fulfill their secretive duties without being discovered? If they do not carry it, must we suppose that Falkovnia's secret agents are choosen at birth and treated in consequence?

IMO, you can go two ways. It can be removed with a heal/cure......... or be a nice Ravenloft DM and rule that no magic etc can remove the brand. I prefer this route because I am nice that way

Strahdsbuddy wrote:HumanBing has Drakov's backstory fleshed out really well in a separate thread, and I like that he has pared a lot of the 3rd Reich aspects from the character--and I hope, by extension, the domain.

Sort of. My Falkovnia is no longer a Third Reich Nazi regime, but it's much more like a Stalinist Soviet regime instead... except pre-Industral Revolution.

Fits in a little better with the Slavic-sounding names, too. Drakov, Falkovnia, Mitrovic, Lekar.

The post with my reworking of Falkovnia is here.

As far as Drakov himself goes, there are two major threads where I puzzle out how to rewrite him more realistically. This one is pretty basic, with summaries and discussion. This one was a much lengthier fan fic which is currently on hold.

HuManBing wrote:Any injury to a child at birth will drastically increase their mortality rate, especially if it's an open wound that lets in germs and infection, and even moreso if it's on the forehead where an immature immune system and unformed skull joints allow easy access to brain inflammations. Honestly this is something I'd file under "common misunderstandings or myths about Drakov" and come up with something more realistic for your own use.

FWIW, branding doesn't normally result in infection if it's done properly, so the heat cauterizes the damaged tissue. If it were that dangerous to a young body, farmers would never have started using it as a means of identifying livestock. And one could always argue that they wash the freshly-made hawk brand in strong wine (a natural disinfectant) as part of the marking-ritual.

As for the risk that the heat will damage the developing brain underneath ... well, that part of the frontal lobe is responsible for impulse-control and one's social conscience. Could be that Drakov's accidentally hit upon a good way to ensure his domain produces lots of sociopathic brutes for the Talons to recruit...

Strahdsbuddy wrote:As far as Falkovnian spies, I imagine most intelligence is collected internally, against Falkovnia's own citizens. External intelligence could be bought, though I don't see Drakov having interest in courtly intrigues, such as in Dementlieu. The location of strongpoints and sizes of armies are the sort of thing any traveler could report without an extensive spy network.

Possibly he recruits outlanders as spies, also. Not everyone the Mists drag into Ravenloft is going to be either heroically-inclined or a nascent darklord: plenty of them would be willing to work for the highest bidder, particularly if they still hope to escape the Land and have no personal stake in the fate of its nations.

Rotipher of the FoS wrote:As for the risk that the heat will damage the developing brain underneath ... well, that part of the frontal lobe is responsible for impulse-control and one's social conscience. Could be that Drakov's accidentally hit upon a good way to ensure his domain produces lots of sociopathic brutes for the Talons to recruit...

For what it's worth, in my campaign Drakov does have pickaxe lobotomies done on some of his state prisoners. The method is simple - stick a pickaxe up into the eyesocket above the eyeball, and jerk it hard up into the brain. Turn it through a full 90° horizontally inwards (i.e. towards the nose). Remove the pickaxe and repeat for the other eye.

This destroys most of the forebrain, which results in the subject becoming pliable and removes most initiative.

The questions of the bridge and the brand is clear. But what about the Selberhas? On this building, I feel quite undervalued, I would spend a few words.

Selberhas Aerie is described as a tall tower surrounded by a narrow spiral staircase, which rises within the walls of Crucea's Park and dominates the landscape of the city. On the outer surface of the building, there seems to be no doors, so the tower looks like a mysterious monolith. Moreover, it is said that on the roof of the tower stand strange rocky outcrops.

My idea is that, a little as in Soul Reaver, when Raziel distorts the shape of the world around him passing from the material world to the spiritual one, the outcrops on the roof take in the realm of the spirits a distorted and elongated form, similar to the staws of a bird's nest. Indeed, the manual argues that huge winged spirits emerging from the structure, increasing the idea of it as a huge, spritual eagle's nest. It's likely that the tower is oldiest than the town itself, and that Aerie has been built around the Selberhas, taking its name from it (remember that "Aerie", in English, German and ancient Latin, means "eagle's nest"). The high number of mediums of Aerie confirms that the ability to see into the ethereal has always been tied to the history of the city. In this regard, the function of the spiral staircase, seemingly pointless, is to conduct to a series of dimensional portals scattered along the tower's body, visible only with Ethereal Empathy and hidden to common eyes.

The manual does not say anything else, but the clues provided are enough to lend itself to a number of fascinating story lines. We might think of spiritual Aerie like a fantastic place dominated by a complex social structure, when tyrannical Eagles prey on the souls of the city below, leading them in the nest to submit them to terrible tortures or perhaps to satisfy the hunger of their small aquiline demons. You could create an adventure in which the characters arrive at the spiritual Aerie and combine with the local soul in a bid to escape the tyrannical spirits and in an effort to hide themself like rabbits to save from their cruel claws. Maybe the adventurers could find a way to cross the portals of the tower, and explore the Palace of the Eagle God, or other fascinating possibilities.

All well and good, in my opinion, worthy of the setting, but it remains the basic question that I asked at the beginning: what are the real measures of this structure? It's obvious that it can have a diameter of 500 feet, and that there is a mistake, but what mistake? They wrote in diameter instead of perimeter? 500 instead of 50?
I would appreciate it if i was helped to undestand the correct proportions of this charming building.

Zoria wrote:1) In the Selberhas Aerie's description: 500 feet in diameter, 60 feet tall

I'd say this was a misprint and they meant 500 feet in circumference, which would make it only 80 feet in diameter. Even that would be a fairly squat tower, barely six floors high. You should feel completely justified in rewriting the dimensions if you're envisioning a sleek, tall, imposing building.

2) Tower of the Horns. ... towers' (plural) locked doors ... towers' (plural) horns ...

My guess is one tower, several doors, several horns.

3) Weathermay-Foxgrove twins solved Morfenzi's murders with the aid of an elf - how could they move freely in Falkovnia?

Excellent question. One possibility is that they could have been brought in specially by the regime itself as some sort of public relations maneuver. After all, Nazi Germany was very happy to allow foreigners to come to Berlin for the Olympics and to showcase how beautiful the city was and how robust their regime was, etc. North Korea has allowed goodwill ambassadors to come and provide services too - one documentary shows how the regime allowed a number of eye doctors to come in and perform cataract surgeries for North Koren citizens (who then immediately upon regaining their eyesight would bow and pray before portraits of Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-Sung to show their gratitude).

If the Falkovnians wanted a chance to show off how "open and free" their society is, they might have brought in expert help from outside. Of course, the nature of a criminal investigation means the investigators will probably want to push their noses into all sorts of different places, so that's a problem for the regime. It could give rise to a very tense "investigators and minders" tug-of-war.

4) Falkovnian natives branded on forehead with mark of the hawk at birth

Addressed above. I'd change it to some sort of body branding or tattoo at ten years of age. In my own personal canon, Drakov himself received his first sword when he was ten years old. In Biblical times, ten was the age that boys started to work as apprentices with their father to inherit the family craft.

5) river traffic through Lekar, now that Necropolis is dead

Very likely that several much smaller suburbs and river towns sprung up downriver from former Il Aluk. Necropolis is a big problem with this theory, as you point out. Going by the Black Box (2nd ed.) maps, Rivalis and Nartok are also close to the river, and inside Falkovnia the city of Stangengrad is also on a tributary off the same river.


Again, I'd repeat my point that it's a game setting that originated in one-session weekend-in-hell campaigns, so don't look too hard for continuity or logic.