The Grand Conjunction

Overview

Also known popularly as the Great Upheaval, the Grand Conjunction is perhaps the most famous and influential conjunction the Land of Mists has ever experienced. Foretold by the dukkar Hyskosa ans triggered by the machinations of Azalin, the Grand Conjunction Demiplane of Dread to its foundations. For a brief time, the domains of Ravenloft (and the Misty Border itself) were busted open, allowing darklords and other evils to spill through into the Material Plane. However, Azalin proved to be his undoing, for his impatience caused his minions to fulfill the last two couplets of the Hyskosa Hexad. This caused the Conjunction to collapse and the domains to reform, drawing back in their former prisoners.

Background

The events of the Grand Conjunction and those building up to it were a series of modules (see below) that were self-contained but could, with some work, be played together as a campaign. Each of the modules was associated with a particular couplet in they Hyskoska Prophecy.

The dukkar Hyskosa wrote a prophecy and hexad that consisted of six couplets in 735 BC. They are as follows:

• "In the house of Daegon the sorcerer born, Though life, unlife, unliving shall scorn." 1st Verse of Hyskosa's Hexad comes to pass
• "The lifeless child of stern mother found. Heralds a time, night of evil unbound." 2nd Verse of Hyskosa's Hexad comes to pass
• "Seventh time the son of suns doth rise, To send the knave to an eternity of cries." 3rd Verse of Hyskosa's Hexad comes to pass
• "The light of the sky shining over the dead, Shall gutter and fail, turning all to red." 4th Verse of Hyskosa's Hexad comes to pass
• "Inajira will make his fortunes reverse, Dooming all to live with the dreaded curse." 5th Verse of Hyskosa's Hexad comes to pass
• "The bodiless shall journey to the time before, Where happiness to hate creates land and lore."6th Verse of Hyskosa's Hexad comes to pass

Each of the signs of the Hexad corresponded with the following modules as follows:

• 1st Verse of Hyskosa's Hexad comes to pass Feast of Goblyns
• 2nd Verse of Hyskosa's Hexad comes to pass Ship of Horrors
• 3rd Verse of Hyskosa's Hexad comes to pass Touch of Death
• 4th Verse of Hyskosa's Hexad comes to pass Night of the Walking Dead
• 6th Verse of Hyskosa's Hexad comes to pass From the Shadows
• 5th Verse of Hyskosa's Hexad comes to pass Roots of Evil

The only two explicitly linked modules were from the Shadows and Roots of Evil, which put played out the 6th and 5th couplets out of order.

Soon after Azalin discovered the prophecy, he sought to force it to occur and hit two birds with one stone. First, he would be able to escape his hated prison. Second, as Strahd was a "linchpin" to the Demiplane's existence, it would result in the vampire's ultimate destruction. This was to Azalin a bonus because they have been hated enemies for hundreds of years.

AS mentioned previously, Azalin's impatience caused his dupes to fulfill the fifth and sixth signs out of order, thereby undoing the Conjunction. However, that is not to say that it did not have dramatic effects within the Demiplane and without.

Effects of the Grand Conjunction

Despite the closure of the Grand Conjunction, it radically reshaped the Core's geography. Some domains "merely" had their shape, borders, and even neighboring domains changed. For example, Valachan rotated 90 degrees during the Grand Conjunction. and gained access to the Sea of Sorrows for the very first time.

Bluetspur, the Nightmare Lands, and [[G'Henna broke off into separate Islands of Terror

• Some realms of the Core were subsumed into other domaiins
  • Gundarak was absorbed by Barovia and Invidia.
  • Due to the close proximity of Ivana Boritsi and Ivan Dilisnya at the time the Conjunction concluded, Dorvinia merged into Borca, making both Ivan and Ivana co-darklords.

• Some realms disappeared all together. (Hoever, all three of these realms would show up again sometime during the various Ravenloft releases)
  • Farelle
  • Sanguinia (Eventually joins into the Frozen Reaches cluster with Vorostokov)
  • Vechor (Eventually joins the Core as the eastern shore of the Nocturnal Sea)

Data from the Ravenloft Catalogue

		The Ravenloft Campaign Setting Domains of Dread
		Secrets of the Dread Realms - pp13,15,19,50,61 Ravenloft Third Edition - pp14-15,18,19,25 Domains of Dread - pp15, 18, 39 Ravenloft Campaign Setting:Realm of Terror - pp18-19 The Ravenloft Campaign Setting:Domains and Denizens - pp4-5,10,12,21,23,31,34-35,37 Roots of Evil - pp8-9,11,40 Download Now! From the Shadows - p4,19-20 Download Now! Servants of Darkness - pp3,8,12
		The Great Upheaval Great Upheaval Great Upheaval, The Grand Conjunction, The Grand Conjunction