Category:Graben Family

This section contains canon info from officially published sources

Canon Information

Descended from jewel merchants, the Graben Family are the effective rulers of Graben Island (albeit distant ones), owning the (unclaimed) land and much of the wealth of that island.^[1] They are also a family of Lebendtod, having originally been murdered and reanimated by Meredoth (see below). Four generations of the long-lived Grabens all reside in the on a single family estate.^[1]

The Graben Family are infamous among the people of Graben Island, though Grabenites are reluctant to speak ill of the Family. Although the Grabens seen ordinary, it is fortunate that the family is fairly withdrawn. Those whom cozy up to the Family usually meet with unfortunate and mysterious fates. Only the youngest adult generation and their offspring is seen with any regularity in the Village of Graben, and none ever visit Seeheim or Kirchenheim.^[1]

The Grabens are the first settlers of Graben Island. They alone have the power to grant land to newcomers. They are not necessarily opposed to doing so, but they never grant land near their estate.^[2] Although the family may seem hospitable, there is a dark side beneath their apparent generosity. The Graben Family serve as grave robbers to gather subjects for Meredoth's experiments.^[3] Colin Graben usually speaks with any foreigners who wish to visit with the Grabens.^[4]

More canon information on the Graben Family can be found in the "Ship of Horror" module. Although it is likely that many of their number might have been dispatched in that module,, authors of later sources have described the family as still being in power in later sources.

The Graben Family and Meredoth

Following the formation of Nebligtode, Meredoth surveyed his domain and discovered the Graben Family. After Meredoth developed a way of making them into the properly subservient undead, Meredoth poisoned them all in in a horrible act of mass murder. He then commanded them to rule the island on his behalf and to ensure a chain of cadavers continually reached Todstein.^[4]

Noncanon Information

More information can be found in the Nocturnal Sea Gazetteer. In this netbook, the Graben's Family's dark, mysterious history (and false history) goes back well before Meredoth's interference. From the beginning, the elitist Grabens always kept themselves apart from the rest of Grabenite society. Arranged marriages with foreigners has always been the standard practice for matrimony within the Graben family household. Their demanding and reclusive eccentricity has gone so far as to demand any spouse "marrying in" adopt the Graben surname, spawning all sorts of rumors. One such folktale speaks of the family's founder, Efraim Graben was no one of special status but rather a fraud, a forger, and a thief who fabricated the Graben name from whole cloth.^[5].

Data from the Ravenloft Catalogue

		Ship of Horror Download Now!
		Ravenloft Third Edition - p132 Ship of Horror - pp44,50-53 Download Now!