Duke Nharov Gundar

Duke Nharov Gundar is the former ruler of Gundarak. The vampire lord resided in Castle Hunadora. He was betrayed by Dr. Daclaud Heinfroth, who allowed him to be staked. (It is unclear why Heinfroth and his accomplices did not completely destroy Gundar, but his skeleton was found in Hunadora and sold to Professor Arcanus by Gabrielle Aderre. He was later revived by Jaybe and now walks the land, no longer a darklord. He suffers amnesia due to his time as a skeleton, now roaming the land in a bestial state, with only foggy thoughts of revenge on Dominiani.

Sources

As a darklord that vanished even before the Grand Conjunction, details on Gundar are sparse in Ravenloft game products. He was first mentioned in the domain description of Gundarak in Realm of Terror (Black Box Set) Although the reference in Feast of Goblyns to see RoT for information on play, no write-up of Gundar appeared in RoT. Duke Gundar plays a role as a background figure behind the conspiracies in Feast of Goblyns. He is revived in Children of the Night: Werebeasts.

Gundar and his the legacy he left behind are discussed in both Gazetteer I and Gazetteer IV. A sidebar on Gundar and his resurrection originally intended for Gazetteer IV was cut before publication.

Duke Gundar is featured or mentioned in several Ravenloft novels. In Knight of the Black Rose, Gundar and his son, Medraut Gundar, run afoul of Lord Soth after Soth cut his way through Gundarak. In Tapestry of Dark Souls (Novel), life under his rule is briefly explored.

Atrocities

In canon, there is little revealed about Duke Gundar's life before stepping into a gate to Ravenloft. As darklord, he executed horrible taxes among the downtrodden peasants he ruled over, going so far as to tax the gathering of firewood and even the birth of a girl instead of a boy (on the basis of a boy's contributions in labor will be greater than a girl's.) When the peasants tried to rebel, he mercilessly killed the insurrection leaders and put their corpses on display in the orchards of Castle Hunadora. The fruit given by these trees were so tainted they remain inedible to the peasantry to this day.

One of Gundar's more specific acts of cruelty was the attempted subversion, imprisonment and torture of the traveling bard troupe Morts-Qui-Dancent in the year 641 BC or shortly thereafter. Gundar tried to get the bards to serve him as spies, but they refused. As punishment, he called on his son Medraut Gundar to torture them and curse them with a unique form of cursed undeath. They are required to regularly entertain others or face loss of the energy that animates them.

Stats

Chaotic Evil male human Eminent Nosferatu Vampire fighter 13

Neutral Evil male human Eminent vampire Ari6/Ftr10

Data from the Ravenloft Catalogue

		Realm of Terror Feast of Goblyns Download Now!
		Secrets of the Dread Realms - p30 Ravenloft Third Edition - p18 Bleak House:Heroes, Monsters, and Settings - pp9-10 Children of the Night: Werebeasts - pp64-66 Ravenloft Campaign Setting:Domains and Denizens - p35,62 Feast of Goblyns - pp11-12 Download Now! Realm of Terror - pp71-72 Heroes of Light - p92