Category:The Fraternity of Shadows

Canon Information

This section contains canon info from officially published sources

The Fraternity of Shadows was described in Domains of Dread as a neutral evil secret society of wizards dedicated to discovering the secrets of the Land of Mists. Only neutral evil male wizards who can cast illusion spells are allowed membership, and the upper echelons of the society are composed entirely of illusionists.^[1][2] Van Richten's Arsenal added that the Fraternity had sorcerers among their ranks as well.^[3]

Members of the Fraternity identify themselves by their possession of a signet ring in the shape of two intertwining asps whose mouths form the setting for an onyx; this ring can cast a darkness 15' radius spell once per day.^[1]

In Van Richten's Arsenal it was revealed that the leaders of the Fraternity are known as the Umbra, and that (as a Dread Possibility) Lord Balfour de Casteelle, president of the University of Dementlieu, is one of the Umbra.^[3] In Gazetteer II "S" reveals that her attempt to join the Fraternity was rebuffed because of her gender, and that the Brautslava Institute in Darkon is a center of the Fraternity's power. However, many of the Core's institutes of higher learning also provide hubs for Fraternity activity.^[4] The University of Dementlieu is an exception, as Lord de Casteele has barred the Fraternity from operating there.^[3] Of other past meeting places, the Radiant Tower and the Great Library are among them.^[1]

Noncanon Information

This section contains netbook-canon info from netbooks

Prestige Class

The prestige class for members of the Fraternity appears in the articles Scholars of Darkness^[5] and Perilous Pursuits^[6]

The Umbra

As detailed in Quoth the Raven volume 13, the present leaders of the Fraternity of Shadows are, in order of seniority, Tarnos Shadowcloak, Count Wilhelm von Lovenhorst, Lord Balfour de Casteelle, Malcolm Scott, and Jan Mikkelson.

Women in the Fraternity

Countess Karla von Lovenhorst, daughter of Count Wilhelm von Lovenhorst, a member of the Umbra, was allowed to join^[7], but it is unclear whether this is an exception or a precedent. Professor Viktor Hazan indirectly addresses the matter while slandering Professor Mirella Agrippa: "I chuckled over and annotated her errors, emotionally-based comments and weak hypotheses. (No wonder that women are rarely accepted into our Fraternity. That’s just how it is, I guess.)" ^[8] Professor Viktor Hazan also shed light on the ambition of "S" to join the Fraternity, describing her in these terms: "a stern scholar for whom I once sat as token out-ofbranch examiner in Darkon. She tried to impress the Brautslava cell’s admissions committee by her superior wit, yet failed the second figment quiz. Her own arcane interests, she’d sullenly retorted, lay elsewhere. It’d been a while since I saw her work in the occult journals; I wondered what had happened to her and what kind of trouble she was involved in now." ^[9]

Real World Organization

The Fraternity of Shadows is also used as the real-world name for the moderators and managers of the Fraternity of Shadows website, presently the largest active Ravenloft site on the Internet.

Chronology

• 617 BC Lazarus Ikonnas and 4 other arcane spellcasters found the Fraternity.^[10]
  

• 650 BC Membership is only at 16, but the spread of the organization will begin to speed up soon after.^[10]
  

• 652 BC Mercantor Melachthon, one of the founders of the Fraternity, is lost to the Mists. Feynnman Ikonnas is his replacement.^[11]
  

• 678 BC Jerubaal Iskway, one of the founding members, disappears in Castle Tristenoira. He is presumed to be deceased.^[11]
  

• 679 BCWilhelm von Lovenhorst becomes one of the Umbra.^[11]
  

• 680 BC The lich Phantom's Bane kills Adame Nicht, one of the founders of the fraternity. Mazer Tam takes his place^[11]
  

• 683 BC Lamordia joins the Core.^[12] As this and the other more advanced domains form, the Fraternity spreads to the educated classes of these other lands.^[10]
  

• 684 BC Borca forms.^[12]
  

• 686 BC False History: Lord Balfour de Casteelle is born.^[13]
  

• 694 BC Richemulot forms.^[12]
  

• 700 BC First Dead Man’s War.^[12] Several members of the Fraternity back Falkovnia in an effort to unseat Azalin. After the invasion fails, Azalin and his Kargat conduct a purge to free the University of Il Aluk and Il Aluk's intellectual community of Fraternity agents. Several members of the Fraternity, including Lazarus Ikonnas, are assassinated in the purge. Others are better prepared and flee into neighboring domains, where they are more evenly matched against the Kargat. Azalin eventually halts active extermination attempts against the Fraternity.^[10] The only two of the then-current Umbra to escape are Tarnos Shadowcloak and Wilhelm von Lovenhorst.^[11]
  

• 704 BC Or Possibly False History: At age 18, Lord Balfour is inducted into the Fraternity of Shadows.^[3]
  

• 704 BC Joachim ApMorte, John Diamante, and Hammar Hammarson fill empty seats in the Umbra left from Azalin's purge.^[11]
  

• 706 BCFalse History Lord Balfour's parents burn to death in a fire accident. He inherits their land, holdings, and titles, including the presidency of the University of Dementlieu and the land it rests upon. Soon thereafter, Lord Balfour de Casteelle finishes his doctorate degrees and takes over the University of Dementlieu.^[13]
  

• 707 BC Dementlieu forms.^[12] Following this development, the highly sophisticated domain draws many brothers of the Fraternity to it.^[14]
  

• 709 BCJohn Diamante disappears.^[11]
  

• 710 BCHelvaar Whitehand joins the Umbra.^[11]
  

• 716 BC Marcos Vedarrak is born.^[15]
  

• 718 BC Paul Dirac moves his family to Falkovnia. Marcos Veddarak is only two years old at the time.^[16]
  

• 720 BC Aleister Smythe is born in Dementlieu.

• 724 BC Lord Balfour de Casteelle joins the Umbra.^[11]
  

• 736 BCHammar Hammarson is found murdered in his home. Malcolm Scott is his replacement.^[11]
  

• 738 BC Aleister Smythe is inducted into the Fraternity.

• 742 BCCount Wilhelm von Lovenhorst disappears, thus ending Professor Viktor Hazan's service to him.^[17]
  

• 742 BCAlfred Larner finishes his degree at the University of Richemulot. He travels back home to Paridon and starts recruiting members there.^[18]

• 750 BC-755 BC The Kargat and the Fraternity achieve (slightly) more peaceful relations in Azalin's absence.^[10]
  

• 751 BC Aleister Smythe shares Fraternity lore with the Scions of Irul, allowing him to co-found the Centurions of the Night with the Red Haunt.

• 752 BC Helvaar Whitehand is lost in the Mists. (A wizard resembling him is executed in Pharazia in 755 BC.)^[11]
  

• 754 BCJan Mikkelson joins the Umbra.^[11]
  

• 755 BCPossible execution of Helvar Whitehand in Pharazia.^[11]
  

• 756 BCNovember 15 The Fraternity gathers at the Great Library.. Professor Viktor Hazan and Erik van Rijn present a manuscript called the Undead Sea Scrolls to the Fraternity. Erik also surreptitiously receives a book on necromancy from Marcos Vedarrak.^[19]
  

• 758 BCThe Ste. Ronges Cell of the Fraternity of Shadows assembles.^[20]
  

• 758 BCWinter Kristoff Lutemmi assaults the Midway Haven Observatory and murders three Celestines. Fritz Winterboone is nearly slain himself, but Katyarna Ivanova-Rudenko intervenes.^[20]
  

• 759 BCOctober 29 Professor Erik van Rijn enacts his plans of betrayal against the Fraternity.^[21] Now a lich ^[22], vann Rijn organizes a contingent of the Unholy Order of the Grave and unleashs an attack upon the Ste. Ronges Cell of the Fraternity of Shadows.^[21] The Fraternity's headquarters, the Manoir de Penombre was burnt to the ground, and the cell's members were put to flight. In the chaos, Van Rijn steals plans of Azalin's Doomsday Device from thee Fraternity's archives.^[22]
  

• 760 BCJanuary Upon the suggestion of Ambrose Skully, Professor Viktor Hazan, Dr. Anthony Reuland, and a number of others from the Ste. Ronges Cell of the Fraternity of Shadows settle down in La Maison Soulombre, a lonely plantation outside of Port d'Elhour. Led by Hazan, they begin the hunt for the traitorous Erik van Rijn in Souragne.^[21]
  Later that month, Anton Misroi calls them to his presence, where they proceed to strike a truce with each other.^[23]

• 760 BC February By this time, Alfred Larner has learned of Van Rijn's treachery and begins surveying Zherisia in the hunt for the renegade lich.^[24]
  

• 760 BC June An assassin attempts to murder Alfred Larner, but he foils the attempt. Under interrogation, the culprit is revealed to be doppelganger sent by a "dead thing". The Paridonian Brothers take this to be Van Rijn^[25]
  

• 760 BC July Paul Dirac and Viktor Hazan begin exploring the Nocturnal Sea in search of Erik van Rijn.^[26]
  

• 760 BC August-September Viktor Hazan discovers Dirac stranded on a rock near the harbor of Graben-town. Delirious, cold, and almost unconscious, Dirac is fished out by Viktor and the sailors under his employ. Delivered to Dr. Gunnar Illhousen for treatment, Dirac makes little progress for the next several days. Eventually, Dirac escapes from his cell and walks into the sea. However, Dirac leaves behind some notes on the Drowning Deep he wrote while under the mental influence by Virundus.^[27]
  

• 760 BC October A series of strange murders occurs in Paridon. Because of the taint of strong necromancy on the bodies, Alfred Larner links the murders to Erik Van Rijn (though he is not the culprit of all the murders). However, Larner suspects the lich may have already fled the city.^[28]
  

• 760 BC The Fraternity of Shadows creates the Cellar Door, an artificial mistway. It links Souragne to Richemulot and back.^[29]

References

Data from the Ravenloft Catalogue

		Domains of Dread Ravenloft Gazetteer Volume II
		Domains of Dread p138 Ravenloft Gazetteer Volume II - p28
		Fraternity of Shadows, The Fraternity of Shadows