L'Morai
| L'Morai | |
|---|---|
| Culture Level |  Renaissance (9)
|
| Ecology | Full
|
| Climate & Terrain | Temperate Plains, Forest, Moors[1]
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| Year Formed | |
| Population | |
| Races (%) | Humans. Dwarves, elves, and halflings may exist but they are, or were at least at the time of Juron Cygne's time as carnival master, considered wild fair folk and freaks to be hunted down and killed or locked up in freak shows.[2] |
| Languages | |
| Religions | |
| Government | |
| Ruler(s) | Council of l'Morai |
| Darklord(s) | The Puppetmaster |
| Nationality | |
| Analog | |
| Related Categories | |
| Locations in L'Morai | |
| Transportation in L'Morai | |
| Inhabitants of L'Morai | |
| Former Inhabitants of L'Morai | |
| Flora of L'Morai | |
| Fauna of L'Morai | |
| Native Monsters of L'Morai | |
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This section contains canon info from officially published sources |
Depicted in the Ravenloft product line novel Carnival of Fear, the land of L'Morai was the original home of Hermos and the rest of the circus performers that eventually went on to form Carnival (Society). [3] It is a land stained by the abusive relationship of the City of l'Morai and a community of freaks and circus performers known as Carnival l'Morai.
Geography
The currently abandoned Carnival l'Morai was located on an unnamed stretch of heathland simply referred to as the black heath in Carnival of Fear. (It is a crime punishable by death for carnival workers to trespass over into the heath.[4] Beyond the heath, the City of l'Morai is nestled inside the relatively greener Valley l'Morai[5] to the north of the heath.[6] The Vinrouge River runs through the City of l'Morai.[7] An unnamed forest contains the hidden graves of hundreds of dead carnival performers.[8]
Authority
Law Enforcement
The Gendarmerie of l'Morai is the primary law enforcement agency within L'Morai, though they are primarily responsible for ensuring law and defending the rights of the citizens in the City of l'Morai. The Puppetmaster oversaw most matters of law enforcement and justice involving only the inhabitants of Carnival l'Morai.
Government
The Council of l'Morai oversees matters of state and justice within the city of l'Morai. Although the Puppetmaster was a member of the Council, he ruled Carnival l'Morai as his kingdom.
Law
The Statutes of l'Morai are the law of the land for the people of l'Morai[3]. Although the Statutes in theory provided stability and order for l'Morai, the Statutes are so restrictive that relatively minor transgressions (such as disobedience to one's [sometimes abusive] parents[3]) could be considered serious crimes and thus earn the mandatory punishment of the living death: transformation into a carnival freak, the stripping of the transgressor's personal identity and memories, and exile to Carnival l'Morai.[9]
Matters of justice within the City (and in matters where carnival folk interact with city folk) are decided by the collective vote of the city's citizens, whom are called by the Chimes of l'Morai whenever a trial is to occur.[10] Although this may seem to add an element of populist democracy to l'Morai, the collective will of the people is decided more based upon emotional whim and groupthink than evidence or any true standard of justice. Citizens can serve as character witnesses and bring up charges spontaneously as they deem. Even the Council of l'Morai bows to the people's whimsy.[11] In effect, this setup creates a rule of formalized mob rule/ochlocracy. Moreover, there is a strict delineation of rights between "citizens" (as in, residents of the city) and "freaks" (as in, residents of Carnival l'Morai.) Freaks are not recognized as people in the same way citizens are. Moreover, the Grand Charter of l'Morai forbids freaks from formally accusing citizens on their own.[12] (Of course, Marie the Blind Juggler and Morcastle the Magician showed through bringing Dominick the Butcher to court the Charter may not stop freaks from bringing citizens to trial and working up popular sentiment against them.) The reason for the deprivation of freak rights is a dark one, for the very existence of Carnival l'Morai is a conspiracy of exploitation against the Carnival's people.
The Relationship of the City and the Carnival
Although l'Morai might appear to be a just society, the dark truth of l'Morai is that (at least according to the Puppetmaster) the freaks of Carnival l'Morai exist to be the target of the city folk's loathing such that they don't turn on each other. As (according to the city folk) repulsive, degenerate, and subhuman beings, the carnies represented a sort of scourge to be abused and even murdered for the betterment of the City of l'Morai.[13]
History
At some point in the past, City of l'Morai began as a village that arose around a fortress overlooking the bridge on the Vinrouge River. This fortress eventually became the Council Hall for the city.[14]
The troubles of l'Morai are built upon a curse placed upon the ruby pendant of l'Morai some four hundred years before the in-world time at the start of the Carnival of Fear novel. At about the time of the founding of Carnival l'Morai, the two co-founders, the brothers Cygne, were at odds with each other. André Cygne kept the pendant, a family heirloom and a warder against disease, to himself while his brother, Juron Cygne, wasted away and became disfigured thanks to the Fever. The experienced blackened Juron's heart, and he poisoned his brother, stole the pendant, and entombed André inside the Cornerstone of Carnival l'Morai. Juron thus became the first master of Carnival l'Morai.[15]
Juron's act of fratricide and betrayal did not go without repercussion. André cursed the pendant with his hatred, making it a magnet for hatred. The ruby gemstone became marked with the likenesses of Quince the Horse on one side and the Ear-Tied Hare on the other. The symbolism marks the carnival master, as the bearer of the stone of l'Morai, as l'Morai's most influential person and yet the lowest of its freaks. Any bearer of the pendant fell under the sway of L'Morai and become the avatar of its citizen's fear and hatred. The wearer was thus forced to never assist the people of Carnival l'Morai against the City's citizens. The pendant was passed down through the centuries from carnival master to carnival master, all the way down to the Puppetmaster and, briefly before her death, Marie the Blind Juggler. If the Puppetmaster is to be believed, the previous carnival masters live on as members of the Council of l'Morai, unable to die of old age.[16]
Perhaps as a consequence of the curse, Carnival l'Morai existed as a focus for the City of l'Morai's wrath. One mark of the Ear-Tied Hare marked a citizen as a freak and another marked a freak for death, murder at the hands of the city's citizens. The carnival folk bore the abuse and hatred of the city folk as degenerate reprobates such that the city folk remain sharp and do not turn on each other.[17]
Some sixty years before the current time at the start of Carnival of Fear, the Puppetmaster led a rebellion of the carnival folk against the then current lord of l'Morai. Although he drove out the lord of Carnival l'Morai, his rebellion was ultimately surpressed, and he was presented with the option of taking the cursed ruby pendant and becoming the new carnival leader or doom himself and the entire carnival to oblivion. He chose to accept the pendant. At least this way, so said the Puppetmaster, the carnival folk would only die one by one instead of by the dozens. The events this rebellion and corruption of the Puppetmaster occurred some 60 years prior to the events of Carnival of Fear,[18] which the Carnival sourcebook places at 740 BC.[19] Put together, the Puppetmaster's rebellion and transformation occurred in 680 BC.
Some sixty years later, Marie the Blind Juggler led a rebellion against the Puppetmaster, and the process repeated itself except for one thing. Marie was killed in secret by her second-in-command Hermos. He told the others her final order was to follow him out of l'Morai. Subsequently, Hermos and the former denizens of Carnival l'Morai fled that land[20] and ran into the Mists, eventually arriving in Darkon. They later moved to Falkovnia. There they were attacked by the Falkovnian Army but were saved by Isolde who they formed a new carnival under, one this time for the protection of the freaks and troupers.[21]
It is unclear how Carnival l'Morai becoming an effective ghost town effected the land and city of L'Morai. In the epilogue of Carnival of Fear, an unnamed cat-faced man finds the pendant and becomes enraptured by it as some blonde children begin bullying a black-haired boy.[22] This may be taken to imply that Carnival l'Morai might somehow restart itself. What this possible development might leave the extant Council, the Puppetmaster, and indeed the City of l'Morai is unknown.
Chronology[23]
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This section contains Questionably-canon info, from sources whose officialness is in question |
- 319 BC - Juron Cygne poisons his brother André Cygne, steals the ruby pendant of l'Morai, and entombs André alive in the Cornerstone of Carnival l'Morai. André curses the ruby pendant. (1272 l'Morai Calendar)[24]
- 680 BC (Approximately) - Maudit Sienne, the Puppetmaster, leads a carnie rebellion and drives out the previous carnival master. However, he is captured and, given a tough choice, elects to become the new master of Carnival l'Morai.[25]
- 734 BC - Francis Ciantioux is convicted for being disobedient to his parents. He is changed into Hermos the Man-Giant, stripped of his previous memories, and banished to Carnival l'Morai. (1687 l'Morai Calendar)[26]
- 740 BC - Marie the Blind Juggler, Morcastle, and Hermos investigate a series of murders of carnival folk. Dominick the Butcher is falsely convicted. Morcastle is murdered. Marie and Hermos discover the truth and then lead a rebellion against the Puppetmaster and the City of l'Morai. Marie is captured and agrees to become the next carnival master and don the ruby pendant of l'Morai. She is murdered by Hermos, whom tells the others Marie ordered everyone to follow him out of l'Morai. (1693 lMorai Calendar)[27]
740 BC - Hermos and the other refugees from Carnival l'Morai arrive in Darkon, seeking new homes but receive no help from the native Darkonians. The tremors of the Grand Conjunction cause them to flee that domain to Falkovnia, where they are beset upon by the Falkovnian Army. They are saved by Isolde and a new Carnival is formed with Isolde as its leader and protector.[28]
References
- ↑ CoF p. 219
- ↑ Carnival of Fear p. 2-3
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Champions of the Mists p. 50
- ↑ Carnival of Fear p. 43, 58
- ↑ CoF p. 98
- ↑ CoF p. 220
- ↑ CoF p. 103
- ↑ CoF p.
- ↑ CoF p. 166
- ↑ CoF p. 118
- ↑ CoF p. 137-139
- ↑ Carnival of Fear p. 133-134
- ↑ CoF p. 294-306
- ↑ CoF p. 102
- ↑ Carnival of Fear p. 2-8
- ↑ CoF p. 304-305
- ↑ p. 294-306
- ↑ CoF p. 304-306
- ↑ Carnival (Sourcebook) p. 40; the Carnival folk fled L'Morai to the Mists and wound up in Darkon that year.
- ↑ CoF p. 191-308
- ↑ Champions of the Mists p. 50, Carnival p. 40
- ↑ CoF p. 319-321
- ↑ The dates below are based on a reference in Carnival (Sourcebook) (p. 40) that states that Hermos and the rest of the refugees from Carnival l'Morai wound up in Darkon after fleeing l'Morai during the time of the Grand Conjunction, which occurred in 740 BC. The current year as of Carnival of Fear in the calendar used by the people of l'Morai was 1693 (CoF p. 176). Dates in the Barovian Calendar here were thus calculated by corresponding the dates in the l'Morai calendar to the Barovian calendar assuming 740 BC was 1693 in the l'Morai calendar. As such, the dates before 740 BC are
- ↑ CoF p. 6-8, 304-305
- ↑ CoF p. 303-305
- ↑ CoF p. 176
- ↑ CoF throughout
- ↑ Carnival (Sourcebook) p. 40
