Malken

[Mister]

Dark Angel, that's an impressive map. And it's made several adjustments that I'm pretty keen on, since it solves the issue of the Shadow Rift. I don't recognize some of the domains, though, and a few others are missing. I assume some of that is tailored to your own stories. Still, it's a great map.

As for Malken, I didn't figure he'd be terribly (in)famous in Dementlieu, but I was trying to get a sense of whether he's an invisible hand in the world or a bombastic psychopath feared and avoided. Moriarty, I think, would be more the invisible hand while the Joker would be... bombastic. But there can be overlap, I think. Jamesfirecat's description seems to suggest a sort of volatile kingpin. Someone all the criminals know is in charge and who's favor must be courted, but any contact with him is fraught with danger due to a mercurial nature.

I read Jekyll and Hyde ages ago, but I seem to remember a scene with the narrator or somesuch finding Hyde in the slums, like a king in his court.

You've offered a lot of insight into his character. It's very valuable. I can see how the pieces fit together but I can't articulate it yet - so I'm still struggling to make it clear.

As for what I want to do, Malken's physical power (his CR, so to speak) isn't something I'm too concerned about. I like the world, and there are plenty of stories to be told where the Darklords remain in the shadows. I've kind of taken the position, mentally and personally, that if the PCs get mixed up with a Darklord, I've done something wrong. I'll be prepared for it, but I'm more interested in the setting. Besides, the majority of the Darklords have such convoluted escape hatches that they're bound to pop back up even if temporarily defeated - such as passing the curse on down to Hiregaard's heirs.

I need to know about Malken, though, because I want to have my players travel through (or come from) Nova Vassa. I need to know the lay of the land!

[jamesfirecat]

I need to know about Malken, though, because I want to have my players travel through (or come from) Nova Vassa. I need to know the lay of the land!

On the Invisible Hand versus Bombastic, what Malken probably wants most is to be the equivalent of "John Galt" in the sense of "Who is John Galt" he wants to be the word on everyone's lips, but at the same time he doesn't want people to know anything about him.

Just to be brought into Malken's presence is an "honor" (and "honor" many could do without)

To have claim to have seen Malken's face and lived is something only a handful of people would be willing to say and even fewer of them would be telling the truth.

95-99% of the people who enter Nova Vassa should leave it thinking Prince Othmar is the darklord and Malken is just some underworld figure/possibly even a legend getting passed along like the Dread Pirate Roberts where multiple people at various times have been "Malken" (IE it's not a person it's a title for the person in charge of Nova Vassa's organized crime) which would for certain explain how one criminal could possibly be around for so long without old age doing him in if nothing else.

Malken will be bombastic in person, but ever since the Claws of Sehkmaa went belly up, he's done more to keep himself out of the public eye.

Malken doesn't run around Nova Vassa committing cat/duality themed crimes in an appropriate costume with a group of henchmen all dressed up in the appropriate style, though he will make cat puns/trill his "Rs"/pronounce it "purrrrrfect" if you meet him in person.

Though of course it should be pointed out that this is not about being campy, this is about making a political statement. Remember your "Rider's Dilemma" (I can explain if you haven't heard/remember that) when considering Nova Vassa, cats in Nova Vassa are shorthand for choosing personal power and freedom over honor and societal responsibility.

What aspects of Nova Vassa are you especially interested in learning about?

I've put a lot of thought into the nature of the nation in both its pre and post going to Ravenloft days since one of the main characters in some stories I'm writing is a vampire from Nova Vassa (I wanted to pick SOMEPLACE other than Barovia/one of the other domains with a vampire darklord) and so in my thinking about the time she spent there shaped who she was and what she went onto become I think I've gotten a fairly good handle on at least how I think Nova Vassa should be depicted.

Your results may vary.

[The Lesser Evil]

From my quick flip throughs, Malken's roles seem to have changed over the years. Domains of Dread (p70-71) describes him mostly as a "beast" and a sadistic serial killer functionally the same as Jack the Ripper. (He went mostly after those women Tristen, his alter-ego, feels attracted towards.)

Ravenloft Third Edition (p.134) and the Ravenloft Player's Handbook (p.153) expand his role to something of a criminal mastermind. According to the descriptions here, he is known to the Nova Vaasans, but just as much of a figure of mystery and rumor as anything else. From his shadowy perch, he is described as challenging Othmar's influence over Nova Vaasa, though from entirely underground channels. Malken's name is even spoken by the oppressed peasants of the country, but to them he is called out as a functional "bogeyman" (not the fey creature but as a figure of fear and superstition.)

Gazetteer V has Malken's role change from Othmar's rival to an ally (p. 150), in that Othmar made a deal with Malken that, in return for the Kantora City Guard looking the other way to the crimes of Malken's empire, Othmar gets a cut of Malken's financial gains. If need be, Malken has blackmail information on Othmar to keep him from betraying him. The arrangement between Malken and Othmar is known in some circles as rumor (p. 24) As described in Gaz V (P.24) his role as crimelord and his role as serial killer are known in the public eye as two seperate figures (the former as Malken proper and the latter simply as "the Signature Killer"). Curiously, Gaz V describes Malken's current crimelord identity as the second Malken identity, having taken the name after the first (a cult leader of the Claws of Sehkmaa believed to have been killed by Tristen.) Of course, we know both "Malken"s and the Signature Killer are all the same entity.

Tristen has been a known foe of Malken for years, so that is another way he is known.

[Dark Angel]

Dark Angel, that's an impressive map. And it's made several adjustments that I'm pretty keen on, since it solves the issue of the Shadow Rift. I don't recognize some of the domains, though, and a few others are missing. I assume some of that is tailored to your own stories. Still, it's a great map.

Yeah with the many changes from what most consider canon (not that there is anything wrong with that), I actually posted this to explain some of the more overt changes to the map:

Assuming this all works, some clarifications. I have added the Paridon Confederacy (Dementlieu and Richemulont with Paridon as a nice connecting piece nearby Mordent for cultural connections), Barovia has also annexed Kartakass, Borca has "control" of Verbek, I used that little swatch of land by Sithicus (I know there was a post on that a while back) for a custom domain, all domains have potential routes to using conventional means (overland, seas, etc), the Shadow Rift is the Shadow Realm (I know it is not changed on map and if you look at Keening, Tempest and Sanguinia close, you can see the dotted outline of it while the full map is above), Kislova, Vorostokov, Sanguinia, Souragne, and Saarkaath are Core domains. Many of these changes actually came from the many netbooks, netzines, and non-canon map changes suggested from the FoS site. As I am not terribly computer savvy, I use good old fashioned pencil, paper, colored pencils, pens, and sharpies. There are other minor changes (Odiare is in Western Nova Vaasa, for example), but we don't need all of that.

As it takes up quite a bit, I just submitted the map wondering if it was the one that this thread was seeking. If there are any questions or clarifications, Mister, feel free to PM anytime for either source material or reasonings behind the changes.

[jamesfirecat]

From my quick flip throughs, Malken's roles seem to have changed over the years. Domains of Dread (p70-71) describes him mostly as a "beast" and a sadistic serial killer functionally the same as Jack the Ripper. (He went mostly after those women Tristen, his alter-ego, feels attracted towards.)

Ravenloft Third Edition (p.134) and the Ravenloft Player's Handbook (p.153) expand his role to something of a criminal mastermind. According to the descriptions here, he is known to the Nova Vaasans, but just as much of a figure of mystery and rumor as anything else. From his shadowy perch, he is described as challenging Othmar's influence over Nova Vaasa, though from entirely underground channels. Malken's name is even spoken by the oppressed peasants of the country, but to them he is called out as a functional "bogeyman" (not the fey creature but as a figure of fear and superstition.)

Gazetteer V has Malken's role change from Othmar's rival to an ally (p. 150), in that Othmar made a deal with Malken that, in return for the Kantora City Guard looking the other way to the crimes of Malken's empire, Othmar gets a cut of Malken's financial gains. If need be, Malken has blackmail information on Othmar to keep him from betraying him. The arrangement between Malken and Othmar is known in some circles as rumor (p. 24) As described in Gaz V (P.24) his role as crimelord and his role as serial killer are known in the public eye as two seperate figures (the former as Malken proper and the latter simply as "the Signature Killer"). Curiously, Gaz V describes Malken's current crimelord identity as the second Malken identity, having taken the name after the first (a cult leader of the Claws of Sehkmaa believed to have been killed by Tristen.) Of course, we know both "Malken"s and the Signature Killer are all the same entity.

Tristen has been a known foe of Malken for years, so that is another way he is known.

Despite how many mounted games are played there, the true national sport of Nova Vassa is the retcon.

I personally view it as Malken started out being interested in doing his random killings because he could, but then moved onto bigger and better things, and he now finds running prostitution rings more rewarding than murdering their employees probably because he figures properly organized and disciplined crime does more to grind Tristen's gears than one man who only gets out every couple of nights could ever accomplish on his own.

Not that Malken is above killing people, for fun, he's just diversified his law breaking habits out into other areas, evil it's a growth industry!

[ewancummins]

Despite how many mounted games are played there, the true national sport of Nova Vassa is the retcon.

Good one!

I may start a separate Nova Vaasa spinoff thread. OT ideas...

[The Lesser Evil]

Despite how many mounted games are played there, the true national sport of Nova Vassa is the retcon.

I personally view it as Malken started out being interested in doing his random killings because he could, but then moved onto bigger and better things, and he now finds running prostitution rings more rewarding than murdering their employees probably because he figures properly organized and disciplined crime does more to grind Tristen's gears than one man who only gets out every couple of nights could ever accomplish on his own.

Not that Malken is above killing people, for fun, he's just diversified his law breaking habits out into other areas, evil its a growth industry!

Malken/Tristen's been a bit muddled from the beginning. Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium II has Desmond LaRouche, a half-dread golem being created by a Tristen obsessed with grief and guilt at the actions of his evil half (who in this version uses a knife instead of strangulation.) Malken here is also the product of a Hyde type experiment. In the Enemy Within novel, Malken is a crimelord but he is also a wizard who was cursed by a Vistani. From what I understand, both the Desmond Larouche MC entry and The Enemy Within have been declared noncanon.

I suspect that the Ravenloft third edition developments/additions to Malken's character comes from an effort to save the good parts of the novel.

And another bit of speculation (or at least my head-canon), the Claws of Sehkmaa are a reference to the Awakening module, which featured a corrupted priestess of Bast turned mummy named Sachmet. I'm guessing Sekhmaa might be a reference to Sachmet, and Malken might've tried to set up a sham mummy cult to her after her defeat. Tristen got a cameo in the Awakening module, and a lot of other threads in Gaz V seem to imply that other NPCs (Chezna the Bloodcat, Prince Othmar) who appeared in that module might've had dealings with Tristen and/or Malken in the events during or after the Awakening. If there was a stepping stone for Malken to become a crimelord, it might've come with some sort of series of events following the conclusion of the Awakening.

[jamesfirecat]

Despite how many mounted games are played there, the true national sport of Nova Vassa is the retcon.

Good one!

I may start a separate Nova Vaasa spinoff thread. OT ideas...

I'll see you there if you want to create one, I'm always happy to talk about Nova Vassa and a few hooks involving it.

[jamesfirecat]

And another bit of speculation (or at least my head-canon), the Claws of Sehkmaa are a reference to the Awakening module, which featured a corrupted priestess of Bast turned mummy named Sachmet. I'm guessing Sekhmaa might be a reference to Sachmet, and Malken might've tried to set up a sham mummy cult to her after her defeat. Tristen got a cameo in the Awakening module, and a lot of other threads in Gaz V seem to imply that other NPCs (Chezna the Bloodcat, Prince Othmar) who appeared in that module might've had dealings with Tristen and/or Malken in the events during or after the Awakening. If there was a stepping stone for Malken to become a crimelord, it might've come with some sort of series of events following the conclusion of the Awakening.

It's worth pointing out that in real life the goddess who "The Awakening" is built around, Bast/Bastet is an actual Egyptian goddess.

Bastet had a sister (a much grumpier/less nice sister, Bastet is CG her sister is CN) name Sekhmet (or at least that was one way to spell her names, it fluctuates a lot like most Ancient Egyptian to English god name translations).

So to me going from" Sekhmet" to "Sachmet" that's way too close not to have been intentional.

I like to think that the before the Lawgiver the Nova Vassans were into Cat Worship (it says they were in Gazetteer V and the names they give for the two ancient cat deities are Sehkmaa and Bubahkaa both of which in my mind are once again clearly ravenloft/Vassi translations/equivalents of Sekhmet and Bastet who has also been known as Bubastis) and so rather than it being about some ancient mummy, what Malken was originally doing was in my book actually using ancient religions that are no longer practiced in Nova Vassa as a cover for his crime ring.

Now why was he doing this? Probably because it added another layer of mocking irony to what he was doing. Not only was he managing to set up a huge criminal organization in the clothing of a church, but he was doing it in the clothing of a church that the Iron Faith had done its best to stamp into non-existence a few centuries ago but now are powerless to oppose because he's giving some large bribes to the head of said Church, who also happens to be the Prince of Nova Vassa. He's not only thwarting the Iron Faith on the obvious level of breaking the law, he's thwarting them on a spiritual level also!

Not only that, but Cat Worship in presence day in Nova Vassa (as I see it) will often be nothing but a thin veneer over actually worshiping Mytteri, the equivalent of Satan in the Iron Faith, because cats are short hand in Nova Vassa for uninhibited self-interest with no respect for laws or authority.

So not only is Malken dressing up his crime ring in the grab of a otherwise long death religion that the Iron Faith wants to see dead, he's bringing back EXACTLY the religion that the Iron Faith hates the most. In short (in my book), it wasn't about mummy worship, it was about packing in as many ways of using names and words that show he was all about disrespect for authority and law as possible.

[Ryan Naylor]

All this is more detailed in The Enemy Within, by the way, if you're looking for specifics.

[The Lesser Evil]

I personally view it as Malken started out being interested in doing his random killings because he could, but then moved onto bigger and better things,

My understanding is that Malken enacted the killings purely to torment Tristen, whom Malken hates sharing a body with. Kinda made him less captivating a villain if that's all he did, so I can see why the 3e writers introduced a bit more to his character. OTOH, your assessment of him "moving on to greater things" is supported by Gaz V. The book has the text about Malken "returning to his roots" (as in, serial killing) as Tristen turns inward from politics in order to track him down.

[Mister]

I apologize for my silence - I've been letting a lot of this percolate.

I'd like to learn a bit more about the Claws of Sehkmaa. I've picked up a lot in this thread, but I don't remember seeing it brought up in any of the books I have. Given my interests in Lawgiver vs Wolf God, there's a second opportunity there for cats vs dogs... But that may just be me unwilling to let a terrible pun - in any form - go. There's been some talk here of that cult (the Claws) being defeated, driven underground, and being used as a catspaw of Malken's (...haa...).

I struggle to wrap my head around a cat religion in a domain I've always associated - more or less, maybe erroneously - with early Russian empire horsemen and cassocks. Maybe I've had that vision wrong. Also, and this is an issue I run into when plotting out my LGvsWG threads, I'm not entirely sure how to view the Claws in terms of goals. What are the Claws pursuing as an ideology that the Lawgiver/Iron Faith wants so badly to see it stamped out? A feline's love of freedom and their changeable/mercurial nature? Is this just control and justified oppression vs freedom and self-determination?

Seems like I'll need to hunt up a copy of The Enemy Within and Awakenings, but I fear that takes me further afield from what I want, which is uncovering a plot of lycanthrope heretics hidden inside the clergy of a religion.

Broadly:
Adventure to gain the attention of the clergy.
Sent west(Hazlan/Verbek) to discover source of heresy/explanation for temple silences.
Discover ideological deviance ("they ain't preachin' right...") and sacked/attacked temples.
Discover lycanthropic infiltration/conversion. Not "just" heresy, but a plot.
Conduct purge/defeat Wolf God preacher before werewolves move into the cities.

I don't intend on bringing either Malken or Timothy into the fray, save as a larger threat or patron. Neither, I think, would approve of the plot - Timothy wouldn't agree with moving into cities and Malken wouldn't want the threat. There's room for alliances, sub-adventures, and so on along the way, but maybe the foundation's weak.

[The Lesser Evil]

I apologize for my silence - I've been letting a lot of this percolate.

I'd like to learn a bit more about the Claws of Sehkmaa. I've picked up a lot in this thread, but I don't remember seeing it brought up in any of the books I have. Given my interests in Lawgiver vs Wolf God, there's a second opportunity there for cats vs dogs... But that may just be me unwilling to let a terrible pun - in any form - go. There's been some talk here of that cult (the Claws) being defeated, driven underground, and being used as a catspaw of Malken's (...haa...).

I struggle to wrap my head around a cat religion in a domain I've always associated - more or less, maybe erroneously - with early Russian empire horsemen and cassocks. Maybe I've had that vision wrong. Also, and this is an issue I run into when plotting out my LGvsWG threads, I'm not entirely sure how to view the Claws in terms of goals. What are the Claws pursuing as an ideology that the Lawgiver/Iron Faith wants so badly to see it stamped out? A feline's love of freedom and their changeable/mercurial nature? Is this just control and justified oppression vs freedom and self-determination?

Seems like I'll need to hunt up a copy of The Enemy Within and Awakenings, but I fear that takes me further afield from what I want, which is uncovering a plot of lycanthrope heretics hidden inside the clergy of a religion.

Broadly:
Adventure to gain the attention of the clergy.
Sent west(Hazlan/Verbek) to discover source of heresy/explanation for temple silences.
Discover ideological deviance ("they ain't preachin' right...") and sacked/attacked temples.
Discover lycanthropic infiltration/conversion. Not "just" heresy, but a plot.
Conduct purge/defeat Wolf God preacher before werewolves move into the cities.

I don't intend on bringing either Malken or Timothy into the fray, save as a larger threat or patron. Neither, I think, would approve of the plot - Timothy wouldn't agree with moving into cities and Malken wouldn't want the threat. There's room for alliances, sub-adventures, and so on along the way, but maybe the foundation's weak.

I was thinking, instead of Verbrek, one could tack on Vorostokov/the Frozen Reaches to the eastern boarder of Nova Vaasa and have that replace the eastern border of mist you weren't so fond of. The Loup du Noir Boyarsky could have converted to the Cult of the Wolf God by the scroll that Gregor Zolnik first used to become a loup du noir.

[jamesfirecat]

I was thinking, instead of Verbrek, one could tack on Vorostokov/the Frozen Reaches to the eastern boarder of Nova Vaasa and have that replace the eastern border of mist you weren't so fond of. The Loup du Noir Boyarsky could have converted to the Cult of the Wolf God by the scroll that Gregor Zolnik first used to become a loup du noir.

If they did Alfred Timothy (if he ran into him somehow or maybe just Alfred Timothy's followers) would probably call/think of Zolnik and his followers a wolf poser(s) because he/(they) needs to do this fancy dance with a wolf pelt or it be the right time of the month to transform or something else special needs to be going on to let them transform and even then they have hybrid form so he/they are not "real werewolf/werewolves".

Timothy strikes me the type who if he didn't have the humans to pick on would be all too ready to start slaughtering those werewolves who don't measure up to his standards (ignoring with that special Darklord brand of hypocrisy that he himself doesn't measure up due to his curse) next.

[jamesfirecat]

I apologize for my silence - I've been letting a lot of this percolate.

I'd like to learn a bit more about the Claws of Sehkmaa. I've picked up a lot in this thread, but I don't remember seeing it brought up in any of the books I have. Given my interests in Lawgiver vs Wolf God, there's a second opportunity there for cats vs dogs... But that may just be me unwilling to let a terrible pun - in any form - go. There's been some talk here of that cult (the Claws) being defeated, driven underground, and being used as a catspaw of Malken's (...haa...).

I struggle to wrap my head around a cat religion in a domain I've always associated - more or less, maybe erroneously - with early Russian empire horsemen and cassocks. Maybe I've had that vision wrong. Also, and this is an issue I run into when plotting out my LGvsWG threads, I'm not entirely sure how to view the Claws in terms of goals. What are the Claws pursuing as an ideology that the Lawgiver/Iron Faith wants so badly to see it stamped out? A feline's love of freedom and their changeable/mercurial nature? Is this just control and justified oppression vs freedom and self-determination?

Seems like I'll need to hunt up a copy of The Enemy Within and Awakenings, but I fear that takes me further afield from what I want, which is uncovering a plot of lycanthrope heretics hidden inside the clergy of a religion.

Broadly:
Adventure to gain the attention of the clergy.
Sent west(Hazlan/Verbek) to discover source of heresy/explanation for temple silences.
Discover ideological deviance ("they ain't preachin' right...") and sacked/attacked temples.
Discover lycanthropic infiltration/conversion. Not "just" heresy, but a plot.
Conduct purge/defeat Wolf God preacher before werewolves move into the cities.

I don't intend on bringing either Malken or Timothy into the fray, save as a larger threat or patron. Neither, I think, would approve of the plot - Timothy wouldn't agree with moving into cities and Malken wouldn't want the threat. There's room for alliances, sub-adventures, and so on along the way, but maybe the foundation's weak.

Are you talking about the claws before or after Malken got revealed for what he was/they got revealed for what they were?

Assuming you mean after, the claws are probably another rebirth of a group along the lines of what was called the "Lights of Liberty" I believe in Enemy Within. A group of disaffected noble sons, and commoners who met together to discuss/take actions that would benefit Nova Vassa as a whole as they saw it.


The horse is very important to Nova Vassa, you have that right and I also assumed there was a certain Russian-ness about the place, possibly because "Russian fur hat" (as I think of such things) I think Othamr is shown wearing in Gaz 5 though that might just be my particular biases showing. There's also the crushing poverty, and I think wide open spaces could be sort of argued to suggest this is what Russia would be like if it was always late spring/early summer there more or less, where by comparison Vorostokov gives me mental images of "this is Russia in winter."

The horse is the Nova Vassan symbol for restraint, duty and honor, it is very important to them. But keep in mind your Rider's Dilemma, if you have a symbol for something you probably have a symbol for the thing which opposes/is the opposite of it. In the Dilemma it is a plains cat, but I see no reason at all it can't be filtered down through people using housecats as plains cats by proxy in certain situations.

The Claws (when not having their strings pulled by Malken) want to turn Nova Vassa into what we would think of as a more modern/fair country. They want lower taxes, they want those taxes that are collected to go to things like lower class housing renovation/road building/elimination of banditry instead of just buying a newer larger palace for the noble collecting them. They probably now want to see Othmar forced to give up being Prince and have the five year cycle between the families restored or maybe even GASP set up one of those systems where people vote for who to be the Prince among the current heads of the five families, SHOCK AND HYSTERIC FAINTING!

The Iron Faith wants the Claws stamped out both to maintain their monopoly on the faith of Nova Vassa, and because the claws are preaching a brand of faith which if advocates reform of the current Nova Vassan system, a system which right now is very much enjoyed by those in the top 0.01%

Awakening is not that important honestly, it informs but doesn't define any of this stuff, and its a personal retcon to say that any of the stuff that happens in it actually ties back to Nova Vassa's own past rather than some other location on the prime material plane.

Enemy Within on the other hand is very important if you want to get a feel for the Claws and their goals (both under Malken and before he came along), though sadly it was written before the Iron Faith of Nova Vassa became a thing, so the picture is a little incomplete in the novel.