A new cluster based on the Americas?

[JasperWick]

I got this idea while running Curse of Strahd -- a party member was going down a very dark route, and she incurred a lot of dark powers checks. She was soo close to getting her own domain, before at the very last moment she redeemed herself despite her past sins and helped kill Strahd (He gave her the choice of joining him and she was SO CLOSE TO DOING IT ). Still, however, I wondered how her domain would have been.

She was from Goldenfields in Faerun, and we were sort of playing that as a midwest type of area. I figured the domain would be both tied to her and her homeland -- corn fields, cats (She had a thing for cats), and chapels of ruinous faith (She was also a divine soul sorcerer). This got me thinking... This may not just be an island. If it came into existence, it could attach itself north of Souragne -- this domain would be the Iowa to Souragne's Louisiana. Then I got thinking, the Core was based on Europe. What if there was a large cluster of domains based on the Americas?

Note: These are based off a lot of cultures. If anything is offensive, ignorant, or disrespectful, please tell me.
-A Midwestern children of the corn-type domain. This would have been the domain of the Divine Soul Sorcerer if she went fully evil, so as it is it stands without a Darklord XD. I'm thinking it's gonna be big on the chapels, monsters hidden in the crop fields, and scarecrows animating.

-A domain based off the Wendigo. I guess it'd be somewhat similar to Vorostokov with aspects in line with Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden. The story of the darklord revolves around him being shunned by his community, and being forced to live by himself alone during a harsh blizzard. He starves, cannibalizes others, and eventually dies spiteful and bitter, only to rise as a Wendigo with the power to control the weather. The domain is locked into a constant blistering winter and the darklord wants the people of the land to suffer and be forced to do horrible things to survive just as he had to.

-A domain based off la Llorona. Like Keening, just more than a single mountain. I want it to be themed off Mexico, including the view of death surround the Day of the Dead. The people of the land celebrate and revere their ancestors, and the darklord may be a spirit whose family has CHOSEN to forget her. The people of the land know that to see a ghost outside of what would be a normal place or time is bad luck, and the people also know to never whistle or sing while travelling out of town, lest they attract the ghost. (I wanted to avoid the dead children theme tied to the original story and tied to Tristessa)

-A domain based on the Wild West. Dusty lands, cowboys riding the land, and the dead walking regularly. The darklord can be a possible cattle baron or mayor of the domain's biggest town, seeking material wealth and power at the cost of their humanity and their people's wellbeing. A big theme can be undead cowboys (There's... a lot of art about that), undertakers, crows and ravens, and the fact that because the Wild West was a really diverse setting, it could be a sort of crossing between different domains outside of the cluster.

-A domain based on the Rocky Mountains, full of mountain men and fur-trappers who bring in good trade. The darklord I'm imagining is a trapper who came across magical animals who saved him from a bear. However, he was poor and struggling to feed his family, and he slew and skinned the enchanted animals for the amazing price they would fetch. This drew him into the mists, and he is cursed as a loup garou or other form of Werecreature where he can shapechange into whatever animal whose fur he is wearing. If its involuntary, he can be trying to cut down the trees excessively and burning the land to wage war on animals as a human, and conversely be trying to kill mountaineers and families as an animal -- even if they're innocent.

-Don't take this one seriously, but a domain of swamps similar to Souragne. Its darklord is a devil who used to be a consummate deal-maker and soul-collector. In his arrogance he challenged a bard to a fiddle contest for his soul... and lost. It was his first loss, and he took it so poorly he murdered the bard, breaking both Asmodeus' rule for devils and bringing him into the domain. He now makes deals to try to get out of the Mists and try to get back to Hell, but his deals no matter how intricate and well-worded they are never turn out well for him for some reason or another.



Soo these aren't alot, and that's because I'm really not familiar with a lot of folk tales in America. Also, I should note, these are mostly taken from things around the USA. If you have any more ideas, North America or South America, shoot! I figured a cluster as expansive as the Core would be fun!

[DustBunny]

-A domain based on the Wild West. Dusty lands, cowboys riding the land, and the dead walking regularly. The darklord can be a possible cattle baron or mayor of the domain's biggest town, seeking material wealth and power at the cost of their humanity and their people's wellbeing. A big theme can be undead cowboys (There's... a lot of art about that), undertakers, crows and ravens, and the fact that because the Wild West was a really diverse setting, it could be a sort of crossing between different domains outside of the cluster.

If you want that one, have the Darklord be a Rail Baron. It covers the travel angle and the real rail barons were very ...insistant.. when it came to people in the way of their new railways and they weren't very caring of the rail workers either (check the death tolls of major railways). And the 'old west' pretty much started to decilne once the railways started arriving.

[onmyoji]

While I absolutely do not want to set up a political debate of any kind, the first thing that occurs to me is a domain in which religion is almighty and all-powerful, yet the domain nobles are not bound by any of the religion's more inconvenient tenets. They do what they can to upstage and outdo each other (think demons vying for power in the Abyss), and perhaps even barter souls on some kind of black market. Further, the Truth is nowhere to be found. The only dialogue are lies of convenience. Fact is an unknown term, and any and all "history" or "chronology" are entirely spun by whomever you speak to. And somehow, that's how most of the poor and downtrodden like it.

Sorry if that's pushing things too far, but if you ask me, it's an extremely fertile idea for a place like Ravenloft.

— onmyoji

EDIT: On second read, that looks pretty great. Gonna steal it for myself.

[Mistmaster]

http://www.fraternityofshadows.com/foru ... 2&start=15 Here is the Newlands continent which is my american cluster idea.

[Five]

In an attempt to further inspire, check out the Manifest Destiny comic series. It's a pretty cool take on history and may serve to trigger add-ons or even just potential encounters.

https://comicvine.gamespot.com/manifest ... 050-69138/

I think it should be adapted to tv.

Also, check out the Colonial Gothic rpg. There could be a lot in there to trigger your brain too.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/20 ... rd-Edition

For a New World type Core, all I can offer right now is this. In my LexOccultum game the PCs discovered this map: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isle_of_Demons

It triggered a series of events but I'll keep it as brief as I can to try and make it more relevant to the original post. It's a triple backstory really.

Johannes Ruysch made a discovery in 1507 that drove him mad and to the point where the Pope felt the need to cover it all up for fear of the truth getting out and its aftershock rocking social order (that the church has so much invested in).

Truth is, the New World is a demon-infested land that been fought over for countless centuries. Leif Erikson, in about the year 1000, discovered this war himself when he and his crew first stumbled upon the "skraelings", which were the offspring of demons and their aboriginal slaves, who were the ones who originally summoned the demons and who subsequently rose to engage in this forever war. Morseso he discovered that the tale of Beowulf was real, or partially true: he and his crew had joined in this battle and had helped the aboriginals put down the demonic overlord. Its hellspawned minions were eventually scattered to the four winds and as such they remain, though in much lessened numbers. The surviving members of Beowulf's crew remained in this "New World" to continue to aid the natives in their witch hunt, which continues to this day (18th century) through a secret order of a selection of such-mixed descendants. Secret, for an all-consuming, multi-generational war such as the one that was fought had opened the elders' eyes to a new and sad truth: the advancement of civilisation had stalled, and for far too long of a time. Beowulf and Leif had shown them that. With the demon lord vanquished and its remaining minions being run down by elite warriors it was time to focus on not only today, but tomorrow as well. At some point they'll be meeting and greeting those brothers and sisters from across the way, and to even appear to be inferior will just complicate this blending of culture immensely.

Only thing is, the skraelings weren't completely vanquished. As Johannes Ruysch found out five hundred years later...

[Lord_Pruitt]

http://fraternityofshadows.com/forum/vi ... f=1&t=4422

[Manofevil]

You'll find plenty of starter material here: http://www.fraternityofshadows.com/foru ... f=1&t=3261
I often hoped somebody would come along and finish this. Off you go.

[Wolfglide of the Fraternity]

I once heard that the domain of Wayward on the Bone Sands from the Book of Secrets (available at Secrets of the Kargatane) has a mildly Western aesthetic to it.

[brothersale]

There is also the domain of Riverbend from Heaven's Bones, which is based on Alabama in the aftermath of Sherman's March

[alhoon]

Interesting discussions here, I especially liked the rail-road baron thing. A kind of darklord-of-the-railroads, similar to that werewolf with his barge that travels the river. I would consider the railroad as a distinct domain or special case of domain that crosses several domains.

[Pizza]

I’d love to see someone work the ghost riders in the sky song into it somehow. Maybe they’re just there with no great purpose or meaning but damned cowboys endlessly demonic cattle seems like a cool image.

Some sort of Aztec adjacent culture wherein the locals practice human sacrifice on an unbelievable scale to keep the world going. The Dark Lord is the leader of a group of dissident priests or missionaries bent on stopping the human sacrifice. In reality the leader wants to bring about the apocalyptic conditions that will arise if the sacrifices stop so that once the existing priesthood/government is destroyed he can reinstitute the sacrifices to stave off the apocalypse and end up iviewed as the heroic savior by society. Will the party let the world burn while trying to escape or aid in restarting human sacrifice?

High in the mountains lies a small kingdom. Once a society of farmers and herders, generations ago mines were sank into the rock and silver brought forth. The kings became addicted to their newfound wealth and commanded the mines to go deeper and deeper, and now virtually the entire population labors in some way related to the mines. Those unfortunate enough to go into the mines will find small shrines to creatures the miners all swear dwell in the darkness. Several miners disappear daily though whether taken by the creatures or by the miners as sacrifices or simply due to being lost in the darkness none can say. Might be a nice place for dwarves or gnomes as a dominant race instead of the normal human domain. No clue who the dark lord is though.

[kourkenko]

If you need some ideas about how to create a cluster based on north native americains tribes, i advise you to read this book:
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/280341 ... aign-Guide

I have it and one word is enough to describe it: awesome !
Imc, i'm creating a whole cluster i placed north to the Golden Peninsula.

[Evtrax]

i have some ideas.

1. one based on the legend of the jersey devil. the darklord is mother leeds, who was blessed with fertility by the gods. However, she was poor and upon the 13th child she went mad. She slew her other children and declared her 13th was the spawn of devils. The mists took her for that. Her curse is to rely on her monstrous child who she hates with all her heart, for she attributes all her misfortune to it. The locals blame her, rightly, for there misfortune and the devil's attacks. And i see the devil as an innocent being, unable to understand why its mother hates him and why the townfolk see it as a threat. It always tries to pay for the goods it buys for mother, but they attack and it is always forced to run.

2. one based on springfield from the simpsons. Basically the burns expy wins in the two parter "who shot mr burns" but he kills maggie when he cant pry the candy loose. he gets shot by the entire town for that and the mists take him. his curse is to never enjoy his monopoly for every day someone will shoot him and kill him.

3. one based upon plantations. Idk how the darklord was taken by the mists, but the darklord is the plantation owner. Perhaps he killed his slaves rather than free them. Now he has zombies for slaves, and his curse is to be killed by the zombies at the end of the growing season, led by the slave woman who freed them. she was a shaman, and is now a necromancer.

[Evtrax]

heres another

one based on area 51 and roswell. the alien that lands is peaceful, but the darklord to be is racist and paranoid. he kills the alien and his superior officers on the base. his curse is to be haunted by the ghosts of his family, who could have been saved had he not killed the alien and destroyed its advanced tech.

[onmyoji]

heres another

one based on area 51 and roswell. the alien that lands is peaceful, but the darklord to be is racist and paranoid. he kills the alien and his superior officers on the base. his curse is to be haunted by the ghosts of his family, who could have been saved had he not killed the alien and destroyed its advanced tech.

Anyone pursuing that idea can get a lot of darklord inspiration from the X Files. The Cigarette-Smoking Man is a great villain and would certainly make an excellent darklord with the right curse.

— onmyoji