Revisiting Farelle

[Tobias Blackburn]

I've been going back to look over older domains, and one that caught my interest recently is Farelle.

As far as I can tell, it only showed up in original sources once, back in the original box set in 1990. It was then dumped unceremoniously when they starting putting out the post Grand Conjunction box set in 94, and the Domains of Dread hardcover book.

The information is very basic, as was typical of the early domains, and we don't get any real usable information for what to expect.

We know that the darklord, Jack Karn, is a jackalwere who is a wandering tinker, and that the populace is blind to his bestial nature. The populace is primarily farmers, and are very populous, with women typically having at least 13 kids in their lifetime. Also, the wooded domain, which has only two towns, is full of packs of wild dogs and jackals that are a primary threat.

So, with very little to go on, I was thinking of how to spruce it up. Still VERY bare bones, but I think more useful.

The land itself is marked by divisions - allowing for a combination of folk horror, psychological horror, and backwoods slasher horror. The two towns dislike one another, each town and the local farming families resent one another, and the large farming families range between constant gossip about their evershifting alliances to violent feuds. Some groups become so isolated and insular that they cut themselves off from everyone else and fall into hideous ritual practices and violently kill anyone that intrudes on their territory. Players find that if they help one family then terrible gossip about them begins to be spread by the family's rivals, requiring them to navigate complex and insane social webs as they are viewed as taking sides.

Jack Karn
Darklord of Vile Insinuation

Jack used to be a normal human, wandering between farms and villages, practicing his craft. As he traveled the roads, his only companions would be various stray dogs that he would share his meager food with. Overtime, he grew spiteful toward others, believing they did not appreciate the quality of his work and saw him as little more than a beggar.
As he would work, Jack would often chat with people, discussing the news from distant towns and settlements, along with the gossip about neighbours. Over time, he began to slip in various lies to encourage rivalries and fan discord among the population. Seeing an opportunity to destroy a family that he was particularly hateful toward, he fomented a hatred among the populace that lead to increasingly violent feuds. When a group of innocents tried to step in and stop the fighting, Jack manipulated the situation to see them massacred. As the violence reached a crescendo, the mists rose and claimed Jack.

Despite being the darklord, Jack's situation has not improved. He is still an impoverished tinker seen as harmless by the populace, and only invited in when they have use for him. Worse, he is no longer human, having been turned into a jackalwere and trapped in hybrid form. The populace does not seem to notice when he initially comes to town, but the longer he lingers the more suspicious and aware of his differences they become. This forces him to keep moving, traveling constantly between the two main towns and their outlying farms, never staying in one place for more than a day or two.

In his bitter loneliness, Jack's only joy is seeing people who look down on him brought low. He is a coward, so he uses his reputation for harmlessness to spread poisonous lies and gossip, turning communities and families against the targets of his hate. When threatened, he will use his jackalwere sleep gaze to knock out his foes before fleeing and leaving them to be savaged by his dogs.

[alhoon]

I really like that the darklord is a spitefull coward.

[The Dark]

Even in fanon, the only additional information on Farelle that I can think of is "The Jackal Who Would Not Be A Coward" from the Book of Sacrifices. It puts Jack's origin as being a jackal from the Wildlands. Very short version of the story is he killed a tinker who tried to tame him, and was cursed to become the thing he despised most. Being from the 3e era, it presents Farelle as an island where humans are taming the wilderness and reducing the number of animal minions Jack can call on.

[IanFordam]

Worse, he is no longer human, having been turned into a jackalwere and trapped in hybrid form. The populace does not seem to notice when he initially comes to town...

While I generally like your approach, this bit didn't sit right with me. On the other hand, maybe we just lean into it. What if every native to Farelle is a werecreature, but they all think they are the only one?

[The Dark]

Worse, he is no longer human, having been turned into a jackalwere and trapped in hybrid form. The populace does not seem to notice when he initially comes to town...

While I generally like your approach, this bit didn't sit right with me. On the other hand, maybe we just lean into it. What if every native to Farelle is a werecreature, but they all think they are the only one?

Don't tell; they'd banish us, you know.

[Tobias Blackburn]

I really like that the darklord is a spitefull coward.

Thanks! I figured that it would be something different, since few if any darklords are in such a low position in society. It also makes things interesting because he's more likely to get the villagers to turn against the players, which is a very different situation than fighting paid goons.

Even in fanon, the only additional information on Farelle that I can think of is "The Jackal Who Would Not Be A Coward" from the Book of Sacrifices. It puts Jack's origin as being a jackal from the Wildlands. Very short version of the story is he killed a tinker who tried to tame him, and was cursed to become the thing he despised most. Being from the 3e era, it presents Farelle as an island where humans are taming the wilderness and reducing the number of animal minions Jack can call on.

Thanks. I was aware of the existence of a take on Farelle in the Books of S, but I wanted to try putting something together myself before looking at other fan takes. I liked the idea of having Jack be a coward, to make him more unique and fit him in with the theme of the domain involving division and rural gossip/feuds. That way it would stand separate from Verbrek (and Kartakass to a lesser extent) as people against the wilds.

While I generally like your approach, this bit didn't sit right with me. On the other hand, maybe we just lean into it. What if every native to Farelle is a werecreature, but they all think they are the only one?

I get that. I considered making him a jackalwere to begin with, and maybe that is the better way to take it. The basic idea is that, trapped in hybrid form (however he got it), he's forced to stay on the outsides of the various communities he visits. He has his grace period, but he can't settle down for any period of time, which just fans the flames of his jealousy. Also, the original version of the domain has him as a jackalwere, so I'm preserving that while giving it a spin.

One thing I'm thinking of adding is that he is also able to provide cursed trinkets to people (real monkey paws kind of items) as part of his thing.

I think making everyone be a lycanthrope and not realize it could be interesting for a small hamlet, but I think I would have a difficult time incorporating it as a theme for a full domain.

[IanFordam]

I considered making him a jackalwere to begin with, and maybe that is the better way to take it. The basic idea is that, trapped in hybrid form (however he got it), he's forced to stay on the outsides of the various communities he visits. He has his grace period, but he can't settle down for any period of time, which just fans the flames of his jealousy. Also, the original version of the domain has him as a jackalwere, so I'm preserving that while giving it a spin.

To be clear: I'm in no way arguing against Jack Karn as a jackalwere. Much the contrary, in fact. His jackalwere nature is one of the very few canonical tidbits that we are given, so I feel strongly that any rewrite should retain that (regardless of how he became a jackalwere).

No, the bit that threw me was him being obviously non-human and nobody noticing. Personally, I would rather skip that and go straight to people feeling uneasy around him, even in his fully human guise. But your mileage is fully allowed to vary.

[Tobias Blackburn]

To be clear: I'm in no way arguing against Jack Karn as a jackalwere. Much the contrary, in fact. His jackalwere nature is one of the very few canonical tidbits that we are given, so I feel strongly that any rewrite should retain that (regardless of how he became a jackalwere).

No, the bit that threw me was him being obviously non-human and nobody noticing. Personally, I would rather skip that and go straight to people feeling uneasy around him, even in his fully human guise. But your mileage is fully allowed to vary.

Ah, gotcha. I see what you're saying. I went with him being trapped in hybrid form because it specifically said people were blind to his bestial nature. My thought process was that being trapped in hybrid form helps enforce the alienation and isolation for him. He's a monster and can't escape the fact himself. The short term blindness that the people around him have to that fact gives him time to work and do his thing in the community, but he can never linger as they slowly become aware that something is wrong, even if he behalves himself.

That's my thought process anyway.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

Well official canon is that people believe him to be a tinker, so normally no hybrid form.
I would make jack Carn being a "victim" of a Vistani vengeful curse.

Tinker for metal-worker is attested from the thirteenth century as tyckner or tinkler. Some travelling groups and Romani people specialised in the trade, and the name was particularly associated with indigenous Irish Travellers and Scottish Highland Travellers.

Maybe he saw them as threatening to his profession and had them framed and massacred for something gaining their wrath and a curse. His evil and probably cowardly machinations were considered an Act of Ultimate Darkness by the DP and so he gained his domain. Maybe his curse has something to do with cowardish.

[brothersale]

Even in fanon, the only additional information on Farelle that I can think of is "The Jackal Who Would Not Be A Coward" from the Book of Sacrifices. It puts Jack's origin as being a jackal from the Wildlands. Very short version of the story is he killed a tinker who tried to tame him, and was cursed to become the thing he despised most. Being from the 3e era, it presents Farelle as an island where humans are taming the wilderness and reducing the number of animal minions Jack can call on.

There is also a small sub-article in Quoth the Raven #16 - Dark Corners of Ravenloft, which joins Farelle to the Core on the southwestern edge of Valachan and forms a new coast with the Sea of Sorrows

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

I considered making him a jackalwere to begin with, and maybe that is the better way to take it. The basic idea is that, trapped in hybrid form (however he got it), he's forced to stay on the outsides of the various communities he visits. He has his grace period, but he can't settle down for any period of time, which just fans the flames of his jealousy. Also, the original version of the domain has him as a jackalwere, so I'm preserving that while giving it a spin.

To be clear: I'm in no way arguing against Jack Karn as a jackalwere. Much the contrary, in fact. His jackalwere nature is one of the very few canonical tidbits that we are given, so I feel strongly that any rewrite should retain that (regardless of how he became a jackalwere).

No, the bit that threw me was him being obviously non-human and nobody noticing. Personally, I would rather skip that and go straight to people feeling uneasy around him, even in his fully human guise. But your mileage is fully allowed to vary.

Maybe the domain simply isn't your average Ravenloft 97% humans. DND has plenty of animal-like humanoids written as playable species, not monsters. Could be nice to have a domain housing some of those. Maybe the island happens to have a decent precentage of tabaxi, aarakocra etc. and is kinda used to animal hybrids by now, and takes a while to realise something is off with this specific one?

[The Dark]

I considered making him a jackalwere to begin with, and maybe that is the better way to take it. The basic idea is that, trapped in hybrid form (however he got it), he's forced to stay on the outsides of the various communities he visits. He has his grace period, but he can't settle down for any period of time, which just fans the flames of his jealousy. Also, the original version of the domain has him as a jackalwere, so I'm preserving that while giving it a spin.

To be clear: I'm in no way arguing against Jack Karn as a jackalwere. Much the contrary, in fact. His jackalwere nature is one of the very few canonical tidbits that we are given, so I feel strongly that any rewrite should retain that (regardless of how he became a jackalwere).

No, the bit that threw me was him being obviously non-human and nobody noticing. Personally, I would rather skip that and go straight to people feeling uneasy around him, even in his fully human guise. But your mileage is fully allowed to vary.

Maybe the domain simply isn't your average Ravenloft 97% humans. DND has plenty of animal-like humanoids written as playable species, not monsters. Could be nice to have a domain housing some of those. Maybe the island happens to have a decent precentage of tabaxi, aarakocra etc. and is kinda used to animal hybrids by now, and takes a while to realise something is off with this specific one?

It's possible and could make for a great homebrew version of the domain, but it's not the original intent. The Black Box calls out other domains that have significant non-human populations - Sithicus' elves, Markovia's beastmen, Verbrek's werewolves, and Darkon's melting pot of demihumans are all specifically mentioned. The only ones where humans are called out are Falkovnia (because of its extreme racism against demihumans) and Mordent (for having no non-humans at all). The other realms don't specifiy their folk, but the general assumption in the Black Box is that humans are most common and demihumans are exotic outside of Darkon (and humanoids or other such "rarities" among the 2e playable races are unheard of). That loosens up a little as the line progresses, but early Ravenloft is very focused on human horror, and Farelle only appears in the earliest version of the setting.

There also weren't playable tabaxi or aarakocra when Farelle appeared in 1990. Aarakocra were added in 1995 in the Dark Sun Campaign Setting Revised and Expanded (late enough that they're not mentioned in the descriptions of Kalidnay, which were dependent on the original Dark Sun Campaign Setting), and I don't think Tabaxi were officially playable until 5e. The closest in 2e would be Rakasta in 1996's Savage Coast and 1998's Dragon #247.

Again, not to say it can't work, just explaining why that won't be the first solution the Old Grogs reach for.

[IanFordam]

Again, not to say it can't work, just explaining why that won't be the first solution the Old Grogs reach for.

Huh? What? Did somebody say "Old Grogs"? Hrm. Yeah. *mumblemumble* What The Dark said. Yeah.

*zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz*

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

I thought homebrew was the whole point of 'revisiting'.
Like, no offense. I get what you mean.

Ravenloft is just in this weird position where on the one hand it's a DND campaign setting, found in the DND cosmology, that you can (if you're extremely unlucky) reach from any other DND world - but on the other hand it also does its own thing and is supposed to represent a completely different genre that has a completely different outlook on the supernatural:

In horror, the supernatural is a dark mirror to human fears. We can only ever see it from our limited perspective, and some things will never be known about it. It doesn't matter who the three vampire women in Dracula's castle were, for example - only that they serve as foils to Mina and are creepy AF. One could write a damn good fanfic about them, but it doesn't belong in the original book - they're better left off as an unsolved mystery.

In fantasy, on the other hand, the whole point is that the supernatural is self-standing. It has its own logic we can often understand, or at least get used to. Half he fun is seeing the world through the eyes of a hobbit, an elf, a dwarf or even a dragon!


Ravenloft is stuck between these two opposite paradigms of what the supernatural should be.
Logically, there's no reason aarakocra wouldn't find their way to the Demiplane of Dread - but thematically, there's no reason even an elf would be around and playable in a horror game.

You can see it as an example of 'the DND hammer', where we try to fit every single genre into DND instead of checking out other RPG games, but I see this as an opportunity to do some very interesting things that no other fictional universe can do.

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

That said, maybe we should first use Ravenloft's setting-specific animalfolk.

I really should c to sleep now, but here's my idea:

In the Great Upheaval, Farelle was actually joined into the Core on the edge of Valachan, but the clash between the island and the continent created an earthqueak that unfortunately (though convieniently for me) killed 99% of the settlers. The few who survived immegrated to Valachan or to one of the nearest domains, having nothing left there, and the domain was abandoned. Jack remained there alone with his beasts, terribly bored.

A decade or so later, a group of Broken Ones/beastmen/however they prefer to call themselves escaped Markovia, sailed across the Sea of Sorrows and found this empty shore that no one seemed to want. They settled down in western Farelle, which they called 'sanctuary', and started a free beastmen society - but are terribly afraid that this freedom is too good to be true and it's only a matter of time until it's taken away from them.

A few years later, a Zhestrian caliban youth found a surprisingly reliable mistway from a public toilet cell in Southshore to a hollow tree in eastern Farelle. She showed it to her friends, and it quickly became their secret place. Not only this was a magical experience and an escape from narrow-minded human adults, but it was also these teens' first real experience with nature! After spending their entire childhood in the gray, dense city, for the first time in forever they could enjoy the wonders of the forest - even befriending a lion Broken One who taught them the ways of the woods and defended them from predators.
When the youths grew up, they decided it would be easier to tame the wilderness than to pay rent in Paridon, and founded the village of Haven, hoping to create an idealic caliban society that would serve as a beacon of goodness to the rest of the Land of Mists. The first few years were harsh - these kids, who never even saw a field before, now had to teach themselves from scratch how to farm - but their determination and inventiveness compensated for this ignorance.
Haven grew over the course of the 760s from what could barely be called a hamlet into a self-sufficient, relatively safe town.
But as the immediate needs of survival were settled, social problems emerged: The settlers grew increasingly divided based both on (sub)racial differences (Brutes were looked down on by witchspawns due to their lower intelligence, even though their strength was crucial to the building and defense of the town, while the former considered the latter a burden as their physical frality limited the help they could land with these chores; Banshees were seen as 'not oppressed enough' to be part of the common goal, as they had the privilege of passing as humans and avoiding prejuice and presumably didn't actually need the refuge their more severely deformed kindred found on the new domain; Cannibals were said to bring nothing but trouble, since the time one of them ate a live bat and accidenatly caused a plague; And are changlings even trustworthy? Like, how are they different from dopplegangers? - Only bestials were loved by all, especially since their skill with animals was keeping the town safe.) and political opinions (Should we continue the sharing of property that was necassary when the town was still built, or move towards a more capitalistic economy? Do we accept immigrants from other domains? Do non-calibans have a place here? Should we isolate ourselves to keep Haven the safe place it was meant to be, or deal openly with other domains to show them what we're capable of and debunk stigma? Should we stick to human lifestyle conventions to stay respectable, or to take advantage of having our own place to explore fun alternatives?).
In the meanwhile, the Paridoner trade companies are increasingly interested in the town as a starting point for colonising Valachan. The calibans scoff at the traders elitistic, colonialistic approach, but are quite blind to how deeply they internalised this approach themselves: None but the original four youths, for example, think of the Broken Ones as of actual people.

WDYT?
I intentionally tried to use your theme of divisions. I found it easy to integrate into the caliban town because I had existing fanon & analogies to real-life inner politics of minority groups I'm part of ready at hand. The Broken One town would take some more research - and actual worldbuilding...