Non-Human Ghettos (And When Are We Getting There?)

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

I think Ravenloft world-building has a huge hole in the shape of the non-human neighboorhoods/ghettos inside humancentric domains. The gazetteers always mention these, but never elaborate. I think Paridon netbook-canon is the only exception: Freak Street is home to some amazing NPCs and plot hooks. I think otherwise the little mentions we do have serve only to emphasize the setting's in-world racism (they do have other races, they just keep them locked out of 'normal' people's sight!) and to give people an excuse to play these races in a domain where they barely exist.
I just think there's an entire world we're missing in there. Some might be criminal districts where the human police is too afraid or uncaring to protect the citizens (or even actively puts them in more danger) and adventurers might be one's only hope for rescue, whereas others might be tight-knit communities that perserve their rich culture in spite of oppression.
How about we start worldbuilding these? It sounds like a very easy way to incorporate more non-human representation in your games while adhering to canon, without the hussle of homebrewing a whole new domain.

Edit: This is my 666 post! Just thought it's good to mention before I go to my 667 one!

[Pizza]

I think part of the issue is that a lot of places in Ravenloft are so small it is difficult to be “separate”. Like Vienna had a ghetto, but did some town in Habsburg Empire that only had a half dozen Jewish families have one? Definitely a fun idea though. Maybe the dwarves and gnomes build their home underground, purposefully make the ceilings too low for the taller races to easily
move about, and then rent out building built above ground? Or maybe they have to live in some burrow built off to the side of the city sewer?

[Drinnik Shoehorn]

I turned Tumbledown from the Gaz III into a halting ghetto outside Mordentshire when I ran 3rd Ed ages ago.

[alhoon]

I think part of the issue is that a lot of places in Ravenloft are so small it is difficult to be “separate”. Like Vienna had a ghetto, but did some town in Habsburg Empire that only had a half dozen Jewish families have one? Definitely a fun idea though. Maybe the dwarves and gnomes build their home underground, purposefully make the ceilings too low for the taller races to easily
move about, and then rent out building built above ground? Or maybe they have to live in some burrow built off to the side of the city sewer?

I would agree with that. Most towns simply do not have the population to have ghettos. A simple place in a town of 5000 people for the 50-60 demihumans (all races) is plausible. However, I honestly prefer the "we build underground" for gnomes / dwarves and "we build outside, in the trees" for elves / half-elves (not Sithicus).

[Speedwagon]

While it's true that most towns don't have the population for ghettos, I do still like the idea of non-human ghettos and don't want to discard it. My usual solution, for my games at least, has been to increase the population size of a given domain or settlement to a point that we don't get into the well-known silliness of Ravenloft (and perhaps AD&D in other settings but I can't say for sure) population demographics being three sizes too small.

I also think that non-human ghettos work even better for domains that aren't covered in the Gazetteers. Since those domains never got write-ups in 3e canon, I find it fair game for me to tinker with certain details. Of course, I enjoy the FoS gazetteers too---I just think it's good to have options. So in my Ghastria, there's a decent elf population due to Ghastria once being close to Sithicus, in their own version of a non-human ghetto. And I like the Fos Zherisia gazetteer making the Southshore borough of Paridon be where the non-humans and non-Paridoner humans tend to settle in.

Within the Core, I can see Borca and Richemulot having such locales. Borca has a population of halflings worth noting. I can see a neighborhood or skid row of some kind in Levkarest, Lechberg, or Sturben, and I had a party of mine help a dispossessed halfling worker get out of a bad contract of indenture and get his family apartment in the city back. Regarding Richemulot, the emptiness of the bulidings means that any ghetto in a city like Ste. Ronges or Mortigny can effectively 'move' itself, depending on how many humans settle near the non-humans. Or parts of those cities might be left alone for longer due to non-humans settling their longer. You could have a party try to settle a conflict between a family trying to take lodgings in one part of the city and getting threats from non-humans because they could have chosen any other random apartment building but the non-human ghetto ones (or you can run it the other way around). I can see a non-human ghetto in Lamordia's Neufurchtenburg, consisting of dwarves interested in heavy machinery (for both old Lamordia and 5e Lamordia). I had a group of elves and gnomes in my write-up of the Shadowlands in the Twinmoon Sanctuary settlement, to address Elena Faith-hold's persecution of non-humans during her War of Evil. And Ian Fordam's take on Pharazia pays homage to the Al-Qadim campaign setting by having non-human NPCs be integrated into Pharazia, such as Taaj al-Riaz, an outlander goblin who serves as the village's emir.

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

I think we should start with Nova Vassa. It's one of the worst domains to be a non-human in (racism is literally built into the state religion), but also has a border with Darkon, the most ethnically diverse of all domains.

The largest non-human populations in Nova Vassa are halflings (5%) and gnomes (3%), so I'd start with gnomes.

With their inner magic and reputation for trickery, gnomes fit into Nova Vassa like a round peg into a square hole. The church often dubs them agents of Mytteri himself, and the public is often even worse. However, even the worst bigots can't deny one fact: The average gnome is far more educated than the average Nova-Vassan human. While humans in the domain are lucky if they can read, gnomes are taught science, engineering and mathematics from a very young age. Even the poorest community's one-room establishment is teaches material that would be considered advanced by the University of Kantora. The Nova Vassans hate gnomes, but still have to call their tinkerers, architects and other craftsmen when needed if they don't want to invest in a literate peasantry or a less lazy aristocracy. This makes them even more envious, and a gnome community that grows too visibly prosperous might suddenly find themselves facing harsher seregration laws and/or a spontaneous pogrom - often just when they started thinking things are getting better - meaning that their secretive, reclusive nature serves as their only protection. The gnomes distrust humans and scoff at their ignorance and hate, but don't dare to openly oppose as to not attract more danger; They share many similarities with the Vistani, but normally see them as too superstitious and deterministic; Calibans are relatively accepted, often adopted by gnomes after being abandoned by human parents or employed by them when mainstream businesses refuse to, but still treated with some level of well-meaning patronization. Dwarves and elves are usually merchants from Darkon, who can find hospitality in the gnome ghettos in return for news from the wider world but rarely stay for long. And halflings... We'll see later.

The largest gnome community in the domain is that in Arbora: Its ruler is pretty liberal (by Nova Vassa standards), and their craftmanship is needed for shipbuilding. The later is even more true for Egertus, and over the first years after the Grand Conjuction the town housed a significant gnome population, but it had been declining of late, as they were banned from the shipwright guild - which might turn out as the guild's dumbest decision ever, as the gnomes just went to Arbora and started a competing guild there.

Kantora's ghetto is growing more and more strictly sergerated over the past few years. There are still a few gnome professors at the university - they're the best scholars in the realm, after all - but there's growing pressure to fire them and even destroy their 'unholy' research. Some whisper it's about time to flee the city before a greater disaster comes, but most still hope the storm would pass.

The Bergovistan community's state changes like the weather. They suffer more than anyone from the quarrels between the Rivtoffs and the Vistins, as they're often supported by one of the noble families ruling the city but detested by the other - and which is which isn't particularly consistent. They live in constant uncertainty, never letting off their guard in the good times but never losing hope in the bad times, and thank the gods for every year of survival. However, their lives are far from mirthless. Ironically, they're far more outgoing and visible than most gnomes, as they've learned that their safety in this mess of a city depends more on clever diplomacy, external factors and sheer luck than on hiding.

Dread Possibility: The Golem of Bergovista
Rumour on the street says that lately, Bergovistan artificers created a menacing but slow-minded golem to defend the community from hate crimes. This 'Golem of Bergovista' is, in fact, none other than Andre Tavolys, the mayor's caliban son, who ran away a few months ago after 25 years imprisoned 'for his own safety' in the attic. Andre isn't the brightest (more due to his negectful upbringing than to his caliban nature) but has more potential than his father imagines or even the gnomes seriously believe, actually having a knack for artificery. The irony is that though not an actual construct, Andre faces all the psychological challenges a dread golem would: daddy issues, social stigma, the need to break out of what he was 'designed' to be... He just wants to hang out with his short friends and make cool machines, but the turmoil in the city wouldn't let him be.

I don't think Liara has more than a handful of gnome families. It's not like the Hiregaards treat them badly, but they're clever enough to stay out of Malken's base of operations.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

In the Nightmare Lands in the City of Nod there is a run-down neighbourhood that is the lair of Mullonga and is called The Ghettoes. There is a Falkovnian Ghetto in Karina and La Petite Valacha (Little Valachan) in Ste Ronges from ⁠Quoth the Raven #11. As for demi-humans dwarven there is settlement in Lamordia, for sure a gnome ghetto in Sly-Var or/and Toyalis possibly in Valachan too.

[alhoon]

While it's true that most towns don't have the population for ghettos, I do still like the idea of non-human ghettos and don't want to discard it. My usual solution, for my games at least, has been to increase the population size of a given domain or settlement to a point that we don't get into the well-known silliness of Ravenloft (and perhaps AD&D in other settings but I can't say for sure) population demographics being three sizes too small.

I honestly agree here. For my games, I have quadrupled the population of Ravenloft by quadrupling the area... and doubled the size of towns/cities. It still doesn't give enough room for ghettos but you can always keep upping.