Gazetteer Metaplot

[Tobias Blackburn]

Unless I misread the Requiem series, there is no mention of S in it...

That's correct. There's a fair dollop of speculation in Tobias' account.

My speculation comes from this post by Ryan,

She is the illegitimate daughter of a Darkonese nobleman (erm, that is, the people who raised her are Darkonese nobles--so who is her real father? Go on, it's not that hard). She tried to get in to the Fraternity of Shadows but, being a woman, they wouldn't let her in. For some reason, Azalin is interested in her and holds high hopes for her progress around the Core. This quest (which, knowing Azalin as we do, can only involve an escape attempt from Ravenloft) somehow involves the Gentleman Caller and his children and various dukkars and Vistani outcasts, including the Tribe of Hyskosa who are dedicated to thwarting Azalin's schemes.

.....

Plus, Azalin gave her a bracelet that somehow protects her (or rather, her mission). After being killed in Verbrek, she woke up some time later in Valachan in a house that had been recently "cleared" by the Kargat.

It's the 8th post down on this link if you want to see the full description.

I admit that I jumped the gun, but it does seem to be the most obvious answer to Ryan's hint. If who her real father is so obvious I'm afraid that I'm at a loss. No one has suggested a more fitting character. Care to point a few?

[Don Fernando]

I'll go so far as to say anyone trying to figure out what templates were used to create Malocchio is by definition barking up the wrong tree.

I'll add this: Over the course of three years, one fan has publicly guessed the whole Gazetteer metaplot correctly. (Disturbingly so, in fact.)

Everyone else -- way, way off.

Which means that even the one with the right answer doesn't know that he's right. And the rest of us, have been on the worng track for two years.... Geez, now not only we don't know a bit of the true Story behind S and the Gaz metaplot, but we now know that every thing we believed was possible is not correct at all!!

Conclusion: After 5 Gaz's, two years of discussion on the boards and a lot of wild ideas, I have no idea what this entire metaplot is about. I feel empty...

[Joël of the FoS]

Guess # 736:

S is a clone of Azalin, born female, but she doesn’t know it. Should she succeed all the tests Azalin puts in her way (the Gaz being the big test), Azalin would somehow put his mind in her while somehow using the GC’s children reality wrinkle to shatter Ravenloft. The bracer being a key in one of these events, at least making Azalin able to watch her actions.

[Stygian Inquirer]

It has probably asked and answered before but is there an archive of the Kargatane forums so that we could peruse the posts for information?

[Joël of the FoS]

There isn't, no.

Joël

[Bluebomber4evr]

Note that the theories Steve presents have no relation to the direction the Gazetteers were taking, however.

Naturally, as the Gazetteers were all about Azalin's plans for the GC's children, not the GC's. I just saw all these theories about the Gentleman Caller and found it odd no one had noticed the possibilities Steve presented.

And even if all the GC's children in the Gazetteers are/would have been half-Vistani, that doesn't necessarily conflict with the 2nd possibility Steve posted....that was just about children who had relations to darklords (Malocchio), he could just as easily have a separate scheme involving children of Vistani.

In any event, I realize that wasn't where the Gazetteers were going, and it may not even be the "official" backstory of the Gentleman Caller, but it is an intriguing possiblity that gels well with most of his past appearances (even his cameo in Gaz 5).

[The Dark One]

hmmmm..... after all reality wrinkles for half fiends are up to DM, and a "not wanted" problem.


About S
1 - i don't believe she is a clone, its more to be another GC children;
2 - her plot looks like the same plot described in Lord of Necropolis, where azalin uses a medalion in a member of a protected family, so the bracers links her to Azalin;
3 - Death tested doomsday machine against the will of Azalin (if u consider lord of necropolis cannon, of course), so i don't believe azalin would willingly put one of his "children" in a state who they can overthrow his power, and it would be against azalin mind to make something were the results he can't at least guess.

About guess #736:
1 - We don't know (or better, we don't agree about it) if all GC children have reality wrinkles;
2 - If it is a big test, why her "death" in Vebrek didn't counted as a failure?;
3 - Why S should be clone and not a GC children?


And now two curiosity question:

1 -If maloccio is so powerful, why he demonstrated to be a weakling when faced Lord Soth in Spectre of the Black rose (which is canon)?

2 - Spectre of the Black Rose describe facts before or after Malocchio being imprisioned be the vistana spell?

PS: Maybe S metaplot is that Azalin wants that she finds her father, the GC

[Stygian Inquirer]

hmmmm..... after all reality wrinkles for half fiends are up to DM, and a "not wanted" problem.


About S
1 - i don't believe she is a clone, its more to be another GC children;
2 - her plot looks like the same plot described in Lord of Necropolis, where azalin uses a medalion in a member of a protected family, so the bracers links her to Azalin;
3 - Death tested doomsday machine against the will of Azalin (if u consider lord of necropolis cannon, of course), so i don't believe azalin would willingly put one of his "children" in a state who they can overthrow his power, and it would be against azalin mind to make something were the results he can't at least guess.

About guess #736:
1 - We don't know (or better, we don't agree about it) if all GC children have reality wrinkles;
2 - If it is a big test, why her "death" in Vebrek didn't counted as a failure?;
3 - Why S should be clone and not a GC children?


And now two curiosity question:

1 -If maloccio is so powerful, why he demonstrated to be a weakling when faced Lord Soth in Spectre of the Black rose (which is canon)?

2 - Spectre of the Black Rose describe facts before or after Malocchio being imprisioned be the vistana spell?

PS: Maybe S metaplot is that Azalin wants that she finds her father, the GC

It was actually confirmed by Ryan Naylor on the Kargatane Q&A Thread on the Frat that S was NOT a child of the GC. I know because I made the assumption and he said that that was wrong:

As mentioned earlier in this thread, S is a distinct, if not definite, possibility (to be a child of the Gentleman Caller).

No.

Also, Lord of Necropolis HAS been deemed non-canon. Check the Frat's wonderfully updated FAQ.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

If maloccio is so powerful, why he demonstrated to be a weakling when faced Lord Soth in Spectre of the Black rose (which is canon)?

That doesn't mean Malocchio is weak, it just means he's a coward so far as direct confrontation with a near-epic death knight is concerned. (Soth was one of the strongest darklords in terms of sheer physical power, and perhaps even THE strongest, melee-wise, if we omit Gwydion.) Gabby's half-fiend brat has always been portrayed as an annoyingly evasive little creep, who'd rather Teleport away from a fight and leave his brute-force minions to mix it up with those who threaten him; he's half-incubus, after all, and they're lovers (in the carnal sense) not fighters. It's his special abilities which pose a threat, not his combat prowess.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

Guess # 736:

S is a clone of Azalin, born female, but she doesn’t know it. Should she succeed all the tests Azalin puts in her way (the Gaz being the big test), Azalin would somehow put his mind in her while somehow using the GC’s children reality wrinkle to shatter Ravenloft. The bracer being a key in one of these events, at least making Azalin able to watch her actions.

FWIW, given that S's cloned status is about as well-established as rumor (as opposed to publication) can make it, I have to wonder if that bracer wasn't designed to remove a tissue-sample from S's wrist at the moment of her death, then Teleport the living tissue to one of Azalin's labs. Then Azalin could grow a new clone -- which retains all memories of S's previous experiences, right up until the moment the sample was taken at her previous body's demise -- and send the resulting S-duplicate off to continue her survey of the domains, quite unaware she's now a different copy of the original (?) Azalin-clone.

Just a thought.

[Bloody Morgan]

Just a thought.

I always assumed something similar after reading the book, though I'd suspected that Azalin has several clone-bodies of S- already prepared, and the function of the bracelet if to transfer her memories into the next one in line in the even of her impending death, rather than a tissue sample. After all, Azalin would already have all the physical samples of her he needs, if he did make her.

And I agree that Mallochio cowering before Soth doesn't make the Dukkar weak, it just points out how lethal Lord Soth is. Comparing the 3.5 stats for the two from Gaz IV and the new Dragonlance books, Soth is considerably the more dangerous of the two, face-to-face.

Bloody Morgan

[Lucius]

I was thinking that the bracer acts like a phylactery, and another thought I had about it is that it could have some other purpose, for example it could have the power to register some kind of information about the children of the GC that S is unable to register or to perceive.

[Jester of the FoS]

I always assumed the bracer teleported her from land to land. If there were multiple clones why even have her travel when you could just activate the next one.
Heck, for that matter, why not just activate them all at once and complete the Gazetteer in record time?

As for S's father, I can't help but wonder if a certian 70-80yo man born in Rivalis, Darkon to a wealthy enough family to own its own estate with orchard and lake, could have fathered her some time in the past. Given that S need only be 35-40, it doesn't seem that unlikely. And it would explain her scholarly background and disdain for certain twins.

[Boccaccio Barbarossa]

I always assumed the bracer teleported her from land to land. If there were multiple clones why even have her travel when you could just activate the next one.
Heck, for that matter, why not just activate them all at once and complete the Gazetteer in record time?

Well, it's unlikely that it would teleport any "tissue samples." It's too elaborate when you can achieve the same ends far easier just by transplanting the memories from the bracer to the back-up clone(s). (if you hold to that theory.)

As for S's father, I can't help but wonder if a certian 70-80yo man born in Rivalis, Darkon to a wealthy enough family to own its own estate with orchard and lake, could have fathered her some time in the past. Given that S need only be 35-40, it doesn't seem that unlikely. And it would explain her scholarly background and disdain for certain twins.

Now THAT's an interesting idea... very interesting indeed...

Which brings up an interesting idea: what if this quest in nothing more than an elaborate red herring as well as being a way of keeping this "S" out of the way while something else goes on? (With the side benefit of gathering information?) Something to keep her busy while the REAL stuff goes on just beyond her perceptions.

It's an idea...

[Don Fernando]

I just read all pages of this thread and I would like to know some stuff that isn't clear here and neither in my mind:

-How does Azalin know of the GC? Does he met him? Is there any reference of him talking to him and/or finding out the GC's plans?

-I don't recall any solid information about S finding something about the GC. Is there anything concrete about S knowing anything in particular about the GC??

-The first Dukkar wasn't a half-fiend, at least to my knowledge. In the red box, states that the Dukkar is the Male vistani born with the sight, not born form an ilegitimate relationship with a fiend. So I might venture in saying that beein the son of a fiend (namely the GC) does not make Malocchio a Dukkar per se, but he has the sight. Is this correct?

-How much knowledge has the GC of Ravenloft? for all I know he is a stranger in a strange land; escaping form Isolde. It's a mystery to me, why does he always approach women to have "a night thogether" only to leave short after he's finished. Does this means only that he has a grand plan to destroy/escape ravenloft? I don't think so. For doing so he should have A LOT OF KNOWLEDGE (if not all) about the fabric of ravenloft, which I find it to be impossible. Maybe he's only doing what he does best: create chaos and dissorder everywhere he goes. After all he's only a fiend.

-S is one of Azalin's clones, created with the hope that someday he could learn more magic through them. Does anyone think that there was other purposes other than that? I mean, is Azalin so cautious in planning his next move, that he even forsaw his failure in the Grim Harvest and did plan his next move against the DPs??

Does anyone have answers to this questions? I know that maybe they can be silly but they can help me understand better where is this whole thing going to. Thanks!!