African Darklords

[DocBeard]

Well, I've been working on a Cluster based on sub-Sarahan Africa for a while. I've finally worked out a rough grouping of my Darklords, and thought that they're coherant enough to throw up for feedback.

Tell me what you all think! Good, bad, curse needs to be clearer, too strong, too weak, language doesn't describe them well...

The Darklords
Nyana Moyoyo(FH, D12, NE), a powerful druid who believed that she was restoring the natural way of life to her people, only to find that, no, they dug civilization. She believes that she wants to enforce the laws of nature and the ancestors, and cannot admit that she mostly just wants to be followed and acknowledged as a great leader, and is instead cursed to be forever seen as, at best, an advisor, and at worst, a rogue and dangerous witch-woman. She can change her shape, brew strange, powerful potions and charms, lay powerful curses, and serves as wise woman and witch for many communities, along with her band of apprentices. Sort of an anti-Granny Weatherwax, she alternates between bitterly seperating herself from her people and plotting to "convince" the Ingola Federation to return to the true, natural ways, under her enlightened leadership, naturally.

The Skull Daddy(MH(Ghost), Ex20, CE), an ancient spirit, the Skull Daddy was one of the origional architects of the great city. Believing that he could cause the entire city to ascend to the heavens if only he could complete a complicated ritual deeply involved with its building; the entire city is an arcane structure, and the strange, dark forces that directed the Skull Daddy's inspiration required more and more horrible sacrafices on the young artisan's part. Eagerly obeying, the Skull Daddy even sacraficed his own life at the apex of the ritual. When he next awoke, his great city was in Ravenloft, the rotten heart of a new Cluster; the Skull Daddy is remembered as a boogie man, a nightmare, something to scare the children with, and he would probably be okay with this sacrafice if he didn't know, in his heart, that the great work is not yet finished. Someone lived who should have died, some piece of stone was chipped incorrectly, some show of faith or piety was not given to the heavens, and so his people suffer...and all the Skull Daddy can do is guess and experiment, for his inspirational voices have abandoned him. Desperate to reestablish contact, the Skull Daddy's favorite tatic is to serve as a hidden patron, mentor, and guide for young people, and he has sent countless bands of young adventurers and would be heroes do their deaths in the layers of city that the city is built over, searching fruitlessly for a forgotten secret that may not even exist.

Nimeiri Waletta(FH, W11, CE), Princess Regent, the youngest daughter of the ruling family of Khinese who, enraged that her parents denied her funding for arcane rescearch, arranged a brutal coup. Now, her home is being held together with spit and hope, and the witch princess rarely, if ever, has the time to do the sort of rescearch she yearned for. Increasingly frustrated with her people's fractiousness and her own lack of success in the arcane fields, Nimeiri is turning to crueler and crueler methods in order to force some peace on her nation, despite her realization that by devoting more time to pacifing her homeland, she's ultimately just getting more and more entangled in its political strife. This complusive schemer has a half a dozen plots running at once, ranging from achieving economic or political domination of the Cluster to the brutal reconquest of Xehuri, to summoning a diabolical lord of buearucracy to run her domain for her, figuring that, eventually, something must work and finally buy her the free time she so desperately desires.

Enomwoyi(FH(Reverant), Ari, CE), the Dowager Queen, Enomwoyi was the first woman to be sacraficed to Grandmother Storm's hungry maw, Enomwoyi's bitterness was so great that she rose from the dead, a vengeful reverant, to enact bloody revenge on the twisted priests who arranged for the pirate kingdom's brutal custom to begin. And then, a distraction entered her life; her husband had a new wife, her children, a new mother. They had moved on. Unable to bare this, the Dowager became the secret scourge of the sea, commanding lesser undead to attack ships, calling up storms, and otherwise raining pain on her people until, again, a frightened young woman was reluctantly thrown into the maw of Grandmother Storm, in order to appease her wrath. Throughly embittered, Enomwoyi has spent the last few centuries ensuring that the grim ritual continues, because why should others be happy while she is not?, while searching for an escape from her own suffering by trying to find Grandmother Storm herself, slay the old woman, and, she believes, free her people from the fickle goddesses's reign once and for all. The irony may or may not occur to her but, since, someday soon, she will slay the wicked sea goddess, any similarities she's been forced to assume will all be worth it...

Mhune Rasui(MH, Ftr5/Bkg8, LE), Are-Eso of the knights of Nabi, Commander Rasui was not the greatist knight to serve the empire, but he was consistant. While other knights charged off to die gloriously, or explore the misty world, or just got tired of fighting and retired, Mhune endured a thousand threats to preserve the life of the emperor, and empire. It was how things were done. The jeers and mocking snickers of his peers, the lack of a wife or family, or any hope of a place in the valorous heaven of warriors were all worth it, because the empire needed his stability, his sacrafice. And then, Mhune found the true nature of his beloved emperor, called to a meeting of the parlament that was, in fact, a secret trial. Still overcome by the soul shattering revelation that all of his sacrafices had been for a madman, Mhune was shocked to see the emperor break tradition and refuse to kill himself; he believed that no one would have the courage to strike him down and, therefore, his rule could continue. Commander Rasui proved him wrong. Now, Nabi endures, but it seems as though the nation is doomed to never have a firm, strong leader again, each falling to some terrible inner flaw...which will continue, for as long as Mhune remains too afraid to finish his upsurption, and take responsibility for his domain.

Zelalem Shol(MH, Cl9, CE), Elder Shol, a devout cleric of the Morninglord, founded Xehuri as a paradise, a kingdom of the faithful, a community of the new dawn designed as an escape from petty tribal warfare, the decadence of the great cities, and the ignorance of the wild grassland. Simple, hardworking people leading simple, hardworking lives in the honest sunlight of the Morninglord. And then the first dry season came. The mountanous valley seemed perfect, fertile farmland, a river running through it, the hills being gentle enough to allow access to the rich timber of the Laughing Jungle while still dissuading too many raids from the savage barbarians and gnolls that live there, it was as if the Morninglord had led them to a promised land. But the river dried up, allowing the bandits easy access to the valley; those that didn't die in the inital attacks were left homeless, starving, and looking to Zelalem for guidence. Desperate, and knowing full well that the rest of Khinese's oppressed cult of the Morninglord would soon be arriving to their 'promised land', Zelalem found no comfort from the dawn, and no wisdom in the sunrise. His people needed to eat, they needed hands to rebuild their homes, they needed defenders to let them gather wood without becoming targets, and all they had were an abundence of corpses...so that's what Zelalem used. Carefully disguising the zombies with minor illusions and more mundane obsfucations, Zelalem's emergency work force managed to help the colony survive the dry season, the influx of new colonists, and even the military attentions of an ever more erratic motherland. He'll be able to stop using the undead soon, even if the old capital is crawling with them. He can stop any time he wants to, really. They're just bodies, anyway, would the Morninglord really object to efficent use of his gifts? No, of course not! Becides, it's only for another year, until the farms really take off...

Th'naga(FH(Werehyena), Rng 6/Moon 5, CE), the Queen of Gnolls is, secretly not a gnoll at all. The bestial Th'naga was once a young villaige girl who dreamed of being able to see the luxury and excitement of the great city. Any great city. Her chance came when a gentleman caller, a merchant from Grand Mutabi who was collecting rare herbs and spices to sell as medicine in the city, came to town; the girl tried everything she could to catch his eye, but the only thing that seemed to please the strange, stoic man was her little sister's gift for finding the rare mushrooms the man needed to make an anti-aging cream. He even joked about taking the girl with him, to make her his partner. Enraged, Th'naga demanded her sister share her secret, but the girl had none, it was just one of those inexplicable knacks. Hoping to prove this, her sister took Th'naga deep into the laughing jungle, going so far as to blindfold herself before showing that, just randomly, she could sniff out the mysterious mushrooms instinctually. She never saw the rock coming. Hands shaking, Th'naga recalled an old story her mother told her, when she was very young, about how some people could steal special talents by eating a bit of the other person...one devoured nose later, Th'naga returned home, ready to bask in the comfort of a lost sister and reveal that she, too, had a special talent...but it was gone. It was all gone. The villaige was ripped apart by the cannibal hyena-men of the jungle and, to Th'naga's shock and horror, the gnolls proceded to swarm around her...and bow. Now, Th'naga is the queen of her own little civilization of brigands and beast creatures, forever barred from the luxuries she sacraficed everything for by both the limits of her domain, and the chaotic nature of her people. What's more, sometimes, late at night, she can hear the pleading whimper of her innocent, loving little sister...

[ewancummins]

Interesting stuff. I always liked the notion of an African domain. The only one in the official books would be the Wildlands- which has no people! I like that you included gnolls.

[Scede]

Oooh I like what you've done so far. I'd love to see them expanded in a QtR issue..

[DocBeard]

Well, I needed a buncha evil humanoids, goblins don't really show up much in what African myths I'm aware of, but plenty of talking animals do. Gnolls are a hop, skip, and jump away from talking hyenas, so there we are!

[The Whistler]

Okay, this is awesome times two. Makes me want to get on that North America-esque cluster I've been thinking about, if I weren't so lazy...

If you have the time, I'd really like to see writeups of the domains these guys are in, mostly because I'm hungry for more.

[Dion of the Fraternity]

"Navigaccio: Worlds of Ravenloft" has an article called "Mubonyete" that details a vast Saharan-based domain with a clerical lich, Komozundu, as a darklord.

[Undead Cabbage]

So Docbeard, what would the respective realms be like for each of these Darklords?

[NeoTiamat]

Well, I needed a buncha evil humanoids, goblins don't really show up much in what African myths I'm aware of, but plenty of talking animals do. Gnolls are a hop, skip, and jump away from talking hyenas, so there we are!

As I recall, hyenas are heavily associated with witchcraft in Africa, so perhaps your final gnoll domain may have a number of gnoll casters? Warlocks, mayhaps?

[DocBeard]

So Docbeard, what would the respective realms be like for each of these Darklords?

I'm still working on the basic write ups for them, but I wanted to have solid Darklord ideas before becoming sold on a Domain concept.

[Sorti]

Simply amazing! When will you publish everything?