Rotipher of the FoS wrote:While a direct Mystara/Ravenloft tie-in might be a cute in-joke for fans of both settings, it wouldn't make sense to players who know one setting but not the other ... which I'm pretty sure includes the vast majority of the Ravenloft audience. It'd also be inconsistent with the established pattern of the 3E Ravenloft materials, in that Arthaus's books opted (mostly due to copyright issues) to gloss over the links between Ravenloft NPCs and their various worlds of origin. Keeping 3E-Ravenloft self-contained and viable in its own right, rather than piggybacking on other game-settings' token darklords, is a practice I, personally, think is worth continuing: a person shouldn't have to know a thing about Mystara to understand Meredoth, about Oerth to understand Azalin, etc.
That being said, I may ask around on the Mystara websites, to see if the original authors of these links are interested in sharing their ideas about this particular darklord. The Nocturnal Sea Gaz is the first one the FoS has worked on, that includes darklords from established D&D settings, so it's the first time we've had the opportunity to ask for such outside input; doing that might help remind other settings' fans that Ravenloft is still out there. OTOH, if the authors can't be contacted, it'd be unethical to base Meredoth's history or domain on theories proposed in those links.
Hi Rotipher,
I hope you had a great Christmas, and that you still have a few days worth of holidays (at least!) to enjoy...
I have been thinking about Meredoth, and Graben/Knammen/Todstein lately. Have you established a direction for these domains, and are you able to share your thoughts?
Like many others, I was less than inspired by Meredoth's backround ("ooh, yay, another evil wizard who is guilty of making twisted experiments on the poor commoners..."). And now that he is stuck on a frozen island in Ravenloft, with only lebendtods and simple folk as neighbours/lackeys, and all the spells in the Player's Handbook already memorized, then what can he possibly be experimenting on that would be more interesting than the standard necromantic fare...
What about trying to convert creatures of the depths, like kraken and--better yet--uzollru, into undead servants that he can command? I can imagine Meredoth having an affinity for Dagon, and the suspicion that one of Dagon's uzollru servants is lurking in the depths of the Nocturnal Sea would be tantalizing indeed for a maritime necromancer. Perhaps Meredoth needs to acquire more and more victims (preferably living) in order to lure the uzollru with a worthy "gift", and has sent some lebendtod to the mainland to assist with this? Paradoxically, the more sacrifices he offers, the closer he gets to establishing a connection with the uzollru... without ever quite succeeding (which proves quite frustrating for the power mad wizard...).
Meredoth's psycho-social development could include a total lack of warmth in (and control over) his environment as a child (e.g., random punishments), which has left him with a need to overcompensate for his formerly weak internal locus of control by controlling absolutely everything, even if that means denying subjects their humanity. In the beginning, he may even have been one of those rare benevolent necromancers mentioned in the AD&D 2 e Complete Book of Necromancers, who gradually changed his focus over time (the need for absolute control tends to favour an evil disposition, even if one starts out with benevolent motives).
Meredoth has created lebendtods in order to ensure that he has mastery over both his subjects and the elements--nature can no longer threaten their lives or otherwise interfere with their activities. Perhaps he even thought, in his own twisted way, that he was acting in the islanders' best interests when he transformed some of them into lebendtods--after all, they were still able to pass as humans and to conduct their daily activities almost autonomously, with the added bonus of being quasi-immortal. And now he seeks to command the creatures of the depths just to prove that he can, and also to ensure that they do not become a threat to him or his own activities (or those of his subjects, if we give Meredoth a benevolent but horribly misguided streak)!
Given the insular nature of Graben, I can also imagine some Lovecraftian thralls of Dagon dwelling there or on Knammen (much like the folk of Innsmouth), and islanders venerating/propitiating the uzollru/Great Old One beneath the sea (epithet can of course be changed so that we are not so blatantly ripping Lovecraft off), as instructed by their good lord Meredoth. The islanders are insular and fearful because: a) they are a reflection of Meredoth's early psycho-social development (everything is beyond their control); b) they fear that the Great Old One will be angered and will devour them if they should try to leave, as will their lord Meredoth (which is an extension of "a").
And since Meredoth is supposed to be concerned only by his magical experiments, and to not care about the fate of the peasants (according to the DoD version)... then why do living humans remain at all on Graben? What purpose do they serve? Could they also be kept as a reserve of potential living sacrifices? Might Meredoth want to prove his success to some living mortals, to those he was originally charged with protecting?
Let me know if any of this fits with your vision of Meredoth and his islands (I realize that we might end up with a strange brew of Lovecraftian and gothic horror, but I think it can work). And if you would like me to develop some of these ideas further, then please don't hesitate to ask. I have a few days available between now and New Years to contribute to this project!
Cheers!
p.s.: and for what it's worth, I am among those who would like to see a few references to Mystara in Meredoth's origin story. They need not be long or detailed...
-- but it's great to see that others will be interested in what I've done to make Meredoth less of a 'ho hum' darklord. Certainly, I'll be including several references to his ties with Mystara (even if I don't name names), and his shoddy upbringing and snobbish Alphatian heritage will be major elements in explaining his attitude problem. I'm also giving him reasons to poke his nose out of the lab once in a while -- although he won't be a 'player' in world events, a la Azalin or the in-game Frat, and frankly he wouldn't want to be -- and will be putting a spin on his past crimes and present curse that are a bit more consistent with other darklords' offenses and punishments.
I converted creatures like plasms, ebon tiger, thoul, darkhood, wyrd..etc. But NWN is 3.0, not 3.5 >.<