Saint Markovia and the Markovs
Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2017 3:22 am
So I've been following the "evolution" of Marya Markovia to St. Markovia across the various editions of the Castle Ravenloft adventure. Interesting stuff, to say the least. Considering how to reconcile it with the "proper" timeline of the campaign setting.
Originally Marya was poisoned by a glass of wine intended for her lover by Endorovich the Terrible, who was implied to be some former king of the Zarovichs or at least a vassal who killed many servants in his grief and anger at poisoning the woman he loved. Later, "St. Markovia" was decoupled from that origin and became a powerful cleric of Pelor who fought Strahd and lost. In Curse of Strahd her Abbey was converted to an insane asylum in which a angel is conducting weird experiments on the Belmot clan.
So, to reconcile everything I propose the following. St. Markovia was a cleric of the Morninglord rather than Pelor. She was a Dawnslayer, a Harkener who collected reports of lycanthropes and studied theories on curing the condition. She confronted Strahd and was destroyed. Perhaps Endorovich was fed a lie by Strahd for the sake of being cruel. Her death was not caused by a poisoning blunder, but Endorovich went mad and harmed many anyway.
St. Markovia's research into lycanthropy led to the experiments on the Belmots as scene in Curse of Strahd. The remnants of her family also retained some of that lore. The went about calling themselves Markov to distance themselves from the famous saint, knowing Strahd's animosity towards her. But the philosophies about humanity and the beast contained in Markovia's old research inspired Frantisek Markov to begin his infamous experiments.
Thoughts?
Originally Marya was poisoned by a glass of wine intended for her lover by Endorovich the Terrible, who was implied to be some former king of the Zarovichs or at least a vassal who killed many servants in his grief and anger at poisoning the woman he loved. Later, "St. Markovia" was decoupled from that origin and became a powerful cleric of Pelor who fought Strahd and lost. In Curse of Strahd her Abbey was converted to an insane asylum in which a angel is conducting weird experiments on the Belmot clan.
So, to reconcile everything I propose the following. St. Markovia was a cleric of the Morninglord rather than Pelor. She was a Dawnslayer, a Harkener who collected reports of lycanthropes and studied theories on curing the condition. She confronted Strahd and was destroyed. Perhaps Endorovich was fed a lie by Strahd for the sake of being cruel. Her death was not caused by a poisoning blunder, but Endorovich went mad and harmed many anyway.
St. Markovia's research into lycanthropy led to the experiments on the Belmots as scene in Curse of Strahd. The remnants of her family also retained some of that lore. The went about calling themselves Markov to distance themselves from the famous saint, knowing Strahd's animosity towards her. But the philosophies about humanity and the beast contained in Markovia's old research inspired Frantisek Markov to begin his infamous experiments.
Thoughts?