The Time of Unparalleled Darkness - preterism

[tomokaicho]

Has anyone ever taken a preterist position on the time of unparalleled darkness? Meaning that the ToUD has already come and gone. Baffled? Let me explain.

What if the ToUD isn't some future prophesy, but some event that took place in the past? Time travel is already part of the Ravenloft setting and perhaps time travel plays a role in the ToUD.

Why should we assume that Barovia being drawn into the mists is the beginning of the demiplane of dread? More likely Barovia was the start of the current incarnation of the demiplane, and there have been previous incarnations, all of which experienced some sort of apocalypse.

Perhaps in this scenario King Azalin is up to his time traveling tricks again, and ropes the PCs into serving as his cat's paws. Azalin wants the PCs to return to the moment that Barovia appeared in the mists, and kill Strahd before he has grown in power. However something happens to disrupt the casting or ritual - perhaps Azalin is attacked, or perhaps he is distracted by something, in any event the spell goes awry and the PCs are thrown thousands of years into the past, right into a previous incarnation of the demiplane. Right into the last months before the apocalypse.

This is a different kind of campaign. At this time evil is bursting at the seams. The domains are different and unfamiliar. Some domains shrink or grow on an almost a daily basis. Bizarre natural and supernatural phenomena can be observed in all but the most stable domains. Werebeasts, undead, and other creatures of the night are on a rampage. Some cities and towns are taken over by doomsday cults announcing the time of unparalleled darkness. The PCs need to work out a way to survive, and either return to their own time or escape the demiplane altogether. The end is nigh.

[ewancummins]

You had me at preterism.

[The Lesser Evil]

The problem with preterism is that most the faiths of Ravenloft are relatively new, which would likely mean the prophecy would predate any of its sources (or may not even be a prophecy at all.) In the recent history of Ravenloft, the most likely events might be the Scourge of Arak, the Crimson Death Epidemic, the Grand Conjunction, the Hour of Screaming Shadows, and the destruction of the Burning Peaks, with over half of those occurring within the last hundred years and save for one or two, only affecting a single domain or cluster.

Of course, if we delve into (potentially false) history before the formation of the demiplane or particular domains, we could look at the old churches and faiths that supposedly predate the origins of the demiplane. There are probably numerous old churches of Andral in Barovia and maybe Borca, not to mention the ancient standing stones which may hold obscure runic inscriptions. There's also the Ste. Meres des Larmes in Dementlieu, and the numerous abandoned old churches in Lamordia. Ezrites and/or other doomsayers could have found and adopted any of these prophecies for their own ends.

[IrvyneWolfe]

My current Ravenloft campaign operates under the assumption that the ToUD has come and gone. The Dark Powers merely piece the experiment back together after it inevitably falls apart for one reason or another. The original Castle Ravenloft / House on Gryphon hill was the first. Classic AD&D Ravenloft was the next. 3.X was another. Right up through 5e whatever homebrew version I'm working on. In short it's an excuse for me to rebuild Ravenloft from the ground up changing what I want for purposes of story ect.

Strahd is still very much the lynch pin because whenever Ravenloft falls apart he gets one more shot at Tatyanna and forgoes escape in order to try and claim her. When the dust settles he's failed and the Dark Powers can rebuild the demi-plane around him. He doesn't remember half of it he's only truly awake and active for short periods of time.