Thoughts on... Verbrek

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Or maybe the elven king and his court are now trapped at the center of the forest, with humans hemming in the woods and driving the undead back inside when they try to get out - them and any elves who try to make a break for it. The king is quickly losing control due to his hard stance against the criminal humans, whereas most of his people are so terrified of the hungry dead that they just want to sue for peace so they can get out.

Well, my point is that I believe a "Cursed forest that is the darklord similar to a curse sword being a darklord" is possible, but yes, I can see your idea.

The forest being the darklord might work well with trying to murder the elves that made it. "I'm supposed to be a beautiful ecosystem, you pointy-eared bastards! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?!"

[Jeremy16]

Mephisto, I agree.
I don't mean eliminate Verbek as a place. Just as a separate domain.
What I mean is that there's no reason for those pagan werewolves to be in a different domain than the urban shapeshifters (Wererats). Or, if you want, Invidia had a werewolf darklord before Gabby dealt with him.
Split Verbek between the two domains, with the lines "unclear" and you have the untamed wilderness etc etc etc without Verbek.

I am not saying a forest with werewolves makes no sense. I am saying Verbek doesn't need to be a domain.

Anyone ever hear of the concept of "genius loci"? Why can't the land itself be the darklord? That way Verbrek's man vs. wilderness theme can be kept the same, but the bad guy would be a lot more subtle but infinitely more sinister. Think along the lines of "The Happening" or "The Ruins".

Like the movie "Rose Red" or that Extreme Ghostbusters episode where the haunted house is actually the ghost of the week?

What would be the genesis of Vebrek? What catastrophe gave it maligned life and a malevolent intellect?

I think it would be hard to outline a full origin without falling into a pro-environment / anti-civilization trope. I was thinking more along the lines of a place that was just "born bad". By that I mean a spot where so many horrible things happened (a battle between two great armies, mutiple murders, human sacrificies, etc.) that the evil just permeates the soil and takes on a life of its own. (This is not my own idea, I actually got it from an old comic book story, btw.)

Someone else inthis thread mentioned how Verbrek could be a forest that is actively trying to kill anyone that trespasses within it, which reminded me of the famous "Forest of the Suicides" in Japan. Maybe this sentient landmass could be a domain in the Shattered Lotus cluster?

[KingCorn]

While Verbrek is one of the 'wilderness' domains (alongside Wildlands, Kartakass, Forlorn, Valachan), I feel what makes it different from the others is the sense of abandonment.

This isn't like Forlorn which is overgrown, nor like Kartakass which is sparse but still lively. This place is abandonned, and it shows. Whole walled communities can be found without a soul in them. Rusted but still usable saw mills and overgrown cotton farms from the days of Arkandale, choked with weeds, can be found. Its quiet during the day, almost disturbingly so. The werewolves prefer to hunt during the night, unless in they catch you alone.

Verbrekians do most of their work during the day, boats will try to get through the domain in the day, and thus stop for nothing but the bare estentials. Everything is a silent rush to fix things up, get trade done. You would almost think your in Barovia.
An every so often, a lynching. A 'werewolf' caught unawares, a vent for the fear and tension. Sometimes they even get one, and pay for it later during the full moon.

Finally, you have the different opportunitists trying to make a go of the land, like a new frontier, and always failing. Talon soldiers try to build forts to make pincer moves on Richleumont, only to fall against the werewolves. The additional of Primal Soldiers have helped things, but it isn't enough. Invidians have made a few goes of it, and even Richeulmont tries to build river port towns. All fall silent, and are found as rotting hunks of meat weeks later. A few wererats report back home, describe the horror, and Richleumont retreats (for now). Its too tempting for everyone, but simply impossible to hold.

Borcan soldiers with silver bullets hunt for furs, or war with Invidian mercenaries. Both hunker down for nightfall. Man is the monster of the day, werewolves of the night. Some towns declare aligience to some nation or another, all in hopes of getting recources and soldiers, anything to help survive.

[Mistmaster]

I do not like the feeling of abandonement. I prefer the theme of fight between civilization and wildlands.

[alhoon]

For anyone interested in a Verbek-like experience (or Wildlands-like experience or generally any man-vs-nature-but-nature-wins! experience) I would recommend the game Roadwarden. It is not Horror, and it is not gothic. But it certainly has elements to awaken your imagination so that you can channel the atmosphere to your games. In a way, it could be used in Tepest etc but in that game (as in Verbek and Wildlands) the nature is not uninterested and unforgiving as in Gothic literature, but it is punishing.

[KingCorn]

What do you think the relationship was between Bakholis, Gundar, and Nathan? Cause river-trade flows through all three realms, so they would have to deal with each other at somepoint.

[Mistmaster]

Well in the Mistworld Kartakassian independence is fairly recent, and up then, Verbrek and Invidia clashed often. Verbrek is the Werewolf State, after all (It is a state only since a century, more or less), while Invidia (and Kartakass) was a nation with a strong and loyal Woldwere minority . Gundarak, however, is an important hub of trade from both, thanks to the Nharov river.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

What do you think the relationship was between Bakholis, Gundar, and Nathan? Cause river-trade flows through all three realms, so they would have to deal with each other at somepoint.

Well we know that Gundar's taxation was overwhelming and I believe Bakholis would have a similar attitude. Nathan Timothy as a trading entrepreneur has created a kind of forced monopoly by extortion and charges high fees (which makes it kind of similar to taxing the goods). I believe the three of them could have been on a price fixing agreement and wouldn't be to competitive with each other. Basically Nathan was stranded in his river and posed no threat to Bakholis or Gundar and Bakholis may have found Arkandale to backdrop culturally though not technologically to pay attention to it. Bakholis may have had respect towards Gundar which he may have secretly considered as a role model of governing and Gundar may have viewed himself superior to both of them to even consider them as adversaries, contrary to Strahd. Nathan being incapacitated to do anything beyond going up and down his river cared more about how to increase his coffers than politics. So in my view there was some kind of balance between the three darklords and there was no rivalry between them. This is the reason why when Gabrielle Aderre assassinated Bakholis there was no conflict between Invidia and Gundaak or Invidia and Arkandale. As far as Gundar is concerned since Invidia's darklordship just changed hands this event could have sparked his idea of annexing Kartakass and placing Dr. Dominiani as its darklord, though why he chose to do this against Kartakass and not Invidia or Arkandale still puzzles me. Maybe he sees Harkon Lukas as a better adversary than the others, after all Harkon's curse is to have an indifferent domain that does not fit his dreams, potential and ego.

[KingCorn]

A quick idea to add a non-werewolf related (sorta) plot hook to Verbrek: Ther Winterfang mountains are known for rituals to the wolf-god and its deep winters. What if the mountain also contains a prisoner, Bilius, from Monsterious Compendium 3? Transported during the attempted exorcism, what if he ended up the Winterfang peaks? It presenece over the years has lead to an unnatural cold affected the land, and what little of its concsiouness seems to instinctually sense and hate the cambian-next-door, Mallachio. Mallachio meanwhile sees in Bilius and its growing reality wrinkle an escape from his bonds