Farelle & Wildlands--New Info

[IanFordam]

To play fiendish advocate for a bit, I feel that expanding the Wildlands so substantially actually dilutes, rather than strengthens, the feel of the land. Then again, I find the Wildlands most interesting as "The Jungle Book Gone Wrong".

From a slightly different angle, rather than adding, say, a tundra biome to the Wildlands, I'd prefer to see a domain where the tundra fits the darklord directly.

That said, if you do go with many multiple biomes, I definitely think that Baron Von Stanton's river connection is essential.

[Speedwagon]

To play fiendish advocate for a bit, I feel that expanding the Wildlands so substantially actually dilutes, rather than strengthens, the feel of the land. Then again, I find the Wildlands most interesting as "The Jungle Book Gone Wrong".

From a slightly different angle, rather than adding, say, a tundra biome to the Wildlands, I'd prefer to see a domain where the tundra fits the darklord directly.

That said, if you do go with many multiple biomes, I definitely think that Baron Von Stanton's river connection is essential.

Fiendish advocates in Ravenloft may get paid for their case, but they find that coming back home from work is a lot more difficult than expected

I understand that reasoning, though I guess my idea is that while the Wildlands started as "The Jungle Book (or Lion King) Gone Wrong", the domain doesn't have to be constrained to the geography or geographic inspirations and imaginings of the source material. So long as the general "man vs nature" and "man-made institutions of the most horrible variety being practiced by animals" themes are kept intact, I think that the feel of the land is kept intact. Plus it ties in well to the idea of Ravenloft as both breathtakingly beautiful and awe-inspiring (and terrifying in equal measure); a location like the Wildlands where a DM can pull out their copy of National Geographic's top 100 most amazing natural photography and show it to their players during moments of rest or as introductions to new areas of the Wildlands (as they survive the lions and gorillas and so on) feels like one that a lot of DMs would appreciate (especially those of the Theater of the Mind variety, as they won't need painstakingly accurate battlemaps).

And yeah, props to Baron Von Stanton for that!

[Manofevil]

What kind of biomes does the Wildlands have? Is it just savannah, jungle and swamp, or is it truly wild and you can find a piece of every biome known to planet Earth there, if you just look hard enough?

The Wildlands would contain any and or all terrestrial environments known to Earth, with the caveat that all of the regions of the Wildlands contain waterways that directly connect/feed into King Crocodile's swamp, so that, if His Majesties so chooses, he can go anywhere.

In the recent movie 'Kong Vs. Godzilla', it was revealed the Godzilla is able to get around the world so quickly by using a network of underseaTunnels that actually connect in a single large place called 'Hollow Earth'. I see no reason why King Crocodile couldn't also have underground flooded tunnels that he travels through to get to every water source in the Wildlands. I'd love seeing PCs wondering "How did it get here? The connecting stream isn't nearly deep enough for it to get here unobserved!"

[Speedwagon]

What kind of biomes does the Wildlands have? Is it just savannah, jungle and swamp, or is it truly wild and you can find a piece of every biome known to planet Earth there, if you just look hard enough?

The Wildlands would contain any and or all terrestrial environments known to Earth, with the caveat that all of the regions of the Wildlands contain waterways that directly connect/feed into King Crocodile's swamp, so that, if His Majesties so chooses, he can go anywhere.

In the recent movie 'Kong Vs. Godzilla', it was revealed the Godzilla is able to get around the world so quickly by using a network of underseaTunnels that actually connect in a single large place called 'Hollow Earth'. I see no reason why King Crocodile couldn't also have underground flooded tunnels that he travels through to get to every water source in the Wildlands. I'd love seeing PCs wondering "How did it get here? The connecting stream isn't nearly deep enough for it to get here unobserved!"

Y'know, it's funny you mention those things. One, I loved Kong vs. Godzilla (but that might be because of my simple-to-please taste in cinema), and two, the idea of underground flooded tunnels that he travels through to get around the Wildlands is one that I "kind of" considered, but in a different way. More specifically, I thought of "what if the sewers of Sri Raji are connected to the rivers of the Wildlands and drain out into Saragoss?" Which then led me to having a Dread Possiblity of King Crocodile and Draga Salt-Biter conducting a proxy war between the crocodiles and the sharks, with Sri Raji('s sewer system) caught in the middle. But I really like this idea, so thanks!

[Baron Von Stanton]

What kind of biomes does the Wildlands have? Is it just savannah, jungle and swamp, or is it truly wild and you can find a piece of every biome known to planet Earth there, if you just look hard enough?

The Wildlands would contain any and or all terrestrial environments known to Earth, with the caveat that all of the regions of the Wildlands contain waterways that directly connect/feed into King Crocodile's swamp, so that, if His Majesties so chooses, he can go anywhere.

In the recent movie 'Kong Vs. Godzilla', it was revealed the Godzilla is able to get around the world so quickly by using a network of underseaTunnels that actually connect in a single large place called 'Hollow Earth'. I see no reason why King Crocodile couldn't also have underground flooded tunnels that he travels through to get to every water source in the Wildlands. I'd love seeing PCs wondering "How did it get here? The connecting stream isn't nearly deep enough for it to get here unobserved!"

The Congo River is so deep that some parts of its bottom host blind fish that you'd normally find in caves.
There are these underground waterways in Madagascar that contain bones and skulls of recently extinct prehistoric animals, like hippopotami, giant lemurs and extinct crocodiles. Very macabre.

[Baron Von Stanton]

Also, what to make of werebeasts and beastweres in the Wildlands?
Much ado has been made about them "embracing (their) bestial nature," and the Wildlands would obviously be the place to do it, but, at what cost?
And then there's the indigenous animals who emulate human nature more closely than they would deign to admit; how would they react to the sight of humans turning into beasts or animals capable of evolving into humans? Would the indigenous animals of the Wildlands be able to achieve similar apotheoses like how Jack Karn did, but within the confines of the Wildands?

[Baron Von Stanton]

To play fiendish advocate for a bit, I feel that expanding the Wildlands so substantially actually dilutes, rather than strengthens, the feel of the land. Then again, I find the Wildlands most interesting as "The Jungle Book Gone Wrong".

From a slightly different angle, rather than adding, say, a tundra biome to the Wildlands, I'd prefer to see a domain where the tundra fits the darklord directly.

That said, if you do go with many multiple biomes, I definitely think that Baron Von Stanton's river connection is essential.

Actually, I concede your fiendish point made, as expansion of biomes poses the threat of losing focus of the feel and themes.
On the other hand, given as how there is so much evil amongst the Wildlands' denizens, even before we get to King Crocodile's impatient successor-scions, I would be surprised if we didn't have nascent darklords or demilords calving off portions of the Wildlands to form new regions or domains.

[IanFordam]

Actually, I concede your fiendish point made, as expansion of biomes poses the threat of losing focus of the feel and themes.
On the other hand, given as how there is so much evil amongst the Wildlands' denizens, even before we get to King Crocodile's impatient successor-scions, I would be surprised if we didn't have nascent darklords or demilords calving off portions of the Wildlands to form new regions or domains.

The presence of those nascent darklords or demilords would provide an in-world reason for the loss of focus. The Dark Powers are just testing the waters (so to speak) to see whether any of these other creatures is obsessed enough in its own way to separate from King Croc's own particular obsession. Yeah. I see that.

[Mistmaster]

What kind of biomes does the Wildlands have? Is it just savannah, jungle and swamp, or is it truly wild and you can find a piece of every biome known to planet Earth there, if you just look hard enough?

The Wildlands would contain any and or all terrestrial environments known to Earth, with the caveat that all of the regions of the Wildlands contain waterways that directly connect/feed into King Crocodile's swamp, so that, if His Majesties so chooses, he can go anywhere.

In the recent movie 'Kong Vs. Godzilla', it was revealed the Godzilla is able to get around the world so quickly by using a network of underseaTunnels that actually connect in a single large place called 'Hollow Earth'. I see no reason why King Crocodile couldn't also have underground flooded tunnels that he travels through to get to every water source in the Wildlands. I'd love seeing PCs wondering "How did it get here? The connecting stream isn't nearly deep enough for it to get here unobserved!"

I suppose, however, that on the peak of a mountain and on mountainous glacier, his majesty will have some logistic problem.

[Speedwagon]

Also, what to make of werebeasts and beastweres in the Wildlands?
Much ado has been made about them "embracing (their) bestial nature," and the Wildlands would obviously be the place to do it, but, at what cost?
And then there's the indigenous animals who emulate human nature more closely than they would deign to admit; how would they react to the sight of humans turning into beasts or animals capable of evolving into humans? Would the indigenous animals of the Wildlands be able to achieve similar apotheoses like how Jack Karn did, but within the confines of the Wildands?

There was an idea on these forums a while ago about the animals of the domain gaining their salience through eating a human, and thus becoming beastweres that are both respected yet shunned in their own populations. There was also the idea that when an animal kills or somehow bests another, that animal gains the loser’s strength and abilities. For instance, a lion that kills a monkey gains the monkey’s cleverness or its ability to climb up tall treetops. An elephant that stomps on a gazelle gains the latter’s speed. A snake that swallows a wand of magic missiles left behind by the hairless apes gets to cast that spell as an innate property. This fits with King Crocodile, as he took the powers of the other animals. He’s not just a croc, he’s a croc with the abilities of the apes, the lions, the monkeys, the elephants, and more!

To go back to your question, I think the beastweres are respected yet shunned, sort of a “you don’t want to hire this guy but he’s the best at what he does”. They still would much rather be beasts purely (see Jack Karen’s angst over being a human) but the human form has its uses (opposable thumbs to build things?). Werebeasts, on the other hand, are a source of constant paranoia. The animals might even hold their own witch-hunts!