Additional monsters for Hazlan

[Mephisto of the FoS]

I was browsing at a game shop and came upon the Tsucora Quori / Hashalaq Quori miniature from Wizkids. I was wondering if this monster is appropriate for Hazlan and it actually seems to be.

In 3e it used to be an Outsider from of Dal Quor the plain of dreams in Ebberon, in 5th edition it is an Aberration. Hazlan's history of bordering the Nightmare Lands and Bluetspur makes it a good candidate for the appearance of one of these monsters in Hazlan.

In the Forgotten Realms Wiki it says that

"In the winter of the Year of the Warrior Princess, 1489 DR, a tsucora quori arrived on Toril as one of many captive creatures within the crashed nautiloid Id Ascendant."

A nautiloid is a bizarre flying ship employed by mind flayers to travel directly between worlds and through the Astral Plane.

Another monster that comes to mind is the Lurker, otherwise known as lurker above, a type of flying manta ray aberration found in the Underdark.

Any other suggestions?

[KingCorn]

I like the idea about Dal Quori, it does make sense considering their ties to Nightmarelands and Bleutspur. I like Eberron getting a little love.
For Rashemen and Thay, I don't know much but I know their is the ice/snow elemental the Orglash.

Considering its a land based on the idea of acknowledging ancient cultures and beings, you could abberations like Chuuls, Neogi, or Avolakia

[IanFordam]

Flumphs and flail snails. I mean, they're not gothic horror. They're more game design horror. But seriously, though. Flumphs and flail snails!

[alhoon]

How do you imagine Hazlan? I have seen so many different interpretations.

[Mistmaster]

In the Mistworld Hazlan was cultutally Vaasan, so Terg, up to moment the enslaved magic user population rebelled and founded the current Magocracy.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

How do you imagine Hazlan? I have seen so many different interpretations.

I imagine it culturally resembling the Ottoman Empire, based largely on the 3e Gazetteer and all the info from 2e. So it is full of strange magical amalgam beasts and aberrations. Darkenbeasts fly over the Veneficus and in generally the Hazlan night sky. I like the 3e concept of ancient aberration cultures living there too. I also like the appearance of the "dune worms" in 5e as it gives the desert wastes of Hazlan an extra reason to fear going off the merchant roads.

Especially after the Grand Conjunction with the lift on the ban of magic strange monsters have increased. I don't agree with the eye concept for Hazlik that belongs to Azalin in my opinion. In generally outside the cities is more like a desert wasteland with spectacular rock formations and sand dunes in some areas and a few forgotten ancient fortresses.

















































borders with Blutspur

[alhoon]

So... you imagine it much bigger than I do.

I would go with wolfweres or werejackals, too. They are kinda thematic and wolfweres are right next door.
Wargs (intelligent, malevolent wolves that speak) too.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

So... you imagine it much bigger than I do.

???

I just sent thematic pictures for the atmosphere that I imagine Hazlan has.

Toyalis is a small city of 8200 people built within a vast crater, atop the layers of successive ruins. The images I sent could be of a city of that size (the one with the ships could have the background altered a bit as it seems far larger).

As for the landscape pictures

The mountains of Hazlan are riddled with mazes of dusty canyons and dry caves, carved by wind, water and eons of time. Breathtaking rock formations such as needle-like spires, natural arches and strangely shaped towers, grace the rocky foothills that roll estward and westward fro the Balinoks.

Ben i Gigantsmark A rocky wasteland were gigantic bones are occasionally found.

The Ensommark ("Lonely Plain") is the great plain of eastern Hazlan. The length of the Ensommark is traversed by the Iron Road which connects Toyalis to Sly-Var and continues to the east into Nova Vaasa. The rising Forhenvaerendman ("Ancient Ones") mark the plain's western limit, a little beyond the Warlock's Road joining Toyalis to Immol. The plain is roughly divided between the Ufrugtbarlan ("Barren Lands") in the north, and the Dunlan ("Dune Lands") in the south, by the Saniset River.

So in this plain we have the "Ancient Ones" on the west which I imagine them as massive rocks of volcanic tuff and ignimbrite, similar to the stone existing in the area of Cappadocia in Turkey. There some people have taken shelter in the ancient whether rock-cuttings and also formed a settlement.







Then we have the "Barren Lands" which are made of rough stone.

I envision the "Hill of the Hundred Paths") that stands in northeastern Hazlan close to the border with Nova Vaasa at the limit of the "Barren Lands" similar to the Hills of Nallıhan close to Ankara.











Finally there are the "Dune Lands" that are more desert like where "Dune worms" live.

And then there are also mountains and forests. I believe the all the images I have included in these posts give a perspective of size for all these environments to exist but as 3e canon dictates.

I would go with wolfweres or werejackals, too. They are kinda thematic and wolfweres are right next door.
Wargs (intelligent, malevolent wolves that speak) too.

Well wolf creatures are next door but they have better chances finding prey in the woods of Barovia, Kartakass and Forlorn than in the desert-like land of Hazlan. I wouldn't say no to werejackals but thematically I don't get it, they are not other-wordly strange creatures as aberrations are.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

I also envision the Iron Sanctum being similar to Masada but having a history similar to Alamut Castle in Iran. Alamut, which served as the Ḥashshāshīn (Order of Assassins) headquarters from 1090 AD in the Alborz mountain range of Persia. Over the course of nearly 200 years, the Assassins killed hundreds, including three caliphs, a ruler of Jerusalem and several Muslim and Christian leaders. The preferred method of killing was by dagger, nerve poison or arrows. Alamut, was thought impregnable to any military attack and was fabled for its heavenly gardens, library, and laboratories where philosophers, scientists, and theologians could debate in intellectual freedom.

I have thought of making the Iron Sanctum having a similar background where a similar order of assassins was fighting for peace and free will, similar to the Assassin's Creed videogame order. This order's anti-authoritarian doctrine ("Nothing is true; everything is permitted" doctrine from the video-game may be tied to this) was viewed as sacrilege for the Iron Faith and was crushed or maybe the order was "responsible" for the death of Yorne of the Weeping Eyes (the last Hazlan ruler before Hazlik), bringing chaos and the Years of Tattered Banners. During those years they were employed by various Mulan families,but the assassins were taking only contracts that suit the goals of their order, where no one was fit to rule. Hazlik may have been responsible for the destruction of the order, and this may be the reason for his knowledge of the Iron Sanctum's existence, since the monks don't oppose him he lets them be.

[alhoon]

Oh, you wanted aberration or bizarre looking ones? I didn't catch that.
There were a kind of aberration or monster, I don't remember what, that was lying a flying carrion crawler, in short: Tentacles that paralyze and a beak. I don't remember the name. They were like a floating small body with tentacles and a beak.
EDIT: Grells!

[Mephisto of the FoS]

Hazlik closing the borders of Hazlan.

[Speedwagon]

Echoing what's been said before, Eberron monsters being in Hazlan (like the Quori) make sense, especially given the proximity Hazlan once had to the Nightmare Lands and Bluetspur. I'd also say that it might be worth looking at the monsters of Dark Sun (though not too many, as we wouldn't want to rob Kalidnay of their unique monster ecology) or the D&D monsters most inspired by weird fiction a la Heinlein et al. Additionally, you can take cues from 5e Hazlan with the misshapen magical monsters that are created by apprentices in Ramulai (attempting to emulate Hazlik's works at the Tables in Toyalis) like you did with the "Dune worms"/purple worms in that canon. I personally have found some use in putting some of the more "out-there" parts of 5e Hazlan in Vechor, or using other portions as a post "Mulan-genocide ritual" Hazlan (cuz Darkon shouldn't be hoarding all the magic mishaps the Darklord is responsible for, and Hazlik has had it too good for too long).

Also, giants. Because I love giants and think there's a place for them in the caverns of Mt. Veduradeth.

Finally, I love the art that you post, Meph! You have a very good eye for finding art to represent a place, and that's something a lot of Ravenloft DMs can use as either inspiration for their own games or handouts at their table to convey the mood of a place very quickly to their PCs.

EDIT: I totally forgot, you can lean into the Thay connection with Hazlan! I highly recommend the recent "Thay: Land of the Red Wizards" involving Ed Greenwood of the Forgotten Realms and other authors. It's a very useful update to Thay for 5e and is available on DMsGuild: https://www.dmsguild.com/product/386190 ... ed-Wizards. I like to use the Forgotten Realms concept of Thay trading enclaves for Hazlan, and have had the Hazlani making their own trading enclaves in different areas of the Core.

EDIT 2: I also found Jeremy Puckett's/hidarejimi's ideas on Hazlan for Savage Worlds: Ravenloft Reincarnated pretty useful. I'll repost them here:

• Tropes: Hazlan is a land of chaos beneath a thin veneer of order. The modern landscape hides old secrets that can warp the body and mind of those who stumble upon them. The overbearing pressure of a rigid society is continually at odds with the imperfections of human nature; people are warped by social expectations, twisted by the demands of a culture that wants too much. The purpose of Hazlan as a setting is to explore the monstrous—high-magic horror that isn’t high-fantasy horror. Its inspirations include the “weird tales” of Robert E. Howard and Fritz Leiber, with a dash of H.P. Lovecraft and Gene Wolfe. The magical underpinnings of Hazlan serve to further the idea that it is a chaotic place, a land where the very laws of nature are reduced to mere suggestions by the whim of self-absorbed and corrupt sorcerers.

• Theme 1: Eldritch Horror: While Hazlan seems to be normal on the surface, it is a place where chaos and horror are just waiting to burst forth. Old, alien ruins dot the landscape, while the wizards of the Red Academy constantly breed new horrors out of arrogance and pride. The unknown and the unknowable are frequent elements of stories set in Hazlan.

• Theme 2: Numinous Monstrosity: Hazlan is a land of monsters and dire magic, a place where horror comes from the spiritual and physical twisting of the natural order. It is an ideal place for body horror, in which the forms of things have become corrupted and horrible. Even without the intention of its users, magic is a force of chaos and corruption, the widespread use of which leads to unintentional awfulness.

• Theme 3: Social Theory: The hard questions of race, class, and social expectation are at the heart of Hazlan. Racism and classism are common social ills in the domain, and a constant demonstration of the ways in which social privilege breeds cruelty and contempt. At the same time, social expectation is shown as being just as toxic for those at the top of the structure in moral terms.

[Mistmaster]

Living Spells from Eberron also would be very appropriate.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

Tropes: Hazlan is a land of chaos beneath a thin veneer of order. The modern landscape hides old secrets that can warp the body and mind of those who stumble upon them. The overbearing pressure of a rigid society is continually at odds with the imperfections of human nature; people are warped by social expectations, twisted by the demands of a culture that wants too much. The purpose of Hazlan as a setting is to explore the monstrous—high-magic horror that isn’t high-fantasy horror. Its inspirations include the “weird tales” of Robert E. Howard and Fritz Leiber, with a dash of H.P. Lovecraft and Gene Wolfe. The magical underpinnings of Hazlan serve to further the idea that it is a chaotic place, a land where the very laws of nature are reduced to mere suggestions by the whim of self-absorbed and corrupt sorcerers.

This is a really god description for using Hazlan.

Theme 1: Eldritch Horror: While Hazlan seems to be normal on the surface, it is a place where chaos and horror are just waiting to burst forth. Old, alien ruins dot the landscape, while the wizards of the Red Academy constantly breed new horrors out of arrogance and pride. The unknown and the unknowable are frequent elements of stories set in Hazlan.

This is more reflective in the topic of this post about the various strange monsters that can be encountered in Hazlan. Don't forget that the Ildi'Thaan originating from Bluetspur have their headquarters, the Irkat Thaan, near Immol, who knows what experiments they conduct...

Theme 2: Numinous Monstrosity: Hazlan is a land of monsters and dire magic, a place where horror comes from the spiritual and physical twisting of the natural order. It is an ideal place for body horror, in which the forms of things have become corrupted and horrible. Even without the intention of its users, magic is a force of chaos and corruption, the widespread use of which leads to unintentional awfulness.

Yes I like this concept for Hazlan, after all you have the boneless and backwards man among other monsters (un)living there. Inspiration can come from various body horror movies such as Altered States (using a particular strain of Hazlan's poppy's that grow in the ex-borders with the Nightmare Lands, in the southeast, that hallucinating effects. The Autopsy of Jane Doe is another movie that combines body horror and magic. The Glass Man from the Tales of Ravenloft novel has another example of body horror though different from the gory alterations of usual body horror films such as The Thing.

Theme 3: Social Theory: The hard questions of race, class, and social expectation are at the heart of Hazlan. Racism and classism are common social ills in the domain, and a constant demonstration of the ways in which social privilege breeds cruelty and contempt. At the same time, social expectation is shown as being just as toxic for those at the top of the structure in moral terms.

I also like this aspect of Hazlan and reflects really well the ridicule of Hazlik by the Mulan Red Wizards of his homeland (social expectations of Thay).

[Mephisto of the FoS]

Ethereal Marauder