Kenshin: place of the broken and the lost

[edised]

A idea I have had, but was unsure how to put down. I don’t think I have posted it.
The land is odd as domains go, it like a cosmic junk drawer, lost and forgotten thangs can end up there, that how most of the people make a living recycling the garbage the mists bring in (like a tide) ruins of buildings can show up and disappear with the mists tide. Many things show up with the mists tides not all of it safe
The people also fallow the theme, lost, broken, forgotten. Finding new purpose in this land, healing, community. Outcasts of all sorts make up the population making a diverse people. The vistanie are welcome, as many know what it’s like to wonder and be turned away. On a more practical note they make good trade partners for goods.
The dark lord only watches from a mountain top in a ruined palace, far away from all.

Npcs and places
Church of new moon: a reconstructed building that may have been a church at one time, run by a ex monster hunter who has lycanthropy, it houses a blessed white stone (the holy moon stone) that soothes the beast in lycanthropy’s, and some other healing effects. They have twelve members of the clergy and many members of the congregation.

Father Rose: the founder of the new moon, he was a monster hunter who ambushed by a pack of werwolves, was scared and afflicted himself. His lycanthropy was a great burden to him. He hated himself for almost enjoying the transformation. All changed when he came to kinshin and found the moon stone. He felt peace for the first time in a long time.

Ol jorgen: a dwarf craftsman, he was blinded by orks and had to relearn much of his craft, he felt his clansmen pitying him, he left to regain what he lost. He now has a glass of true seeing as an eye. He often makes prosthetics among other things. Most of the half-golems are his work. His surly attitude hides his kindness.

Wreck reef : a town made of ships by the bay, it is the biggest city in kinshin.Thay make great living on salvage and fishing. People here are “wealthy” so thay have thriving commerce with the rest of the domain.

Bog Jenny: a steam river boat, it was found in good condition but the passengers and most of the crew are missing, the rest of the crew seems to have died from fighting zombies. The boat may be haunted, but if thare are ghosts they are well behaved.

Queen Mary: was an infamous pirate ship now inn, its last captain and crew run the place far inland now, believing the sea is actively wanting them dead. It has a nautical theme, and thay act like sailors at sea.

The eyesore: people are unsure who built this massive building but all agree it is the ugliest building ever seen. It may have been a prison or an asylum, but whoever built the place was ether insane or hated there employer, because the inside makes little sense.

Wifawil: a wood elf wood worker, he is blind in one eye and one leg is crooked. He has a talent for wood and plants in general. For some reason he is bitter to other elves.

Dr.OdMorr: a professor of history and anthropology at a university (can’t decide where) he was well respected. On an expedition he was separated from the party, it was two days before they found him delirious and crazed speaking nonsense of something he found. Returning home he calmed down but the memories of those two days are now dream like, he feels like he discovered a cosmic secret and almost broke from it, it changed him, he knows thangs he never learned and feels history.

Fort blackbird : a rebuilt stronghold, fort is a misnomer(its a rather large fortified structure) some deserting soldiers (all have falcon tattoos, guess where there from) set it up as a base, it’s has become a good defense position and training facility for much of the professional soldier. Many different martial techniques are learned there. It is self sustaining in case the worst happens as a fallback point. The place is haunted by the ghosts of a company of soldiers and support.

Crescent rest: a transplant graveyard (half of it anyway) there are many crypts a number graves and some burial mounds. Has some vary nice gardens and landscaping. They have an altar on top of a burial mound between two standing stones, once a year it allows you to speak with the dead for twelve hours.

The clock tower: an amazing time piece, it combines practical with artistry. A clock and theater of clockwork figures, people are unsure who made this marvel or if they can fix it if it breaks, but study of it has inspired many discoveries.

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

I heard 'Place of the Broken and Lost' and was immediatly bought.
I think there's huge request for the 'place that naturally attracts misfits and broken people' trope, cause it's allegorical to how most geeks had gone through the experience of growing up as misfits (either due to geekness itself or to overlapping things like neurodivergence or queerness) then finding out the community.

My immediate association is the song 'Freaks' by Jordan Clarke


Also, I'm always happy to have positive disability representation - both literal and allgeorical.

Ideas for more NPCs:

- The Tightrope Society: A club for people toeing the line between life and undeath - mostly deathtouched and 'banshee' calibans, with the occasional fully-living medium ally or real undead. Set next to a mistway to Mordentshire, so Micheal Jendalis sometimes visits when he has time off.

- A while ago I came up with the character of Liko, a teenage writer and telepath from Paridon using random though they picked up from strangers on the way to school as inspiration for Spoken Word pieces, not knowing these abilities are an early manifestation of their dread doppleganger powers.
Maybe later on Liko would escape Paridon's corrupted dopplganger clans and come to Kenshin! Probably the best possible ending for them that doesn't require changing the entire domain. Expect them to occasionally pose as people from various walks of life simply for book research, but never resorting to violence for that.

- A broken one who actually wanted to become one. She was born human in Lamordia and kinda always felt like a sea mammal, so one day after a lot of consideration she went to Mordenheim and was like 'how much would it cost me to transition into a humanoid seal?' and he was like 'weird request, but who am I to judge?'. Her family and hometown were less cool about it. She isn't insane, just a little quirky, and raising the unpopupar question of what's really the harm in someone identifying as an animal.

- A scholar who went mad trying to research some sort of cosmic horror, now has their sanity partially restored with emphasis on partially. Now trying to move on with life despite their brain constantly telling them it's all meaningless.

- A redeemed Adam (He's too grey to be a darklord in the first place, and 5e replaces him with a darklady inspired by Mordenheim, so my headcanon is that at some point he gave up revenge and was freed by the Mists) trying to overcome his childhood trauma and make friends.

- This calls for a Gravity Falls crossover, so Ford spending some time here during his years of wandering across the multiverse, maybe looking for a way to trap Bill Cipher in a domain of dread, making him the DP's problem rather than his own. He'd played Ravenloft adventures in college and always ascribed to the philosophy that it's a cardboard world filled with fake people designed only to torture the darklord amd his scheme is built on that assumption, so he'd run into a serious dilemma when he realises that this would create an entire land with real people who'd likely suffer under both Bill and a host of other monsters.

Question: who or what does the Church of the New Moon worship?

[edised]

Great ideas for npcs! I imagine there are a few broken ones among the people of the domain.

the church is worships the moon goddess, the one who blessed the holy moon stone, that has helped them tame the beast. Funny thing is they are unsure who that is, they are kind-of making it up as they go along, incorporating varies lunar doctrine from found books. The big thing they do is fellowship with lycanthropes, self improvement and support. A bit like AA for werewolves.

Npc lycanthropes:
Jean-Luke: a warerat criminal and thief belonging to a gang, he had to pay for his fellows ambitions when a job crossed the wrong people, he had to flee for his life. Now he keeps an eye out for other thieves and appraise jewelry.

Piares DuBuwa: warerat noble, a talent at music and art opened many doors for him in high society, he gained influence in court but only used it as a trend setter. His much more ambitious family seeing him both an opportunity and a hinderance to the ear of power, so set out to remove him, not being a complete moron he fled with money. He has become a patron of the arts

Bingo: a gnome ware-goat(yes I made it up)a tinker and clock maker, he has some deep trauma (involving Klorr or Mecnish) made him jumpy and nervous, he suffers from chronic nightmares. He can be ante social and stubborn and short with people.

Olof: ware-bear druid, an outlander his arrival in Ravenloft was traumatic, and he found all lycanthropes are monsters here, and the land seems wrong. He was hunting by monster hunters until he escaped to kinshin.

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

I have a darklord!

A psionic giant who was raised by humans, but as soon as she grew up and realised her full size and strength, started thinking all smaller creatures inferior to her and their lives completely meaningless, literally stepping down on anyone and anything that stood in her way to world domination.
Her torment is that she grew so big she no longer has place on the earth - especially on the limited surface of her domain - and was removed into its outer space, orbiting Kenshin as a moon. Her unwillingness to make place for other people leaves her alone in the vaccum, able to communicate only through the manipulation of curses. She tells herself she doesn't give a damn about the pathetic mortals finding their way into her land, but secretly wishes to be one of them, so she settles on having them worshipping her.

[edised]

I have a darklord!

A psionic giant who was raised by humans, but as soon as she grew up and realised her full size and strength, started thinking all smaller creatures inferior to her and their lives completely meaningless, literally stepping down on anyone and anything that stood in her way to world domination.
Her torment is that she grew so big she no longer has place on the earth - especially on the limited surface of her domain - and was removed into its outer space, orbiting Kenshin as a moon. Her unwillingness to make place for other people leaves her alone in the vaccum, able to communicate only through the manipulation of curses. She tells herself she doesn't give a damn about the pathetic mortals finding their way into her land, but secretly wishes to be one of them, so she settles on having them worshipping her.

Thise is close to what I was thinking of, but also nothing like it.vary odd though.

VIEW CONTENT:

Ok can I be honest, I hate it. Like to a weird level of hate

Thematically the darklord is isolated and alone, broken, bitter and hateful. The only one in the domain that stays “broken”, thay can’t and won’t fix themselves. and remember there lose, of how far they fell. Watching as outcasts rises out of the muck, making art out of garbage. They are tormented by the fact the lesser are prosperous, the broken can be repaired, and they are alone on there mountain top.

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

I have a darklord!

A psionic giant who was raised by humans, but as soon as she grew up and realised her full size and strength, started thinking all smaller creatures inferior to her and their lives completely meaningless, literally stepping down on anyone and anything that stood in her way to world domination.
Her torment is that she grew so big she no longer has place on the earth - especially on the limited surface of her domain - and was removed into its outer space, orbiting Kenshin as a moon. Her unwillingness to make place for other people leaves her alone in the vaccum, able to communicate only through the manipulation of curses. She tells herself she doesn't give a damn about the pathetic mortals finding their way into her land, but secretly wishes to be one of them, so she settles on having them worshipping her.

Thise is close to what I was thinking of, vary odd though.
Thematically the darklord is isolated and alone, broken, bitter and hateful. The only one in the domain that stays “broken” , thay can’t and won’t fix themselves and remember there lose, of how far they fell. Watching as outcasts rises out of the muck, making art out of garbage.

Yeah
My idea is weird intentionally. I wanted a darklord that stands out even in a domain full of weirdos. So it had to be either the only normal person there, or someone who's 'eldritch abomination' levels of weird.

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

Or - Wait, have you read The Stormlight Archive?
Cause that's Moash. He had a terrible backstory, really, but so did everyone else in Bridge Four. Everyone else was eventually willing to move on and start their healing process - only he stayed fixated on revenge, betrayed his friends in every possible way and grew obssessed with dragging Kaladin down to his level - but he still blames what happened to him in choices that were very much his own.
He even has a clear 'act of ultimate darkness' in the eyes of the fandom

VIEW CONTENT:

killing Teft

, even though canonically he stays active in the same world afterwards...

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

Another NPC:
Gnome ceremorph. Was seperated from his adventuring party when they were kidnapped into Bluetspur, so the next time they saw him was after the ceremorphosis was completed and they didn't know their mindflayer lore so they were like 'he's a monster now, we have to run' and left him alone in the wasteland before he could explain he still remembers and loves them.

[edised]

Another NPC:
Gnome ceremorph. Was seperated from his adventuring party when they were kidnapped into Bluetspur, so the next time they saw him was after the ceremorphosis was completed and they didn't know their mindflayer lore so they were like 'he's a monster now, we have to run' and left him alone in the wasteland before he could explain he still remembers and loves them.

So he kept his mind, I know that is rare so can’t blame them. I find it funny to imagine a tiny mind flayer.

Idea for him: he was a vary learned fellow, a alchemist or wizard, maybe a doctor, he still has a trust for knowledge (when he first said this people got uncomfortable, he realized the implications later,but it has become a inside joke) so he set up a lab in a nautilode (mindflayer Spelljammer)and helps with his expertise. He has learned to live with his new diet, the butchers happy as the brain is not the most popular part of the animal.

New subject: all domains have dangers and kinshin is no different. It is safer then most but has its share of dangers. The mist tide is the biggest in the domain, if someone is out in it you could disappear. As well as some of the things the tide brings are dangerous, cursed objects and or dangerous creatures on occasion.

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

Another NPC:
Gnome ceremorph. Was seperated from his adventuring party when they were kidnapped into Bluetspur, so the next time they saw him was after the ceremorphosis was completed and they didn't know their mindflayer lore so they were like 'he's a monster now, we have to run' and left him alone in the wasteland before he could explain he still remembers and loves them.

So he kept his mind, I know that is rare so can’t blame them. I find it funny to imagine a tiny mind flayer.

Idea for him: he was a vary learned fellow, a alchemist or wizard, maybe a doctor, he still has a trust for knowledge (when he first said this people got uncomfortable, he realized the implications later,but it has become a inside joke) so he set up a lab in a nautilode (mindflayer Spelljammer)and helps with his expertise. He has learned to live with his new diet, the butchers happy as the brain is not the most popular part of the animal.

New subject: all domains have dangers and kinshin is no different. It is safer then most but has its share of dangers. The mist tide is the biggest in the domain, if someone is out in it you could disappear. As well as some of the things the tide brings are dangerous, cursed objects and or dangerous creatures on occasion.

Some of the people would be dangerous too when they first arrive. Folks who are under a curse, or not fully in control of their actions.
Also, maybe part of the danger is that the clear, instinctive line between 'normal' and 'monstrous' doesn't exist. In other realms, if you find out someone is a vampire, you'd be scared, but you'd know you should run away then find a way to kill them. In Kenshin, the odds of meeting an evil vampire with no qualms about draining people to death are pretty much equal to those of meeting a kind vampire genuinely trying to keep others safe from himself, and it's not like they'd tell you which is which.

[edised]

Yes true, usually people are called to kinshin, but sometimes vary unsavory persons come out of the mists, or the vary lost show up. The mists are vary active in the domain.

The landscape I think is also strange with some biomes stitch together, different grasslands, rocky hills, a fiord, a forest that turns to jungle the land is like a quilt. the weather is mostly mild but can be harsh in the winter.

Also I’d like to say, I have added much to my first post and hope you noticed

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

Yes true, usually people are called to kinshin, but sometimes vary unsavory persons come out of the mists, or the vary lost show up. The mists are vary active in the domain.

The landscape I think is also strange with some biomes stitch together, different grasslands, rocky hills, a fiord, a forest that turns to jungle the land is like a quilt. the weather is mostly mild but can be harsh in the winter.

Also I’d like to say, I have added much to my first post and hope you noticed

I've seen the edits now, very interesting.
I have a new idea too:

A week ago I ran a one-shot for a small convention in my city, and I wanted to make the story about a local haunted house. (I generally love writing urban fantasy that happens in place I know personally. It feels a lot more real this way.) So I googled up 'haunted houses in Jerusalem', but found out that despite my city's very rich history, we're kinda lacking on that area - because by the time a place is abandoned for long enough to get a 'haunted' reputation, one organisation or another would be like "Hey! Here's a house nobody uses! Let's fix it up and turn it into center for social projects and indie artists and stuff!" and very quickly it'll turn into a very cool but not-haunted place. And like, on the one hand, let houses be haunted! The city needs places that don't serve a purpose other than to give rise to legends. But on the other hand, there's something very optimistic about this phenomenon. Nowhere stays cursed forever, even the most god-forgotten ruin can turn into a place of cheer and song. Some of my favourite places to hang out in started like that.
(Eventually I did the one-shot about a place that already made that transition a few years ago, only to find out the ghosts were hiding there all along and one of them is really determined to ruin their yearly music festival for some reason. It was fun.)

So I think that for a place that's all about the lost and broken finding a new place in the world, this could be a really interesting location idea. A haunted house, or even something weirder like the lair of a destroyed lich or a crashed spaceship, that people are trying to turn into a community center of some sort. They have some really cool ideas, but they'd have to first get rid of - or make peace with - the monsters, spirits and abnormalities that currently inhabit the building.

[edised]

I love this, that is an awesome idea!
I am glad you like what I added to the first post.

I love this domain is a theme of change and mending.
Need help figuring out the darlord backstory, they are alone on a mountain top, in a broken palace where they can watch all the land.
Seeing others succeed and grow. To build from the ashes, crafting kingdoms from garbage and opportunities from pain.They hate it, it shows there worldview wrong. That the broken can be mended and the lowly can rise. That the discarded can be of use and nothing is truly useless unless you have no imagination.
I am unsure how much they can control the domain but they feel little control of it. Any one have ideas for powers for the darklord.

[edised]

I am adding one of the original aspects I did not add I don’t know if it will change.

The natives of kinshin: the wildmen (if they have a different name no one has heard it) they have a Stone Age level of technology. They seem human with olive skin and dark hair (think Greek or Mediterranean) They were there before any settlers came, and have been a hostile element ever since. Some people believe them to be a primitive savage backward people, with vile intentions and unending bloodlust. That they are little more than rabid animals that need to be put down.
More cool headed individuals have tried to make peace with them, believing that understanding is the key to coexistence. Such endeavors have failed and led to death.
The truth is the bigots are not wrong, and the first mistake in dealing with them is to believe they are rational. The wildmen hate anyone not them, with an instinctive rage. It brings them together like nothing else to kill the other. This hate is the main unifying force for them and the only reason they cooperate outside family groups. They are brutal and with out mercy, but a good thing is they are stupid. The wildmen are a contradiction, are they a people who act like animals or animals that look like people. Really it seems like they had all the humanity removed leveling only worse human qualities (cruelty, hate self destruction) and add all the animal savagery and survival of the fittest self interest.

[TheArcaneWeirdo]

I am adding one of the original aspects I did not add I don’t know if it will change.

The natives of kinshin: the wildmen (if they have a different name no one has heard it) they have a Stone Age level of technology. They seem human with olive skin and dark hair (think Greek or Mediterranean) They were there before any settlers came, and have been a hostile element ever since. Some people believe them to be a primitive savage backward people, with vile intentions and unending bloodlust. That they are little more than rabid animals that need to be put down.
More cool headed individuals have tried to make peace with them, believing that understanding is the key to coexistence. Such endeavors have failed and led to death.
The truth is the bigots are not wrong, and the first mistake in dealing with them is to believe they are rational. The wildmen hate anyone not them, with an instinctive rage. It brings them together like nothing else to kill the other. This hate is the main unifying force for them and the only reason they cooperate outside family groups. They are brutal and with out mercy, but a good thing is they are stupid. The wildmen are a contradiction, are they a people who act like animals or animals that look like people. Really it seems like they had all the humanity removed leveling only worse human qualities (cruelty, hate self destruction) and add all the animal savagery and survival of the fittest self interest.

Why are they like this? Did they used to be anything more? And if this whole land is about mending the broken, is there hope for them too?