Question about Von Zarovich family tree

[Lord Soth]

Ok, supposedly, Sturm missed Sergei's wedding and survived, which is where the current Von Zarovich's spread from. However, according to some recent sources (I assume recent, as they're new to me), Sturm didn't miss the wedding. Rather, that was a story spread by Strahd so that he could assume Sturm's name immediately after the wedding to take his vengeance on the Dilisnyas. So my question is this...

If Sturm did make it to the wedding, and died along with everyone else, where do all the modern day Von Zarovich's come from, then? Are they all direct descendants of Strahd? Did Strahd pop out a couple of Dhampir children with some local wench and, over time, the bloodline reverted back to human? Just wondering. Thanks.

Edit: One more question. This time about Von Zarovich's from Legacy of the Blood. Can only humans be a Von Zarovich? For example, can one have a Half-Elf, Half-Vistani, or Caliban who's a Von Zarovich, with the +2 Int and Von Zarovich Curse in addition to racial attributes? I was curious about that, too.

[Jack of Tears]

Do to the Xenophobic nature of Borovia, I doubt you'll see any half-elves. Particularly, the noble line of VonZarovich should be above cavorting with such creatures; at least, there would be no recognized half breeds in the family. If some VonZarovich decided to have himself a one night fling with a particularly striking and exotic elf wench, that might be another story.

Even less likely - in fact I'd say downright impossible - is a half-vistani of the VonZarovich blood. The Vistani have a very unique relationship with Strahd and know more about him (and Ravenloft in general) than anyone else alive. (or dead, most likely) I cannot imagine a Vistani propogating with the bloodline of any RL lord - which I believe they would quite likely recognize, considering their very interesting relationship with the domains.

Calibans ... from what I understand of them (and mind you that is very little, since I didn't purchase the 3E RL material - I'd bought it all twice already and hate 3E) are merely deformed humans, right? They're the Quasimodos and Elephant men of Ravenloft, if I recall - accidents of birth or victims of a cursed bloodline. If that is correct, then there is no reason there shouldn't be a VonZarovich Caliban, though he'd certainly be kept out of sight. (though Strahd is a practical figure in many regards [baring his curse] and would be willing to make use of a Caliban family member - in fact, he might embrace the individual [secretly, of course] and give him or her a sense of belonging so the poor wretch fealt obligated to further Strahd's goals abroad. Someone once made an observation about Strahd I found particularly appropriate, he said "Strahd is still the eternal warlord, aside from his curse, every decision he makes is a tactical one.")

[Jack of Tears]

>>Dhampir children <<


By the way, were Dhampirs ever officially added to the RL setting? Because, you know, undead vampires shouldn't be able to impregnate anyone - their bodies aren't producing semen any longer and anything they had left would be long dead.

Vampyres, now, might be capable of such - as they are living creatures.

[Jester of the FoS]

I believe that House of Strahd implied Sturm had survived and propogated. That's at least 3 sources.

And vampires shouldn't be able to walk, talk or turn into bats logically. I think having working sperm is a small leap to make.

[Luke Fleeman]

The classically Dhampyr wasn't necessarily a production of just super-sperm (sorry ) but was borne of the undying, lustful, profane thirst for their partner in life. A vampire couldn't just go around knocking everyone up. It was about that love from beyond the grave.

In reference to the original question, keep in mind that traditionally, most noble families had more than one branch. It is reasonable to assume a minor branch of cousins may have begat more kin.

[cure]

It's a Dhampyr the result of the blood exchange ritual cut short?

[Sorti]

It's a Dhampyr the result of the blood exchange ritual cut short?

No, that's the Vorlog

[NeoTiamat]

Strangely enough, Dhampires are actually part of the myths and legends surrounding vampires (or at least so I seem to remember). There were actually a fair number of charlatans wandering around the middle ages claiming to be Dhampire and killing invisible vampires in exchange for money.


Dhampire show up in Denizens of Dread, although I prefer the Librum Mortis version.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

Sturm did miss the wedding and survive, as did his wife. AFAWK, all the living Von Zaroviches in Ravenloft are descended from them; the Barov IV who appears (briefly) in the last Grand Conjuction module is probably the descendent of a younger brother of Barov I -- i.e. an uncle of Strahd -- who was left behind on the Material Plane.

Strahd did impersonate Sturm to lead the Von Zarovich vassals in a pogrom against the Dilisnyas ... but only because the real Sturm (according to "I, Strahd") was more of a manager-type than a warrior, hence wasn't up to the task. Besides, Strahd would hardly leave his vengeance in the hands of someone else. Strahd evidently chose to let reports of his "death" at the hands of Leo's soldiers stand, so his undead nature would remain a secret and his reputation as a "valiant, martyred war hero" would be preserved. Hence, the impersonation.

[NeoTiamat]

Probably the best summation of the situation that can be said. Better then I could at any rate. Kudos Rotipher.

[ChrisNichols]

Sturm is listed as surviving and founding the remaining Von Zarovich line in the family trees from the Black Box.

Whoever claimed that Sturm died is mistaken.

Chris Nichols

[Luke Fleeman]

To be fair, stuff has happened since those lines were written. And the family lines do not specify that the person is still in Ravenloft or not.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

It doesn't say it outright, but the "Bloodlines" tree does include (post-351) years of death for both Sturm and his wife. Since the Black Box family trees are ostensibly from an in-character book of genealogies produced in the Land of Mists, this strongly implies that they didn't remain on the Material Plane. Else, how would a geneologist in Ravenloft have known their exact death-dates?

[NeoTiamat]

Well, one way it could happen (and this is actually how I assumed it did happen) was that while Sturm was left behind in Material Barovia (well, not in Barovia per se but in the same plane), other Von Zaroviches have since come to the Demiplane of Dread (I kinda assumed Lyssa Von Zarovich was an example of this actually). Such new-comers would obviously know when Sturm died, and thus the timeline could have easily been updated.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

It's a possibility, but it's rather overcomplicating things IMO. Tracing the family line back to a single founder is convenient, it means that every one of the Ravenloft VZs has an equal relationship to Strahd -- hence, an equal "share" in the family taint -- and it might even help to explain why the Von Zaroviches haven't successfully spread all over the Core, like the Dilisnyas did, despite being just as old and ambitious a family as their ancient enemies.

Just thought I'd add, in case anyone was inclined to track the references to Lyssa's place on the VZ family tree, that the various descriptions of Lyssa von Zarovich's relationship to the rest of the family contain one whopper of a contradiction.

On the one hand, the original description of Lyssa (from the Bluetspur module) casts her as Strahd's grand-niece, and a granddaughter of Sturm. On the other, later references call her the daughter of Ana von Zarovich and Todd Heitmann ... who lived more than two centuries after Sturm died! Apparently, whoever wrote up Lyssa's background failed to notice this discrepancy, having overlooked the gap in the VZ "Bloodlines" family tree between the 4th century and the 7th.

Personally, I resolved this IMC by leaving Lyssa as Sturm's grandaughter, but saying she claims to be Ana and Todd's long-lost descendent to obscure her true origins and age, when passing for mortal. This fits best with her personality, IMO: supposedly, Lyssa'd been raised to despise Strahd in her mortal life, yet LotB casts the vast majority of living Von Zaroviches as loyal to their darklord; tracing her back to the 4th century, when the family still remembered and mourned the loss of Sergei and had yet to realize how futile it was to resent or oppose Strahd, makes a lot more sense.

This also resolves the question of why Lyssa's surname isn't Heitmann, instead.