Ordinary things not found in Ravenloft

[Rotipher of the FoS]

While working on the sea monster netbook, it occurred to me that, just as some things in Ravenloft don't exist outside it, there are also things from the real world that Ravenloft's natives have never encountered. In the new VRF book, for example, I'm trying to restrict use of the word "ocean" to OOC sidebars and titles. Why? Because there are no oceans in the Land of Mists, just seas. Weird, but true.

This got me wondering what other things Ravenloft's natives won't have heard of, except from outlanders whom they probably consider wacko. Aside from oceans, what things or concepts are missing from Ravenloft, which an IRL person from a comparable historical era would have heard of?

Some others that occured to me, besides "ocean":

Poles or polar regions
Equator or equatorial climate
Lattitude & longitude
Genuine hurricanes/cyclones (as opposed to hurricane-force storms)
Biblical-derived concepts like "antediluvian" or "messianic"
IRL history-based terms like "antebellum" or "Renaissance"

[maglaurus]

There's no defined "New World" and "Old World".
No real "Hemispheres" of which to speak.
No consistent positioning of stars (could make navigation miserable).
No cultural ages of "Enlightenment" or "Reasoning"
No "Cradle of Civilization".

[LouisVendredi]

A PC in my game from Har'Akir would beg to differ about the "Cradle of Civilization" bit. Of course another PC from Paridon replied, "If you're so civilized, why haven't you invented pants yet?"

[Isabella]

Biblical-derived concepts like "antediluvian" or "messianic"

I don't even want to think about trying to remove all Biblical concepts or influence from the Core.

[NeoTiamat]

Colonialism, I'd say. Also warfare in general seems a lot trickier in Ravenloft, what with domain closings. Strahd taking over Gundarak seems to be the lone exception.

That said, there's oodles of false history, and who's to say that many of the myths don't look like IRL ones? After all, they have Earth-gods like Belenus, Arawn, Kali, Tvashtri, Osiris and Anubis, so why not Hercules, Ariadne, and Loki?

[Rotipher of the FoS]

Also warfare in general seems a lot trickier in Ravenloft, what with domain closings.

It's rare, but it has happened. Rokushima is a domain at war with itself, and the Burning Peaks showed what happens when two darklords who can't seal out each others' armies are next-door neighbors.

[Manofevil]

I'd say inter-realm criminal practices would be a lot more tricky than IRL. Hard to move an illegal shipment across the border if the mists rise and send it someplace else.

[High Priest Mikhal]

I'm not so sure, MOE. The Boritsi Trading Company is undoubtedly up to smuggling, illegal trade, and other not-so-nice activities. They're just the most prominent example. If regular trade activity can continue, the illegal kind will always be right there with it. It's just a lot riskier due to the Mists. But then never underestimate greed or the human appetite for things that are "taboo."

[Paladyn]

I'd say inter-realm criminal practices would be a lot more tricky than IRL. Hard to move an illegal shipment across the border if the mists rise and send it someplace else.

I think you little overdestimate concept of closing borders. Do you really thin Azalin would be raising his undead armies to stop smuggling some bottles of foreign alcohol? After all, closing borders is a little rare event, not seen everyday, isn't it?

[Band2]

I would image that a lot of food would not be found in Ravenloft.

No maize/ corn; coffee, tea (though they may be tea-like drinks using something other than tea leaves), chocolate, tomatos, many spices.


Some words many have different means as well. Natives may not have the connotation of "primitives" or "aboriginals", and be used more in the context of a native Barovian as opposed to an immigrant.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

coffee, tea (though they may be tea-like drinks using something other than tea leaves), chocolate, tomatos, many spices

Several of those are available from Vechor, Souragne, Sri Raji and/or Pharazia, IIRC. Not sure about the chocolate, but S mentions corn and potatoes in some of her "Lifestyle" descriptions, suggesting at least some foods which came from the Americas IRL are present in the Core.

[Tykus]

Some others that occured to me, besides "ocean":

Poles or polar regions
Equator or equatorial climate
Lattitude & longitude
Genuine hurricanes/cyclones (as opposed to hurricane-force storms)
Biblical-derived concepts like "antediluvian" or "messianic"
IRL history-based terms like "antebellum" or "Renaissance"

Given that some of the islands and clusters were pullled from equivalent regions, it would stand to reason that Vorostokov and Har'Akir might have local equivalents.

And I would beg to differ on Renaissance. While I doubt that the word exists as capitalized, it probably exists as just a general word in the domains that have High Mordentish (which begs the unrelated question--how can a domain based upon English ghost stories and English weather have German and French as its languages?).

As far as "ocean" goes, what defines a sea? I believe the names of those dread domains is more from the whim of the DPs on alliteration. After all, Nocternal Ocean and Ocean of Sorrows just verbally sounds wrong (hmmm, maybe not for the second).

You're basing your "latitude' and "longitude" on Earth rationality (nothing wrong with that) but your forgetting that the DPs have decreed a magnetic north and sailors do navigate by stars (when they can be seen), not to mention the number of outlanders that have made their way to Rl; a logical outgrowth would be the development or importation of said terms.

Despite RL's resistance to outlanders, some terms are going to get imported. That said, I would agree with you on biblical terms. However, "antediluvian" does warrant mention for the fact that many ancient legends of all the campaigns I've been in has had some Flood-type myth (even Athas). Whether these were canon or not (false false history?), that word might be there.

This post has been brought to you be the the Mist Devil's Advocate.

[HuManBing]

Drusilla tapped me on the shoulder in bed this morning and complained about how it was imPOSSible to find a remote control in Barovian inns.

...

Or, indeed, television sets.

[Nikolas of the Mists]

I'd say inter-realm criminal practices would be a lot more tricky than IRL. Hard to move an illegal shipment across the border if the mists rise and send it someplace else.

I think you little overdestimate concept of closing borders. Do you really thin Azalin would be raising his undead armies to stop smuggling some bottles of foreign alcohol? After all, closing borders is a little rare event, not seen everyday, isn't it?

He wasn't meaning the closing of borders affected smuggling. He meant that when the mists rise, there is no guarantee even on known and travelled mistways you always end up where you want -- unless, of course, you are Vistana.

Closing the borders was mentioned due to the changed nature of interdomain war, not mere criminal practices.

[High Priest Mikhal]

He wasn't meaning the closing of borders affected smuggling. He meant that when the mists rise, there is no guarantee even on known and travelled mistways you always end up where you want -- unless, of course, you are Vistana.

Closing the borders was mentioned due to the changed nature of interdomain war, not mere criminal practices.

Even then the profits outweigh the risks. Being Mist-led is still rare and the prices just go up to compensate for the lost "goods."