Lev Dilisnya

Lev Dilisnya was born in 620 BC, very probably in northern Mordent on the Dilisnya Estate where he would have grown up. The Dilisnya family had spent over two centuries hiding itself from the wrath of Count Strahd von Zarovich within the narrow confines of Barovia. The annexation of Mordent by the Mists in 579 BC opened an outlet for migration to the west. That outlet widened with the incorporation of Gundarak in 593 BC and of Invidia in 603 BC. Leo, descended from Leo Dilisnya, was the son of one of the first Dilisnyas to establish himself and his family openly in the domain of Mordent. Lev married Elena Almeida and she bore him three children, Yakov Dilisnya and Oleska Dilisnya in 640 BC and Stepan Dilisnya in 650 BC. Elena died in 651 BC. Within a year, Lev had taken Anna Kurdzeil as his second wife. She bore him two children, Richtor Dilisnya in 658 BC and Camille Dilisnya in 662 BC. Lev began an affair with Niki Romanoff, resulting in the birth of in 659 BC of a child whom he appears to not have recognised publicly as his own and who conceivable lives to this day. Likewise, Anna began an affair with Tadeusz Paldo, resulting in the birth in 667 BC of a child whom Lev may have mistaken for his own and who died with the rest of the children in 698 BC. There would be seven grandchildren, including Clifford Dilisnya and Virginia Dilisnya, both werewolves, and Anton Boritsi, Ivana Boritsi and Sulo Boritsi, not werewolves. Lev, his wives and their children lived in the luxurious manor built by his father on the Dilisnya Estate in northern Mordnet.

The subsequent fortune of Lev and his branch of the Dilisnya family would be shaped by his daughter Camille. She discover that Siegfried Grymig, her husband, was having an affair with Maria Diazi and poisoned both to death in what would soon prove to be the seminal event that gave birth to Borca. The Mordentish authorities failed to solve the mystery of the murders, although the truth of the matter is now an open secret. As a precaution however, Lev and Anna sent Camille to distant relatives in Invidia. En route, she was seized by the Mists and Borca was formed with her as its darklord. It is probable that Lev and Anna immigrated to Borca in the years following its formation in 684 BC, at once invited by Camille and drawn by the prospect of being recognised as nobles of Borca. In 698 BC, the Dilisnya family gathered for the funeral of Camille's fourth husband, Oleh Fortich. Camille was persuaded that her family had been conspiring to kill her. She proceeded to poison to death the nigh entirety of her branch of the Dilisnyas, Lev and Anna included.

Lev had been, like many Dilisnyas, a competent poisoner and poisonmaker. Indeed, Camille had been introduced to these arts by her father. The rest of the children would have been likewise intstructed.

The fate of the Dilisnya Estate in Mordent is unclear. If Lev and Anna had accepted Camille's invitation and immigrated to Borca, it may have been sold. If Lev and Anna had refused the invitation and remained in Mordent, Camille, as their only surviving child, would have been first in line to lay claim to it. Her role in their deaths, which the authorities of Mordent could not have ignored in good conscience, might have comprised that claim however. Clifford Dilisnya and Virginia Dilisnya, the children of her brother Richtor Dilisnya, would have been next in line for the property.

Data not yet in the Ravenloft Catalogue

		Domains of Dread
		Realm of Terror - p121 Ravenloft Gazetteer Volume IV -p16