The Grand Conjunction

(WIP, Please do not edit)

Overview

Also known popularly as the Great Upheaval, the Grand Conjunction is perhaps the most famous and influential conjunction the Land of Mists has ever experienced. Foretold by the dukkar Hyskosa ans triggered by the machinations of Azalin, the Grand Conjunction Demiplane of Dread to its foundations. For a brief time, the domains of Ravenloft (and the Misty Border itself) were busted open, allowing darklords and other evils to spill through into the Material Plane. However, Azalin proved to be his undoing, for his impatience caused his minions to fulfill the last two couplets of the Hyskosa's Hexad. This caused the Conjunction to collapse and the domains to reform, drawing back in their former prisoners.

Background

The events of the Grand Conjunction and those building up to it were a series of modules (see below) that were self-contained but could, with some work, be played together as a campaign. Each of the modules was associated with a particular couplet in they Hyskoska Prophecy.

The dukkar Hyskosa wrote a prophecy and hexad that consisted of six couplets in 735 BC. They are as follows:

• "In the house of Daegon the sorcerer born, Though life, unlife, unliving shall scorn." 1st Verse of Hyskosa's Hexad comes to pass
• "The lifeless child of stern mother found. Heralds a time, night of evil unbound." 2nd Verse of Hyskosa's Hexad comes to pass
• "Seventh time the son of suns doth rise, To send the knave to an eternity of cries." 3rd Verse of Hyskosa's Hexad comes to pass
• "The light of the sky shining over the dead, Shall gutter and fail, turning all to red." 4th Verse of Hyskosa's Hexad comes to pass
• "Inajira will make his fortunes reverse, Dooming all to live with the dreaded curse." 5th Verse of Hyskosa's Hexad comes to pass
• "The bodiless shall journey to the time before, Where happiness to hate creates land and lore."6th Verse of Hyskosa's Hexad comes to pass

Each of the signs of the Hexad corresponded with the following modules as follows:

• 1st Verse of Hyskosa's Hexad comes to pass Feast of Goblyns
• 2nd Verse of Hyskosa's Hexad comes to pass Ship of Horror
• 3rd Verse of Hyskosa's Hexad comes to pass Touch of Death
• 4th Verse of Hyskosa's Hexad comes to pass Night of the Walking Dead
• 6th Verse of Hyskosa's Hexad comes to pass From the Shadows
• 5th Verse of Hyskosa's Hexad comes to pass Roots of Evil

The only two explicitly linked modules were from the Shadows and Roots of Evil, which put played out the 6th and 5th couplets out of order.

Soon after Azalin discovered the prophecy, he sought to force it to occur and hit two birds with one stone. First, he would be able to escape his hated prison. Second, as Strahd was a "linchpin" to the Demiplane's existence, it would result in the vampire's ultimate destruction. This was to Azalin a bonus because they have been hated enemies for hundreds of years.

AS mentioned previously, Azalin's impatience caused his dupes to fulfill the fifth and sixth signs out of order, thereby undoing the Conjunction. However, that is not to say that it did not have dramatic effects within the Demiplane and without.

Geographical Effects of the Grand Conjunction

Despite the closure of the Grand Conjunction, it still reshaped the Core's geography. Some domains "merely" had their shape, borders, and even neighboring domains changed. For example, Valachan rotated 90 degrees during the Grand Conjunction. and gained access to the Sea of Sorrows for the very first time. The Sea of Sorrows itself got its own darklord for the first time.

For other domains, the changes were more drastic. Arkandale, Arak, Arkandale, Dorvinia, and Gundarak, ceased to be, their lands absorbed into or merged with neighboring domains. Bluetspur, G'Henna, and the Nightmare Lands were thrown from the Core and became Islands of Terror. Markovia was displaced but eventually rediscovered as an island in the Sea of Sorrows, its climate and flora visibly changing from temperate to tropical. Perhaps the greatest damage to the Core was the gaping, shadow8y abyss appeared where G'Henna and Markovia formerly were. It is known as the Shadow Rift.

The Islands of Terror did not go without their own changes. Farelle, Sanguinia, and Vechor all disappeared, seemingly destroyed. (However, they would return in later Ravenloft products.) Rokushima Taiyoo and Dominia were formed as a result of the Grand Conjunction.

Some changes wrought (or possibly wrought) by the Grand Conjunction have taken more time. The formation of the Nocturnal Sea from Nebligtode was one such delayed affect. In addition, many of itsislands were previously Islands of Terror The formation of the clusters from initially separate islands of terror seem to indicate new trend for the Demiplane, but the exact meaning of that trend is a mystery. Even whether they are true aftereffects of the the Grand Conjunction remain elusive.

Reaction to the Grand Conjunction

• The chaos convinces Teodorus Raines that the end is nigh. He establishes the Nevuchar Springs Sect of the Church of Ezra in 751 BC.
• Wyan becomes convinced the Grand Conjunction was the work of the malign Fey. Alarmed by what happened to Markovia and G'Henna and to the existence of the Shadow Rift, Wyan organizes the Tepestani Inquisition to fight off the threats the Fey bear upon humanity. Meanwhile, the Tepestani people turn more inward and less friendly to foreigners or foreign ideas.
• Once close when they were apart, close proximity makes Ivana Boritsi and Ivan Dilisnya bitter enemies.
• The Annexation of Gundarak commences as the forces of Strahd and later Gabrielle Aderre move in to conquer the territory formerly belonging to Gundarak.

Summary of Effects

Major Geographical Effects

Absorbed Domains

• Arak was absorbed into Darkon, its "drow" seemingly gone
• Arkandale was absorbed into Verbrek.
• Dorvinia Due to the close proximity of Ivana Boritsi and Ivan Dilisnya at the time the Conjunction concluded, Dorvinia merged into Borca, making both Ivan and Ivana co-darklords.
• Gundarak was absorbed by Barovia and Invidia. (see Dominia, below for Dr. Dominiani's fate)

Displaced Domains

• Bluetspur becomes Island of Terror.
• G'Henna becomes an Island of Terror}
• Markovia becomes an island in the Sea of Sorrows
• the Nightmare Lands becomes an island of terror (or perhaps an island reachable by the Nocturnal Sea.

New Domains

• Dominia, initially an island of terror but later becomes an island in the Sea of Sorrows
• the Nocturnal Sea, expanded from Nebligtode
  • Isle of the Ravens, unseen until the formation of the Nocturnal Sea
  • L'île de la Tempête, new to the Core only, previously an Isle of Terror
  • Liffe, composed of Armeikos, Claveria, and Moondale, previously unplaced locations in the Book of Crypts
• Rokushima Taiyoo, new Island of Terror
• the Shadow Rift, new domain in the Core where G'Henna and Markovia once were

Vanished Domains

• Farelle
• Sanguinia (Eventually joins into the Frozen Reaches cluster with Vorostokov)
• Vechor (Eventually joins the Core as the eastern shore of the Nocturnal Sea)

Data from the Ravenloft Catalogue

		The Ravenloft Campaign Setting Domains of Dread
		Secrets of the Dread Realms - pp13,15,19,50,61 Ravenloft Third Edition - pp14-15,18,19,25 Domains of Dread - pp15, 18, 39 Ravenloft Campaign Setting:Realm of Terror - pp18-19 The Ravenloft Campaign Setting:Domains and Denizens - pp4-5,10,12,21,23,31,34-35,37 Roots of Evil - pp8-9,11,40 Download Now! From the Shadows - p4,19-20 Download Now! Servants of Darkness - pp3,8,12
		The Great Upheaval Great Upheaval Great Upheaval, The Grand Conjunction, The Grand Conjunction