Arak (Domain)

Arak (Domain)
File:Arak.png
Culture Level	Medieval (7)
Ecology	Full
Climate & Terrain	Mountains, Hills
Year Formed	575
Population	24,000
Races (%)	Arak 40% (teg 7%, powrie 7%, brag 7%, muryan 6%, shee 4%, sith 4%, alven 2%, fir 2%, portune 1%), changelings 25%, other 35%.
Languages	Arak, Sylvan, Balok, Darkonese, Mordentish, Tepestani, Vaasi.
Religions	Church of the Spider Queen
Government	Hereditary aristocracy.
Ruler(s)	Maeve the Faerie Queen and Loht the Prince of Shadows
Darklord(s)	Gwydion the Sorcerer-Fiend
Nationality
Analog
Related Categories
Locations in Arak (Domain)
Transportation in Arak (Domain)
Inhabitants of Arak (Domain)
Former Inhabitants of Arak (Domain)
Flora of Arak (Domain)
Fauna of Arak (Domain)
Native Monsters of Arak (Domain)

Arak was a land in the northeast of the Core that was formed in 575 BC and ceased to exist in 740 BC. At the time of its creation, northern Barovia stood on its southern frontier. In 579 BC Darkon formed on its northern frontier. A road ran between them, terminating in the south at the eastern end of the Old Svalich Road and probably terminating in the north at the Tempe Road just west of Tempe Falls. By 682 BC, if not earlier, contact with Barovia was lost, for Nova Vaasa formed on the southern frontier of Arak. In 683 BC, the Nightmare Lands became Arak's eastern neighbour. And finally in 691 BC, Tepest became its western neighbour. In geological terms, Arak lay at the heart of the Mountains of Misery. Its northern frontier cut across the northern flank of Mount Nirka, its western frontier cut across the western foothills of the Mountains of Misery, its southern frontier was the southern limit of the Forgotten Hills, and its eastern frontier was the eastern limit of the eastern foothills of the Mountains of Misery. At its centre stood awe-inspiring Mount Nyid, very likely the highest peak in the Land of Mists. Mount Nyid and its sister Mount Nirka were inactive volcanos that today anchor the Mountains of Misery to the southwest and to the northeast respectively. The surface was inhabited by the Arakian and by other humans, mostly immigrated from Darkon. Below the surface dwelt the true rulers of the land, the Arak. They were shadow fey who lived in a kingdom of caves, tunnnels, and chambers, hidden from the lethal rays of the sun.

Life accross the surface of Arak was eradicated in 588 BC by a sandstorm without precedent that scoured the land clean in an event recorded as the Scourge of Arak. Dwarves familiar with the region maintain that an entire mountain was carried off and deposited in the newly formed domain of Keening. The land was left barren and the road ruined. In the decades that followed Arak acquired the blackest of reputations. It is, for example, universally held that anyone who dared spend the night in the land was carried off before dawn, presumablly by the shadow fey.

In 740 BC the Arak and their kingdom were dragged west by Gwydion in a bid to escape its imprisonment within the Obsidian Gate. The Land of Mists tore open, the bottom of the immense gash becoming a new land of the Arak and the top of the gash being sealed against the light of day by roiling black mists. The disappearance of the land of Arak as such, permitted the subsumption of the Mountains of Misery and the Forgotten Hills into Darkon, moving the Darkonese frontier south to that of Nova Vaasa.

Afterward, it became known gradually that those who dared spend the night in what was formerly Arak no longer systematically failed to return. And those who lived to return had been beset by things other than fey. Fey incursion into surrounding lands from what was formerly Arak naturally ceased, which did Tepest no good at all for the chief fracture leading out of the Shadow Rift proved to be in that land. The reputation of the Mountains of Misery and its foothills for being fey haunted lessened with the passing of the years. The Forgotten Hills, in particular, became a hideout for intrepid or desperate bandits, arguably making the northern frontier of Nova Vaasa a more dangerous place, especially along the East Timori Road and the Vaughn Dnar River from the Tepestani frontier to the Trished River and even beyond. And Darkon could begin work on the Strigos Road which, when complete, will join the East Timori Road at Liara in Nova Vaasa to the Argenteus Road and the Tempe Road just east of Tempe Falls. The new road follows the course of the old.

The land itself has been slow to recover from its scouring in 588 BC. It support grass, scrubs, and spike plants, but not trees. The landscape is desolate and windswept. As of 740 BC, wildlife included incests and spiders, often of prodigious size, and unnature things such as ettencaps and hell hounds. In 750 BC, Mount Nirka and Mount Nyid became active once more.

Data from the Ravenloft Catalogue

		Realm of Terror
		Secrets of the Dread Realms - pp33-34 Ravenloft Third Edition - pp13,14,17,19 Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium III - p24 Ravenloft Campaign Setting:Domains and Denizens - pp21,89-91 Realm of Terror - pp61-62 Servants of Darkness - pp59-60 I, Strahd, The War Against Azalin - pp206-216
		Realm of Terror - poster map