Lord Leo Dilisnya
Leo Dilisnya was born to Duchess Dorfniya Dilisnya in Prime Material Barovia in 320 BC. He was the recognised son of Pidlwik Dilisnya, but was in fact fathered by Gunther Cosco. He was the younger brother of Reinhold Dilisnya, Gertrude Dilisnya and Oleka Dilisnya, the grandson of Izabela Dilisnya, and the uncle of at least nine including Lovina Wachter. He inherited from his stepfather a hatred of the von Zaroviches. Pidlwik's mother Izabela Dilisnya had been murdered in 314 BC by either the Katsky family or the Petrovna family. And before she could be adequately avenged by the assassinations of the War of Silver Knives, Count Barov von Zarovich imposed in 316 BC a peace upon the warring families. Pidlwik died in 349 BC, the zon Zaroviches unpunished for their interference. Leo plotted not merely to punish them. He plotted to make himself the ruler of Prime Material Barovia. The von Zaroviches would be wiped out. His ailing brother Reinhold would be installed as Count of Barovia. And after a year or two, Count Reinhold would appear to die of his stomach illness, which was in fact a result of poisoning by his brother. Leo would then succeed Reinhold as Count of Barovia. The Wedding of Sergei von Zarovich was the moment when Leo struck. The massacre turned out to be somewhat wider than initially intended. It would claim his biological father Gunther, his brother Reinhold, his sister Gertrude, her husband Ivan Buchvold, together their three children, and his sister Oleka, together with three of her four children. Count Strahd von Zarovich appeared to be fatally wounded. And The couple to be married, Sergei von Zarovich and his bride Tanyana Ferdernova, were dead before the massacre began, Strahd having murdered Sergi and Tanyana having thrown herself from the castle wall. Leo was far from unpleased with the result. Unfortunately, Strahd rather than expiring peaceably rose up as one of the undead and routed the assassins. The only Dilisnyas to escape Castle Ravenloft were Leo, Reinhold's children and their mother Nadia Yakimov. Leo and his remaining kin went to ground, rightly fearing the vengeance of the vampire that now ruled the realm. Flight to other lands proved impossible, for the Mists had cut off all escape and seized the land as their own. Leo hid himself away in a monastery and prepared for the night when Strahd would come for him. In 398 BC, the Count of Barovia at last came for his most wayward subject. The preparations proved to be inadequate, if only barely so. Strahd ended Leo's life, but not his existence. Strahd made Leo a vampire and then seal him away in a tomb on the Wachter Estate to be driven mad by his hunger before expiring of it. The ultimate fate of Leo is not in fact certain however. The autobiographical I, Strahd is far from a wholly reliable work.
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Ravenloft Third Edition - pp12-13,17 |
