Tepest
Tepest | |
---|---|
Culture Level | Early Medieval (6)[1] |
Ecology | Full[1] |
Climate & Terrain | Temperate forests and hills[1] |
Year Formed | 691 BC[2][3] |
Population | 15,500, not including a population of 2900 goblins[1] |
Races (%) | Humans 99%, Other 1%[1] |
Languages | Tepestani*, Darkonese, Vaasi, Sylvan[1] |
Religions | Church of Belenus*, Church of Ezra, Church of the Lawgiver[1] |
Government | Aristocratic and theocratic independent settlements[1] |
Ruler(s) | No central ruler[1] |
Darklord(s) | The Three Hags of Tepest[4] |
Nationality | Tepestani[1] |
Analog | Salem Witch Trials, fairly tale Ireland, the stories of the Brothers Grimm[5] |
Related Categories | |
Locations in Tepest | |
Transportation in Tepest | |
Inhabitants of Tepest | |
Former Inhabitants of Tepest | |
Flora of Tepest | |
Fauna of Tepest | |
Native Monsters of Tepest |
"It may be a great advance in knowledge not to believe in [Satanic] witches; there is no moral advance in not executing them when you do not think they are there."
--C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
Things, Creatures & Personnages of Legend
This section contains canon info from officially published sources |
- The East Timori Road
- The Descent carved into the face of the Shadow Rift
Biology
Flora
Fauna
- Wolves
Native Horrors
Geography
Weather
Terrain
Mountains and Hills
Tepest is described in the Gazetteer V as mostly averaging between 800 and 800 feet above sea level with a single peak in the north (by northeast) of nearly 1,500 feet.[7] The map from the Black Box edition has most of Tepest at between 501 and 1,000 feet, four or five uplands regions (southeast, south, southwest, north by northeast, and northeast) between 1,000 and 2,500 feet, and with a peak on the north by northeast region climbing over 2,500 feet but not surpassing 5,000 feet. The map from the Red Box edition displays this peak as being of far less significance than Mount Lament (4,730 feet) in the neighbouring domain of Keening.
Canyons
The Shadow Rift, the mother of all canyons
Forests[8]
The forests of Tepest are ancient. The trees are hardwoods, principally oak, beech and hazelnut, with the occasional spruce or pine. Inexplicably, the trees tend to grow strong, healthy, bent and warped all at once, often with gnarled branches that are so twisted as to recall withered hands. They grow so thickly over head as to condemn the forest floor to perpetual gloom.
- The Brujamonte ("Hag's Wood") or Blackwood stands south of Viktal, between the Vaughn Dnar River and the Blackmist River. Both the Vistani and the goblins are said to avoid it, to say nothing of the Tepestani. It is home to the dread treant Blackroot.
- The Goblinwood
- The Tanglewood
- The Wormwood stands south of the South Dnar River in southeastern Tepest and reaches across the frontier into Nova Vaasa where it gradually thins and ultimately gives way to the Elendighedmark ("Plain of Misery"). It harbours goblins, Hala's witches, Vaasi bandits (near its eastern fringes), and the three hag sisters (at is heart) who are the Darklords of Tepest.[9]
- The Wretchwood
- The Wytchwood
Lakes
The Kronov which never freezes
Communication
Rivers
Dnar River System
The Sydligdnar ("South Dnar River") is navigable, although not without difficulty in both directions owing to its current, with small ships between the Nocturnal Sea and the docks at Kantora. With the right winds, the Sydligdnar can be sailed. Otherwise it must be rowed. The Vaughn Dnar and the Dnar are too deep to be forded as they merge to form the Sydligdnar. Bridges consistent with small ships pose a manifest engineering problem, but none are mentioned, so ferry service for river crossings would make sense. A ferry service is known to exist between the docks of Kantora and the port of Guldstrand Beach on the sea at the foot of Egertus.
The Vaughn Dnar River is navigable, although surely with progressively smaller craft as one climbs past the Borchava River and the Trished River on the way to Liara. The Vaughn Dnar is not navigable in Tepest as its waters plunge through shallow but sinuous and boulder strewn gorges.
The East Timori Road remains on the south shore of the Vaughn Dnar from Kantora until just after the Trished River, inviting the hypothesis that at that point either the Vaughn Dnar becomes fordable or has a bridge thrown across it that doesn't greatly harm river traffic. To reach that point, the East Timori Road crosses the Borchava River, suggesting that the Borchava is either more fordable than the Vaughn Dnar or that a bridge thrown across the Borchava would do less harm to river traffic than one thrown over the Vaughn Dnar. In Liara there is at least one bridge over the Vaughn Dnar. There are four ancient stone bridges built over the river between the Tepestani frontier and Lake Kronov.
- The Trished River
- The Little Borchava River
- The Borchava River has as its tributary the Little Borchava River
- The Vaughn Dnar River has as its tributary the Trished River and Borchava River
- The Dnar River
- The Sydligdnar ("South Dnar River") has as its tributaries the Vaughn Dnar River and the Dnar River
Roads
- The East Timori Road runs from Egertus, through Kantora and Liara, and into Tepest where it is cut short by the Shadow Rift.
Note: Efforts, subject to continual sabatoge, are underway to cut a road through Tepest and Keening to the Strigos Road in Darkon.
Fractures
Principe one to and from Shadow Rift
Landmarks
Frontiers
Darkon
? The Forgotten Hills
Nova Vaasa
- The Wormwood
- The Vaesen Foothills
The Shadow Rift
? The Vaesen Foothills of northwestern Nova Vaasa are the foothills of the Balinoks from vanished Markovia. They front the Shadow Rift.
Population Distribution
Towns
Villages
Authority
Darklord
- The Three Hags of Tepest - Laveeda, Leticia and Lorinda Mindefisk
Temporal Rule
Legendary
Contempory
Spiritual Rule
Legendary
Contempory
Church and State
Government
Law
Law-Enforcement
Extra-Judicial
Intelligence Gathering
Military Footing
Casus belli
Past
- The Great Upheaval in 740 BC sparked an inquisition against the fey who were its "cause" and in particular where "responsible" for the disappearance of G'Henna and Markovia. This is actually closer to the truth than it appears, for Gwydion the Sorcerer-Fiend literally dragged the kingdom of Niurin Scaa and the Arak with it to its current position, displacing the lands of G'Henna and Markovia in the process.
Present
- Repeated attacks by an unidentified party (or parties) on Vaasi efforts to cut a road through Tepest into Keening and on to the Strigos Road in Darkon. There is discussion among the Nova Vaasans of the need to civilize the Tepestani.
Future
Language & Culture
Gods and Religions
God - Focus - Domains
Inns & Taverns
NPC
Chronology
- (Mythic History) 258 BC (Approx.) The standing stones of Tepest lose their protective blessings of the gods as the fey corrupt the land.[10]
- 691 BC The domain of Tepest appears.[2][3]
- 691 BC-692 BC The winters of these years hit particularly hard, but the nobility of Darkon and Nova Vaasa, especially Tristen Hiregaard, contribute supplies to help the Tepestani people survive.[11]
- 695 BC Meltos, later childhood friend Leobe, is born in Kellee.
- 709 BC In Viktal, Mikhail Kraznik becomes constable.[12]
- 713 BC First traders coming out of G'Henna arrive in Briggdarrow.[13]
- 720 BC Trade going through Tepest hits its highpoint, but soon after begins to decline.[14]
- 725 BC In G'Henna, Mongrelmen capture and murder Jugo Hesketh. He reanimates as a ghast but is chased into Tepest by his former friend Yagno Petrovna.[15]
- 728 BC Gerald Ferrier and his family, originally from Falkovnia, move to Kellee and establish the Hawk's Haven Inn there.[14]
- 728 BC On this approximate year, the Tepestani adopt the Barovian Calendar[16]
- 731 BC Marek Crawford begins his mage hunting career by killing a necromancer in Kellee.[17]
- 733 BC Bryonna is born in Kellee. That same year, Lorelei, daughter of Wyan of Viktal, is born.[18]
- 733 BC Gerald Ferrier, a Falkovnian, assumes leadership of Kellee. His rule would keep Kellee the only place open to outside trade and free from Inquisitor interference in the coming years.[14]
- 740 BC The Great Upheaval. G'Henna and Markovia disappear, seemingly engulfed by the Shadow Rift left in their place. Most of the Tepestani despair the end is nigh, but Wyan preaches it is merely the fey's first strike and declares war on them.[14]
- 741 BC Wyan holds the first trials of the Inquisition.[14]
- 742 BC The Tepestani Inquisition investigate the Black Spire of Watcher's Woods and declare it forbidden for exploration.[19]
- 743 BC The Inquisition has captured the support, even the very hearts, of the Tepestani.[14]
- 744 BC Castle Island forms in Tepest.[13]
- 750 BC The Tepestani Inquisition, under leadership of Wyan, captures Rima and puts her on trial. She is found to be innocent for the crime of consorting with the fey and freed.[20]
- 751 BC Spring In Viktal, Bryonna is set to wed Ivan D'Ogmai However, Lorelei, under manipulation from the Unseelie Court, accuses her of witchcraft. In the chaos of the witch hunt and the ensuing aftermath, Loht tries to acquire the Sword of Arak[21]
- 751 BC When it comes to light of his daughter's manipulation by the fey, Wyan's faith is shaken to his core, and he treats in isolation for several years. The Inquisition's power is dealt a blow it will not recover from until half a decade passes.[22]
- 751 A series of strange and mysterious events occur in Briggdarrow, causing much of the community population to abandon it.[13]
- 756 BC Wyan presides over the wedding of Gerald Ferrier to Tala.[23]
- [756 BC Late Year Gerald Ferrier's wife, along with several of the guests staying at his inn, are murdered by a shapechanger, perhaps a doppelganger. The shapechanger is rooted out and slain before Ferrier's daughter can be sacrificed in an evil ritual.[22]
- 757 BC The Inquisition experiences a resurgence in power and influence following the murders in Kellee.[22]
- 758 BC "S" investigates Tepest. There she encounters the Gentleman Caller.[24]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 Ravenloft Player's Handbook p.159
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Ravenloft Third Edition p.17
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Ravenloft Player's Handbook p.19
- ↑ Domains of Dread p.39
- ↑ Author's Notes on Gazetteer V
- ↑ Tapestry of Dark Souls
- ↑ Ravenloft Gazetteer V, p46.
- ↑ Ravenloft Gazetteer V, p47.
- ↑ Ravenloft Gazetteer V, p47,166.
- ↑ Gazetteer V p. 49
- ↑ Gazetteer V p. 54-55
- ↑ Servants of Darkness p. 13
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Gazetteer V p. 77
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 14.5 Gazetteer V p. 55
- ↑ Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium Appendix I & II p. 25
- ↑ Gazetteer V p. 51; "some thirty years ago" from 758 BC, the in-game year Gaz 5 was publiished
- ↑ Lights in the Fog, Book of Secrets, p.121
- ↑ Servants of Darkness p. 5
- ↑ Quoth the Raven issue 4, p. 37
- ↑ Servants of Darkness p. 22
- ↑ Servants of Darkness p. 2
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 Gazetteer V p. 56
- ↑ Gazetteer V p. 72
- ↑ Gazetteer V p.81-82
Data from the Ravenloft Catalogue
Ravenloft Third Edition | ||
Secrets of the Dread Realms - pp7,51-54 | ||
Secrets of the Dread Realms - pp8-9 |