The Great Kingdom of Avonleigh

The Great Kingdom (or more fully, the Great Kingdom of Avonleigh) is a fictional monarchy important to the background of the Shadowlands domain cluster in the Ravenloft Campaign Setting. Though the Great Kingdom itself is an outlander land and therefore not in the Demiplane of Dread (the locale of the Ravenloft campaign setting proper), the Great Kingdom is the homeland of Lady Kateri Shadowborn and her family. As such, events in the Great Kingdom's history have left a strong impact on the Shadowlands and its constituent domains (Avonleigh, Nidala, and Shadowborn Manor.)

This Great Kingdom of the Shadowborn Family should not be confused with the Great Kingdom of Oerth. The matter is treated here: http://fraternityofshadows.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5389

See also Former Inhabitants of the Great Kingdom.

Publication History

Details on the Shadowborn mythos primarily originate from 2nd Edition sources. Kateri Shadowborn and her story in relation to Ebonbane is first mentioned in the accessory Darklords (Sourcebook) (realease date: 1991), and her former companion Elena Faith-hold is described in the accessory Islands of Terror (Sourcebook) (release date: 1992). Both of these mention rough details to events (such as the War of Evil) that might be relevant to the Great Kingdom's history, though the Kingdom is not named in these sources nor really detailed. In the Audio CD included A Light in the Belfry, the homeland of the Shadowborns is referred to as the "land of Avonleigh" (Not to be confused with the domain of Avonleigh, named after the land it was taken from.) A Light in the Belfry is also the first source to mention The Circle (Society), a group of knights formed to defend the Great Kingdom.

The Great Kingdom is first mentioned by name in the Ravenloft novel Shadowborn (release date: 1998), a novelization of an earlier module Bane of the Shadowborn (Release date: 1991). In this novel, the Great Kingdom is named and fleshed out for the first (and only) time. To date, no 3rd Edition or later edition products have revisited the backgrounds of the Shadowlands domains in relation to their homeworld.

It should also be noted that details on the "current day" Great Kingdom are unknown, as most of the information on the Great Kingdom are in relation to what it was like at the time of the first half of the 7th century in the Barovian Calendar. (This is even assuming that time on the Great Kingdom's world matches to a 1-to-1 year basis to the Demiplane of Dread.)

Overview

As of 626 BC, the Great Kingdom of Avonleigh was a kingdom with thirteen provinces including the Province of Avonleigh, the home province of the Shadowborn Family. As of that year, the Great Kingdom had a history of ten decades. The Great Kingdom was formed under the good auspices of the Church of Belenus, the Kingdom's matron church. (Although Belenus' church held strong power in the Great Kingdom, followers of the allied moon goddess Brigit was recognized as one of the "True Gods", except perhaps during Elena Faith-Hold's War of Evil.) The Kingdom's geographical size was enough to encompass a variety of climates, such as its southern provinces were considerably warmer and dryer than its northern ones.

Although the Kingdom is mentioned to have a king and most of the Circle are men, certain elements might indicate a partially matriarchal power structure within the Great Kingdom and especially the Church of Belenus. For example, the Kingdom may follow or have followed matrilineal descent. The sister of Kateri Shadowborn, Lady Victoria Shadowborn, nonetheless kept her maiden name, and her husband, Lord Vincent Shadowborn, shared her surname. In addition, the title of religious leader of the church has been referred to as High Priestess or High Mother.

Since its inception, the Great Kingdom was protected by an order of thirteen paladins, one from each of the Great Kingdom's provinces. Despite this protectorate, the Great Kingdom has not been a stranger to violence. The Borderwood (Great Kingdom) gathered a reputation for housing dangerous brigands and swordsmen. During the Heretical Wars, the southern cities of Letour and Sanschay were sacked and pillaged by the armies of the Southern Empire. Before she was taken by the Mists of Ravenloft in 615 BC, the fanatical Elena Faith-hold, one of the Kingdom's own knights, soaked the land with the blood of many lives lost on her War of Evil, including many who did not deserve to die. In 646 BC, the entire Circle was massacred by Morgoroth shortly before he was taken by the Dark Powers.

Foreign Relations

The Southern Empire was another land to the south. The two kingdoms held some amount of animosity against each other due to the conflicts of the Heretical Wars and maybe the War of Evil. In addition, the Southern Empire followed heretical (by the Church's standards) gods.

The Great Kingdom has had hostile relations with both the Southern Empire in the aforementioned Heretical Wars and with the Sea Raiders of the north. Lady Kateri Shadowborn is thought to have had victories against both powers. On the other hand, the Great Kingdom seems to have good relations with a kingdom to the east (they called the Eastern Kingdom, though the people of the Eastern Kingdom call the Great Kingdom the Western Kingdom). Kateri Shadowborn's magical sword, Corona, was made by the master weaponsmiths of the east.

Chronology

Dates below are annotated (GKA) to indicate events which take place in the Outlander world of the Great Kingdom of Avonleigh. Dates are annotated (RL) to indicate events which take place within Ravenloft.

• 526 BC (GKA): Under the graces of the Church of Belenus, the Great Kingdom is established. Along with it, the Circle, in its original incarnation, is established for the Great Kingdom's protection.

• 608 BC (GKA): Kateri Shadowborn gives birth to Alexi Shadowborn.

• 608 BC (GKA): In the Southern Empire, the Dark Triad summon back to the Prime Material Plane and attempt to bind the fiend Lussimar (also known as Ebonbane) within a magical sword. Although he is imprisoned within the sword, he kills the triad and reanimates them as ghouls. Thereafter, he begins hatching plans to enact his revenge upon Kateri Shadowborn for his original defeat.

• 611 BC (GKA): In her own home of Shadowborn Manor, Lady Kateri Shadowborn is attacked by a monastic possessed by (and wielding in sword-form) Ebonbane. The monastic is enemy turned friend Lysander Greylocks, whom Ebonbane has now killed and reanimated as a ghoul. Ebonbane strikes Kateri dead, but her will is too strong to be defeated. She rises as a ghost, her will binding Ebonbane to her manor.

• 611 BC (RL): Shadowborn Manor is claimed by the Mists.

• 615 BC (GKA): Elena Faith-hold's hands have become stained by the many innocent lives she has taken in her War of Evil. Doubt begins to take root in her mind, bringing her to pray to Belenus for guidance. However, her actions have driven the sun god refuses to answer her, and the Dark Powers answer instead, bringing her to the Demiplane of Dread.

• 615 BC (RL): Seemingly regaining her lost paladin powers, Elena sees her emergence into a new land as a test. Elena begins a new crusade against (what she presumes to be) evil, butchering several villages before becoming darklord. The domain of Nidala forms.

• 626 BC (GKA): Sir Kendall dies, leaving room for Alexi Shadowborn to fill his slot in the Paladins of the Circle. (August or Setember)

• 626 BC (GKA): Vandals begin defiling the tombs and graves in the city of Brimstadt. (September)

• 626 BC (GKA): October The desecration of graves in Brimstadt warrant the intervention of Alexi Shadowborn. He investigates and ambushes the desecraters. He discovers the desecraters are to be ghouls marked with a death's head emblem, (unknown to Alexi at the time) the symbol of Ebonbane. Alexi narrowly survives the encounter. (October)

• 626 BC (GKA): The Darkening shows Belenus's disfavor of Alexi Shadowborn joining the Circle, causing him to fail his Rite of Ascension. On the way home, he meets Lysander Greylocks for the first time.

• 626 BC (GKA): In the company of Ferran Shadowborn (then Alexi's squire), Dasmaria Eveningstar, and Lysander, Alexi Shadowborn leaves the Great Kingdom for the Southern Empire, hoping to root out the killer of his mother, Kateri Shadowborn. Instead, Alexi and his friends are brought into the Phantasmal Forest.

• 626 BC (RL): Alexi Shadownborn and his companions encounter and destroy two of the Dark Triad, though at the cost of Dasmaria's life, before entering Shadowborn Manor. Lysander's existence is ended. Kateri's spirit can no longer contain Ebonbane, and the sword that held him is shattered in combat with Alexi. Although Ebonbane is briefly freed, Alexi absorbs the fiend into his body, serving as Ebonbane's new prison.

• 626 BC (RL): Now bound to Shadowborn Manor, Alexi sends Ferran, along with their mounts, back to Shadowfast. Ferran arrives back home safely. In the years to follow, Ferran will join the Circle and become an influential hero in his own right. Meanwhile, Alexi remains within the Demiplane of Dread with the intention of starting a new incarnation of the Circle, which will eventually become the Knights of the Shadows.

• 640 BC (GKA): Leaving his home world to start a new life and atone for his misdeeds, Morgoroth comes to the Great Kingdom, where he consults with the now-adult Lord Ferran Shadowborn. Morgoroth bears witness of his deeds but also his will to atone to Ferran. Ferran listens and grants him asylum and a chance for repentance in exchange for an oath of loyalty.

• 640 BC (GKA): After swearing his oath to Ferran and receiving a parcel of land, Morgoroth uses arcane magic to construct Tergeron Manor in a single night. In the years to follow, the literal ghosts of Morgoroth's past come to haunt him and the forest surrounding his manor, causing it to be referred to as the Phantasmal Forest, named after and confused with the Phantasmal Forest of Ferran's stories of Ebonbane's domain.

• 646 BC (GKA): Sir Lambert, a knight from Morgoroth's homeworld, comes through a portal into the Great Kingdom, seeking to punish the necromancer for his past crimes. Lambert states his intentions to Lord Ferran Shadowborn and the Circle (Society). Without waiting to hear judgement from the Circle, Lambert confronts Morgoroth at Tergeron Manor. In slaying Lambert, Morogorth realizes he will never atone. Lord Ferran knocks upon Morgoroth's door, hoping to find a peace. However, Ferran does not return. Morgoroth kidnaps Aurora Shadowborn, causing the Circle to attack Tergeron. Morgoroth or his forcs cause all of them to lose their lives or disappear without a trace. A storm rocks the Province of Avonleigh, causing the populace to cling together in their homes. The next morning, a mob forms to burn down Tergeron but find only a clearing where it once stood. The Dark Powers make Morgoth a darklord.

• 646 BC (RL): The domain of Avonleigh forms (different from the Province of Avonleigh which remains behind), arising in the the Phantasmal Forest.