The Requiem

Descriptive Text

It is a prejudice of you the living that the Requiem was a disaster for the living alone. When in truth the suffering of many of the undead was far worse. Once the mortuaries and the surrounding villages had been emptied and after every zombie unworthy of its flesh had been run down and torn apart, the ghouls could do nothing but devour one another. And the situation was bleaker still for the bloodsuckers. The surrounding countryside was soon bled dry. Further afield, a spirited resistance, secretly led by your beloved Kargat, resulted in frightful rates of attrition. Half-starved, the vampires set to eliminating each other. The survivors, many having lived in Il Aluk for a century or more, embraced emigration for the most part. But this was not an option for the wrethfetin, who would rise each night and, driven mad by their unsatiated hunger, would attack anything that moved, until they were themselves sent back to their graves, from which they would invariably return, save for when it rained. Mercifully, Death finally had the damned halflings staked where they lay.

-Vice-Chancellor August Montalva of the University of Il Aluk in correspondence with Professor Abelhous Nicholsi of the University of Il Aluk in Exile at Karg

Descriptive text contributed by cure to John W. Mangrum's Teeny Tiny Tales of Terror project (posted on the Fraternity of Shadows message board).

Details

The Requiem was a catastrophic event that occurred on the winter solstice of 750 BC.

Orchestrated by Azalin, as the culmination of The Grim Harvest, a massive wave of negative energy from the Doomsday Device transformed Il Aluk into Necropolis. It occurred as Azalin sacrificed the lives of no less than 25,000 people in order to become a demilich. Azalin had hoped to escape the bindings of his corporeal form and ascend to realms beyond as a purely spirituall being. Instead, the Requiem dispersed his essence and merged it with his domain. Meanwhile, the negative energy wave struck every citizen dead but then reanimated them as undead of various types, collectively known as the Slain. Furthermore, an a impenetrable wall of negative energy enveloped Il Aluk, destroying any of the Living who foolhardy enough to dare to enter and transforming them into members of the Slain. Thus began an 5 year long era of fear and uncertainty called the Shrouded Years.

Beyond the borders of Il Aluk, the Requiem had a profound effect on the nation of Darkon and its people. The wave of negative energy washed over Darkon, causing a number of disruptions in the ebb and flow of life and death in the domain. In many places, the land became warped along with its wildlife. The Requiem effectively cleaved both Vuchar River and the King's Highway (Darkon) in two, both heavily disrupting trade and transportation in Darkon and beyond. The people of Darkon thought the great apocalypse known as the Hour of Ascension was imminent, referring to the entirety of Darkon as Necropolis. (Following the return of Azalin, Necropolis would come to mean only Il Aluk and its shrouded environs.)

In Azalin's seeming absence, the domain temporarily fell under influence by six demilords, each newly empowered by the negative energy wave and each holding over a single region of Darkon.

Data from the Ravenloft Catalogue

		Ravenloft Third Edition Requiem
		Secrets of the Dread Realms - pp7,19 Ravenloft Third Edition - pp16,18,19,25,117,131 Domains of Dread - p18 Requiem: Death Triumphant - throughout TSR JAM 1999 -p41 -42
		Requiem, The Requiem