Category:The Shadowlands

From Mistipedia
(Redirected from The Shadowlands)
Jump to navigationJump to search

The Shadowlands is a Cluster, composed of Avonleigh, Nidala, and Shadowborn Manor.

Chronology

  • 646 BC - Morgoroth attempted to construct a magic mirror to escape the Demiplane of Dread, but the effort backfires with a blast of eldritch power. The blast destroys the mirror, separating it into thirteen ethereal shards. In addition, the blast destroys Morgoroth's physical form and dispersed his ethereal essence throughout Tergeron Manor. Driven mad, his malign intelligence became one with the manor itself.[6]

John W. Mangrum on the Kargatane's vision for Ravenloft Gazetteer Volume X

It's not necessarily the size that makes the Phantasmal Forest easy to get lost in -- it's that the Phantasmal Forest is a manifestation of the Misty Border, and like the Mists, it's directionless. Nothing leaves tracks, and there are no trails to follow. (The BoS story discusses this.)
  • After it was trapped in Ravenloft, Ebonbane spent decades corrupting every aspect of the late Kateri Shadowborn's life. It wiped out her family, corrupted her allies, and so on. Each time it successfully turned one of Lady Shadowborn's former friends or ties to evil, it drew them into the Phantasmal Forest, and thus Ravenloft. They're all still out there, pseudodarklords of pathetic little psuedodomains.
Morgoroth and Elena Faith-hold stand apart because they damned themselves, with minimal involvement from Ebonbane. Thus, although their corruption delights Ebonbane and ultimately feeds into its evil, they do not serve Ebonbane, unlike the other pearls in its collection.
  • Pseudodomains -- pearls in the oil, I think I called them in the RL DMG -- include Kateri's unicorn mount Addar, now driven mad and equally lost in overweening pride and self-loathing. His 'domain' is a small glade that travels with him. He can act as a guide for those who play to his vanity.
Another is Forenoon Abbey, a monastery significant to Lady Shadowborn that's now the home of the undead Ahltrian. This was the first pearl in Ebonbane's collection -- the first thing beloved of Kateri that it destroyed after returning to the world.
  • The general thrust of adventuring in the domain is the conflict between the human evil of Elena Faith-hold and the monstrous, all-consuming evil of Ebonbane, and the prospects of Elena's once again being offered a true evil to fight. What would her reaction be? Meanwhile, Ebonbane is monomaniacally fixated on destroying and/or desecrating everything th ....
  • Ebonbane can't leave its tiny domain, but the Ahltrian can. They regularly steal into Nidala to wreak havoc. Their ultimate goal, beyond simple destruction, is to pull Elena into their ranks, and thus add the whole of Nidala to Ebonbane's holdings. (This would, presumably, let Ebonbane extend its senses into the land, and possibly mean that any corpses left on the soil, anywhere, would be sucked down into the Ahltrian.) Essentially, the whole domain would become just another part of the amorphous, sunless Phantasmal Forest.
  • Morgoroth is the third player in a two-sided battle, falling somewhere in between Elena and Ebonbane, but too wrapped up in his own concerns to be an active participant. If the inherent struggle of the Shadowlands is human evil vs. monstrous evil, he falls somewhere in between. He is a monster, but he holds no allegiance to Ebonbane and in fact has a strong motivation to keep the fiend in check. This makes him a potential ally -- not of Elena, but of the Circle, who have to deal with him every year. However, unless you play to his single "redeeming quality" -- his desire to keep his innocent captive alive indefinitely -- he's as treacherous and malevolent as they come.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Darklords p. 30
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Ravenloft Third Edition p.17
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Ravenloft Player's Handbook p.19
  4. Islands of Terror p. 7-10
  5. Domains of Dread p. 133; "Since its inception some 12 decades ago", approximately 120 years from 751 BC, the current date of Domains of Dread.
  6. 6.0 6.1 A Light in the Belfry Audio CD
  7. Domains of Dread p.17
  8. Ravenloft Third Edition p.18
  9. Ravenloft Player's Handbook p.20
  10. Champions of the Mists p. 48
  11. The Red Wolf (Article), Book of Shadows

Data from the Ravenloft Catalogue

Ravenloft Third Edition

Ravenloft Third Edition - pp15,18,155-159

Ravenloft Third Edition - p156

The Shadowborn Cluster Shadowlands, The Shadowlands


Subcategories

This category has only the following subcategory.

Pages in category "The Shadowlands"

The following 5 pages are in this category, out of 5 total.