Baron Mordenheim

[Rotipher of the FoS]

I just took another look at the Mordenheim novel, and confirmed that Victor's father was a businessman who just happened to own a large estate, not a noble. He said Victor was welcome to turn their family home into a hospital or sanitarium or medical school after he inherited it, which a titled landholder surely wouldn't be at liberty to do. Victor's father had apparently spent a lot of time away from home, overseeing his business affairs; no mention of governmental duties is made.

Me, I'd just as soon write off the "Baron Mordenheim" references as the writer's not liking the Lamordian doctor's given name. Lamordia's got a perfectly servicable baron already, and not every Great Family of the Core has to be hereditary nobility. Heck, I specifically denied noble status to the Grabens, in the NS-Gaz, because there are too darned many bluebloods among the setting's named NPCs already.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

Also, didn't Victor come from another place? I think I remember something about Lamordia not being his native lands... Like the estate was transferred there, but not anything else.

Unless he was lying when he told Hilda and Freidrich his own backstory in the Mordenheim novel -- and he had no reason to lie about that part, at least -- Victor grew up within a few hours' fast ride from Neufurchtenburg. His family had occupied the estate for generations, and his relatives were buried in a private cemetary on the grounds.

FWIW, the estate was apparently large and long-established enough to include a small woodland called Mordenheimwald. There's no such forest described in Gaz II, but it's probably too small to rate a mention from S, even assuming it hasn't been renamed in the years since Victor became a shunned recluse.

[ewancummins]

Either way, I think one thing Lamordia needs is an influx of population. The place barely has small villages, how is it providing this much cultural and political influence into the Core?

How do the 5000 people of Port-a-Lucine support an opera house? None of Ravenloft's canon population numbers make sense when you consider the social structures they are supposed to support. It's just one of those things.

Hah, which is why I make Ravenloft BIGGER. I can adjust population as needed, leaving some monster-infested backwaters low in population, and increasing the size of settlements elsehwere.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

Come to think of it, how does Mordenheim actually make a living these days? Not only does he have to eat and pay Horg's salary, but he must shell out a lot of money for medical equipment and supplies, books, raw materials for chemistry and pharmacology, and so on. He doesn't have anyone working his estate, so it can't be a source of income. Surely his family money can't last forever, can it?

[ewancummins]

Come to think of it, how does Mordenheim actually make a living these days? Not only does he have to eat and pay Horg's salary, but he must shell out a lot of money for medical equipment and supplies, books, raw materials for chemistry and pharmacology, and so on. He doesn't have anyone working his estate, so it can't be a source of income. Surely his family money can't last forever, can it?

Does he really have to eat?He's over a hundred years old, isn't he? Perhaps his body no longer requires food, or requires very little food. He is linked to Adam, yes?

Perhaps he has investments in some banking or commerical interests. These investments are, of course, handled by a proxy. They provide him with a steady income.

[Mangrum]

Come to think of it, how does Mordenheim actually make a living these days?

I forgot that I'd done this, but there's actually a clue to Mordenheim's income in Van Richten's Arsenal.

ETA: Double checking, I see that it was cut and is actually to be found in the web enhancement.

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Come to think of it, how does Mordenheim actually make a living these days?

I forgot that I'd done this, but there's actually a clue to Mordenheim's income in Van Richten's Arsenal.

There's one in the excised portion, too: the lightning box sold to Mordentshire's Saulbridge Sanitarium. It was sold in anonymity, but IMHO that gets into the Doc's curse to not be recognized for his scientific accomplishments. Matter of fact, I think a strong case could be made as to the achievements of the Scientist PrC being an extension of that curse.

EDIT: LOL, we're talking about the same thing!

[cure]

I have long maintained that he has fairly extensive trade relationships with one or more pirates. He gets fresh bodies from them, and perhaps more useful supplies from time to time, and they get from him top shelf alchemical crafted goods. It is also possible that he gets some commissioned work sent to him from Dr. Dominani, concerning brains of course. The Brain also, although probably indirectly, carries on business with him, along both these lines. Additionally, he has published works, for whatever that is worth. And he may, for a price, take on visiting students on recommendation from similarly mad professors. The Falkovnian ministry of science may also send him commissioned work in respect to lycanthropy. Finally, if you are a Lamordian, are seriously ill, and refuse to go find a priest of Ezra in Dementlieu, Mordenheim might be your only hope. In terms of technique at least, he is the best surgeon in the Land of Mists. And for a price he is probably still willing to operate on the living for their benefit.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

Ah, nice one Mr. Naylor! Yes, that's the sort of "alternative income" that the notorious doctor would grudgingly seek out. Grudgingly, because it's an obligation that'd keep him from single-mindedly pursuing his real work with Elise.

[Ryan Naylor]

Credit where credit's due: I am not John, who is the person I think you are congratulating.

[cure]

Matter of fact, I think a strong case could be made as to the achievements of the Scientist PrC being an extension of that curse.

Well, there are three points against this:

(1) His "curse renders him unable to apply [the principles that he has discovered] to anything but his own demented schemes, and his peers will never accept his achievements, no matter how brilliant." [Gaz II, 154] Surely fellow Lamordians would be the first of his possible peers.

(2) He can achieve with the best stocked lab in the Land of the Mists, with fragile lab equipment often weighing tens, if not hundreds, of pounds, and with one week per spell level equivalent, effects that are derivative in some way from his overarching research. In terms of equipment, mobility, cost, time, and specialisation, that is a vastly more limiting - by degrees of magnitude - set of conditions than what is spelled out in the Scientist Prc, which is as free wheeling as any wizard for it simply takes from the wizard, with a nominal change of word here and there, the existing rules of magic.

(3) Make Mordenheim's achievements, writ large, repeatable and applicable, then he is right not wrong in believing both that nothing is sacred and that the powers of creation are not reserved to the Gods but are rather man's by right. He is no longer a transgressor, but rather a hero, Galileo reborn, only better for he has the courage to withstand a century of torture.

[DeepShadow of FoS]

(1) His "curse renders him unable to apply [the principles that he has discovered] to anything but his own demented schemes, and his peers will never accept his achievements, no matter how brilliant." [Gaz II, 154] Surely fellow Lamordians would be the first of his possible peers.

Exactly what I'm talking about: the accomplishments of other Lamordian scientists are so extraordinary that his are no longer remarkable. Hence, he loses the respect of his possible peers.

(2) He can achieve with the best stocked lab in the Land of the Mists, with fragile lab equipment often weighing tens, if not hundreds, of pounds, and with one week per spell level equivalent, effects that are derivative in some way from his overarching research. In terms of equipment, mobility, cost, time, and specialisation, that is a vastly more limiting - by degrees of magnitude - set of conditions than what is spelled out in the Scientist Prc, which is as free wheeling as any wizard for it simply takes from the wizard, with a nominal change of word here and there, the existing rules of magic.

Again, I would think this makes him easier to disregard in the eyes of his fellows.

(3) Make Mordenheim's achievements, writ large, repeatable and applicable, then he is right not wrong in believing both that nothing is sacred and that the powers of creation are not reserved to the Gods but are rather man's by right. He is no longer a transgressor, but rather a hero, Galileo reborn, only better for he has the courage to withstand a century of torture.

Except they are not repeating his achievements, nor are any of them tinkering with the powers of creation. Those who do so are the creators of golems, and they are still punished.

[cure]

(1) His "curse renders him unable to apply [the principles that he has discovered] to anything but his own demented schemes, and his peers will never accept his achievements, no matter how brilliant." [Gaz II, 154] Surely fellow Lamordians would be the first of his possible peers.

Exactly what I'm talking about: the accomplishments of other Lamordian scientists are so extraordinary that his are no longer remarkable. Hence, he loses the respect of his possible peers.

Mordenheim is described as "doubtlessly the most brilliant natural scientist in the Realms of Dread [. . . his] achievements are centuries ahead of even [the] advanced age of [CL 9 1550-1700 AD]." In particular, he has worked out cell theory, atomic theory, and germ theory of disease. He is working out natural selection and genetics. He has working electricity, lights, advanced optics, and synethetic chemistry. And evidently his work on cloning and even more so brain transplants is ahead of even our time. Eclipsing this implies a Lamordia with scientific and technological achievements rivaling and even surpassing our own, yet with a "critical density" and wealth of 5,000 people, in a few years or a decade or two, with perhaps one university, with no appreciable scientific tradition of publication and co-operation, and with no appreciable giants upon who shoulders the next generation stands. Magical indeed.

(2) He can achieve with the best stocked lab in the Land of the Mists, with fragile lab equipment often weighing tens, if not hundreds, of pounds, and with one week per spell level equivalent, effects that are derivative in some way from his overarching research. In terms of equipment, mobility, cost, time, and specialisation, that is a vastly more limiting - by degrees of magnitude - set of conditions than what is spelled out in the Scientist Prc, which is as free wheeling as any wizard for it simply takes from the wizard, with a nominal change of word here and there, the existing rules of magic.

Again, I would think this makes him easier to disregard in the eyes of his fellows.

Indeed it does. If he cannot achieve feats of minaturization that would rival the best of Japanese engineering today or perhaps even tomorrow. And if he cannot do it in intervals of time and at cost that are unthinkable in anything less than multi-million unit product runs, and then again those product runs are actually carefully and painstakingly prepared, building on past multi-million product runs. But as Mangrum writes, one "must decide, though, how far [such achievements] can reach before they shatter the limits of believability and possibility."

Except they are not repeating his achievements, nor are any of them tinkering with the powers of creation. Those who do so are the creators of golems, and they are still punished.

A list of miraculous, God-like tinkering by the Scientist prestige class:

Halving one's age
Enlarging oneself or someone else
Permanently and in seconds enlarging vermin
Animating plants
Blighting plants in seconds (without using acid)
Curing blindness/deafness without operating which would take more than seconds in anycase
A universal cure for disease (plus in seconds)
A universal cure for poison (plus in seconds)
Regeneration
Heal without operating or taking drugs for a week or anything of the sort
Finger of Death (or would that be a laser or a heartstopping microwave ray?)
Horrid Wilting (a giant microwave perhaps?)
Energy Drain
Haste
Fire Shield (quantum entanglement perhaps?)
Stoneskin
Iron Body
Instant Rust
Repulsion (quantum disentanglement?)

Some of these might be $100 million defense department research projects, for possible mounting on a ship or a tank, but with no promises of results, let alone pocketable results. Others, simply throw biology as a science out the window. Or are the literal equivalent of the search for the Holy Grail. In different terms, they aren't so much science or even science fiction, as they are magic. Having 5,000 Lamordians recreate, only better, the technology of our world today, and even of are children's world tomorrow, only pocketable and at no significant economic cost, is magic. Or if one prefers, it demonstrates just how magical the magic system is, and how, by comparison, unmagical and ponderous science and technology are.

To my eye the appropriate outer limit for what the most brilliant Lamordian or two or three can achieve at the heart of his research is what our science has achieved or is on the verge of achieving. And curiously enough, Mordenheim in his most advanced work is there or pretty close with human cloning and brain transplants. Go beyond that and it becomes either pie in the sky or magic by any other name with the prestige of our science simply scotched taped on. So for my two wolf's fangs, the fantasy magic of Meredoth is far more logically consistent with itself and a far better fit to the extant world of Ravenloft than the futuristic magic of Star Trek. The latter might yield a more playable character class, no time wasted and no heavy equipment and what not to drag around, but surely that isn't the only criteria of consequence when deciding the meaning, significance, and fate of an entire domain and by extension of the lands attached to it.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

Mordenheim is described as "doubtlessly the most brilliant natural scientist in the Realms of Dread [. . . his] achievements are centuries ahead of even [the] advanced age of [CL 9 1550-1700 AD]." In particular, he has worked out cell theory, atomic theory, and germ theory of disease. He is working out natural selection and genetics. He has working electricity, lights, advanced optics, and synethetic chemistry.

FWIW, Mordenheim makes reference to him studying cells at the university where he got his medical degree, and he has microscopes at his disposal when he first begins his work on life-restoration. While his personal achievements are incredible, Victor didn't actually invent some of the innovations named above: they were already available on his world of origin.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

To my eye the appropriate outer limit for what the most brilliant Lamordian or two or three can achieve at the heart of his research is what our science has achieved or is on the verge of achieving. And curiously enough, Mordenheim in his most advanced work is there or pretty close with human cloning and brain transplants. Go beyond that and it becomes either pie in the sky or magic by any other name with the prestige of our science simply scotched taped on.

To us, brain transplants are beyond present medical science, but this isn't necessarily as difficult for surgeons in Ravenloft as in our own world. The laws of nature seem to be a lot more amenable to the viable transplantation of organs there than here. Remember, Markov and Bollenbach both do the same kind of work, cross-species in some cases, and neither one is as brilliant as Mordenheim.

Heck, VRA even disregards the existence of blood types in its description of the sanguine pump, which makes it officially canon that immune systems are more accepting of foreign tissue in the Land of Mists.