Personal Canon

[DocBeard]

His art in 2E was pretty white, though being D&D art at the time it was monochrome and that didn't mean all that much.

I dig Izy's redesign of Misroi, which is seen briefly in her on-hiatus comic, at the end of the first chapter I believe.

[HuManBing]

Most of my campaigns take place in or around Darkon. I suppose I'm more of a fan of "dark fantasy" than necessarily of Gothic horror, strictly speaking.

In Darkon, the memory drain effect can take one of two manifestations. You can become "Mind-led", which is the same as in the books (lose real memories, gain false ones). Or you can become "Mindlost", where you lose all conscious memories of your time before Darkon, but do not gain false ones.

A substantial trade in southern and western Darkon has sprung up dealing in Mindlost and Mind-led citizens. Some charitable organizations help look after them and employ them in low-wage jobs to help them get by (and secure some menial labor for themselves). Others run the gamut of human exploitation, including indentured servitude and prostitution. After all, the immigrants provide a steady stream of labor, with nil legal rights and serious mental handicaps (lost memories) - an excellent combination for trafficking.

The wars of repelling Falkovnian aggression are much more sinister in tone because nobody publicly knows what happened to drive them out. All they know is that the Falkovnians made their way inland, brutally slaughtering and despoiling as they went - and then when there were no Darkonian citizens left in those border areas to witness, the Falkovnians were driven back by some mysterious cause, fleeing headlong back across the border. Not even the fallen corpses remained to mark the battle.

Azalin is a distant and aloof king and is rarely seen in public. The Eternal Order lionizes him as humanity's last bulwark against the dead. The Barons and Earls claim his endorsement in everything they do. The Kargat are much more subtle and try to act below the radar - more like the CIA than the KGB.

[Sareau]

I would assume that Darkon's curse allows Azalin to keep his state secrets fairly intact, since any spy has at most three months to get in, get the information, then get out beofre they get the Darkon Makeover-though I do also wonder how many of his people were intelligence officers for some outside power...

[HuManBing]

Yes, in terms of espionage, Darkon's a very tough nation to crack. As you mention, firstly it has a built-in time limit for any agent's useful career, meaning they have to leave the nation periodically or risk losing all their memories. This will hamper efforts to build up cover stories and gain contact to high-level information.

Secondly, Azalin pre-Requiem already had a considerable number of magical means to ferret out spies. Post-Requiem it's even more reliable with his mind-reading and mind-wiping ability.

Thus, the few nations that bother spying on Darkon usually rely on reports by traders or native Darkonians (who have no further memories to wipe) or by the rare defecting Kargat or baronial staff.

[HuManBing]

I think the place names of Mordent ("dying"), Lamordia ("the death"), Dementlieu ("crazy place") all sacrifice the suspension of disbelief. I'm also not too fond of Darkon - I think it sounds like the designers originally wanted Darkovnia and Falkon but decided to switch the endings of the place names.

These are changes I've made:

• Lamordia becomes Nortenmark ("north reach").
• Dementlieu becomes Marésotes (corruption of Marées Hautes - "high tides", in honor of its many lakes)
• Mordent becomes Cosabel (corruption of Côtes Sables - "black coasts")
• Darkon is unchanged but the etymology has some backstory to it. The original name was just a title - The Darcalus Conclave, dating back to when Azalin's predecessor Darcalus loosely united the earls and barons. Azalin himself is not eager to remind the populace about the past and so "Darkon" fell into more regular use.

Dementlieu gave me the most trouble. I wanted to refer to its many lakes, so I tried variations on "wild lakes" or "wild ponds". Unfortunately in French these came out to "lacs sauvages" and "étangs sauvages", which Anglicize to "Lax-O-Vag" and "Tangs-O-Vag" respectively. Unsuitable for Gothic horror for completely different reasons than the original name.

I like Marésotes much more.

[Ronia Sun]

I've greatly increased the population of the Core in my campaign, and upped the general tech level across the board. Guns are not terribly common, but they are increasing in use. A railroad is being constructed to connect Mordentshire, Dementlieu, Lamordia, and Borca. (The steam engine tech is Lamordian, but the inventor has founded his college of engineering in, if I recall correctly, Borca. I'd have to check my notes on that one.) Though trade and travel in the Core is common, the Mists do exist at most of the Borders, and the trade of 'mist-guide' is thriving. (This came about because I really wanted to take the party on a trip through the Mists, and completely forgot that they don't come into play when traveling from Dementlieu to Mordentshire. Ah, well. Sometimes screwups are fun.)

Van Richten has either not disappeared, or has only just done so. (I haven't decided if I want to adapt and run Bleak House in my campaign. I'm debating.) The Weathermay-Foxgrove twins, however, are young adults and following in the steps of their adopted uncle as monster hunters--and he is their actual mentor. Again, this is because he has not or has only recently gone missing, rather than lo, several years ago as indicated in 3ed stuff.

I'm debating whether or not to keep the Darkon curse. It's cool, and has fascinating possibilities...but can also be a huge pain. I'll deal with it if/when the PCs ever go to Darkon.

One of my PCs is Alanik Ray's half-sister. She doesn't know this yet. (Neither does her player. I had to restrain my squee of delight when she handed me her character history: Darkonese half-elf who is illegitimate and doesn't know who her elven father is. Her other half-siblings are all human, heh.)

Non-humans (except for a very few) are required in most cities to live in ghettoes, much like the Jews were in medieval/Renaissance cities.

Har Akir, Souragne, and Paridon are not teeny tiny domains, but will be much larger and on par with the domains in the Core as far as tech and civilization.

I'm debating whether or not to make the India-based doman (the name escapes me just now) a 'colony' of Mordentshire or Paridon and have fun with the British Raj themes...

Dementlieu (and, indeed, most of the other domains) has a much longer history in the Mists than indicated in canon stuff. The darklords of Dementlieu come in the form of a family line that always seem to have at least one major monster each generation who manages to do one or more truly appalling (but generally secret) crime. For example, the great-grandfather of Dominic d'Honoraire (the current darklord), Maurice deliberately bound the power of a trapped fiend and a number of restless ghosts to the body/soul of his youngest granddaughter (she was two at the time) and condemned the innocent child to a life of insanity, just so he could remodel the ancient building they were all originally tied to into a great big Museum. This is the same Museum the PCs work for (they're in the Department of Acquisitions), and the granddaughter in question is in her eighties and about to kick the bucket...

There is in fact a form of Necromancy that focuses on laying the dead to rest and is not automatically evil, though it is highly dangerous and may still require powers checks. (I based it heavily on Garth Nix's extremely cool Abhorsen trilogy. I even had one of the party members find a set of bells in a crypt and become the one 'chosen' to wield them. She is not, in fact, a spellcaster, but as the bells are magical items she doesn't actually need to be. But it won't be easy to use them, oh no... )

I'm sure I'll make up more house-canon as I go along.

[Deewun]

Other than new domains and shifted domains, the one big thing is ... Gnomish naming conventions.

Yes. You heard me.

All gnomes in my canon have surnames that are related to feet or the things we where on them. Why? A player started it as a joke, then brought his gnome to a new campaign, and the naming convention stuck.

Some Gnomish surnames:
Oneshoe, Beetlefoot, Seaboots, Goodsole, Sandalman, Underheel, Treadsoftly, Cobbler, Silvershoe, Legstout, Hoofman, Footfleet, Wrongfoots, Graveboots, Heavysteps, Coldfoot, Springjack, Shoefits, Boottough, Twoleft, Stepfaiths, Longstride, Fourtoe

[HuManBing]

All gnomes in my canon have surnames that are related to feet

Crustycheese?

[brilliantlight]

@Lost Heretic It worked nicely in play: Adam is hunted by Falkovnian forces and even more isolated. Drakov gets a victory that he can't enjoy because while he controls the land he can't go there. Everyone else feels threatened by his victory. Darkon is cut off from the growing Sea of Sorrows trade during the winter freeze of the northern seas. Lamordia now has cloak and dagger intrigues as different forces fight in the shadows but more The Prisoner of Zenda than the intriguing of the southern core.

I'm sorry but it is a VERY BAD idea. Why not just let Strahd marry Tatayana and Azalin get his magic while your at it? You can't get rid of the dark lord curse as he is not a dark lord without it. Drakov's curse is to be considered a military laughingstock. A buffoon who doesn't know what he wants is impossible. Give him a victory and you get rid of the curse. What does he care if he can't go there? It is a matter of pride for him. What does he care if he is even more cut off? It makes it easier to supress his own people.

[brilliantlight]

Changes I made include

1) Increasing the size and population

2) ALL darklords are unaging. The Dark Powers don't want to put them out of their misery by having them die of old age.

3) Virtually all the Dark Lords are very intelligent with many being borderline geniuses (true in canon) who use it to their utmost ability (not true in canon). Most are quite charming and are "villains with good publicity" as a result. Strahd is not known as "The devil Strahd" in Bavoria but as a harsh but fair ruler. Most of the men Ivanna Bortsei has seduced and murdered were sneaked into her home. She is thought to be chaste by most. She is known to like her luxurious lifestyle though. Most think she has some sort of ailment that has left her uninterested in sex. Jacqueline Reiner is totally uninterested in losing her major food supply by turning everyone into wererats. Almost all of Elana Faithhold's people are fanatically loyal to her seeing her as the very model of goodness. Two exceptions include The Dukkar (see below) and Drakov.


4) The Dukkar was granted his own domain. Its population consists entirely of Vistani who have no need to move about. They can remain in the same spot for their entire life without any effect. They do not know about the pogroms and will not believe anyone who tells them of it. They think the domain has been around for centuries. Sometimes Non-Vistani go through the domain remind The Dukkar there are Non-Vistani out there but they are fated never to stay long.

[HuManBing]

I'm sorry but it is a VERY BAD idea. Why not just let Strahd marry Tatayana and Azalin get his magic while your at it? You can't get rid of the dark lord curse as he is not a dark lord without it. Drakov's curse is to be considered a military laughingstock. A buffoon who doesn't know what he wants is impossible. Give him a victory and you get rid of the curse. What does he care if he can't go there? It is a matter of pride for him. What does he care if he is even more cut off? It makes it easier to supress his own people.

Perhaps his suggestion is not for you, then.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

OK, settle down folks... everyone involved. This is an official warning. Personal attacks have no place here.

[HuManBing]

Duly noted - I apologize for those netiquette violations I committed. I do not apologize for those committed by others.

Edit: Clarified.

[The Whistler]

First in a potential series of domain remodels, depending on how much time I have on my hands. Isabella may not want to look at these depending on how much she thinks my defunct campaign might start up again.

Souragne:

...Has Northern Native American-equivalents, who were there first. They are, however, a tiny minority at present, thanks to Subsequent Events.

...Has African-equivalents that came over on boats about three hundred years ago, fleeing religious persecution; think Halan, early modern Ashanti-esque coastal traders, escaping a Lawgiver-worshiping quasi-Songhai savannah empire. They set up a sizeable colony, and traded more or less honestly with the locals. This made them rather upset when all the locals had the nerve to start dying from mainland diseases.

…Has Ezra-worshipping French-equivalents who sailed in about fifty years later, decided that, no, it was actually their god-given colony on a retroactive basis, and proceeded to declare war on everyone who would pay attention. A lot more people died, the not-Choctaws and not-Ashanti got all their architecture burnt down and paved over, and hey guess what, it turns out they were all slaves now. Lovely.

…Declared general emancipation in a state of extreme panic, shortly after being drawn into the Dread Realms 100-ish years ago. It is amazing how much more you will respect your differently-cultured neighbor when you realize that both of you have zombies to fight. These circumstances also resulted in an unprecedented intermarriage boom, for similar reasons.

…Has a populace whose defining sin is unjustified self-importance. The Choctaw-equivalents claim to be descended from a grand empire of Mississippi-esque Mound-Builders, but that civilization’s been dead for at least 500 years and they’ve forgotten nearly all of their ancestors’ rituals. The African-equivalents have done a better job of holding onto their religion, but vastly inflate the importance of the tiny backwater province that their forebears initially emigrated from. And the French…well, they’re French. And rather too pleased to ignore that one time where their culture relentlessly subjugated the other 60% of the island. Not to mention, Souragne itself is currently a muggy, useless craphole, and all of its residents seem to think of it as Port-A-Lucine with better food. When Souragniens make powers checks—which happens with some frequency—they probably think that they’re just too classy for petty morals to apply to them. They aren’t.

…Has a darklord, who is black, and looks like Isy drew him in that one comic. He also has a different backstory, being a poor, itinerant gambler who eventually won a minor noble title off an aging landholder in a game of cards. He actually put the title to decent use: administering his property, treating the local populace reasonably well, and spending quite a lot of money. He also claimed that he’d inherited the position legitimately, for extra social cachet. And then his old family moved into the area, and recognized him, and were overjoyed that he’d made good, and expressed a sincere desire that he support them in their destitution.

So, of course, he utterly refused to acknowledge them publicly, and then had them all hanged for trespassing, which none of them had done. Couldn’t have them giving the game away.

Now, he has his plantation, and his nice house, and a great many workers, all of whom have truly ancient family pedigrees, because all of them are extremely deceased. And hey, he gets to be Lord of the Dead, ruler of everyone’s ancestors! Worshiped by the populace! At a distance! That’s pretty much exactly the wrong kind of nobility to be, if you, for example, like having any meaningful human relationships ever. But it’s something.

Thus: apart from his canonical misdeeds, my Misroi is characteristically fond of trapping isolated people in the middle of the swamp, surrounding them with zombies, and keeping them there for decades, just so he can have someone living to talk to every now and then. Sometimes he also kills all of their close friends and relatives, so they have less reason to go back to town. In his defense, a fair number of these captives don’t go insane right away.

[NeoTiamat]

Let's see... great deal of the stuff, mostly derived from my two campaigns (Eye of Anubis and Shattered City, both over in the Cafe de Nuit).

--dramatically increased the size and population of the Demiplane. Port-a-Lucine is a city of roughly a million people, in my campaign, and the Amber Wastes were about the size of the Sahara. This is fairly standard-issue, I think.

--As a supplement to that, there's the assumption that everything is much older. Simply put, a great deal of Ravenloft as-is I find to clash with how old it's stated to be in canon. Good example would be the Ezran Church. The Ezran religion is (at least this is how I run it) modeled on Christianity, in particularly the Home Faith which strongly resembles medieval Catholicism. It has cathedrals, priests, monastic orders, plentiful schisms, etc. All the trappings that a millennia-old religion such as Catholic Christianity would pick up. Except that the Ezran faith is, I think, a century old, give or take a few decades. I don't have any specific rules for it, so it's just a topic I tend to avoid unless it comes up.

--Ravenloft is in the process of a technological/industrial revolution, though powered by elemental-binding magic as opposed to steam engines (or in addition to, perhaps). Essentially, it's slowly turning into Eberron, only with more vampires.

There's also a lot of individual specific things. A few which I can think of right now...

--Lostboy and I pretty much completely rewrote the geography of Port-a-Lucine. It has rivers now! (This is one of my pet peeves with Ravenloft geography. Very, very few cities in the real world are built without a good source of drinking water nearby, usually rivers). Lostboy then spent several months on the new, magnificently beautiful map, which I believe was uploaded onto the FoS site.

--Phiraz received some rivers as well, and in general Pharazia is significantly greener than it used to be. It resembles more actual Egypt or Saudi Arabia, with isolated areas of greenery along the rivers.

--There are railroads. A railroad, at any rate. Borrowed from Isabella's excellent QtR article.

--Valachan bears much more resemblance to South America nowadays. Also based on Isabella's work.