An Illustrated History of the Core

[Ryan Naylor]

684: Borca forms.

Camille Dilisnya is darklord, although she's essentially a less sympathetic version of Ivana Boritsi without the poison touch. She is born in Mordent, from a branch of the Dilisnyas who took the opportunity to flee Strahd's wrath when Mordent appeared in 579 BC (when, appropriately enough, Strahd himself was either in Mordent or distracted or unconscious). After murdering her husband, she intended to flee to yet another branch of the family in Invidia, but her carriage lost it's way in the Mists and ended up in Borca (so either she was travelling from Mordent to Invidian via Vistani, she was planning a long and very roundabout trip, or she way risking the Mists on her own).

However, Borca's appearance does mean that there are now roads linking Kartakass, Gundarak, Borca, Barovia and Nova Vaasa, and river trade from Barovia to Borca and Nova Vaasa and Gundarak to Invidia. Valachan is still quite isolated, and the only route between north and south Cores is through Arak. But ov erall, this must have been the start of a long period of advancing trade through the south Core, with Borca as a vital central point, which probably goes a long way to explaining the influence Borca obtains and retains from now until the modern era. As Gaz IV says, trade is its lifesblood, and when the rest of the Dilisnya clan come from all the domains of Ravenloft, they bring with them economic ties and a certain degree of cosmopolitanism (which is probably the first time it appears in the Core actually, given all the other domains are quite isolationistic).

Note that in this period, Borca's a less corrupt and unstable place than it'll become after the Grand Conjunction when Ivan Dilisnya gains control of the military and tax systems. Camille Dilisnya does own the entire domain though, just as Ivana will after her. She's a competent ruler but unpopular due to her temper, so Borca is less stable but richer than it will be under Ivana, and much less oppressively corrupt than it'll become under both the Dark Twins.

The Church of Ezra is founded in Mordent in 666 BC (tee hee), but finds its spiritual home in Borca just one year after Borca's appearance. Camille then causes the First Schism and formation of the Mordentish sect when she poisons just about everyone she knows in a fit of outrage at a possible betrayal in 698 BC, which nearly causes a Church-led peasant revolt.

[Garudos Celestar]

(so either she was travelling from Mordent to Invidian via Vistani, she was planning a long and very roundabout trip, or she way risking the Mists on her own).

I generally prefer the 3rd option. I never really liked the line about Camille trying to go to Invidia; I always imagined it a much less planned escape: she had been discovered, and she was out of there (and since the constabulary was after her, she wasn't going to go by the main road). The closest place to hide: the giant fog bank at the edge of the known world. In my mind, other characters who were chased out of their home domains basically did the same thing: Ivan Dilisnya (fleeing Borca), Yagno Petrovna (fleeing Barovia), and the Reniers (fleeing Falkovnia) were all driven by their pursuers into the closest misty border (possibly on purpose by said pursuers, seeing as most of the time people who get "lost in the fog" are never seen again). Conveniently for each of them, a new country that no one had realized was there appeared...

Needless to say, I do not approve of Eva's descendants being playable as of Legacies of Blood. I think that may have been misguided.

Agreed; the Mordenheim legacy was probably the one that (from a continuity perspective, if not necessarily a mechanics perspective) most grated on me in Legacy of the Blood (along with the Godefroy backstory). My solution was to make the abilities of the legacy into a trait of all Lamordians, which flavorwise I think fits the domain very nicely.

[Ryan Naylor]

I presume the "fleeing to Invidia" bit is more or less a cover story. At the time, she was just fleeing, as you say.

[Hamiclar]

I had felt according the Blood coin myth that the south road was seldom used. When the given merchant went south his entire goods were seized as tribute by Gundars son. I Followed that principle my self until Gundars death which freed up trade from Borca after the GC increased

[Drinnik Shoehorn]

A brief diversion: a lot of darklords seem to be offered a last chance before damning themselves.

On the "Codifying Darklords" beat of my 8/13-point plan, I was going to address this as well. If a character failed six powers checks, then rather than automatically becoming a darklord, the Dark Powers would present them with a final challenge, placing them in a tentative version of their domain (or an obliette) and presenting them with a scenario that essentially gave them a chance to "redo" the most significant acts of darkness of their descent into evil. Those who succumb to their evil natures, confirming their earlier sins, "pass" (or fail, as you will), becoming darklords. Those who fail through timidity (doing nothing to redeem themselves but not taking the bait either, or just proving uninteresting while doing so) are rejected; their formative domain dissolves around them, having never truly existed, and the damned soul is permanently banished into the Misty Border, eventually becoming a mist horror. That rare duck, the potential darklord who upon reaching the moment of truth actually repents, sacrificing himself not out of defiance or despair but specifically to put a stop to the cycle of evil, might actually be granted the Dark Powers' ultimate gift of resting in peace.

Basically, a format for a "capstone" adventure for evil PCs at the end of their descent into darkness.

Sort of what Soth went through just before Sithicus formed in Knight of the Black Rose?

[Ryan Naylor]

Sort of what Soth went through just before Sithicus formed in Knight of the Black Rose?

Exactly.

[Ryan Naylor]

I had felt according the Blood coin myth that the south road was seldom used. When the given merchant went south his entire goods were seized as tribute by Gundars son. I Followed that principle my self until Gundars death which freed up trade from Borca after the GC increased

The Blood Coin features Gabrielle Aderre as a new darklord - so new in fact that she's still got some hope in life, and hasn't become completely embittered about men. Which means it must be set in 729 or 730 BC - which is still 2 generations into the future. So there's plenty of time for Borca to turn it's trade attentions to more lucrative, less volatile partners like Falkovnia (and then on to Darkon), Richemulot, Mordent, Dementlieu, etc.

But at the moment, there's no one to trade with except Gundarak, Barovia, Kartakass and Invidia, and the Borcans are merchants from the start, so they have to be going south at least some of the time. Gundar can't seize the goods of every merchant that travels through there.

It's like the Arak road - it starts off as an important trade route, but dies off as newer, safer and more lucrative routes open up as new domains form.

So, at the moment, Borca is doing some trade with the bandit haunted and unstable domains of the south, but as soon as better options appear, it's turn to them and the south road will fall out of use. Then, when Bakholis is killed and Invidia enters a new age of potential stability, the Borcans try heading south again but meet Gundar's son and then Aderre, and learn not to take advantage of Vistani sorcerers.

Also note the son in the Blood Coin tale can't be Medraut, as he's been dead since 720 BC. It must be a different (presumably illegitimate) son.

[Ryan Naylor]

690: Falkovnia forms.

After a little while wandering around Darkon and butchering peasants, undead chase Drakov into the Mists and Falkovnia forms, leaving a gigantic Misty hole in the middle of the Core. Borca's attentions turn north, to trading with Falkovnia and through it, Darkon, and ignoring Gundarak and Invidia. Ghastria (still going with my speculation) could disappear anytime between now and next year, when Tepest forms. Nova Vaasa gets slightly bigger, and slides upwards. Mordent currently borders Falkovnia, Lamordia and the Sea of Sorrows.

Falkovnia is both a good thing and a bad thing for the rest of the Core. On the positive side, Falkovnia is a more stable and familiar route between Darkon and the rest of the Core than going through Arak. It also produces much more grain than it needs, so everyone benefits from that. On the downside however is Drakov's need to conquer. Also, the formation of Falkovnia must have been incredibly disruptive to the Core - the changes wrought by its formation are almost on a par with those of the Grand Conjunction. However, we now have the basic shape of the modern Core in place.

A word on Drakov: Drakov is a powerful fighter and seasoned mercenary captain. It is established as fact that he has had a very successful career as a mercenary king, which means he must be a reasonable tactician. His main (military) flaws are that he is stubborn and thinks he knows best (to the point of using completely outmoded tactics that may have been successful against medieval foes on Taladas, but are completely wrong for facing gunpowder weapons, not to mention his disdain for magic). His main personality flaws are viciousness, a huge inferiority complex, and sadism.

People have interpreted Drakov's curse as meaning his never has any military victories at all. Reading the 2e stuff on him though, I think it's slightly more subtle - he never has any meaningful or satisfying victories. Remember that he doesn't consider victories against old men, women or fops to be of any value, so it doesn't matter how often he invades most of the countries around him, any victories he may accrue mean nothing to him. And he has no hope of defeating Azalin. He also wants to earn the respect of his peers, so the fact that everyone else thinks he's an incompetent fool is probably exaggerated by his curse rather than being a reflection of his actual prowess (rather like Mordenheim's scientific abilities).

So, a brief history of Drakov's military campaigns:

690 - He's consolidating his rule.
691 to 694 - He's concerned with internal issues, dealing with a wererat infestation and completely coincidentally a powerful thieves guild led by Claude Renier, who has led his family in from prime material Mordent. Drakov finally drives the Reniers out of Falkovnia and Richemulot forms; Mordent hops down to border it, making it the only domain to border Falkovnia which Falkovnia never invades.
695 to 696 - Falkovnia invades Lamordia. Apart from being beaten back by the weather and gunpowder weapons, I think this is a war Drakov has a reasonable chance of doing well in, if only because he doesn't care all that much about victory and Adam's unlikely to get involved because he doesn't care either. Neufurchtenburg's very vulnerable on that side of the Sleeping Beast, as well. This invasion leads to a secret deal to supply weapons and armour (but not guns) to Falkovnia in 700, which is formalised as treaty in 703. So this actually counts as a victory for Drakov - he beats someone into submission, and forces reasonable terms out of them afterwards, even if Lamordia remains an independent country. Or he's beaten by the weather and coward's weapons, depending on how you look at it.
700 to 701 - Falkovnia invades Darkon. He actually makes it a reasonable distance this time, probably because Azalin's not expecting it. Although he's beaten back, he scares Nartok immensely, who starts work on its walls (making Nartok into a boom town).
704 - Invades again, but this time beaten back within minutes. He purges his commanders.
706 - Invades Borca, but let down by the fact Falkovnia is currently full of Borcan spies (or "merchants" as they are more commonly known). So Camille poisons them even before they've left Falkovnia, and then poisons the rest. So Drakov is beaten by treachery and coward's weapons, but he never invades Borca again. Purges continue.
707 to 709 - Invades Dementlieu. He has some initial successes, despite being faced with guns again (presumably, he's learnt from last time) before all of his leaders start defecting and leading his troops into ambushes. Dominic is only about 8 years old at this point, so I sincerely doubt he gets close enough to any Falkvonian commanders in order to brainwash them, so this may be a case of genuine defections by his commanders (perhaps influenced by Dementlieu's general character). I'd certainly want to get out of there if I could in the face of years of purges among his commanders for "mistakes" in Darkon (not to mention the horrors of wars in Darkon). After this though, Talons staert wearing their bracers to ensure their loyalty to Drakov. So defeated by treachery again.
711 - Darkon again. The weak have all defected or been purged, so let's try again. And presumably, he tries something different, like distracting Azalin and then striking at Mayvin rather than Nartok. We don't know canonically, but we do know he lasts longer than he did in 704 BC. Following failure here, Drakov begins a long planning campaign, determined to take Azalin down. So he does learn from his mistakes.
716 - Invades Richemulot
719 - Invades G'Henna and Markovia. I think these 716/719 are actually training exercises for Darkon rather than real invasions (so they don't count). He knows he needs troops ready to face hordes of undead and gunpowder weapons, so he invades realms where he gets similar conditions: guns in Richemulot, and monsters and harsh conditions in G'Henna and Markovia. Or maybe he's trying to strike at Darkon through G'Henna. Either way, his training exercises are a bit too extreme, so he calls off his planned invasion of Darkon and purges his commanders. So defeated by incompetence this time.
724 - Invades Dementlieu and Richemulot again, this time for real. This scares Jacqueline enough to make her demand all he citizens swear to defend the realm. We know the war goes on for a while in Dementlieu (perhaps aided by the Brain), but then I would imagine Dominic calls a surrender and brainwashes everyone he can find to destroy the Falkovnians from within. This is the only time Drakov is beaten by overtly supernatural powers (if you accept Azalin is publically known as a necromancer and could control his undead that way, rather than through darklord powers).
727 - Invades Dorvinia. Does quite well until Ivan personally poisons everything that moves while in disguise. So, coward's weapons again.
Then he focuses internally - probably trying to train competent, loyal commanders - for the next 23 years.
751 - Invades Darkon. This is quite sensible if you think that Azalin's necromancy animates the undead armies, and Azalin is currently dead. Unfortunately, it's not that simple, so Drakov makes it all the way to Nartok (this time, with treachery on his side), before Azalin stirs and the undead rise.

So, Drakov is defeated by weapons he has no experience with and the weather, an all-powerful necromancer a couple of times (although he keeps trying different tactics each time, but is just outclassed by Azalin), internal treachery, foreign spies, poison several times, incompetence amongst his commanders, and supernatural powers once. So his reputation amongst players is probably worse than it should be, because several of those are not his fault or he had no way of knowing about, and he does seem to learn from his mistakes.

[Manofevil]

I think you went overboard on that timeline there. You started talking about places that haven't happened yet in the evolution. What you're doing here is great guys but don't get ahead of yourselves or the rest of us will get lost.

[Ryan Naylor]

Well, I did warn you it would be idiosyncratic, and it's a history, not a timeline, so I'm going to talk about things when I think they're relevant, not when they happen. However, I will try to keep things simple for you.

[Hamiclar]

Its been great so far. I have been enjoying the core map. You must have thought a lot into Vlad, but look at this way he is in his seventies and the mindset of stubbornis is part of the age of the elderly with maybe alzheimers. From my experience most elderly wont listen to others. That is what I think of when I see him just has the strenght of much younger man to act out on his outbursts.

[Ryan Naylor]

While this may apply to the later campaigns, he's only about 30 in the first ones, so being unwilling to change due to being old is unlikely.

[Ryan Naylor]

691: Tepest forms.

The sisters Mindefisk earn their domain at the age of 16 by each of them planning to betray their sisters and escape from rural Tepest with a handsome rake, and then killing him when they find out he's been playing them, not out of vengeance but so that neither of their sisters can have him. This is after years of working together to seduce, kill, rob and cook travellers. Their first seduction is at 13, incidentally, which is a bit... worrying. Depending on your game, you may decide that "seduction" there is not used in its everyday sense, but in the sense of "getting someone to do something they wouldn't normally want to do."

I like the Hags (again, they're portrayed really well in Tapestry of Dark Souls). No one is as petty, spiteful, malicious and co-dependent. They are a great ally for PCs (making magical items or casting spells, in an unreliable arms dealer/deal with the devil kind of way), but also really savage opponents, and being different hag types and class/spell selections, they're quite individual as well in their tactics. We know they’re willing to work with Azalin (amongst others) to make magical items.

In 2e, Leticia (the oldest) and Laveeda (the middle) were CE, and Lorinda (the youngest) was NE. This says to me that Leticia and Laveeda are the bossy, domineering ones, and Lorinda is the one most likely to be able to work with the others effectively - the peace maker, if you will. This is reflected in Darklords' description of their first murder - Laveeda distracts him, Leticia hits him with an axe, and Lorinda helps her by slitting his throat with a sickle (remember, these girls are 13 at this point).

Then there are their 3e stats. Leticia is a sea hag, with a lot of sorcerer (or, in Pathfinder) witch levels, so she’s a powerful spellcaster. Laveeda is an annis, and a reasonably powerful spellcaster. Lorinda is the most powerful basic hag, but the weakest spellcaster. This suggests to me a typical birth order issue – the oldest is the “haggiest,” bent over her cauldron casting spells and using the evil eye. Laveeda is the independently minded middle child, a bit of a tomboy, often out by herself in the woods. Lorinda (like a lot of youngest children) is always being belittled by her older sisters and is never powerful enough (except perhaps one brief bitter moment when they’d just transformed and she was the most powerful, but her sisters have both outstripped her again since then), so she has a seething resentment of the others. Well, all of them have a seething resentment of the others, but hers is particularly acute.

Life is suffering for the hags, since they can read each others’ minds and see each others’ true forms. They each hate and blame the others for being stuck here, and are quite happy scheming to embarrass or hurt them, but resurrect them if they’re killed (possibly because they can’t live without them, possibly because they don’t want them to be free of suffering). They also work together, because that’s what sisters do. All in all, a pretty warped family.

I feel that the shadow fey and the Inquisition have side-lined the Hags a bit in their own domain. Given their main defining feature seems to be spite (doing evil just for evil’s sake), I see them as egging on both sides of the conflict (and probably trying to cause mayhem in neighbouring domains as well – remember they like to go to Lake Kronov to mock the Lady of the Lake, and I can see them doing similar things by proxy to others. Tristessa would be easy as well, if you can stand at the borders and mimic a baby crying; Yagno Petrovna as well - perhaps that's why he summons Malistroi?). They’re incredibly versatile as villains, and deserve a lot more than they’ve had so far.

[Ryan Naylor]

694: Richemulot forms.

Claude Renier is the darklord, at least until he accidentally poisons himself with his chemical bane and accidentally stabbed himself in the heart with a silver dagger in a freak accident and accidentally falls out a window on the top floor of his house and crashes through the roof of his kennels and is partially eaten by his dogs. We know it was an accident because Jacqueline was there and saw it happen.

The Reniers come from prime material Mordent (they were the family that built the House of Gryphon Hill, although they hadn't been infected with lycanthropy then), and Mordent hops down to border Richemulot rather than Lamordia. This leaves a channel of Mist along Falkovnia's border, which one day the d'Honaire family's ship will blunder into en route to Martira Bay. As I said before, shipping on the Sea of Sorrows must be very unnerving in this period, as it must be hard to navigate without land or stars (so you don't know how far north you've gone to avoid the Mists), and when you could blunder into the Mists at any given moment.

Richemulot's population is largely immigrant-driven - mostly serfs from Borca or people from Falkovnia I would imagine, although the Gundarakans and Invidians certainly have cause to flee northwards as well.

Only two more observations for this one: Louise Renier must really hate Jacqualine, since by the modern day, Jacquleine still looks middle aged but Louise is now in her old age.

And Scholar of Decay was a great book. I much prefer its depiction of Richemulot's wererats to Gaz III, which are a bit too skaven for my tastes.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Claude Renier is the darklord, at least until he accidentally poisons himself with his chemical bane and accidentally stabbed himself in the heart with a silver dagger in a freak accident and accidentally falls out a window on the top floor of his house and crashes through the roof of his kennels and is partially eaten by his dogs. We know it was an accident because Jacqueline was there and saw it happen.

LOL. You know that Claude... such a clumsy fellow.