State Church of Barovia

[Lost Heretic]

I'm currently running I6 Ravenloft/House of Strahd and I was curious about Barovia's "state religion." I6 does not mention a specific deity for the Village of Barovia's Temple, but Gazetteer I mentions that the old state religion temple was converted to the Sanctuary of Blessed Succor, a Morninglord Temple. The (non-canonical?) Expedition to Castle Ravenloft seems to indicate that the Barovians worship ravens or a raven god.

Is there any information I missed?

[Drinnik Shoehorn]

I think the church worshipped a God called Andaral, an old sun god.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

http://fraternityofshadows.com/wiki/Andral

The Ravenkin have kept the religion (barely) alive.

[ewancummins]

I'm currently running I6 Ravenloft/House of Strahd and I was curious about Barovia's "state religion." I6 does not mention a specific deity for the Village of Barovia's Temple, but Gazetteer I mentions that the old state religion temple was converted to the Sanctuary of Blessed Succor, a Morninglord Temple. The (non-canonical?) Expedition to Castle Ravenloft seems to indicate that the Barovians worship ravens or a raven god.

Is there any information I missed?

I don't think Barovia has a state church after Strahd becomes a vampire and kills most of the guests at Castle Ravenloft.

In I6, Strahd has not destroyed the village church with his mercs or monsters, but something has clawed parts of the interior (the altar?). So it looks as if Strahd doesn't consider the local priest much of a threat. Otherwise he'd eliminate him. Nor does it seem Stahd has taken active steps to demolish churches and persecute the faithful, because if he had done so it would hardly make sense for a village church to survive so close to Castle Ravenloft and within the ring of deadly fog.

Note that in the module and even in the Black Box, Strahd doesn't seem to do much ruling. He's sleeping in his crypt or doing freaky necromantic experiments in his castle, whenever he's not out drinking the blood of young women and generally being a public menace.
He doesn't normally collect taxes, issues edicts, or show any strong interest in governance, although he does keep tabs on things through his gypsy spies.
He likely uses the Village of Barovia as a food source.

[ewancummins]

Are you running I6 or House of Strahd?
I've never seen the 2E version. Does it include any references to the Demiplane of Dread, other domains, etc?
I ask because I6 is actually a pre-Ravenloft (campaign setting) module. There was as yet not even the design conception of the Ravenloft campaign setting. The module was not set in any specific world, but made to be dropped into whatever the DM was running, his own world or a published setting.

Are you running the adventure in the Demiplane or no?

If it is in the Demiplane, what's the current year? Is Barovia the only domain? No Mordent yet, even?



If it is not in the Demiplane, where is it?

[Rock of the Fraternity]

This is off-topic, but I think the church in Barovia-village might be rather... interesting by now, if we go by the published material, including the novels.

Originally made as a place of worship for Andral, then reconsecrated by the priests of the Morninglord, and even temporarily a holy place of Gilean (Knight of the Black Rose) ... The church might have an unusual magical aura by now. It might not be a sinkhole of evil, but it could have ethereal resonance of some sort, and if the various magics actually managed to interact on some level instead of supplanting each other, it might be slowly growing into an even more powerfully protected place than a church is already supposed to be.

Maybe it could be growing into a unique, benevolent phantasmagorium...?

[Lost Heretic]

Cool, thanks for the info everyone!

Are you running I6 or House of Strahd?
I've never seen the 2E version. Does it include any references to the Demiplane of Dread, other domains, etc?

House of Strahd takes place in the domain of Barovia in the mid-5th century Barovian Calendar. The adventure is updated and includes rules for using a Tarokka, Dark Powers checks, and Fear/Horror/Madness. It also throws in a few monsters from the Ravenloft Monstrous Appendices.

Are you running the adventure in the Demiplane or no?

If it is in the Demiplane, what's the current year? Is Barovia the only domain? No Mordent yet, even?

That's a complex question that I haven't fully developed. I'm using a custom map of the Core that mashes a bunch of domains together. Here's a link to my first session report, which includes a world map: http://darkerdaysradio.blogspot.com/201 ... se-of.html

Falkovnia already had a successful war against multiple neighbors (which went less well for their ally, Lamordia), the Grim Harvest happened (Necropolis exists), and and the destruction of Duke Gundar caused the Shadow Rift to be created. The Grand Conjunction might not have occurred yet, since I might want to use those adventures.

So, in essence, I'm mashing a bunch of time periods together. It's ostensibly the 730s BC, but Ireena Kolyana and the other I6 NPCs are kicking around. The Morninglord cult exists since a PC cleric chose that faith (so Jander is kicking around somewhere!) but they haven't taken over the temple yet.

(PS, I have a pretty neat climax in mind for I6 that gives the players a satisfying win but doesn't destroy the integrity of Ravenloft. Should be fun!)

Originally made as a place of worship for Andral, then reconsecrated by the priests of the Morninglord, and even temporarily a holy place of Gilean (Knight of the Black Rose) ... The church might have an unusual magical aura by now. It might not be a sinkhole of evil, but it could have ethereal resonance of some sort...

Neat idea. Gilean is particularly about balancein Dragonlance, but with such an overwhelming evil in the Demiplane, his faith might react in a heavily "good" way.

[order99]

I do think that if the Church had become a more potent 'benevolent phantasmagoria' the Strahd would have attempted to destroy it by now by proxy if not directly. After all, "Strahd is the Land" and the Darklord would likely take offence at a place in HIS LAND where he cannot go or dominate...

And if the Church there IS that powerful then we would be looking at a new Dark Powers-type thorn in Strahd's side, possibly another weakness to exploit-could be a game-changer!

[thekristhomas]

Don't know if this is any help, but Andral was also the state religion in Borca and Dorfinia before the "Vacancy" (gaz 4, p26)

[Rock of the Fraternity]

I do think that if the Church had become a more potent 'benevolent phantasmagoria' the Strahd would have attempted to destroy it by now by proxy if not directly. After all, "Strahd is the Land" and the Darklord would likely take offence at a place in HIS LAND where he cannot go or dominate...

And if the Church there IS that powerful then we would be looking at a new Dark Powers-type thorn in Strahd's side, possibly another weakness to exploit-could be a game-changer!

If the phantasmagoria were smart enough, it'd lay low whenever Strahd is nearby or even tries to go inside.

[ewancummins]

Don't know if this is any help, but Andral was also the state religion in Borca and Dorfinia before the "Vacancy" (gaz 4, p26)

I've given serious thought to making the Church of Andral the major religion in a fair-sized chunk of the Core, in my next tabletop Ravenloft game.

It would replace the religious groups dedicated to Belenus (in Tepest, not in Forlorn) and Ezra.

Ezra might be included as a saint, though.

[Garudos Celestar]

Ezra might be included as a saint, though.

This actually could be an interesting twist if you parallel the real-world advancement of Jesus Christ and Christianity as the worldwide force derived from Abraham's Judaism (or for that matter, Muhammad is another expansionist prophet who worshipped the God of Abraham). Thus, Ezra becomes a particularly influential priestess of Andral who rises to overshadow the original faith, and since at least 2 of the books of Ezra (Dilisnya and Wachter) specifically name Ezra as a powerful mortal who entered the Mists, it's easy to add in a description of her as originally a priestess... the Dilisnyas and the Wachters are both Barovian families as well, so it's reasonable to think that they might be familiar with the ancient faith of Andral.

[ewancummins]

Ezra might be included as a saint, though.

This actually could be an interesting twist if you parallel the real-world advancement of Jesus Christ and Christianity as the worldwide force derived from Abraham's Judaism (or for that matter, Muhammad is another expansionist prophet who worshipped the God of Abraham). Thus, Ezra becomes a particularly influential priestess of Andral who rises to overshadow the original faith, and since at least 2 of the books of Ezra (Dilisnya and Wachter) specifically name Ezra as a powerful mortal who entered the Mists, it's easy to add in a description of her as originally a priestess... the Dilisnyas and the Wachters are both Barovian families as well, so it's reasonable to think that they might be familiar with the ancient faith of Andral.

I like it.

Greater connections are thus established, without invalidating too much of the existing material.


In Mordentshire, the old High Faith may have been syncretized into the Ezran-Andralite tradition.

I have had some alternate ideas about religion in the Core, ones that don't match well with some later canon. Later as in '98 and after. I may post more of that in a different thread.

[thekristhomas]

I do find the "lost" faiths intriguing for OOC reasons as well as narrative ones, both original adventures had partially ruined churches, but IIRC the first mention of Andral was in the Forbidden Lore boxed set in the section on the Keepers of the Feather, and the High Faith has vanished entirely from the setting. From the perspective of a fantasy setting, it's an unusual approach to not include gods, and really does illustrate the early developers focus on Ravenloft as a "weekend in hell" setting rather than a fully fledged (and fully developed) game world.

That aside, the story possibilities intrigue me too.

Firstly, I have it in the back of my mind and I can't shake it, that Andral is a misspelling or mispronunciation of an Outlander god, like Erlin/Nerull, but for the life of me I can't find one to fit it with a similar enough name (as an aside if we find the Outlander god then we might have found the original PM world where Strahd is from.

I think, and I may be wrong, that the concentration on raven iconography might be a peculiarity common only to Barovian adherents, as it comes from a story concerning the foundation of Barovia (gaz1 p119). It seems likely then that any Borcan followers would not have adopted the raven as a symbol of their faith, more likely sticking to solar symbolism.

That being said, it is true that the ravenkin have priests of Andral, and AFAIK had priests among them before the formation of the domain, so the raven/andral link might not be purely a Barovian invention (alternately it may be that the Barovian focus on ravens was what drew the ravenkin drew Andral in the first place)

[Dion of the Fraternity]

Maybe it's just me, but the mention of "Kir" in the opening pages of "Vampire of the Mists" might have some sort of divine connection as well. After all, "the Most High Priest of Kir" crafted the Symbol of Ravenkind.

I'd like to think that Kir is a separate deity (perhaps a god of ravens?) but closely connected to Andral.