Punisher in Ravenloft

[ewancummins]

TANGENT: WARNING
CONTAINS A BIT OF THEOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY

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A version of Thor existing in the MU does not provide for a strong argument against atheism.
Atheism is , in the proper sense, a belief that rejects the existence of the Absolute/the Ur-Ground/The Supreme Being/God. A person can be skeptical or irreligious without being an atheist. Some schools of atheist philosophy have developed into quasi-religious political movements.

An atheist might make sense of MU Thor as a powerful humanoid alien.
A Christian (like Captain America) can see Thor in the same way, without contradiction or hypocrisy.

As always, YMMV!

RE Raven-Punisher

Is he to be an anti-hero NPC, a creature of Ravenloft, or a darklord?

Perhaps somebody should make three versions of Raven-Punisher (silly placeholder name)? A terror track ?

[Manofevil]

In the year 2099, the punisher of that era loses his parents and brother but remains a devotee of Thor

I don't think The Punisher hates God per se. There may be some anger there but I think he's grounded enough to recognize that people (specifically criminals) are responsible for the state of the world rather than God. Otherwise he'd be descecrating churches rather than killing mobsters, wouldn't he.

[The Lesser Evil]

Regarding Raven-Punisher's role in the Land of Mists, we should probably take into consideration the differences between assumed superhero/modern world dynamics and assumed fantasy/medieval dynamics. In fantasy, killing is the norm, and in Ravenloft the equivalent tot he police force are often corrupt anyway, so throwing criminals in jail is frequently not an option.

[Quinntonia]

Actually a very good point.

The thing that makes him stand out in comics is that he kills whereas others do not.

What would make him stand out in Ravenloft?

[ewancummins]

Actually a very good point.

The thing that makes him stand out in comics is that he kills whereas others do not.

What would make him stand out in Ravenloft?

Yes, that's a good point.

But the Punisher isn't usually fighting supernatural monsters. Not even an "always chaotic evil' race like orcs. He's fighting criminals.

Wouldn't most criminals surrender rather than fight to the death?
And wouldn't most good-aligned characters accept such surrenders under most circumstances?
I'm not talking about monsters like mindless undead or rabid were beasts, but human/demi human hitmen, pimps, rapists, kidnappers, and so on.

[ewancummins]

CONT.

For this reason, I suspect that Raven Punisher would work best in a domain with few monsters but lots of humans.
And it should be a place with corruption in the government, but also with some good and honest public servants. Rather than execution, most criminals will be punished with prison time.
If everyone in positions of power and/or authority is corrupt and wicked, then Raven Punisher's vigilantism just seems too reasonable. Heroes who respect human life and try to work within the law should exist, in part to provide some contrast to the brutal methods employed by RavenPunisher.

YMMV

[The Lesser Evil]

Places where the government wasn't corrupt... That leaves out of places with significant urban elements
Borca
Darkon
Dementlieu
Falkovnia
Nosos
Nova Vaasa
Richemulot

Lamordia and Mordent probably don't have the populous city centers to create a Raven-Punisher

Paridon might work, if the shapeshifters haven't infiltrated the upper ranks of the government, police, etc. Immerabt (Undead Sea Scrolls 2002) could be another possibility, as killing of any sort is viewed as madness of the worst kind.

[jamesfirecat]

Paridon might work, if the shapeshifters haven't infiltrated the upper ranks of the government, police, etc. Immerabt (Undead Sea Scrolls 2002) could be another possibility, as killing of any sort is viewed as madness of the worst kind.

I like the idea of Paridon, while there are shapeshifters in the police force, to maintain their cover they typically try to do a decent job on any police related matter that doesn't have to do with the dopplegangers themselves which is probably most of them other than those six murders every thirteen years that inevitably happen.

It's also a domain with a lot of humans but not very monsters, to the point where if I was smarter, I'd try to have "There are no monsters in Paridon" be arc words for an adventure /story set there, as you simply don't have creature jumps out of bushes tries to attack you style random encounters with monsters and even a wolfweres who lives there is taking the time to hit the books and become good enough at doctoring that he can afford a home to live in with a manservant...

[brilliantlight]

He'd be a darklord, with his domain filled to the brim with genuine criminals, all of whom he feels the need to torture and kill, but every time he does another innocent in his domain becomes a violent criminal. He's caught in an endless loop where when he kills one criminal the act of killing them somehow causes another person to snap and become a criminal, over and over with the only release being confessing everything to a priest and stopping the revenge and just letting the next one go...

I totally see this happening. Castle is clearly a DL, he is far too indifferent to human life to be anything else. The curse you gave him makes perfect sense for the character. It would drive him nuts.

[ewancummins]

Places where the government wasn't corrupt... That leaves out of places with significant urban elements
Borca
Darkon
Dementlieu
Falkovnia
Nosos
Nova Vaasa
Richemulot

Lamordia and Mordent probably don't have the populous city centers to create a Raven-Punisher

Paridon might work, if the shapeshifters haven't infiltrated the upper ranks of the government, police, etc. Immerabt (Undead Sea Scrolls 2002) could be another possibility, as killing of any sort is viewed as madness of the worst kind.

Paridon/Zherisia as originally presented would work just fine. There's only one named doppelganger in that, and no indication any others exist in the domain. The villains are mainly humans. But I'm referring to the Black Box entry. It's so sparse one would really be making a new domain with just some elements taken from later , better developed versions of Zherisia/ Paridon.

[ewancummins]

Paridon might work, if the shapeshifters haven't infiltrated the upper ranks of the government, police, etc. Immerabt (Undead Sea Scrolls 2002) could be another possibility, as killing of any sort is viewed as madness of the worst kind.

I like the idea of Paridon, while there are shapeshifters in the police force, to maintain their cover they typically try to do a decent job on any police related matter that doesn't have to do with the dopplegangers themselves which is probably most of them other than those six murders every thirteen years that inevitably happen.

It's also a domain with a lot of humans but not very monsters, to the point where if I was smarter, I'd try to have "There are no monsters in Paridon" be arc words for an adventure /story set there, as you simply don't have creature jumps out of bushes tries to attack you style random encounters with monsters and even a wolfweres who lives there is taking the time to hit the books and become good enough at doctoring that he can afford a home to live in with a manservant...

That works, too.

[GreenWood]

I always thought Nova Vassa was a good fit for the Punisher. The corruption of government, the rampant poverty, etc. Malken would make a good nemesis for him, being a criminal mastermind.

[The Lesser Evil]

I always thought Nova Vassa was a good fit for the Punisher. The corruption of government, the rampant poverty, etc. Malken would make a good nemesis for him, being a criminal mastermind.

In Champions of Darkness they have character a bit like this, a street vigilante who is also a cleric of the Lawgiver. She's been labeled a heretic by the orthodox Lawgiver Church, of course.
http://fraternityofshadows.com/wiki/Marynia_Teslenko

Of course, she is not as extreme as Frank Castle, but she might give a few ideas of how to fit him. Perhaps he's a former lawgiver cleric who became convinced the system was too corrupt and thus he had to go beyond it?