Lamordia: Inspirations, Legends, and Plothooks

[KingCorn]

Still doing this, a sorta Domain-of-the-Month. This time, let us explore the northern domain of mad science, Lamordia.

Based around Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, the domain has often felt kinda...one note to me, and I've had trouble isolating Adam and Mordenheim as darklords just becauce in a land full of mad scientists and golems, these two don't feel unique amoung them.

So consider this a challenge: what are ways you would expand or alter Lamordia to give it history and flavor beyond simply being 'the land of mad science'?

[Mistmaster]

My Lamordia was once a vast empire, and Falkovnia was a part of it.

[KingCorn]

As far as we can tell, if you go with the whole 'makes-a-model' theory for how the mists and domains work, then Lamordia seems to be a fairly accurate recreation of Mordenheims home country, with the changes only being Von Aubecker and the lack of history. That we don't know what setting (if any) he is from, and unlike some other darklords it was never directly stated that he was or wasn't from Gothic Earth (probably not in my opinion) then filling out the domain has the problem of not having an outside land to riff on.

However, we do know that its based on a mixture of Switzerland, Germany, and the 'Low Countries' (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemberg), so some light Nordic influences could be found in the domain. So, the history and cryptids/myths of each of these countries could be put into the domain.

The main problem in my opinion comes from the Lamordian disbelief in the supernatural, which if you include to many supernatural elements within their domain just becomes more and more absurd. This could be replaced with instead a scientific/mathematical approach to magic. In a way, I could imagine it like the Fantastic Four comic where Reed Richards tries to learn magic, and just cannot seem to make it work cause he approachs purely from a scientific viewpoint, and forgets the mystical portion of it which makes it work.

Maybe for this, their could be a society of Lamordians who believe magical runes are a form of complex extra-dimensional mathimatic formula which cause phenomina. Adding a nordic element, maybe they study runes found in nordic-like ruins in their domain, believing the runes are the purest (ie simplest/most mathimatic) form of this. They do research on stone runes, and occasional get a result. Rather than a magical society though, they see themselves as a mixture of mathimaticians, physicists, and historians.

[Mistmaster]

The main problem in my opinion comes from the Lamordian disbelief in the supernatural, which if you include to many supernatural elements within their domain just becomes more and more absurd. This could be replaced with instead a scientific/mathematical approach to magic. In a way, I could imagine it like the Fantastic Four comic where Reed Richards tries to learn magic, and just cannot seem to make it work cause he approachs purely from a scientific viewpoint, and forgets the mystical portion of it which makes it work.

I agree, my Lamordia have a scientific approach to magic, and a focus on alchemy and artifice.

[Speedwagon]

As far as we can tell, if you go with the whole 'makes-a-model' theory for how the mists and domains work, then Lamordia seems to be a fairly accurate recreation of Mordenheims home country, with the changes only being Von Aubecker and the lack of history. That we don't know what setting (if any) he is from, and unlike some other darklords it was never directly stated that he was or wasn't from Gothic Earth (probably not in my opinion) then filling out the domain has the problem of not having an outside land to riff on.

However, we do know that its based on a mixture of Switzerland, Germany, and the 'Low Countries' (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemberg), so some light Nordic influences could be found in the domain. So, the history and cryptids/myths of each of these countries could be put into the domain.

I was going to say, not having an outside land to riff on isn't entirely the case. Sure, there's no D&D setting to really take from, but the inspiration of Switzerland, Germany, and the BeNeLux countries gives ideas to work on. I'd also recommend some ideas from 5e Lamordia, in terms of filling out the map with new locales and giving some new angles to places like Neufurchtenburg. If the Sleeping Beast Mountains have a now-discovered radioactive mine vein (as in 5e), that could be something the Lamordians could sell to the Falkovnians, or use for themselves. In terms of what I've thought of with Lamordia, I found myself more enamored with 5e's vision (tempered with 3e's gazetteer level of detail and general stability), so I took the text from there and combined it with the video game Frostpunk. I highly recommend it!

The main problem in my opinion comes from the Lamordian disbelief in the supernatural, which if you include to many supernatural elements within their domain just becomes more and more absurd. This could be replaced with instead a scientific/mathematical approach to magic. In a way, I could imagine it like the Fantastic Four comic where Reed Richards tries to learn magic, and just cannot seem to make it work cause he approachs purely from a scientific viewpoint, and forgets the mystical portion of it which makes it work.

Maybe for this, their could be a society of Lamordians who believe magical runes are a form of complex extra-dimensional mathimatic formula which cause phenomina. Adding a nordic element, maybe they study runes found in nordic-like ruins in their domain, believing the runes are the purest (ie simplest/most mathimatic) form of this. They do research on stone runes, and occasional get a result. Rather than a magical society though, they see themselves as a mixture of mathimaticians, physicists, and historians.

First off, I LOVE the Fantastic Four and I know exactly which comic you're referencing (part of Mark Waid and Mike Weiringo's "Unthinkable" arc of their F4 run)!

And I think that's a reasonable way to go about it. Cues can be taken from games like Call of Cthulhu or Arkham Horror, in terms of how to sell the modernity of Lamordia. There's also NeoTiamat's Lamordia rewrite, which I rank up there with his Falkovnia rewrite and Pharazia rewrite. But for the monsters themselves, there should be an arrogance from the Lamordians of not outright dismissing these creatures existence, but of mis-categorizing them as natural or something to be understood as opposed to be feared. The cold and wild nature of Lamordia (which is also shown in 5e) contrasts with the Lamordian man's idea that nature is to be conquered/subjugated/tamed and exploited in the name of science. This differentiates Lamordia from a place like Nosos, as Lamordia has more going on thematically than Nosos does and is doing this because of a desire for knowledge as opposed to greed or spite.

And even then, this might be a very new and still "niche" trend in Lamordian society. Or it might be a long-running fad that pops up and then loses steam every once in a while (think something like disco making a comeback every 10 years, hypothetically).

[KingCorn]

While not the biggest fan of 5e, I did like some of the ideas for its Lamordia, including playing up the effect the cold has on peoples lives and the landscape itself. And like you said Speedwagon, a good theme besides mad science is man's attempts to tame and conquer nature, with mixed results. Plenty of nature horror is viable here, such as a winter hunting expedition going deathly wrong.

I also found something interesting, someone's custom map for 5e Ludendorf. Thought I'd share that: https://www.reddit.com/r/ravenloft/comm ... tation_of/

[KingCorn]

I noice from the maps that some of the islands between Lamordia and the Jagged Coast of Darkon seem to blend into each other, with one island seeming to be split between domains (a rather long, thin one). Claims to these many islands would be a source of tension with the nation, nevermind the cultural differences (acceptance of magic and demi-humans), with their even being a shared presence on the split island, something similar to the co French-Netherlands claim to Saint Martin Island (except, ya know, its not a Souther American Island).

[Speedwagon]

I cast Thread Necromancy!

Y'know, Lamordia's cold. I know we mentioned this earlier in the thread with the idea of man trying to dominate nature and elements of Frostpunk, as well as Lamordians being a generally closed off and cold people. On that, I was curious, in a very morbid way, what the suicide rates of Lamordia looked like? I'm thinking of how Scandinavian countries are reported year-by-year to be some of the "happiest" countries on Earth, with "happiness" being defined in different ways that doesn't always fit what we may think of it. And Finland has one of the highest happiness rates while also having one of the highest suicide rates*. So, would Lamordia have something similar in that regard? And that might lead to some interesting ghost stories or even more mundane plot hooks related to themes of gothic horror----the Lamordian love of science may be closely related to a desire to find purpose, with none of that religion malarkey attached, something that the Lamordian people would find more "real" and "meaningful" to them. This may be even more relevant to Adam's Children and their own search for meaning.


* (https://www.marketwatch.com/story/peopl ... 2020-01-13)

[KingCorn]

I return! (Told you I would fall off on doing this).

As I recall, Lamordia's cosmology from Gazetteer 2 believes the universe is composed of a the defined and absolute lawful parts of creation, characterized as a great clockwork machine, and the rest being a sort of mercurial substance which forms the basis of all potential creation. This view, combined with their idea of the so called 'Great Clockworker' seems to be very heavily implied to be Mechanus and Limbo.

This could be interesting as it suggests some vague awareness of the outerplanes and their reliationship. As some have talked about The Gears in Falkovnia and the fan idea that it is a sentient machine that wishes to become a portal to Mechanus. Maybe the Lamordians and the Sydnicate of Englightened Citizens could, in their crazed pursuit of rationality, be trying something similar.

It could also be that their idea of chaos could be characterized as a sort of evil Slaadi, underlying the concepts of entropy, bad luck, and mechanical failure. Even if only in the metaphorical, maybe they have sayings such as 'Taken by the Black Toad' or 'Broken by the Red Toad' as slang terms for death or misfortune.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Alternatively, the Weltaulkügel could be a Ravenloft take on the idea of the clockwork universe, or at least the variant thereof that precludes the need for a divine being to set the clock in motion.