Al-Kathos, anyone?

[WolfKook]

I'm planning on running a Ravenloft adventure in an arabbic setting; however, Pharazia don't really suit my needs, and I don't want (Or have time to ) create a new domain for just one adventure.
I have heard something about Al-Kathos (An arabic island of terror, which suppossedly appeared only in a novel), and am interested in knowing a little more about this domain: Is there any unofficial material published about this domain? If there is not, is there anyone who can inform me about it? Better yet, is there anyone able and willing to provide a RPHB-like description of it ? ( Information about its darklord would also be appreciated ).

[Joël of the FoS]

Here's the start of your search

http://www.gryphonhill.com/alkathos/index.htm

And you should read the novel about this place, in Tales of Ravenloft.

Joël

[NeoTiamat]

It's an existing Domain, yes, but pretty much all of it is un-elaborated except for a single story. So you'll be doing quite a bit of statting and background creating.

That said, it has several interesting story hooks that you can use, more then Pharazia (which is odd, considering one appears in a single short-story and the other is a fully statted domain).

[WolfKook]

Wow! Thank you, Jöel, it's even more detailed than I wished for ! It even deserves upgrading to 3ed, but with the information provided, I guess I could do that myself
And indeed, it seems to be more interesting than Pharazia... I wonder why it wasn't included in the Amber Wastes instead of that domain (Which I don't really see that interesting)...

[HuManBing]

If I remember correctly the darklord was a dark sorceror named Abd-al Mamat, who was dismembered and his body spread throughout the wastes. Slowly but surely his empire collapsed and people lived in tribal conflicts. Eventually they started rediscovering parts of his body and bringing them back to the capital. Currently the only part they were missing was his skull.

[Gemathustra]

Actually, Abd-al Mamat was the vizier to a desert chieftain who usurped control of his tribe by framing the chieftain's only son for the murder of the son's lover. After his chieftain died, Abd-al Mamat lead the tribe to found a city, where he became a harsh tyrant, who saw to it that all wrong-doers be made an example of. One day, a dashing adventurer and his beloved came through the city, and became the vizier's guests, and Mamat became enamoured of the woman. After she rejected his advances, Mamat concocted a scheme to drive them apart, by having some of his maimed citizens falsely accuse the adventurer of various crimes, and maimed him horribly as punishment. When the lover refused to abandon the adventurer, Mamat, himself, accused the maimed adventurer of being a horrible person if he was to insist that his lover marry a maimed husband, and had the adventurer put to death. The woman, in turn, committed suicide by leaping off of the peak of a nearby mountain, her body never being found.
Then Abd-al Mamat vented his anger by passing judgement on all of his subjects, systematically maiming everyone in the city. The the Djinn were greatly displeased with his nefarious crimes and viciousness that a swarm of them literally cut him into a thousand pieces, down to his screaming skull, and scattered his still-living remains across the mountains and desert...
His loyal subjects continue to collect his fragments, and the story ends with him still waiting for his skull, so he can begin his judgements anew.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

Essentially, the original story was a morality-play of sorts, about how we foolish humans tend to overlook little things (like treachery and murder, in Mamat's case) on the part of authority-figures whose leadership benefits us personally, and to look back on "the good ole days" as better than the present. Hence, the next generation thinks of Abd-al Mamat's reign as paradise -- the classic "trains always ran on time in Stalin's day!" phenomenon -- and are trying to bring him back to rule again, despite the indisputable evidence of the maimed senior citizens who'd suffered under his iron fist.

[Garudos Celestar]

And indeed, it seems to be more interesting than Pharazia... I wonder why it wasn't included in the Amber Wastes instead of that domain (Which I don't really see that interesting)...

Well, someone with more knowledge of the publication dates can feel free to correct me, but I believe that Domains of Dread (which introduced the concept of the clusters) came out before Tales of Ravenloft; as such, at the time, Pharazia existed and al-Kathos did not.

Regardless of the publishing order, Pharazia was a domain that had already been mapped and claimed a darklord with full statistics, while al-Kathos had never appeared in game terms. As a result, Pharazia would probably have been a much more appealing inclusion.

[Mortepierre]

If I remember correctly the darklord was a dark sorceror named Abd-al Mamat

Nope, it was a Warmonger genie (from the Al-Qadim setting) named Malbus IIRC.

[NeoTiamat]

I seem to remember something about Jackal-headed priests of the Rotting God as well. Sounds like a good alternative power center in the Domain.

Struggle between Malbus and the Jackal Priests perhaps? With the return of the Viziers as more of an impending doom kind of thing? (Nothing like a good impending doom to deaden down (as opposed to liven up) a domain).

[Mangrum]

Nope, it was a Warmonger genie (from the Al-Qadim setting) named Malbus IIRC.

The darklord of Al-Kathos is mentioned only briefly in the short story, and his nature is left ambiguous. Could be some sort of djinn, could be a yak-man, could be just about anything with horns.