Domains drawn into the mists...

[Tobias Blackburn]

I was under the impression that Count Strahd is the only native Darklord from Ravenloft.

Several Darklords have been born in the demiplane and managed to gain the dubious honor of earning their own domain: Frant Markov, Yagno Petrova, Gabby Aderre, Alfred Timothy and Inza are the ones I can think of offhand.

Nathan Timothy was born in Mordent, and there's a good chance that the Hive Queen was born in Timor after it had joined the demiplane.

[Jester of the FoS]

I believe Ivan/Ivana were born in the demiplane as well in Borca, and D'Honaire was also born in Mordent.
I can't remember if Renier was born in the plane of entered as a young child (I believe there is a continuity error there).

[cure]

I don't think the origin of Mordent in the sense of where it was drawn from has ever been made clear. We do have, however, the strong suggestion that it was not drawn from the same world, itself unknown, as was Barovia. Additionally, its unique and now defunct national religion suggests that it is not of any other known world.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

The original RL "Kargat" design team, way back when, openly stated at convention panel-discussions that Barovia's Material Plane world of origin was deliberately never named or defined. This helps to maintain its mystery within published materials, while leaving individual DMs free to link it to the Material world of their choice.

Mordent's origins in the Material Plane have likewise been left vague, as it seems to have been more of a parallel to IRL Earth than a standard D&D world. Gothic Earth would be the logical candidate for it origin (and also Lamordia's perhaps), if you have to link it to a published game-setting.

Remember, there are a LOT more Material Plane worlds out there than it could ever be possible to cover in game products -- or even in all those thousands of homebrew campaign-settings which gamers have concocted in the last thirty-plus years! -- within the scope of the D&D cosmos. The Mists have so many worlds to choose from, it's actually rather remarkable that any two darklords or prominent outlanders should originate from the same Material Plane game-setting! So it's only natural that many, or even most, outlanders' origins would trace back to worlds we've never seen detailed; not every major NPC needs to be a product tie-in or an in-joke for gamers.

[Scot Storm]

After reading only a little bit into Ravenloft I believe that the person drawn into the mist did not bring the native land with them they only brought themselves. I have'n't gotten that far into RL to know who was born native to the RL land. If my lack of knowledge in this matter has offended you I apologize.

[Undead Cabbage]

You know, maybe I'm just slow to see this now, but did you ever notice that a good majority of the RL birthed darklords seem to be born with something 'wrong' or supernatural about them? As opposed to darklords of outer origins, which then to have more normal births.

Some examples. Dominic from birth had an unnatural ability to manipulate others for his age. Ivan was born immediately sadistic, and from a young age loved to torture animals. Inza...is Inza... Alfred was born sickly and frail.

Of course, this would be no surprise, as it wouldn't be the first or last time that the DPs decided to screw with someone's birth.

Or was this just common knowledge that I hadn't picked up yet?

[Corrupted_Loremaster]

Perhaps, but I'd wager a good number of non-DLs are born the same way. Maybe the powers give certain children various talents at birth, ones that could allow them to become either great heroes or villains, then stand back and watch what happens. A select few rise to the top (or fall to the deepest of pits, as the case may be).