Café de Nuit

I need to log in more! Having read over this issue again, great stuff from everyone! I really liked more expansion to Darkon. Plus, more dark faerie tale fantasy a la Collodi is always welcome!
Also, I noticed that the issue was updated quite some time ago!

IanFordam wrote: Mon Dec 01, 2025 6:20 pm

Tonitrus wrote: Wed Nov 26, 2025 8:16 am Contradictions and Mysteries
I didn't make that many notes here, but I will share the things I wrote down:

• Nice to see some ambiguous gods, the whole "good god" and "evil god" aspect of DND theology has annoyed me for some time.

Same here. There's a place for mighty clashes between the Forces of Good and the Forces of Evil, but there ARE other possibilities.

Basically, the entire Sri Raji trilogy got written because I couldn't let stand Web of Illusion's assertion that Siva was an evil goddess while my real-life Shaivite friends worship him as a benevolent god. (Oh, and because Jeremy16 wondered about the moon in Sri Raji, but never mind that.)

In either Deities & Demigods or Legends & Lore, Siva's alignment is given as "neutral evil" because his primary purview is destruction. Granted, it's specifically "destruction that encourages rebirth and regrowth," but it was difficult inserting that particular nuance into source materials in those days.

IanFordam wrote: Mon Dec 01, 2025 6:09 pm

Rock of the Fraternity wrote: Tue Nov 04, 2025 4:18 pm "Beneath the Heels of the Dancing Goddess," by Ian Fordam & Adam “Speedwagon” El Akkad, with Jeremy Roby.

I have to admit, I felt uncomfortable when reading that there are red pandas in the Baans ka Jangal. I love red pandas, and the thought of them being in a Rajian jungle, in the Demiplane of Dread, is ... disturbing. I know, I know, not gothic horror in action... but I really do love red pandas. ^^;

We promise that no red pandas were harmed in the writing of this article. Not a one!

Which is a complete shame because there used to be gigantic, panther-sized red pandas roaming North America and Eurasia about 10 to 8 million years ago that were decidedly more carnivorous than the extant red pandas.

Wow! More free content than you can shake a stick at!

Baron Von Stanton wrote: Tue Dec 02, 2025 11:35 am In either Deities & Demigods or Legends & Lore, Siva's alignment is given as "neutral evil" because his primary purview is destruction. Granted, it's specifically "destruction that encourages rebirth and regrowth," but it was difficult inserting that particular nuance into source materials in those days.

Yup.

So much yup.

Big Mac wrote: Tue Dec 02, 2025 3:11 pm Wow! More free content than you can shake a stick at!

Hey! I think I've seen you on ThePiazza forums! If so, then welcome! And yeah, we enjoy providing lots of material for the broader community to read over, enjoy, and maybe even use in their games!

Speedwagon wrote: Tue Dec 02, 2025 5:04 pm

Big Mac wrote: Tue Dec 02, 2025 3:11 pm Wow! More free content than you can shake a stick at!

Hey! I think I've seen you on ThePiazza forums! If so, then welcome! And yeah, we enjoy providing lots of material for the broader community to read over, enjoy, and maybe even use in their games!

Indeed! That's the lead editor for Wildspace Magazine as well! (I will embarrass/butter you up here, Big Mac )

Speedwagon wrote: Tue Dec 02, 2025 5:04 pm

Big Mac wrote: Tue Dec 02, 2025 3:11 pmWow! More free content than you can shake a stick at!

Hey! I think I've seen you on ThePiazza forums! If so, then welcome!

Yep. I used to be on the Wizards COMmunity Boards (aka Gleemax) but a Mystara fan called Havard pursuaded me to set up an account on The Piazza. Now I'm an admin and I have been trying to help expand support for smaller settings (like Council of Wyrms, Jakandor, Ghostwalk and Nentir Vale) that do not have big fansites like The Fraternity of Shadows to act as a central point of contact.

For things like Ravenloft, I try to keep an eye on cool things you do (like Quote the Raven), so that I can help spread the word on social media. The Fraternity of Shadows is always going to be the big community hub, but anything that helps TFoS helps anyone else with a smaller Ravenloft community too.

I'm also trying to repair The Piazza's product information website (The Book-House on The Piazza) and make sure I can find all the free resources that tie into every product. Here is the Ravenloft page on the Book-House. Most of the 3e stuff is missing right now and I will no-doubt be back over here asking for help finding the specific FoS resources that tie into every product, so I can link to everything. (At the moment, I'm focusing on older pages that got a big broken in the move over to my server.)

Speedwagon wrote: Tue Dec 02, 2025 5:04 pmAnd yeah, we enjoy providing lots of material for the broader community to read over, enjoy, and maybe even use in their games!

It really is great that you lot are here. As someone who is primarily a Spelljammer fan, the webmaster of our big website (Spelljammer: Beyond the Moons) is now too busy to upload new content. And the big Planescape website (Planewalker.com) is slightly broken and the webmaster of that website is also too busy to fix it.

You really do need to value the people who are keeping this place going. It's very special to have stuff like this! Not every D&D campaign setting has what Ravenloft has!

I try to avoid commenting on anything while people are giving feedback so I can hear what people think unaffected by whatever I might say on the subject, so I wait until everyone is done before I say anything. It's difficult to tell on a forum how long that wait should be. I figure it's been long enough, so I'll reply to the comments people had about my article.

Rock of the Fraternity wrote: Fri Oct 31, 2025 3:15 pm "Heresy, Heterodoxy and Heteropraxy" by Tonitrus.

This article is a real banger in my book.
I loved that it reads as a genuine scholarly analysis of the various faiths of the Core, explaining its terminology and handling its subject matter fairly objectively.
The article also offers a lot of variation to the established religions of the Core, which can be good fun for a DM looking for some interesting NPCs or seeds for religious conflict beyond the established grudges between the churches we know. I'm just sorry Tonitrus didn't give the Duremkite heresy its own section, as he did for the other variants.

I sincerely hope you'll write more articles on this subject, and take a look at the faiths of other Clusters and Islands. I'd also like to know more about the viewpoint character, Alphonse Dufort. Who is he? Why did he write the article? Maybe there'll be a "Heresy, Heterodoxy and Heteropraxy 2" in our future?

>>> Duremkite heresy

I felt really bad about not including them. There are a few Ezran heresies I'd forgotten about when I wrote this that I wish I'd included as well (Danseurs Divin, the Cupbearers), but I remembered/became aware of the Duremkites while I was still writing and it caused me a bit of an existential crisis.

For one, I'd created a very similar group that I had to tweak/rewrite as a result. For another, I really wanted to include the Duremkites, but felt that doing so undermined the fiction of the article. If the author were to name them, then the Iron Faith would persecute them. As such I settled for making an oblique reference to them (pg. 501), but regret not doing more with them. By the time I became aware of them, I was too committed to the fictional form of the piece and couldn't think of a way to include them in a clearly OOC section.

>>> Faiths and Clusters

My typical creation process is "Bite off more than you can chew and just keep chewing. If somehow you survive that, bite off even more."

I'd originally planned to cover the Eternal Order, Belanus, and the Allgods Temple in Liffe, because I think Liffe is neat. I particularly wanted to address Belanus in Tepest vs Nidala, and to contrast local belief with Faithhold's version of Belanus. However, the article turned into way more work than I expected. Not that the writing was easy, but the process of creating the different factions was much harder than I anticipated. While the initial ones were fairly easy, I quickly found myself repeating concepts and being forced to create the different groups over and over again.

With the deadline coming up, I realized that I was likely to fail to submit the article entirely if I didn't focus on completing what I'd come up with rather than generating things for new factions. I figured I'd try to add the other ideas after I got the rest written, but I still ended up barely making the deadline.

I'd specifically decided to not touch on Zhakata or the Wolf God, who I don't particularly find interesting.

>>> Dufort

As for Dufort, he got rewritten at the last minute and I've also forgotten a lot of things about him since writing. His main goal and throughline, which never changed, was his desire to see religion recognized as a normal human experience, outside any supernatural or superstition, and to have this aspect of humanity studied with the same scholarly rigor that other fields receive. He's somewhat skeptical of religious claims and religious models of revelation, but he's also skeptical of the tendency of some academics to discard religious experience and ritual outright. He believes that religions and academia both have lessons to teach one another.

If I write a followup article, I'd be likely to contradict anything else I were to say about him, though!

>>> Heresy, Heterodoxy, and Heteropraxy 2

I'd planned to write an article¹ last year and did not, so I am reluctant to say that I will write a followup. There are things I wasn't able to include in this article that I'd like to revisit at some point, though.

¹ I'd decided to try to make a film noir Core for some reason, but forgot to actually write it. It was going to be titled something like 1299 BC.

IanFordam wrote: Sat Nov 01, 2025 10:46 am Heresy, Heterodoxy, and Heteropraxy
by Tonitrus

I very much enjoyed this article. The scholarly tone was convincing without being dry. It provides a useful framework for describing heresies and heterodoxies. It offers multiple examples of splinter faiths with sufficient (but not excessive) detail to incorporate them into a campaign. It even provides rationale for how the Iron Faith can operate in Hazlan despite its stance on arcane magic! (Short answer: very carefully.)

As the only section dedicated to a non-Core domain, "Zherisia and the Divinity of Mankind" felt out of place to me. However, please take that as a miniscule complaint.

I really liked the various brief examples scattered throughout the text. We don't need a full stat block for Annette of St. Ronges; sufficient world-building detail is provided by the single paragraph describing her writings and her impact upon the Church of Ezra. My favorite such example is Balthazar Strazni of Liffe exactly because the Faith of the Thousand Gods is so obscure yet very appropriately referenced. These details do an excellent job of emphasizing the author's points without distracting from them.

Well done, Tonitrus!

>>> It even provides rationale for how the Iron Faith can operate in Hazlan despite its stance on arcane magic! (Short answer: very carefully.)

This was a substantial headache for me. I'm surprised it hasn't been dealt with more already. Hopefully I settled on an explanation that is believable.

>>> Zherisia felt out of place.

I'd intended to cover Belanus and the Allgods Temple at minimum, as I mentioned above. Zherisia was just the only one I had that was anywhere close to finished when I realized I was out of time.

>>> various brief examples

Even before I was anywhere close to finishing the article, it was clear to me that it was going to be much larger than I wanted it to be. I think at one point I wanted to talk more about the examples I give in that section, but it seemed like it would get out of hand. I also tend to like brief mentions of things because they make the world seem bigger and don't take a lot of space.

I figured people were likely to find the brief mentions distracting, so I'm glad you liked them!

Jeremy16 wrote: Tue Nov 11, 2025 8:33 pm HERESY, HETERODOXY, AND HETEROPRAXY


This is a modest article (compared to the vast world building going on elsewhere), but really well done. I'm always in favor of anything that adds more nuance to the religions of Ravenloft.

I love the definitions that were given up front and the matter of fact presentation. It really feels like I'm peering over the shoulder of the author while he pores over esoteric tomes.

The various factions that were outlined, while not really gimmicky, are very believable. (It really goes to show that the slightest deviation can lead to a vastly different outlook on things.)

Another interesting aspect is the framework for dealing with heretics of all different faiths. It's good to see that there are more moderate approaches to such trespasses instead of the knee jerk witch burning of the Tepestani Inquisition.

Like others, I love the exploration of the growing rift between the Hazlani and Nova Vaasan versions of the Iron Faith.

The only complaint I have is the glaring lack of information on one of the core's major religions – The Eternal Order. And, some sadistic part of me wants to see what heretics of the Wolf God could possibly preach (perhap a peaceful co-existence with the hairless apes?) and what sanctions would be brought down upon them!

>>> various factions

I typically don't like religions in D&D. They seem very artificial to me. One of the reasons I fell in love with the Demiplane of Dread as much as I did was the way that the Church of Ezra and its many sects felt more believable to me. As a big fan of the idea of a "lived in" demiplane, I figured that taking the idea even further would just make the world feel more believable and large.

>>> Tepestani Inquisition

Belanus in general and the Tepestani Inquisition in particular was something I really wanted to cover, but I ran out of time, as I mentioned above. (Faiths and Clusters)

>>> The Eternal Order and Wolf God

I'd decided not to cover the Wolf God in a rare moment of sanity. I'd probably do so if I ran out of other religions to cover, though. It'd be second to last on my list, though, with Zhakata in last.

As for the Eternal Order, I had started writing things up for it when I ran out of time, but it was ... not good. By the time I got to the Eternal Order, I was just out of ideas. Practically every idea I came up with was similar to another thing I'd already done in the article. I threw out a lot of it for being dumb, but I was able to repurpose some of it.

I could think of heteropraxies for the Eternal Order, but no interesting heresies/heterodoxies. I could think of heresies and heterodoxies for the Zealots, but no heteropraxies that didn't seem better suited to the Eternal Order. Luckily I realized that the Zealots would likely continue older folk traditions, and I could just use the Eternal Order ones. Nothing else I wrote for the Eternal Order was worth keeping.

I think I'd have needed another 1-3 months to write something for the Eternal Order that was worth including in the article. Even if I were to try to write something for them now, I'm not sure I'd have any good ideas.


Thanks for the feedback, everyone!


My Thoughts

For my own part, one thing I don't care for in the article is the formatting of some of the factions. To be clear, this is purely my fault. It is formatted basically the same way in my original document and I had thought it might be an issue.

The Mitakians have a header, then there's a side bar, then things go into the regular text, which works well.

The Unparalleled Light begins with a sidebar, and there's no header. The Krigers are the same. I probably need to write a small bit of text so that I can have header, some text, sidebar. The Jurist sidebar rolls in the brief text I wrote for them, though, so I'm not sure how much text I should write. Or maybe I should break the paragraphs up differently.

There were other things I'd like to have mentioned in the article, but I think all of that has been covered above.

I rarely get around to reviewing Rock's articles because they always end up running a bit longer than my admittedly short attention span allows.

This year's entry intrigued me with its mixture of fiction and bits of lore; now that's a novel way to present a new fan-made domain and I applaud Rock for trying something new. My usual practice is to not comment on fiction pieces because everyone has widely different standards, but I suspected from the beginning that this entry would somehow tie into the author's previously presented Wartorn Cluster, so I decided to give it a go.

As such, I will break this review down into two parts – the overall narrative and the domain itself.

A DARKNESS FALLS – PART 1

I will get the obvious references out of the way first. Right off the bat, I got major Randall Flagg (from Stephen King's The Stand) vibes from the narrator. But that's just on a surface level; Janie is clearly his/her own thing here.

The setting also strongly reminds me of the Deadlands from Savage Worlds because of its allusions to a protracted Civil War. Besides the similarity in origins which are used to explain the “current” state of affairs, however, the Divided States are distinct enough for me.

The Church of the Lesser God – This feels a cross between Gnosticism and a bit of turbo-charged Satan worship. It really goes well with the post-apocalyptic setting. I can see how people who have seen their entire way of life fall apart would just decide to give in to their basest desire since nothing seems to matter anymore.

Five Simple Rules – I like this concept a lot, but feel it would be hard to get this across to my PCs without a peek behind the curtain, so to speak. For the more medieval domains of the Core it can even be lifted whole cloth and put in as a unique random encounter.

Rolling Gangs – And this is the place in the review where I point its similarities to the Mad Max movies. Roving gangs of crazies is de rigueur when describing a post-apocalyptic setting. But this sidebar left me wanting more flavor (various tactics, appearances, and names of individual gangs) if they are going to be highlighted at all.

The Illuminati and the Obumbrati – I'm not sure how I feel about this group. I have always viewed the Illuminati in a good light, you know... with their whole goal being “ bringing the light of reason into a world darkened by fear” that was their supposed original motto. Turning them into just another power seeking cult that, in turn, has a change of heart seems unnecessary. (And if you really want them to be a force for good you should give them some special means of fighting the forces of evil.)

The Harvard Massacre is clearly The One's Act of Ultimate Evil and it is very well done. I love that such a heinous act was initiated by essentially being dumped by his other half and the description of his reaction really felt like a demonic temper tantrum.

The Almighty Dolla - As sick and twisted as this cult is, it cuts a little too close to home for me (hello American Christianity!) which is why I much prefer my fantasy monsters with fangs and claws.

The Blasphemy Before the Cross (i.e. the Cult of Marius Albius) – This is an interesting twist because it indicates that this world is not an exact parallel to our own even before Janie's interference. Basically this is a twisted version of Catholicism in everything but the name.

(As an aside, I find it so sad that whatever “evil” version of religion writers try to put out there, most of the time it still doesn't compare with the real world evil real religions have perpetrated throughout history.)

The Bondsmen – Now this is an interesting idea that I really love. I would only ask for more information on what constitutes a “bond.” From the context of the story this seems to even cover agreements that people are forced into, which seems kinda unfair. And what's the source of this bond magic? It smells of the fae, but no mention of them was made anywhere else in the article.

The Society of the Wandering Eye – These guys are basically the X-Files crossed with the Scooby Doo gang. What's not to love?

The Big Boom – I can respect the need for Rock to keep the origins of this new Divided States unclear, as it's not the story that is being told here, but I appreciate what details are given. I also like that, as far as I can tell, isn't connected to the Act of Ultimate Evil that doomed its darklord like one would suppose.

The Immortal Divide – And herein lies the poignant origin of The One / The Other. I may be bringing more to the table than what was intended but I see the One's stubborn refusal to change as a more masculine trait and the Other's ability to adapt and change as a more feminine trait. It's a very fine line Rock is treading, which makes the fact that they both continue to reincarnate as men and women (and supposedly everything in between) even more interesting.

At first, I thought The One was gonna just be the traditional devil figure, plaguing mankind throughout history and subtly influencing events for the worse. Making him just a “normal” human that went too far and paid the price is novel. It's been done before (see Lazarus Long and Gilad Annipadda), but not for Ravenloft. Shockingly, this is a fan-made darklord that I kind of actually like. Well done!

Linden Hospitality – This is just your standard The Hills Have Eyes set up done with a bit intelligence and subterfuge. Reminds me of the Bloody Benders of Kansas.

A Darkness Falls
by Mark "Rock of the Fraternity" Bartels

I loved this one, the narative flow was engaging and the information provided interesting. i hope that it recieved a follow up artical in the next year however, as some sections, such as how much of the US (all of the mainland states minus Alaska or some of the states, either way its likely the largest domain in the mists) is part of the domain, how it is situated in the Wartorn cluster in relation to the other domains and its diplomatic relation to them.

Jeremy16 wrote: Thu Dec 18, 2025 7:01 pm I rarely get around to reviewing Rock's articles because they always end up running a bit longer than my admittedly short attention span allows.

This actually comes as a relief. I thought you just didn't like my entries in QtR.

Jeremy16 wrote:This year's entry intrigued me with its mixture of fiction and bits of lore; now that's a novel way to present a new fan-made domain and I applaud Rock for trying something new. My usual practice is to not comment on fiction pieces because everyone has widely different standards, but I suspected from the beginning that this entry would somehow tie into the author's previously presented Wartorn Cluster, so I decided to give it a go.

As such, I will break this review down into two parts – the overall narrative and the domain itself.

A DARKNESS FALLS – PART 1

I will get the obvious references out of the way first. Right off the bat, I got major Randall Flagg (from Stephen King's The Stand) vibes from the narrator. But that's just on a surface level; Janie is clearly his/her own thing here.

Amusingly enough, I have received a comment from Wolfglide that Janie initially reminded him of Roland Deschain, only to become more Flagg-like as the story progressed.

Jeremy16 wrote:The setting also strongly reminds me of the Deadlands from Savage Worlds because of its allusions to a protracted Civil War. Besides the similarity in origins which are used to explain the “current” state of affairs, however, the Divided States are distinct enough for me.

Honestly? I know next to nothing about that setting. Any similarity to "Deadlands" is coincidental.

Jeremy16 wrote:The Church of the Lesser God – This feels a cross between Gnosticism and a bit of turbo-charged Satan worship. It really goes well with the post-apocalyptic setting. I can see how people who have seen their entire way of life fall apart would just decide to give in to their basest desire since nothing seems to matter anymore.

You're the first to note the parallels to Gnosticism I used for this particular "faith". Well spotted!

Jeremy16 wrote:Five Simple Rules – I like this concept a lot, but feel it would be hard to get this across to my PCs without a peek behind the curtain, so to speak. For the more medieval domains of the Core it can even be lifted whole cloth and put in as a unique random encounter.

If you ever use it, I hope you'll let me know how it went over with your players.

Jeremy16 wrote:Rolling Gangs – And this is the place in the review where I point its similarities to the Mad Max movies. Roving gangs of crazies is de rigueur when describing a post-apocalyptic setting. But this sidebar left me wanting more flavor (various tactics, appearances, and names of individual gangs) if they are going to be highlighted at all.

Fair point. I'll have to give that some thought if/when the Muse draws me back to the Divided States.

Jeremy16 wrote:The Illuminati and the Obumbrati – I'm not sure how I feel about this group. I have always viewed the Illuminati in a good light, you know... with their whole goal being “ bringing the light of reason into a world darkened by fear” that was their supposed original motto. Turning them into just another power seeking cult that, in turn, has a change of heart seems unnecessary. (And if you really want them to be a force for good you should give them some special means of fighting the forces of evil.)

You may be right about the Illuminati. But then again, there are also some nasty interpretations. I've thought for a couple of years now that the in-game Fraternity of Shadows is a good reflection of the Illuminati's dark side ... but I might be wrong.
I view the Obumbrati as a Ravenloft parallel to the SCP Foundation. They don't have the same means and scope, but they're doing quite important - and quite horrible - work in the shadows.

Jeremy16 wrote:The Harvard Massacre is clearly The One's Act of Ultimate Evil and it is very well done. I love that such a heinous act was initiated by essentially being dumped by his other half and the description of his reaction really felt like a demonic temper tantrum.

Thank you! I'm glad you liked it.

Jeremy16 wrote:The Almighty Dolla - As sick and twisted as this cult is, it cuts a little too close to home for me (hello American Christianity!) which is why I much prefer my fantasy monsters with fangs and claws.

Honestly? You and me both. 'Realistic' horror is a lot more frightening than three-eyed, purple people-eaters, because we can see the parallels in our own world.
The church of the almighty dollar is kind of a dark reflection of the Divinity of Mankind to me; a philosophy that is treated as faith, to the point that it begets power. Sadly, this philosophy is utterly vile. When people worship money and greed, it never ends well.

Jeremy16 wrote:The Blasphemy Before the Cross (i.e. the Cult of Marius Albius) – This is an interesting twist because it indicates that this world is not an exact parallel to our own even before Janie's interference. Basically this is a twisted version of Catholicism in everything but the name.

(As an aside, I find it so sad that whatever “evil” version of religion writers try to put out there, most of the time it still doesn't compare with the real world evil real religions have perpetrated throughout history.)

The church of Marius Albius is inspired in part by the works of Tanith Lee - Vivia - and Tad Williams - Memory, Sorrow and Thorn. In both stories, there are variants on Christianity; Marius Christ in Vivia, Usires Aedon in Memory, Sorrow and Thorn. Each variant makes sense within the setting and reminds of real-world Christianity, but is obviously different.
I did see the need to establish more differences between the Dark One's home world and our Earth than just the evil deeds of the spirits. A world is a vast place, after all. So in the source world, the Romans' propagandists hijacked and rewrote emergent Christianity's message, driving the true believers underground while they launched a cult of civic obedience.
Parallels could be drawn between the church of Marius Albius and that of Yutow, I guess, with the difference that Marius Albius also serves as a vehicle for the Roman pantheon into the current age.

Jeremy16 wrote:The Bondsmen – Now this is an interesting idea that I really love. I would only ask for more information on what constitutes a “bond.” From the context of the story this seems to even cover agreements that people are forced into, which seems kinda unfair. And what's the source of this bond magic? It smells of the fae, but no mention of them was made anywhere else in the article.

Yes, it is completely unfair. Most Bondsmen don't care; they are creatures who latch onto broken vows and use the spiritual vulnerability to inflict punishment. I hadn't really considered the source yet. It could be the Fae; it could be the Roman / Greek gods. The Furies also didn't care about fairness, only that crimes should be punished.

Jeremy16 wrote:The Society of the Wandering Eye – These guys are basically the X-Files crossed with the Scooby Doo gang. What's not to love?

I definitely plan to use them more often. The concept is very pleasing.

Jeremy16 wrote:The Big Boom – I can respect the need for Rock to keep the origins of this new Divided States unclear, as it's not the story that is being told here, but I appreciate what details are given. I also like that, as far as I can tell, isn't connected to the Act of Ultimate Evil that doomed its darklord like one would suppose.

Nope, it's a symptom of Janie refusing to change ever since her AoUD. She was still inspiring and inflicting violence. Ironically, she didn't stick around Washington after throwing the White House into chaos. It didn't interest her enough to see what happened - and so she dodged a bullet. Or rather, a bomb. (Not that being at ground zero would have ended her, but it would probably have left some psychological scars.)

Jeremy16 wrote:The Immortal Divide – And herein lies the poignant origin of The One / The Other. I may be bringing more to the table than what was intended but I see the One's stubborn refusal to change as a more masculine trait and the Other's ability to adapt and change as a more feminine trait. It's a very fine line Rock is treading, which makes the fact that they both continue to reincarnate as men and women (and supposedly everything in between) even more interesting.

I will leave this up to the interpretation of the reader.

Jeremy16 wrote:At first, I thought The One was gonna just be the traditional devil figure, plaguing mankind throughout history and subtly influencing events for the worse. Making him just a “normal” human that went too far and paid the price is novel. It's been done before (see Lazarus Long and Gilad Annipadda), but not for Ravenloft. Shockingly, this is a fan-made darklord that I kind of actually like. Well done!

Thank you kindly.

Jeremy16 wrote:Linden Hospitality – This is just your standard The Hills Have Eyes set up done with a bit intelligence and subterfuge. Reminds me of the Bloody Benders of Kansas.

Minimal intelligence and subterfuge help the Lindens survive where going all Texas chainsaw massacre would probably see them get run down and killed, even in the current climate. Some rolling gangs might take offense to them 'poaching', or a community might pass around the hat and hire the Lotus Society, for instance.

brothersale wrote: Tue Dec 23, 2025 4:34 am A Darkness Falls
by Mark "Rock of the Fraternity" Bartels

I loved this one, the narative flow was engaging and the information provided interesting. i hope that it recieved a follow up artical in the next year however, as some sections, such as how much of the US (all of the mainland states minus Alaska or some of the states, either way its likely the largest domain in the mists) is part of the domain, how it is situated in the Wartorn cluster in relation to the other domains and its diplomatic relation to them.

I'm glad you liked it!
I never know, year to year, what the next entry will be - but I'm definitely not finished with the Divided States yet.
For now, there's some information in the Mistipedia article that you won't find in "A Darkness Falks", and I'm probably willing to answer questions. (Though not all of them. )

Rock of the Fraternity wrote: Tue Dec 23, 2025 4:15 pm

Jeremy16 wrote:The Bondsmen – Now this is an interesting idea that I really love. I would only ask for more information on what constitutes a “bond.” From the context of the story this seems to even cover agreements that people are forced into, which seems kinda unfair. And what's the source of this bond magic? It smells of the fae, but no mention of them was made anywhere else in the article.

Yes, it is completely unfair. Most Bondsmen don't care; they are creatures who latch onto broken vows and use the spiritual vulnerability to inflict punishment. I hadn't really considered the source yet. It could be the Fae; it could be the Roman / Greek gods. The Furies also didn't care about fairness, only that crimes should be punished.

"Orestes'd Development" in other words.

Baron Von Stanton wrote: Tue Dec 23, 2025 10:16 pm

Rock of the Fraternity wrote: Tue Dec 23, 2025 4:15 pm

Jeremy16 wrote:The Bondsmen – Now this is an interesting idea that I really love. I would only ask for more information on what constitutes a “bond.” From the context of the story this seems to even cover agreements that people are forced into, which seems kinda unfair. And what's the source of this bond magic? It smells of the fae, but no mention of them was made anywhere else in the article.

Yes, it is completely unfair. Most Bondsmen don't care; they are creatures who latch onto broken vows and use the spiritual vulnerability to inflict punishment. I hadn't really considered the source yet. It could be the Fae; it could be the Roman / Greek gods. The Furies also didn't care about fairness, only that crimes should be punished.

"Orestes'd Development" in other words.

That's good! I like it.