Paridon Gazetteer

[Nathan of the FoS]

Okay, folks. How about this for an introduction/starting point to work around?

Paridon
20 February 760

To the Fathers of the Fraternity, greetings.

It was with great interest and considerable apprehension that I learned that the educated guess of Messrs. Ray and Despadon places our city among the possible lairs of the traitor Erik van Rijn. Obviously this is a possibility which must be confirmed or disproved as quickly as possible; I have therefore instructed the members of our cell of the Fraternity to compile all information we have gained over the course of the last several years regarding local conditions, politics, events, and so forth, just as was recently done by the cell now located in Souragne, and to make this information available to the Fraternity at large as quickly as we can. Any support which other Fraternity members can offer in this effort will be greatly appreciated; as you well know, the unusual local conditions prevailing here make foreigners and outsiders rather more trustworthy than local inhabitants, and we may need such support to get as much information as possible.

Any instruction or advice which you can give in this matter will be heeded gratefully.

Sincerely,

Alfred Larner
Esteemed Brother of the Fraternity of Shadows


I think this covers the bases nicely--offering the "official Fraternity seal" as well as explaining why non-natives of the domain might be making very significant contributions. Comments?

[Nathan of the FoS]

BTW, there's another very important question to consider at this point: Whither Timor? To come back and try to do the other half of a cluster later seems kinda silly, so we should certainly cover it here. Timor is, however, not really a place about which a whole lot can be said--it certainly doesn't have a culture or important personalities in the way a more "normal" domain would.

I guess the question is, how much time and space do we want to dedicate to Tiimor?

Which actually leads me to another important point, now that I think of it. We're gonna need a page limit for this gazetteer; with unlimited open submissions we could end up with well over a hundred pages of raw material, and I would like to end up with a 64 page final product (with Timor we might make it 80, or 96 at the very outside). So there may be things that end up on the cutting-room floor. The selection process will have a lot of author input, but final say rests with the Fraternity.

Questions on these points? Comments? Y'all know where to reach us.

[Pamela]

I like the letter, Nathan, and for what it's worth, so does my husband who's reading it over my shoulder. Each writer gets the opportunity to add (or not) their own identity into the work, and no main character among the community.

One complaint though: you don't tell us whether van Rijn really is there. Boo!

I have to admit that Timor should be included but I personally wish that it would sink back into the Mists forever. I've never seen it as more than a giant dungeon crawl. But hey, that's me...

And as for the size of the gazetteer, just how big is the Souragne Gazetteer ending up?

[Jester of the FoS]

I knocked the page-count to just below 100 pages and the word count below 50,000. But Souragne is a much larger place.

I'd put this gaz at a similar size (or smaller, say 80 pages) but divide it 70/30 (say 55 and 25) between Paridon and Timor. Including DM notes, NPCs and the like.

Right now the workload should be divided and sections dibbed.
Cutting them from the Souragne gaz:

Part I: Geographic and Topological Survey
(The landscape and what lives there, the rough features of the domain. What the land is like physically?)
* Climate
* Indigenous Plants
* Indigenous Animals
* Towns and neighbourhoods

Part II: Sociological Survey
(General cultural feel here. Primitive? Advanced? What is the land like emotionally?)
* Indigenous People
* Daily Life, clothing and food
* Language
* Outlook and worldview
*Trade
* Local History
* Governments

Part III: Religious Survey

Part IV: DM Appendix
(the crunch)
* Magic (local variants and unique elements)
* Places and people of Interest
* Feats, monsters, salient abilities, PrC, items, NPCs, etc

For examples of how it was done last time, Joel handled much of part I while I focused on part II. However, I added a number of plants and he did the section on government. I also incorporated several submissions into food and local history (and am sure Joel did similar things). We were also in constant contact (probably a good idea to start a thread in Community projects to allow for this) and commenting on each other’s work.

So sections and topics should be called and the research and brainstorming can begin. Meanwhile things like theme and mood need to be established.
All domains should reflect the lord, so the question is: “how does Paridon mirror Sodo?” Ditto Timor.

The metaplot can be edited in and added during the Fraternity revision period, along with a prologue and epilogue.

[William Blackmoor]

On Timor:
Almost no one does know that there is a place called Timor below Paridon. We should simply handel it as the lower part of the sewers.
The name of Timor could be explained through a "false history" text (found by monks trying to piece together Paridons history), which states that the catacombs are named for an ancient settlement or the dragon's caves that were here before the foundation of Paridon.

[Jester of the FoS]

However, we're not dealing with ordinary people.

And the necessity to describe and detail the sprawling multi-layered catacomes and sewers underneath the streets far outweights the need to be 100% realistic.
Perhaps there were some survivors of Timor's original above-city; people who either fled or were dragged along. Sewer dwelling poor, infected lychans, calibans. etc. They might spread the name, tell that below the steets others rule.

[Tobias Blackburn]

If the Fraternity is aware of the concept of the Dark Powers, they wouldn't have any problem realizing that Timor exists. Ignoring it or glossing it over would do the entire cluster a disservice. The point of the Gazetteers is to flesh out those corners of the Mists that have not been detailed, and there is much more on Paridon than there is on Timor.

Besides... if you were searching the city to find a lich with a negative energy nuke, wouldn't you want to search the sewers? Especially if they had, after a period when the fabric of the world had been torn asunder and restitched, they had completely changed and began to fill with unspeakable horrors?

I like Timor. It allows for a change of pace that you aren't going to find anywhere else in Ravenloft. It doesn't need half the book but it should be given due consideration. I've toyed with ideas like including pieces of the old Timor city buried underground (turn a corner and find yourself in the ruins of the old marketplace, a temple's nave, etc).

If someone would be willing to bounce ideas off of, I'd like to help in that portion of the project.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

Screwy idea: If you're linking Timor's history to Paridon's, perhaps there could be areas of Timor's subterranean environment, that mirror parts of the city above? It'd be as if the caverns she now occupies are haunting the Marikith Queen with the memories of the human world she's cut off from, by recreating the city's greatest landmarks -- but not the people and social liveliness that'd made it worth living in; that, she can only listen to through the sewer pipes and fume over being shut out of ... a suitable reason for her to hate the dopplers, who can join in Paridon society, as much as (or more than) the humans! -- down in the depths.

Not sure if that's what you're doing, but it'd certainly give Timor a dash of flavor it otherwise lacks, and tie it thematically to the city above. Sort of a "Neverwhere" thing, as opposed to its current "bug hunt"-style dungeon crawl aspect.

[Tobias Blackburn]

However, we're not dealing with ordinary people.

And the necessity to describe and detail the sprawling multi-layered catacomes and sewers underneath the streets far outweights the need to be 100% realistic.
Perhaps there were some survivors of Timor's original above-city; people who either fled or were dragged along. Sewer dwelling poor, infected lychans, calibans. etc. They might spread the name, tell that below the steets others rule.

Or relics found below brought up again by enterprising young adventurers.

[Moral Machivelli]

I'd be willing to tackle anything in part two (My original article plan was trade)

[Jester of the FoS]

Timor as Neverwhere. Kinda cool, where the derelicts and unwanted hide away beneath along with monsters unable to disguise themselves and other freaks. All the while hunted by the Marikith.

[Tobias Blackburn]

Screwy idea: If you're linking Timor's history to Paridon's, perhaps there could be areas of Timor's subterranean environment, that mirror parts of the city above?

Great minds think alike.

It'd be as if the caverns she now occupies are haunting the Marikith Queen with the memories of the human world she's cut off from, by recreating the city's greatest landmarks -- but not the people and social liveliness that'd made it worth living in; that, she can only listen to through the sewer pipes and fume over being shut out of ... a suitable reason for her to hate the dopplers, who can join in Paridon society, as much as (or more than) the humans! -- down in the depths.

I don't know... I like that she's filled with self-loathing about herself, but I also like that she is more concerned with the prosperty of the Hive and making sure it grows. Besides, her constant paranoia about being replaced the way she replaced her mother is a more interesting prospect over all.

Especially if the stolen egg hatches a completely human looking queen.

Not sure if that's what you're doing, but it'd certainly give Timor a dash of flavor it otherwise lacks, and tie it thematically to the city above. Sort of a "Neverwhere" thing, as opposed to its current "bug hunt"-style dungeon crawl aspect.

I like the "bug hunt" nature of Timor, but I do agree that it needs a little more flavour. The upper city had to go somewhere, so it would make perfect sense to have bits and pieces found below, a grim foretelling of a possible future.

EDIT: I like the idea of having outcasts like Calibans and broken ones dwelling in the sewers of Timor, especially if there are pieces of a real city involved. If the Shattered Breathren can survive in Blutspur than there should be a few non-marilkiths in Timor. Look at Newt in Aliens, after all.

[William Blackmoor]

Pseudo-roman relicts in the Catacombs and troglodytes / subterrans. does this reminde me of another real city I know of...nevermind... I like the idea

I think that there should be parts of the sewers that are not part of Timor, for sometimes you need sewers that are not overrun by Marikith-hunters.

[Jester of the FoS]

The sewers shouldn't be overrun with Marikith anymore than Barovia is overrun by vampires or Karatakas is overrun by wolfweres.
They should be a present and consistent threat, but there should be wide areas where they have no influence and it should be possible to have many, many adventures where Marikith are not even glimpsed.

[Tobias Blackburn]

Pseudo-roman relicts in the Catacombs and troglodytes / subterrans. does this reminde me of another real city I know of...nevermind I like the idea

I think that there should be parts of the sewers that are not part of Timor, for sometimes you need sewers that are not overrun by Marikith-hunters.

Just pull the number of marikith hunters back. They omni-present in Shadow of the Knife because they need to get sacrifices and find a way to get the dagger. It's likely that they usually hide much better than that, since they were so misread by the Newsbill after all. I doubt that there would have been many positive connections if sewer crews kept disappearing.