Grand Estate Cluster: Inspired by Darkest Dungeon

[HyperionSol]

Note: These are first draft ideas and I had to try and see how they might be received.

The Grand Estate Cluster

The Grand Estate Cluster is an unusual Cluster in its creation. Like many Domains, it was started with one land for a new Darklord. As the years continued, the location in the Material Plane which the first Domain was based, proved to be a fertile ground for the Dark Powers in their collecting of their favorite targets. Perhaps a dark coincidence, all of the Darklords collected from these fertile grounds all come from the same family, each inheriting the estate in the Material Plane before committing an act of evil they could not be redeemed for and a portion of the estate is made their Domain.
Although the actual Corbeau Estate which the Domains are based off is a typical noble’s estate, the cluster itself is much larger. Each domain holds a version of the estate made to reflect the Darklords who control them and the surrounding lands each are a twisted reflection of the desires and the crimes of those Darklords.

Although each of the Darklords are extended family, they despise each other, considering the others usurpers or false claimants to the estate they consider their own. When they are not busy with their various schemes to try and achieve what they desire, they plot against one another, firmly believing that the clues to their goals are being hoarded by the others. The entire cluster has become the battlegrounds to a family feud, perhaps one of the most terrible battles of all.

Corvania

Analogue: English countryside
Darklord: Edmund Corbeau

Edmund Corbeau was the lord of the large Corbeau Estate. Edmund was known for being a distant lord to the people of the small hamlet on his lands. Edmund grew up isolated, having only a few servants and his books for companions. He developed a disconnect with people and his subjects, not having patience in dealing with mundane situations when he preferred the study of tomes, both new and old, having more interest in knowledge and events from abroad rather than what was going on at his doorstep.
After his parents died and Edmund only gave a bare minimum of mourning to, Edmund went right back to his books and his studies. He performed his duties, but again at the bare minimum. Orders were made with messy signatures, judgments were passed without consideration to evidence beyond the cursory examination, and all of it he considered a nuisance.
His people were downtrodden as the lord neglected some of their needs, but it was not horrible or unbearable. As long as they did not earn his ire and draw him away from his studies, he was content to leave them alone.

Edmund’s fate was forever altered when he found several books of forgotten knowledge and theories in a number of subjects hidden in the walls of the family library. They had been plastered into the walls, obviously never to be found until Edmund began work to expand his library.

For once, Edmund found he had a passion for something. Voraciously reading the documents, he noted, re-read, and examined everything with academic zeal. The knowledge of such things fascinated him. He grew to eagerly read the books and experiment with the things he discovered.

One of the last books Edmund read was one detailing an unknown portion of the land he ruled. It spoke of ancient creatures and the land being tainted by a force of unknown origins. He read of some conflict his ancestors had with the force when it was still new in the Material Plane. He read of its defeat and then it’s imprisonment in the very land…the land which Corbeau Manor was built on.
Now immensely curious, Edmund began hiring workers to begin digging underneath the manor. Using the books he discovered as a guide, Edmund dug deeper into the ground. As they got deeper, the ground grew hard, as if soured. The men began to feel afraid of what they were doing, but Edmund’s zeal would not permit them to retreat or leave.

Edmund’s desire for the power beneath his estate soon became dark and all-consuming. Soon, he refused to allow the workers to leave the dig site. The sick and wounded were executed so to keep the men and guards from being distracted. Their bodies tossed aside like so much refuse, which Edmund saw them as. The men were expected to dig a certain amount before they could be fed and watered. Sometimes Edmund did not want to feed them simply because he felt they were not digging fast enough for his tastes.

Finally, in what seemed like the bedrock of the land, the workers broke through the rock and came to the spot where Edmund was positive the entity he read of was located.
What was found inside that cavern was so terrible, many workers were driven mad or committed suicide just by seeing it. Edmund, perhaps reinforced by the dark knowledge he already know, was able to begin running for his life.

Above ground, the mists of Ravenloft rose and surrounded the lands of the Corbeau estate and whisked the people within away.

Upon awakening, Edmund found himself no longer human, but a fleshy mass of eldritch substance. He could manipulate the flesh to manifest a form, but he could not separate himself from it nor could he extend its reach past the doorways of his own manor. He was trapped within and lost all of the books of forbidden knowledge in the chaos of the entity being unleashed.

Current Sketch

Edmund lives utterly dependent on the human cultists who revere him as the ‘Heart of Darkness’. He can spawn monsters from his flesh, but they cannot leave the manor either or else their lifespans are measured in days at most. He has the knowledge and power of the entity he desired, but his home has become his prison as the power cannot pass beyond its border.
Edmund believes if he can somehow harness the true power of the entity, which he believes has other parts hidden under the lands of his enemies, he can finally take full control and free himself. He plots and sends out his cultists to try and find clues to the locations of these pieces of the entity he is fused to.

The Land

Corvania is a dreary land of wilted plant life and scenery, almost looking like it is slowly decaying. The taint of Edmund seeps across the land. Growth of produce and raising of animals is difficult at best as it is quite easy for crops and animals to take ill.

The largest settlement is Crow’s Nest, a downtrodden hamlet of people trying to get by as best as possible. The town leaders are members of the cult called the Seekers of the Dark who believe by pleasing their deity, they will be able to join their flesh with his and attain power and immortality. Edmund has promised this, although he has no intention of seeing it through.

Corbeau Manor sits on a hill in the middle of it all. It remains with all the signature architecture and splendor of a manor, but it is clearly abandoned and nothing of value remains, having been picked clean by villagers in search of resources. Cultists station themselves there, squatting among it all, which Edmund barely tolerates as an intrusion into his personal space.

Monsters

People are the worst monsters in Corvinia. Cultists, bandits, maniacs, and other people who give in to the darkness prey on the other humans who reside there. What other monsters found in the land are wandering monsters from other domains which surround Corvinia.


Champignon

Analogue: Dark Forests
Darklord: Julianna Corbeau

Julianna Corbeau inherited the Corbeau estate after her uncle was confirmed dead after the people gained the courage to try and find him. She moved into the estate with her family and set about fixing the property and the extensive tunnels her uncle dug under the foundations.

While the repairs were happening, Julianna discovered a set of books that seemed to have been abandoned in the tunnels. Reading them, she found many bizarre writings and recipes for strange concoctions. She considered them insanity for the most part but discovered an extensive encyclopedia of plants and their properties. A botanist in her free time, Julianna amused herself and read through the entries of the book and the strange plants within.

While she was in her studies, her oldest daughter took ill with a serious illness. Healers were proving stumped by the illness with little idea as to what to do. In desperation, Julianna went to her books, the ones she found in the basement tunnels and found the description of the same illness which afflicted her daughter. More importantly, a cure was written in the pages of the botany book.
Julianna brought the matter to her husband, but he dismissed it as folk remedies that could not be trusted. Having already given up hope, he simply said they should spend their time with their daughter and say their goodbyes.

Enraged and disgusted with her husband giving up so easily, Julianna took to the thick and overgrown nearby forests to find the ingredients she needed. It was a dangerous journey and she was able to find the ingredients she needed for the recipe.

Julianna returned and with some luck, concocted the potion from the ingredients and fed it to her daughter, despite the resistance and admonishments from her husband. To the shock of the healers and those who gave up, Julianna’s daughter made a slow, but full recovery. The potion had worked, proving the effectiveness of the ‘folk remedies’ others looked down on.

Julianna became famous in the nearby hamlet, able to brew remedies to cure a number of local ailments and illnesses. This served to increase her reputation although it strained her relationship with her husband. She grew stern with him and how he was willing to give up on their child while he was bitter at her growing fame, but also her fascination with the folk remedies he saw such little value in.
As the years passed, Julianna made the estate her own, growing numerous trees and other plants in order to face less risk in harvesting what she needed for her remedies. She was deeply fascinated by the recipes in her book, often tinkering and experimenting to see if they would work. Inevitably, the potions did work, only increasing Julianna’s reputation and filly her family coffers.

Reading through the book, Julianna discovered hidden notes near the back of the book to a new recipe of a concoction that supposedly would bring youth and vitality while it was consumed. Julianna grew eager to try the new concoction but found the recipe was incomplete. Whoever had been trying to concoct the mixture did not have time to finish.

Julianna set to work on her latest project, but her desire turned into an obsession. As her daughter grew up, Julianna began to grow envious of her beauty and grace, seeing herself growing older and grayer in comparison. She used her own mixtures to cure her own ailments but aging still continued and so Julianna felt her time to shine was coming to an end.

Her research grew to a deep obsession, destroying the relationships she had with the rest of her family as she eventually refused to see her daughter, not wishing to be reminded of her age and her bond with her husband had withered long ago.

Julianna’s true descent came when she came to discover her husband had been holding a mistress. Although their bond had withered, Julianna was enraged at the treachery and the loss of reputation she might suffer from the revelation of the impropriety.

Thinking ruthlessly Julianna made more concoctions and slipped them into wine she knew her husband would share with his mistress. One which knocked them out. Julianna brought them to her lab where she forcibly fed them test batches of her formula as living test subjects. Both were subject to painful side effects of the concoctions. Even as they eventually begged for death, Julianna fed them more, making even more horrible suffering for them.

It took three days for the servants to gather the courage to check on Julianna, or simply reveal what they knew and the local militia began to make a check. At the same time, Julianna believed she had finally perfected her magnum opus, the formula for eternal youth and vitality. More gruesome, she had harvested fungus and molds which grew from the corpses of her husband and his mistress to make it. Believing she would now shine eternally in fame and reputation, she consumed it as the militia broke in.

The effects of the formula soon took effect. Julianna began to bloat and scream in pain. She grew large, but certainly not more beautiful. In moments, her body was warped by the concoction and appeared more like a large, blubbery hag than the beautiful woman she envisioned. Enraged, and seeing she had been caught, Julianna barreled through the shocked militia, fleeing into the gardens and out into the forests as the mists rose to engulf her.

Current Sketch

Julianna is desperately searching for a cure for her condition. She has not realized that in functional terms, her initial formula worked. She is as youthful as any woman in her prime, but her body became bloated and large to accommodate processes that allow her to have it. She merely believes that she made the formula wrong and merely needs to remake it, and then tinker with it to regain her beauty and immortality with it.

She does not, or perhaps will not realize this is impossible. Not only has she lost the book where she recorded her experiments, but the fungus she harvested from her husband and the mistress were a unique accident. A chemical reaction brought by the numerous formula she already fed them before the mushrooms sprouted. Still, she desperately experiments and harvests, going so far as to use humanoid body parts as ingredients.

The Land

Champignon is a land choked with overgrown and wild forests and has numerous breeds of herbs, fungus, and other plants growing in it. If the people of Oak Hollow, a simple trapping and logging settlement were able to export goods, they would have quite a profitable export on their hands from the sheer number of medicinal plants which grow there. Still, the people are cautious, knowing that the woods are anything but safe, and whisper of ‘The Hag’ who lives deep, throwing lost travelers into her cooking pot to feed her monstrous children.

In the middle of the deepest forest called the Weald, the Corbeau Estate remains. This version of it is overgrown, most of it is covered in vines, kinds of fungus, or have trees growing over or through portions of it.

Monsters

Julianna has taken on a number of apprentices who came to her, hoping to learn from her exploits. They work as her agents, harvesting and brewing concoctions of their own. Constant exposure to the fumes and effects of the potions have turned them into hag-like creatures themselves, although their spells are all in the form of potions and other alchemical solutions.

Other monsters include wild animals, but also a strange fungus that grows on corpses and animates them into wild minions. What purpose they serve, or if they serve Julianna, is not yet known. So far, they exist to try and spread their spores further before they die and wither. Their fungus is especially prized by the hags as a resource, making them a potent bartering too for the hags.
The bandits who populate safer portions of the forest are almost a footnote, often waylaying wagons or goods which travel down their roads.



Bloedveld

Analogue: Masquarade parties of Italy, bayou swamps
Darklord: Lucius Corbeau

After the scandal of the murder of the former master by the hands of his wife, the Corbeau Estate fell to Lucius Corbeau. He was quick to take ownership, almost gleefully, and set about hacking down the greenery, trees, and other plants which took up so much of the estate grounds. Many hoped it would bring a new lord which would be a fresh start for the territory.

Lucius quickly had the grounds groomed to perfection and had numerous gardeners make a veritable portrait of beautiful flowers and greenery. Beautiful hedge mazes, peaceful ponds, elegant flower gardens, marble statuary, and other scenes of utter beauty, all fitting for nobility.

It was a fresh start, but not for the better.

Lucius proved to live for hedonistic delights. He held constant parties where other people of the rich or noble were invited to sate their desires and enjoy the privileges, they deserved for being rich and of blue blood.

Lucius proved just as cruel as he was handsome. He only accepted beauty on his property. Anyone who was less than splendid in beauty, with him being the most beautiful, was painfully ejected from the parties he held and shunned by his circle of sycophants. Such ejections usually involved beatings for the viewing pleasure of the other guests.

Lucius still grew bored with his parties and began searching for bigger thrills. As he searched for inspiration for his next party, he stumbled on a series of books detailing new recipes of wine and other culinary delights. Quickly seeing the exotic vintages and foods, Lucius quickly set to work for his next party.

Lucius quickly gained the reputation of being a wine connoisseur. He would have his wine mixed with other ingredients, creating exciting new vintages. The foods were devoured voraciously and held to much aplomb. His name was on the tongues of everyone considered wealthy or noble, allowing him to network with so many.

Still, Lucious soon grew bored again and looked to the recipes. He quickly discovered wines and foods which required new ingredients which would be considered…unusual. Most included blood or organs usually not considered palatable. Still, Lucius was like any spoiled aristocrat, wishing for the newest thing now, if not sooner.

Still, Lucious would grow bored after his next party and go back to the book, trying to find something new to entertain his guests and himself. The more exotic the ingredients he would put into his meals, the more decadent and hedonistic the guests would become, drunk on the tainted wines which would be provided to them. This in turn would make the parties much more entertaining and exciting for Lucius.

Yet still, Lucius would grow bored and try to find something new. This came when one of his servants, died in an accident, their blood spilling out and tainting the latest mixture of whine. Not wishing to deal with the mess, and curious as to what it might do, Lucius had all of the servant’s blood mixed with the wine and served to the guests after some modifications the book suggested for blood wines.
The party was the most hedonistic yet. Guests would gorge themselves on food or take part in beatings on the servants for the fun of it. Physical delights were supplied by courtesans, and everyone acted more like primitives in fancy clothes than the nobility they claimed to be. It was the most delightful party yet for Lucius and he knew he had found the key to ensuring all his delights. He did not care for anyone or their disgusting behavior, merely seeing beautiful people like himself enjoying themselves.

Lucius took to having someone from the hamlet, or a servant killed, draining their blood to mix with the wines in recipes from his important books. It would be served for the next party, once again making it a party of legends, but would be regarded with disgust by the people and other nobility who wished for nothing to do with any of the attendees.

One night, a sinfully beautiful woman came to attend the party. She outshone everyone at the party and all eyes were on her. She drank the wine but did not lose herself to the display of savagery, instead seemingly looking down on the other guests as if they were swine.

Lucius grew jealous and lured the woman out to the balcony. He drew a blade to murder her, but she quickly revealed herself as a vampire-like creature who swiftly tried to devour Lucius. Only his sharp stomach and a lucky stab had him seemingly slay the woman before she could end his life.

Rather than be afraid or horrified, Lucius wondered if the rare specimen might offer an even better wine vintage than mere human blood. He secreted the body away and drained it of all of its blood, mixing it with his latest batch. As he served the wine to his guests for the next party, the mists rose and swallowed the estate for the third time.

The guests drank the wine, but soon found themselves mutating. Their eyes turned insect-like, their nails grew sharp, and their noses almost became a proboscis. Their beauty was gone, showing the bloodthirsty monsters they always were underneath. Lucius grew horrified, finally seeing the evil he was perpetuating and tried to flee, but only found himself running to the vampiric insect creature he slain, smiling adoringly at him.

Current Sketch

Lucius has what he wanted, to be able to have parties and delights all the time, but he is tortured by the disgusting imagery of the Bloody Court and must witness their evil feasts and decadence all the time. The mosquito-like creatures slightly appear human and play the role of nobility at a party, although they still repulse him.

He constantly has to host the creatures, and the vampire he thought he had slain has taken the role of lady of the manor, always being more beautiful than him even in the monstrosities surrounding them. Lucius must continue providing for the Bloody Court since he fears them turning on him.

Lucius is the Darklord, although one may think his ‘lady’ is the true ruler. He holds the power to control insects such as mosquitos and ticks, siphoning blood from people to make his desired wines called the Blood Vintage. He could control the Bloody Court, but he fears them too much to even try experimenting with the idea.

The Land

The land of Bloedveld is a marshy, muggy swampland. Ticks, leeches, mosquitos, and other bloodsucking swamp creatures are almost a plague on themselves. Other swamp animals populate the swamps, although they often show mutations from the Sycophant Disease which afflicts everything.

The standing village of Blood River is the only major center of population. All of the people are akin to Broken Ones or Mongrelfolk, but show signs of mosquitos, leeches, ticks, or other animals which draw blood. They are quite sane, although they show twitchy spasms and prefer to eat bloody meats. They deeply fear the Bloody Court.

The Corbeau Estate rests on one of the few large spots of dry land, decorated in extravagant pieces of art and decoration, but all of it appears to be in serious states of neglect. Old crates of Blood Vintage litter the grounds, piles of wasted food rots in corners, and bodies of victims lie drained of all fluids like random trash. Some weak members of the Bloody Court lay listless, begging for wine or blood so they can rejoin the party.

Monsters

Almost everything is a monster that would devour anything they can for blood. It is all thanks to a disease called the Sycophant Disease, created when mosquitos began feeding on the members of the Bloody Court as they partied in the marshes. Victims soon grow thirsty, desiring blood more than water or common wine. The more they drink, the more insect-like features they develop.
A priest seems to be the only one who is not afflicted with the disease, but he is just as dangerous. He often uses fire to burn anyone he finds afflicted with the disease. Why he is not afflicted, no one can say, but some theorize he may have a cure.

The worst monsters are the Bloody Court themselves. They are humanoid but have many features akin to ticks and mosquitos with pointed noses, sharp teeth, and bulbous eyes. They put on airs of nobility but once they smell blood, they will pounce, transforming into bizarre insect-like monsters and wring every bit of blood out of their victims.



Diepinham

Analogue: English coasts, Innsmouth
Darklord: Richter Corbeau

After the last lord of the Corbeau Estate disappeared after what seemed like his most violent party yet, the estate languished as the people tried to forget about what happened, hoping they were now free from cruel lords.

After some time, a new owner of the estate was discovered, a grandson of Lucius from an affair he had during one of his parties. Richter Corbeau was grizzled and grew up poor, being the son of an illegitimate child and had to work to eke out a living on boats.

Receiving the estate and what funds it had left after Lucius spent so much of it on his indulgences, Richter set up the task of building a business to replenish the coffers. He tried building up a few ships to start a shipping and fishing business. There was some income, but not enough to bring the Corbeau estate back to its splendor. Still, it was the beginnings of recovery.

Richter’s first setback hit hard as one of his ships sank in a storm. Whatever funds he managed to accumulate were suddenly gone with nothing left to pay the rest of his sailors.

Desperately digging through family books and archives for anything he might be able to use as a monetary asset. He came across a book of archeology one of Richter’s ancestors wrote. He read it closely, wondering if they had a cache of artefacts he could sell. Richter soon discovered that there was a set of caverns leading underwater, sporting a number of ruins and strange architecture.
Seeing an opportunity, Richter grabbed some supplies and set out to find the caves. Near the coast in a cave, Richter traveled deep, finding coral and barnacle growths. Past that, he found the odd structures and architecture. He would have been quick to raid the ruins for whatever he could find, but he was blocked by the residents of the underwater temples, sahuagin.

These sahuagin, although vicious were not uncivilized. The sahuagin wished for a better hold on the land and Richter was willing to provide that in return for riches and resources. The sahuagin struck the deal and were willing to provide, but they wanted a sign of dedication. They required a sacrifice on Richter’s part, to sacrifice a human life with his own hands.

Richter promised to do so. He had been having romantic relations with a woman in town, someone who believed Richter may make her his wife and lady of the Corbeau Estate. Realizing she was his key to receiving wealth and fortune, Richter lured the woman down to the docks. As they stood at the end, before she could realize what was happening, Richter threw her into the sea where the sahuagin pulled her deep underground. When the tide receded the next day, Richter found numerous pieces of gold and jewels in his possession, more than enough to restore his business and his fortunes.
Richter let the business grow, receiving infusions of gold from the sahuagin and in return, he merely had to either throw someone to their clutches or do some other task to allow them to build their kingdom in the tunnels under the cove as they prepared to advance on the land.

It was a potentially devastating invasion, but Richter inadvertently saved the land when he grew too greedy.

With new fortunes, Richter soon changed, becoming greedy and believing he deserved more. He also got orders from the sahuagin for rare items. To keep people from finding out what he was doing, he commissioned a ship of smugglers to retrieve his items or smuggle illegal goods for added coin.

As the sahuagin demanded more dangerous or rare items, the smugglers demanded more pay. Richter seethed with the demands for better pay, but he could not just let them go since they knew much about his illegal ventures. To get rid of the crew, he ‘rewarded’ them with a feast which left them sleepy and drunk before leaving them on their ship. He then cursed their anchor with one of the items he collected. The anchor immediately sank to the bottom of the sea, taking the ship and the crew beneath the waves with it. This was the final act which had the mists of Ravenloft rise, taking Richter and his sahuagin allies with them.

Richter soon found himself on a tiny island’s worth of land with an open sea before him. He was stunned at what happened before the water rippled and the ship he sank rose back up, wrapped in anchor chains, with the ghostly crew moaning in pain and accusing him of treachery. Richter fled, horrified by the image, running back to his manor overlooking the sea, hearing a musical voice accusing him of his crimes, forcing them to hear the words over and over.

Current Sketch

Richter still has his business in shipping goods and after he learned of access to other domains, he is able to ship goods and products to other domains. However, he only receives a trickle of wealth back as the anchored ship rise from the waters and attack the ship, sinking many of them. Oddly, if they bring back like wood, animals, or produce, the ship does not appear.
The sahuagin are furious with Richter, rightly believing it to be his fault they are in their current domain. They still have a tentative alliance with him since they know they are now together in their misery and must work together to survive. Still, the alliance is tenuous and could snap if anything more goes wrong.

The sahuagin are not much help against the ghost ship, but when they try to muster for a push through the mist or to other domains, they find themselves facing the Siren. She is a Ravenloft Siren who, when she induces her charm, takes on a merfolk appearance of the woman Richter sacrificed to them for their dark bargain.

Richter’s power as a Darklord lets him harness magic and powers of Sahuagin, allowing him to use the same powers and abilities of a sahuagin cleric of Sekolah. His curse though is that he can’t go near water without his anchored crew or former lover emerging from the sea. They always know where he is and if he tries to go out to sea, they emerge to try and drag him down. Every night, the Siren sings where he can hear, reminding him of his numerous crimes.

The Land

The only real landmass is the island where Corbeau Manor resides almost like a forlorn lighthouse. There is a fishing village nearby where the people are left alone by most of the threats, but often they must treat with groups of sahuagin to fish in certain areas.

In a passage in a cliffside, there are tunnels and caverns of sahuagin buildings and ruins. Some sahuagin live there, trying to pray to Sekolah for release from their prison and so they may continue their plans of conquest. They never get a reply.

Monsters

Sahuagin claim to be the masters of the sea, dominating it like Richter does the land. Their only competition are the Siren and the anchored crew who they seem to never be able to track down or defeat. These two creatures are the ones who are masters of the sea.

Varkensteen

Analogue: London sewers and countryside
Darklord: Siobahn Corbeau

Two generations after Richter Corbeau vanished, supposedly escaping people he owed money to, his grand niece Siobahn inherited the estate despite fierce opposition from other family members who wanted Richter’s fortune.

Once it was in her name, Siobhan set to work on bringing the estate forward and trying to make it a true gem in the family’s name once again. Part of her plans was to repair and expand the old aqueducts, to expand them as part of a plan to allow the town to expand and grow more prosperous.

Siobhan searched for the plans to the castle and quickly found them among a series of books her ancestors penned. Finding the plans, she found the aqueducts were arranged in a strange pattern but thought nothing more of it at the time.

A personality trait of Siobhan was quickly made apparent. She was pragmatic to a ruthless degree. She expected the job to get done and she did not tolerate anything slowing them down. Even as men inevitably got hurt or sick, Siobhan would not let them stay home as in her own views, they could still swing a pick supply tools and materials. The complaints grew more numerous and louder, but she merely equated it as the squeals of pigs and ignored them.

The revitalization of the aqueducts saw the tunnels all went in odd directions and had strange architectural configurations. Pondering if it might be important, Siobhan returned to her ancestor’s blueprints. Reading the notes in detail and cross referencing, she discovered the aqueducts were arranged in a large arcane design. What purpose the designs were for, she did not know, but believed it could only benefit her family and quickly threw herself into arcane studies to try and discover more.

Siobhan was voracious for knowledge and eager to discover what the design of the aqueducts was for. She pushed her men harder than ever before, wanting to have what was there repaired before the design was completed according to the blueprints and its purpose unveiled.

Her progress slowed down to a halt when a cave in killed several workers. Siobhan refused to slow down and ordered the men to keep working. The workers refused, seeing Siobhan would work them to death if it meant it got her feather in her cap sooner. They all quit, leaving Siobhan enraged that the ‘pigs’ would dare speak out against her.

In need of workers, but no one in the town willing to do so, Siobhan decided to look to her ancestor’s journals on magic to perhaps create her own workers. Golems, zombies, anything which would work as much as she wanted and not speak out against her.

She soon found a possible solution. Golems were too literal and needed to be monitored while undead were dim-witted and tended to not be good for delicate tasks. One branch of magic she discovered was summoning demonic entities to do the job for her. She learned the kinds of demons she needed were not physically adept in themselves, but by summoning them in a vessel, they would be better suited for the task.

She set to work. Since she did not dare try humans for such spells, she decided to use pigs since their flesh was close to a humans. Her first attempt had abominations form from the fushion of demon and swine, so she sent them into the older aqueduct tunnels to make themselves useful and keep out of her sight. As her skill increased, she was able to create pig-like monsters who would obey her.
Soon came the issue of how to feed the numerous monsters she had created. Her pragmatic mindset turned it’s darkest yet and began tossing the bodies of her dead workers, and then what workers she had left or servants in her home. The pigs soon developed a taste for human flesh and Siobhan would reward them with the bodies of her enemies in return for their hard work.

With this increase in skill, and her developing god complex in making her creations, so did her arrogance. Believing she now had true power, she began a ritual which would summon perhaps the largest swine monster yet. She tried to summon a higher demon to fill several pig bodies and make her enforcer.

She conducted the ritual, but the higher demon saw through the portal and quickly realized what she intended. The demon refused and Siobhan grew enraged, trying to use caustic magic to force the demon to appear so she might let it fill the corpses. The demon refused but Siobhan was determined to force the demon to her wims. To punish the arrogant mortal, the demon cast its own magic, ripping open a portal to someplace new and letting the mists of Ravebloft fill the tunnels, offering Siobhan as a sacrifice for the Dark Powers, one they eagerly accepted.
Siobhan found herself in the aqueducts once the mists lowered, but they were now a dizzying new mase of desolate ruins. Furious that her work had been wasted, no doubt by the demon she tried to summon, Siobhan rallied her pig mutants and sought to reclaim the work she had done. As she tried to leave, once the sun or moon touched her skin, Siobhan found herself wracked with pain before her body transformed into that of a repulsive wearboar.

Current Sketch

Siobhan is regarded as the queen of the pigfolk and the obey her without question. They are lazy though and only get really energetic after they get fed. Her only goal is to complete the array of aqueducts, believing it can cure her of her affliction of lycanthropy with the potential power it has. She has made copies of the designs she was following, but the layout of the aqueducts has changed, making her previous work and designs useless. She has to start from scratch and try to determine what the design is supposed to look like from scratch.

The Land

Varkensteen exists underground and above the ground it seems almost peaceful with forests and plains. The village of Sow’s Hoof seems peaceful enough as the people raise their crops and produce, although they take care to raise plenty of pigs, hoping that when the pigfolk try to slip through the town at night, they take the pigs instead of any people. It works most of the time, but now and then the allure of human flesh is too much for the pigfolk to resist.

The aqueduct tunnels actually extend to all versions of Corbeau Manor and what queducts they have. All of them are mistways which are reliable, leading to one specific version of the manor in each land. It is dangerous to attempts, as many natural hazards exist and to get to one mistway, they must traverse the pigfolk infested tunnels of Varkensteen and find another.

Like the other Domains in the cluster, Corbeau Manor still exists. It lies half buried in the ground, allowing Siobhan to live there without having to expose her wereboar features to witnesses above.

Monsters

The pigfolk are the main threat in Vargensteen, but not the only ones. Many sewer monsters live in the tunnels, feeding on the refuse or the corpses left behind. At the very bottom of the aqueduct, the pigfolk speak of a pit of writhing flesh which mutates and spawns its own monsters to bring back more food for it.


Wandenheil

Analogue: Graveyards
Darklord: Wilhelm Corbeau

When Siobhan disappeared, assumedly in a cave in thanks to her relentless work on the aqueducts, her brother Wilhelm was named the heir of the Corbeau Estate. He eagerly took it and claimed it for himself, eager to show up his sister.

Wilhelm was the lazier of the two siblings, preferring to just have things handed to him rather than work for it like his sister. He barked orders to his underlings and demanded things get done which he preferred not to do since he considered to be too bothersome. He led a life of whimsy, pursuing his interests until they bored him and he went to pursue his next interest. He was looked down on by other members of his family, especially his sister, causing Wilhelm to stew with anger.

During his whimsical pursuits, Wilhelm discovered the same books his sister did. After reading through them, Wilhelm discovered many spells he could do. Among them was many potent necromancy spells. Wilhelm saw an opportunity, planning to use the necromancy to have the dead tell him their secrets so he could claim all the secrets and knowledge of his family and make himself greater than his sister could ever hope to be.

He began to use simple spells to have the dead begin speaking to him while he animated skeletons to handle his daily annoyances for him so he wouldn’t have to pay servants. Some of the corpses he tested the magic on whispered tantalizing hints of powers and projects that the previous lords and ladies of the manor had undertaken. Wilhelm grew greedy for the secrets and delved deeper into the family crypts so he could learn more. Sadly, the bodies of the previous lords in question could not be found.

Realizing he would have to try and summon their souls, Wilhelm searched out more necromancers who were eager to lend their aid. They enacted several rituals to summon the souls of Corbeaus to learn their ancient secrets.

The group of necromancers did learn secrets, some secret rooms, and found lost tomes or treasures, but none of them had any idea as to what secrets Wilhelm wanted. He demanded more elaborate and powerful rituals to force the souls of the missing lords to appear and he could interrogate them.

The necromancers worked hard and made powerful rituals. They even turned to human sacrifice, trying to have vessels of the missing lords’ souls inside. All their rituals failed, and Wilhelm only grew more wrathful. Finally, in a fit of temperamental rage, he conducted another ritual and at the apex, sacrificed all his necromancer allies in hopes it would make the ritual more potent. Any true mage would know that was a terrible idea, but Wilhelm only listened to lessons when he wanted to, so did not know the risks. The backlash caused an explosion of necromantic energies as the mists of Ravenloft came down.

Wilhelm woke up but did not feel his heart beating in his chest. He had been transformed into an undead, a wight. He looked up but saw no soul of his ancestors being summoned. He raged once more, causing the ground to erupt with skeletons and zombies while his sacrificed necromancers likewise rose.

Current Sketch

Wilhelm believes that his ancestors had a secret to immense power or knowledge He also believes that certain members have the clues, but no ritual he knows of can seem to summon them. He has no idea that the answers are quite close, in the Darklords of the other domains in the cluster.

Wilhelm is able to raise any dead body as any kind of undead he wishes. However, he cannot draw their intelligence with them. He has to order them to do everything and they cannot speak or even think. His attempts to draw the secrets of his ancestors is dealing constant roadblocks. He could find a way around if he worked for it, but his lazy mindset constantly has him trying to find the easiest way to find it.

The Land

Wandenheil is a dead land, filled with nothing but dead people and animals with dead trees and numerous headstones decorating the land. The one village is a necropolis, having only undead following Wilhelm’s last order to making things or keep busy. So the undead constantly make tombstones, blacksmithing, and other things which they push out of town which explains the decorations in the land.
Corbeau Manor exists here, but it is a crumbling ruin. Wilhelm does not care to maintain it since he only cares about trying to interrogate the corpses of his ancestors for the missing knowledge he so desperately wants.

Monsters

All kinds of undead monsters populate the land. They are surprisingly docile since they do not do anything unless Wilhelm orders it. Even if attacked, they just keep up their last order until they are cut down.


Veldesteen

Analog: Kansas farmlands
Darklord: Henrietta Corbeau and The Crystal Out of Space

Once again the Corbeau Estate went without a master for some time before Henrietta stepped up to claim the lands. The people were glad to be rid of it, many believing that the land was cursed and the town was mostly empty by that point. Henrietta took charge and began to bring in farmers and loggers to expand the open lands to make it a major grain and produce provider.

The town was repopulated and for a time, the farming seemed to be progressing well. Henrietta explored the decaying manor she hoped to one day restore. As she explored, she found the same books so many of her ancestors did. She read them, but beyond curiosity, she did not regard them as more than that.

The farming progressed, but then a terrible drought hit the land and stunted the crops. The people were beginning to starve and considering leaving to escape it. Henrietta soon became desperate and looked back to the books her ancestors wrote. One depicted a ritual which supposedly would beseech a higher power.

Desperate, and perhaps reckless, Henrietta set up the ritual. Placing keystones in a pattern around one farmstead, Henrietta and some scholars she recruited conducted the ritual and created their beacon to the higher power they hoped would be able to end the drought and bring verdant fields back to their lands.

In only a few nights, a meteor fell from the sky and crashed into the farm in the very middle of the fields. As the smoke cleared, the people saw a rock of dark stone and glowing rainbow crystals. As the people pondered what it was, not noticing the rapidly growing stones around it, the mists of Ravenloft soon engulfed the area.

The crystal soon began to spread from the impact site, infecting everything in rapid succession. People fled and not all escaped in time. When the people passed the lines the keystones drew, the crystals stopped following. Henrietta looked on in horror at what she allows fall to the ground.

Current Sketch

It is unclear if Henrietta is the Darklord of Veldesteen. Although she does have a torment in hearing the screams of pain of the people who succumbed to the crystals as if she were reliving the event. She seems to have a powerful resonation with the keystones, able to feel how strong they are and where they need to be recharged with spells.

On the other hand, the Crystal Out of Space seems to want to spread like a virus, as crystals erupted from the ground within its barriers, turning everything ash gray and let it crumble like dust if disturbed. Any people or animals caught inside likewise turn grey and their bodies slowly crumble, revealing their bodies filled with crystals from the meteor. They shamble like zombies, uncaring of their surroundings unless they see someone uninfected with the crystals. Then they attack. Like their master, the crystal monsters cannot pass the line the keystones create.

The Dark Powers sudden action may hint that what Henrietta did by inviting the Crystal out of Space to her world was so terrible, she was quickly pulled away. On the other hand, the Crystal seems to be far more malicious and perhaps the Dark Powers snapped up the Crystal before it could try to run away. If that is the case, Henrietta may be the keeper of the Crystal, her own punishment for inviting it and the Crystal’s prison guard, keeping it from escaping.

The Land

A large portion of the land has been overtaken by the crystal as the ritual was centered on a large farm, hoping it would be able to recover quickly from the drought if the ritual worked. The rest of the land is a large ring which seems to have recovered from drought, but people dread going near the barrier, keeping a large distance from it.

Corbeau Manor exists here as well, although it seems much of the stone which was missing back in the material plane has been replaced by crystal. It makes he scene beautiful but reminds Henrietta what she invited into the world.

Monsters

The only monsters native to Veldesteen seem to be the crystal-infected animals and people inside the barrier. They wander aimlessly, or seem to cultivate more crystals until they dissolve, leaving their crystals behind. Despite this, the population of monsters does not seem to decrease for long.

[Hell_Born]

Bravo! I have a certain love/hate relationship with Darkest Dungeon, but I enjoy it enough that this is a concept that really pleases me, and the work you've put into making this cluster as the result of an ongoing saga of familial decline and damnation is incredible. You should feel very proud of what you've accomplished here!

[HyperionSol]

Thank you very much!

[Manofevil]

Whoa!

[Mistmaster]

Wonderfull; we need someGood aligned Corbeau to balance this out now.

[HyperionSol]

Wonderfull; we need some good-aligned Corbeau to balance this out now.

I pondered doing that in Veldesteen with Henrietta Corbeau. It's partially why I left if she was the Darklord there ambiguous. She's receiving punishment for summoning the Crystal Out of Space, but the alien entity is clearly way eviler than she is. So I left it in a gray area to let readers decide for herself: is she merely receiving a minor punishment for what she did, or is she just as guilty as the alien for being naively reckless and ending so many lives?

[alhoon]

I own Darkest dungeon in my ever expanding steam library of games I buy and I don't have time to play.

I would say, send that to QtR.

[HyperionSol]

I would say, send that to QtR.

Wow. Thanks for the compliment. Not to sound like a complete newbie, how would I do that? Is there part of the forum to submit it or some official process?

Edit: Nevermind. Found it.

[Baron Von Stanton]

I pondered doing that in Veldesteen with Henrietta Corbeau. It's partially why I left if she was the Darklord there ambiguous. She's receiving punishment for summoning the Crystal Out of Space, but the alien entity is clearly way eviler than she is. So I left it in a gray area to let readers decide for herself: is she merely receiving a minor punishment for what she did, or is she just as guilty as the alien for being naively reckless and ending so many lives?

Aside from the situation of Gwydion and Loht, simply because something else is "eviler" than the damned in question doesn't necessarily call the damned's candidacy for darklord status into question. I mean, technically speaking, summoning a horror beyond space and imagination to one's world is an irredeemably evil action no matter what one's intent was. And being made the minder and gaoler of one's own Mess Out of Space is a very fitting curse.

[HyperionSol]

Aside from the situation of Gwydion and Loht, simply because something else is "eviler" than the damned in question doesn't necessarily call the damned's candidacy for darklord status into question. I mean, technically speaking, summoning a horror beyond space and imagination to one's world is an irredeemably evil action no matter what one's intent was. And being made the minder and gaoler of one's own Mess Out of Space is a very fitting curse.

Good point.

[Mistmaster]

I pondered doing that in Veldesteen with Henrietta Corbeau. It's partially why I left if she was the Darklord there ambiguous. She's receiving punishment for summoning the Crystal Out of Space, but the alien entity is clearly way eviler than she is. So I left it in a gray area to let readers decide for herself: is she merely receiving a minor punishment for what she did, or is she just as guilty as the alien for being naively reckless and ending so many lives?

Aside from the situation of Gwydion and Loht, simply because something else is "eviler" than the damned in question doesn't necessarily call the damned's candidacy for darklord status into question. I mean, technically speaking, summoning a horror beyond space and imagination to one's world is an irredeemably evil action no matter what one's intent was. And being made the minder and gaoler of one's own Mess Out of Space is a very fitting curse.

Well, intentions do matter; did she understood exactly what she was doing? After all she was trying to save her land and people by starvation and draught.

[HyperionSol]

Well, intentions do matter; did she understood exactly what she was doing? After all she was trying to save her land and people by starvation and draught.

When I wrote her up, she was being reckless with the ritual, perhaps to the point of willful negligence. Since she was no arcane expert, she misunderstood what the particulars of the ritual were aiming at. Since the actual explanation was vague as to what it would call, she thought it was a ritual to ask the gods for help. The idea was the Dark Powers pulled the land in quickly as the Crystal Out of Space appeared much like they did Mordent when Strahd and Azalin escaped to there for a brief time thanks to their experiments. They were still punishing her for bringing the Crystal to the material plane though, which is why some may be confused as to if she is truly the Darklord or not.

[Baron Von Stanton]

Good intentions and reckless incompetence make for interesting reagents concerning disasters, especially when they involve "forbidden" knowledge, whether it's summoning extradimensional helpmeets, or building a do-it-yourself nuclear reactor as according to that youtube video.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Your writeup for Veldesteen intrigued me, because I got the impression that the Dark Powers' act of snaring the Crystal might have been almost... benign. Like they wanted to insulate the Prime Material Plane from what might well be some monstrous disease from the Far Realm. In their own playground, they can stop the Crystal from spreading by reshaping reality -- or at least slow it to a crawl or confine it to its own prison.

[HyperionSol]

Your writeup for Veldesteen intrigued me, because I got the impression that the Dark Powers' act of snaring the Crystal might have been almost... benign. Like they wanted to insulate the Prime Material Plane from what might well be some monstrous disease from the Far Realm. In their own playground, they can stop the Crystal from spreading by reshaping reality -- or at least slow it to a crawl or confine it to its own prison.

Perhaps. Perhaps. Another way to look at it is a rare gem fell into their laps and they simply had to snap it up before it took root and became too large for them to fit in a container. With the Dark Powers, who can really guess their intent?