Café de Nuit

Hey everyone,

For my last session for the year, I'm putting together a family tree of Mordentish families. I was wondering what are all of the mentioned names, and what relations between them are there that we know of? I recall something about the Weathermays and the Godefroys being closely related before Wilfred married Esteelle.

From the third gazeteer, there are the:

- Weathermays
- Godefroys
- Halloways
- Mournesworths
- Gauldemons
- De Boistribues
- Scottmatters
- Holsworths
- Blackbern-Bruces
- Wescotes

Dark tales and distrurbing legends presents a Lord Ashington, which I recall was a Mordentish Lord (I don't own the product, I just know it from playing it). What other Mordentish big names have been mentioned?

There might be more info on the Wescote family in the adventure 'Howls in the Night'.

Ashington manor is presented such that it can be dropped in any location. that your DM put it in Mordentshire was his choice, not official...

Thank you Stygian and Gonzoron.

Ya I was wondering exactly what to make of the Wescotes. This does help quite a bit .

Correct me if I'm wrong (and I may be), but when I read through the section on the major families of Mordent, I thought it indicated that all of them had died out *before* Mordent became part of the Land of Mists, the only exceptions being the Weathermays (which still exist) and the Godefroys (which died out at the same time that Mordent entered). As such, I thought that information was just for a) understanding Mordent's history and culture, and b) creating better ghost stories, as the effects of these families still exists in the stories of the Mordentish people.

However, I'm not certain on that now. Did that section merely indicate that said families have lost their political power but that there are still living remnants of most of those families? (The Gauldamon section seemed like there might be some remaining, but also seemed like there are just witchhunts every once in a while where people declaim the accused as being a Gauldamon even though there's no blood relation, just to make the person seem more horrible by linking the accused to such horrific crimes of the past.) How is that being considered?

Also, what should be the case with the Wescoates anyway? IIRC "Howls of the Night" leads the possibility of the Wescoate line continuing on from that last remaining survivor, but I don't recall anything canon one way or the other.

[Edit: Corrected house name from "Mournesworth" to "Gauldamon" as I referred to the wrong house]

Well, most of the lost Mordentish noble families were allegedly brought to ruin through the direct or indirect machinations of Wilifrid Godefroy, and he only became powerful enough to influence more than Gryphon Manor itself after Mordent became a domain (and he, a darklord). That means that it makes no sense that they'd have already died out before his powers expanded to encompass his domain. Many of the old families' fortunes might have been in decline, even before then -- face it, Mordent really isn't a wealthy country, and probably hasn't been one for a very long time -- but seeing their bloodlines and family names wither into extinction is probably a post-579 phenomenon.

There is also the Renier family, of no relation to the wererats I believe, who built (I think) the house on Gryphon Hill. But I am not all sure anything else was said of them.

cure wrote:There is also the Renier family, of no relation to the wererats I believe, who built (I think) the house on Gryphon Hill. But I am not all sure anything else was said of them.

According to LotB, the wererat Reniers are the descendents of the renowned Renier hero who'd built Gryphon Manor and Heather House. It could be the HoGH's influence, or a curse from one of the villains he'd fought, or something they picked up from their maternal bloodline, but five of his six children were born as natural wererats. Claude Renier (hence Jackie and Louise) was one of his descendents; so are a number of non-wererat Reniers (whose ancestor was the non-lycanthropic sixth child) who'd come to Ravenloft when Mordent was incorporated into the demiplane, and emigrated to Darkon soon after that.

Rotipher wrote:Many of the old families' fortunes might have been in decline, even before then [...] but seeing their bloodlines and family names wither into extinction is probably a post-579 phenomenon.

Your reasoning above sounded good, so I checked out things. Turns out, most of the families ruined by Godefroy appear to have been ruined while he was still alive. But the families all die out around the shift, some pre-579 some post-579 (579 BC being year of formation for Mordent). I'll post a short list here (all info is from GazIII):

- de Boistribue - Family disappeared without a trace in 493BC, long before Mordent entered Ravenloft. Lycanthropes suspected of destroying the family (Renier wererats, perhaps?). As family was wiped out in Prime Material Mordent, it's unlikely (though possible) that some exist in Ravenloftian Mordent. With above idea, perhaps their line was subsumed into the Renier family and so some de Boistribue blood returned with the Richemuloise Reniers?

- Blackburn-Bruce - Family ran away not long after the Apparatus was destroyed, fearing being linked to the Alchemist. As that event brought Mordent into Ravenloft, the Blackburn-Bruce family did (and presumably still does) exist in Ravenloftian Mordent.

- Gauldamon - Family summoned a demon in 621BC, long after Mordent entered Ravenloft. Eventually hunted down to the last for this affont. As the Gauldamons existed in Ravenloftian Mordent, likely there are a few members who still survive, having taken new names.

- Holsworth - Cursed family of sailors, obsessed with discovery. Last one disappeared under the waves in 543BC, back in Prime Material Mordent. Family was wiped out, away from Mordent, when Mordent entered, so no Holsworths survive in Ravenloftian Mordent. However, considering the similarities between the Holsworth curse and that of Pierre van Riese (Darklord of the Nocturnal Sea), could Riese come from the same Prime Material world and could he bear some Holsworth blood?

- Scottmatter - No dates given for what occurred to the family, but as their tale is still strongly entrenched in the popular mind, likely the family was bound in the portrait less than a century ago, in Ravenloftian Mordent. So this family did exist in Ravenloftian Mordent and perhaps could again after the curse is lifted (perhaps, as they are freed from the portrait, some will step fully alive into modern day Mordent, facing nothing more damaging than culture shock).

- Halloway - Uncertain when the family dies out, though they remain locked in their mansion in 547BC, in Prime Material Mordent. Perhaps some still survived as Mordent was drawn into Ravenloft, perhaps not.

- Mournesworth - Family seemed to know that Mordent was being pulled into the Mists and performed a ceremony to keep themselves firmly locked in Prime Material Mordent. This family did not enter when Mordent did, though perhaps some have entered later. The Mournesworth cemetary definitely sounds like an excellent place for minor conjunctions with Prime Material Mordent, though.

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So it appears that we were both a little right and a little wrong, Roti. Some families entered Ravenloft, some died out beforehand, and some are completely unknown. But thanks for answering as you did, because otherwise I wouldn't have checked!

Another weird family thing...

de Boistribue -> du Boistribue -> duBois ???


Perhaps my idea above of Reniers messing with the de Boistribue isn't so odd, but rather that Jacqueline Renier messing with the Henry duBois is merely history repeating itself...