Café de Nuit

I'm compiling the domains I'm going to use IMC and was wondering if anyone had ever written up al-Kathos or done a better write-up on Daglan. For that matter, does anyone have any ideas about these domains they haven't written up?

For my part, I was thinking I'd replace Pharazia with al-Kathos, and maybe have Phiraz being a city-state in al-Kathos (complete with Diamabel as its lord). I was also thinking that although Malbus may rule most of al-Kathos, I don't believe he makes for a good darklord; described as a "ram-headed demon" or abomination, it would seem like he was never anything but evil to begin with. I was thinking abd-al-Mamat should be the darklord; darklords don't necessarily rule over their lands politically, and even if abd-al-Mamat's rulership is of the rebuilt version of the Wounded City, that doesn't mean he isn't the darklord. However, I'm interested in ideas anyone else might have about all this.

al-Kathos is oddity in the Ravenloft world. Its only ever appeared in the book and not in any supliment or adventure nor has it been referenced by any other book.

The only thing I've ever seen on it was a quick fan made map from The Mordent Cartographic Society.

al-Kathos?
The one concerning the vizier and his judgments?
(And him being literally being cut into a thousand bloody ribbons?)

That's it. I think the fan made domain had an efreeti as the domain lord.

Yeah, that was my favorite story in the book. If I were doing an anthology of masterpiees of terror I'd include it. But efreet or no, I just don't think Malbus makes a good darklord, despite the backstory at the Mordent Cartographic Society (no offense, that's just me). I think abd-al-Mamat makes for a better darklord, but I've always defined the driteria for darklord not just by how evil they are but how corrupted; with that in mind, abd-al-Mamat corrupted from a fairly decent man into a monster by his own will and therefore makes a great darklord.

Regardless, even with the material from the Mordent Cartographic Society the detail on al-Kathos is rather sparse for such a large domain; it's even sparser for Daglan. I like having these two domains, especially al-Kathos, but they need a bit of work.

Apropos of nothing, I always wanted to remake Daglan into an Island of Terror. My reasoning being that Daglan didn't dissolve at the end of Feast of Goblyns; it just broke away from the Core and drifted into the Mists.

Later, I toyed with the idea of Daglan, Kislova, and Estrangia forming a Cluster, kind of a "lesser Core".

Chris Nichols

ChrisNichols wrote:Apropos of nothing, I always wanted to remake Daglan into an Island of Terror. My reasoning being that Daglan didn't dissolve at the end of Feast of Goblyns; it just broke away from the Core and drifted into the Mists.

Later, I toyed with the idea of Daglan, Kislova, and Estrangia forming a Cluster, kind of a "lesser Core".

Chris Nichols

Estrangia? Is that from the short story with the clerical lich from Tales of Ravenloft?

Drinnik Shoehorn wrote: Estrangia? Is that from the short story with the clerical lich from Tales of Ravenloft?

Technically, Friar Whelm is a Coraltan, not a clerical lich...

...whatever the hell that is. Has anyone ever succesfully tracked down the author and demanded a defination so far?

And, al-Kothas was pretty damn cool, but the fan write-up by the MCS is probably the best we're ever going to get on it.

Charlatan wrote:...whatever the hell that is. Has anyone ever succesfully tracked down the author and demanded a defination so far?

As far as I know, no.

As I've mentioned before on other threads, I also kept Daglan as an IoT and later made it part of a Cluster. In my campaign's case, it joined up with G'Henna, creating the Withered Expanse: a bleak cluster with themes of deprivation, ignorance, theocratic cruelty, and unforgiving landscapes. The two domains actually compliment each other quite well, the moreso in that they share some quirks (e.g. weird geographic features like gigantic bones poking up out of the ground; morbid cleric-darklords determined to "out-psycho" each other) that really never fit in with the more modest level of fantasy seen in the Core.

Hahahahahahahaha! I was gonna tone down Daglan to make it fit into the core more, but I actually like your idea too!