Café de Nuit

Hello from this side of the world,

According to the Mausoleum, there is no detailed information on Sanguinia, aside from its mention in both the Black Box and the 3rd edition Core Rulebook, both of which sit on my shelf and are within easy reach.

With that said, has anybody out there detailed this domain in a game or story?

I'm looking to delve into the Frozen Reaches and basing a story around Sanguinia, hoping to develop an exploratory trade relationship between it and Vorostokov. Well, that's the beginning part of the plot. A subplot will be the relationship between Ladislav Mircea and Gregor Zolnik, through their respective quote unquote intermediaries. Another will be between a lumberjack, his wife, her kidnapping by one of Mircea's thugs slash thralls, and a chase into Vorostokov.

Even if you, the reader of this post, haven't done anything with Sanguinia, what are your thoughts about this domain? The Frozen Reaches in general, Sanguinia or Vorostokov individually, it doesn't matter much to me. I'm just looking for a community brainstorm, if you will.

I'll take this time to thank you in advance, and offer you the floor.

I've always been pretty interested in Sanguinia (it's the whole blood theme ), but I haven't really taken the time to come up with ideas for it. I'd love to hear what people have to say about it, though.

Sanguinia is really the most underdeveloped domain, AFAIK. Only the original Black Box and the 3e PHB and DMG reference to it.

A nice topic for a future Gaz, if you ask me...

It and Farelle are topping my list of lands we should detail in the future. But we're mostly concerned with watching the development of the Paridon Gaz and other projects before we even think of what comes next.

Of course. - I mean, people should have the time to play your new releases out. Farelle... What was that...? *Goes over to the gaming book shelf*

Well, Dark of the Moon will give you more information on Vorostokov, which should be slightly helpful.

As for Sanguinia... I remember reading something recently on either the Fraternity of Shadows boards or through my old Ravenloft Mailing List stuffs... It was great, with a hugely redone backstory for Mircea along the lines of Poe's "Mask of the Red Death"... I'll see if I can find it.

Found it already. It's on Page 19 of this forum (and so could have already been deleted... Thank Ezra the FoS has been lazy recently!)

Here's a link: Sanguinia: A Possible History

Rafael wrote:Of course. - I mean, people should have the time to play your new releases out. Farelle... What was that...? *Goes over to the gaming book shelf*

Farelle (well, more precisely, darklord Jack Karn) got a really good write-up by Ryan Naylor in the Book of Sacrifices.

Woo-hoo! I musta missed it the first time around, but Tobias's story of Sanguinia's origins is super! Really atmospheric and full of poetic justice, a must for any decent Ravenloft backstory.

One interesting spin on this, that could ground the Sanguinia/Vorostokov thematic linkage in more than just sub-zero temperatures, would be to play up the idea of "bloodlines" and their significance in both frozen domains. Zolnik's offspring are certainly a factor in Vorostokov already, and the fact that his domain was ret-conned to tie it to Birthright, in DoD -- even if that was mostly a cheesy cross-setting promotional gimmick on TSR's part -- ties the whole "scions" premise into the Voros' homeland, also.

Even if you don't care to literally import the BR rules for various lineages' scions into your Ravenloft game, you could play up the concept of ancestral traits, obligations, and legacies, a la LotB, but without confining heredity's influence to the nobility only.

Rafael wrote:Sanguinia is really the most underdeveloped domain, AFAIK. Only the original Black Box and the 3e PHB and DMG reference to it.

A nice topic for a future Gaz, if you ask me...

I think it ties with Rokushima Taiyoo for most underdeveloped domain. Another nice topic for a future Gaz, IMO.

Spiteful Crow wrote:I think it ties with Rokushima Taiyoo for most underdeveloped domain. Another nice topic for a future Gaz, IMO.

Spiteful, I forgot to tell you: I turned up some old info of mine, from back in '97, from the RAVENLOFT-L mailing list, regarding Rokushima Taiyoo. The guy had detailed all of the brothers, created extra stories, etc. Some stuff needs to be updated (that person named the brothers, which was before RLDMG, but the names don't match...), but it'll be a good starting point, especially considering the quantity.

I'll try to remember when I get home, as I'll try to restart the old "Rokushima Taiyoo" thread.

Thank you for digging that up, Lord Cyclohexane.

I'll carry on in the "Sanguina: A Possible History" thread.