Who ARE the Dark Lords?

[Epically]

I've been doing a lot of reading into the darklords lately. I don't have as much material as most people here do, but I'm getting the basic ideas of each.

The thing that bothers me, is that while I understand their curse, I don't understand their goals. Most of the dark lords I have read about say they, "are master tacticians, manipulating people to further their own goal."

What are these goals? Harkon Lucas for example. What are his long term goals? I know that he desires to rule a larger populace, but what are his plans to acheive this?

Strahd is another one I don't get. He searches an eternity for Tatyana, but apart from that, what are his goals? Does he want to leave Ravenloft? Is he plotting against the other darklords for some other goal I don't know about?

Any help on any Darklords in this regard would be much appreciated. Except Dracov and Azalin. They're easy.

[Mortavius]

That exact question seems to be on the forefront of the minds of many of the more modern Ravenloft writers (I'm referring here to the works of 3E). Before it just seemed that they were created and put in their prisons, and that was that (with the possible exception of Azalin).

For a real good answer, you want the five Ravenloft Gazetteers. They of course won't answer every question, but they go a long way forward, in that regard. Some of the Darklords are completely self-absorbed however, and don't care for the larger world much (Adam, I'm looking at you, even though I'd wish otherwise).

[Jimsolo]

Strahd - Strahd has a myriad number of goals. While finding and winning his lost Tatyana is always the one foremost on his mind, the old vampire distracts himself with a number of other schemes. Escaping Ravenloft is a favorite of his, as is the pursuit of defying his vampiric curses. (In the original module, Strahd's goal in the adventure was randomized. One of the possibilities was that he was seeking to craft a permanent sphere of magical darkness to traverse openly during the day.)

Strahd has also been known to hunt down those who have defied his will (notably the Dilisnyas) and to pursue other long-forgotten vendettas. (He has a laundry list of enemies, including Azalin, Drakov, the Dilisnya's, the Gundrakites, and his ancestral foe, the Tergs.) He is a wizard, and has been known to pursue magical spells or items if the opportunity presents. While he is selfish and lost in revisionist history and self-pity, I think Strahd would relish the opportunity to reconcile with his brother. Finally, Strahd has a strange obsession with fortifying his castle against mortal intruders, and has some pretty diabolical stuff set up inside for them.

Azalin - Azalin wants out. You'll find that escape from Ravenloft is the primary goal of most Darklords, incidentally. Since he is unable to learn new magic, he seeks to circumvent that part of his curse as well. Azalin seeks to learn as much as possible about Ravenloft and the Dark Powers, in order to facilitate his escape. He has a strong desire to resurrect Irik, in order to bring his son around to his way of thinking. He wants, more than anything, to be recognized as being right in his views on how power should be accrued and applied, and he wants his son to be the one to see that.

Azalin's short term goals can include anything designed to discover more information about Ravenloft, the Dark Powers, or testing the limits of the demiplane. This includes testing the limits of his powers, those of other Darklords, and the fundamental nature of the plane.

The Hags- The three sisters of Tepest want out, but don't seem to have any clue how to GET out. They are the codependent sociopaths you occasionally see on Jerry Springer taken to the furthest extreme. They hate one another, and want to strike out on their own. On the other hand, they can't do anything without their sisters, can't leave very far anyway, and can't imagine operating alone anyhow.

In the short term, they devote their time to sadistically torturing the denizens of the Core unlucky enough to live in their domain. In many ways, Tepest is Ravenloft in miniature, with the Sisters acting the part of the Dark Powers, cursing and destroying those around them in cruel and unusual ways.

Adam - Adam is a selfish being with few goals. He's one of the few Darklords that doesn't seem to want to escape. Mostly, he wants to torment Mordenheim, and foil the doctor's schemes. Ironically, this sometimes brings him into adventures on the (apparent) side of the heroes. Given his chaotic nature, these alliances rarely end in anything other than betrayal.

Sometimes, Adam will attempt to achieve what his father could not and create life. Inevitably, his creations are hollow mockeries of himself. Rarely, Adam seeks contact with someone else outside of his little circle of torment. One of the Children of the Night books details a child vampire he's friends with.

Dr. Mordenheim - Deserving of a special mention, Dr. Mordenheim is not technically a Darklord, but in many ways shares the traits of one. It's best to view he and Adam as co-Darklords. Mordenheim seeks to return Elise to life and health. All of his schemes revolve around his inability to accept her passing and just let her die. While they can range from him pursuing cloning, to time travel (to keep her from getting injured) to inventing new power sources (to keep her alive longer) to any other harebrained pseudoscience you can concoct, they all focus on keeping his wife clinging to life, and someday restoring her to health.

I've got the rest written up, it'll just take a minute to post.

[Jimsolo]

Hazlik - Seeks to escape. (Surprise, surprise.) As someone who fears being powerless, he seeks to accrue power. He never has enough magical might, and never enough security. He seeks revenge on the people who wronged him, including the entire Mulan race, and is designing a spell to kill them all. (This is all the more twisted, since most of the Mulan are dead already anyway, and Hazlik just doesn't know it.) As one of the few Darklords who is still aging, towards what he assumes is an inevitable demise, Hazlik also seeks immortality.

Harkon Lukas - Seeks to escape. All of his plans to that end have failed. Seeks to exert political or social control over what little IS at his command. His plans include ways to increase the prestige of the domain he has, as well as ways to expand or escape it.

Jacqueline Renier - Seeks to escape Richemulot. She has a desire to see her people take over the surface world. ("Today, Richemulot! Tomorrow, the world!") She seeks to increase her personal power, as well as to discover ways to spread the curse of lycanthropy more effectively. She also desires a way to increase the power of her nation, through treachery, trade, diplomacy, or warfare.

Deep down, she just wants to find love. Her unique curse, of course, makes that impossible. I think it likely that as a side effect of that, her jealousy would make her prone to trying to break up happy couples she runs across.

Tristen Apblanc - Pretty much, his goal is to escape his curse. He's got a weird, time-warpy thing going on.

Death - He's a clone of Azalin. He wants to escape Necropolis. He's got a strong desire to prove that he actually is death, and ignore the niggling doubts in the back of his head that tell him he's really just a pathetic wannabe. I think he's got some personal beef with Azalin, since he's got at least a partial clue about what happened to land him in his current predicament.

Drakov - Wants to expand his empire. Escape from Ravenloft isn't necessarily required. Drakov wants to expand on his terms, though, which means military conquest only. Curiously, this also affects not just who he wants to fight, but who he won't fight. A military attack on Lamordia, for instance, would net him very little if successful, but a failure would be a complete beatdown for his pride.

Drakov desires to find the weaknesses of his enemies and exploit them. In addition to expansion, he is interested in nationbuilding, provided the nation he builds is one of order through strength. His tyrannical governing style is designed to cow the populace through fear, as well as building the military. (Since it is often seen as the only way out.)

d'Honaire - Dominic seeks to get with women who are actually into him. Unfortunately, his curse prevents this. He doesn't seem to get that, though, and his ignorance is part of his torment. Manipulation of other people is what got him in trouble with the DP's in the first place, and it remains his primary occupation. Any sort of thing that might amuse a childish sadist with mind control powers could be the short term goal he's pursuing at the moment, including driving someone to suicide or insanity, getting a couple together, breaking them up, destroying a business, family, or organization, or promoting a person, agenda, or group only to destroy them later.

A side note worth mentioning is his war-by-proxy with Rudy Aubrecker, aka the Brain. The cat-and-mouse business between these two is the best conflict in the domain, in my opinion. He's got a few irons in the fire trying to track down the only real competition he's got, and that could make for fertile adventure ground.

[Jimsolo]

Godefroy - Godefroy is a nasty old man. He's the elderly relative who micromanages everything, insisting that everyone, everywhere, should be living their lives according to his person (antiquated) way of doing things. And, in what is no doubt ripped straight from the nightmares of anyone with a parent like that, when he died, he didn't stop!

Godefroy amuses himself by trying to escape his curse, that of his tormenting wife and child. He also seeks to restore his domain to its former glory, which largely exists only in his own mind. Still, he wants the return of the ruling noble families, and he wants his own family to prosper, so long as they do it his way. He seeks to preserve the status quo of a dead and gone age, and can be involved in anything to that end. He might seek to destroy a new business run by Outlanders, for instance, or take steps to stop a new social trend that he views as 'indecent.'

Ivan Dilisnya and Ivana Boritsi - Both of them seek to escape their personal curses. Ivan wants immortality, and his sister wants to be able to be intimate with people. The two of them are definitely driven by these drives in their other pursuits. Ivan's desire to experience all that he can compels him to any sort of pleasure he thinks he might enjoy, at any expense. Ivana's jealousy of other's happiness results in her destroying other happy lives in her presence.

Gabrielle Aderre - Gabby wants to keep herself alive, first and foremost. She is rapidly running out of time before one of her two lovers realizes which one of them is actually the father, and violence inevitably ensues. She is probably looking for a way to forestall that.

She also wants to get vengeance on her treacherous son and depose him from his throne. She has allied with man eating monsters and outcast rebels to that end, so she could conceivably be found going along with any plan to further this goal, no matter how far fetched.

Inza - Inza seeks to prove that everyone is as evil as she is. She tries to tempt any goodly folk in her realm into evil, or convince them that they already are evil. In addition to this, she has a laundry list of enemies that are haunting her every step, just itching for a chance to gick her. She could conceivably be found trying to eliminate them (probably by tricking someone else into doing it for her).

Alfred Timothy - Alfy wants to get out. I don't know that this is stated explicitly, but it seems pretty clear from reading between the lines. Timothy is a runt. He's a small, cowardly person, and being a werewolf hasn't changed that. You know the after-school special bully? That's him. He lashes out at everyone else because he's afraid they'll find out how much of a loser he is. He's still a great NPC, but as a person, he's by far the most pathetic Darklord, in my opinion.

Personal feelings aside, Al wants to increase his personal power. He wants to shed his curse, desperately, and thinks that the best way to do that is to spread the worship of the Wolf God, in the hopes that his deity will remove the curse from him. (The addition to his domain during the Grand Conjunction only fuels this belief.) He seeks to bring all werewolves under his dominion, and to encourage them to greater, more numerous, and more depraved acts of brutality.

[Jimsolo]

Urik von Kharkov -
Just kidding, of course. Despite the Blacula jokes that surround him, Kharkov is one of my favorite Darklords. He lives in a never ending destructive cycle. His background is a potent metaphor for domestic abuse, and for recurring psychological problems. (He lived as an animal until the influence of a woman turned him into the man he wanted to be. Forces beyond his control brought the beast out of him again, and his animal side destroyed her.) Now, he lives in a continuing cycle of despair, remorse, desire, and destruction.

If Kharkov is looking for a wife, he is the picture of civilized gentility. He is kind, diplomatic, and every inch the gentleman. As ancillary support for this, he may engage in business ventures, civil developments such as roads or infrastructure, or other investments in the future. At this point, he is still hopeful, and has convinced himself that he is able to be a man, and that he has his monster under control.

After marrying, he will begin to withdraw from his wife, gradually growing to distrust himself, the people around him, and especially her. During this period, as he starts to wonder when he's going to lose it, the Baron will likely lash out at the people around him, sabotaging the projects he worked on in the previous phase. (He may order the stonemasons working on the road detained as Sithican spies, for example, eventually having them executed towards the end of this phase.) He alienates the friends or acquaintances he made, until he has no support network to save him from himself. When there's nothing else to stop him from snapping, he eventually loses control and kills his wife. By this time, he's well and truly isolated.

Then begins the period of tears and recriminations. Urik hates and berates himself, seeking to be alone with his misery. He is most violent during this time, and the most likely to lash out at PCs or other threats that he feels he needs to handle personally, since he is at his most self-destructive during this phase. Eventually, his misery drives him to accept what has happened so far and to resolve to do better. He may engage in some form of activity to prove he has gained a new level of willpower, such as overcoming a powerful obstacle or putting right some minor wrong he committed during the last cycle. Once he is convinced that he is a new man, he begins seeking a wife and the whole circle begins anew.

Gwydion - Primary goal: escape. (Again.) Other turn-ons include ascendance to deityhood and destroying all of creation in an apocalyptic Lovecraftian nightmare. Turn-offs include Ben Stiller movies and jazz music.

Hiregaard/Malken - Tristen Hiregaard is a man whose prison is his own mind. He has no particular desire to leave Ravenloft, but definitely wants Malken out of his body. Preferably dead. Cursed for no fault of his own, Hiregaard is Ravenloft's poster child for its continued theme of blood taint: the sons bearing the punishment for the sins of their fathers.

Tristen divides his time between ruling his realm, which he does as fairly as can be expected in a LE domain. He prevents the worst of the excesses from befalling his people. He also pursues romantic trysts with young ladies, to inevitable tragic results. Finally, he has recently become aware that he shares a body with the crime lord Malken, and seeks to be rid of this curse. He's recently started pursuing arcane methods of eliminating his nemesis, but he's just started on this path.

Malken also wants to be free of Hiregaard, but doesn't have any legitimate options on the table. (At least one person has theorized that Malken will jump to Hiregaard's son when Tristen dies, however.) As the living embodiment of the family curse (which functions as a nice representation of hereditary abuse cycles and violent mental disorders) he tries to be as much of a real person as possible, by making his influence felt through his criminal operations. As part of his hang-ups, he seeks to destroy everything Hiregaard builds, and if a short term goal for him is needed, it could easily be something as mundane as finding a home repair project of Tristen's and undoing it.

Tristessa - The final entry in my little tour of motivation, Tristessa is kind of a weak note to end on. Tristessa is, while evil, representative of madness that will not yield to reason. She is a mother seeking her child, unaware, and unwilling to realize, that her child is gone and will never be returned to her. Her delusions are potent enough that she can fool herself into believing that her child has been returned to her (if a living child has been given up to her) or that someone has her baby (if there are mortals foolish enough to be in her presence). Her motivations all revolve around finding her baby and protecting it. Possibly, in rare moments of great lucidity, she might give some thoughts to returning herself and her people to the realm of the living.

Well, that took me a couple of hours, so I hope you find it useful. I certainly did.

[Epically]

You are the man, Jim. Answered everything I needed. Thank you so much!

[Epically]

A little bit more on d'Honaire..

I've been reading Gazetteer III, and it said that he has control over Gov. Giognol and the entire council of brilliance, but how is this converyed? From reading about them, they still exert their full personalitlies and own personal agendas. Is it more or less once someone becomes an obedient they just do without question whatever d'Honaire asks of them or is there something else I'm missing?

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Yeah, they aren't robots. They still have their own minds, but are magically bound to do whatever he commands.

[Grigg_Deadbreaker]

It helps to think of the obedient in terms of the Manchurian Candidate. Just a few key words or phrases and they go from free willed masters of their own fate to emotionless servants who seek only to fulfill their Dominic's commands.

[Nathan of the FoS]

Just to give an example of one way you might play it--I played an Obedient in one campaign who didn't even know he had been controlled--in fact, for most of the campaign he wasn't being controlled, since we weren't in Dementlieu.

He had, however, once murdered one of the Boritsis on Dominic's instructions by challenging him to a duel and then conspiring with the Boritsi's second (also an Obedient) to rig the Boritsi's pistol so it wouldn't fire. My PC remembered setting up the murder and killing him, but didn't know why he had done such an incredibly dishonorable thing, and it gave him horrible nightmares and a bit of a suicidal streak. This is the flashback where he made the connections and realized that d'Honaire had made him do it:

The scene, Dominic d’Honaire’s town house in Port-a-Lucine; the time, so late that it has become rather more like “very early”. The cock will crow within another glass—these short summer nights…

“I understand your studies are progressing satisfactorily, M. Martel,” Dominic d’Honaire said, smiling slightly and offering his snuff box. “Mathematics! Quite the branch of study for a young sprig of the nobility!”

“You’re too kind, Councilor,” Charles replies, bowing slightly and taking a pinch of snuff. He doesn’t much care for the stuff, but one doesn’t refuse a man in d’Honaire’s position when he offers you gifts—or look them in the mouth, either, if it comes to that. “I doubt I’ll be gated, at any rate, for failure of academic performance, though all this studying is very trying at this time of year…the Festival of Lights, the opera...one does wonder if the academic life had been created primarily to restrict one’s social activities at times. Which is why I was so grateful for your generous invitation to the fete; truly an astonishing array of entertainments.”

D’Honaire waved away the thanks with one economical motion of a well-manicured hand and continued, his deep-set eyes intent, “Oh, of all the various perquisites which service to the state have won me—and they are considerable, I wouldn’t have you misunderstand me on that point!—I feel the greatest is the company of the young and accomplished. I would hardly deprive myself of such a thing, if it were possible to do otherwise!” Smiling just the correct amount to flatter his young visitor, the statesman then allowed himself a wink and a segue to a more jocular tone. “Now, then, you’ll not be sent down for failure of academic performance, you’re your father’s son after all! But what’s this I hear of dueling? Can it really be possible in this enlightened day and age that our young bravoes are taking the field to settle affairs of honor by steel? Or lead? As recently as last week, even?”

Charles bows and wonders, not for the first time, how on earth the old fellow can know what he knows. “I suppose all things are possible, Councilor. Human nature remains largely immutable, despite the best efforts of the priests and the philosophers.”

For some reason d’Honaire finds this statement highly amusing. “Indeed…the intractability of man is quite shocking. Like dogs to their vomit, or pigs to wallowing in the mud. One cannot erase one’s upbringing, nor jump off his own shadow. Like that young fellow…Boritsi. Why, he made some quite insolent remark about me this very night…something about how he wished he might avail himself of the converse of my own diplomatic abilities, as my charms were effective on all but the young ladies…a group he would particularly desire to hold sway over, if he had his way.”

Something roils in the politician’s face as he speaks—something which does not reach the voice, which recounts a merely amusing anecdote—albeit with peculiar emphasis on certain points, on certain words…something in the phrasing that communicates more than is actually being said. Charles, somewhat bored by this recitation (though his mask of polite interest never slips), does not see it—or does not understand. Or, perhaps, has understanding taken from him, in the moment in which it is born.

“A very knave, the young rogue!” d’Honaire continues, chuckling and rubbing his jowls. “If you should ever meet him on the field of honor, give him a bullet for your old friend’s sake, do!”

Charles smiles slightly at this jest and bows. “I remain, of course, your humble and obedient servant, Councilor,” he says.

Laughing, d’Honaire claps Charles on the shoulder and, taking his arm, leads him to the stairs. “I know, my young friend. I know.”

[alhoon]

A note:
Azalin said in the Gaz that he doesn't want out anymore, as in he still wants out, but he understands the futility. It's a recent development though. And I doupt he REALLY means it.

I didn't know that about Strahd and the vampiric curses. Never heard of it. I thought he grew over them with time.

[Jimsolo]

Strahd's side projects are one of the reasons the old fiend is my favorite darklord.

[Ryan Naylor]

A note:
Azalin said in the Gaz that he doesn't want out anymore, as in he still wants out, but he understands the futility. It's a recent development though. And I doupt he REALLY means it.

I didn't know that about Strahd and the vampiric curses. Never heard of it. I thought he grew over them with time.

He has (mostly). But he also developed the mimic mortal spell for a reason.

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Harkon Lukas - Seeks to escape. All of his plans to that end have failed. Seeks to exert political or social control over what little IS at his command. His plans include ways to increase the prestige of the domain he has, as well as ways to expand or escape it.

Also planned at one point to unite wolfweres in leadership of the human race. That's part of what got him DLship.

Tristen Apblanc - Pretty much, his goal is to escape his curse. He's got a weird, time-warpy thing going on.

Don't forget the druids. He hopes to wipe them out completely.