Kartakass
| Kartakass | |
|---|---|
| |
| Culture Level | Medieval |
| Ecology | Full |
| Climate & Terrain | Temperate forest, hills |
| Year Formed | 613 BC |
| Population | 5,000 |
| Races (%) | Humans 94%, wolfweres 4%, half-elves 1%, other 1% |
| Languages | Vaasi, Old Kartakan, Balok, Sithican |
| Religions | The Ancestral Choir, Church of Ezra, Church of Hala |
| Government | "Meritocratic independent settlements"[1] |
| Ruler(s) | autonomous meistersingers |
| Darklord(s) | Harkon Lukas |
| Nationality | Kartakan |
| Analog | Scotland, Scandinavia, The Black Forest |
| Related Categories | |
| Locations in Kartakass | |
| Transportation in Kartakass | |
| Inhabitants of Kartakass | |
| Former Inhabitants of Kartakass | |
| Flora of Kartakass | |
| Fauna of Kartakass | |
| Native Monsters of Kartakass | |
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This section contains canon info from officially published sources |
Kartakass is the most musical domain in Ravenloft, and most native bards originate from or have been trained there. It lies in the south of the Core.
A domain with lush forests, it contains only two major settlements: Skald and Harmonia. It is crisscrossed with the rivers that originate from the Musarde River, which flows in from Sithicus and disappears into Hazlan. The domain is bordered by Barovia in the north, Hazlan in the east, and Sithicus in the west. South of this domain lay the Mists. Wedged between Barovia and Kartakass lies Forlorn, a mostly empty domain.
Kartakass is infested with wolfweres (wolves that transform into humans and humanoid-wolf hybrids). The darklord is the Meistersinger (German for "master singer"), Harkon Lukas. This fact is unknown to outsiders, who regard the country as simply being the homeplace for bards and a particular potent alcoholic drink called Meekulbrau. The natives suspect that the very numerous wolves of the land are more than they appear to be but the literal truth about them is rarely whispered. The figurative truth is, however, lent voice in song by the wolfwere bards themselves, who never tire of recounting the tales of the cunning of Grandfather Wolf over and against the stupidity of Grandfather Boar and the feebleness of mankind.
Chronology
- 610 BC - Harkon Lukas is brought to the Land of Mists.[2]
- 613 BC - Kartakass is revealed.[3]
- 613 BC False History - The Invidian Occupation of Kartakass ends with the fall of Dargacht Keep[3]
669 BC - Orinda is born in Skald.[4]- 677 BC - Orinda begins singing for the patrons at the Tippling Minstrel[4]
- 685 BC - The Adventuring Band of Loran Elbrian visits the tavern. Perryn and Orinda fall in love[4], and they are wed in a private ceremony with only the other adventurers present. Orinda begins receiving training to become an adventurer.[5]
- 696 BC or 697 BC - Calum Songmaster, a Kartakan Bard, founds The Brotherhood of Broken Blades.[6]
709 BC - After his bids to build trade enclaves fail, Vlad Drakov's men try to setup a checkpoint along the Crimson Highway and gain a stranglehold over trade moving along it. A door is left open, and they are killed to the last man by wolves.[7]- 710s - Falkovnians try to set up enclaves in Kartakass. They are rebuked by the citizens of both Skald and Harmonia.[8]
- 711 BC - Duke Gundar's men kidnap Orinda and Perryn from Invidia and bring them to Castle Hunadora.[5] Perryn sacrifices his own life to save Orinda, but Orinda is still maimed. After retrieving and cremating Perryn's corpse, Orinda rides to Kartakass, where she becomes Meistersinger of Chord and retires from adventuring.[9]
- 717 BC - Zhone Clieous assumes the title of Meistersinger of Harmonia.[10]
719 BC - After his bids to build trade enclaves fail, Vlad Drakov's men try to setup a checkpoint along the Crimson Highway and gain a stranglehold over trade moving along it. A door is left open, and they are killed to the last man by wolves.[11]- 720 BC - Sithicus forms[12][13][14] Overtaken by curiosity, many Kartakans begin exploring this exotic new land. Over the next 10 years, the Kartakans will absorb many Elven linguistic expressions into their own lexicon.[15]
- 724 BC - Dr. Van Richten battles the Bog Monster of Hroth, and meets Jameld. This is also Van Richten's first visit to both Kartakass and Sithicus.
- 729 BC - In Invidia, Bakholis is overthrown by Gabrielle Aderre. The Kartakans celebrate the demise of a tyrant and set up informal mercantile alliances with Invidian settlements.[15]
- 730 BC - By this year, the Kartakans have absorbed many Sithican linguistic expressions into their own lexicon.[15]
- 733 BC - Summer Luther Bedarik becomes Meistersinger of Skald.[10]
- 736 BC - Coraline becomes the lover and spy of Harkon Lukas.[16]
- 736 BC - Harkon Lukas' daughter, Akriel, conspires with Dr. Daclaud Heinfroth to overthrow both Harkon Lukas and Duke Gundar with the capture of the Crown of Souls.[17]
- 736 BC - Jaconos Hanabra goes on a rampage in the Harmonia Jailhouse.[18]
- 736 BC - Radaga is driven from the Catacombs of Kartakass and flees over the border, where she becomes the darklord of Daglan.[19] She is struck down, and Daglan Daegon revives. However, his fate is sealed with the destruction Crown of Souls and dissolution of all Daglan itself.[20] Through these events, the 1st Verse of Hyskosa's Hexad comes to pass.[21]
- 737 BC Summer - Sundered Heart challenges Zhone Clieous for title of Meistersinger of Harmonia, but is defeated at the last minute due to an unlikely loss of voice.[10]
- 737 BC - Sundered Heart reveals himself as Casimir and ousts Zhone Clieous from power by exposing him as a werewolf. Casimir confronts Zhone at the Crystal Club and kills him.[10]
- 737 BC (Near year's end) - Casimir is also ousted as a werewolf and driven from town. He is said to have perished soon after.[10]
- 742 BC (Autumn) - Luther Bedarik, the then Meistersinger of Skald, writes the Soulless Crown, a ballad that was a thinly disguised allegory for Casimir Lukas and Akriel Lukas's betrayals of Harkon Lukas, intimating they are all narrulves and that Harkon Lukas is Grandfather Wolf.[10]
- 743 BC Summer - Harkon Lukas shames Luther Bedarik by winning the title of Meistersinger of Skald from him.[10]
- 746 BC or shortly thereafter - Mother Fury and her Howling Clan are driven from Verbrek by Alfred Timothy. They end up settling in Kartakass.[22]
- 747 BC - Relations between Kartakass and Invidia become strained with the overthrow of Gabrielle Aderre by her son Malocchio Aderre. Commercee between the two nations continues for now, but the Kartakan view of Invidia becomes anxious.[15]
- 756 BC - "S" tours Kartakass. Jainos serves as a guide for part of the way, but he reveals himself as a wolfwere and attempts to devour her. "S" paralyzes him with a spell and vivisects him.[23]
References
- ↑ Ravenloft Gazetteer Volume I
- ↑ Domains of Dread p.16, 64
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Gazetteer I p.93
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Lights in the Fog, Book of Secrets p.123
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lights in the Fog, Book of Secrets p.124
- ↑ date taken from Ravenloft Gazetteer I p.106- "nearly 60 years ago", meaning nearly 60 years prior to the contemporary time period of Gazetteer I (756 BC))
- ↑ Gazetteer I p. 94, this contradicts the 710s time range for Drakov's attempts to establish trade enclaves. {[Spec|This may have been a typo and was supposed to be 719 BC
- ↑ Gazetteer I] p. 94
- ↑ Lights in the Fog, Book of Secrets p.125
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 Gazetteer I p.95
- ↑ Gazetteer I p. 94, the date is speculation to correct for a likely typo that places this final attempt at creating a trade enclave before all the others.
- ↑ Ravenloft Third Edition p.17
- ↑ Ravenloft Player's Handbook p.19
- ↑ Gazetteer IV p.107
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 Gazetteer I p. 105
- ↑ Gazetteer I p.122
- ↑ Feast of Goblyns p.12-13
- ↑ Feast of Goblyns p.23, 25
- ↑ Feast of Goblyns p. 82
- ↑ Feast of Goblyns p.92
- ↑ Domains of Dread p. 17
- ↑ Gazetteer I p.88; soon after "a decade ago"
- ↑ Gazetteer I p.92
| This page incorporates content from the inactive Mordent Cartographic Society. Used with their express permission. | 
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Data from the Ravenloft Catalogue
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Ravenloft Third Edition |
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Secrets of the Dread Realms - pp7,28,30-33 | |
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Secrets of the Dread Realms - pp8-9 |
