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Demiplane of Dread

2021-06-03T00:49:53Z

2601:203:400:CE90:EC97:9646:1D69:3355: /* Vhage Agency */

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'''The Demiplane of Dread''' is a unique [[Demiplane]] - or, perhaps more accurately, a series of interlinked demiplanes - within the [[Great Wheel]] cosmology of [[Dungeons & Dragons]]. This is the actual "world" in which the campaign setting of [[Ravenloft]] is based, and so the name is often used when trying to describe the "Ravenloft world".

The precise origins of the Demiplane of Dread are lost to history. Its creators are enigmatic beings known only as "The Dark Powers", who maintain and defend their creation with mighty magic and jealous zeal. It's believed they have some kind of mutual non-aggression pact with the various gods of the Great Wheel, but nothing canon is ever defined. It is believed to lie where the [[Ethereal Plane]] meets the [[Plane of Shadow]], but is able to manifest portals absolutely ''everywhere'', even in places normally restricted to planar portals, such as [[Dark Sun|Athas]] or the [[Phlogiston]]. Such portals usually appear as banks of fog or mist, but will adapt themselves to other sight-obscuring phenomena - and are usually one-way. Getting ''in'' is easy, but getting '''out'''? Canonically you won't be able to leave unless the Dark Powers will it, short of using artifact-level items like the dreaded Rift Spanner which just so happens to be the kind of item that could turn you into a [[Darklord]] just from getting it to work properly.

Aaand then came 3.5 which opened a doorway into the [[World Serpent Inn]], breaking the whole point of this prison plane. Here it's a failsafe for DMs when their parties reach their 16th birthday and are sick of Goth. Its doorway on the Demiplane's side of things changes every night. Mind you, even back in AD&D, portals '''out''' of the Demiplane of Dread were explicitly a thing and even listed in major [[splatbook]]s like the Domains of Dread - for example, the Isle of Lament in Lamordia houses one such portal, so you can leave just by going there, if you can sneak past Adam.

==Planar Traits==
The Demiplane of Dread's creators have molded the reality of this world into a new fashion, forcibly imposing the rules of [[Gothic Horror]] on the setting. There are many ways that this molding manifests, but some of the more overt include the following:
* [[Necromancer|Necromancy]] spells are empowered and rendered more dangerous; spells like Animate Dead will call up more creatures than the caster may be able to control, whilst spells that instantly kill their victims usually cause such victims to arise spontaneously as the [[undead]] - and often as ones quite pissed off at their killer. Certain non-necromancy, non-instant-kill spells even have a chance of doing this, such as Disintegrate turning a completely disintegrated victim into an incorporeal undead! Using any necromancy spell provokes a powers check unless it's purely defensive, doesn't affect undead, and doesn't manipulate life force; that list of "safe" spells is quite narrow.
* [[Diviner|Divination]] spells are pretty much worthless; spells that detect moral alignment invariably fail, spells aimed at detecting monstrous species either are unreliable (Detect Undead) or flatly won't work (using True Seeing to look for natural shapechangers), spells that revolve around mental contact risk driving you mad if you accidentally use them on certain inhuman creatures, and in general you can't trust the result of divination spells because the normal awareness of when such a spell has failed doesn't occur in the Demiplane of Dread. Oh, and Scrying type spells create a visible sensory apparatus that can alert your target that you're scrying on them, which can even serve as a conduit for things like gaze attacks. There's a practical reason for this; horrific things aren't quite as scary if you know their true nature too early, and so this element was put in to keep from having the DM tip their hands too soon and ruin the scare.
* [[Conjurer|Conjuration]] allows entities from other planes to be summoned, but they won't be able to return home when the spell expires. Obviously, quite a few of them will be ''very'' upset with their summoner because of this. Even before they figure this out, the binding aspects of conjuration spells are weaker in the Demiplane of Dread, giving summoned creatures a chance to escape its bonds the moment it arrives.
* [[Abjurer|Abjuration]] spells that banish creatures to another plane do not work. Rather, they ''appear'' to work but just toss the target somewhere else within the demiplane.
* [[Illusionist|Illusion]] spells that manipulate shadows are 20% more powerful, but the caster risks losing control of it when the spell ends, releasing a free-willed [[shadow]].
* Spells that directly interfere with the fabric of a Domain, such as manipulating weather, can often attract the attention of the resident [[Darklord]], and who might be able to subvert or negate these same spells if they have related powers.
* Teleportation spells are restricted; each domain is treated like its own separate plane of existence. High-level teleportation spells can overcome this if the border is not closed. Nothing can teleport out of a closed domain or the Demiplane entirely.
* Curses are empowered, and even non-spellcasters can potentially lay deadly or deforming curses on people if their rage or grief is intense enough to catch the notice of the [[Dark Powers]].
* The [[Dark Powers]] are watching everybody and seem to enjoy turning people into monsters that reflect their own evil deeds. When a creature performs some evil act, which range from casting necromantic spells to premeditated murder, the Dark Powers [[Powers Check|might notice]] and start the process. The changes are subtle or even helpful at first, allowing the victim to more easily perform his evil acts, which lures the victim into more evil, gaining more attention and transformation, until he is completely transformed into a monster or even a [[darklord]] of his own domain.
* Intelligent undead, like vampires, can tell if their minds are being read and can choose which thoughts they will project. Depending on the circumstances, this may be a false image passing them off as human or an up-close look at the most evil parts of their minds meant to drive the would-be mind reader insane.
* 5th edition's overhaul of the lore drops most of the above rules but adds some new ones. If you die in the Demiplane of Dread your soul does not move into the afterlife and is trapped there until it is eventually reincarnated. People who are resurrected after being dead for over 24 hour discover this and are traumatized by the experience.
* Also in 5th edition, Darklords can sense when somebody in their domain is trying to cast spells that contact beings on other planes and can make themselves the target of the spell.

==Mapping the Demiplane==
Geo-physically, the Demiplane of Dread consists of various bubbles of reality, ranging in size from a single room to full-fledged countries, all floating in a sea of ephemeral mist; each of these reality bubbles (called "Domains") is typically centered around a [[Darklord]], a villain whose evil caught the eyes of the Dark Powers and so they responded by imprisoning them within the Demiplane. 3rd edition's unpublished [[splatbook]] "[[Van Richten's Guide]] to the Mists" introduced the concept of ''Oubliettes'', which are basically prototype or abandoned Domains that don't contain a Darklord. A Domain may exist on its own (an "Island of Terror") or be physically coterminous with one or more more other domains, forming what is called a "Cluster". The largest and oldest Cluster in the Demiplane is called "The Core", and this is basically Ground Zero for the setting.

Traveling between Domains is a little tricky to describe. If two Domains are coterminous, you can simply walk between them, as if they were normal lands. If you want to get to a Domain that ''isn't'' coterminous, then you have to just walk into the Mists and hope you'll end up where you want to go. Certain spots are known to have what are essentially portals that can link different Domains together, in that traveling from these spots (which may require unique triggers before they kick in) will usually end you up in a specific Domain; known as "Mistways", these portals can be either one way or two way, and vary in reliability (aka, how likely you are to end up at the intended destination instead of fuck-knows-where) from "guaranteed" to "you rolls the dice, you takes your chances".

Traveling between Domains is made more complicated by the fact that most [[Darklord]]s have a power called "Closing the Borders," which causes the borders of their Domain to become enveloped in a barrier of some sort unique to that Darklord that prevents escape in some fashion - some are non-lethal, most will kill you if you try. A rare few can be circumvented by the right esoteric circumstances (for example, [[undead]] or [[construct]]s can safely walk through poisonous borders like that of Barovia, because they're fundamentally immune to poison), but in general this is the ultimate [[Railroading]] tool the DM has to keep you from just saying "fuck this" and leaving the domain.

Precisely why the Dark Powers collect these [[Darklord]]s is unknown, and theories abound; the Demiplane of Dread has been described as a prison, a gathering place for evil, a grand study into the nature of evil, a unique kind of Hell, or even a Purgatory by various fans.

Another great mystery is the nature of its native population. Some Domains were physically taken from their homeworlds, but most are described as "copies" rather than direct abductions of land. This then leaves players wondering: are the locals actually "real", or are they merely soulless simulacra - props in the grand theater of Gothic Horror tales that the Dark Powers are conducting? Nothing concrete has ever been given. This isn't entirely consistent however, with other originals becoming ruins (Like Kalidnay) or vanishing entirely (like Har’Akir).

===The Core===
As mentioned above, this is the "core" of Ravenloft, the sole normal-style continent where the bulk of the game focuses on. Think of it as something akin to the Sword Coast of the [[Forgotten Realms]], or Ansalon in [[Dragonlance]]. The precise layout has changed over Ravenloft's life, usually as a result of [[Advancing the Storyline]] - most prominently, it changed massively after the [[Grand Conjunction]], and then changed a little during both the [[Grim Harvest]] and the shift from 2e to 3e.

The Core is made up of the following Domains.

=====Barovia=====
::Cultural Level: Medieval
::Landscape: Temperate Forests, Hills & Mountains
::Motif: Blatant Dracula Knockoff
::[[Darklord]]: [[Strahd von Zarovich]]

This is the oldest domain in Ravenloft, the literal heart of the Demiplane of Dread. It's ruled by Strahd, and is basically Dracula in D&D. It is also home to the titular [[Castle Ravenloft]], Strahd's humble abode. This domain has been visited in literally ''every single edition'' of D&D after BECMI; even 4th edition, the only edition without an adaptation of I6 to its titles, has the adventure "Fair Barovia" in [[Dungeon Magazine]] #207, which has the party exploring Barovia and completing assorted side-quests.

=====Borca=====
::Cultural Level: Chivalric
::Landscape: Temperate Forests, Hills & Mountains
::Motif: Poisoners, Italy under the Borgia Family
::[[Darklord]]: Ivana Boritsi

Originally, Borca was ruled by the Darklord Camille Boritsi, and was half its present size, sharing borders with the near-identical domain of Dorvini. Ivana poisoned her mother because her mom seduced her boyfriend, and during the Grand Conjunction, her domain and that of her cousin Ivan Dilisnya merged together due to their great similarities.

=====Darkon=====
::Cultural Level: Dark Age to Chivalric
::Landscape: Temperate Forests, Hills, Plains, Mountains & Swamps
::Motif: Generic [[Dark Fantasy]]
::[[Darklord]]: Azalin

Darkon is notable as the most overtly fantastical realm in the Demiplane of Dread, with a relatively huge population of [[demihuman]]s that sees humans going from the usual 90+% population merit to only 75% as well as the greatest amount of local toleration for arcane magic.

If one spends a month in the realm they lose their memories until they leave the domain, thinking they've always been from Darkon. Unfortunately, the new state from having lost memories convinces one to never leave unless forced to.

=====Dementlieu=====
::Cultural Level: Renaissance
::Landscape: Temperate Forests & Plains
::Motif: Renaissance France/Victorian England
::[[Darklord]]: Dominic D'Honaire

Though not as overtly modeled on London as the domain of Paridon, Dementlieu definitely taps into the Gothic Urban Horror motif, as is made clear by the way it is home to myriad mystical mind-manipulators and the character Alanik Ray, who is basically Sherlock Holmes if he was an [[elf]]. It's considered the "cultural heart" of the Core.

=====Falkovnia=====
::Cultural Level: Medieval
::Landscape: Temperate Forests & Plains
::Motif: Military Horror, Fascism, Urban Squalor
::[[Darklord]]: Vlad Drakov

Slap together Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia, paint it up in the most shit-awful and miserable stereotypes of Dark Ages Europe, and have the place be run by a man who melds Hitler with Vlad the Impaler and is so bloodthirsty they'd both be disgusted by him. Falkovnia is outright called the biggest shithole in the Demiplane of Dread.

=====Forlorn=====
::Cultural Level: Iron Age
::Landscape: Temperate Forests, Hills & Plains
::Motif: Dreary Scotland with a dash of Brak Man Morn
::[[Darklord]]: Tristen ApBlanc

A vaguely Scottish Celtic themed domain that nobody gives a shit about because there's nothing in it but killer plants, giant bugs, and [[goblyn]]s. 3e tried to fix this by adding a small population of native humans, but the overall domain is still a monster-infested backwoods, so nobody fucking cares. As for its resident asshole, ApBlanc is a [[vampyre]] by day, and a ghost by night, proving once and for all that the Dark Powers do, indeed, have a sense of humor.

=====Hazlan=====
::Cultural Level: Medieval
::Landscape: Temperate Hills, Mountains & Plains
::Motif: Dark Fantasy meets Yellow Peril
::[[Darklord]]: Hazlik

Essentially a tiny sliver of [[Thay]] transplanted into the Demiplane of Dread, where a tiny minutia (the Mulan ethnicity) rules over and brutally represses a far vaster majority (the Rashemani). One of only two places so absolutely shit that [[The Lawgiver]] is actually worshipped here.

=====Invidia=====
::Cultural Level: Chivalric
::Landscape: Temperate Forests & Hills
::Motif: Lethally Impulsive Stupidity
::[[Darklord]]: Gabrielle Aderre

A land of passionate, hot-blooded and constantly feuding individuals, including mercenary armies, ogres, giants, and wolfweres. The [[Vistani]] are executed on sight here, and as such, its hunter-mercenaries are on the collective shit-list of both Strahd von Zerovich and Ivan Dilisnya.

=====Kartakass=====
::Cultural Level: Medieval
::Landscape: Temperate Forests & Hills
::Motif: Wolves in Sheep's Clothing
::[[Darklord]]: Meistersinger Harkon Lukas

A rural backwoods inhabited by proud, cocky, music-loving foresters who are quite happy with the way things are, thank you. They are totally oblivious to the population of [[wolfwere]]s hiding amongst them.

=====Keening=====
::Cultural Level: None (formerly Chivalric)
::Landscape: Temperate Mountains (Bleached of Life)
::Motif: Endless Grief
::[[Darklord]]: Tristessa the Banshee

A cursed and forsaken realm, with a population consisting solely of its mad, grief-stricken [[banshee]] [[darklord]], her court of half-insane [[undead]] [[fey]], and a village of [[skeleton]]s that constantly mime out the actions of their last day.

=====Lamordia=====
::Cultural Level: Renaissance
::Landscape: Temperate Forests, Hills & Plains
::Motif: Mad Science ala Frankenstein
::[[Darklord]]: Dr. Mordenheim & Adam

A stuffy, tempest-lashed domain that prides itself on its scientific acumen and its staunch rationalistic beliefs, totally denying the fantastical nature of the world around them.

=====Mordent=====
::Cultural Level: Renaissance
::Landscape: Temperate Forests, Plains & Swamps
::Motif: Ghost-Haunted Rural Britain/Scotland
::[[Darklord]]: Lord Wilfred Godefroy

It's basically the setting for every ghost-related Gothic Horror novel ever written. High concentration of both incorporeal undead and mist creatures in a land dotted by small villages sheltering the living. Is also full of ancient ruined manors, decaying coats of arms and dying or dead noble families, furthering that neo-Britain impression by casting it as the decaying remnants of a once-mighty civilization. The false history implies they share a mutual background with Borca, perhaps having originated from the same nameless fantasy world.

=====Necropolis=====
::Cultural Level: Iron Age
::Landscape: Temperate Settled Area
::Motif: City of the Dead
::[[Darklord]]: Death

Once a bustling metropolis in Darkon called Il Aluk, the place was destroyed and turned into a city of sapient undead creatures protected behind a mystical veil that kills and reanimates any living humanoids that enter. This was caused by Azalin achieving an epic-level fuck up with his magic. Generally considered the worst domain in the Core because you can't go in there without being transformed into an [[undead]], which in AD&D came with associated rules that, in the grand tradition of [[Ravenloft]], utterly fucked you over pretty much from the get-go. Its Darklord, "Death", is an uber-powerful ghost with hyper-lethal abilities that was created from a clone of Azalin and which has gone absolutely insane, believing itself to be the literal spirit of death.

=====Nova Vaasa=====
::Cultural Level: Medieval
::Landscape: Temperate Forests, Hills & Plains
::Motif: Russia under Peter the Great
::[[Darklord]]: Sir Tristen Hiregaard/Malken

A horse-filled steppeland dominated by sweeping grassy plains and crushing urban poverty and squalor, presided over by a mixture of corrupt aristocrats and Lawful Good types who view "law" as more important than "good". This is the ''other'' domain shitty enough to have [[The Lawgiver]] as the state religion, and is such a hellhole that ''Barovians'' look down on its people as backward hicks.

=====Richemulot=====
::Cultural Level: Chivalric
::Landscape: Temperate Forests, Hills & Plains
::Motif: Wererat Land
::[[Darklord]]: Jacqueline Renier

A pseudo-French domain distinguished mostly by being the largest breeding ground of wererats in the entire demiplane. The name is literally French for "Rich Mouse", which pretty much gives the game away from the start if you know the language..

=====The Shadow Rift=====
::Cultural Level: Unknowable
::Landscape: Eternally Dark Mysical
::Motif: Dark Faerie Tales
::[[Darklord]]: Gwydion the Shadow Fiend

This is the homeland of the [[Shadow Fey]], and as such no mortals know anything about the place. The court is found at the bottom of a chasm filled with mist, protecting it from the sun, as well as erasing anything stupid enough to try penetrating so deeply into said-mist. In classic Faerie fashion, time works differently here, with a fortnight outside equaling a year ''inside.''

=====Sithicus=====
::Cultural Level: Medieval
::Landscape: Temperate Forests & Hills
::Motif: Declining [[Elf]] Kingdom
::[[Darklord]]: Inza Kulchevitch

The only domain in the Core that has a [[demihuman]] majority population, this was formerly the domain of [[Lord Soth]], and is thus loosely based on the [[Dragonlance]] setting. May or may not contain vampire [[kender]].

=====Tepest=====
::Cultural Level: Early Medieval
::Landscape: Temperate Forests & Hills
::Motif: Grim Faerie Tales Europe meets Salem Witch Trials
::[[Darklord]]: The Sisters Mindefisk

Hands down one of the most primitive and worthless backwaters in the Core, Tepest's trio of [[hag]] [[darklord]]s are practically non-entities in their own land, with the focus instead being on how the ignorant superstitious peasantry are falling increasingly under the sway of a self-righteous inquisition of self-proclaimed [[fey]]-hunters and [[witch]]-burners. The sisters ''do'' fan the flames of said-group so they can harvest the bodies of anyone condemned, but mostly stick to hiding in their cottage.

=====Valachan=====
::Cultural Level: Medieval
::Landscape: Temperate Forests & Hills
::Motif: African Savages
::[[Darklord]]: Baron Urik von Kharkov

A rugged wilderness inhabited by dusky-skinned foresters who take pride in their absolute ignorance when it comes to book-learning or anything not related to the practicalities of forest-work, to the point they even look down upon their own priests. Befittingly, this leaves them too ignorant to realize they are being eaten alive by a hidden population of [[nosferatu]] and [[werepanther]]s.

=====Verbrek=====
::Cultural Level: Medieval
::Landscape: Temperate Forests, Hills & Swamps
::Motif: Werewolf Country
::[[Darklord]]: Alfred Timothy

The obligatory [[werewolf]] domain, to contrast the Dracula and Frankenstein ones. Everybody here knows the wilderness (as embodied by the werewolves) is at their door, and live accordingly.

===The Seas===
The Core is surrounded by two seas; the Nocturnal Sea and the Sea of Sorrows, which are technically their own unique Clusters that just so happen to adjoin the Core. Because of this, they're put in their own specific sections.

====The Sea of Sorrows====
::[[Darklord]]: Captain Pieter van Riese

This is the Western Sea of the Core, a cold, stormy, mist- (and Mist-)haunted expanse of water populated by various islands, representing the scattered domains of lesser Darklords. Its own "true" Darklord is Captain Pieter van Riese; a [[ghost]] based on the legendary Flying Dutchman who has perhaps the greatest freedom of any Darklord in Ravenloft - he can even leave his ship to go on land and enter other domains! This is because his curse is to ''never'' be able to find his own way, but instead to only be able to take others to where they want to go.

=====Carcharodon Isle=====
::Cultural Level: Chivalric
::Landscape: Temperate Hills
::Motif: <s>Ladyhawke</s> Parted Lovers
::[[Darklord]]: Alison Marjory and Sean Mako

An island cursed with two darklords; a fisherman turned [[wereshark]] and a [[merfolk|mermaid]]-turned-human turned [[seawolf]], whose curses prevent them from ever meeting in their human forms. Netbook canon domain from the Book of Souls.

=====Markovia=====
::Cultural Level: Stone Age
::Landscape: Warm Forests, Hills & Mountains
::Motif: The Island of Dr. Moreau
::[[Darklord]]: Dr. Markov

It's literally just the Island of Dr Moreau in D&D. That's it. Originally part of the Core, but was moved out to the Sea of Sorrows as a result of the [[Grand Conjunction]]. Nothing here except the [[Darklord]], his [[Broken One]] minions, and a small temple of priests dedicated to guarding a powerful evil artifact that would be of great interest to the Darklord.

=====Blaustein=====
::Cultural Level: Early Medieval
::Landscape:
::Motif:
::[[Darklord]]: Bluebeard

A small island consisting of a castle and a single village, whose population are fanatically loyal to the blue-bearded master of the castle above.

=====Demise=====
::Cultural Level: Stone Age
::Landscape:
::Motif:
::[[Darklord]]: Althea

A rocky island made from a mostly cooled volcano, this is basically a glorified dungeon that serves as the prison of the [[medusa]] Althea. Fans have tried to expand this by adding the ghost of her murdered [[maedar]] husband (arguably a much better candidate for the darklord) and her maedar son, who hates both of his crazy parents and wants off this godsforsaken rock.

=====Dominia=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif: Insanity and Institutional Abuse
::[[Darklord]]: Dr. Daclaud Heinfroth

A small island that houses the most famous (if not only) insane asylum in all of the Core. A pity it's actually a nest of cerebral vampires, ruled over a crazed psychiatrist determined to push the studies of inflicting madness and terror to their absolute limit.

=====Ghastria=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif:
::[[Darklord]]: Stezen D'Polarno

A surprisingly grim and colorless place which grows abundant food that, mysteriously, holds no taste when consumed.

====The Nocturnal Sea====
::[[Darklord]]: Meredoth

The cold and dismal Eastern Sea of the Core, which only emerged from the Mists after the events of the [[Grand Conjunction]], ruled over by Meredoth, an epic-level [[Necromancer]] from Glantri in [[Mystara]]. Although strongly associated with ''Graben Island'', which is where "his" people live, Meredoth can actually travel the Sea at will, and in fact lairs himself on the wintery isle of ''Todstein''. Like the Sea of Sorrows, there are plenty of other domains scattered around the Nocturnal Sea ruled over by their own lords.

=====Isle of the Ravens=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif:
::[[Darklord]]: The Lady of Ravens

A deserted island home only to its darklord, an insane but powerful sorceress from a [[Gormentghast]]ian family, and her legions of raven and [[fey]] servants. Whilst it was first mentioned in official media, appearing in brief summary in the writeup of the Nocturnal Sea in the Domains of Dread revised campaign setting, it was fans who fleshed it out; the Isle of the Ravens first received a writeup in the [[Books of S|Book of Sacrifices]], before later being revisited in [[Quoth the Raven]] #13.

=====L'ile de la Tempete=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif:
::[[Darklord]]: Captain Alain Monette

A rocky and treacherous island whose lighthouse serves only to lure sailors to their doom upon its shores.

=====Liffe=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif:
::[[Darklord]]: Baron Evensong or Assorted Demilords

A surprisingly large and fertile island, with one of the biggest and most welcoming populations of any island-domains in the Nocturnal Sea. Originally ruled by Baron Evensong, although the fanmade Nocturnal Sea Gazetteer downgraded him to one of a cluster of different super-minor darklords.

=====Locknar Cove=====
::Cultural Level: Renaissance
::Landscape: Cold, eroded hills and thick, old growth forest
::Motif:
::[[Darklord]]:

A quiet, humble island of fisherfolk that lies off the combined shorelines of Darkon and Nova Vassa, close to the isle of Liffe. Hidden at its core like a toad in a stone, the ghost of an avaricious pirate who valued wealth beyond his own life guards a vast treasure hoard. Netbook canon domain from the Book of Sacrifices.

===The Clusters===
====The Amber Wastes====
::Motif: Dark Fantasy [[Egypt]]

It's Gothic Horror Egypt in D&D. What more is there to say? Its constituent domains are ''Har'Akir'', ''Sebua'', and ''Pharazia''.

=====Har'Akir=====
::Cultural Level: Bronze Age
::Landscape: Desert and Badlands
::Motif: Mummy Horror Movies
::[[Darklord]]: Anhtepot

''Har'Akir'' is a tiny little village of Egyptian peasants who live next to a tomb housing the [[darklord]] Ankhtepot, a pharaoh who blasphemed against the gods and was condemned to both eternity as a [[mummy]] and to be trapped in obscurity with only a single village of humble peasants to "lord over".

=====Sebua=====
::Cultural Level: Bronze Age Darklord, Stone Age natives
::Landscape: Desert Wasteland
::Motif: Mummy Horror meets Ghost Horror
::[[Darklord]]: Tiyet

''Sebua'' consists of an abandoned Egyptian manor next to an oasis haunted by both a tribe of feral children, who inhabit the nearby ruins of a fallen city, and the [[darklord]] Tiyet, a unique female [[mummy]] who appears as a gorgeous woman... save for her insatiable hunger for human hearts.

=====Pharazia=====
::Cultural Level: Early Medieval
::Landscape: Deserts, Oases, Rivers
::Motif: Arabian Nights Horror meets Religious Fundamentalism
::[[Darklord]]: Diamabel
''Pharazia'' is a pseudo-Arabian city-state ruled over by its [[darklord]] Diamabel; a moralistic fanatic who led a campaign of genocidal terror in life, when felled by an arrow he arose as the shining [[angel]] he always wanted to become... only to find he transformed into a hideous [[undead]] version of himself at night.

====The Burning Peaks====
::Motif: [[Dark Fantasy]]

A two-domain cluster made up of ''Cavitus'', the realm of [[Vecna]], and ''Tovag'', the realm of [[Kas]].

=====Cavitus=====
::Cultural Level: Medieval
::Landscape: Negative Energy-Infused Wasteland
::Motif: Cartoonish [[Necromancer]]-Ruled Hellhole
::[[Darklord]]: [[Vecna]]

=====Tovag=====
::Cultural Level: Medieval
::Landscape: Mountains, Scrub Pine Forests
::Motif: [[Vampire]]s, War Horror
::[[Darklord]]: [[Kas]]

====The Frozen Reaches====
::Motif: Dark Fantasy Russia

It's basically the frozen wintery hell that everybody imagines that Russia is transplanted into D&D. Its constituent domains are ''Sanguinia'' and ''Vorostokov'',

=====Sanguina=====
::Cultural Level: Early Medieval
::Landscape:
::Motif:
::[[Darklord]]: Prince Ladislav Mircea

Sanguina is an Early Medieval Russian kingdom ruled over by Prince Ladislav Mircea, a self-centered [[alchemist]] who accidentally transformed himself into a [[mutant]] [[vampire]], possibly a [[Vrykolaka]], that feeds on the Four Humours (blood, phlegm, black bile, yellow bile) in an effort to save himself from a deadly plague.

=====Vorostokov=====
::Cultural Level: Dark Ages
::Landscape:
::Motif:
::[[Darklord]]: Boyar Gregor Zolnik

Vorostokov is a frigid Dark Ages wasteland of villages and forests trapped in a perpetual winter, ruled over by the [[Loup du Noir]] Boyar Gregor Zolnik.

====The Shadowlands====
::Motif: Medieval Dark Fantasy

Intimately tied to a single world, the Shadowlands are made up of three domains that all tie to one long story of corruption; ''Avonleigh'', ''Nidala'', and ''Shadowborn Manor''.

=====Avonleigh=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif:
::[[Darklord]]: Morgoroth the Black

Avonleigh is a monster-haunted forest ruled over by the [[darklord]] Morgoroth the Black, a [[planeswalker]] [[wizard]] who traveled to the homeland of the three domains and ended up destroying the not!Arthurian court there through accident. He is now trapped as a ephemeral shade unless the enchanted mirror that trapped him in this state is reassembled in his former mansion home.

=====Shadowborn Manor=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif:
::[[Darklord]]: Ebonbane

Shadowborn Manor is a manor other than Morgoroth's that is the resting place of Ebonbane, a raging fiend trapped in a sword, which is itself trapped in a crystal sarcophagus. Ebonbane is so dangerous that Morgoroth actually uses his magic to assist in keeping the damn thing locked up.

=====Nidala=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif:
::[[Darklord]]: Elena Faith-Hold

Nidala is the only actually populated domain, and is ruled over by the self-righteous fanatical fallen [[paladin]] Elena Faith-Hold.

====The Verduous Lands====
::Motif: Tropical Dark Fantasy

The hot and humid hellholes, full of deadly predators and equally deadly plants. For some reason the moon is never seen here.

=====Saragoss=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif:
::[[Darklord]]: Draga Saltbiter

Saragoss is an oceanic domain; a vast entangling sargassum patch full of wrecked ships crawling with [[ghoul]]s and cannibal [[pirate]]s above and [[sahuagin]] and [[shark]]s below, with a self-loathing [[wereshark]] [[pirate]] and [[cleric]] of [[Umberlee]] for a [[darklord]].

=====The Wildlands=====
::Cultural Level: Dark Ages
::Landscape: Tropical Jungles and Swamps
::Motif: Twisted Animal Fables
::[[Darklord]]: King Crocodile

The Wildlands are basically [[grimdark]] Jungle Book; a tropical jungle full of asshole talking animals ruled over by the monstrous King Crocodile.

=====Sri Raji=====
::Cultural Level: Classical
::Landscape: Rain forests, hills, and mountains
::Motif: Dark Fantasy India / Sri Lanka
::[[Darklord]]: Maharaja Arijani

''Formerly'' an Island of Terror, Sri Raji is a domain in the Verduous Lands cluster ruled by the [[Rakshasa]] Maharaja Arijani. The Verduous Lands cluster does not have a moon with potentially interesting consequences for lycanthropes having some part of the lunar cycle as their trigger condition. Equally, there should be no tides. Most of the human inhabitants of Sri Raji congregate in three cities, each located surprisingly close to the domain border. A fourth city, Mahakala, is less populated and commonly referred to as "accursed". It's basically Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, but with more [[rakshasa]]s, [[beastfolk]] and giant insects.

====Zherisia====
::Motif: Urban Dark Fantasy

Differentiating itself from other clusters, Zherisia is composed of the city domain of ''Paridon'' and ''Timor'', a former Island of Terror now transformed into the sewers underneath Paridon.

=====Paridon=====
::Cultural Level: Renaissance
::Landscape: Urban
::Motif: Gothic-Era Urban Horror
::[[Darklord]]:Sodo

Paridon is a sprawling London-esque city infested with a uniquely powerful strain of [[doppelganger]]s, whose [[darklord]] is a many-cursed psychotic doppelganger named Sodo.

=====Timor=====
::Cultural Level: Stone Age
::Landscape: Underground Tunnels
::Motif: Monsters From Below
::[[Darklord]]: The Marikith Queen

Timor is a dripping hive of tunnels infested by xenomorph expies called Marikith.

====Republica de Neuva Aragona====
::Cultural Level: Renaissance
::Landscape: Tropical Jungle Islands

A two-domain cluster made up of neighboring isles in a tropical ocean known to its inhabitants as Mar de Lagrimas (the Sea of Tears), both themed after the Spanish colonies of South America. Unusually, the two domains are historically linked; both were connected to the same history involving the "native" colonists rising up against the rule of the motherland of Aragona and fighting for their indepence, which led to the two primary land-masses - the island of '''Resistencia''' and the mainland of '''Maconda''' each gaining a [[Darklord]] out of that initial struggle. It appears in the 2001 issue of the [[Undead Sea Scrolls]].

=====Resistencia=====
Resistencia is haunted by the [[ghost]] of Don Santiago de Quijada y Alvarez, the leader of the failed army sent by the motherland to quash the independence revolution.

=====Maconda=====
Maconda, on the other hand, is led openly and in darkness by the man who led the independence revolution: the [[wereananconda]] President-General Martin Jose Maconda.

====Colonies of the Holy Empire====
An unusual [[netbook]] cluster in that it's not technically presented ''as'' a cluster. The Colonies of the Holy Empire are a collective of domains that all draw from the same homeworld, a pastiche of Central/South America and its invasion by the Spanish Conquistadors, which appeared in the [[Books of S]] [[netbook]]s. Despite this shared origin, they are not presented as being geographically linked in the usual way of a cluster. ''Mictlan'' appeared in the Book of Shadows, whilst ''Igid Rabi-i'' and ''Cumbre de Oro'' both appeared in the Book of Sacrifices.

=====Mictlan=====
::Cultural Level: Classical
::Landscape: Tropical Jungle
::[[Darklord]]: Commander Hernando Mouriros

A pastiche of the [[Aztec]] empire, the invasion of an army from a mysterious Chivalric realm has destabilize the realm and caused it to begin falling apart into civil war. And all the while, the invaders, cursed to never die unless they can conquer all of Mictlan, press on desperately in an attempt to end their long and bloody campaign.

=====Igid Rabi-i=====
::Cultural Level: Chivalric, Classical or Dark Ages, depending on region
::[[Darklord]]: Arcapatos Miguel Agustin

A deeply spiritual domain wracked with internal conflict, for its leader is a priest who cares nothing for the realm, and everything for chasing a "holy relic" that evades his every attempt to grasp it.

=====Cumbre de Oro=====
::Cultural Level: Savage (Iron Age ruins, Medieval Avaricios)
::[[Darklord]]: Anibal Coronado

A cursed city of vast riches, a pastiche of El Dorado, haunted by the undead remnants of an explorer's party that gave their lives to find those riches and still refused to stop searching for wealth. This domain is actually a part of the larger Mictlan domain.

===The Islands of Terror===
=====Arlington Farm=====
::Cultural Level: Renaissance decayed to Dark Ages
::Landscape: Single large wheat & corn farm
::Motif: Killer Scarecrows
::[[Darklord]]: Henry Arlington

The cursed farm of a farmer so obsessed with the success of his land that he not only killed to acquire it, but he began performing blood rites to ensure its success, murdering people and hiding their bodies in his scarecrows. Eventually, his cursed creations turned on him and turned him into one of them. This netbook canon domain debuted in the 2001 issue of the [[Undead Sea Scrolls]].

=====Bluetspur=====
::Cultural Level: Dark Age
::Landscape: Temperate hills, plains, and mountains
::Motif: [[Yog-Sothothery]]
::[[Darklord]]: The [[Illithid]] God-Brain

Meaning "Blood Trail" in German, it's a desolate wasteland with nightly, violent electrical storms on the surface. Beneath the surface lie the maddening and sprawling cities of illithids and their tortured and experimented slaves. This is also the home of the infamous Vampiric Mind Flayers, a creature that is technically indestructible in AD&D.

=====Callista=====
::Cultural Level: Renaissance
::Landscape: Flooded Islets
::Motif: Gothic Vienna
::[[Darklord]]: Rafe Ungard

A once large island that has been reduced to tiny islets by intense flooding, peopled with a passionately chivalric (in the sense of "women are sacred and must be protected") people who claim to be the ''true'' [[Vistani]], ignorant of the fact that they are actually the cursed reincarnations of the true Vistani seen elsewhere in the Misty Realms. Because only 20% of their children are girls, they are overwhelmingly, patronizingly chivalric, and will sooner die than hurt women. The realm is also home to a large population of [[Paka]], who believe it to be a defiled holy site and hate the Callistans passionately. This netbook canon domain can be found in the [[Undead Sea Scrolls]] 2002.

=====Davion=====
::Cultural Level: Medieval
::Landscape: Shifts
::Motif: Dueling Psyches
::[[Darklord]]: Davion the Mad

A twisting realm that was created when a miscast Wish spell merged the mindscapes of the wizard Davion and his three hirelings - the male [[mage]] Ausgustus, the male [[fighter]] Boromar, and the female [[cleric]] of [[Loviatar]] Narana - into a single unit, leaving them struggling for dominion.

=====The Eternal Torture=====
::Cultural Level: Renaissance
::Landscape: Decaying Sailing Ship
::Motif: [[Ghoul]] Ship
::[[Darklord]]: Miles Havelocke

The cursed ship of Miles Havelocke, a mutineer who led his crew to commit cannibalism upon the loyal members of the crew. Now a crew of [[ghast]]s, they endlessly search for land, attacking and feeding upon any unlucky ships they encounter as their passage leads them to the Nocturnal Sea, the Sea of Sorrows, and the oceans off all other domains, but never to the land they desperately wish to reach. This netbook canon domain debuted in the 2001 issue of the [[Undead Sea Scrolls]].

=====Farelle=====
::Cultural Level: Renaissance
::Landscape: Temperate Woodlands
::Motif: Acceptance of Self
::[[Darklord]]: Jark Karn, The Jackal Who Would Not Be A Coward

An island splinter of the Wildlands, inhabited by a burgeoning population who are genuinely warm, welcoming and thriving. A pity that this is the manifestation of the darklord's curse. Netbook canon domain from the Book of Sacrifices.

=====G'Henna=====
::Cultural Level: Classical
::Landscape: Cold and temperate hills, plains, mountains, and deserts
::Motif: Corrupt [[Theocracy]]
::[[Darklord]]: Yagno Petrovna

Here a starving population works the fields to produce food to be sacrificed for the god [[Zhakata]]. Unfortunately the god doesn't exist and priests of the god eat the offerings, while the farmers starve themselves waiting for a god that will never come.

=====The House of Lament=====
::Cultural Level: Chivalric
::Landscape: Mansion
::Motif: Haunted/Evil House
::[[Darklord]]: The House Itself

The House of Lament is a cursed structure that is simultaneous domain and darklord; a haunted structure that demands the sacrifice of human souls in an effort to quell its inescapable loneliness.

=====I'Cath=====
::Cultural Level: Classical
::Landscape: Temperate Forest
::Motif: [[Oriental Adventures|Chinese Ghost Stories]]
::[[Darklord]]: Tsien Chiang

A tiny Island of Terror inhabited only by its Darklord and her four daughters - the three evil daughters Hate, Spite and Scream, all of whom are variant Con-tinh (evil spirit women), and the benevolent, tormented good daughter Nightingale. Her domain is similar to Forlorn in that it's basically a glorified dungeon, with literally nothing to do except show up and defeat the Darklord or die trying, except it's [[Oriental Adventures|Chinese]], not Scottish. Tsien Chiang is a misandrist [[necromancer]] from [[Kara-tur]], based on an ''incredibly'' minor character from the [[Forgotten Realms]] lore. She can also transform into an evil [[Treant]].

=====Immerabt=====
::Cultural Level: Late Renaissance
::Landscape: Temperate & Cold Plains, Mountains and Aquatic
::Motif: When Death Becomes Relief
::[[Darklord]]: Dr. Dorothy Hemphyll

An incredibly advanced domain whose scientific prowess can challenge that of Lamordia's, especially in medical sciences. It bulges with life to the point of being overrun with it, and yet death is a mercy that all too few can find, especially under the watchful eye of the Healer's Guild. This netbook canon domain can be found in the [[Undead Sea Scrolls]] 2002.

=====Incitatus=====
::Cultural Level: Classical reduced to Stone Age
::Landscape: Desolate, Lifeless City and rural surroundings
::Motif: Scientific Hubris Brings Apocalypse
::[[Darklord]]: Ahasveros

The lifeless remains of what was once a great scientific civilization, one that destroyed itself attempting to harness the power of the sea to annihilate an enemy nation with an artificially created tidal wave. Now, all that remains is the reclusive ghostly remains of the scientist who created that tidal wave, and destroyed his own people with it. This netbook canon domain can be found in the [[Undead Sea Scrolls]] 2002.

=====Kalidnay=====
::Cultural Level: Classical
::Landscape: Desert
::Motif: [[Dark Sun|Athas]]
::[[Darklord]]: Thakok-An

The city and lands surrounding Kalidnay in Athas, which are nothing but ruins within [[Dark Sun]]'s setting proper. Its inhabitants actually prefer the Demiplane of Dread to actually living in Athas. Just let that sink in.

=====Karss=====
::Cultural Level: Chivalric
::Landscape: Massive Prison in the middle of nowhere
::Motif:
::[[Darklord]]: Warden Jonar Tamh

Formerly the Great Prison of the [[Harmonium]], an experiment in reformation-focused incarceration launched by the Hardheads on the faction's homeworld of Ortho, the warden's descent into cruelty and draconian punishments in defiance of the experiment's focus led to its being ripped from Ortho and stranded in the Mists. This netbook canon domain debuted in the 2001 issue of the [[Undead Sea Scrolls]].

=====Kislova=====
::Cultural Level: Medieval
::Landscape: Mountainous Grasslands
::Motif: Futility of Power Behind the Throne
::[[Darklord]]: Baroness Ilsabet Obour

A domain adapted from the Ravenloft novel "Baroness of Blood", ruled over by a malevolent [[alchemist]] turned pain-eating monster. Netbook canon domain from the Book of Souls.

=====The Lost Wizard's Tower=====
::Cultural Level: Savage, vestiges of Renaissance
::Landscape: Temperate Forest & Hills
::Motif: Obsessive Love
::[[Darklord]]: [[Jinx]]

Once, there was a cat; a [[familiar]] to a powerful [[alchemist]] and [[transmuter]] named Margaret Landsdale. Then she grew overbold with her experiments and tested a formula on her familiar in order to enhance his intelligence. It worked all too well; now, Jinx could think as well as any human... and get jealous. That jealousy led to her death, and now it leads to the death of any arcane spellcaster whom Jinx tries to take as her replacement. This netbook canon domain can be found in the [[Undead Sea Scrolls]] 2002.

=====Miseria=====
::Cultural Level: Chivalric
::Landscape: Temperate hills, forests, caves
::Motif: Ghostly Hauntings
::[[Darklord]]: Cassandre Desesprits

A rugged and inhospitable land whose people struggle to survive and put food on the tables, all whilst dealing with the vast legions of ghosts that haunt the realm. And nobody suspects that a humble barmaid with a heart full of spite and selfishness is the ultimate cause for their damnation. This netbook canon domain debuted in the 2001 issue of the [[Undead Sea Scrolls]].

=====The Nightmare Lands=====
::Cultural Level: None
::Landscape: Ever-Changing
::Motif: Nightmares
::[[Darklord]]: The Nightmare Man and his Nightmare Court

A strange realm that exists halfway between the Demiplane of Dread and the [[Plane of Dreams]], ruled over by Darklord-like figures who live to visit mortals with nightmares and ultimately draw them into complete insanity.

=====The Northlands=====
::Cultural Level: Chivalric declined to Medieval, Early Medieval declined to Dark Ages
::Landscape: Temperate forests, hills, mountains, plains, swamps
::Motif: [[Vikings]]
::[[Darklord]]: Jarl Gravstein Hansen

A land patterned after the ancient Norse lands, where one Jarl's selfishness is causing the decline of everything his people had worked for. This netbook canon domain debuted in the [[Undead Sea Scrolls]] 2002, and was revisited in its 2003 issue.

=====Nosos=====
::Cultural Level: Renaissance
::Landscape: Polluted Hellscape
::Motif: Rampant Pollution, Capitalism Gone Wrong
::[[Darklord]]: Malus Sceleris

A hellish polluted pit of a domain, where disease runs rampant amidst mountains of filth and sewerage in a sky clouded with fumes, smoke and gas.

=====Nzari=====
::Cultural Level: Stone Age, Renaissance in Mr. Klein's camp
::Landscape: Tropical Rainforest
::Motif: Darkest Africa
::[[Darklord]]: Gatwe and Mr. Klein.

A domain inspired by the Darkest Africa tropes in general and the novel Heart of Darkness in particular. A land of cannibalistic natives, jungle monsters, and a brutal overlord who thinks of himself as the civilizing force, begging the question: "who is the real savage?" This netbook canon domain can be found in the [[Undead Sea Scrolls]] 2003.

=====Odiare=====
::Cultural Level: Medieval
::Landscape: Temperate settled area
::Motif: Twisted Pinocchio
::[[Darklord]]: Maligno

Island from [[Masque of the Red Death|Gothic Earth's]] Italy, populated by children and the [[carrionette]]s who killed the adults that used to live here. Naturally, all the kiddos are quite concerned about what'll happen when they're old enough to be labeled an adult.

=====Olympus=====
::Cultural Level: Classical
::Landscape: Temeprate Forest & Hills, Cold Mountains, Warm Aquatic
::Motif: Greek Mythology
::[[Darklord]]: Hercules

A pastiche of mythological Greece, ruled over by a pantheon of Living Gods - fallen heroes who have taken the identities of the Greek Deities as their own. And the once shining hope against those cruel, petty deities is in fact the worst of them all. This netbook canon domain can be found in the [[Undead Sea Scrolls]] 2002.

=====The Raging Tears=====
::Cultural Level: Medieval
::Landscape: Single Rotting Ship
::Motif: Ghost Ship
::[[Darklord]]: Urdogen "The Red"

The cursed vessel of a long-forgotten pirate from [[Forgotten Realms|Faerun]], whose restless soul is condemned to wander the seas forever and never attain the power he once knew as the feared pirate king of the Inner Sea of Faerun. Whilst the ghost ship can be found in any sea in the Demiplane, or even sometimes beyond, its physical remains lie in the Sea of Sorrows, and must be found if one would put Urdogen to his long-cheated fate. Netbook canon domain from the Book of Sorrows.

=====Rokushima Táiyoo=====
::Cultural Level: Dark Ages
::Landscape: Archipelago with forests, hills, and mountains
::Motif: Dark Fantasy Japan
::[[Darklord]]: Haki Shinpi

Four islands surrounded by a poisonous salt water ocean. Each island's ruler hates the others, whilst the Darklord (their father) is forced to watch as they tear apart his dreams of unity and peace. It's also the home of the [[Akikage]] (ghost ninjas), [[Hebi-no-Onna]]s (snake women), and [[Kizoku]] (vampiric womanizers). Despite a Dark Ages cultural level, it's interested in the gunpowder weapons of Dementlieu and Darkon. Fun fact: the ''Anesthesia'' spell is popular here, as its use allows the dying to face death with a clear mind, and thus die with honor.

Strangely, the capitals of the four warring brothers have the Japanese names of various real world countries: Beikoku (米国, United States of America), Eikoku (英国, England), Chuugoka (corruption of 中国, China), and Roshiya (Literally just Russia said funny). As long as it sounds Japanese! Sadly, that's more than can be said for the Dark Lord's name...

=====Romagna=====
::Cultural Level: Chivalric
::Landscape: Mild Plains and Forests
::Motif: Eternal Love
::[[Darklord]]: Serenissa D'Aubliet

A peaceful and gentle agricultural domain that seems free of the darkness of other, grimmer realms. But its shadows still linger, in the form of a spectral darklord who, whilst powerless to affect the natives, has no such restrictions against preying on visitors. Netbook canon domain from the Book of Sorrows.

=====Saarkaath=====
::Cultural Level: Medieval
::Landscape: Temperate Mountains, Forest
::Motif: Blood Purity
::[[Darklord]]: Hakaan na Uruk

A realm of [[half-orc]]s turned inwards into a brutal and pointless butchery, where the inhabitants try to claim "purity" of either [[human]] or [[orc]]ish heritage despite all being mixed race. Netbook canon domain from the Book of Sacrifices.

=====San Bartolome=====
::Cultural Level: Middle Ages
::Landscape: Warm, Rugged, Mountainous
::Motif:
::[[Darklord]]: Isabel de Sargas

A theocratic tropical paradise that is obsessed with the need to attain spiritual purification through righteous behavior and serial reincarnation. Netbook canon domain from the Book of Sacrifices.

=====Scaena=====
::Cultural Level: Renaissance
::Landscape: The inside of a theater
::Motif: Mad Artistry
::[[Darklord]]: Lemot Sediam Juste

The personal theatre of Lemot Sediam Juste, who went insane and murdered his entire cast of actors, then burned down the theatre with himself in it, all because he couldn't accept that he was only good at writing comedies and he was a fucking terrible author of tragedies. Now it wanders the Misty Realms, luring in victims to serve as cast and audience alike, all ultimately to meet destruction.

=====Seradan=====
::Cultural Level: Chivalric
::Landscape: Temeprate Forests, Hills
::Motif: [[Stupid Nuetral]]
::[[Darklord]]: Geren Horstadt

A domain from which all of the metaphorical life has been sapped; a dull and colorless place of dull and colorless people, its inhabitants almostly aggressively average, sluggish and dreamy in their actions. All the better to torment its darklord. Netbook canon domain from the Book of Secrets.

=====Souragne=====
::Cultural Level: Chivalric
::Landscape: Tropical Swamps
::Motif: Southern Gothic
::[[Darklord]]: Anton Misroi

It's basically the Ravenloft version of the Antebellum South as a whole and New Orleans in particular.

=====Staunton Bluffs=====
::Cultural Level: Middle Ages
::Landscape: Cold Prairies and Forests
::Motif: Cowardice and treachery
::[[Darklord]]: Sir Torrence Bleysmith

A small realm of prairies, overseen by the mad, bitter ghost of the man who caused the downfall of the people who once dwelled here.

=====Stonewall=====
::Cultural Level: Civalric
::Landscape: Temperate Forests & Mountains
::Motif: Puritan Intolerance
::[[Darklord]]: Bethany Stone

Once a small town near Salem, Massachusetts in the real world - or at least its Gothic Earth analogue, Stonewall has been ripped from its moorings and cast into the myths thanks to the machinations of its darklord; a woman so self-righteous and hateful that she killed her own daughter to carry on her moral crusade. This netbook canon domain can be found in the [[Undead Sea Scrolls]] 2002.

=====Tower of the Phantom Lover=====
::Cultural Level: NA
::Landscape: Tower over underground labyrinth
::Motif: Sexual Predation
::[[Darklord]]: The Phantom Lover

The mysterious hideaway of the malevolent spirit known as the Phantom Lover, who seeks to seduce and then slaughter women pining for lost love.

=====Tsuu-y-Teke=====
::Cultural Level: Stone Age
::Landscape: Warm Deserts, Hills & Mountains
::Motif: Desert Country Native American Mythology
::[[Darklord]]: Heresa Heri, The Vulture King

A domain inspired by the myths of desert-dwelling Native American cultures. A realm of seemingly eternal day, haunted by a malevolent vulture-spirit who once tried to steal all the lights of day and night for himself. Netbook canon. First appeared in the [[Books of S|Book of Shadows]] for 2e, then was updated to 3e in the [[Undead Sea Scrolls]] 2002.

=====Vechor=====
::Cultural Level: Classical
::Landscape: Warm Forests, Hills & Swamps
::Motif: Insanity Made Real
::[[Darklord]]: Easan the Mad

A vaguely India-esque domain ruled over by an insane [[elf]] [[wizard]] who has the power to reshape the surroundings based on his current mad whim.

=====Vin'Ejal=====
::Cultural Level: Medieval
::Landscape: Arctic Coastal Mountain
::Motif:
::[[Darklord]]: Benada Nameless

A frigid island that drifts in an icy sea, whose people struggle to survive in the face of the eternal winter and the packs of [[seawolf|seawolves]] haunting their rich seas, haunted by a most unusual darklord; a [[yuan-ti]]-blooded [[weresnake]]! Netbook canon domain from the Book of Souls.

=====Vulnara=====
::Cultural Level: Late Chivalric to Renaissance
::Landscape: Temperate Forests, Hills, Mountains
::Motif: All-Consuming Bitterness
::[[Darklord]]: Kasselheim Blightlyng

A realm of unusually somber and technology-focused [[gnome]]s and [[svirfneblin]], shaped by the prejudices of a bitter, self-loathing, humor-hating gnomish [[vampire]] cursed with failing senses and growing madness. This netbook canon domain can be found in the [[Undead Sea Scrolls]] 2002.

=====Vultharesk=====
::Cultural Level: Dark Ages, Renaissance on the Godwyn Estate
::Landscape: Cold Mountains
::Motif: Moral Guardianship
::[[Darklord]]: Sir Trevor Godwyn, "The Mirror Man"

A strict, almost puritanical domain obsessed with the necessities of survival and averse to all things that are not "right" or "proper". But this attitude is not born out of morals or self-righteousness, but fear, for they are haunted by an ever-present spirit who will punish those that fails to live up to his strict sense of decency. Netbook canon domain from the Book of Shadows.

=====Wayward on the Bone Sands=====
::Cultural Level: Chivalric
::Landscape: Barren Desert
::Motif: Cannibalism, Killer Kids
::[[Darklord]]: Caleb Wicks

A cursed desert village of former humans turned into [[quevari]] after being seduced into genocide against (and cannibalism of) their [[gnome]] neighbors by the malicious child cannibal Caleb Wicks. Netbook canon domain from the Book of Secrets.

=====Whal=====
::Cultural Level: Renaisssance
::Landscape: Cold Forested Hills
::Motif: Moby Dick
::[[Darklord]]: Captain Jacobi Robertsonn

A sturdy, practical domain dedicated to the hunting of fish, seals and whales... no mean feat when your land is home to the demiplane's largest congregation of [[wereorca]]s. Netbook canon domain from the Book of Sorrows.

=====The Winding Road=====
::Cultural Level: Nonexistent
::Landscape: Random road
::Motif: Random Encounter
::[[Darklord]]: The Headless Horseman

Hands down one of the worst Domains in classical Ravenloft, the Winding Road is a glorified random encounter in which the party is suddenly attacked by the Headless Horseman, a powerful [[undead]] warrior mounted on horseback. Who is he? Well, there's three stories about where he came from. The first one is that he was an innocent man executed by Drakov's men. The second one is that he was a man who chopped off his own head rather than be killed by one of Strahd's men. And the third is that he was a bard who failed to entertain Ivana Boritsi as she bathed, so she chopped off his head and mixed his blood into her bathwater. If you think that none of those sound like a Darklord's backstory, you're not wrong. Oh, and you also have to fight the undead severed heads that precede and then follow the Horseman's run-by attack, which includes several [[medusa]] heads.

=====Yatehcaa=====
::Cultural Level: Iron Age
::Landscape: Mountains, High Desert
::Motif: Native American Mythology
::[[Darklord]]: Coyote

A domain based on certain Native American myths, where the people live simple, happy lives, whilst trying to avoid the attentions of the malicious trickster and fallen hero-deity Coyote. This netbook canon domain can be found in the [[Undead Sea Scrolls]] 2002.

==Cyre?==
In [[Eberron]], the nation of Cyre was destroyed in the Day of Mourning, leaving only the [[Mournland]] behind. That Cyre became a Demiplane of Dread is perhaps the most common theory on the origin of the Mournland within the fandom, as it checks all the boxes for explanations.
*The Mournland stops at Cyre’s artificial, political, borders and thus had to be caused by some intelligent actor. The Dark Powers certainly count. It also explains why it stops so exactly at the water that the docks were left behind.
*The Mournland’s border is a wall of “dead-gray mist”. The link is obvious. In 4th Edition, this dead-gray mist supernaturally drains people of hope.
*The Forge of War states that Dannel ir'Wynarn insistence that the crown of Galifar belonged to her was the only thing keeping the Last War going, making her prime Darklord material.
*Dark Sun material describes Kalidnay as having been destroyed by "unknown disaster" that left it only "a jumble of ruins". The ruins in the Mournland are described being "moved", "rearranged", "turned 90 degrees", or "found miles from where war-era maps say they should be", which certainly can be described as a "jumble". The one adventure that travels to the ruined city (DSM2) mentions several structures remain intact, and many appear to be ruins purely because they're centuries old, which fits the multiple Mournland adventures with surviving structures, and several people seem to have died suddenly in a way that their body was intact. (While some of the Mournland's signature features are absent, all outside descriptions of Kalidnay are centuries after the fact while all descriptions of the Mournland are 0-4 years after its creation.)

None of this will ever be confirmed, and it’s unlikely to be anti-confirmed, as the truth of the Mourning is one of Eberron’s mysteries that exist to have no answer but what the [[Dungeon Master]] gives them. The setting's creator has however concurred it's a good option if one wanted some bit of Eberron in Ravenloft.

The theory received a bit of a nod in 5th edition with the reveal of a new Domain of Dread that is a fragment of Cyre that was taken by the mists on the Day of Mourning.

==4th Edition: Islands of Terror==
In the [[World Axis]], the idea of the Demiplane of Dread being its own independent universe was basically dropped. The idea, however, remained in the form of the ''Domains of Dread''; regions in the [[Shadowfell]] created in response to great evils in the Material World, essentially mimicking the Islands of Terror format of the Demiplane, but with one major difference: these Domains are still part of the Shadowfell as a whole. As a result, if you can find the rite or secret or whatever it is that grants you passage, then you can flee the Domain through its misty veil and into the wider Shadowfell... which isn't necessarily that much of an improvement, but hey.

The idea of the Core is complete absent in 4th edition. Perhaps, if [[Ravenloft]] had been revived in this setting, the Core would have instead become more of a cursed but otherwise normal world, similar to and yet separate from the Domains of Dread seen in the Shadowfell. We'll never know.

The 4e Domains of Dread consist of the following:

=====Sunderheart=====
::Cultural Level: Classical
::Landscape: Half-ruined city on a cliff's edge at the edge of a swampy river dela
::Motif: Diabolist Grand Guignol
::[[Darklord]]: Ivania Dreygu and Vorno "The Ghoul" Kahnebor

Originally the [[Bael Turath]] city of Harrack Unarth, Sunderheart's doom came when it came under the control of the lovers Ivania Dreygu and Vorno Kahnebor, the [[Nentir Vale]] version of Romeo and Juliet... if Romeo and Juliet were debauched hedonistic [[tiefling]]s who engaged in rape, murder and cannibalism and who massacred their entire families so they could be together. Eventually, Vorno became so vile that even Ivania grew sick of him, so she murdered him by feeding him a servant girl whom she had fed with a deadly poison. Then she woke up in Sunderheart with her [[ghoul]]ified [[undead]] lover fused to her back like a monstrous parasitic twin. Now she rules by day over the half of the city still inhabited by the living, and Vorno the Ghoul rules over the undead-haunted ruins at night.

=====Graefmotte=====
::Cultural Level: Classical
::Landscape: Dense Pine Forest, Mountains
::Motif: Starvation
::[[Darklord]]: Lord Durven Graef

When the [[Yeenoghu]]-worshipping hordes of the White Ruin threatened the empire of Nerath in the [[Nentir Vale]], Lord Graef was the ruler of a minor frontier province who had already lost two of his three children. Desperate to preserve his family legacy, he was determined that his final son, Geoffery Graef, would not answer King Elidyr's call to take up arms against the horde. When his son disagreed, they fought, and Lord Graef accidentally killed his son by causing him to fall and fatally strike his head. Which was when the [[gnoll]] warbands fell upon Graefmotte. Lord Graef led the fighting over the night, and was near-mortally wounded; disemboweled and with an arm bitten off, nobody expected him to cling to life for a day and a night... never mind for his wounds to fully heal. Ever since then, Graefmotte has been a land cursed, where its people face a slow, withering death by starvation, or a quick, bloody one at the jaws of the maddened gnolls and starvation-spawned [[ghoul]]s that haunt the ever-shifting forest.

=====Monadhan=====
::Cultural Level: Classical
::Landscape: Tropical Rainforest
::Motif: Treachery
::[[Darklord]]: Arantor

During the war between [[Bael Turath]] and [[Arkhosia]], the [[Metallic Dragon#Silver Dragon|Silver Dragon]] Arantor and his daughter mrissa were called upon to destroy a remote Turathi military outpost, almost hidden within thick tropical rainforest, whose isolation and surroundings made it virtually unreachable by ground-based forces. But after they hit their target, they realized that their intel had been faulty; this was no military camp, it was a refugee center for Turathi civilians! Father and daughter quarreled over what to do, with Imrissa wanting to return to Arkhosia and take responsibility for their crimes, whilst the glory-hound Arantor insisted they conceal it and protect their reputations. The argument grew so heated that Arantor slew his daughter, and then, stricken by guilt, he massacred the survivors of his first attack before becoming a plague upon the Turathi until his death. Which was when he awoke as a [[dracolich]] in a cavern deep below a twisted reflection of Monadhan, which has now become a gathering point for traitors. The greater the betrayal, and the more pathetic the reason, the more likely the perpetrator is to find a place within Monadhan - whether by being swallowed by the Mists, or by awakening there alive and whole after dying for their misdeeds. As a result, Monadhan is now an oubliette for treacherous scum from across time and space.

=====The Endless Road=====
::Cultural Level: Classical
::Landscape: An endless road winding through forests, hills and plains
::Motif: You can't escape your sins
::[[Darklord]]: Eli van Hassen

The tiny little roadside town of Tranquility was a peaceful place, until the day a four-headed [[hydra]] lurched from the fens and began plaguing the people. When a wandering [[adventurer]] known only as "The Horseman" arrived and slew the beast, the people celebrated. But the town's ruler, Eli van Hassen, a man forever plagued by resentment and inferiority over his provincial abode, resented the hero's fame. He forced his daughter to slander the man, accusing him of rape, and whipped the people of Tranquility into a frenzied mob who executed their savior despite his former protests. Now Eli and his daughter inhabit a fortified mansion that sits on the side of a great road, which stretches on to infinity; unless the Road decides to let you go, which it can do to anywhere in the [[Multiverse]], you can walk forever and never leave. Of course, that risks attack by the undead remains of the Headless Horseman, who wants revenge on the van Hassens, but will happily settle for anyone else he can get his hands on.

=====Timbergorge=====
::Cultural Level: Iron Age
::Landscape: Dense confider forest
::Motif: Nature's Savagery
::[[Darklord]]: Silvermaw

When a naive [[treant]] allowed [[human]]s to settle in the planeshifting forest that was an [[archfey]]'s garden under his care, he was horrified when they began to create a fire to keep them warm as they slept. But when he attacked in an effort to quench the flames, he burned himself and then set the forest ablaze, leaving it to burn as he focused on slaying the human interlopers. For this, his master cut the garden away and banished it to the [[Shadowfell]]. Here, the tribal humans have become a pack of werewolves, endlessly hunting and being hunted by the mad, wounded treant, who has coated his mouth with molten silver so that he may better rend and bite his foes; hence his name "Silvermaw".

==5th Edition: The Alternate Continuity==
In February 2021, it was announced across the internet that the Demiplane of Dread would at last make an official return as a D&D setting for [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]] in the form of [[Van Richten's Guide]] to [[Ravenloft]]. But it also openly announced that the 30 domains of dread that would be debuting in the book would include a mixture of brand new domains, classic domains, and revamped/reimagined takes on old domains - something that immediately began raising hackles amongst the Ravenloft fandom, who tend towards the [[grognard]]ier side of the fence. Why did they do this? Was it because the last version of Ravenloft-as-setting was done by [[White Wolf]] and there were legal entanglements preventing [[Wizards of the Coast]] from reusing their inventions? Was it because a lot of Ravenloft classic lore was actually kind of stupid and in desperate need of revamping? Was it because of [[SJW]]s? (probably a little considering some of the weirder changes made) Some combination thereof? The world may never know.

Either way, the 5e version of the Demiplane of Dread thusly has its own unique take on the different Domains, which this section will try to break down for comparison's sake.

5th edition no longer has the Core although a few Clusters still exist, but are now treated as single domains, and also changes the rules for traveling between domains. If the borders of a domain are not closed, entering the mists on the borders only takes you to another domain if you get a lucky roll, and usually you will end up back in the domain where you started or just wander the mists going nowhere. And even if you do get lucky it is up to the DM to decide where to drop you. You can choose what domain you want to go to and bypass this roll by carrying a mist talisman, which is an item related in some way to that domain or at least that domain's theme, and each domain has a few possible items you can use as a talisman for it. If you have the Mist Walker dark gift, you can travel to any domain that you know the name of without a talisman, but at the cost of not being able to stay in one place for too long.

===Detailed Domains===
These domains have received descriptions a few pages long.

=====Barovia 5e=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif:
::[[Darklord]]:

It's literally just Barovia as seen in [[Curse of Strahd]]. The only major change is that now the Dark Powers have started to get creative and may have Tatyana reincarnate as someone unexpected to mess with Strahd.

=====Bluetspur 5e=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif: Alien Horror
::[[Darklord]]: The God-Brain

Aside from some slight tweaks to the backstory of the God-Brain and a shift in focus to more of an "alien abductions/unspeakable alien experiments" motif, Bluetspur is basically unchanged.

=====Borca 5e=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif:
::[[Darklord]]:

Outside of the changes to the [[Darklord]]s, there's nothing new here.

=====[[The Carnival]] 5e=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif:
::[[Darklord]]:

No longer a wandering point of light, [[The Carnival]] is now a free-floating island of terror, with the role of [[Darklord]] being shared between Isolde and Nepenthe, a cursed sword she carries. The backstory has also been changed extensively, involving a counterpart to the Carnival run by [[shadar-kai]]. The Carnival is also haunted by the ''Litwick Market'', a black market of malicious fey with a grudge against the Carnival who invariably show up once the Carnival settles down and start making trouble. Also, the Twisting is no longer a thing.

=====Darkon 5e=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif: The end of the world
::[[Darklord]]: MIA

The first "continuation" domain, Azalin went missing during an event called the Hour of Ascension and now Darkon is falling apart, slowly being dissolved by the Mists. The domain has become split into four islands. During the day the mists can be crossed as normal, but during the night anything covered by the mists disappears and the mists swallow a little bit more of the land in tiny steps or in huge floods. As was the case during the original [[Grim Harvest|Shrouded Years]], a number of demilords are trying and failing to hold it together. Collectively known as The Inheritors, they consist of the vampire Alcio Metus (sister to the late Baron Metus), Cardinna Artazas and the Necrichor of Darcalus Rex, and Madame Talisveri Eris. The only clue about where Azalin went is a strange glowing object called the King's Tear which appeared floating over Darkon at the same time that he vanished.

=====Dementlieu 5e=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif: Masquerade and imposter syndrome
::[[Darklord]]: Saidra d'Honaire

Completely rewritten, Dementlieu is now an impoverished city where everybody tries desperately to pretend they are richer and more important than they actually are, lest they be disintegrated by its new [[Darklord]]; Saidra d'Honaire. Also has a Masque of the Red Death thing going on, making it a bit like Sanguinia.

=====Falkovnia 5e=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif: Zombie Apocalypse
::[[Darklord]]: Vladeska Drakov

Completely rewritten, Falkovnia is no longer the "war horror" domain, but instead a zombie apocalypse domain, where new [[Darklord]] Vladeska Drakov struggles to keep the living alive in the face of monthly sieges by massive armies of the [[Walking Dead]]. Maybe they didn't want [[/pol/]] fanboying the original Vlad?

=====Har'Akir 5e=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif:
::[[Darklord]]:

Completely rewritten, Har'Akir is now a sprawling, heavily populated land where [[necrocracy|the living bow to a mummified aristocracy]] and Ankhtepot actually wishes for death.

=====Haz'lan 5e=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif: Wild magic, environmental destruction, magic-based classism
::[[Darklord]]: Hazlik

This retconned version of the domain has dropped the Mulans vs. Rashemani racism of the past and is now being devastated by a series of arcane apocalypses. [[Darklord]] Hazlik now suffers a combination of his old curse and Azalin's curse.

=====I'Cath 5e=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif: Denial of reality
::[[Darklord]]:

Completely rewritten, I'Cath has gone from a glorified [[Oriental Adventures]] [[dungeon]] to a crumbling city where the population is largely trapped in an eternal slumber, forced to constantly work at building and rebuilding a dream-version of I'Cath at the behest of [[Darklord]] Tsien Chiang, who can never be satisfied with what she has. When the inhabitants wake, they must scavenge for food in a city constantly being rebuilt by Tsien Chian's armies of [[Jiangshi]], who will not harm a sleeper, but will happily tear an awake mortal limb from limb.

=====Kalakeri=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif: War-torn nation
::[[Darklord]]: Ramya Vasavadan

New domain, although it's intended to take the place of the old domain of Sri Raji, which is mentioned as an alternative name for it. This India-themed domain is locked in an eternal civil war between its [[Darklord]], Ramya Vasavadan, and her two [[fiend]]ish siblings; Arijani the [[Rakshasa]] and Reeva the [[Arcanoloth]].

=====Kartakass 5e=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif: Show business, predatory business practices, werewolves
::[[Darklord]]: Harkon Lukas

Largely unchanged, save for the revisions to [[Darklord|Harkon Lukas']] story and the replacement of [[wolfwere]]s with [[Loup-garou]].

=====Lamordia 5e=====
::Cultural Level: Steampunk
::Landscape: Artic
::Motif: Mad science and biting cold
::[[Darklord]]: Viktra Mordenheim

Basically unchanged, save for a new emphasis on an arctic climate and the tweaks to its [[Darklord]], replacing Viktor Mordenheim and Adam with Viktra Mordenheim and Elise. The darklord curse has been given a twist, too: Viktra succeeded where Victor would perpetually fail-- but she cannot duplicate her success and the living (golem-like) Elise shuns her.

=====Mordent 5e=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif: Ghosts and haunted houses
::[[Darklord]]:

The only change here is to [[Darklord|Wilfred Godefroy's]] curse and backstory, which now involves the famous Alchemist's Apparatus first introduced to [[Ravenloft]] lore in [[I10: Ravenloft II: The House on Gryphon Hill]].

=====Richemulot 5e=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif: Pandemic, wererats
::[[Darklord]]:

Retconned into a plague-stricken nation barely avoiding crumbling into total ruination through the machinations of [[Darklord|Jacqueline Renier]].

=====Tepest 5e=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif: Wickerman/Midsommar type of stories
::[[Darklord]]:

Sitting somewhere between continuation and retcon, Tepest has lost its anti-fey inquisition and is now focused on its [[Darklord]]; Lorinda Mindefisk, who imprisoned her sisters in a cauldron because they refused to let her have a child.

=====Valachan 5e=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape: Jungle
::Motif: The deadliest game
::[[Darklord]]: Chakuna

Similarly to Tepest, Valachan is supposed to be a continuation of its former self, although there's a lot of retcons to the lore. Since [[Darklord|Baron Urik von Kharkov]] was slain by Chakuna, the jungles have turned hungry, rendering the realm a land where everything is out for blood and those appetites are barely kept in check by regular ceremonial blood sacrifices known as the Trial of Hearts.

===Summarized Domains===
These domains only received a short block of text about them. Several of them are completely new domains and so are intended to just be ideas for Dungeon Masters to build on.

=====Cyre 1313, The Mourning Rail=====
::Cultural Level: Dungeonpunk
::Landscape: A magical train
::Motif:
::[[Darklord]]: The Last Passenger

The first ever [[Eberron]] Domain of Dread. On the day that Cyre was destroyed by the Mourning, a train was about to carry a bunch of refugees who saw the disaster coming out of Cyre, but the train's departure was delayed by a mysterious VIP who threw hundreds of the train's passengers out to make room for their self and their retinue and to be sure nobody on the train would learn their identity, and so the train departed too late. The train was taken into the mists when the Mourning hit where it became a mobile domain constantly running from the Mourning which the passengers think is still chasing them. The passengers still haven't noticed that the Mourning already killed them.

=====Forlorn 5e=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif:
::[[Darklord]]:

Unchanged, save for a few details about its Darklord's history.

=====Ghastria 5e=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif:
::[[Darklord]]:

Unchanged, save for a few details about its Darklord's history.

=====G'henna 5e=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif:
::[[Darklord]]:

Unchanged, save for a few details about its Darklord's history.

=====Invidia 5e=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif:
::[[Darklord]]:

Rewritten; Gabrielle Aderre is now the [[Darklord]], constantly dabbling in black magic and conjuring all manner of outsiders to try and ensure that her beloved (and implicitly possessed) son Malocchio will have the best of futures.

=====Keening 5e=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif:
::[[Darklord]]:

Now has a living population who live in terror of its [[banshee]] [[Darklord]]. They fear the Darklord so much that they have actually destroyed their own sense of hearing to protect themselves.

=====Klorr=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif: Impending Doom
::[[Darklord]]: Klorr

New domain mentioned in brief, a series of shattered islands swirling around a blazing giant eye, where one island is obliterated every hour only for another to take its place.

=====Markovia 5e=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif: Flowers for Algernon syndrome, furries
::[[Darklord]]: Dr. Frantisek Markov

Rewritten into a mixture of Dr. Moreau and Dr. Jekyll.

=====The Nightmare Lands 5e=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif: Nightmares
::[[Darklord]]: The Nightmare Court

Largely unchanged, save for the new origin of the Nightmare Court as multiple personas birthed from the mind of a powerful but monstrous [[psion]]icist who tries to run from the crimes of her past and deny that they ever existed.

=====Niranjan=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif: [[Path of Inspiration]]
::[[Darklord]]: Sarthak

New domain mentioned in brief, tied to Kalakeri, ruled over by a corrupted [[Metallic Dragon|Brass Dragon]] who poses as a ''sadhu'' to lure victims into sacrificing their worldly goods for his hoard before he consumes their souls and replaces it with an obdient shadow.

=====Nova Vaasa 5e=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif:
::[[Darklord]]: Myar Hiregaard

Rewritten; now less Russian and more Mongolian, with a female [[Darklord]] named Myar Hiregaard who united the warring tribes of her homelands, only to turn them against each other once more when she grew bored with peacetime.

=====Odaire 5e=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif:
::[[Darklord]]:

Unchanged, save for the minor detail that Maligno ''changed'' his name to that from his original, less ridiculous name of ''Figlio''.

=====The Rider's Bridge=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif:
::[[Darklord]]:

Yet another reinterpretation of the Headless Horseman, this time as a [[dullahan]] who shows up at important bridges in domain-specific forms and attacks anyone who tries to cross. Successfully crossing the bridge may transport you to a different domain.

=====Risibilos 5e=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif: Parody
::[[Darklord]]: Doerdon

A super-minor domain originally mentioned in brief as part of the infamously terrible "Book of Crypts" anthology. Rewritten now into a domain-hopping music hall, where the [[Iron Warriors|humorless]] former-king Doerdon is now condemned to an agonizing eternity as an entertainer, with a sentient ventriloquist dummy in the likeness of Strahd von Zarovich as his partner in comedy.

=====Scaena 5e=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif:
::[[Darklord]]:
Unchanged from its original lore.

=====Sea of Sorrows 5e=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif:
::[[Darklord]]:

The Darklord is now Pietra van Rise, a vicious female [[pirate]] turned ghost or sea zombie (it's not clear which). Mention is also made of Blaustein (now ruled by the ghosts of Bluebeard's wives), Dominia (the patients are all avatars of Dr. Heinfroth), the Isle of the Ravens (unchanged), and the new domains of The Lighthouse, which features, well, a lighthouse, and Vigilant's Bluff, where an undead paladin offers refuge so long as you respect his faith.

=====The Shadowlands 5e=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif:
::[[Darklord]]:

Unchanged.

=====Souragne 5e=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif:
::[[Darklord]]:

Still Southern Gothic New Orleans, but Anton's got a new backstory as a sadistic prison warden and has been downgraded in terms of power.

=====Staunton Bluffs 5e=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif:
::[[Darklord]]:

Largely identical, except the former [[darklord]] is now a good guy and his crime has been given to his retconned sister, Teresa Bleysmith.

=====Tovag 5e=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif:
::[[Darklord]]:

No longer connected to Cavitus, [[Kas]] now fixates on finding [[Vecna]] and resuming their ancient battle.

=====Vhage Agency=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape: An office building
::Motif: Insanity, Film Noir
::[[Darklord]]: Flimira Vhage

A new domain in the form of a detective agency ruled over by Flimira Vhage, who remains unaware that literally the entire agency only exists in her own broken mind. Oh, and it literally looks like an old [[noir]] film brought to life, complete with everything inside being in different shades of monotone gray.

=====Zherisia 5e=====
::Cultural Level:
::Landscape:
::Motif:
::[[Darklord]]:

The elaborate dread [[doppelganger]] society has been wiped out. Now there's just a starving city descending into madness and a single ancient doppelganger trying to preserve its existence through cannibalism. The sewers that used to be called Timor still exist but the marikiths have been replaced with [[Carrion Stalker]]s.

==Notable Non-Darklords==
* [[Van Richten]]
* [[Weathermay-Foxgrove Twins]]
* [[Jander Sunstar]]
* [[Alanik Ray]]
* [[Larissa Snowmane]]
* [[Vistani]]

{{Planescape-Cosmology}}
[[Category:Ravenloft]]

Dark Sun

2021-06-02T23:48:50Z

2601:203:400:CE90:EC97:9646:1D69:3355:

[[Image:DSlogo.gif|center]]
{{Grimdark}}
[[File:Dark Sun 3e PHB.png|400px|thumb|right|The cover of the 3e [[PHB]].]]
{{Topquote|For thousands of years, the Tablelands have remained untouched: its politics frozen in a delicate stalemate, its life in a balance even more delicate. It is true that the Dragon Kings amused themselves with their petty wars, rattling sabers to punctuate the passing of ages. It is true that, occasionally, another city would be swallowed by the wastes.

''But there were no surprises. The Dragon Kings steered everything from their omnipotent perches, content in their superiority, but ever thirsting for challenge. All that has changed. The Tablelands have been thrown into turmoil, the likes of which have not been seen since times forgotten. The Dragon Kings have been thrown into confusion, grasping for the tedium they so recently lamented.

''And yet I fear the worst is yet to come. Change is in the air, and change has never come gently to Athas.|[[Avangion| Oronis]], sorcerer‐king of Kurn}}

'''Dark Sun''' is a campaign setting made for AD&D 2nd edition back in '90; there are [[3e]] conversions approved by [[WotC]], but we had to wait until 2010 and [[4e]] for an updated official version. Dark Sun is essentially a playable [[grimdark]] post-apocalyptic mix of Mad Max, Edgar Rice Burrough's Mars series, and [[Dune]]; it's pretty [[awesome]], but immediately proceeds to eschew common sense (unlike Dune).

==Setting==
[[File:Dark Sun World Map 4E.png|thumb|right|350px|Map of the Tyr Region, as depicted in [[4E|4th edition]]]]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nW3DTCIO5Zs Thematically appropriate theme.]

The game is set in the world of Athas, a dying planet. Once full of happiness and sunshine, the planet was drained of all resources during the long and rich history the creators came up with. There is no water, no minerals, and no hope: only cannibal halflings, a lot of sand and a dying sun.

The world is so fucked up it makes Mad Max's setting look like a hippie paradise. Kinda looks like Barsoom on massive grimdark crack. Everyone wears [[Female Fantasy Armor]] (yes, even the dudes), and according to the developers, this was the entire reason they picked a hot climate for the setting instead of an icy one, [[Derp|despite the fact that wearing Female Fantasy Armor in the desert would result in a quick death from sunstroke and dehydration]]; if they wanted everyone to wear [[Female Fantasy Armor]] then a hot ''and humid'' environment like a jungle or a tropical place, such as the setting for the comics series [https://comicvine.gamespot.com/shanna/4005-4579/ Shanna the She-Devil], is the ideal choice (less clothes keeps you cool when it's hot and humid, means less things to get caught in foliage or get pulled by predators or rivals). The only few realms remaining are fascist police city-states ruled by wizards (all of them varying shades of evil) whose environmentally-unfriendly magic is responsible for fucking up the planet in the first place, and who're slowly losing their humanity as they turn more and more into dragons. Beyond civilized lands everything eats everything. The best weapon you can find is the femur of your party's cleric after being eaten by something that looked like a rock and the best armor is mostly the remains of a giant cockroach. There are no gnomes, orcs, kobolds, or furries because all of them were exterminated by some jerks with psychic brains and magic hands. They were the Champions of Rajaat, and they and the Sorcerer-Kings are by-and-large one-and-the-same.

The original ''Dark Sun'' setting got pretty harshly wrecked by advancing novel continuity. Once a buncha [[Mary Sue|tie-in protagonists]] have already killed all the iconic villains and started fixing the setting's problems, what's there left for ''you'' to do? In response, [[4e]] went full-reboot and adopted an [[Eberron]]-style anti-continuity system: every campaign begins in exactly the same time and place, and the story never advances. It was, especially for a 4e idea, incredibly well-received, and will probably carry over into any attempts to adapt the setting for [[5e]].

Thus far, the closest Wizards of the Coast has come to actually ''adapting'' the setting over to 5e is a few ideas about how to change over any adventuring paths to Athas, though the design team has repeatedly mentioned they intend to try in the future. Co-creator of 5th Edition and creative lead designer [[Mike Mearls]] has stated that he's pretty much converted Dark Sun to 5th, even if only for an office campaign.

===Races===
Most of the less-popular generic fantasy races were exterminated a long time ago, good riddance! This means no [[gnome]]s! First reason why this setting is full of win and awesome.
*'''[[Aarakocra]]''' - Sentient vultures, for those who don't want to play anything normal, but hate bugs or lizards.
*'''[[Dray]]''' - Horribly deformed dragon-people. Basically a failed magic experiment - like [[Draconian|Traag and Sesk]] in ''Time of the Dragon'' Taladas. Created by Dregoth, the undead Dragon King. Later generations were less-mutated. 4e made them straight-up [[Dragonborn|dragonborn]].
*'''[[Dwarf]]''' - Almost typical dorfs, except taller, waaay more muscular, bald with Klingon-like head plates and are even more fixated on their stuff than the hairier, stuntier variety. So fixated, in fact, that if they died without completing the shit they were obsessing over, they came back from the dead as banshees (sentient zombies that looked like a dwarf without skin).
*'''[[Eladrin]]''' - Added in 4e, the dwindling remnants of the race that once ruled the [[Feywild]], which on Athas has literally dissolved into nothing, leaving only a scattering of extradimensional oases as a result of defiling.
*'''[[Elan]]''' - An experiment in creating human uber-psychics by a psionicist order that went wrong due to being too powerful
*'''[[Elf]]''' - No forests for them, ha! They are desert nomads, thieving and griefing all the time. Finally, straight players can consider playing an elf. Again foreshadowing ''Time of the Dragon''.
*'''[[Gith]]''' - Descendants of a contingent of [[Githyanki]] that came to Athas generations ago and became stuck, unable to leave. As a race inherently strong in psionics, they are feared opponents and gladiators, but are still often employed as slaves, which is funny, because they always end up like that, but this time without [[Illithid]]s.
*'''[[Genasi]]''' - Only present in the 4e version. They claim they were originally set up as rulers over Athas by the [[Archomental|Primordials]] once they killed all of the gods... but they became decadent and indolent, so the other races drove them off the thrones. And then they blew Athas all to fuck, which the genasi are still gloating about. Now they're starting to emerge from the wastes because they believe it's their job to take command again and fix this shit. Known subraces: Earth, Fire, Wind, Ember, Magma, Sand and Sun.
*'''[[Half-Giant]]''' - Big bad meanies, with a ''lolrandom'' alignment. Usually really fucking stupid.
*'''[[Halfling]]''' - Cannibals who live in the remaining strips of forest. Despite [[Troy Denning]]'s initial fuckup in ''The Verdant Passage'', where he has the dragonfly riding midgets flinging spells hither and thither, no they cannot use arcane magic. Tries to retcon this in ''The Cerulean Storm'' but it doesn't quite work. MAJOR PLOT LOOPHOLE. Actually (spoilers!) the origin of all other demi-human races on Athas, as theirs was the high civilization of the Blue Age.
*'''[[Human]]''' - Sentient halfling, only larger. Always average, always racist. Just like in real life, the race arguably responsible for fucking up the planet. Somehow still manage to be the norm, large and in charge.
*'''[[Kenku]]''' - I shit you not. These crow-like humanoids are mentioned as existing as a viable race (with an accompanying language), but is then promptly forgotten and never mentioned again, so most people never think of them in the context of ''Dark Sun''.
*'''[[Maenad]]''' - Alien berserker-psion emos that Andropinus recruited from somewhere beyond "The Black", then turned loose to die in the wasteland after they helped him get his city-state back. Rather pissed at that.
*'''[[Mul]]''' - [[Half-dwarf]]! Second reason why this setting is full of win and awesome! Bred for size and strength, but without the lack of agility of the typical stunty dorf, no slave was worth more than a Mul. Except a better Mul. Very prized as gladiators. Suck it, Russell Crowe. Unfortunately, like real-life hybrids tend to be, Muls are sterile, and they also tend to be [[Grimdark|born into slavery and kill their mums on the way out]].
*'''[[Pterran]]''' - Pterodactyl-man shamanistic retards that remind you of a certain cheesy villain from the X-Men comic books.
*'''[[Pyreen]]''' - A non-player (though 4e made them an epic destiny) race of ancient guardians from before the world was burned to shit, [[Rajaat]] was one of these guys before he went screaming off the deep end. Looks like a prettier version of how 3.5's [[Mongrelman|Mongrelfolk]] are supposed to look based on fluff; a harmonious blending of human, halfling, dwarf and elf. This mysterious & mystical mongrelfolk nature is strange, considering that halflings were the original inhabitants, and it also ignores several now-extinct but previously prominent (or at least "normal" non-monstrous) races, such as orcs. Epic-level immortal multiclassed druid/psions attempting to fix the world. Not getting very far.
*'''[[Ssurran]]''' - 2-legged sentient komodo dragons. Lives in the desert and loves them some lava. Very resistant towards heat and the Dark Sun, these guys enjoy worshiping Fire and Magma.
*'''[[Tarek]]''' - Earth-worshipping, hulking, ape-like humanoids from the mountains. Pretty obviously an "evolved" strain of Athasian [[Orc]]s, like how Ssurrans are Athasian [[lizardfolk]]. Take obvious inspiration from the ape-men of popular pulp novels and Frazetta/Vallejo paintings the same way the rest of the setting does.
*'''[[Tari]]''' - Dark Sun has a race of [[ratfolk]] out there in the desert, but despite the fact they are a fully sapient and civilized race, you can't play them.
*'''[[Tiefling]]''' - Another 4e addition, brutal raiders from the most hostile and barren regions of the desert, descendants of people who turned to fiend-worship for the strength to survive in the wasteland.
*'''[[Thri-kreen]]''' - Sentient mantis. Strange, scary folk who can only communicate via their own language or telepathy. Like their elves raw. With four wickedly clawed arms, these guys can ''fuck shit up''.
*'''[[Yuan-ti]]''' - Much like the kenku, the classic yuan-ti are only technically part of the setting, and seem to have been largely forgotten the second after the core setting material was published, despite featuring prominently in the Dark Sun [[CRPG]] [[Wake of the Ravager]], a game nobody remembered until GOG.com began selling many (most?) of the SSI AD&D modules of the 80s and 90s. Now that WotR is readily available, the thing people remember most about that game is the numerous, game-breaking bugs. (But you should still buy it, as workarounds to the bugs do exist.)

We gotta talk dragons now.

*'''[[Athasian Dragon|Athasian]]''' - Only "playable" by a very technical definition of the term, since it was an epic-level class for level 21+ characters with nastily-difficult requirements, though 4e made it an epic destiny. Not at all like the normal ''D&D'' variety, which don't exist on Athas, Athasian Dragons are horrible monsters that embody the corrupted nature of arcane magic in the setting: rapacious, violent, and filled with rage and a lust to dominate or destroy. Depending on source, there's either many or only one being that has ever successfully completed the transformation, and he's the ''other'' [[BBEG]] of the setting, as mentioned above, but almost all of the Sorcerer-Kings are at least part of the way there.
*'''[[Avangion]]''' - The opposite version of an Athusian dragon, being the life-nurturing embodiment of what arcane magic ''should'' be. Looks like a bizarre glowing manta ray-dragonfly, with a huge wingspan. Not as much balls-out murder power as a dragon, but able to no-sell many of its abilities, actually support its party, and not be an insane rage-cauldron the DM could take over whenever he felt like it. Just as hard to qualify for though, and also a 4e epic destiny. No one in the Tyr region has ever successfully become one, though one NPC as far down the process as most of the Sorcerer-Kings are to being dragons, and unlike many of them is actively trying to advance.

===Classes===
*'''[[Cleric]]s''' - There are no real gods in the setting (according to 4e, this is because the Primordials drove them off in the [[Dawn War]]), so most clerics worship elements or quasi-elements. In a desert world, summoning water elementals will get you pussy until you realize that if you level up to much you become a true elemental too. Very nasty to be drank alive for being a water elemental. The way they are described, they are more "elemental shamans" than archetypical clerics. Other types are insinuated to exist, such as a 'sun cleric' featured in the novels, representing the aspect and domain of the sun as a natural force rather than a deity.
*'''[[Druid]]s''' - Druids serve spirits of the land. They have a guarded lands that they are responsible to look after.
*'''[[Gladiator]]s''' - You know. Like the movie. Also one of the most overpowered classes in the times of AD&D, a low level gladiator could be the personification of a certain Frank Frazzeta illustration entitled "The Destroyer". Essentially, they were [[Barbarian]]s before Barbarians as 3e made them were a thing.
*'''Dune Traders''' - lol that's actually a class? Was more one the role-playing side of things, could get loads of handy contacts and power within tradehouses. Took care of diplomacy, trading, and generally any situation that could be resolved without a weapon.
*'''[[Fighter]]s''' - Not as good as a Gladiator in personal combat, but who is? Really excelled at attracting and leading armies at higher levels.
*'''[[Bard]]s''' - Most bards sing songs and boost the other party members' rolls. Dark Sun bards will poison and kill you, and maybe fuck you. Maybe in that order, too.
*'''[[Paladin]]s''' - lol nope. Honor and virtue fell by the wayside a long time ago on Athas, but what else would you expect from a planet this Darwinian?
*'''[[Templar]]s''' - Replace Paladins thematically, but more on the police side of things to the point they are essentially the Sorcerer-Kings's Gestapo. Ability-wise, they're more like Clerics with slower spell-progression but more spellslots and the ability to use any weapon. Worship the Sorcerer King who rules their city.
*'''[[Psion]]icists''' - Psionicists are considered accepted and normal in this setting. In fact, every PC is guaranteed to have ''at least'' one psionic power! OMGWTF! Think Jedis, kind of. Wanna move shit with your mind without casting a spell like some bitch ass looking wizard? Check. Mindrape? Check. ''Fucking Time Travel?'' Double Check. Unfortunately suffered from the fact that psionics in 2e were a horrible mess, and with a few notable exceptions, most of your powers are either incredibly niche or use clunky subsystems.
*'''[[Ranger]]s''' - Same old shit. Think Aragorn in the desert.
*'''[[Rogue]]s''' - Pretty similar to the non-Athasian kind. Attracted a Patron at level 10, aka you work for me now bitch.
*'''[[Wizard]]s''' - Two types exist in the setting, but everyone hates them both:
**Defiler - Evil mages, who suck out the life force of things. When they level up enough, they usually have an allergic reaction called dragon metamorphosis.
**Preserver - Mages who are not manly enough to steal life force, so they sacrifice efficiency to keep the stuff around them alive. Unfortunately for them, the commoners think all wizards are the same. Fortunately for them, most of their shit can be passed off as psionics. When they grow up enough to be considered bad ass they turn into the manta ray like aliens from ''Abyss''.

===Sorcerer-Kings===
Sorcerer Kings were the jerks chosen by [[Rajaat]] with the deepest reservoirs of hatred (read:racists) for everything. Except halflings. Or was it humans. SPOILER! These were usually the big bad dudes that Dark Sun campaigns revolved around killing. Unfortunately, author Troy Denning killed off most of them in the series ''The Prism Pentad'', thus giving the campaign setting nothing left to live for. TSR brought out a small post-novel supplement entitled "Beyond the Prism Pentad", which also included references to a product called "Dark Sun: ''A New Age''" that was never released, to try and save what little scraps of the setting was left after [[skub|Denning's]] royal buttfuck of it all. It didn't work. As a result TSR brought it out back and shot it while you cried in your mother's arms.

Most/all Sorcerer-kings were/are in various stages of Dragon metamorphosis, i.e. turning into a Dragon, you idiot, as a result of their addiction to Defiling. "Real" dragons don't exist on Athas, and only the most powerful Wizard/Psionicists with the help of handy [[Necronomicon|forbidden lore]] could start on this journey to REAL ULTIMATE POWER. Side effects include deepening of voice, a bad case of scaly skin, and the desire to FUCKING KILL EVERYTHING. Which gave rise to the most common-sense Dark Sun rule ever, via the rulebook ''Dragonkings'', where a 25th level Dragon, if you were lucky/good enough to make it that far and survive a series of spells that ''had an outright chance to kill you'', WAS COMPLETELY TAKEN OVER BY THE DM UNTIL LEVEL 30. How fun is that shit. The reasoning being the Dragon entered a period of Animalistic Rage. And of course only the DM could properly portray that shit, moron. Go sit on the couch and shut up. (Granted, it was better than giving players literal dragon-god-like power, give the tendencies of the sorts of player willing to commit the atrocities necessary to become a dragon to [[Murderhobo|steal, fuck and kill everything they see including their fellow PCs.]])

Originally, just one of the Dragon-Kings was an actual '''dragon''', formerly Borys of Ur-Draxa. PCs could confront him in '''[[DSR4: Valley of Dust and Fire]]''', which ''Dark Sun'' fans consider rather difficult, and which ''itself'' cautioned that it was meant for ''Dragon Kings'' parties over level 21. Wonder how those "[[Mary Sue|Prism Pentad]]" dipshits managed it... Especially since not a single one of them were even level 20 (their stats are given in "Beyond the Prism Pentad") , much less a full 5-man party of level 21+ characters.

To expand their use as a plot device, each Sorcerer-King/Queen ruled a City-State, up until they were slain by Denning like it was a bodily function:

*'''Abalach-re''' - The queen bitch of the City-State of Raam, this paranoid schizo cunt makes [[Skaven|your average Skaven]] look like Ghandi. Also universally loathed and held in contempt by both her own people and all the other Sorcerer Kings. Whether her neurotic paranoia is the result or the cause of this is a bit of a chicken-or-egg question.
*'''Andropinis''' - He had egg shaped nostrils. He wore a toga and ruled over the Greek inspired City-State of Balic. Unique for being the only Lawful Neutral sorcerer-king (All the others are listed as Lawful Evil, naturally), and for running a state that actually somewhat functions, in a democracy-turned-dictatorial-sham kind of way.
*'''Hamanu''' - Mr. Lionface. Not one of the original 13 Champions, he was the ruler of Urik and a blatant homage to Hammurabi. Evil and cruel, with his draconic transformation halted rather than reversed, but his devotion to order, justice, rationality, and his father's dream of a green and peaceful land make him one of the best of a terrible lot.
*'''Kalak''' - You know your old, shriveled, power-hungry, slave-master of a grandfather? That's this guy. Ruler of Tyr before his plan to get jacked up quick on dragonsauce was discovered and foiled by a bunch of meddling kids and one talking dog. The 4e reboot explicitly starts every game with him being overthrown and Tyr being established as a Free City, before letting the PCs see where things go from there.
*'''Kalid-Ma''' - Former Sorcerer-King of Kalidnay, currently trapped in a near-death coma in [[Ravenloft|a completely different campaign setting]] thanks to his head honchessa's cruel betrayal of everything good in her life in favor of her freaky, possessive stalker crush on him. Probably not coming back, regardless of what the deluded cultists rifling through his garbage think.
*'''Lalali-Puy''' - The hottest Sorcerer-Queen, and ruler of the barely civilized Jungle-Town of Gulg. Also one of the less-evil Sorcerer Kings by virtue of not doing much to actively hurt the people who adore her, with some liner notes specifically calling her the most likely King to make a face turn who hasn't already, though her current rule over Gulg is cemented by brutal enslavement of nature spirits, one of whom she's masquerading as.
*'''Nibenay''' - Called the Shadow King. Either he really, really hated people and being seen, or he was too stupid to cast a simple glamour to NOT MAKE HIM LOOK LIKE A DRAGON around his superstitious subjects. Ruler of the largest City-State of the same name, which was locked in a perpetual war with Gulg for some crazy strong blue balls. Or blue wood. Whatever. His templars are all female, and are forced to mate with him for the job, which is frankly par for the course for evil at this point. Even considering his hideous, part-dragon/part-man appearance.
*'''Tectuktitlay''' - He's a ladykiller, he'll rip your heart out and throw it down the fucking ziggurat. Bird like in appearance, he was the Aztec inspired ruler of Drag. Drek. Er, Draj. Smart, despite his insanity and cruelty.
*'''Oronis''' - Former Sorcerer-King of Kurn. Kinda. Oronis is a special case. He started to feel bad about... you know exterminating all the lizard-men, especially when he saw that it was all for a lie, and he and his comrades were turning the world into a ruin rather than a paradise. So, he took his vitamins, drank his milk, and managed to put the brakes on the whole "morph into a dragon through genocide" thing... and go the other direction into becoming an avangion. Kurn is dying, but it's just a facade for New Kurn now anyway, and he's withdrawn from politics to pursue further experiments into avangion-hood while leaving behind a "true" democracy. Literally the only Sorcerer-King actively trying to make his shithole of a world a better place.
*'''Daskinor''' - Kim Jong Il's Dark Sun doppelganger. Ruler of Eldaarich, this <strike>paranoid asshat</strike> omnipotent and benevolent God King keeps his city <strike>on permanent lockdown</strike> safe and protected from all the evils of Athas. Literally built massive walls to close off his city from the outside world <strike>thanks to his insanity starting to leak into the city as a whole</strike> because it is totally self-sufficient and wants for nothing the outside world has to offer. Especially not water and food.
*'''Dregoth''' - The undead dragon sorcerer-king, ruler of Giustenal. This dude got ganked by a bunch of the other Sorcerer-Kings who were tired of him bragging about the size of his <strike>cock</strike> book of spells a couple thousand years ago, but his loyal Templars brought him back as a Lich, and he's just been chilling underground unbeknownst to every else, for quite some time now. Created the [[dray]] race, which he hopes will one day completely replace humanity as the new "master race."

===Cosmology===
Athas is... ''different'' to the standard realm in the [[Great Wheel]]. Looking across various sources (most prominently "Defilers & Preservers" and "Earth, Air, Fire & Water" for Dark Sun itself) reveals that Athas is connected to only a small handful of planes; the Gray, the Black, and the [[Elemental Planes]]. Further differentiating its cosmology, whilst Athas retains connections to the four standard "True" Elemental Planes (Earth/Air/Water/Fire), it only has four Paraelemental Planes consisting of Magma, Rain, Silt and Sun.

The Gray is essentially the afterlife of Athas; a dreary, endless limbo realm of dismal mists, which serves to blockade Athas from both the [[Ethereal Plane]] proper and the [[Astral Plane]]. Depending on who you ask, it's either Athas's "Border Ethereal" or an analogue region for the Astral Plane.

The Black is analogous to the [[Plane of Shadow]], and mostly serves as a prison for Rajaat.

It's noted that Athas is unusually close to the [[Elemental Planes]], and this is, in part, why the world is so screwed up.

Athas can actually interact with the [[Great Wheel]], and be reached by [[Spelljammer]]s, but it's extremely difficult to do so - the whole thing is effectively a sealed zone, as if something trapped the entire pocket of reality inside a locked room.
* The [[Githyanki]] are known to have opened a portal to Athas and tried to invade... then they ran home with their tails between their legs and closed up the portal, before leaving behind the proverbial sign saying "Do not open this fucking door!" Athasian [[Gith]] are believed to be the degenerate remnants of githyanki stranded here as a result of the failed invasion.
* The Mists of [[Ravenloft]] can also reach into Athas and pluck victims into its embrace. There's even an Athasian [[Domain of Dread]] called "Kalid-Ma". It says something about life on Athas that being stuck in the [[Demiplane of Dread]] is actually perceived by most Athasians as a step up.
* The [[World Serpent Inn]] hosts at least one known two-way portal to Athas.

==Controversies==
As beloved as it is by the fandom, Dark Sun has... its share of base-breaking lore. Three major things tend to be either loved or hated by fans of the game.

===The Halfling Conspiracy===
A lot of people are less than impressed with the revelation that [[halfling]]s were the precursor race and that Dark Sun became such a fucked up world because one psycho wanted to go back to the days when halflings (and technically thri-kreen) were the only extant race.

===Beyond the Prism Pentad===
As mentioned above, the changes of the Prism Pentad tie-in novels really messed up with the status quo of Dark Sun. Beyond killing off a bunch of Sorcerer-Kings, it also created the Cerulean Storm, an enormous perpetual rain storm wandering randomly across Athas, bringing water back to the planet but at the same time doing so with such violence that it's almost as bad as the original drought.

===Mind Lords of the Last Sea===
This module, which reveals there is one last sea on Athas, is pretty controversial for various different reasons. Such as the existence of a place where a secretive bunch of psion-lords use telepathy to force people to comply with social standards, the existence of a large body of water on Athas, the fact that it retcons that [[lizardfolk]] aren't extinct (but then, ssurans were basically fireproof lizardfolk under a different name all along and nobody batted an eye at them), or the fact that it has actual telepathic dolphins and surfing rules in it.

On the other hand, some people like the idea of doing ''The Prisoner'' by way of ''Mad Max'', and the actual content isn't quite as stupid and poorly-written as its reputation suggests, with lots of discussion of how many Athasians would react to seeing the titular Last Sea when enough water to fill a bathtub is wealth beyond measure.

==3e Dark Sun==
While by [[Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition|third edition]] official support for non-[[Forgotten Realms]], non-[[Greyhawk]] settings had largely been dropped, two separate updates for Dark Sun material exist.

In a surprisingly cool move by Hasbro, fan groups were given official permission to update several [[Planescape|orphaned]] [[Spelljammer|settings]] to 3rd edition for free ([[Ravenloft|or one not so free in exchange for a check]]). In Dark Sun's case this spawned Athas dot org and its several PDFs updating the setting.

A separate update was published in [[Dragon Magazine]] #319. This one is far more divergent than the fan conversion, setting the timeline forward 300 years to restore the status quo after the Prism Pentad fuckup. This update uses the standard 3rd edition class lineup, making Templars just Clerics of their respective Dragon King instead of their own class and having [[Paladin]]s actually exist. Since the psioncs book was already needed for psionics, Half-Giant and Thri-Keen, the other races from that book have been thrown in for the hell of it. One unusual mechanical change is how it adapted the higher than average ability score generation Dark Sun used and that several of its races were already printed with [[Level Adjustment]]: The conversion decided to give ''everyone'' [[Level Adjustment]] +1, giving the non-LA races (like [[Human]]) extra stuff to bring them up to LA +1.

==4e Dark Sun==
Surprisingly, when Dark Sun made it into 4th edition, it was welcomed with great warmth and enthusiasm. This might be because WoTC had learned from the mistakes of Forgotten Realms and so whilst there were changes to 4e, none of them were as setting-breaking as the Spellplague, and many actually regarded these changes as being for the better.

What changed? Well...

'''Cosmology''': Athas is now a world where, during the [[Dawn War]], the [[Archomental|Primordials]] won and killed the [[God]]s. The [[Elemental Chaos]] replaces the [[Elemental Planes]]. The Gray is still around, and is the local name for the [[Shadowfell]], but the Black isn't mentioned. If one makes it through the Gray into the [[Astral Sea]], it's empty; the Gods are dead, their halls are abandoned, and there's nothing but ancient celestial ruins and cosmic battlefields to scavenge through. The [[Feywild]] exists, but has been almost completely destroyed by defiling and its remaining pockets are zealously guarded by the Eladrin. The moons of Ral and Guthay are rich, verdant worlds in their own right, according to astrologers, but beyond the rumored existence of unpredictable "moongates" that allow access to them, nothing more is mentioned.

'''Races''': [[Half-Giant]]s lost their ADHD and are now a reflavoring of [[Goliath]]s, mechanically. [[Dray]] went from an obscure race hidden in one module to being mentioned in the core, although mechanically they're just reskinned [[Dragonborn]]. [[Eladrin]] and [[Tiefling]]s are in the setting now, as the bitter survivors of the nearly-destroyed [[Feywild]] and fiend-worshipping cannibal raiders from the depths of the wastelands respectively. A [[Dragon Magazine]] article states that there are [[Genasi]] on Athas who were originally created to rule the mortal races for the Primordials after they fucked off, but they screwed up so badly they were overthrown and then Rajaat came along. Some races (and horses) previously stated to be extinct are present.

'''Classes''': All Divine classes are officially Not Present Here, although there is a sidebar for being The Last Cleric In The World if you really must. [[Shaman]]s, [[Ardent]]s, [[Bard]]s and [[Warlord]]s take up the healer's niche. A new pair of themes, the Elemental Cleric and the Primal Guardian, fill the niches of the Elemental Cleric and the Athasian Druid from AD&D. Defiling is no longer a variant [[Wizard]], but a power that any Arcane caster can risk using. [[Templar]]s went from their own class to being your choice of either a theme or a subclass for the [[Warlock]].

'''History''': The halflings as precursors is no longer explicit fact.

'''Timeline Reset''': The "default setting" in Dark Sun is now just after the Sorcerer-King of Tyr was assassinated by unknown parties. There is NO metaplot, no timeline advancements, nothing; officially, all Dark Sun 4e material is set at this starting point and it's up to the individual DM to decide what, if anything, has happened since Kalak was killed. And there was Much Rejoicing.

==Plot Holes==
Hey, you remember that bit up at the top where Elemental Shamans summon water elementals for people to drink, since there's (supposed to be) no water left on the planet? Well the thing is, assuming everyone's bladders and sweat glands are functioning properly, this by itself should logically be enough to gradually repair Athas.

That said, as bodies of water would gradually start to form and grow more accessible (and these would be bodies of actual ''water'', not urine and sweat, as there's a reason Earth's oceans are still composed of water and not prehistoric dinosaur urine), there'd be less and less reason to keep an elemental-summoning shaman around. "Why should I pay that shaman for a glass when I can walk to the lake for free?" So the rate of repair would get slower and slower as time went on, possibly completely plateauing before the job was finished.

Of course plugging this hole is as simple as positing a route for water to be lost from the environment. Maybe sandtrout are sequestering it underground. Maybe the Primordials are taking some to be dicks. Maybe water from elementals eventually drifts back to the Elemental Chaos.

A tougher plot hole to work out is, how has no one figured out that full body robes are much better protection in the desert than going borderline-naked? Do the locals all have inherited UV protection? Does the sun not shine in the UV spectrum so sunstroke isn’t a thing?

==External links==
[http://darksun.wikia.com/ Darksun Wiki] - <strike>a wiki almost as empty as this one</strike> {{BLAM|HERESY!'''*BLAM*'''}} <br>
[http://athas.org Athas.org] - conversion for 3.5, <strike>scheduled to be complete just after 5e comes out.</strike> Sweet shit, it's actually finished!

{{D&D-Settings}}

[[Category:Dark Sun]]

Ravenloft

2021-06-02T23:48:07Z

2601:203:400:CE90:EC97:9646:1D69:3355:

[[Image:RLlogo.gif|center]]
{{Grimdark}}
[[Image:Ravenloft.jpg|400px|thumb|right|Count [[Strahd von Zarovich]], contemplating [[Castlevania|the miserable little pile of secrets that is a man]].]]
{{topquote|What is hell? Hell is oneself, / Hell is alone, the other figures in it / Merely projections.|T.S. Elliot}}

''Trapped in another world, each area of the world is its own little [[plane]] of existence, ruled by the baron! [[Vampire]]s, [[ghoul]]s, [[zombie]]s, [[wight]]s, [[undead]]s, [[witch]]es, horrible [[gypsy]] curses, and no way out - DUN DUN DUUUUUN''

'''Ravenloft''' is a campaign setting made of lofts and ravens... well, ok, it's a [[Dungeons & Dragons]] campaign setting that replaces the shiny high fantasy heroism cliches with 19th century Gothic literature cliches. Ravenloft itself is a [[demiplane]], divided into several domains, each ruled by a different "[[Darklord]]" and inspired by traditional horror tales. While "Castle Ravenloft" is the home of [[Strahd von Zarovich]], this article will refer to the entire plane/setting as Ravenloft for convenience, though the [[Demiplane of Dread]] Ravenloft setting is pretty much the best, with the instanced versions usually revolving around Strahd.

==History==
Ravenloft began as a 1e D&D module officially titled [[I6: Ravenloft]], created by [[Tracy_Hickman|the Hickmans]] fresh off the [[I3-4-5: Desert of Desolation]] series. Their reason for Ravenloft was that they believed that [[vampire]]s had become trite, overused and mundane, so they sought to go back to classic Gothic Horror novels and Universal Horror films to make a "truly scary" vampire (it ''was'' 1983 when they published it). Module I6 was later followed by the [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]] module [[I10: Ravenloft II: The House on Gryphon Hill]], which was based on outlines that the Hickmans had written before leaving [[TSR]] and was officially credited to them; this introduced the rudiments of the later domain of Mordent and the future darklord Azalin the [[Lich]].

Both modules were huge successes, which inspired [[TSR]] to build upon lore from the two modules and craft the entire Ravenloft campaign setting. In AD&D, the setting's nature as a patchwork of prisons was played up; the default assumption was that it would be for "Weekend in Hell" games (a term the setting coined), where players would be outlanders swept up in the mists and jerked around by the DM before managing to escape. Ravenloft was loaned out to [[White Wolf]]'s [[Sword & Sorcery]] sub-company as part of 3rd edition, and Arthaus Publications drastically expanded the Ravenloft setting, making it into a more cohesive setting that functioned on its own, rather than being so cross-over defined; Ravenloft D20's assumption was that PCs should aim to be natives, and they toned down the [[grimdark]] to further facilitate that. Unfortunately, probably because of the fact it wasn't [[Wizards of the Coast]] who did the expanding, the D20 version of Ravenloft has been ignored by WoTC. It's not like they followed on from 2e-3.5 anyway in the 4e and 5e Ravenlofts. To note, the expedition to castle ravenloft module for 3.5 by WoTC is not canon (citation needed), and is simply a remake of the original adventure, the 2e demiplane of dread being the active plane of interest still rings true.

Ravenloft was reduced to just a few token mentions in the 4th edition, where Strahd appeared in the [[Open Grave]] [[splatbook]] and Domains of Dread were boiled back down to their "Weekend in Hell" idea as cursed realms within the [[Shadowfell]], but received a royal treatment in 5e with the release of [[Curse of Strahd]], an updated, rewritten release of the original I6 module. Or, this was the case until a new book was announced, see below.

Ironically, the Hickmans are notorious for hating the setting they ultimately created, in one part because of their notorious disdain for "crossovers" between D&D settings and for another because a different author for TSR wrote a very well-written novel - ''Knight of the Black Rose'' - in which [[Lord Soth]] of [[Dragonlance]] was made into a Darklord. Fans loved the idea, but in the end, he became the only Darklord ever to escape the Land of Mists when they first drew him back to Krynn, then killed him off so no one could have him.

The most important parts of Ravenloft are probably the contents on [[lich]] and [[vampire]] lore provided by professor [[Rudolph Van Richten]], the now deceased monster hunter of the demiplane, Ricky dick is known for getting back-stabbed by [[Vistani]] and being maybe too generous with the information he supplied in his works, on account of nearly getting his heart carved out by one of his best friends because he thought it was a good idea to detail almost all of the lich ritual requirements. In 3.5, you will find some of the salient abilities he wrote for Liches in Monsters of Faerun updated. He also literally wrote the book on several other Gothic monsters, namely [[therianthrope|werebeasts]], [[mummy|mummies]], [[golem]]s, [[fiend]]s and [[witch]]es - see [[Van Richten's Guide]].

When horror themes started becoming popular again in the years around 2010, people remembered again that Ravenloft existed. Wizards of the Coast reintroduced the world to the mainstream D&D cosmology by saying that its domains lie within a mirror-plane of the Prime Material, making the aforementioned connection device canon. There were also a bunch of [[Innistrad|imitators in settings and games where you really wouldn't expect it]].

So, yeah. If you like ''Wuthering Heights'', ''Ethan Frome'', or ''[[Castlevania]]'', you'll love Ravenloft. Fun fact; the Japanese version of the original NES Castlevania's cover art was basically ripped straight from the first Ravenloft cover art.

== What's Ravenloft like? ==
The setting has been described (by [[Counter Monkey|Noah Antwiler]]) as "Hell, but not for you."
[[Image:Count_Von_Count.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Contrary to popular opinion, ''detect evil'' does actually work in Ravenloft, but [[3.6_Roentgen|the world returns an integer]] and the spell expects a boolean.]]

The first rule of Ravenloft is not to touch anything, ever. Almost everything is cursed unless you saw someone pick it up and put it down without becoming a zombie, and even then that's no guarantee. Second, ''detect good'' and ''detect evil'' don't work and any other alignment detecting spell can only say if something is lawful or chaotic, so you can't use those spells to check if anything is safe. Third, beware of curses, as they're especially powerful things here, and anyone can place them if they're angry enough and get the Dark Powers' notice when they speak the curse. Anything that could be considered an "evil deed" or using certain spells (especially necromancy) pings the Dark Powers' attention and calls for a "Powers check," a percentile roll against a number depending on the act committed and the victim. Roll above the number and you're safe for now; roll below and the Dark Powers like what they see, "gifting" you with something that at first seems beneficial, but pushes you to commit more nefarious deeds while changing you into something monstrous, in turn provoking more Powers checks and pushing you farther down the path to becoming a Darklord in your own right. Basically, every evil deed is punished by karma. This means that it's entirely possible to lie, cheat, and steal your way into power, only to find yourself ironically cursed in a way that you can never have what you wanted that power for in the first place. Standard operating procedure is for you to be cursed to be alone or separated from one specific loved one - a wife, a son, etc. This is something detrimental in d&d where the likes of good, evil laws and chaos are cosmic forces that already have influence, case in point, the like of outsiders from the lower planes who have evil as a subtype cause actual ripples in reality when present in this plane, known as reality wrinkles, which can fuck a manner of things up in a local vicinity, and only adds to the sheer power evil has over anyone still decent and not dead-eyed demoralized within the Demi-plane of Dread.

Also, you can't leave unless the Dark Powers let you. There are rumors of other ways out, but they are always unclear and extremely dangerous to attempt. Attempting to use ''plane shift'' or other dimensional magic never get you out of Ravenloft; each domain is treated like its own plane, so you'll likely end up in a different domain instead. 3.5 allows to get in and out ''via'' OP1's [[World Serpent Inn]], which shows up in the Demiplane of Dread at certain set intervals. The WSI fistula pisses the Dark Powers off to no end to the point they immediately threaten and scare anyone away from the door that leads to the inn as and when it appears in their domains. This whole 'you can't get out unless we let you' schtick gave birth to so called [[Weekend in Hell]] adventures, where the players act like the unwitting pawns of the Dark Powers to torment a Darklord and are magnanimously granted a ticket out if they succeed without being corrupted themselves.

At the hands of a bad DM, 3.5's security-breach allows spells and powers unique to the plane to seep elsewhere, like into the ''Forgotten Realms''. One of the prime reasons that make the Demiplane of Dread so dangerous is that it's home to spells so broken and dangerous, that if they became planes-wide knowledge everything could get screwed in a mere matter of days. A good example of this would be Strahd's unkillable zombies in the hands of a Dread Necromancer with the right feats, resulting in Zombies that never die, endlessly heal if limbs are severed, only to turn into more undead that also explode and heal other undead in an endless cycle. But the seepage problem wasn't a new one; it's long been known to ''any'' worldbuilder, since Pizarro first stepped into Peru. DMs with three neurons to rub together can rule that the spell or ability in question simply ceases to function anywhere outside its domain of origin - so restraining Strahd's super-groovy zombies, in our example, to Strahd's prison.

Incidentally, as a result of the "no one can leave" thing, using conjuration magic is an ''extremely bad idea'', as most summoned entities will be quite upset when they realize they can't go back home when the spell expires - and they will usually take their anger out on the conjurer with lethal results.

Fun fact: Only three prisoners have ever managed to escape from Ravenloft permanently. One is Vecna, of interest because the PCs can track his career in a series of adventure modules, culminating in that more-''Planescape''-than-actual-''Ravenloft'' module ''[[Die, Vecna, Die!]]''. Another was [[Lord Soth]], formerly of [[Dragonlance]]. One more was [[Jander Sunstar]], but he eventually killed himself out of guilt. Soth's case is the most interesting: he escapes by '''not giving a crap'''. To explain: Soth eventually accepts that he deserves to be tormented by the Dark Powers and admits his failures. He refuses to rise to anything they present him with, be it despair or hope; eventually, realizing that it's pointless to keep him around since he won't respond to anything they do and that he's reached a state resembling repentance the Dark Powers release him from Ravenloft after manipulating events so his downfall would be re-enacting in a way that he could no longer numb himself to the evil of his actions by living in the past. One final thing worth mentioning on the subject of things leaving Ravenloft is the Red Death of [[Masque of the Red Death]]. An early preview and [https://web.archive.org/web/20120222014403/http://www.montecook.com/cgi-bin/page.cgi?int_dnd30_WWC a developer] state it was a Dark Power banished by the others for some violation of their code of conduct.

== The Darklords' Dark Secret ==

Those Dark Lords we keep mentioning above? They're the rulers of each land (most of them in fact as well as in spirit), but also prisoners of them as well. The entire plane is composed entirely of innumerable prisons, each one for something that really deserves it, and is caught in some kind of ironic hell as a result. The DM could connect this plane into your regular adventure just by saying, "thick mists rise up around you," and this meant you were royally fucked. The Dark Powers that control Ravenloft can steal people, places, and objects from other planes and trap them within the [[Demiplane of Dread]]. If somebody somewhere in the planes commits a particularly heinous crime (for example, [[Strahd von Zarovich]], the first [[Darklord]], became a vampire and murdered his brother to take his fiancee Tatyana for himself, who committed suicide rather than submit to him), they will reach out with the Mists to claim that person, create a little pocket realm for them, using a copy of their current surroundings, brand new scenery, or even just abduct the surroundings as well. In any case, the person is bound to that new realm as its Darklord.

[[Darklord]]s have power, yes, but it's all ash in their mouths. The Dark Powers torment them by continuously dangling what their heart wishes for the most and they ''could'' have had just out of their reach. For instance: every generation, Strahd discovers a young woman who he believes is the reincarnation of Tatyana, but he always ends up responsible for her death. Azalin Rex, a powerful lich, is rendered incapable of learning new spells, utterly defeating the purpose of his undead transformation. One of Victor Mordenheim's [[Flesh Golem|creations]] nearly killed his wife, whom he cannot save from the brink of death, instead using [[God-Emperor of Mankind|an array of complicated machinery to keep her just barely alive, yet in constant agony]] while he continually fails to resuscitate her; his creation Adam on the other hand seeks acceptance from the world but the very land rejects him. Vlad Drakov, once a feared mercenary leader on [[Dragonlance|Krynn]], is surrounded by lands ruled by women and fops rather than the great military leaders he seeks the respect of, while the only real enemy he can see continually defeats him on the field of battle and he doesn't know that he can't even set foot on that soil if he should conquer it. Etc, etc...

The Darklords can also close the borders of their realms through some thematic means, preventing anyone from entering or leaving their domain; for example, Strahd can raise a choking fog along his borders, the same one that surrounds the village of Barovia, through which only creatures that do not breathe or have a special antidote can pass safely. If used right, this ability can increase the tension and raise the stakes for the game; used poorly, it smacks of [[railroading]].

==Races==
[[File:Ravenloft 3e PC Lineup.jpeg|thumb|right|300px|The complete cast of races, as depicted in the 3e Ravenloft Campaign Setting.]]

As a [[Dungeons & Dragons]] setting, most of the classic neo-[[Tolkien]] races are playable options in a Ravenloft campaign. [[Human]], [[Elf]], [[Dwarf]], [[Gnome]], [[Halfling]] and [[Half-Elf]] are all present and accounted for. But, its "Gothic Horror" slant does lead to a few tweaks, particularly in 3rd edition.

Firstly, this is the setting that introduced the concept of [[Outsider Rating]], which is literally a stat to govern how much you spook the ignorant peasant-folk; this idea began in 2nd edition, but it was codified in 3rd edition.

Secondly, the setting gave us the [[Half-Vistani]], one of the most pointless races ever.

Finally, in 3rd edition, the [[half-orc]] was removed under the explanation that the [[orc]] itself did not fit a Gothic setting. Instead, its place was taken by the [[Caliban (Ravenloft)|Caliban]]; cursed, deformed, wretched [[mutant]]s. Okay, they were literally just cosmetic reskins over the half-orc's statblock (which was widely considered the shittiest in 3rd edition) and it took a fan to actually explore their full potential in [[Quoth the Raven]], but hey, at least you gotta give [[White Wolf]] credit for trying!

Despite the fact that the setting was literally made by a horny vampire lusting for a human woman, [[dhampir]]s have '''never''' appeared as a PC race in Ravenloft. This may not be as big of a mistake as some of the ones made in [[Planescape]], and certainly doesn't compare to the existence of [[Kender]] and [[Tinker Gnome]]s (but then, what ''can''?), but it shows how badly [[TSR]] could fuck up when it came to making an interesting setting.

==Religions==
Religion in the Demiplane of Dread is a strange thing indeed. While there are many religions present, the Demi-Plane of Dread seems to have been specifically isolated from any kind of divine intervention beyond the absolute minimum needed for faith to exist. Nobody's entirely sure how clerics get their spells in light of this, but some believe they are granted by the Dark Powers themselves, who choose to impersonate the gods for reasons nobody can fathom.

Established faiths of the Demiplane include:

'''Benevolent Faiths:'''
* [[The Ancestral Choir]]
* [[Belenus]]
* [[Divinity of Mankind]]
* [[Ezra]]
* [[Hala]]
* [[The Morninglord]]
* [[The Overseer]]

'''Malign Faiths:'''
* [[Erlin]]
* [[The Eternal Order]]
* [[The Lawgiver]]
* [[The Spider Queen]]
* [[The Wolf God]]
* [[Yutow]]
* [[Zhakata]]

'''Pantheons:'''
* Akari Pantheon (Egyptian)
* Forlorn Pantheon (Celtic)
* Rajian Pantheon (Hindu)

==Spin-Offs==
Do you think that Ravenloft doesn't double down on its [[Historical Fantasy]] roots hard enough? Do you think spellcasters need even ''more'' nerfing? Are you just so masochistic that you think Ravenloft is too soft? Then [[TSR]] has you covered with [[Masque of the Red Death]], a full-fledged [[Gothic Horror]] [[Historical Fantasy]] setting using the D&D crunch that manages to twist and contort its rules into something almost as punishing and depowering as [[Call of Cthulhu]].

==5th Edition Revival==
Ravenloft was the first setting other than the [[Forgotten Realms]] to get some official attention paid to it with the adventure module [[Curse of Strahd]], a reimagining of the original [[I6: Castle Ravenloft]] module that we get every single edition.

In late February 2021, it was announced that an official 5e campaign book for the [[Demiplane of Dread]] would be launching in May 2021, title [[Van Richten's Guide]] to Ravenloft.

The setting is receiving a major overhaul to remove or revise elements that were unpopular with fans or are now considered problematic due to changing values. Or, at least according to Twitter and their sect of the fandom. Various changes such as lazy gender swaps, thematic heavy rewrites (such as Falkovnia, Dementlieu and Valachan), toning down of horror (with comparisons to Scooby-Doo), turning the Core setting into isolated Islands of Terror and erasure of greater setting conflict has resulted in much ire from the fanbase. But, given the treatment of [[Jander Sunstar]] in the Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus module, many fans aren't surprised by the disregard for the Demiplane's lore. As such, for long time fans of the setting who don't feel Wizards of the Coast are improving things, it's an easy cause of [[rage]] and [[skub]]. In all fairness, much of this hatred started with the 4th Edition reboot of Ravenloft, to make it more inline with the new plane of the [[Shadowfell]]. It's safe to say that this ire isn't new, but this is just a new scratch on an old wound.

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[[Category:Ravenloft]]