Editing Darklord (section)

==The Nightmare Court==
The Nightmare Court is one of Ravenloft's most mysterious, enigmatic and eldritch Darklords... which means that, like the original Illithid God-Brain, [[TSR]] was too focused on making them spooky and powerful to actually tell us anything about who they are, where they come from, or why we should give a damn about them... you know, the things that make for a good "sympathetic" Gothic Horror villain, ala [[Strahd von Zarovich]]?

Introduced in the [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]] boxed set "The Nightmare Lands", the Nightmare Court rules over the titular Island of Terror, which is a place where the [[Demiplane of Dread]] touches the [[Plane of Dreams]]. As a result, the Nightmare Court are, whilst physically stuck in the Nightmare Lands, able to reach out and infiltrate the dreams of sleepers throughout the multiverse, not just in the Demiplane of Dread. Within the Nightmare Lands, they occupy a hellish cityscape known as the City of Nod, with each Courtier claiming a specific landmark as their center of influence and dwelling place.

In terms of being a Darklord, we know what the Nightmare Court ''do'' - which is to enter dreams and turn them into hideous nightmares that can slowly drive the victim into a gibbering lunatic - but we don't know ''why'' other than a vague implication of a need to feed on terror combined with natural sadistic urges. There are six members to the Court, with their precise relationship being unknown. The Nightmare Man is seemingly their leader, but it's unclear if the other five Courtiers are lesser "demilords", powerful servants, independent avatars of the Nightmare Man, or something else entirely.

'''The Nightmare Man''' is the ruler of the Nightmare Court, and appears as a skeletal, pale-fleshed, silver-haired, glowing-eyed humanoid figure clad in a tattered robe made of spider-silk, which is maintained by a small army of spiders that live on his body and continually reweave it, ensuring that all of his features remain obscured. These spiders are actually "Dark Dreamweavers", a kind of "dream [[elemental]]" that literally create the foundations of nightmares. It's generally accepted that he is the "true" Darklord of the Nightmare Court, for his powers outstrip those of his courtiers, and whereas they require specific kinds of dreams to feed from, he is sustained by any nightmare that he wishes. He also has the most obvious curse of all of the Nightmare Courtiers; he is an artist without any talent, a frustrated creator without the least spark of creativity, reduced to simply copying and replicating that which he has seen others do, and whose observations can only be made from a distance. Dwelling in the dreadful ''Grieving Cathedral'', he constantly flits through the nightmarish dreamscapes of those victimized by himself and the rest of the court, but is cursed to be incapable of doing anything other than watching what he sees.
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'''The Ghost Dancer''' is a strikingly beautiful, ethereal young woman in her late teens to early twenties. Though translucent and constantly emitting wisps of mist, she has the appearance of cold, dead-looking pale flesh and short, blonde hair. Above her full, pale lips, her eyes are hidden beneath a perpetual shadow. She weaers a tattered and faded ballerina costume, whose once elegant design is covered in pale blood splatters, ranging from shapeless smears to very ominously clear handprints. She never speaks, although it's unclear if she is incapable or simply voluntarily mute, and is very much a [[ghost]], to the point she can be turned by a [[Cleric]]. She reigns over the ''Theatre Macabre'', where she puts on endless dancing displays for a mute audience of [[undead]] spectators. When she goes dream-stalking, she is drawn to dreams rich in guilt and shame, attacking the minds of those who have been wracked by guilt for their actions towards others. She tends to take her time when tormenting others, often building up a narrative of hope that whatever they regret can be changed, only to plunge them into despair with a cruel twist ending.
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'''Hypnos''' appears as a tall, stately gentleman of high station, dressed impeccably in a tailored suit... a perfect Victorian aristocrat, were it not for the fact that he is eternally trapped within a coffin of translucent glass, arms folded across his chest and left eye closed as if sleeping - or dead. Only his monocle-shielded right eye remains eternally open, blazing with a maniacal light. Obviously, he's pretty ineffectual at physical combat - even the Ghost Dancer is more of a brawler than he is - but he wields a deadly mixture of natural abilities, [[magic]] and [[psionics]]. His personal palace is the ''Spire of Sleep'', a white tower within the City of Nod surrounded by a moat that gives off stupefying vapors that induce sleep in whoever is exposed to them. He feeds on failure, humiliation, frustration and inadequacy, going after dreamers who are plagued by feelings of being outclassed, embarrassed or otherwise proven inept. Hypnos likes to start the torments slow and build things up to a drastic, unwinnable confrontation.
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'''Morpheus''' resembles a demented [[genie]]; a red-skinned, powerfully built man with dark hair and eyes, a thin moustache, pointed ears, and a lower body that consists of trailing vapor. Like Hypnos, he dresses in an impeccably tailored suit from the waist up. Despite looking strong, Morpheus is actually pretty inept physically, and relies on summoned grunts or magic in a fight. A sadist with ADHD, Morpheus revels in chaos, change and misery; the lord of the ''Forest of Everchange'', he feeds on dreams of madness, and more than any other Nightmare Courtier relishes in bringing insanity to mortals. Surreality and frequent, nonsensical changes and torments are the "signature" of Morpheus' attacks, as he strives to break their mind with the sheer weight of witnessed unreality.
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'''Mullonga''' is a [[hag]] in every way except the type; a hunchbacked, leathery-skinned old Aboriginal Australian woman , she looks like a parched old witch, clad in animal skins and carrying a gnarled staff wherever she goes. Master of the ''Ghettoes of Nod'', Mullonga feeds on fear in all its many forms, and thus has many methods of tormenting her victims. She seems to evidence a personal preference for animal-related nightmares, and for dreams about being pursued by an implacable unstoppable killer. 
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Mullonga The Nightmare Lands.jpg
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'''The Rainbow Serpent''' is the weirdest of the Nightmare Court, for it doesn't even attempt to appear as a humanoid. Instead, it takes the form of a 4ft long winged snake, whose brilliant red scales are interrupted by bands of yellow, black, and deep blue. Its eyes gleam with an all-too-human intelligence, and its mouth is curled into a perpetual leering, mocking smile. The Rainbow Serpent claims the reptile-infested ''Park Primeval'' as its place of power, and is usually to be found wrapped around the Tree of Suspicion at its heart. This Nightmare Courtier feeds on feelings of betrayal, paranoia and insecurity, and likes to drag the dream-selves of close companions into the same shared dreamscape so as to play them off of each other.
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In addition to the above, there's one more Nightmare Courtier of somewhat dubious canonicity. The [[Masque of the Red Death]] supplement ''A Guide to Transylvania'' features a new entity that it insists is an official member of the Nightmare Court, which is another of the little threads that tie [[TSR]]'s [[Gothic Horror]] settings together. There are no mechanics for this one, however, only lore. '''The Redheaded Child''' takes the form of an emaciated, rag-clad boy with, of course, brilliant red hair. He feeds on bitter nostalgia, creating dreams that bring the victims to their childhoods and fill them with, quote "sorrow for innocence lost and happy times long gone", pushing those he visits to become increasingly focused on things like deceased loved ones, childhood crushes (especially those that never went anywhere), and missed opportunities. This causes them to become increasingly distracted and prone to dangerous accidents in the real world. He is noted for his tenacity, visiting a chosen victim night after night whereas the other Nightmare Courtiers generally get bored after a couple of visits. Luckily, he can be driven off by doing "mundane adult tasks", such as washing bedsheets, repairing a leaky roof, or working in the fields, which supposedly bolster the victim's focus on the present to the point that it sours their dreams and sends him looking for food elsewhere.