Darklord

The Darklords are the rulers and prisoners of the plane of Ravenloft, from the D&D setting of the same name.

You might be wondering "How are they rulers and prisoners at the same time?" The reason for this is simple: each Darklord was pulled into the plane by the nebulous forces known only as the Dark Powers after an especially heinous deed, which reshape a part of the plane into a pocket realm tailored to their crimes. In his own realm, a Darklord has absolute power over everything except whatever they desire most- which is always ever so slightly out of reach to amplify their torment further.

Notable Darklords

Strahd von Zarovich

Darklord of Barovia, and the first Darklord to be introduced to the setting- in fact, its named after his own castle.

Originally the the conqueror of a region of the same name, Strahd came to lust after a woman called Tatyana who rejected him in favor of his younger brother Sergei. Strahd took this very badly; badly enough that at some point he made what he called "a pact with Death" that turned him to a vampire in a desperate attempt to restore his youth. This too failed to win her over, and on the day Tatyana was to be married to Sergei Strahd killed him and drove her to suicide.

His realm is a copy of Barovia, which he has absolute power over to the point where he can enter any private home uninvited (since he owns them all). However, he's cursed to have the events leading to his damnation repeat themselves forever- once every generation he will encounter a woman who he believes to be Tatyana's reincarnation, only to be rejected by her and become responsible for her death once more.

Azalin Rex

Darklord of Darkon. A powerful mage who inherited the rule of the city-state of Knurl, his draconic rule culminated in the execution of his son when he was caught freeing political prisoners. Soon afterward, Azalin became a lich and devoted himself to searching for a spell that could resurrect the dead, in the hopes that he could revive his son and attempt to retrain him so he might be as merciless as himself.

As soon as he was taken into Ravenloft he lost the ability to learn any new magic at all- a terrible thing for any magic user, and even worse for a lich like him. This power over memory affects anyone else who enters Darkon as well; staying there for more than three months at a time causes a visitor's memories to be erased and replaced with false ones of spending one's whole life in Darkon.

Vlad Drakov

Darklord of Falkovia. He was originally the leader of the mercenaries called the Talons of the Hawk in Krynn. For their wanton brutality and bloodlust, they were taken into Ravenloft and claimed Falkovia for themselves (after a failed invasion of Darkon that was repulsed by Azalin's undead).

This rivalry with Azalin has since become Drakov's curse, though he seems unaware of it. While four other countries surround him, Drakov considers them "women and fops" not worth the effort of invasion and instead obsesses over an enemy he has no way of defeating. And even if he did somehow win, no Darklord can ever leave his own realm so he would never actually get to conquer it himself.

Dr. Victor Mordenheim/Adam

Darklord of Lamordia, of a sort. Like Frankenstein, Mordenheim sought to create life and was certain that a soul was not necessary for it to exist. To show him the error of his ways, the gods saw fit to endow the doctor's creation with a soul- specifically, his own soul. The newly created flesh golem was dubbed Adam, and it soon grew jealous of the love that his maker's wife and daughter had for him and resolved to kidnap the former. This failed, and instead Adam killed the doctor's daughter and forced his wife into a vegetative state. It was at that time that they were taken together into Ravenloft.

The now-soulless doctor resides in his own mansion, obsessively trying to revive his comatose-but-alive wife (who has herself long since gone mad due to her life support system causing her constant pain simply by being active. Note that this is not out of love, since he's little more than a construct at this point- it has become nothing more than a compulsion that has become his only reason for living. Meanwhile, Adam is now the ruler of an inhospitable realm inhabited solely by himself, forever cut off from the acceptance that he sought and rejected by the very land that he supposedly controls.

Dr. Frantisek Markov

Darklord of Markovia. Originally a pig farmer from Barovia, he grew increasingly obsessed with the anatomy of the pigs he butchered and began to perform bizarre experiments on them that wouldn't be out of place in a Haemonculus's laboratory. When his "subjects" inevitably died, he simply sold the meat without telling anyone what he had done to it first. Eventually his wife discovered his gruesome hobby and threatened to expose him, at which time she ended up becoming one of his experiments as well. After three days of vivisection, she finally expired- her corpse was so horrifically mangled that when it was first discovered it was mistaken for the remains of a monster. When Markov's involvement in her death became clear, the mists claimed him and made him a Darklord.

Fittingly, Markov's curse allows him to shapeshift into any animal form he wishes (save for his head, which remains human), but is incapable of assuming his original human form. As a result, he normally takes the shape of a gorilla in order to continue his increasingly deranged experiments without being impeded by a lack of thumbs. Said experiments culminated in the creation of the "Broken Ones"- animals (and the occasional unlucky human) that have been surgically mutilated into a human-animal hybrid form and given a semblance of intellect, similar to the Beast Folk of The Island of Dr. Moreau. Like said Beast Folk, they too are highly prone to reverting to their primal instincts and bestial appearance after only a few days.