Ravenloft: History and Timeline - Revision history

Bruce: /* 351-469: A Private Hell */

2015-01-14T07:22:03Z

351-469: A Private Hell

Bruce: /* Pre-351: The Time Before */

2015-01-14T06:46:20Z

Pre-351: The Time Before

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	By dawn, not a single soul was left alive within		By dawn, not a single soul was left alive within
	the castle walls. The Realm of Dread was born.		the castle walls. The Realm of Dread was born.

			== ''351-469: A Private Hell'' ==
			The domain of Barovia originally existed as
			an Island of Terror, alone in the Mists. Few
			records survive from this time.

			Strahd retreated from public life, and many
			Barovian villagers came to believe that he too had
			died. The few survivors of the massacre scattered
			throughout the domain, settling into new lives.
			Strahd spent the century learning the limits of his
			Mist-bound prison and adapting to undeath.

			Strahd also spent these years hunting down the
			traitorous Leo Dilisnya, who had excused himself
			early from the wedding, claiming illness.
			According to some tales, Strahd finally found the
			wizened Leo hiding in a remote monastery, nearly
			five decades after the ill-fated wedding. Most accounts
			agree that, wherever Leo Dilisnya is now,
			his torment has never ended. Leo's family
			survived, however. To this day, the Dilisnya name
			is renowned for cunning and infamous for
			duplicity.

Bruce at 06:37, 14 January 2015

2015-01-14T06:37:16Z

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	those found in clusters or Islands of Terror, may		those found in clusters or Islands of Terror, may
	still track time through their own reckoning.		still track time through their own reckoning.

			== ''Pre-351: The Time Before'' ==
			The true origins of the Realm of Dread remain
			a mystery. Through the veil of allegory, the creation
			myths of numerous traditions, including the
			legends of the Vistani, hint that the Dark Powers
			and their sinister realm may be as ancient as dread
			itself. Sifting a common theme from these often
			contradictory tales, the Realm of Dread may have
			crept through innumerable eons, forever ebbing
			and flowing in an eternal cycle of expansion and
			decay. If so, then the creation of the domain of
			Barovia merely marked the birth of a new cycle of
			torment — and the death of whatever came before.

			However, the few sages who delve into
			Ravenloft's arcane origins note that no reliable
			record of a domain predating the creation of
			Barovia has ever been found. In their learned
			opinion, the creation of the Realm of Dread can be
			traced back some four hundred years to a single
			world on the Material Plane. Little is now known
			about this world beyond the name of one of its
			kingdoms: Barovia.

			According to Barovian records, Strahd von
			Zarovich was born in the year 299 BC. As the
			eldest son in an aristocratic line, he obeyed tradition
			and entered the military as a child, rising
			steadily in the ranks.

			In the same year Strahd became a general, a
			horde of pillaging barbarians, the Tergs, invaded
			Barovia and drove Strahd's family from their ancestral
			lands. Strahd rallied the tattered Barovian
			forces, driving the Tergs back in a grueling and
			bloody conflict that would last decades. Strahd's
			youth had long since been spent by the time his
			weary army defeated the last of the Terg warlords.
			As the noble houses of Barovia struggled to
			rebuild from their losses, Strahd claimed
			sovereignty over the lands he had liberated from
			the Tergs as his reward and settled into the
			mountain fortress of the last Terg, dubbing it
			Castle Ravenloft.

			Count Strahd's new subjects hailed him as a
			conquering hero, but the decades of war and the
			endless parade of death had hardened Strahd's
			heart. His reign, like his war-torn life, held no
			room for compassion.

			Strahd called for his scattered relatives to join
			him at Castle Ravenloft and reestablish the proud
			von Zarovich lineage. It was then that Strahd first
			met his youngest brother, Sergei, a handsome and
			charming cleric a full quarter-century his junior.
			In Sergei, Strahd saw himself before the coming
			of the Tergs, and for the first time, he began to
			ponder his lost vitality.

			While living at Castle Ravenloft, Sergei met a
			local villager named Tatyana, a young woman as
			full of life and beauty as himself. Their love was
			immediate and pure. Sergei brought Tatyana to
			Strahd, announced their plans to wed, and asked
			for his eldest brother's blessing.

			Sergei's words struck Strahd a more crippling
			blow than that inflicted by any Terg warrior.
			Strahd was immediately enraptured with the
			simple girl, but she loved only Sergei, treating
			Strahd like a father. Tatyana's grace confronted
			Strahd with all the pleasures of life that war had
			denied him, and her love for Sergei tormented
			Strahd with his squandered youth. A desperate
			hatred for Sergei flared to life in Strahd's heart.

			This was when Strahd made his pact with
			death, as recorded in The Tome of Strahd. Strahd's
			account of the doomed wedding is largely
			accurate, but it neglects a few vital facts. One of
			the many guests invited to Castle Ravenloft was
			Leo Dilisnya, patriarch of a mercantile family still
			struggling to rebuild after the war. His entourage
			came to the wedding concealing crossbows,
			plotting to eradicate the rival von Zarovich line.

			The moment Strahd murdered Sergei with an
			assassin's blade, strange mists descended on Castle
			Ravenloft and flowed across the land, forming the
			domain of Barovia. When Strahd expressed his
			love to Tatyana, confessing his crime, she fled
			from him in horror, throwing herself from the
			castle walls. As Strahd watched her fall, Leo's
			assassins launched their attack — but Strahd's
			bloody pact had forever freed him from the
			indignity of death. As the poison-tipped bolts
			pierced his body, his heart ceased to beat and he
			became a vampire. All his hopes destroyed, Strahd
			had nothing left but fury. He rampaged through
			the castle, slaughtering guests and assassins alike.
			By dawn, not a single soul was left alive within
			the castle walls. The Realm of Dread was born.

Bruce: /* Introduction */

2015-01-14T06:32:44Z

Introduction

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	worlds or entirely fabricated by the Dark Powers is		worlds or entirely fabricated by the Dark Powers is
	a matter best left to the philosophers.		a matter best left to the philosophers.

			Through long tradition, most lands of the
			Realm of Dread have adopted the Barovian calendar
			(BC) to mark the passing of the years. This
			book does the same. Isolated domains, such as
			those found in clusters or Islands of Terror, may
			still track time through their own reckoning.

Bruce at 06:31, 14 January 2015

2015-01-14T06:31:51Z

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	''"Guides us by vanities."''<br>		''"Guides us by vanities."''<br>
	—- T. S. Eliot, "Gerontion"		—- T. S. Eliot, "Gerontion"

			== ''Introduction'' ==
			The study of Ravenloft's past can prove a
			maddening exercise. When a new domain forms in
			the Mists, its denizens appear with complete
			memories of full lives, and their culture may
			record a history that stretches back centuries
			before the domain's actual creation. Whether these
			"false histories" are real and drawn from other
			worlds or entirely fabricated by the Dark Powers is
			a matter best left to the philosophers.

Bruce at 06:30, 14 January 2015

2015-01-14T06:30:33Z

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	;[[Ravenloft: The Demiplane of Dread]]		;[[Ravenloft: The Demiplane of Dread]]
			== ''Quote'' ==
			''"History has many cunning passages, contrived corridors,"''<br>
			''"And issues, deceives with whispering ambitions,"''<br>
			''"Guides us by vanities."''<br>
			—- T. S. Eliot, "Gerontion"

Bruce at 01:40, 14 January 2015

2015-01-14T01:40:21Z

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	; ~~'''~~[[Ravenloft: The Demiplane of Dread]]~~'''~~		;[[Ravenloft: The Demiplane of Dread]]

Bruce: Created page with "; '''Ravenloft: The Demiplane of Dread'''"

2014-02-06T23:27:44Z

Created page with "; '''Ravenloft: The Demiplane of Dread'''"

New page

; '''[[Ravenloft: The Demiplane of Dread]]'''