Ravenloft: History and Timeline

Ravenloft: The Demiplane of Dread

Quote

"History has many cunning passages, contrived corridors,"
"And issues, deceives with whispering ambitions,"
"Guides us by vanities."
—- 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.

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.

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.

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.

470-546: Outlanders Arrive

As the decades wore on, the insular Barovians took note of the occasional appearance of "outlanders," strangers from beyond the Mists. Most of these stragglers were simple, lost wanderers. Some of these folk adapted to their new home, but others struggled to return to their own worlds. The latter usually disappeared. Perhaps they found their way home, but most Barovians believe they simply fell prey to the unnatural predators that lurk in the Barovian night. One group of powerful outlander heroes assaulted Castle Ravenloft, believing they could destroy the evil within. They were never seen again, their fates all too clear.

A few of these outlanders retain historical significance. The first of these new arrivals were the enigmatic tribes of the Vistani. According to legend, they first appeared at the stroke of midnight separating the years 469 and 470. The Vistani were soon feared and respected for their sixth sense and command over the Mists. The Vistani's leader, the wizened Madame Eva, soon forged an alliance with Count Strahd — a pact based on mutual need, not respect.

A few years after the arrival of the Vistani, a young boy named Martyn Pelkar emerged from the Svalich woods, claiming that a luminous, sylvan being had rescued him from the beasts that had slaughtered his parents. Though often dismissed as a madman, Pelkar would spend the rest of his life establishing what is today known as the Cult of the Morninglord.

The last of these significant outlanders is Azalin, a powerful wizard who emerged from the Mists in the sixth century

As with many outlanders before him, Azalin was obsessed with the goal of escaping Barovia. Strahd and Azalin formed a cautious alliance, and for the next four decades, Azalin — who now rules the kingdom of Darkon — dwelled in a remote tower overlooking Lake Zarovich, scrutinizing the planar fabric of the Land of Mists.

547-587: The Expanding Stain

After suffering nearly two centuries of isolation, Barovia was finally joined by new domains. Forlorn was the first to appear, melding with Barovia's southern border to form the first cluster. Curious Barovian explorers ventured into this new land, only to retreat from its twisted, inhuman inhabitants. Three decades later, the domain of Arak materialized to the northeast. Unlike monstrous Forlorn, Arak was home to several human towns, where the denizens told tales of dark elves and evil fey. The Barovians took their first, faltering steps toward trade, and the Barovian cluster began to grow into what would soon be called the Core.

In the autumn of 579, Mordent appeared to the west of Barovia, and the Core now had a coastline. Legends claim that Mordent's sudden appearance was somehow connected to Azalin and Strahd, who were attempting to open a portal to another world. Mordentish folklore does claim that both men visited their lands, where they became embroiled with the fate of a human alchemist and his Apparatus, a terrible artifact said to be able to rend and exchange mortal souls. Whether or not these tales contain any truth, Azalin and Strahd did finally end their fractious alliance soon after. Azalin entered the Mists and claimed a new domain, Darkon. The appearance of this vast land doubled the size of the Core.

Late in the sixth century, a blasted wasteland — the domain of Bluetspur — joined the Core near Forlorn. Half-mad human refugees fled into Barovia, doubling the population of Immol, and claimed their homes had been destroyed by a race of alien, brain-stealing entities. The southern lands of the Core became notorious as the realm of monsters.

Deeper in the Mists, new Islands of Terror appeared, including the desert realms of Har'Akir and Sebua and the foggy city of Paridon. The folk of most of these domains would go decades before learning that other lands lay beyond their Misty Border.

568-699: Scourge and Expansion

The fourth Century closed with an event of horrendous devastation that would be unmatched until the Requiem. In the spring of 588, a massive and violent sandstorm suddenly roiled to life in Arak's mountain passes. By the time the storm died out, all surface life in Arak had been destroyed. The storm even altered Arak's landscape, transplanting Mount Lament miles to the west to form the domain of Keening. Both of these desolate regions were deemed cursed and have been shunned by sensible travelers ever since.

The Century following the Scourge of Arak was marked by explosive growth. A dozen new domains joined the Core, sprouting like tumors, and were matched by just as many Islands of Terror. The Mists withdrew to reveal the Sea of Sorrows, leading to the steady trade of goods and ideas between Mordent, Lamordia, and Darkon and ush-ering the northwestern Core into a new age of enlightenment.

After having been scattered to the winds, the Dilisnya family gathered in the new domain of Borca and reestablished their economic might. One of their number, Yakov Dilisnya, claimed to be the messenger of a divine guardian and founded the Church of Ezra. By the end of the fifth Century the first clerics of the Lawgiver, Ezra's most power-ful rival faith, would establish their church äs the state religion of Nova Vaasa.

In the dying decade of the fifth Century, an outlander named Vlad Drakov appeared in western Darkon, massacring several villages before Azalin's forces drove his mercenaries into the Mists. The new domain of Falkovnia appeared, and the next era of Ravenloft's history would begin.

700-734: Dead Man's Campaign

The Realm of Dread continued to expand during this era. Half a dozen new domains joined the Core, including Dementlieu, which would rapidly become the hüb of northwestern culture, and Sithicus, ruled by a skulking black knight rumored to possess terrible powers. Political unrest flared in several regions, äs the rulers of both Borca and Invidia met their ends at the hands of assassins, and Nova Vaasa's Prince Othmar seized illegal control of his realm.

Yet none of these events defined the era like the Dead Man's Campaign. Until Drakov appeared, open warfare had been unknown in the Land of Mists. As the sixth Century began, however, Drakov drove his armies into Darkon no fewer than four times.

Every invasion ended in crushing failure, äs Azalin's undead minions effortlessly decimated the Falkovnian ranks. Each defeat only intensified Drakov's rage. Again and again he marched his citizens to the slaughter. By the end of the fourth invasion, Falkovnia had lost thousands of its sons, but Drakov still had yet to claim a single foot of Darkonian soil. Darkonians and Falkovnians alike came to call Drakov's failed conquests the Dead Man's Campaign — for only the dead had added to their holdings.

Although no history book records it, another event of quiet significance occurred in this era. After a scheming Vistani clan and a sadistic vampire destroyed his family, a humble Darkonian doctor, Rudolph van Richten, dedicated his life to combating the monstrous horrors of the night. During the decades of his work, Dr. van Richten would expose the weaknesses of Ravenloft's horrors and create a legacy of knowledge and wisdom.

735-740: The Grand Conjunction

According to most accounts, the Vistani seer Hyskosa first recorded his prophecy predicting a cataclysmic "Grand Conjunction" in the year 735. However, the Vistani do not seem to flow through time äs others do, and copies of "Hyskosa's Hexad" have been found dating back at least a Century. More certain is that Azalin learned of Hyskosa's omens in this year and in them saw an opportunity. Still driven by his outlander desire to escape to his own world, Azalin manipulated events over the next five years to fulfill the prophecies and bring the Grand Conjunction to premature fruition.

Vistani call Hyskosa a Dukkar: a male Vistana born with the Sight and fated to bring destruction to his people. When the Grand Conjunction was triggered in the summer of 740, it threatened to turn Ravenloft inside out. As the Land of Mists was wracked by tremors and entire domains dissolved into vapor, the Mists of Ravenloft spread through-out the Material Plane to doom countless outlander worlds.

Fortunately, Azalin's manipulation of the natural order of events weakened the Grand Conjunction enough to allow a band of adventurers to cause its collapse. The Material Plane was saved, but the Realm of Dread did not escape unscathed. Core domains were wrenched into new positions; rivers altered their courses; the stars even changed their pattern.

Several Core domains were absorbed by their neighbors: Darkon consumed Arak, Borca merged with Dorvinia, Verbrek absorbed Arkandale, and Gundarak was divided between Invidia and Barovia. Several domains broke off from the Core to become Islands of Terror or vice versa. The most startling effect, however, was the creation of the Shadow Rift, a vast and bottomless chasm that now lies where the Core domains of G'Henna and Markovia once lay.

Even years later, most denizens of the Realm of Dread still know nothing about the true events behind the Grand Conjunction. Having seen only the chaos it wrought, most people call it the Great Upheaval and speculate wildly as to its cause.

741-749: The Land Congeals

Most sages agree that the aftershocks of the Grand Conjunction may still be subtly reshaping the Land of Mists. This era was marked by the Great Upheaval's most visible aftereffects: the formation of new clusters. The domains of Sri Raji, Saragoss, and the Wildlands were first, merging to form the Verdurous Lands. In following years, other domains would meld to create the Amber Wastes, the Shadowlands, Zherisia, and the Frozen Reaches. Boatmen even claimed that a new sea was forming in the Mists to the east of the Core.

Many folk began to warily reexamine their roles in the world. Clerics in Tepest declared an Inquisition to wipe out the fey, blaming those spirits for the apparent destruction of G'Henna and Markovia. Clerics of Ezra in Darkon warned against a prophesied Time of Unparalleled Darkness, when all but the faithful would be destroyed in a flood of evil. After having persecuted the use of arcane magic in his realm for decades, the lord of Hazlan suddenly reversed his position, establishing a school of wizardry. The black knight of Sithicus is said to have fallen into despair, never leaving his ruined keep.

Political unrest emerged in the southern Core again as Malocchio Aderre, decried by the Vistani as a new Dukkar, suddenly appeared and seized control of Invidia. Forging a military alliance with Falkovnia, Aderre has since been sending his mercenaries into neighboring domains to hunt the Vistani, even when those neighbors threatened armed reprisals.

Unseen by most, a secret society spread throughout the northern Core, working toward the terrible event that would end the era.

This cabal, the Ebon Fold, used enchanted daggers to steal the souls of unwitting victims, then smuggled the accumulated life force to its master, Azalin, still pursuing his dreams of escape. The Grim Harvest would claim hundreds of lives before its conclusion.

750-755: The Fall of Kings

After a decade of experimentation, Azalin completed a magical artifact that would empower him with the energy of thousands of stolen souls, allowing him to finally burst free from the Realm of Dread. At the stroke of midnight on the night of the winter solstice in the year 750, during a religious ceremony called the Requiem, Azalin activated the artifact in the heart of Darkon's largest city.

A wave of negative energy burst from the artifact and expanded across all of Darkon. Every living creature within a mile of II Aluk was instantly slain and animated into undeath, and a spiritual shroud settled over the kingdom. Azalin vanished and was presumed slain. His throne remained empty for years as local nobles squabbled for control, and a spectral entity claiming to be Death itself laid claim to II Aluk.

Azalin was not the only public figure to fall. The aged Rudolph van Richten had already vanished without a trace in the spring of 750, after enjoying eight years of peaceful retirement. In the autumn of 752, a mass of living, shrieking shadows smashed into the keep of Sithicus's ruler, destroying him. The knight's seneschal, a brutal dwarf named Azrael, quickly seized control of his master's holdings. Lastly, in recent months, mystics and seers have even claimed that a remote cluster, a land said to have been locked in endless warfare, had been utterly destroyed by forces unknown.

As each crown fell, the fear of the populace grew. More and more people gave credence to doomsayers and the prophecy of the coming Ultimate Darkness.

A few arcane sages have even speculated that the planar cycle that started with the creation of Barovia may have ended its period of expansion and that the future will bring nothing but continual decay.

The Land of Mists is not yet doomed, however. Not all omens point toward destruction. Van Richten's legacy has not been forgotten, and not all kings are equally slain. Shortly after Azalin's apparent demise, Vlad Drakov invaded Darkon for the first time in decades. The undead still rose to defeat his armies, and legends emerged to claim that Azalin was not truly gone. As the years passed, more and more Darkonians received irregular visions of their fallen leader as he struggled to return from beyond. Death also seemed to sense Azalin's presence and dispatched undead minions to stop the wizard's return — to no avail.

Late in the summer of this year, Azalin triumphantly returned to the world. He now claims that his attempt to stop the Requiem — supposedly an invasion of the dead into the world of the living — physically trapped him in the Gray Realm, the land of the dead, until he could find his way home. Azalin has returned to find his kingdom in shambles and has publicly sworn to restore Darkon to its former glory.

755: The Present

These are uncertain times for the Realm of Dread. A growing sentiment among its people holds that the world is steadily creeping toward some inexorable fate, but no one knows what that fate will be. Doom prophets speak of the Time of Unparalleled Darkness, predicted to arrive in a scant twenty years, but clerics of the Morninglord proclaim that the long night that fell on Barovia in 351 will finally reach a glorious dawn. One thing is certain. Whether Ravenloft's fate lies in darkness or light, it will be mortals — be they heroes or villains — who choose its destiny.

• -- A Ravenloft Timeline