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Dark Glantri

by Andrew Theisen

I had/have some plans for a "Dark Glantri" that never quite came all the way to fruition. Basically, a horror-themed Glantrian campaign.

It was partially inspired by this post on the MML a couple years back (though IIRC, I'd been working on it already- the post just helped to clarify a couple of thoughts I'd been working through.)

Originally Posted by Chris Cherrington In keeping with the dementia of a Cthulhu/E A Poe line; would not the paranoid Caurenze make some good story lines as well? Something horribly wrong hidden in the depths of that area, with wizards being so keen on tapping into obscure ley lines or magics, and stumbling over many sinister things. I would even go as far as putting a gothic style Amityville Horror house somewhere between Caurenze and Glantri. Other places like the borderlands west of Averoigne could have local towns with weird superstitions, the likes of Children of the Corn or Stoning ceremonies for the harvest. Some lakes near Klantyre might hold some super zombie, the likes of Jason of Friday the 13th. Horror movies offer some of the best plotlines for side adventures. Just think of Freddie the next time one of those pesky villagers goes and burns a heretic illusionist at the stake.

From the notes I have so far, these were the basics of it:

Locations

• Nouvelle Averoigne= Tsathoqqua would have a strong influence here, as he had been ported over along with the rest of the d'Ambrevilles. Basically, the initial idea (the one I'd had prior to the Cherrington post) was to play up the Cthulhuesque notions of the d'Ambrevilles, both from the Averoigne tales of CASmith as well as the line in X2 that "[i]n their search for power, the d'Ambrevilles began to study black magic, especially magic that dealt with certain dark elder gods whose worship was forbidden."

• Boldavia= Obviously already well suited to a Dark Glantri campaign, what with the vampires, etc. I would just have played up those angles and the eastern European feel more.

• Klantyre= The plans were to sort of go with the Averoigne ideas here, having the Klantyre's come from a region that- like Averoigne- was under the influence of some kind of Tsathoggua or Outer Being/Elder God influence. Whether I would have an actual entity like that present or solely responsible, or just a general worship of things dark I hadn't quite decided yet. The worship of dark powers, of course, is what initially formed the ties between the Scottish and French Klantyre's and d'Ambrevilles (actually, the 100 Years' War is what did that IMO, but that's a longer story). In any case, research I'd done years ago indicated that the RW McGregor clan was at one point suspected of witchcraft and other dirty dealings, and was largely branded as persona non-grata among the Scottish, which certainly fits with all of these concepts.

• Caurenze= My thoughts were going to go with some of the ideas that Chris Cherrington posted in a thread on the MML a couple of years ago, and building on the paranoia, plotting, and poisoning of the ruling family. It seems like it was something like one of the Ravenloft dominions, though I can't recall which offhand.

• Adri Varma Plateau= populated with things that prey at the borders of Glantri.

• Krondahar= Stronger ties to the Nightmare Material Plane and all the horrors that come from there.

• Shadowelves= under the earth, make them more sinister than "Rafiel" elves. Either get rid of Rafiel, or have these SE influenced by entropic Atzanteotl.

Rules

• Using Sanity rules for horror (either Geoff Gander's rules for OD&D or the Horror rules for d20 Call of Cthulhu/D&D for 3E campaigns.

• More development of the Illusionist secret craft as dealing with the Nightmare realms (expansion of my Phantasmer take on the craft

Races

• Among the other standard races, I was going to have essentially a sub-species of humanity that was tainted by congress with the spawn of Tsathoggua- basically, these were the nobles of Sylaire (the d'Ambrevilles, mostly) who were part of a breeding program initiated by Tsathoggua. It would explain their unusual longevity and proclivity for magic. It would have also accounted for their general insanity, through some special madness rules (and of course, just plain genetic inbreeding).

Other things

• The Temples of Rad: In Dark Glantri, these were actually formed by Simon d'Ambreville under the guise of a legitimate religion, but really a front for the worship of the Elder Gods (in Averoigne, I had him as a member of the Catholic church, though secretly dedicated to the Elder Gods; sort of akin to the character Azedarac in the Averoigne stories). I hadn't quite decided how to tie this in with Rad/Etienne d'Ambreville, though- I was considering the possibility that as the Immortal Rad, Etienne was trying to undo the damage his brother Simon had caused by using the temples/adopting the moniker Rad to return the people to a brighter cause.

• Alphaks, of course, would be a prominent figure in any of this re-imagining of Dark Glantri.

• I have some notes about Things Under the Earth, which I'm not entirely clear on what I had in mind. I think I was thinking along the lines of the Burrowers or something- I was going to have Tsathoggua trapped/asleep underneath Averoigne, and I was going to bring the Shadowelves into more prominence. I think I was thinking something else, though- maybe similar to the Thoqqua and/or Gricks from the MM (which look vaguely Cthulhianic)

Anyway, just some general musings on ways to turn Glantri even more evil.