Originally posted by Drinnik Shoehorn
There's a darklord in Ravenloft from Mystara, he's called Meredoth. Any history on him from his homeworld?
Originally posted by Drinnik Shoehorn
A lot of Ravenloft's darklords where retconned into having links with other settings in the 1997 book Domains of Dread. Would I be right is saying that Mystara had been cancelled by then?
egad, has it been that long - sounds about right though
It was really about the lack of Mystaran badguys in Ravenloft, and some people were playing with the idea of putting Xanthus (the Alphatian king of Blackrock in Esterhold) his own dark domain (a mockery of Blackrock) in the mists.
I think I may actually have been the one to mention Meredoth in that discussion, because I read about him in the Ravenloft: Domains of Dread book (p.79-80, if anyone's interested) around the same time and realised that there was a reference to Meredoth being an Alphatian wizard from Norwold.
I recall people on the list who already knew him from the "Ship of Horror" adventure being rather suprised that he was a Mystaran connection, so I think it's correct that he was retconned to having been from Mystara, as there seems to be no reference to this being the case until the Domains of Dread book being published.
It was a fair bit of time ago, however, so I might remember some of this wrong...
It was a fair bit of time ago, however, so I might remember some of this wrong...
My memories agree with yours, at least. AFAIK, Meredoth first appeared in Ship of Horror, and his background was set in Mystara only in DoD.
However, the choice was not bad, since Todstein fits quite well with the various Alphatian attempts (failed) at the colonization of Norwold.
My memories agree with yours, at least. AFAIK, Meredoth first appeared in Ship of Horror, and his background was set in Mystara only in DoD.
However, the choice was not bad, since Todstein fits quite well with the various Alphatian attempts (failed) at the colonization of Norwold.
True. Maybe I'm just miffed because the one Mystaran darklord of the mists is an Alphatian
And so was the next one we considered (Xanthus)...
It's odd seeing the "Domains of Dread" being abbreviated DoD, though. Nothing wrong with it, but I always read that as "Day of Dread" - it's a good thing I haven't suffered from playing Mystara... ;)
True. Maybe I'm just miffed because the one Mystaran darklord of the mists is an Alphatian
And so was the next one we considered (Xanthus)...
So suggest a non-Alphatian Mystaran darklord or three. Shouldn't be hard to envision a Hulean, or an Azcan or Krugel orc, or a Modrigsweg dwarf...
I couldn't find any Almanac writeup for his Barony though. I guess the almanacs havent taken that into account yet?
Håvard
So suggest a non-Alphatian Mystaran darklord or three. Shouldn't be hard to envision a Hulean, or an Azcan or Krugel orc, or a Modrigsweg dwarf...
I always thought that the Dark Powers (IMC, Arik) would like an Inheritor Lich. Perhaps this is why Elegidos disappeared? I find it hard to believe that the first Inheritors were created in 999, and there are already two well known Inheritor Liches. There must be a deeper history for Crimson Essence...
I'm not too interested in Ravenloft proper, but I always liked the idea of bringing Meredoth "back" to Mystara, sort of like how Soth was brought back to Krynn.
I couldn't find any Almanac writeup for his Barony though. I guess the almanacs havent taken that into account yet
Well, since Meredoth was retconned to be of Mystaran origin, there is no particular basis for where his domain should be in Norwold. The Domains of Dread certainly don't give any clues, and basically just says that it was "somewhere in Norwold", as if Norwold is big enough to cover anything they'll need for Meredoth's background. So all his Mystaran background is solely from the Ravenloft product, and none of it from a Mystaran product.
And since Meredoth belongs to Ravenloft first and Mystara second (or not at all), I guess the MA people passed him and his dominion by.
But I'm not certain. Though I write for the MA, I have nothing to do with the Norwold team, so we would have to ask them or the editors. Does anyone from that team frequent these boards?
So suggest a non-Alphatian Mystaran darklord or three. Shouldn't be hard to envision a Hulean, or an Azcan or Krugel orc, or a Modrigsweg dwarf...
I actually had a Thyatian minotaur as a Ravenloft darklord in my own campaign. He was a nasty piece of work, too... He basically did some horrendous acts, killing his family and worse things that are not fit to describe except in a mature game. Eventually he wished to have the strength of a bull, and the Immortals cursed him with being a minotaur (yes, I used the AD&D-curse for the minotaur, but without contradicting the Mystaran minotaur - who's to say you can't curse a human to having the form of one of the wingless minotaurs from Nimmur? I found I could have both without problems...). The villain was the basis for a group of minotaurs in a part of Kantrium in Thyatis. One of the PCs was such a minotaur, so my villain was specifically tied to that player character in my own campaign.
By the end of it all, the villain was killed, the minotaur curse broken, and his domain on Ravenloft vanished in the mists...
Well, since Meredoth was retconned to be of Mystaran origin, there is no particular basis for where his domain should be in Norwold. The Domains of Dread certainly don't give any clues, and basically just says that it was "somewhere in Norwold", as if Norwold is big enough to cover anything they'll need for Meredoth's background. So all his Mystaran background is solely from the Ravenloft product, and none of it from a Mystaran product.
And since Meredoth belongs to Ravenloft first and Mystara second (or not at all), I guess the MA people passed him and his dominion by.
The "Strait of Todstein" is frequently mentioned in the MAs, referring to Meredoth's realm of Todstein. So I am assuming that one of the islands of the Bay of Norwold is Todstein. Whether the MAs base themselves simply on Meredoth having ruled there in the past or whether they have brought him back is another matter though. I think he should come back, along with that Shadowelf from Planescape
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And since Meredoth belongs to Ravenloft first and Mystara second (or not at all), I guess the MA people passed him and his dominion by.
But I'm not certain. Though I write for the MA, I have nothing to do with the Norwold team, so we would have to ask them or the editors. Does anyone from that team frequent these boards?
It was a topic of discussion among the MA team back when the original discussion of Meredoth came up on the MML. It also did find a bit of an inclusion in the almanacs, from 1016 onwards at least.
You can read a little bit about it here. Specifically, look for the references to Todstein and Graben.
You can read a little bit about it here. Specifically, look for the references to Todstein and Graben.
Thanks for the link! I'm still not clear on which island is Todstein and which one is Graben, but oh well
Reading the text, Meredoth is presumably still in Ravenloft per AC1019.
I vote for his triumphant return! Since most of us don't use Ravenloft as part of the Mystaran cosmology, we can just gloss over the details on where he has been, but he is probably not in a good mood and ready to make the situation more difficult for Ericall and other neighbours...
Håvard