Of course, they are cryptic, which is good, when you're the one giving the prophesy, but i was thinking about incorporating some version of the grand conjunction into my campaign, and I don't know what they mean
Last year, you could have gone to the Kargatane's website, looked at their FAQ, and seen this...
"2.1 The Grand Conjunction:
2.1.1 What was the Grand Conjunction/Great Upheaval?
The Grand Conjunction was a devastating event that occurred in the year 740 (on the Barovian calendar). In 735, it was foreseen by the Vistani seer Hyskosa in a hexad of prophecies. The verses were fulfilled over the following five years, until Azalin (in a desperate attempt to escape the Demiplane of Dread) forced the Conjunction to occur early. For a brief time, the domain lords were freed from their prisons in the mists, before the Conjunction collapsed - but not before many changes were made to both the lands of the Core and the Islands of Terror.
Within the game world of Ravenloft, the Grand Conjunction is commonly referred to as the Great Upheaval.
2.1.2 What changed during the Grand Conjunction?
The changes during the Grand Conjunction are detailed in the Red Boxed Set (the "red box", published in 1994), but here is a quick summary:
* Dr. Dominiani, lord of Gundarak since the assassination of the former lord, was granted his own domain, leaving Gundarak to be absorbed by surrounding domains.
* Borca and Dorvinia merged into a single domain (retaining the name Borca) with two competing Lords.
* Valachan moved, and now lies west of Sithicus and Verbrek.
* Arak, Arkandale, Vechor, Farelle, and Sanguinia disappeared. (Arak was absorbed into Darkon, Arkandale into Verbrek).
* G'Henna, Bluetspur and the Nightmare Lands became Islands of Terror.
* Markovia moved out into the Sea of Sorrows.
* The domains of Dominia and Rokushima Taiyoo formed, and the Sea of Sorrow gained a Lord.
* The space left by G'Henna and Markovia became the mysterious "Shadow Rift."
* The domain of Zherisia shrunk to become only the city of Paridon.
In 1997, Domains of Dread revealed that "aftershocks" of the Grand Conjunction had continued to reshape the demiplane in following years. Briefly:
* Vechor reappeared after a decade as a Core domain.
* The first Clusters were formed. The domains of Saragoss, Sri Raji, and the Wildlands merged to become the Verdurous Lands. Har'Akir, Sebua, and Pharazia became the Amber Wastes. The domain of Zherisia (renamed Paridon) joined with Timor to form the Zherisia Cluster. Sanguinia and Vorostokov merged to become the Frozen Reaches. And the domains of Nidala, Avonleigh, and Shadowborn Manor merged into the Shadowlands.
2.1.3 What adventures make up the Grand Conjunction?
There were 6 adventures leading up to, and detailing, the Grand Conjunction (in order of release):
* Feast of Goblyns
* Ship of Horror
* Touch of Death
* Night of the Walking Dead
* From the Shadows
* Roots of Evil
2.1.4 Aaaargh! All of the Grand Conjunction adventures are out of print!
Luckily, the six Grand Conjunction adventures have all been released online, and can be downloaded for free at the Wizards of the Coast Web Site (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/) or in the Downloads section of the Secrets of the Kargatane website (http://www.kargatane.com).
2.1.5 The order of the Grand Conjunction hexad means that each adventure is for PCs of wildly different levels! How should I run this campaign?
Lots of DMs have noticed that if they run the adventures in the order written, they end up needing PCs of level 8-10 for the second hexad, yet PCs of level 3-5 for the third hexad (and so on!). How can they run these adventures for the same set of characters?
The solution is easy - simply change the order of the hexad to suit the levels. This results in the adventure order being:
* Night of the Walking Dead - Levels 1-3
* Touch of Death - Levels 3-5
* Feast of Goblyns - Levels 4-7
* Ship of Horror - Levels 8-10
* From the Shadows - Levels 9-12
* Roots of Evil - Levels 9-12
Just change the order of the hexad verses to match this, and you'll be able to run a Grand Conjunction campaign without a problem!"
Through life, unlife, unliving shall scorn.
Now, I did change the meaning of this stanza a bit in my campaign, but I'll see if I can decipher the actual phrase.
"The Sorcerer born" refers to Radaga, one of the main villians in FoG. She's the chick you gotta steal the Crown of Souls from, then march back to her (in a roundabout way) to have it destroyed.
"Through life, unlife" means that after you slay Radaga, she doesn't really die. She's actually resurrected a short time later as a wight -- hence the "unlife" aspect.
"Unliving shall scorn"? I dunno. Maybe it means she'll be one angry undead monster. Or perhaps the undead armies she raised will turn on her. Any other suggestions?