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Nu-Ravenloft and Mystara: Cosmic Parallels - Domains, the Dark Powers, and Etienne d'Amberville

by ArrBeeNayr

I was just reading Mischief_FOS' writeup and what struck me most about the new world mechanics are how they line up with those of the Mystara setting.

The Dark Lords and the Immortals

It seems that the Dark Lords in nu-Canon are presented not as unknowable Eldritch creatures, or as true gods. Rather, they have a great deal in common with Immortals.

Mystara has no true gods. Mystara's crystal sphere is unique in that it acts as a divine resistor: People can go through. Fiends and angels can go through with some difficulty. Gods cannot go through except as mortal avatars of themselves (e.g. Odin). Thus the influence of the gods and their religions are entirely cut off from Mystara.

Instead, common mortals may ascend in power. They excel in life, then go through trials which allow them to ascend to Immortality. They are not gods - they are like how the Dark Powers seem to be: Omnipotent yet limited. There is a set list of vastly powerful abilities available to the Immortals, including making new planes in an instant - but it is nevertheless a set list.

This sounds very similar to the process of becoming a Dark Power and the creation of Domains.

The Domains and the Hollow World

Mystara is a hollow planet. The inside contains its own miniature sun, and the interior surface contains its own continents.

This is not naturally occuring, however. The Immortal Ka takes pity on dying civilisations. He created the hollow interior to host those societies at the brink of their death. They are whisked away to the interior where their bloodline will live out eternity.

Hollow World societies live under a constant mind-altering effect. For the most part they feel no need to travel beyond their borders. Some exceptional few - usually adventurers - can overcome this block with their own curiosity.

At the same time, society members have a mental block which has them failing to adapt to new technology. A party from Thyatis up above could offer a Nithian their steel sword, but the Nithians would ultimately reject the concept in favour of bronze - even if one or two managed to somewhat adopt it.

The Hollow World society naturally adapt their own narrative bubble. It is difficult for them to conceive of the other societies or of the great span of time their people have spent in the Hollow World.

This is wholly very close to the concept of the Domains of Dread as they are presented in the new book.

Individual Dark Powers and Etienne d'Amberville

Considering the demographics of this subreddit, most of you probably know of the module X2 Castle Amber. Some spoilers from that are to come.

As a refresher: The events of Castle Amber are triggered by the... antagonist? Benefactor? -Etienne d'Amberville.

Etienne was a powerful Arch Mage. He is a character who - like most of the Ambervilles - is a totally balls-to-the-wall mentalcase eccentric. As later established in Dragon Magazine, he and his family originate from Gothic Earth France. On Gothic Earth, however, he didn't remain.

At some point Etienne planeshifted his family to Mystara, then ascended to Immortality some years later.

Etienne remained as an avatar of himself with his family in Castle Amber. That is, until his own brother and mother assassinated him. Etienne took great offense to that.

As punishment, Castle Amber and its inhabitants were sealed away in a demiplane of mist. The family were made immortal where they got to torment each other for potentially the rest of time - many of them suffering horrible consequences of mutation and lycanthropy.

Castle Amber's basement was a horror show of human experimentation and dark magic - to the detriment of any would-be-heroes that Etienne drew in to the castle.

When the adventurers of the module find Etienne's tomb, he releases the family from their curse and places Castle Amber back in Mystara.

So I put the question to you: Is Etienne d'Amberville a Dark Power - or better asked: Are the Dark Powers Immortals?

They seem to have an incredibly similar modus operandi, similar origins, and Etienne even originated from Gothic Earth.