Valachan
Precis: Fantasy
Pacific Northwest through a Gothic lens.
Conspectus: A
rugged domain of heavy forests and sweeping canyons ruled by Baron
Urik von Kharkov (who is rumored to be a were-panther); Valachan has
three major settlements: Ungrad, Rotwald, and Helbenik; Castle
Pantara, Von Kharkov's fortress, lies between Rotwald and Helbenik;
the folk of Valachan often suffer from a strange disease known as
White Fever, which leaves its victims listless and bedridden for
several days; Baron von Kharkov's rule is enforced by a mysterious
woman known only as the Veiled Mistress; the Veiled Mistress leads
the Baron's tax collection efforts, but has been known to relieve an
entire village's tax burden if a young man of her choosing will join
her in the woods—however, the man always returns scarred of body
and mind with no memory of the tortures inflicted upon him.
Interesting!
ReplyDeleteI particularly like "Rotwald" as a name because it can be parsed two ways, both of which are interesting. Nice work.
My real innovation here is making the Baron a were-panther instead of his canonical convoluted back-story. Rotwald is a Ravenloft original.
DeleteWell, props to Ravenloft on that one.
DeleteAny luck finding a map?
ReplyDeleteYep! It's pretty well mapped out, I think.
DeleteNice. If this is Gothic Seattle, suggest letting Mordent go ahead and be Gothic Maine. Barnabas Collins would kick Strahd's ahss!
ReplyDeleteHmm, you know, I bet Stephen King would be a good source for Gothic Maine.
DeleteWhy not do it? Too often these things get gummed over in vague "Planet of the Carpathians" dressing, but a patchwork Gothic States of America could scratch a few itches at once: reimagined Ravenloft, reimagined TORG...
DeletePlus come to think of it, technically "Gothic Pacific Northwest" probably means where David Lynch comes from, not so much Seattle. Endless sycamore groves and whispering logs and black oil, I mean coffee. Rites of spring.
Hmmm, sounds like something fun to do with Gothic Earth, actually.
DeleteWhen I saw your Mordent I thought, "wow, one town on the edge of endless forested coastline, crazy vampire plot, witches and alchemists, hardscrabble fish folk, that sounds less like Blighty and more like the 207." So whatever gets us there!
ReplyDelete