Sunday, March 20, 2022

The Crucifuge and the Vhage Agency

Below are two factions I've been using in my Ravenloft campaign. The Crucifuge is a secret society I created; they were inspired by the "devil forge masters" from the Castlevania video games. The Vhage Agency is presented as a domain in Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, but since I couldn't figure out what to do with it as a domain, I decided it would work better as a faction inspired by the historical Pinkerton agents.


The Crucifuge

The Crucifuge is an order of necromancers who experiment with novel ways of combining dead flesh, black magic, and the vital essences of demons to birth new forms of corporeal undead. Members of the Crucifuge possess a nihilistic philosophical perspective, regarding life itself as a cosmic stain that should be effaced by the depredations of the undead. Many necromancers of the Crucifuge revere Orcus and consider their dark work to be a form of worship. The undead created by the necromancers of the Crucifuge are endowed with demonic boons as detailed in Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes. 


Vhage Agency

The Vhage Agency is a guild of occult detectives, spies, private investigators, thief-takers, and bounty hunters. The Vhage Agency excels at bringing the worst criminals in the Land of the Mists to justice, offering an alternative to often incompetent or uncaring parish beadles, watchmen, and local constabulary. The Vhage Agency will take any case—that said, their services do come at a price that is sometimes too dear for the truly downtrodden to pay.      

Rumors that the Vhage Agency will take innocent lives for the right handful of coins dogs the organization and tarnishes its reputation. Additionally, it is known that the Vhage Agency’s members have worked as strikebreakers and as private security for the wealthy and powerful. 

What is not well known is that every Vhage Agency office is part of the domain that entraps the Darklord Flimira “Flintlock” Vhage. No matter what domain a Vhage Agency office is located in, there is always a hallway within it that leads to Flintlock’s personal chamber—a strangely monotone gray room where she spins webs of deceit, as she is a criminal mastermind successfully masquerading as a detective.


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If the above catches your fancy, check out Strahd Loves, Man Kills, my Ravenloft fanzine. Print issues are here, and there's a new issue coming soon. Every copy sold of the current issue helps "unlock" it as a free pdf for all and sundry. So far, issues one and two are free--look at the sidebar on the blog if you want 'em.