Ravenloft: Prisoners of the Mist
Public (OOC) => Setting and Lore Discussion => Topic started by: AusGre on July 06, 2014, 11:56:28 AM
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Hello everyone,
Having returned, I have heard that Sithicus has been opened to the public and that is it is now a playable area, making my wish to create a proper Sithican Elf more readiable. However, I am a bit lost on how I might go about creating a proper elf that would do the race and land proud. I have a few resources that I have been mulling over and my friend is going to get me some books to help, but I am unsure as to how prevalent they are to this server and I would like to ask for some help in this regard, please. I am looking to create a proper high elf of a major house, possibly one with ambitions for more prestigeous positions in the hierarchy of the government.
So, what I would be looking for is something of a mentor to help guide me on creating this proper elf and perhaps some direction where I can find some good resources to these people.
Here are some of the resources I have been using:
http://www.nwnravenloft.com/forum/index.php?topic=18310.0
http://fraternityofshadows.com/wiki/Sithicus
http://ravenloftsd.wikispaces.com/Sithicus
But any other information would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for your time,
AusGre
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They're basically the Silvanesti from Dragonlance, but depressed and somber.
Ravenloft Gazetteer IV sums them up well.
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They're basically the Silvanesti from Dragonlance, but depressed and somber.
Ravenloft Gazetteer IV sums them up well.
IIRC are they not the elves that are so emo and depressed they don't really do anything?
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They're basically the Silvanesti from Dragonlance, but depressed and somber.
Ravenloft Gazetteer IV sums them up well.
IIRC are they not the elves that are so emo and depressed they don't really do anything?
Not necessarily - what defines them is apathy. They do things, they just don't know why, nor do they really care. Everything they do is sapped of meaning - just pointless rote. Their society is in shambles because no one cares about tending it. Their culture is dying because there's no reason to maintain it. The Sithicans have been ruled under cruel oppression for so long that they've basically given up hope.
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They're basically the Silvanesti from Dragonlance, but depressed and somber.
Ravenloft Gazetteer IV sums them up well.
IIRC are they not the elves that are so emo and depressed they don't really do anything?
Not necessarily - what defines them is apathy. They do things, they just don't know why, nor do they really care. Everything they do is sapped of meaning - just pointless rote. Their society is in shambles because no one cares about tending it. Their culture is dying because there's no reason to maintain it. The Sithicans have been ruled under cruel oppression for so long that they've basically given up hope.
It goes deeper than the oppression. The Silvanesti felt a connection to Krynn that they lost when they ended up in Sithicus. They believed they were placed in Sithicus as a sort of punishment that would end when Soth was destroyed. When Soth disappeared during the Night of Screaming Shadows, the elves remained in Sithicus. That was the moment that they gave up all hope, because they believed that their gods have abandoned them.
Also, the new darklord's power makes everyone feel guilty about every wrong doing they've ever done, which adds to their despondency.
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It goes deeper than the oppression. The Silvanesti felt a connection to Krynn that they lost when they ended up in Sithicus. They believed they were placed in Sithicus as a sort of punishment that would end when Soth was destroyed. When Soth disappeared during the Night of Screaming Shadows, the elves remained in Sithicus. That was the moment that they gave up all hope, because they believed that their gods have abandoned them.
Also, the new darklord's power makes everyone feel guilty about every wrong doing they've ever done, which adds to their despondency.
I'm not that familiar with Dragonlance lore.
This punishment sounds like something befitting of a Darklord. What crime did the elves commit that they are being punished so?
Could they have shown mercy at a pivotal time and chose revenge instead or something?
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They're basically the Silvanesti from Dragonlance, but depressed and somber.
Ravenloft Gazetteer IV sums them up well.
IIRC are they not the elves that are so emo and depressed they don't really do anything?
Not necessarily - what defines them is apathy. They do things, they just don't know why, nor do they really care. Everything they do is sapped of meaning - just pointless rote. Their society is in shambles because no one cares about tending it. Their culture is dying because there's no reason to maintain it. The Sithicans have been ruled under cruel oppression for so long that they've basically given up hope.
It goes deeper than the oppression. The Silvanesti felt a connection to Krynn that they lost when they ended up in Sithicus. They believed they were placed in Sithicus as a sort of punishment that would end when Soth was destroyed. When Soth disappeared during the Night of Screaming Shadows, the elves remained in Sithicus. That was the moment that they gave up all hope, because they believed that their gods have abandoned them.
Also, the new darklord's power makes everyone feel guilty about every wrong doing they've ever done, which adds to their despondency.
So the elves of Sithicus do not do much? they just sit around and be emo and apathitic about the world? no politics, no intrigue? or in other words what do they do?
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They're basically the Silvanesti from Dragonlance, but depressed and somber.
Ravenloft Gazetteer IV sums them up well.
IIRC are they not the elves that are so emo and depressed they don't really do anything?
Not necessarily - what defines them is apathy. They do things, they just don't know why, nor do they really care. Everything they do is sapped of meaning - just pointless rote. Their society is in shambles because no one cares about tending it. Their culture is dying because there's no reason to maintain it. The Sithicans have been ruled under cruel oppression for so long that they've basically given up hope.
It goes deeper than the oppression. The Silvanesti felt a connection to Krynn that they lost when they ended up in Sithicus. They believed they were placed in Sithicus as a sort of punishment that would end when Soth was destroyed. When Soth disappeared during the Night of Screaming Shadows, the elves remained in Sithicus. That was the moment that they gave up all hope, because they believed that their gods have abandoned them.
Also, the new darklord's power makes everyone feel guilty about every wrong doing they've ever done, which adds to their despondency.
Serious question. Do they have a suicide problem ?
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It goes deeper than the oppression. The Silvanesti felt a connection to Krynn that they lost when they ended up in Sithicus. They believed they were placed in Sithicus as a sort of punishment that would end when Soth was destroyed. When Soth disappeared during the Night of Screaming Shadows, the elves remained in Sithicus. That was the moment that they gave up all hope, because they believed that their gods have abandoned them.
Also, the new darklord's power makes everyone feel guilty about every wrong doing they've ever done, which adds to their despondency.
I'm not that familiar with Dragonlance lore.
This punishment sounds like something befitting of a Darklord. What crime did the elves commit that they are being punished so?
Could they have shown mercy at a pivotal time and chose revenge instead or something?
From Ravenloft Gazetteer IV:
Of Sithicus' distant past, the elves revealed only this: their kingdom began on a distant world in a land ruled by a human knight -- the Black Rose -- who waged a war against the gods, planning to topple them from power. The gods charged the elves with stopping the Rose's hubris, but they failed. Then the gods themselves struck down the Black Rose, casting him into a misty abyss -- our own world, as the elves describe it -- and for their failures, the elves and their kingdom were dragged down to share his fate.
Note that even this brief account is a mere approximation of the false history of Sithicus. Every elf who deigned speak of history offered a differing version of the tale, the details often varying widely.
Bear in mind, this is just what the Sithican elves believe about their presence in the demiplane. The real reason Soth became a darklord is because of his actions towards Kitiara Uth-Matar in the novel Test of the Twins. The elves' presence seems primarily just to have tormented Soth, since he blamed them for his own shortcomings and fall from grace.
The overall air of the elves who inhabit the Sithican cities is apathetic, almost despondent. They take no joy from their lives and have few entertainments, often preferring simply to spend their free time in silent meditation. Even their music resembles funeral dirges, more fitting of the dour dwarves than the light and joyful elven artistry of my homeland.
Yet the Sithican elves hold to the belief that this is the way their life is supposed to be, the way their forefathers must have lived (if their memories are to be trusted). They firmly believe that no matter what misfortune befalls the kingdom, they will survive like this. Their aristocracy is largely apathetic, no one is assertive, and I sense little likelihood of a leader unifying the various groups of elves in the near future.
The only explanation for this behavior I can suggest is that the elves of Darkon claim to feel a close connection with the land they live on -- as if they are literally a part of nature. Yet, as the Sithicans themselves claim (however impossible it may be to validate), these elves were brought here years ago with the distinct duty of torturing another cursed soul. Sithicus is not their true land, and they subconsciously reject it as the land rejects them. Like so many of the floral specimens I have handled during my travels, the Sithicans are not unlike plants that cannot be transplanted to unfamiliar soil.
While in Har-Thelen, I heard a remarkable tale. For years, the elves tried desperately to escape this "land of spectres." When an opportunity finally arose for them to reclaim their freedom, however, most of the "natives" were struck with the horribly truthful realization that there was nowhere for them to return to. The Sithicans believe wholeheartedly that the world from which they were banished no longer exists. Like the Black Rose himself, it may have been destroyed or drawn into a deeper hell.
Note that their homeworld, Krynn, was not destroyed and is still around, although it was briefly hidden away from the rest of existence due to the actions of Takhisis during the War of Souls.
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I have one named Elsa songbrook who is only level 4 , shoot me a message in game and we can look down on humans sigh a lot and embrace our "meh" attitudes together. I started in valleki though because its impossible...improbable that you will make it from the city there back to the starting areas.
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A question about Sithicus that I have wondered about since it was added into the module. If your a race other than elf will your character be trapped in the realm like the lore says? Or have I miss read something?
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A question about Sithicus that I have wondered about since it was added into the module. If your a race other than elf will your character be trapped in the realm like the lore says? Or have I miss read something?
The elves aren't bound to Sithicus, they can go into other domains.
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A question about Sithicus that I have wondered about since it was added into the module. If your a race other than elf will your character be trapped in the realm like the lore says? Or have I miss read something?
The elves aren't bound to Sithicus, they can go into other domains.
I was wondering about the none elves, I thought I read somewhere that the curse of sithicus is that any mortal who enters the realm is doomed to remain for eternity. Or am I mistaken?
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A question about Sithicus that I have wondered about since it was added into the module. If your a race other than elf will your character be trapped in the realm like the lore says? Or have I miss read something?
The elves aren't bound to Sithicus, they can go into other domains.
I was wondering about the none elves, I thought I read somewhere that the curse of sithicus is that any mortal who enters the realm is doomed to remain for eternity. Or am I mistaken?
You're mistaken.
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The Guilt of Sithicus is something totally different, yes.
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Does anyone know what year on the Barovian calendar Sithicus came into existence?
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According to the timeline in the 3rd Ed. campaign setting guide, it appeared in the Core in the year 720. Whether that is the year it came into existence, I am not sure. Lands can be brought in from other places which makes it hard to guess at.
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According to the timeline in the 3rd Ed. campaign setting guide, it appeared in the Core in the year 720. Whether that is the year it came into existence, I am not sure. Lands can be brought in from other places which makes it hard to guess at.
That's when it came into existence. It's the moment Lord Soth left Barovia and went into the Mists in the novel Knight of the Black Rose.
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As the Sithicans are written as of now, there is little to no valid reason for a Sithican elf to ever leave their country. They are too apathetic to bother, or ever even want to be adventurers or travelers. One has to be creative to fine a very valid reason for Sithican to leave their homeland.
As far as their political stances goes, they are still active. (Though nowhere near to the degree of other human countries.) They do still engage in political shenanigans and have trade deals with other countries.
The notion that they just sit around and do little is very unrealistic. (as I see it.) They do still cling to their traditions, even if they have lost all meaning. They are also passionate about their superiority over all other races, including other elves. They really are not just the brooding layabouts that many think them as. What is true, is that they lack any real ambition or drive, they just continue to do so because it is what they've always done.
Though, with Soth gone, (and as the hints left on the loading screens on server imply) is that some of the Sithicans are willing to try to change their lot in life. Thus why the current ruler goes about and mercilessly puts down budding rebellions.
I have a Sithican elf by the name of Erutáron Xillen, even need questions answered or need help, just shoot me a PM. :)
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Both types of elf in Sithicus have their own hang ups and issues. The Kagonesti in the region are cannibals, and believe eating their rivals and especially Silvanesti (city elves) will make them purer. Both types of elf views the other as lesser, and even as PCs will likely never see eye to eye.
They do, however, share a distrust and even hate of other elves, and other races (especially dwarves due to their new Darklord.) They both hate and fear halflings due to the region's infestation of Kender Vampires.
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Both types of elf in Sithicus have their own hang ups and issues. The Kagonesti in the region are cannibals, and believe eating their rivals and especially Silvanesti (city elves) will make them purer. Both types of elf views the other as lesser, and even as PCs will likely never see eye to eye.
They do, however, share a distrust and even hate of other elves, and other races (especially dwarves due to their new Darklord.) They both hate and fear halflings due to the region's infestation of Kender Vampires.
The darklord of Sithicus is not a dwarf.
And kender are not halflings.
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The darklord of Sithicus is not a dwarf.
Azrael is not the darklord but he is the defacto lord of the domain, right? Do the elves (or anyone else) know who is darklord?
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Both types of elf in Sithicus have their own hang ups and issues. The Kagonesti in the region are cannibals, and believe eating their rivals and especially Silvanesti (city elves) will make them purer. Both types of elf views the other as lesser, and even as PCs will likely never see eye to eye.
They do, however, share a distrust and even hate of other elves, and other races (especially dwarves due to their new Darklord.) They both hate and fear halflings due to the region's infestation of Kender Vampires.
The darklord of Sithicus is not a dwarf.
And kender are not halflings.
I meant Darklord simply as a go to term. I know it's Miss Shadow Lady.
Also, I was nowhere implying Kender are halflings, but do you expect a race of xenophobic elves would even know the distinction, or care to know the distinction, between Kender and Halflings?
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Both types of elf in Sithicus have their own hang ups and issues. The Kagonesti in the region are cannibals, and believe eating their rivals and especially Silvanesti (city elves) will make them purer. Both types of elf views the other as lesser, and even as PCs will likely never see eye to eye.
They do, however, share a distrust and even hate of other elves, and other races (especially dwarves due to their new Darklord.) They both hate and fear halflings due to the region's infestation of Kender Vampires.
The darklord of Sithicus is not a dwarf.
And kender are not halflings.
I meant Darklord simply as a go to term. I know it's Miss Shadow Lady.
Also, I was nowhere implying Kender are halflings, but do you expect a race of xenophobic elves would even know the distinction, or care to know the distinction, between Kender and Halflings?
Halflings don't exist on Krynn, and they are different from Kender, so they'd know the difference. The elves would still be disdainful, but they wouldn't confuse the two.
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I can assure you that they'd at least be treated like caliban are in Barovia, or worse. Kender or not, they look near identical. That fact alone would make any Sithican wary.
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I can assure you that they'd at least be treated like caliban are in Barovia, or worse. Kender or not, they look near identical. That fact alone would make any Sithican wary.
They really don't look identical, and the they certainly don't behave at all in the same ways. The elves would know that halflings are not kender.
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As a concept I wanted to make a Sithican elven monk, who's been delving into the past of all the dragon iconography and remaining recorded lore etc. trying to reconnect with the past and the greatness they had. The silvanesti elves in krynn had a group of mystics (hence the monk) who paid homage to Paladine (which I assume is the dragon iconography left to ruin in Sithicus) whom they called a different name of E'li and viewed as a creator of sorts. Anyone got some input that can help flesh this out a bit more, I'm not super well versed in Dragonlance stuff and I'd like to know how to tie it into the ravenloft setting better.
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Wanted to bring this thread back to life for a bit. I read on Fraternity of Shadows somewhere, that a select few Sithican elves are still following certain deities from Dragonlance, which they apparently remember despite the tendency for false histories in the Cores nations. Is that accurate?
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It's not a canon source, so you can't take that as accurate.
That being said, I see no reason why your character could not remember the Krynnish gods in some fashion. It's just a background element after all, and some players got away with far worse than that. Your views on the gods would only be seen with uncaring indifference or outright lunacy by your fellow Sithicans.
Though you should take care to portray a very important element to the ravenloft setting in regards to outsider faiths: paradigm shifts. Just as the churches of Bane and the Morninglord are different than their Faerunian counterpart, so should your worship of the Krynnish gods. First thing coming to mind, it would be kind of hard to see Paladine and Takhisis as the creators of dragons in a world where they are virtually inexistant. So maybe the best thing would be to go half-way between krynnish and Sithican Lore. Remember their names and general purpose, but do view them as the Many-Headed Devourer of Heat and Darkness and the Adamantium Dragon of Cold and Reason. Their memory of them, having been veiled but not entirely erased, by the Dark Powers.
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That's actually precisely what I had in mind, a slightly more fatalistic and grim view of otherwise goodly aligned religion. I was leaning more towards possibly Branchalla or Mishakal which is what was mentioned in FoS, and they're main Dragonlance elven deities besides Paladine. I do like the giving different names idea, makes it more suited for Ravenloft.
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You might also consider Gilean, the neutral god of knowledge. While not as commonly worshiped by elves as the two you mentioned, he did have some clerics among the Silvanesti of Krynn. The fact that he's described as a passionless and uncaring observer seems like a fitting choice for a Sithican to me.
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Sithican elves haven't forgotten the deities of Krynn, they stopped worshipping them because they believe that they have been abandoned by the gods. The elves believed that their presence in the demiplane was in the service of the gods to punish Soth, and that if Soth were to leave or be destroyed that service would end and that would return to Krynn. Instead, the Hour of Screaming Shadows happened and Soth apparently died, but the elves were not freed, and still remain. This is why they no longer worship the gods of Krynn and ave fallen into despair.
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Also remember that sithican elves using their own language, which is analogue of RL Welsh language. As far as I understand they still may know elven d&d one, but they rarely use it.
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Also remember that sithican elves using their own language, which is analogue of RL Welsh language. As far as I understand they still may know elven d&d one, but they rarely use it.
Correction. Sithican and Silvanesti is the same language. The difference is that sithicans pronounce their S in a highly sibilant way, making the language sound much less melodious than Krynnish Sylvanesti. Also, in effect, elves with different dialects of the elven language can always understand each other, provided they communicate slowly and make efforts to understand each other.