Regarding IC knowledge of Andral and the Keepers of the Black Feather

[Bluebomber4evr]

To all members of the PotM Community:

It has recently come to our attention that several players had used OOC means to learn of one of the setting's most secret societies, the Keepers of the Black Feather. The particular OOC means were primarily from reading published tabletop Ravenloft books and from a former player who was in the society and told these players about it OOC long after he had quit. Unfortunately, this instance of metagaming had occurred quite some time ago and the players told many others of this society, even though they had no legitimate IC means of obtaining it. This leaves us with a difficult decision, but one that must be made.

As of right now, any information that your characters may have obtained on the god Andral is not valid unless it was obtained from an in-game item (such as a loot drop like the Heels of Andral) or directly from a DM. Likewise, any information that your characters may have obtained on the Keepers of the Black Feather secret society is not valid unless it was obtained directly from a DM. Any other source of information on these two subjects is not a valid source and is considered OOC and metagaming. Invalid information is not known IC by your character, and your character cannot use it or act upon it.

We aren't going to rollback the server or have "do-overs" on certain events because of this. Any events that occurred as a direct result of this invalid information (including these PCs telling your characters this information) are simply considered to have never happened at all. If you are in doubt if your IC knowledge on these matters is legitimate or not, ask the DM who roleplayed the situation with you. Only after confirmation from said DM you may use this knowledge IC.

We realize that there might be concerns about the integrity of roleplay, but please understand that the integrity of roleplay was disrupted the moment these individuals decided to act upon knowledge they read in sourcebooks and/or got from a player who quit the server. These individuals had no IC means to obtain this information, and therefore any action that their spreading of this information caused, be it negative or positive, cannot and should not have occurred. The only way to restore the integrity of roleplay is to retcon the fact that they spread information that they did not legitimately gain IC, and retcon any action that sprang directly from this illegitimately-gained knowledge.

We apologize for any confusion and will try to make this as painless as possible.

Thank you for understanding.

DM Blue, on behalf of the PotM DM team.

[Bluebomber4evr]

I'm getting a lot of questions about loot items mentioning Andral. There are only 3 items with reference to Andral, all vague and all of them referring to it as a dead religion:

Andral's Light (Amulet)

Small amulets of this type were created long ago in Barovia by followers of a long forgotten god. They aid its wearer in the fight against undead and evil.

The pendant represents a large sun and it seems to emit light just as a sun would. It is made of pure gold and is rather light.

Heels of Andral (Boots)

These boots of the ancient god Andral have seen the ages and keep the wearer's feet warmer than most. A large golden sun has been embroidered into the leather. Travelling devotees of its faith may have worn these very boots in centuries past.

Fists of Andral (Gloves)

Crafted by the monks of the Silver Threads Monastery high up atop Mount Baratak, these gloves had gone missing ages ago. Missing, that is, until they began to resurface long after the collapse of the old Barovian worship of the Sun God.  Worshippers of the Morninglord might find an affinity for these gloves, though only a well-versed scholar would ever know of their true past.

Candle of Sanctuary (Misc. Thin - Candle)

The Churce of Andral, an ancient sun god, was once the official state religion of Barovia. A proud and well-respected faith, the Churce of Andral produced many famous artifacts, most of them made by High Priest Kir: the Icon of Ravenloft, the Sunsword, and the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind. Sadly both the Church and those famous relics have all but disappared, seemingly vanished right after the massacre at Sergei von Zarovich's wedding on the night of 351 BC.

No one alive today remembers the Church or its deity Andral, aside from a few ancient legends. Certainly no one living today was witness to its grand traditions. However while the major, famous relics have all but vanished, there are still some minor items that have survived to the present.

These candles are such surviving relics. Created centuries ago during the Neureni invasion, these candles provided the clergy with a means of protecting themselves from raids by the Neureni barbarians.

When lit and the proper command word spoken, this magical taper casts a sanctuary spell about the user.

These candles are made with peach blossoms, tuberose, oil of bitter orange, holy water, garlic, and giant skunk musk.

These are all fine and if you character has any (or all) of these items, they can know what the descriptions say. If anyone other than a DM has told your character anything about Andral beyond what is listed above, that information was metagamed and is null and void.

[Bluebomber4evr]

Bumping this again because apparently the player who had been the cause of the initial post is still spreading this metagamed information.

[Bluebomber4evr]

Although I thought I made this clear, apparently there's still confusion.

The fact that Andral used to be worshipped is not a secret. There are items that can be found that mention this. Learning this is fine.

What is not fine is some players looked in the books and found out that the Keepers of the Black Feather, an ultra secret group, still worships him. THIS is what your characters cannot have found out. The Keepers themselves are so secretive that no one should know that they exist IC, let alone what god they worship.