Children of the Night
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Children of the Night was a four-part series of splatbooks released for the Dungeons & Dragons Gothic Horror Fantasy setting of Ravenloft under the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition ruleset. The CotN series tied into the Van Richten's Guide series; each contained multiple NPCs based around the "theme" monster of the specific book, and with a short adventure to showcase the NPC as well. Only four official books were released for this series; Ghosts, The Created, Vampires and Werebeasts. The Kargatane, the fan-group who release the Books of S netbooks, also wrote an unofficial 5th book in the series; this one focusing on Demons.
CotN: Ghosts
Jimmy Upton: A truly unusual ghost; this spectral thief-turned-beggar isn't actually dead! Instead, he is the victim of his own mother's deceptions, having been manipulated by her to try and steal a cursed amulet that has trapped him in a ghost-like state.
The Ghost Cat: Less a ghost and more a malevolent spirit of punishment, the so-called "unfamiliar" is a lesser fury which attaches itself to people who have attracted the attention of the Dark Powers. In the guise of a black animal (typically a cat), it seeks to push them down the road to becoming a true monster.
Wilhelm Pellman: The vengeful ghost of a boy who seeks to see his brother punished for the crime of murdering Wilhelm's best friend, a crime so grisly it drove Wilhelm into the street, where he was run down by a cart.
Susannah Joson: A tormented landowner's daughter whose deep love for a rake allowed him to murder her, though not before murdering her entire family first. Driven mad by grief and fouled love, she yearns to find happiness in the arms of a man, only to end up spreading more tragedy.
Theona Heslvar: A malicious and ugly witch in life, Theona was happy to die because it gave her the power to steal the body of a younger, and more beautiful, woman. Unless she is stopped, the body's true owner will never reclaim it.
Lord Alexander von Lupinoff: A once-kindly noble betrayed by his closest friend, who magically infected him with lycanthropy and then murdered him in order to steal his lands. In his rage, he clings to existence as a ghost, still shifting between the forms of man and beast.
Sir Marcus Malvoy: Once a would-be god-king on Cerilia, Sir Malvoy's cowardice always got the best of him, and ultimately led him to betray and murder his own adventuring party to try and save his skin. For his treachery and cowardice, he is now condemned to roam the Mists, his former comrades mocking him, until the day he manages to find the courage to help some other adventurer to succeed.
Hurrek and Acchalus: A truly bizarre ghost, formed from the merging of two individuals; Hurrek, a once-evil giant who came to find redemption before his death, and Acchalus, the insane remnants of a holy champion Hurrek slew in his villainous days.
Nikolai Melentha: A boy who was beaten to death by his abusive father when Nikolai demanded he stop hurting his daughter, Nikolai's fury at his father's actions led him to return and slay his father in turn. Now he watches over all children, seeking to deliver an increasingly lethal and judgmental brand of justice to any he brands as an abusive parent or guardian.
Rhianna: The ghost of a young woman who was slain by a bastellus, and now hopes to warn her still-living friends and family before the dream-haunting demon can slay them in turn.
The Ghosts of Hospitality: The ghost of a fratricidal highland clan chief, Duncan MacFarn, who slew his twin brother Donal and all of Donal's men to become chief, only to be slain by their vengeful ghosts in turn. Now, both sides return again and again, doomed to repeat their malevolent, bloody history until some brave soul intervenes.
Vlana Waldershen: A hateful and bitter Vistani woman who seeks to destroy the family she once so loved.
Ezekiel Preston: A vain and selfish man who destroyed the lives of many, even those he believed himself to love.
CotN: The Created
The Aggregate Golem: A flesh golem of superb construction, made using only the finest components, which has left its mind a battleground for the souls of those whose flesh was used in assembling the creature.
Angelique: Born from the obsessive love of the widower Karl von Salzburg, who sought to resurrect his slain wife by reassembling her with body-parts taken from living women, Angelique is a rarity not only for the quality of her construction, but for her all-consuming amnesia. She has no idea that she is a flesh golem at all!
Lumley's Automatic Man: A mechanical golem that was defeated and left for dead by an angry mob, its "soul" survived and slowly seeped from the broken carcass to possess and assimilate into the Lumley House.
Azenwrath: A unique golem unlike any other, Azenwrath was once a treant, swallowed by the Mists of Ravenloft and corrupted into something malevolent and foul by the taint of the demiplane. Slain by a heroic adventuring wizard, Azenwrath's body was turned into vast amounts of wood and paper - and yet, somehow, the treant came back from the dead. Now it stalks the misty realms, seeking to reclaim all that was once part of its body.
The Chaperone: A patchwork golem in the shape of a massive cat, created by a half-mad woman who yearned for a protector and a friend, yet which now plots against her.
Alexander du Cire: A wax golem model of the famous wax sculptor in Port-a-Lucine, it has turned against its maker, imprisoning him and scheming to replace all the humans of Port-a-Lucine with wax golem replicas.
Doppelganger Golem: A unique flesh golem created from the bodies of dread doppelgangers by none other than Emil Bollenbach, the mad scientist who once sought to steal Van Richten's brain for a flesh golem. He hopes his creation will become a super-golem with which he can exterminate all other golems, unaware that ultimately the monster will twist its purpose into killing all potential golem builders...
Gestalt: A truly horrible flesh golem, created by the vain and selfish Dr. Simone Couture in an attempt to amalgamate and preserve what she considered the best features of her two would-be suitors.
The Living Armor: A truly grotesque flesh golem, a monstrous amalgamation of animal and human parts assembled in hideous parody of a beholder, all to create the ultimate in magical powered armor.
Lucre: Once a magical and intelligent sword made of gold, Lucre had the misfortune to fall into the hands of the miserly Ezekiel Barckarl, who melted it down into a set of 13 enchanted coins that can animate any other coin they are touching. Now a treasure hoard that can guard itself, Lucre has become obsessed both with fulfilling its duty, and with sating its newfound love of killing.
Lumina: A stained glass golem in the image of Ezra, Lumina was crafted by the obsessive priest Landall Dolan, who fell madly in love with his own creation - who immediately returned the feeling in kind. When his fellow priests decried him as a heretic, Lumina strove to protect him, but he was killed in the fray. Now, she seeks to resurrect him by any means necessary.
Min'kins: Small, grotesque-looking servitor flesh golems made from bizarre sculptings of flesh and bone by the half-mad artificer Lian de Loranche Punchinel.
Transient Golem: A weird, wandering horror seemingly born of the very substance of the Mists, which feeds on the life energy of others.
CotN: Vampires
Jander Sunstar: An elven nosferatu native to the world of Faerun, this non-malevolent vampire seeks to protect mortals against the depredations of the true children of the night. Also the unintentional inspiration of the cult of The Morninglord.
Audun Beck: Captain of the dragonship Illsong, this former Kosti was a heartless reaver even before he became a foul sea vampire at the suckers of a pod of vampiric giant octopi. With a crew of sea zombies and jolly rogers at his back, he roams the Sea of Sorrows, feeding on any who cross his path.
Lysa von Zarovich: A vicious and cruel member of the von Zarovich family tree; having been turned into a vampire by Count Strahd himself, she now seeks to destroy him and be free.
Moosha: A burned, twisted, fluid-sapping desert vampire, created by a divine curse after he murdered first his pharaoh and then that pharaoh's son in order to attain a comfortable life.
Myxitzajal: A vampiric ixitxachitl who became so cruel and debauched that even his own Dagon-worshiping people ultimately turned on him. Only by being drawn up by the Mists did he escape his punishment.
Lady Adeline: A deranged and deformed Silvanesti elf vampire who loyally serves the Darklord Baron von Kharkov. She seeks to destroy all that is beautiful, until all things are as ugly as she is.
Don Pablo: One of the most beloved pianists and composers in the land, Don Pablo fell under the spell of a female vampire named Lynette, who seduced him into agreeing to become her vampiric spouse. The interference of a former patron of his saw Lynette die whilst the transformation was just beginning, leaving the composer as that most wretched of things; a vorlog.
Alexi: A Vistani of the Naiat tribe who stumbled across a weakened vampire and fled when he called to the boy for help. When he recovered, the outraged vampire abducted Alexi and turned him into a vampire in revenge.
Jack Bequick: An aspiring clown who was cursed by a wizard he angered to be forever invisible, Jack found friendship in the only being who could see him - a vampire. Whilst joining his friend in undeath failed to lift the curse, it at least allowed him revenge. Now only able to become visible by terrorizing others, Jack has become a plague upon the land.
Lady Heather Shadowbrooke: A prickly and vainglorious druidess who allowed dark whispers to goad her into murdering her circle for not making her their leader. For this she was cursed, transformed into a unique vampire that feeds on both blood and sap.
Ezra: Once a skilled thief boss, Ezra's gang was slaughtered when he led them to burglarize a mansion belonging to a cell of Kargat vampires, who killed Ezra's followers and transformed him into a nosferatu. Now he years to rebuild what he had, and to gain even more power.
Mulger D'Ajust: A dwarf who, driven to study magic in life, found himself swallowed by the Mists for his obsessive, selfish, merciless nature. Rescued from death by Azalin, the lich transformed him into a vampire to use him as a servant.
Marla: A Halan cleric who fell for the seductive manipulations of an entity implied to be the Gentleman Caller, who then deceived her into becoming a penanggalan.
CotN: Werebeasts
Andre de Sang: The only survivor of a brutal pirate raid that saw his mother abducted and Andre ultimately forced to cannibalize his own father to survive, Andre ultimately became a pirate as bad as his attackers. When he finally achieved vengeance, feeding the men who had destroyed his childhood to starving rats, their captain cursed him, transforming him into a wererat.
Angel Pajaro: An actress at the Port-a-Lucine Opera House in Dementlieu, the half-elven beauty hides both her true nature as a werefox and a deadly ambition.
Radjiff Chandor: A Sri Rajin hunter whose life was ruined when a Kali priestess set him to hunting a secret society known as the Stalkers, a band of weretigers. Radjiff barely escaped with his life; his wife and sons were not so lucky. Learning he had become a weretiger himself only drove him completely over the edge, making him a cruel monster obsessed with hunting humans for sport.
Vladimir Nobriskov: A dashing and charismatic figure whom many may suspect is a vampire. In truth, he's a blood-drinking form of werebat.
Meeka: A rare specimen indeed, this pathologic catwere was once an ordinary feral black cat, save for her friendship with a darkling named Anjornio. Injured by a werepanther whilst trying to save her friend from it, she found its curse coursing through her being, causing her to assume the form of a human on the nights of the full moon. But whilst her intelligence has grown, her personality remains thoroughly feline, as many have learned to their cost.
Abu al Mir: A werejackal priest of Anubis from Har'akir, driven to wander the Mists after the slaughter of his family and his church by what he fearfully believes was a divine curse.
Sheneya: A strange creature born from the union of an Elder Serpent - an intelligence, magical giant snake - and a human woman in the land of Zakhara, this bizarre werecobra's entrance to the Demiplane of Dread remains a mystery.
Professor Arcanus: A good-hearted entertainer who runs a traveling show featuring "authentic relics of the occult", Arcanus still bears the scars of youthful misdeeds, where he drunkenly attempted to force himself upon a beautiful Vistani woman. For this, her tribe cursed him, causing him to transform into a carnivorous ape whenever in pain or enraged.
Mother Fury: A savage lupine priestess who preaches for men and women alike to renounce civilization and embrace the beast within.
Henri Milton: An aspiring painter who has succumbed to temptation and tried to cheat his way to proficiency with the aid of the dread Picalinni's Palette. Now, not only is he a murderer many times over, but he has begun to succumb to its curse and is now doomed to assume the form of a monstrous man-pig as a wereboar.
Dr. Vjorn Horstman: A mad scientist native to Falkovnia whose lifelong obsession with therianthropy has led him to pursue a means of artificially creating and controlling werebeasts to aid Drakov's armies.
Sandover: A mad cultist of Souragne who has been blessed by the dark god Merrshaulk with the aspect of the werecrocodile.
Hilde Borganov: A wereray who has become enamored with the sunken city of Shay-Lot and has begun to take over the town of Tidemore to pursue her goals.
CoTN: Demons
Al-Khymer: An ambitious and malicious efreet whose warmongering plans ultimately led to his doom.
The Black Duke: A cornugon tricked into answering a summons that left him trapped in the Demiplane of Dread. Whilst he seeks the domination and conquest of all around him, this is a mere entertainment as he pursues his true goal of escaping back to Baator.
Boreas: An eolian (chaotic air elemental) corrupted by both the Mists and the misanthrophy of his summoner, Boreas is a terrible fiend indeed. Riding storms in from the oceans, it uses its aura of chaos to drive humans to murder and madness before it wanders off again.
Credimori: A twisted and horrible fiend that stokes the prejudice and bigotry of mortalkind for its own foul amusement.
Francois de Penible: An aristocrat from Richemulot and a would-be social enlightener who found the willful ignorance of others to his teachings leading him down a dark road, cursing him to begin the process of transposition with a kyton.
Kraxzat: A cambion who found friendship amongst the orphans of the city of Karg, Kraxzat yearns to protect children against the depredations of adults, but his methods for doing so only brings about more pain and suffering.
Marasmos: A truly repulsive fiend who is little more than a living disease, seeking to spread its Cult of Suppuration across the Demiplane of Dread.
Quist: An imp who was whisked to the Demiplane of Dread by the whims of the Mists, and who is reveling in the fact that in this backwater world, even as lowly a fiend as himself is a veritable demigod of darkness.
The Straw God: A bloodthirsty and malevolent fey in the form of a scarecrow-like creature, which has begun to terrorize a town into worshipping it with blood sacrifices.
Thissalra Torr: A wizard's desire to protect his beloved daughter went horribly wrong when he accidentally sealed this mighty glabrezu away inside of her body, compelling it to protect its host.
The White Fiend: A mad and corrupted female fairy who spreads ice, suffering and darkness wherever she goes.