Demiplane of Dread
The Demiplane of Dread is a unique Demiplane - or, perhaps more accurately, a series of interlinked demiplanes - within the Great Wheel cosmology of Dungeons & Dragons. This is the actual "world" in which the campaign setting of Ravenloft is based, and so the name is often used when trying to describe the "Ravenloft world".
The precise origins of the Demiplane of Dread are lost to history. Its creators are enigmatic beings known only as "The Dark Powers", who maintain and defend their creation with mighty magic and jealous zeal. It's believed they have some kind of mutual non-aggression pact with the various gods of the Great Wheel, but nothing canon is ever defined. It is believed to lie where the Ethereal Plane meets the Plane of Shadow, but is able to manifest portals absolutely everywhere, even in places normally restricted to planar portals, such as Athas or the Phlogiston. Such portals usually appear as banks of fog or mist, but will adapt themselves to other sight-obscuring phenomena - and are usually one-way. Getting in is easy, but getting out? That's a whole other story. The only known reliable two-way portal in and out of the Demiplane of Dread is a doorway leading into the World Serpent Inn, whose doorway on the Demiplane's side of things changes every night. If you can't find that, you won't be able to leave unless the Dark Powers will it, short of using artifact-level items like the dreaded Rift Spanner which just so happens to be the kind of item that could turn you into a Darklord just from getting it to work properly.
Planar Traits
The Demiplane of Dread's creators have molded the reality of this world into a new fashion, forcibly imposing the rules of Gothic Horror on the setting. There are many ways that this molding manifests, but some of the more overt include the following:
- Necromancy spells are empowered and rendered more dangerous; spells like Animate Dead will call up more creatures than the caster may be able to control, whilst spells that instantly kill their victims usually cause such victims to arise spontaneously as the undead - and often as ones quite pissed off at their killer. Certain non-necromancy, non-instant-kill spells even have a chance of doing this, such as Disintegrate turning a completely disintegrated victim into an incorporeal undead!
- Divination spells are pretty much worthless; spells that detect moral alignment invariably fail, spells aimed at detecting monstrous species either are unreliable (Detect Undead) or flatly won't work (using True Seeing to look for natural shapechangers), spells that revolve around mental contact risk driving you mad if you accidentally use them on certain inhuman creatures, and in general you can't trust the result of divination spells because the normal awareness of when such a spell has failed doesn't occur in the Demiplane of Dead. Oh, and Scrying type spells create a visible sensory apparatus that can be used to alert your target that you're scrying on them, and even serve as a conduit for things like gaze attacks. There's a practical reason for this; horrific things aren't quite as scary if you know their true nature too early, and so this element was put in to keep from having the DM tip their hands too soon and ruin the scare.
- Conjuration allows entities from other planes to be summoned, but they won't be able to return home when the spell expires. Obviously, quite a few of them will be very upset with their summoner because of this. Even before they figure this out, the binding aspects of conjuration spells are weaker in the Demiplane of Dread, giving summoned creatures a chance to escape its bonds the moment it arrives.
- Spells that directly interfere with the fabric of a Domain, such as manipulating weather, can often attract the attention of the resident Darklord, and who might be able to subvert or negate these same spells if they have related powers.
- Teleportation spells are restricted; you can't use magic to get past supernaturally closed Domain Borders, and you certainly can't use it to get out of the Demiplane entirely. Gate spells do work, but can only be used for summoning and not for escaping the Demiplane.
- Curses are empowered, and even non-spellcasters can potentially lay deadly or deforming curses on people if their rage or grief is intense enough to catch the notice of the Dark Powers.
- Acts of evil can result in people slowly transforming into monsters, a process called Powers Checks. The worst of the worst can even become Darklords in turn.
- Self-willed undead like vampires can tell if their minds are being read and can choose which thoughts they will project. Depending on the circumstances, this may be a false image passing them off as human- or an up-close look at the most evil parts of their minds meant to drive the would-be mind reader insane.
Mapping the Demiplane
Geo-physically, the Demiplane of Dread consists of various bubbles of reality, ranging in size from a single room to full-fledged countries, all floating in a sea of ephemeral mist; each of these reality bubbles (called "Domains") is typically centered around a Darklord, a villain whose evil caught the eyes of the Dark Powers and so they responded by imprisoning them within the Demiplane. 3rd edition's unpublished splatbook "Van Richten's Guide to the Mists" introduced the concept of Oubliettes, which are basically prototype or abandoned Domains that don't contain a Darklord. A Domain may exist on its own (an "Island of Terror") or be physically coterminous with one or more more other domains, forming what is called a "Cluster". The largest and oldest Cluster in the Demiplane is called "The Core", and this is basically Ground Zero for the setting. Normally, one can simply walk between Domains, but most Darklords have a power called "Closing the Borders," which causes the borders of their Domain to become enveloped in a barrier of some sort unique to that Darklord that prevents escape in some fashion - some are non-lethal, most will kill you if you try. A rare few can be circumvented by the right esoteric circumstances (for example, undead or constructs can safely walk through poisonous borders like that of Barovia, because they're fundamentally immune to poison), but in general this is the ultimate Railroading tool the DM has to keep you from just saying "fuck this" and leaving the domain.
Precisely why the Dark Powers collect these Darklords is unknown, and theories abound; the Demiplane of Dread has been described as a prison, a gathering place for evil, a grand study into the nature of evil, a unique kind of Hell, or even a Purgatory by various fans.
Another great mystery is the nature of its native population. Some Domains were physically taken from their homeworlds, but most are described as "copies" rather than direct abductions of land. This then leaves players wondering: are the locals actually "real", or are they merely soulless simulacra - props in the grand theater of Gothic Horror tales that the Dark Powers are conducting? Nothing concrete has ever been given.
The Core
As mentioned above, this is the "core" of Ravenloft, the sole normal-style continent where the bulk of the game focuses on. Think of it as something akin to the Sword Coast of the Forgotten Realms, or Ansalon in Dragonlance. The Core is made up of the following Domains.
Barovia
- Cultural Level: Medieval
- Landscape: Temperate Forests, Hills & Mountains
- Motif: Blatant Dracula Knockoff
- Darklord: Strahd von Zarovich
This is the oldest domain in Ravenloft, the literal heart of the Demiplane of Dread. It's ruled by Strahd, and is basically Dracula in D&D.
Borca
- Cultural Level: Chivalric
- Landscape: Temperate Forests, Hills & Mountains
- Motif: Poisoners, Italy under the Borgia Family
- Darklord: Ivana Boritsi
Originally, Borca was ruled by the Darklord Camille Boritsi, and was half its present size, sharing borders with the near-identical domain of Dorvini. Ivana poisoned her mother because her mom seduced her boyfriend, and during the Grand Conjunction, her domain and that of her cousin Ivan Dilisnya merged together due to their great similarities.
Darkon
- Cultural Level: Dark Age to Chivalric
- Landscape: Temperate Forests, Hills, Plains, Mountains & Swamps
- Motif: Generic Dark Fantasy
- Darklord: Azalin
Darkon is notable as the most overtly fantastical realm in the Demiplane of Dread, with a relatively huge population of demihumans that sees humans going from the usual 90+% population merit to only 75% as well as the greatest amount of local toleration for arcane magic.
Dementlieu
- Cultural Level: Renaissance
- Landscape: Temperate Forests & Plains
- Motif: Renaissance France/Victorian England
- Darklord: Dominic D'Honaire
Though not as overtly modeled on London as the domain of Paridon, Dementlieu definitely taps into the Gothic Urban Horror motif, as is made clear by the way it is home to myriad mystical mind-manipulators and the character Alanik Ray, who is basically Sherlock Holmes if he was an elf.
Falkovnia
- Cultural Level: Medieval
- Landscape: Temperate Forests & Plains
- Motif: Military Horror, Fascism, Urban Squalor
- Darklord: Vlad Drakov
Slap together Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia, paint it up in the most shit-awful and miserable stereotypes of Dark Ages Europe, and have the place be run by a man who melds Hitler with Vlad the Impaler and is so bloodthirsty they'd both be disgusted by him. Falkovnia is outright called the biggest shithole in the Demiplane of Dread.
Forlorn
- Cultural Level: Iron Age
- Landscape: Temperate Forests, Hills & Plains
- Motif: Dreary Scotland with a dash of Brak Man Morn
- Darklord: Tristen ApBlanc
A vaguely Scottish Celtic themed domain that nobody gives a shit about because there's nothing in it but killer plants, giant bugs, and goblyns. 3e tried to fix this by adding a small population of native humans, but the overall domain is still a monster-infested backwoods, so nobody fucking cares.
Hazlan
- Cultural Level: Medieval
- Landscape: Temperate Hills, Mountains & Plains
- Motif: Dark Fantasy meets Yellow Peril
- Darklord: Hazlik
Essentially a tiny sliver of Thay transplanted into the Demiplane of Dread, where a tiny minutia (the Mulan ethnicity) rules over and brutally represses a far vaster majority (the Rashemani). One of only two places so absolutely shit that The Lawgiver is actually worshipped here.
Invidia
- Cultural Level: Chivalric
- Landscape: Temperate Forests & Hills
- Motif: Lethally Impulsive Stupidity
- Darklord: Gabrielle Aderre
A land of passionate, hot-blooded and constantly feuding individuals. The Vistani are executed on sight here.
Kartakass
- Cultural Level: Medieval
- Landscape: Temperate Forests & Hills
- Motif: Wolves in Sheep's Clothing
- Darklord: Meistersinger Harkon Lukas
A rural backwoods inhabited by proud, cocky, music-loving foresters who are quite happy with the way things are, thank you. They are totally oblivious to the population of wolfweres hiding amongst them.
Keening
- Cultural Level: None (formerly Chivalric)
- Landscape: Temperate Mountains (Bleached of Life)
- Motif: Endless Grief
- Darklord: Tristessa the Banshee
A cursed and forsaken realm, with a population consisting solely of its mad, grief-stricken banshee darklord, her court of half-insane undead fey, and a village of skeletons that constantly mime out the actions of their last day.
Lamordia
- Cultural Level: Renaissance
- Landscape: Temperate Forests, Hills & Plains
- Motif: Mad Science ala Frankenstein
- Darklord: Dr. Mordenheim & Adam
A stuffy, tempest-lashed domain that prides itself on its scientific acumen and its staunch rationalistic beliefs, totally denying the fantastical nature of the world around them.
Markovia
- Cultural Level: Stone Age
- Landscape: Warm Forests, Hills & Mountains
- Motif: The Island of Dr. Moreau
- Darklord: Dr. Markov
It's literally just the Island of Dr Moreau in D&D. That's it. They even moved it from being part of the core to out in the ocean, but it's still a lazy shitshow of a domain.
Mordent
- Cultural Level: Renaissance
- Landscape: Temperate Forests, Plains & Swamps
- Motif: Ghost-Haunted Rural Britain/Scotland
- Darklord: Lord Wilfred Godefroy
It's basically the setting for every ghost-related Gothic Horror novel ever written.
Necropolis
- Cultural Level: Iron Age
- Landscape: Temperate Settled Area
- Motif: City of the Dead
- Darklord: Death
Once a bustling metropolis in Darkon called Il Aluk, the place was destroyed and turned into a city of sapient undead creatures protected behind a mystical veil that kills and reanimates any living humanoids that enter. This was caused by Azalin achieving an epic-level fuck up with his magic.
The Nocturnal Sea
- Cultural Level: Varies between islands
- Landscape: Temperate Aquatic (sea); Temperate Forests, Hills, Plains & Swamps (islands)
- Motif: Savagery of the Sea
- Darklord: See Below
The Western Sea of the Core is technically a cluster onto itself, with different islands being the lairs of different darklords.
Nova Vaasa
- Cultural Level: Medieval
- Landscape: Temperate Forests, Hills & Plains
- Motif: Russia under Peter the Great
- Darklord: Sir Tristen Hiregaard/Malken
A horse-filled steppeland dominated by sweeping grassy plains and crushing urban poverty and squalor, presided over by a mixture of corrupt aristocrats and Lawful Good types who view "law" as more important than "good". This is the other domain shitty enough to have The Lawgiver as the state religion, and is such a hellhole that Barovians look down on its people as backward hicks.
Richemulot
- Cultural Level: Chivalric
- Landscape: Temperate Forests, Hils & Plains
- Motif: Wererat Land
- Darklord: Jacqueline Renier
A pseudo-French domain distinguished mostly by being the largest breeding ground of wererats in the entire demiplane. The name is literally French for "Rich Mouse".
The Sea of Sorrows
- Cultural Level: Varies between islands
- Landscape: Temperate Aquatic (sea); Temperate Forests, Hills, & Plains (islands)
- Motif: Savagery of the Sea
- Darklord: See Below
This is the Eastern Sea of the Core, and thusly it's the same deal as its western counterpart; more of a cluster scattered across an ocean than one singular domain.
The Shadow Rift
- Cultural Level: Unknowable
- Landscape: Eternally Dark Mysical
- Motif: Dark Faerie Tales
- Darklord: Gwydion the Shadow Fiend
This is the homeland of the Shadow Fey, and as such no mortals know anything about the place.
Sithicus
- Cultural Level: Medieval
- Landscape: Temperate Forests & Hills
- Motif: Declining Elf Kingdom
- Darklord: Inza Kulchevitch
The only domain in the Core that has a demihuman majority population, this was formerly the domain of Lord Soth, and is thus loosely based on the Dragonlan ce setting.
Tepest
- Cultural Level: Early Medieval
- Landscape: Temperate Forests & Hills
- Motif: Grim Faerie Tales Europe meets Salem Witch Trials
- Darklord: The Sisters Mindefisk
Hands down one of the most primitive and worthless backwaters in the Core, Tepest's trio of hag darklords are practically non-entities in their own land, with the focus instead being on how the ignorant superstitious peasantry are falling increasingly under the sway of a self-righteous inquisition of self-proclaimed fey-hunters and witch-burners.
Valachan
- Cultural Level: Medieval
- Landscape: Temperate Forests & Hills
- Motif: African Savages
- Darklord: Baron Urik von Kharkov
A rugged wilderness inhabited by dusky-skinned foresters who take pride in their absolute ignorance when it comes to book-learning or anything not related to the practicalities of forest-work, to the point they even look down upon their own priests. Befittingly, this leaves them too ignorant to realize they are being eaten alive by a hidden population of nosferatu and werepanthers.
Vechor
- Cultural Level: Classical
- Landscape: Warm Forests, Hills & Swamps
- Motif: Insanity Made Real
- Darklord: Easan the Mad
A vaguely India-esque domain ruled over by an insane elf wizard who has the power to reshape the surroundings based on his current mad whim.
Verbrek
- Cultural Level: Medieval
- Landscape: Temperate Forests, Hills & Swamps
- Motif: Werewolf Country
- Darklord: Nathan Timothy
The obligatory werewolf domain, to contrast the Dracula and Frankenstein ones. Everybody here knows the wilderness (as embodied by the werewolves) is at their door, and lives accordingly.
The Clusters
The Amber Wastes
- Motif: Dark Fantasy Egypt
It's Gothic Horror Egypt in D&D. What more is there to say? Its constituent domains are Har'Akir, Sebua and Pharazia.
The Frozen Reaches
- Motif: Dark Fantasy Russia
It's basically the frozen wintery hell that everybody imagines that Russia is transplanted into D&D. Its constituent domains are Sanguinia and Vorostokov,
The Shadowlands
- Motif: Medieval Dark Fantasy
Intimately tied to a single world, the Shadowlands are made up of three domains that all tie to one lon story of corruption; Avonleigh, Nidala and Shadowborn Manor.