The domain of Sullenworth is similar to Victorian England suffering a plague referred to as The Unpleasantness, which results in the reanimation of the dead shortly after their demise. The spread of this curse has led to a land of walls that segment off portions of cities, road, fields; anything to prevent hordes of animates from spreading. This separation from your neighbors and the dense fogs of this land lead to a feeling of isolation. In addition, the rise of the walking dead and strict values of propriety has nearly eliminated religion from this domain and instead the advancement of science has become widespread. Gas lamps, medical science, and rudimentary steam engines are found throughout the cities, while the southern fishing villages remain backward bastions of the old ways.

Real World Influence: 19^th-Century England

Theme: Corruption

Sullenworth

Cultural Level: Renaissance (9)

The Land: Sullenworth is more civilized than Dunkilwald, but less of it has been given over to farming than Vildessette. Most of the domain is flat or covered in low hills dotted with small villages. True forests are few, though bogs with spindly conifers are seen along the northwestern shore where runoff from the mountains of Dunkilwald flows out to the sea.

Sullenworth is rainier than its neighbors, and frequent mists come in off the shore to cover its fields, light forests and northern moors with deep fogs. The moisture and fertile soil make Sullenworth the breadbasket of Teuralia. The southern shores have all manner of natural harbors which also create a profitable fishing industry in the south.

Travelers to Sullenworth will note that it is covered in walls. Walls surround villages, cities, homes, even fields. It is not that the people are less friendly than other domains, though that may be true, but rather the walls are a practical response to the Unpleasantness. While not discussed in respectable company, Sullenworth suffers from a terrible plague of undeath which natives refer to as the Unpleasantness. Walls and gates surround everything, both to keep out the Unpleasantness, but also to contain it, should infection be found within.

Major Settlements: Norwich (pop. 11,870), Portsbury (pop. 7,400), Marketsbridge (pop. 5,030), Westshore (pop. 1,200).

The Folk: Population—30,500; Humans 98%, Other 2%. Languages—Sullen*, Vildissetian, Dunkilspecken, High Teuralian, Low Mordentish, High Mordentish. Religions—Primarily none, various cults.

Humans from Sullenworth display a wide array of complexions and hair colors, though gingers are more common in Sullenworth than the other domains of Teuralia. They tend to be of an average build, shorter then Dunkilwald men but taller than most from Vildessette. Fashion in Sullenworth tends toward black, grey or brown and simple adornments such as a brooch or ring. Ostentatious displays of wealth are seen as unrespectable efforts to appear as above ones station. The wealthy may carry a cane, umbrella or wear a top hat while the commonfolk content themselves with shapeless hats and many layers to keep out the damp.

The men and women from Sullenworth are more egalitarian than other domains with a belief that while birth is important, one can advance oneself through hard work and an adherence to one’s duties to society and family. Sullenworthians have a reputation for prudishness and observance of conventionalities, and abhor displays of poor behavior which leads to most initially displaying a cold demeanor until close relationships are formed.

Traditional gender roles are the strongest in Sullenworth. Women of society in Sullenworth are generally expected not to work, though this is not always possible among the common folk who must take in laundry, sewing, or other such tasks if their families are to survive. Women who flaunt their nonconformity however, are generally considered a blight upon their family's reputation and are avoided by those of good breeding.

 The Unpleasantness and its spontaneous reanimation of the dead has resulted in packs of roaming zombies and other animates which must be contended with as part of daily life. How the Unpleasantness spreads is not well understood, though it is general believed that contact with animates is related. This constant horror has led to a disappearance of cemeteries. Interment has been outlawed, though does sometimes still occur among wealthy families steeped in tradition. Religion has disappeared all but for the most corrupt of cults centered mostly among the fisherfolk in the south or hermits in the moors. In its place mystical societies devoted to the advancement of scientific exploration, most generally little more than gentlemens’ clubs, have replaced religion. In Sullenworth, logic and learning are the new gods and an ordered understand of the natural world is their commandment.

For those of breeding or wealth, education at university is part of the Sullenworthian culture. Due to the Unpleasantness and the need for a proper health system, medicine and its study is well advanced beyond other domains of a similar cultural level. Common infections rarely claim lives except among the most poor and sanitation in hospitals rival the best in the Core.  The study of the human body and its manipulation is a much honored profession and many young men have taken it up both for the glory of expanding knowledge and the increase in suitable prospects for marriage.

The Law: Sullenworth is governed by a parliamentary body whose members are made up of wealthy landowners, guildmasters, and those holding hereditary titles from the defunct monarchy. While the parliament is host to all manner of lively debates, it is rare than it accomplishes anything or passes any laws. This is generally considered to be for the best by most Sullenworthians. Of the few topics upon which measures are routinely passed are those of public health and safety. Maintenance of the roads, walls, and sanitation are key to the survival of the domain, as is the occasional culling of animates that plague the cities. Funding for these issues is never contended and debate is always short.

Laws in Sullenworth are generally straightforward with only a slight bias towards the wealthy in the courts through rules regarding decorum and respectability in public. Punishments usually include fines for reparations either to the wronged party or the State, or for capital crimes, assignment to a culling team for some period of time. As Sullenworth is primarily mercantile society, few are trained in the arts of war and few survive their first encounter with a horde of animates, much less see the end of their sentence.

Trade and Diplomacy: Resources—coal, grain, literature, peat, science, seafood; Coinage—wisdom (pp), grace (gp), honor (sp), duty (cp).

Since the folk of Sullenworth are straightforward and avoid overt displays of emotion, it is difficult for them to deal with the less civilized, violent people of Dunkilwald and the frivolous Vildissetians, however Sullenworthians are practical and their merchants see these interactions as a necessity of business. Sullenworth regularly sends ambassadors to the Marquis at Méshoiendous in Vildessette, though the endless follies there often mean the ambassador rarely attends court.

Encounters: Due to the Unpleasantness, the most frequent danger in Sullenworth are packs of roving undead; especially zombies. Fast horses and stout walls offer sufficient protection against these dangers. Stranger creatures, with glowing eyes, dripping tentacles and mouths of sharks teeth are rumored by fisherfolk to plague the shores of Sullenworth; though stout men discount such wild tales. There are also wild tales of dangerous hermits in the moors who live among the animates without fear.

Native Player Characters: You might consider playing a character from Sullenworth if you like an unflappable, solidly respectable PC. Characters from Sullenworth are often well educated and illiteracy is rare. Men or women of overt faith are atypical. Rogues and Wizards are most common and Clerics are nearly unheard of.

Natives of Sullenworth must weather the difficulties of the Unpleasantness while still going about the calling of their daily lives and thus gain a +1 bonus to Fear and Horror checks made against corporeal undead. The domain is home to logic and decorum, where the disruption of etiquette is anathema. Characters from Sullenworth suffer a -2 penalty to Horror and Madness checks caused by violations of respectability.

Drawing its influence from swashbuckling stories such as The Three Musketeers, Vildessette is a land of high society where art, culture and politics strongly influences everyday life. Unfortunately for the people of this domain, a fungus known colloquially as “The Blight” destroys two thirds of its crop production annually, turning this otherwise fertile land into one of famine. In order to combat this problem, the Marquis Henri de Partandous has instituted large state farms where debtors, criminals and all gnomes and halflings work as slave labor, growing food that is shipped to the rich of the cities while the commonfolk starve. This slavery and inequity in the face of famine provides the opportunity for heroic opportunities and the chance to politic against master manipulators.

Real World Influence: 17^th-Century France

Theme: Famine and Excess

Vildissette

Cultural Level: Chivalric  (8)

The Land: Vildissette is a covered in rolling grasslands, light woods and thin streams. Much of the land is pastoral, filled with poor farming villages and the grand estates of the nobility. The climate is warmer and dryer than the greenwood of Dunkilwald or foggy shores of Sullenworth. This suggests that the farmers of Vildisette should have little trouble feeding the domain, but the thin soil, dry conditions, and frequent crop failures due to Blight means that the many bellies in the capital of Méshoiendous are often empty.

The Blight, a fungal plague, claims more than two thirds of the domain's yearly crops and seems so far to be entirely contained to the borders of Vildissette. With no way to combat the Blight yet discovered, the Marquis de Partandous has enslaved most of the demihuman population and converted nearly all arable land not owned by the rich or powerful into great farms managed, poorly, by the crown. Great care is taken to separate and burn any crops that show signs of the Blight, but infection is still common and spreads rapidly. Most of the edible food harvested is shipped to the cities where the rich feast and the free poor starve, much like their enslaved countrymen.

Major Settlements: Méshoiendous (pop. 18,700), Touelle (pop. 8,600), St. Micheln (pop. 7,150).

The Folk: Population—42,810; Humans 68%, Halflings 16%, Gnomes 11%, Other 5%. Languages—Vildissetian*, Gnomish, Halfling, Sullen, Dunkilspecken, High Teuralian, High Mordentish. Religions—Ezra, Hala.

The people of Vildissette have the darkest complexion of Teuralia and black hair is almost universal. Vildissetians have round faces, and large noses are widespread in both the human and gnomish populations. Extensive facial hair is rare, though slim mustaches or goatees are sometimes worn. The rich wear loose fitting clothes made from the finest silks and decorated with cloth of gold ribbons fastened with pearl buttons. This fashion is aped by the poor, though they must settle for loose fitting **** and baggy trousers decorated with scarves and colorful armbands. Women in Vildissette do not normally serve in the Gendarmes or in heavily physical labors, though a woman with a keen political mind might still rise to power in court or be appreciated as a great artist.

Famine and hunger is a way of life in Vildissette where bravos and highwaymen are far more likely to draw steel over a loaf of dark bread than a bag of coins. This has led to rampant crime and a casual disregard for life. The Gendarmes are corrupt and care little for such crime among the commonfolk other than as an excuse to press the violators into service on a state farm. However, should the slightest inconvenience cross the nobility, they respond harshly. Corpses are usually disposed of by dumping into the sewers or used for fertilizer on the Crown’s farms.

The people of Vildessette gloss over the corruption and famine by creating works of art. Painting, sculpture, architecture, poetry and music are powerful distractions from everyday woes and culture flourishes in both the cities and farming villages. In Sullenworth there is a saying, “In Vildesette, even the slaves sing,” suggesting that the Vildissetians are so vapid as to be more concerned with entertainment than their own predicaments.

The Law: Vildessette is nominally ruled by the Marquis Henri de Partandous, though much of his power is dependent on the consent of his nobility who are major hereditary landholders. The Marquis throws lavish balls to keep his court amused, much to the dismay of the populace who suffer from hunger and poverty. Whispers of revolution are brutality crushed by the Marquis’ Gendarmes and anyone speaking against the monarchy is sent to the farms to toil alongside debtors and demihumans in slavery. The grasp of monarchy weakens the further one travels from the cities and work farms, such that it is almost only a memory near the domain’s borders.

Trade and Diplomacy: Resources—apples, art, fashion, crafted goods, slaves, wine; Coinage—feast (pp), banquet (gp), morsel (sp), crumb (cp).

Vildessette is desperate to import fresh meat and timber from Dunkilwald and grain and seafood from Sullenworth. The domain's demand far outstrips the other countries ability to supply. It is this frantic desire to buy that keeps the otherwise Vildissetian superior attitude from clouding interactions with their otherwise more stoic neighbors. Méshoiendous in particular is sometimes seen as a destination for scientists from Sullenworth seeking to study human anatomy without the threat of reanimation or hoping understand the problems associated with the Blight before it spreads even further. Rich members of Court regularly sponsor such enlightened men or women as a status symbol, and their decadence keeps them from paying too close of an eye on how their money is spent. Indeed, the attitudes of the Vildessettian court allow Sullenworthian women seeking enlightenment a far greater chance for advancement than they would find in their own country.

Encounters: With the domain being so heavily populated, most encounters will be with humanoids: starving bandits, bravos looking to prove themselves, escaping gnome and halfling slaves, or corrupt Gendarmes. In Méshoiendous, there are a few families of wererats, though word on the street suggests they are rapidly losing a war for the sewers against something even more horrifying than the lycanthropes.

Native Player Characters: You might consider playing a character from Vildessette if you like a flashy, cultured or artistic PC. Characters from Vildessette are often skilled in the arts to some extent. Even the lowest farm hand plays an instrument or has tried his hand at poetry. Bards, Fighters, and Rogues are most common. This is also the only domain that possesses native Gnomes or Halflings.

Natives of Vildessette witness the dreadfulness of starvation regularly and as such receive a +2 bonus to Horror checks made against scenes of starvation or famine. However, the domain is well-civilized and monsters are few and far between. They suffer a -1 penalty to Fear checks caused by nonhumanoid monsters.

The first of the three domains the Teuralian cluster is Dunkilwald, a land loosely influenced by early medieval Germany. This domain is sparsely populated and is brutally violent. It is the most like a traditional D&D world with the potential to run into orcs, giants, or faeries. This provides a home for those who want a normal D&D PC, as well as a place to set more standard D&D adventure. If you have a player that would rather be playing “regular” D&D instead of an investigative horror setting, this is probably the best place for them.

Real World Influence: Medieval Germany

Theme: Savagery

Dunkilwald

Cultural Level: Medieval  (7)

The Land: Dunkilwald is a land of mist shrouded hills, ancient gloomy forests and swift, deep rivers in northern Teuralia. Ruins of ancient men and elves sometimes top the hills, but these are generally avoided by both man and beast, with a reputation as places of dark magic. On clear nights, strange lights can sometimes be seen moving through the ruins and those who investigate are not heard from again.

The further north one travels, the taller the hills rise, until they can truly be called mountains along the northern shore. Their steep faces provide no natural harbors, and make approach by sea from the north virtually impossible. Melting snows and natural springs in the mountain highlands give birth to three tributaries that flow south to join and become the domain’s largest river, known as the Drakkenklau. The Drakkenklau runs swift and cold, cutting deeply through the stony soil, causing great canyon walls to rise up to either side until it empties into the Tabllyn; the lake that forms the central border with Vildissette and Sullenworth.

The domain is more heavily populated by raptors, bears and deer than humans, but the rugged beauty of Dunkilwald hides a savage brutality. The depredations of the goblins and orcs are frequent in the hills. It is not uncommon to find burned down cottages or tribal effigies of bones, gnawed upon and painted in the blood of their victims. Perhaps more disturbing are those small forest communities that now stand empty; abandoned for no obvious reason. The populace avoids these desolate places, claiming they are cursed by the dark fey that are said to dwell in the wood.

Major Settlements: Falkensalz (pop.  1,200), Frischaft (pop. 620), Ringel (pop. 370). Dunkilwald is sparsely populated and has few settlements of note.

The Folk: Population—17,260; Humans 56%, Dwarves 13%, Elves 8%, Half-Elves 2%, Half-Orc 1%, Other 20% (primarily goblins and orcs). Languages— Dunkilspecken*, Sylvan, Dwarven, Elven, Goblinoid, Orcish, Sullen, Vildissetian, High Teuralian, Falkovnian. Religions—Belenus, ancestor worship, The Wolf God.

The people of Dunkilwald tend to be extremely practical and resigned to the cruelty of their lives. A home built over the course of years may be burned to the ground by goblins in one night. All one can do is struggle on, plant, hunt, and care for one's family.

The humans of Dunkilwald tend to have milky complexions and sharp features framed with blonde hair worn long by both men and women, although darker hair is common among the hill tribes. Clothing tends to be warm, supplemented with furs and cloaks for most of the year with lederhosen and tall socks in the brief summers. Nearly all folk, child or otherwise, carry a weapon; from a simple knife or woodsmen's' axe to the well-balanced longswords of the knights of Falkensalz. Due to the violent, tragic life of Dunkilwald, women are often called on to take over families or lead settlements. Traditional gender roles, more common in Sullenworth or Vildessette are blurred in Dunkilwald and armed women in chain or plate do not cause a stir.

Tiny communities of dwarves and elves exist in Dunkilwald, as they have without change since history began. Both races tend to stay isolated, trading with men once or twice a year at most and watching for raiders the rest. While the crafts of dwarves and elves are prized, particularly dwarven clockworks, men remain suspicious of their long-lived neighbors and ascribe all sorts of foul practices to them. Oldwives tales say that the dwarves digging in the earth causes crops to fail and cows to produce less milk and it is commonly believed that elves will steal young children to be used as slaves, or worse.

No matter the race, all of those in Dunkilwald take great pride in their elaborate craftsmanship. While the goods produced in Dunkilwald may not exceed the steam-powered wonders of Sullenworth or the elaborate artistic beauties of Vildessette, they are always sturdy, functional, and intricately detailed, with natural themes of flowers and birds commonly used as decoration. Even the monstrous orcs and goblins that come down out of the mountains or the deep wood raise terrible but complex totems to dark spirits and paint their bodies with complicated woad.

Druidic traditions run strong in Dunkilwald and the worship of the sun god Belenus is common. While his worship is generally not well organized among the rustic folk, the center of his worship is most focused around the fortress of Falkensalz where Lady Agenthe and her knights bring his light to all within reach. Other faiths will not find much tolerance from the paladins within her lands.

Belneus is not the only religion that has found purchase in the dark corners of Dunkilwald. Ancestor worship is frequent in the highlands and the feral Wolf God is popular among the orc and goblin tribes.

The Law: The folk of Dunkilwald tend to think of themselves as free men who volunteer their fealty to lords that earn it. That said, in most cases that obedience is earned at the point of a sword. The hill tribes raid from the north, the forest folk hide in small settlements with their own strange rules, and only the shining of beacon of Falkensalz brings any true stability. For several miles around the cliffside fortress, Lady Agnethe and her knights strive to push back the darkness of the wood and the Lady rigidly enforces the tenets of Belenus’s faith. This is truly the only place with significant stability in the land and her court is perhaps the only place one might expect to find justice, even if that justice is sometimes final.

Trade and Diplomacy: Resources—beer, clocks, copper, furs, iron, meat, metal goods, nuts, timber; Coinage—dragon (pp), hawk (gp), owl (sp), dove (cp).

Vildissette and Sullenworth prize the natural resources plentiful in Dunkilwald, but the danger in bringing those goods to market and the small population of the domain mean that trade with Dunkilwald is infrequent at best. Instead most of the natural bounty of Dunkilwald rarely travels more than a few dozen miles between neighboring settlements where the local populace crafts it into beautiful furniture and intricate metal jewelry. Dunkilwald's neighbors tend to think of its folk as living in a savage backwater and ignore it. That tends to suite the people of Dunkilwald just fine. 

Encounters: The paths and streams of Dunkilwald are a dangerous place where friendly meetings with other humanoids are rare. Animals are likely to be the most common encounter, with bears, wolves or various raptors being most common. Raiding hill men from the highlands or monstrous humanoids, primarily goblins and orcs with the occasional troll, are also not uncommon. Though rarely seen, legends persist that creatures of old still dwell in seldom traveled places. Evidence of the feyfolk and even dragons, is however hard to substantiate and it may be that such creatures died out long ago.

Native Player Characters: You might consider playing a character from Dunkilwald if you like a fiercely independent or primal PC, or prefer a character from a more traditional D&D setting. Nearly all character classes are found here though Rogues and Wizards are uncommon. Barbarians, Druids, Rangers and Sorcerers are extremely common. This is the only domain that sees native Dwarves or Elves.

Natives of Dunkilwald are used to violence as part of their daily lives and receive a +2 bonus to Fear checks made against scenes of brutality such as mutilated corpses. However, they are a simple, superstitious people used to things being as they appear and suffer a -1 penalty to Horror checks related to magic and the unnatural.

It is with this in mind that our group has decided that most of our playtesting will take place in the world of Ravenloft; a favorite of many of us. However, not everyone in the group has the loving past experiences of this horror-filled world while others know every detail. All of us are also familiar with the problems seen in LFR when a lore-keeper of Realms minutia sits down to play with those who have never read word one about the Realms and just want to play their warforged vampire from Elturgard. In order to deal with this, we decided to create our own Ravenloft cluster, cut off from the rest of the demi-plane in the Sea of Sorrows. Called Teuralia, this cluster is socially and scientifically advanced to increase our chances for drama and role-playing and so far has steered us to some great stories.

In this blog entry I will give a very brief overview of the cluster that you may use your own games, and in the coming weeks I will detail each of the three domains of the cluster.

Teuralia

The Teuralian cluster has only recently appeared in the demiplane, though its inhabitants believe it to have been there all along, simply cut off from the rest of the lands of the Core. In the last three years, intrepid sailors braving the mists have crossed upon Teuralia's temperate shores and found it to be a relatively advanced triad of cultures, rivaling that of most domains in the Core. This has brought a new influx of languages and trade but still, those visits have so far been rare and outlanders are nearly unheard of within its borders.

Each of the three domains in the cluster, Dunkilwald, Vildessette, and Sullenworth; remain civil toward each other with small amounts of trade, but each with their own significant troubles causing such interactions to be limited. When rare events require the domains to come to some sort of an accord, each country sends a delegation to the island in the middle of Lake Tabllyn, which is central to the cluster where the three domains meet. This has not happened for more than a century and now few visit the lonely ruins that dot the isle. The ruins and others found throughout the cluster are covered in complex writing referred to as High Teuralian and suggest that the three domains may share a common ancestry.

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Greg Marks
LFR Global Administrator
Wisconsin Highfolk Triad Emeritus
Cabal of Shadows Factionmaster Emeritus
D&D Championship Coordinator Emeritus
Cold Iron Conventions
skerritthegreen@yahoo.com