Post by Kain on Apr 20, 2009 21:04:15 GMT -5
History:
Draghania was a land from an unknown world that was conquered by the ancient Vasilious family. The ruler of the Vasilious family of the time was Vladimir Vasilious. After conquering the land he took the title Patriarch which became the title for all rulers of the land which Vladimir named Draghania after his mother Draghana.
Dragan roughly translates into precious in Vladimir's native tongue, and he certainly held both his newly acquired land and his mother as being precious.
Draghania was a relatively independent nation in its younger years. However, about 100 years after Draghania was officially formed, it underwent constant invasions from neighboring "barbarian" tribes.
It wasn't until an additional 150 years later that Draghania forced out the invaders. Zlatomir Vasilevsky led the command of the army at that time and was under the rule of Patriarch Gavril Vasil who changed the family name from Vasilious to Vasil after the success of the army.
It is worthwhile to mention that Zlatomir is rumored to be the oldest family member of the ancient Vasilious family; even older than Patriarch Vladimir himself. This rumor is, of course, due to the fact that Zlatomir is said to be at least 350 years old, but Zlatomir simply claims that he has elf blood in him granting him an extra long life. A claim few question given Zlatomir's blessed and miraculous success as a prominent political figure in Draghania's history since its creation.
For nearly 50 years Draghania rebuilt its war torn country and finally would re-establish herself as a stable nation after half a century of hard labor by nearly 80% of the country’s population.
It wasn't long, however, after Draghania finally re-build and re-established itself that chaos and suffering would return. Patriarch Gavril died of old age roughly 50 years after the invaders were forced out and his son Constantine would take the title of Patriarch and ruler of the land.
Constantine was a vindictive, scheming, and cynical man that desired total and absolute power and control over Draghania and demanded all of Draghania to fear him. He saw all the people of Draghania as his property and more or less slaves that he saw fit to do with as he pleased. He did, however, seem to show a slight care for half-elves and tended to leave them alone and most nobles appointed during Constantine’s rule were half-elves.
Before his death, Patriarch Gavril pleaded with Zlatomir to take the throne as Patriarch, but Zlatomir refused, stating that he was not fit to be a Patriarch. And so, the title was passed by Draghanian law to Constantine, Gavril’s oldest son, upon Gavril's death.
Constantine hated Zlatomir with every fiber of his being and tried nearly fifty times in different manners to assassinate Zlatomir, failing every time. Knowing how ill-favored he now was with the country’s ruler, Zlatomir retreated to the secluded mountains where the Rila Monastery resided.
The Rila Monastery would soon become the center of the Draghania Resistance that Zlatomir would end up leading, and it is a massive structure hidden in the mountains and forests of Draghania that Constantine himself has failed to find despite his constant efforts and attempts.
The creation of the resistance absolutely infuriated Constantine who demanded complete control over Draghania. Nearly one quarter of the Draghanian population seemed to be a part of this resistance openly, and those Constantine could not kill or enslave, he and his military would hunt for endlessly creating numerous concentration camps for all those he caught.
Refusing to be denied of total power, Constantine made a bold move to show his power to the people of Draghania by attacking the city of Sliven with his troops and burned it to the ground killing all men, women, children, and enslaving a few.
As Constantine and his troops butchered the city and its inhabitants, a thick mist arose all around the country of Draghania, and when it settled, the town of Sliven was dead and the country of Draghania seemed to no longer be a part of the world it once was.
The butcher of Sliven happened 325 years after the formation of Draghania by Vladimir Vasilious, or put another way, roughly 50 years after the invading barbarians were forced from the country.
It’s still unknown the entirety of the "Sliven Slaughter" as it’s become known as. Many locals believe to have seen massive paw prints of unknown animals as well as human footprints and other unknown prints in the. Sliven is still in shambles as there has been virtually no time to rebuild it, and Constantine forbids it in any shape or form as well.
Cheat sheet on the notable people of Draghania:
Vladimir Vasilious – The founding father/Patriarch of Draghania. He conquered the land originally and named it after his mother Draghana.
Zlatomir Vasilevsky – The former commander of the Draghanian army for nearly 300 years before he was relieved by Constantine upon Gavril’s death.
Gavril Vasil – The Patriarch in power during the defeat of the barbarian tribes and the last honorable Patriarch of Draghania.
Constantine Vasil – Known now only as Constantine, he is the son of Gavril Vasil and is responsible for the massacre at the city of Sliven.
Draghania's Current Sketch:
Draghania is now a domain located directly south of Sithicus and our campaign will start not more than a couple weeks after its appearance in Ravenloft. Your character may be venturing there to figure out why it’s there, how the domain got there, what the domain is like, etc.
Draghania is a cultural level of 7; Medieval.
Draghania is Full Ecology (Temperate Forests, Hills, and Mountains)
Draghania has 4 major settlements. Sofia (pop. 5000), Sliven (pop. 0/3600 originally), Varna (pop. 1400), Blagovgrad (pop. 1200)
Draghania is 70% human, 20% elf, and 10% half elf with a total population of about 20,000.
Draghania is a Feudal hereditary monarchy with Constantine as its leader.
Draghania has wheat, corn, sheep, chickens, goats, cows, trout, pike, alcohol, and iron as primary resources.
Draghania’s currency was changed to the Iron Fist (gp), Bloody Palm (sp), and Skull (cp) once Constantine took power.
Draghania has a magic rating of 3 in some places and 2 in others; 2 is the most common, however.
Draghania’s typical classes are rangers, druids, monks, fighters, and barbarians.
Some Starting Notes:
We'll start at level 3 with standard level 3 money; no restrictions on what you buy just let me know if you buy something that might be questionable or overpowered, yadda yadda.
After considering it I have to insist that the group doesn't come from the domain itself, but rather from an outside domain like Valachan, Nova Vassa, Sithicus, etc. Feel free to come up with your own reason for wanting to get to the domain, or we can work on something together and use that during the first session. For example, a noble can be hiring adventurers to explore the domain to get an idea of its geographic area, rulers, temperature, river ways, currency, agriculture, textiles, etc. Just let me know in a post or PM what you want to do or if you need help figuring something out.
I'm giving you this history to help you out a little as a player, but there is a lot that I'm not telling you, of course, that you'll find out as a player and character. But just remember your character will go into this domain completely new to it and won't know anything. Even if you are familiar with the Core's history this domain will be foreign to you, which is sort of what I'm going for and primarily why I don't want anyone starting in it.
Finally just a tip. You can start in any domain in the Core, but just remember you have to get South of Sithicus. So if you’re coming from, say Darkon, there is a lot of wilderness to track through, you are only level 3, and you very well might be doing the trip alone until party members meet up.
I think that is it for now. If I forgot something I will update this. Let me know if you have any questions and I hope this isn't too confusing, but I felt it was only fair to prepare a detailed description of the domain if I'm going to bother creating a new one.
Draghania was a land from an unknown world that was conquered by the ancient Vasilious family. The ruler of the Vasilious family of the time was Vladimir Vasilious. After conquering the land he took the title Patriarch which became the title for all rulers of the land which Vladimir named Draghania after his mother Draghana.
Dragan roughly translates into precious in Vladimir's native tongue, and he certainly held both his newly acquired land and his mother as being precious.
Draghania was a relatively independent nation in its younger years. However, about 100 years after Draghania was officially formed, it underwent constant invasions from neighboring "barbarian" tribes.
It wasn't until an additional 150 years later that Draghania forced out the invaders. Zlatomir Vasilevsky led the command of the army at that time and was under the rule of Patriarch Gavril Vasil who changed the family name from Vasilious to Vasil after the success of the army.
It is worthwhile to mention that Zlatomir is rumored to be the oldest family member of the ancient Vasilious family; even older than Patriarch Vladimir himself. This rumor is, of course, due to the fact that Zlatomir is said to be at least 350 years old, but Zlatomir simply claims that he has elf blood in him granting him an extra long life. A claim few question given Zlatomir's blessed and miraculous success as a prominent political figure in Draghania's history since its creation.
For nearly 50 years Draghania rebuilt its war torn country and finally would re-establish herself as a stable nation after half a century of hard labor by nearly 80% of the country’s population.
It wasn't long, however, after Draghania finally re-build and re-established itself that chaos and suffering would return. Patriarch Gavril died of old age roughly 50 years after the invaders were forced out and his son Constantine would take the title of Patriarch and ruler of the land.
Constantine was a vindictive, scheming, and cynical man that desired total and absolute power and control over Draghania and demanded all of Draghania to fear him. He saw all the people of Draghania as his property and more or less slaves that he saw fit to do with as he pleased. He did, however, seem to show a slight care for half-elves and tended to leave them alone and most nobles appointed during Constantine’s rule were half-elves.
Before his death, Patriarch Gavril pleaded with Zlatomir to take the throne as Patriarch, but Zlatomir refused, stating that he was not fit to be a Patriarch. And so, the title was passed by Draghanian law to Constantine, Gavril’s oldest son, upon Gavril's death.
Constantine hated Zlatomir with every fiber of his being and tried nearly fifty times in different manners to assassinate Zlatomir, failing every time. Knowing how ill-favored he now was with the country’s ruler, Zlatomir retreated to the secluded mountains where the Rila Monastery resided.
The Rila Monastery would soon become the center of the Draghania Resistance that Zlatomir would end up leading, and it is a massive structure hidden in the mountains and forests of Draghania that Constantine himself has failed to find despite his constant efforts and attempts.
The creation of the resistance absolutely infuriated Constantine who demanded complete control over Draghania. Nearly one quarter of the Draghanian population seemed to be a part of this resistance openly, and those Constantine could not kill or enslave, he and his military would hunt for endlessly creating numerous concentration camps for all those he caught.
Refusing to be denied of total power, Constantine made a bold move to show his power to the people of Draghania by attacking the city of Sliven with his troops and burned it to the ground killing all men, women, children, and enslaving a few.
As Constantine and his troops butchered the city and its inhabitants, a thick mist arose all around the country of Draghania, and when it settled, the town of Sliven was dead and the country of Draghania seemed to no longer be a part of the world it once was.
The butcher of Sliven happened 325 years after the formation of Draghania by Vladimir Vasilious, or put another way, roughly 50 years after the invading barbarians were forced from the country.
It’s still unknown the entirety of the "Sliven Slaughter" as it’s become known as. Many locals believe to have seen massive paw prints of unknown animals as well as human footprints and other unknown prints in the. Sliven is still in shambles as there has been virtually no time to rebuild it, and Constantine forbids it in any shape or form as well.
Cheat sheet on the notable people of Draghania:
Vladimir Vasilious – The founding father/Patriarch of Draghania. He conquered the land originally and named it after his mother Draghana.
Zlatomir Vasilevsky – The former commander of the Draghanian army for nearly 300 years before he was relieved by Constantine upon Gavril’s death.
Gavril Vasil – The Patriarch in power during the defeat of the barbarian tribes and the last honorable Patriarch of Draghania.
Constantine Vasil – Known now only as Constantine, he is the son of Gavril Vasil and is responsible for the massacre at the city of Sliven.
Draghania's Current Sketch:
Draghania is now a domain located directly south of Sithicus and our campaign will start not more than a couple weeks after its appearance in Ravenloft. Your character may be venturing there to figure out why it’s there, how the domain got there, what the domain is like, etc.
Draghania is a cultural level of 7; Medieval.
Draghania is Full Ecology (Temperate Forests, Hills, and Mountains)
Draghania has 4 major settlements. Sofia (pop. 5000), Sliven (pop. 0/3600 originally), Varna (pop. 1400), Blagovgrad (pop. 1200)
Draghania is 70% human, 20% elf, and 10% half elf with a total population of about 20,000.
Draghania is a Feudal hereditary monarchy with Constantine as its leader.
Draghania has wheat, corn, sheep, chickens, goats, cows, trout, pike, alcohol, and iron as primary resources.
Draghania’s currency was changed to the Iron Fist (gp), Bloody Palm (sp), and Skull (cp) once Constantine took power.
Draghania has a magic rating of 3 in some places and 2 in others; 2 is the most common, however.
Draghania’s typical classes are rangers, druids, monks, fighters, and barbarians.
Some Starting Notes:
We'll start at level 3 with standard level 3 money; no restrictions on what you buy just let me know if you buy something that might be questionable or overpowered, yadda yadda.
After considering it I have to insist that the group doesn't come from the domain itself, but rather from an outside domain like Valachan, Nova Vassa, Sithicus, etc. Feel free to come up with your own reason for wanting to get to the domain, or we can work on something together and use that during the first session. For example, a noble can be hiring adventurers to explore the domain to get an idea of its geographic area, rulers, temperature, river ways, currency, agriculture, textiles, etc. Just let me know in a post or PM what you want to do or if you need help figuring something out.
I'm giving you this history to help you out a little as a player, but there is a lot that I'm not telling you, of course, that you'll find out as a player and character. But just remember your character will go into this domain completely new to it and won't know anything. Even if you are familiar with the Core's history this domain will be foreign to you, which is sort of what I'm going for and primarily why I don't want anyone starting in it.
Finally just a tip. You can start in any domain in the Core, but just remember you have to get South of Sithicus. So if you’re coming from, say Darkon, there is a lot of wilderness to track through, you are only level 3, and you very well might be doing the trip alone until party members meet up.
I think that is it for now. If I forgot something I will update this. Let me know if you have any questions and I hope this isn't too confusing, but I felt it was only fair to prepare a detailed description of the domain if I'm going to bother creating a new one.