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Morgoroth, Darklord of Avonleigh
Morgoroth, Darklord of Avonleigh
Morgoroth the Black was a plane-traveling wizard of great power, who came to the Great Kingdom of Avonleigh - the namesake for his domain, and the world from which all of the Shadowlands domains were drawn - seeking redemption for the sins he had committed on his own world. Lord Ferran Shadowborn, leader of a paladin order known as The Circle, offered Morgoroth the chance to atone through servitude. Morgoroth agreed, and was granted an isolated forest region to claim as his own; he used his magic to build his home of Tergeron Manor in a single night, and the literal ghosts of his past soon settled in to haunt the forest, causing it to be renamed the Phantasmal Forest. Still, Morgoroth served the Circle loyally for many years, and earned their trust - he also nursed a secret love for Aurora Shadowborn, Lord Ferran's sister, but never dared to act on it. Then, one day, a paladin named Lambert pursued Morgoroth from his former world, demanding he be given the wizard's head. When the Circle hesitated, Lambert went after Morgoroth himself; attacked on sight, Morgoroth slew his assailant and raised him as an undead slave. When Lord Shadowborn arrived soon afterwards, he was forced to destroy the undead paladin, and went on to confront Morgoroth, who impulsively slew his friend of many years. Overwrought with despair, Morgoroth snapped; he teleported to Aurora's temple, charmed her into a slumber, and then teleported away, placing her within a crystal sarcophagus so that she would never wake again. When the Circle came to save her, he destroyed them almost to the last, which caused him to be swallowed by the mists. In the Demiplane of Dread, he attempted to create a magic mirror that would enable him to escape — instead, it exploded, destroying his body and binding his spirit into Tergeron Manor, leaving him quite mad.
- The Atoner: Subverted. He first arrived in Avonleigh to leave behind a different world in which he committed unspecified evil. He spent several years working hard at atonement, serving an order of righteous paladins. Unfortunately, while he was trying to move on from his past, his past wasn't done with him and eventually Lambert showed up to deny Morgoroth his chance at redemption.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Morgoroth will usually attempt to kill anyone who enters Tergeron Manor, because he's terrified of the notion that they may take Lady Aurora Shadowborn from him, although this is exacerbated by the mental damage done to him in his geist state. He also keeps her trapped in her glass coffin, incapable of ever waking, because he knows that she will reject him forever should she wake and learn that he slew her brother, accidentally or not... plus, he believes she never loved him back and would never return his feelings anyway.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Morgoroth may demonstrate it in an insane way, but he does genuinely love Aurora.
- Evil Is Deathly Cold: Morgoroth's presence makes Tergeron Manor unnaturally cold, and the closer one gets to the belfry, the sharper the temperature drops.
- Genius Loci: Morgoroth is one with Tergeron Manor, allowing him to control everything within its walls.
- Heel–Face Door-Slam: Morgoroth spent years fighting for good alongside the Circle, genuinely repenting his former wickedness, and making great strides to redeem himself. Then along came Lambert, and everything went to hell as Morgoroth decided to go back to evil.
- Poor Communication Kills: Morgoroth was in love with Aurora, but never dared to tell her because he knew she would be expected to become High Priestess, a position requiring celibacy. She was also in love with him, but never told him because she didn't know how to reconcile her feelings with her faith. When Morgoroth finally broke down and told her that he had always loved her, years after she had taken her vows, she ran away because she was overcome with regret that she hadn't told him about feeling the same way before — but he mistook this as rejection from her, and was heartbroken, which may have set up his ultimate downfall.
- Puzzle Boss: In Morgoroth's sole appearance, the adventure "A Light in the Belfry", the party first has to give him a body back by finding the 13 shards of his magic mirror. But, if they fight him normally, either he magically feigns death to escape when they aren't looking or, if they forcibly "make sure" he's dead, he's just re-merged with the manor again, forcing the party to find the shards all over again... and, when he returns, he has all of his health and spells back. To defeat him, the party has to restore his body, and then smash the mirror, which truly kills him — at least in the sense of leaving him a powerless geist.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: Morgoroth and Lady Aurora Shadowborn both loved each other from afar, but were held apart by politics. Then things took a turn for the gothic when Morgoroth accidentally murdered Aurora's brother, kidnapped her, and placed her in an eternal slumber so he could at least take solace in her presence.
- Then Let Me Be Evil: Believing that the Circle had let his old enemy Lambert try to take his head, Morgoroth slew his former friend, Lord Shadowborn, when the latter came after him. When he realized that Lord Shadowborn had originally tried to defend him from Lambert, Morgoroth snapped and decided to return to the powers of Black Magic.
Elena Faith-hold, Darklord of Nidala
Elena Faith-hold, Darklord of Nidala
A one-time paladin and crusader of the Celtic god Belenus, Elena Faith-hold fell from grace when she tried to turn her crusade on innocent people who worshipped other gods in the pantheon. Consumed by her own self-righteousness, the mists swallowed her. The Dark Powers have made her the ruler of Nidala and seemingly restored her paladin powers, but in twisted forms that she is in denial about. Now, she runs her land as a joyless police state, finding "evils" to purge everywhere she goes.- Affably Evil: In her own mind, Elena is still a good and heroic person, and, with her high Charisma score, she is easily able to put a shiny gloss on what she does... for a while. Sooner or later, visitors will see what she's done to her land as the horror it is.
- Belief Makes You Stupid: Rather, Belief Makes You Evil; Elena's fanatical reverence for the sun god Belenus caused her to become convinced that he was the only true god, and drove her to unleash a bloody campaign of conversion upon her former people to convince them of this.
- Charm Person: In addition to her paladin powers, Elena can attempt to "convert" enemies to her side, securing their fanatical devotion... for a while.
- Church Militant: Before she ruled Nidala, she was a benevolent version. Now she represents many of the worst aspects of such perversions of religious faith as the Inquisition or the Puritan witch hunts.
- Cool Sword: Elena fights with a +2 bastard sword named Caitlin.
- Detect Evil: While Elena believes that she, alone among all spellcasters in Ravenloft, where the spell doesn't usually work, has regained the use of this power as a sign of her great piety, she actually senses strong emotions of any kind directed at her. Thus, her subjects have learned to feel as indifferent in her presence as possible.
- Fallen Hero: There was a time in Elena's life when she was a genuine hero. Inside her own head, she still is.
- The Fundamentalist: Elena's problems and sorrows are almost all the direct result of her utter refusal to admit that she might possibly ever be wrong or capable of making mistakes. And that refusal has led to her damnation. Even her patron deity's outrage resulting in him stripping her of her divine powers for this offence failed to make her realize the wrongness of her beliefs.
- The Heretic: She makes sure to correct any heretics to Belenus in her domain... including people who follow the true dogma of Belenus, because Elena herself is a heretic. Belenus is a
Neutral Good deity who is merely the sun god of his pantheon, not the harsh monotheistic deity that Elena promotes. Elena's heretical ideas caused her to Fall long before she became Darklord of Nidala, and her absolute refusal to admit fault has caused her to enforce said heresy as the state religion. - I Reject Your Reality: If there is one great theme to Elena, besides the tragedy of her self-righteousness leading her down into damnation, it is denial. Elena simply refuses to notice or admit the warped and changed nature of her paladin gifts, the gloomy police-state Nidala has become under her stewardship, or that she might ever have made some mistakes she could learn from and become a better person.
- Knight Templar: Obsessed with stamping out evil in her land... no matter the cost.
- Lawful Evil: Her official In-Universe alignment, as a former Paladin dedicated to harsh enforcement of laws and 'moral standards'.
- Moral Guardians: The subtler side of her policing involves outlawing "sinful" practices like jewelry, theaters, and excess drink.
- Old Maid: Elena, while still very good-looking, is in her forties and thinking about marriage. Unfortunately, as the text notes, thanks to her twisted version of the Detect Evil power, she would only ever be able to marry a suitor who feels nothing for her and is only using her for his own ends. If they loved her back, she'd ping them as evil and murder them.
- The Paladin: She firmly believes she is a straight example. In practice, all of her powers have more in common with anti-paladin or blackguard powers than the genuine article. Her 3rd Edition write-up
even gives her straight-up blackguard levels. - The Purge: Elena regularly sifts the populace for individuals in need of "rehabilitation," and when a town has gotten too "corrupt" for her liking, it gets "fed to the dragon."
- "Scooby-Doo" Hoax: Played for Drama. Elena keeps up the legend of a dragon on an impassable local mountain that occasionally flies out and burns down villages... to hide that she and her followers are secretly responsible, purging places that they believe are too corrupt to be allowed to live.
- Torture Technician: Her "rehabilitation" programs involve the vast network of torture engines in the dungeons beneath Faith-hold. In fact, those attempting to flee while she's sealed the borders will find themselves drawn inside of them.
- Unicorns Are Sacred: Elena used to have a unicorn mount as a gift from her god, lost when she fell from grace. When she became a Darklord, one of the Dark Powers' gifts was an evil version.
Ebonbane, Darklord of Shadowborn Manor
Ebonbane, Darklord of Shadowborn Manor
A sword forged from metal from an alternate dimension and imbued with an evil presence specifically to slay the paladin Keteri Shadowborn. It succeeded, only to find it trapped in the late Paladin's family manor in Ravenloft. Now Keteri's spirit lives on as a geist, seeking to draw in adventurers to help her destroy the evil blade.
