Canonfire! Forums-viewtopic-Castle of the Undead (Oerth Ref)

Wed Jul 22, 2015 10:30 pm Castle of the Undead (Oerth Ref)

I was wondering if there are any products that support the reference from castle of the undead?

p.159 wrote:

[...] Vizharia was once a village on the world of Oerth, until the evil vampire Velkaarn came and tried to take it as his own. After a ferocious battle that nearly wiped out the township, the village came to an uneasy truce with Velkaarn, who holed up in his castle licking his wounds. then the Mists descended. The village and the castle were surrounded, swallowed whole inside a gray limbo. When the Mists finally receded, Vizahria and Castle Velkaarn were here. And since then Velkaarn's evil power has grown, threatening to claim the village in his cold graps and squeeze the life out of it.

p.114-117 wrote:

"...your father was a Vistana ... a king. King Milarnus of Maridrar. He was with your mother...Queen Velina, but she was not of the Vistani. the darkness had fallen heavily over Maridrar, the darkness of the evil one, Velkaarn. Your father's kingdom was the last part of the realm that Velkaarn had not conquered, and Milarnus was determined not to let his land fall to the evil one.

Thu Jul 23, 2015 1:39 am

Castle of the Undead

I don't recall anything in particular, but there are others here who are more versed in Ravenloft lore than I, and who may know if this is just a standalone reference, or not.
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Thu Jul 23, 2015 4:43 am

I am working on a Ravenloft project, it is the greyhawk side that I am not well versed in. I need to figure someway to make the possibility of kingdom of Maridrar to exist in Oerth cannon. Since it can happen any time in history, it just location I need to narrow down so can make a via backstory.

Other aspects of Castle of the Undead is used in Ravenloft canon, so trying to work out the Oerth side.

Fri Jul 24, 2015 12:46 am

Other Greyhawk-Ravenloft tie-ins are the lich Azalin from The House on Gryphon Hill, and the Vecna series of adventures.
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Fri Jul 24, 2015 2:28 am

Sorry if I did not make myself clear but thank you for trying to help me, I was a bit rushed on time when making this request. Request is not for Ravenloft information, I already know of the other ravenloft tie ins(I own almost every ravenloft product as well as RPGA stuff), this tie in I am trying to tackle is with Castle of The Undead which was one that had been untouched so far.

What I am researching and what I need, is the assistance of someone who knows a lot about greyhawk, for I am trying to figure out where and when Maridrar can be in Oerth.

The story of the book is a vampirelord Velkaarn took over numerous kingdoms around Maridrar previously but once he took this final stronghold, he was whisked to ravenloft. Now it does not mean he was the ruler of these armies but perhaps just leads them. I do not want it to tie into Vecna/Kas but be its own story.

I am trying to figure where and when this could have happen so it would fit into greyhawk canon, when I finish writing my article. I am trying not to conflict with existing greyhawk canon and was hoping greyhawk fans would help me with this information.

Fri Jul 24, 2015 2:22 pm

That is one of the more obscure books, so it would probably be best to provide some background from the book in way of *geography*, notable history, events, legendary items, etc. (to whatever extent possible) and a bit more information on the dramatis personae. Vecna is lurking around the Sheldomar pre-Migrations, the Ur-Flan are lurking around the Great Kingdom lands, and Kerpatis is lurking around the central lands. That mostly leaves the northeast and northwest ares of the Flanaess as possibilities, or farther west outside of the Flanaess where you have much more leeway as to development.
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Fri Jul 24, 2015 4:22 pm

Pretty much what information I have besides it being a mountainous region with a village in the hills below it, a river is also present. The book does not give much more information since it takes place mostly in Ravenloft and even Torill only its history is of Oerth. I do not have any good Oerth maps nor many greyhawk books to look it up myself but I am hoping that greyhawk fans can think of a spot I could reference for my article. So that we can work together to make a background for this Event.

Sat Jul 25, 2015 12:02 am

Well, I have looked around a bit, and I don't think there is a single Greyhawk product that references any of this. Even Jason Zavoda missed this stuff, or purposely didn't include it in his Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index (I don't know which). Looks like you probably have free reign to put the Kingdom of Maridrar, the village of Vizharia, and Castle Velkaarn wherever you wish, but we'll see if others might know anything else about it. I'll move the thread to the general forum for a bit so more people see it.
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Sat Jul 25, 2015 4:44 am

For a good map you could check out Anna Myers site ghmaps.net. There is the possibility that she has placed what you are looking for on her map as she has done extensive research to make her map as accurate as possible. Another good place to post your question would be in her Facebook group, Flanesse Geographical Society.

Sat Jul 25, 2015 6:49 am

There's a thread on the subject here. The reference to wolf tribes seems to mean literal wolves, but if it's a land where wolves are traditionally friends with humans, it's probably the land of the Wolf Nomads or nearby. I'm guessing Queen Velina was ethnically a Wolf Nomad by birth, and Milarnus was a Rhennee (Oerth's gypsies, possibly related to the Vistani) or else, I suppose, he could be an actual Vistani dude newly arrived to Oerth.

If there's a river running through hills, this would almost have to be the Dulsi River where it runs through the Howling Hills. That means that Velkaarn must have conquered the region now called Iuz and possibly surrounding nations sometime between 320 and 460 CY. The Howling Hills fief (Maridrar, apparently) would later be inherited by Iuz himself from the petty lord mortals believed was his father.

Sat Jul 25, 2015 8:05 am

Thank you this helps me greatly. I know of the FoS site and that post, I am a member of that forum for a long time :)

Sat Jul 25, 2015 8:33 am

The nearest forest would be the Vesve, although I think technically they're referring to a forest in Ravenloft at that point, and Randar never gets back to Oerth. If he did get back, perhaps Randar was the lord who fostered Iuz with a seductive Iggwilv by his side.

Sun Jul 26, 2015 7:41 pm

I did a quick Google search including Wiki and Facebook, but had no luck finding any information on the author, Nick Baron. If you can find him, you might ask him if he had a particular location in mind.

SirXaris
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Thu Aug 06, 2015 11:04 pm

Fri Aug 07, 2015 6:55 am

He passed away last year so can't contact him :(