D&D 5E Ravenloft Previews of Dementlieu, Lamordia, and Har'Akir

WotC has been sprinkling previews of individual Ravenloft domains to various websites -- including Dementlieu, Lamordia, and Har'Akir. Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft is only a couple of weeks away, coming out on May 18th!

Dementlieu​

• Forbes takes a look Dementlieu, which has inspirations like Cinderella, The Masque of the Red Death, and Dark City. "Dementlieu is one of over 30 domains of dread detailed in the book. It’s a sharp contrast to Barovia’s dark forest and looming Gothic castle on a hill. Instead it’s covered in a glamorous sheen of fine clothes and fancy parties. Everyone is dying to be invited to the Grand Masquerade held by Duchess Saidra d’Honaire every week on her private island. And, in many cases, killed if they are discovered at the ball if they’re not supposed to be there."
• Syfy Wire looks at Lamordia, inspired by Frankenstein. "Many of the Domains of Dread are inspired by some horror tale or piece of creepy folklore, and Lamordia definitely has its roots in Frankenstein. But while the Domain is inspired by that classic horror story, its elements are then shot through the lens of D&D adventures and explored to dozens of horrific extremes. Mordenheim's land isn't just about resurrection gone awry, it's also the Domain for all different types of science gone wrong, bizarre experiments, body horror weirdness, and grim tales of society versus a frigid land. Just as there's more to Frankenstein than a scientist who abandoned his child, there's more to Lamordia than stitches and semi-dead flesh."
• Polygon has Har'Akir, an Egyptian-themed domain. "Why is there a Domain that is a desert that is riddled with these ancient, inexplicable haunted monuments and ruined pyramids? How does a Domain like that exist? How does it make sense? To an extent it doesn’t, and it’s going to be the players that come and explore that, who are some of the only people that realize that the entirety of the domain is, to an extent, gaslighting them."

Ankhetop, darklord of Har'Akir

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[Coroc]

The -ovich suffix denotes a patronymic though, not a family name. And if it was a patronymic, it would suggest that his father’s name was Zar, not that his father was a tsar. At any rate, it certainly wouldn’t be preceded by Von, which is Germanic, not Slavic, and also means “son of/daughter of”. And Strahd sounds like a slavicization of Stroud, which is English.

Well since his father was King he was kind of a Zar, compare 2e roots of evil; if someones last name is Anderson that does not imply that his fathers fistname is ,Anders, but it makes it highly likely one of his ancestors had that first name.

No native english speaker and haven't found a translation of Stroud (looked it up on Leo and Google translate), is it an uncommon english name? Does it have a meaning?

 

[Coroc]

Out of curiousity, what are the names in Ravenloft that telegraph their origins?

”Count” Strahd - Dracula
Adam - Frankenstein’s Monster
Vlad Drakov - Vlad the Impaler
Anketepot - Imhotep “the mummy”
Midnight Slasher - Jack the Ripper
Rudolph Van Richten - Van Helsing
Tristen Hireguard - “High Regard” / Jeckyl & Hyde?

Others?

Isn’t there a Bluebeard lifted directly from the old folk story?

Well we got a kind of Poison Ivy and i think a hommage to the hounds of baskerville, we got chickenbone and terror in the 1890s got a great Poe adaption in it (Red death is nearly a 1:1 on Poes story partially).
Castles Forlorn box, which i own is a superb idea but nearly impossible to run, because

Spoiler: (it contains multiple timetraveling with all consequences and has the same location in different time periods, its ultra hard to track that room for room)

 

[Parmandur]

Well since his father was King he was kind of a Zar, compare 2e roots of evil; if someones last name is Anderson that does not imply that his fathers fistname is ,Anders, but it makes it highly likely one of his ancestors had that first name.

No native english speaker and haven't found a translation of Stroud (looked it up on Leo and Google translate), is it an uncommon english name? Does it have a meaning?

Strahd is a made-up nonsense name, to my knowledge.

 

[Parmandur]

The -ovich suffix denotes a patronymic though, not a family name. And if it was a patronymic, it would suggest that his father’s name was Zar, not that his father was a tsar. At any rate, it certainly wouldn’t be preceded by Von, which is Germanic, not Slavic, and also means “son of/daughter of”. And Strahd sounds like a slavicization of Stroud, which is English.

It's actually worse than that: "von" isn't a patronym at all, it's a toponym, denoting noble title to a specific location. The von Hapsburgs, for instance, were named after the barony of Habsburg in Swabia that their ancestors ruled. So Strahd von Zarovich is Strahd [noble of the location] the son of Zar...which is gibbering nonsense.

Strahd Zarovich would work for a sort of Slavic name, and Strahd von Barovia or Strahd von Rabenloft would work for a Germanic sounding name...but the mishmash is ludicrous.

 

[Tonguez]

No native english speaker and haven't found a translation of Stroud (looked it up on Leo and Google translate), is it an uncommon english name? Does it have a meaning?

Stroud is a town in Gloucestershire. Apparently the name comes from Strode (a past tense of Stride) and the marshy ground in the valley was referred to as Stroudwater.

There is a La Strode family in Dorset who descend from one of William the Conquerors Knights.

Whether Stradh and Stroud or Strode have any connection I have no idea, Stradh is probably just made up

 

[Charlaquin]

Well since his father was King he was kind of a Zar, compare 2e roots of evil; if someones last name is Anderson that does not imply that his fathers fistname is ,Anders, but it makes it highly likely one of his ancestors had that first name.

Right, but Slavic patronymics don’t work that way. They conventionally go after the given name and before the family name, and they do indicate the father’s name. There are some Slavic family names that indicate ancestry, but they generally end with “-ov” rather than “-ovich” or “-ovna.” So, if it was Strahd Barovovich Tzarov, that would make sense. But Strahd Von Zarovich doesn’t.

No native english speaker and haven't found a translation of Stroud (looked it up on Leo and Google translate), is it an uncommon english name? Does it have a meaning?

It’s usually a surname, and comes from the old English word, “strod,” which means marshland. So, broadly it means something like “from the marsh.”

So, yeah, Stahd Von Zarovich seems to have an English surname for his given name, with a Slavic patronymic indicating his father’s name is Zar, preceded by a Germanic surname prefix indicating nobility, and no proper surname.

 

[overgeeked]

Stroud is a town in Gloucestershire. Apparently the name comes from Strode (a past tense of Stride) and the marshy ground in the valley was referred to as Stroudwater.

There is a La Strode family in Dorset who descend from one of William the Conquerors Knights.

Whether Stradh and Stroud or Strode have any connection I have no idea, Stradh is probably just made up

I always assumed it was from Lestrade, the policeman in Sherlock Holmes.

Inspector Lestrade - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Charlaquin]

It's actually worse than that: "von" isn't a patronym at all, it's a toponym, denoting noble title to a specific location. The von Hapsburgs, for instance, were named after the barony of Habsburg in Swabia that their ancestors ruled. So Strahd von Zarovich is Strahd [noble of the location] the son of Zar...which is gibbering nonsense.

Strahd Zarovich would work for a sort of Slavic name, and Strahd von Barovia or Strahd von Rabenloft would work for a Germanic sounding name...but the mishmash is ludicrous.

Strahd Zarovich wouldn’t really work either because -ovich is, again, generally used in patronymics rather than surnames. Strahd Barovovich Zarov (abbreviated Strahd B. Zarov) would work though.

 

[Charlaquin]

Whether Stradh and Stroud or Strode have any connection I have no idea, Stradh is probably just made up

Strahd isn’t really a name as far as I know. Or, rather, it has no significant historical use. It’s just a cool-sounding fantasy name. I just thought it sounded like a slavicization of Stroud.

 

[Parmandur]

Strahd Zarovich wouldn’t really work either because -ovich is, again, generally used in patronymics rather than surnames. Strahd Barovovich Zarov (abbreviated Strahd B. Zarov) would work though.

I mean, it would at least not mix a patronym and a toponym, which is bonkers AF.