humble minion
Legend
Yeah, old Sawney was definitely going to make an appearance. I figured in a D&D game he could very easily be a ghoul and still be around in the early 19th century, but i also kinda like the idea of him having a network of mortal descendants scattered across the landscape as well. Some wealthy Scottish laird might have a touch of Bean in the ancestry for instance. I've always wanted to run a scene where the PCs conclude some delicate bit of negotiation with a touchy warrior lord and are invited to a feast in celebration as guests of honour, only to be served with a glistening, perfectly glazed roast human on a spit as the table centrepiece, as the entire dining hall falls ominously silent and looks at them eagerly...Talking of Scottish legends that could apply to your game, Sawney Bean is a late C16th legend, but if he and Agnes Douglas (allegedly a witch) had 12+ children, a descendant could easily figure in the game, as could the site of the sea cave near Girvan.
This whole idea actually sprung from a post VRGtR desire to rewrite the old Ravenloft Core into something more culturally coherent, with all the generally British-coded domains together. So Paridon as the capital city, Nosos as the rapidly growing industrial wastelands, Mordent as the small town countryside, Lamordia as the expression of the new rationality, etc etc. Forlorn a relic of an old kingdom, on an island in a loch somewhere.
I've got a whole revision of Soth, where he's a kinda semi-Lancelot figure whose affair with not-Guinevere led to him failing to join not-Arthur on the battlefield against not-Mordred, leading to the death of the Arthur and the fall of not-Camelot. Soth had been the greatest knight of the Round Table and his chivalry and piety had impressed an ancient red dragon so much it converted and agreed to serve as his steed, but his fall left the beast embittered and now it stews in eternal contempt for the flaws of man and its own gullibility.
Elves are ex-fey, fey who were so jaded or bored with meaningless forever in the fey realm that they willing gave up eternity for the chance to feel, touch, suffer, love, and die in the mortal world. Goblins are the low-level menial fey who escaped service to the fey lords and managed to stay in the material realm long enough to go native - they NEVER want to go back.
The great war on the Continent, which continually sucks redcoated regiments in and spits them out, began as a long-running dynastic squabble between the long-interbred aasimar royal houses of different nations (the line of succession is HARD to work out when things like resurrection spells, reincarnation, long-term petrification, vampirism, etc etc etc come into play), but French Revolution brought a Napoleon-figure into play who pretty much wants to wipe them all clean and start a new order. England is torn between its loathing of monarchicides and distrust of the louche, decadent aasimar aristocrat refugees who are increasingly fixtures at local garden parties.