Prianna’s Favorite Recipes from Other Domains: 19 / 25
Sithicus is a place I remember in fragments. I know I was there searching for information on Lord Soth, chasing things that were rumors at best, and I know I did not leave with the answers I wanted. The rest comes in pieces. A forest that seemed to breathe around me, and the food was unmistakably elven in its sensibility. Herbs threaded through everything, fruits left bright and unmasked, greens and flowers treated as something essential. This twisted herb sweet bread is one of the few things that has stayed with me clearly. The dough is soft and lightly sweetened, but it is the swirl that defines it, with lavender used like a spice. I wish I could remember more. Perhaps it's best that I can't.
Domain: Sithicus Domain Formation: 720 BC Power Level:💀💀💀⚫⚫ Sources: Secrets of the Dread Realms (3e), Gazetteer IV (3e), Heroes of Light (3e), Spectre of the Black Rose (novel)
Once the Dark Powers grew bored with Lord Soth collecting dust and kicked the overcooked Knight of the Rusty Rose out of Ravenloft, a new Darklord took on his mantle - Inza Magdova Kulchevich became the Darklord of Sithicus during what is now referred to as the “Night of Screaming Shadows”.
Seeing that Inza has always been a screaming child overshadowed by her famous mother, this is quite fitting. Inza was born to Magda Ilyanova Kulchevich in the Domain of Gundarak on the exact moment Duke Gundar, the Darklord of Gundarak, was assassinated. A little foreshadowing there, I suppose.
Since Magda is far more important to this tale, let’s discuss her first. Magda’s tale begins when Lord Soth slaughtered her entire family and tribe, then forced her to serve as his guide as he angrily swung his sword at everything in Barovia and Gundarak.
You can read about Soth’s tale here. For Magda’s part, she did act as Soth’s guide, for given the choice between him and Count Strahd, she choose the rusty bucket, which should give you an idea of how pleasant it is being around Strahd for more than a few minutes.
During her wary adventures with the Death Knight, Magda discovered the fabled Gard, an unbreakable cudgel that is said to belong a legendary ancestor of hers, Kulchek the Wanderer. It is said that Kluchek carved the cudgel with his fable dagger Novgor from a tree “on top of the world”. Utter nonsense, but there are grains of truth in these tales for both weapons are imbued with powerful magics.
As soon as she had the chance, Magda fled Soth and began gathering other Vistani who had lost their tribes and formed her own - The Wanderers. Despite her youth, Magda was the raunie of the Wanderers and viewed as a hero to her people. She hoped to find Novgor someday to add to her family’s legend.
Inza was an apple the fell very far from the tree. She caused problems for the Wanderers wherever they went, but her mother was blind to her selfish and brash attitude. The Wanderers would often complain about Inza but never to their raunie. I’ve heard the saying “love is blind”. Magda’s love for her daughter was akin to being blindfolded in a cave far below the Shadow Rift.
Inza is a master of manipulation and convinced others to teach her how to move as silently as a shadow, pick the toughest of locks, and break into the most well-guarded homes. Where she learned magic, however, is unknown. Some say she made a pact with an unknown entity to obtain it. I venture that it was our tormentors that granted her this gift, paving her way into her eternal prison.
The Wanderers knew to avoid the Domain of Sithicus, but sometimes the Mists have other ideas and they eventually wandered (pun intended) within. Lord Soth allowed them passage through is land and his protection for Magda’s past service, but he forbade them to ever leave and closed the borders whenever they made the attempt.
Once in Sithicus, Inza formed an alliance with Soth’s werebadger seneschal, Azrael. It was Azrael who obtained the Novgor dagger from Malocchio Aderre, the temporal leader of Invidia, and gave it to Inza.
Azrael agreed to assist Inza in eliminating her mother so she could become raunie of the Wanderers and in turn, Inza would assist him and Malocchio in overthrowing Lord Soth. Of course, Inza had far greater plans than being a mere raunie.
With Azrael’s ability to concrol the creatures known as 'salt shadows' and using Novgor to sabotage Gard, Magda was murdered. Inza also ended the life of her mother’s favored guard dog that night, for she has a deep fear of the creatures. Dogs, she believes, can smell the taint upon her soul.
After manipulating everyone from Soth to Malocchio, Inza saw all but three of her fellow Wanderers killed and herself safely behind the walls of Soth’s fortress, Nedragaard Keep. She then directed Soth’s attentions to Azrael’s ritual at the salt mines that would allow him to steal every shadow in Sithicus and use their power as his own.
While Soth was distracted, Inza placed protective wards around herself to ensure her shadow wouldn’t be stolen and Soth’s minions could not touch her as she opened the gates to allow Malocchio’s Invidian forces into the Keep. Soth, always one to deal with a woman that wronged him instead of an apocalypse, ran back to his Keep as soon as he learned of the treachery and left Azrael to his own devices.
Soth broke down Inza’s wards and his undead forces slaughtered the invaders as a do-gooder of the name of Ganelon interrupted Azrael ’s ritual. These events lead to the Night of Screaming Shadows, in which the shadows ripped apart Soth’s Keep and the Death Knight disappeared.
Inza survived this ordeal, yet as she was attempting her escape she was accosted by the surviving Wanderers. To escape them, she jumped into the Great Rift. Not the best escape plan…but as she did the shadows embraced and transformed her and she became the new Darklord of Sithicus.
Inza is a mostly hidden Darklord with Azrael attempting to take on the mantle of leadership as she manipulates things to her pleasing from the shadows. Mostly Inza enjoys turning those pure of heart towards the darkness and cares little about actual ruling.
The shadows made her into a creature of formless, shifting darkness. Though, with concentration, she can appear as she was before. She rarely takes anything head on, preferring her minions to handle direct physical conflicts though she has some skill in the arcane and with her dagger, Novgor.
As one of the Wanderers, Inza cannot sleep in the same place twice and as a Darklord cannot ever leave her Domain, which may be trying for a lone Vistana. The presence of someone pure of heart is detrimental to her. Given how difficult it is to fine one so innocent in these lands, I hardly think it’s of much concern for her.
Her shadow form is akin to a vampires mist form, though much faster. She can use it to escape through the smallest cracks in the earth and reverts to this form if defeated so she may raise again another time.
If you make an enemy of Inza, you likely won’t realize it until it’s too late. Her expert manipulation, shadow form, and countless spies make her a difficult individual to counter. Though, I find her type easily dealt with by employing a bit of sunlight.
Something that was done once on Twitter that I like to think about and revisit is playlists for domains and Darklords. Bluetspur/The Elder Brain: J-E-N-O-V-A (FF7 Remake) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zvHLGPpkO0 Metallica - “Call of Ktulu” (S&M version) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlpiUyoRw64 Darkon/Azalin Rex: GWAR - “F*ck This Place” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWVmBmo_kZg (Particularly for Azalin Unleashed) Metallica - “Master of Puppets” (S&M version) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tolj54hIY0s Sithicus/Lord Soth: The White Buffalo - “Come Join the Murder” - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecnVt2liH30 Basil Poledouris - “Riders of Doom” (From Conan: the Barbarian) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEp76ppPc8o Metallica - “For Whom the Bell Tolls” (S&M Version) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pQlAe4mleoq
As you can tell I like melodic, energetic music with the occasional more reflective bit thrown in I had others but for the life of me I cannot remember them right now
Darklord Where Are They Nows: Ol’ Buckethead
Although most people believe Lord Soth to have died in Hell at the hands of Takhisis, this is not actually the case. He is still extant, though neither alive nor well. Following his fiery job termination in Baator, Soth found himself trapped in a different sort of hell: retail work. Strapped for cash from the Vader copyright lawsuits, the former darklord of Sithicus was forced to endure several demeaning positions. Each was short-lived due to his notorious temper. He lasted longer as a doorman/background color for Medieval Times. But then he was fired for snoozing on the job, undoubtedly dreaming of better times and never realized accomplishments. In the waking world, the road ahead is still rough going for Lord Sloth, as unemployment benefits for ex-tyrants are truly not the best. He was last seen standing line for job applications at the mines of his former subordinate, Azrael Dak.
DISCLAIMER: The mists of Ravenloft and the branching timelines of Krynn are notoriously unstable and unreliable, so the history of the Soth in your area may be different. If questions of canonicity arise, the Apparatus did it.
