#but rahadin my beloved

[palidoozy-art]

So since we're going back to Curse of Strahd, I figured I'd go back to Kasimir's character design, since honestly he was... woefully under-designed. I don't think I ever even knew what was under that big blanket of his.

In our campaign, his backstory got fleshed out a bit more. When the first genocide occured (Barov's conquering of the dusk elf lands), he was still a child. His parents were killed in the genocide and Patrina was an absolute dogshit parent, leaving him essentially orphaned.

So he wound up being raised mostly by Velikov, a vistana in the camp the group settled by. I realized because of this, he'd probably wind up more culturally vistani than dusk elvish. His reason for being the leader of the Barovian dusk elves in our game was due to the fact that he was the only one fluent in Patterna and was knowledgable of vistani customs, making him great at serving as a mediator between the two groups.

Sadly, the death of Velikov strained his connection to the vistani. It more or less left him culturally without a home -- pushed out by the culture he was raised in and not feeling like he fully fit in with the dusk elves. His current design is to better reflect that change.

Also there's some bonus Patrina and Rahadin because I do love me my dusk elves.

[pigeon-princess]

You may be ancient and you may be the land... but I'll be damned if you're not my liege.

I wanted to have a go at designing some outfits for Strahd and Rahadin! I really miss running around Castle Ravenloft and being scared out of my mind interacting with these two.

[vanhelsingapologist]

I started working on a big Rahadin piece and realized I couldn’t just throw a blue shirt on him and call it a day, so I did a quick mock-up— even though you see NONE of it in the piece.

My DM just had a throwaway line about wearing his armor under a vest during one appearance so I went with it. Cape under the cut.

[nevermoretoleave]

is he your lord before he's your brother? how do you put your duty to your lord before your duty to your brother? how do you tell the difference? — on rahadin, of house zarovich.

@\iasoup-deactivated20190921 / you're on your own, kid, taylor swift / rest achilles, the world will wait, p.d. ( @\lostcap ) / norwegian wood, haruki murakami / so, you're a soldier, m.j. pearl ( @\fairytalesques ) / glass and god, anne carson / infinite jest, david foster wallace / curse of strahd / mirror traps, hera lindsay bird / the cruel prince, holly black / he ain't heavy, he's my brother, the hollies / brother, sister, rival, friend: the longstanding effects of sibling relationships, joshua a. krisch / matryoshka, mabel episode 28 / this is how you lose the time war, amal el-mohtar / antigone, sophocles / sue zhao / underworld, mabel episode 16

[baellielurk]

pov you're seated at a dinner table and these are the other guests wdyd

[blackmagecat]

Chapters: 9/?

Rating: Explicit

Relationships: Rahadin/OC

Summary:

The chamberlain of Castle Ravenloft is charged with visiting the Abbey of Saint Markovia to observe the Abbot’s experiments. There, a cleric of the Morninglord endures a crisis of faith.

----

"It is my duty to inform you that His Lordship no longer requires your presence at court."

What a blessed, splendid sight, Rahadin thought. The princess’s face, typically the very picture of pompous invincibility, shattered before him from the force of the betrayal. Every slight he had ever endured from her - about his breeding, his upbringing - was vindicated at last. Rahadin doubted he would ever again know such satisfaction.

Patrina Velikovna turned from the stained glass window in Castle Ravenloft's audience hall to face him fully. She had the look of an expensive ornament, dressed in the finest silks and adorned in heavy jewels that all but obscured her neck and collarbone. Each piece had been a gift from Strahd, and lately she'd taken to displaying them as prominently as possible.

The late morning sun spilled extra color onto her smooth brown skin through the painted window panes. Patrina was a lithe, elegant figure, the pinnacle of Elven nobility with thick hair that was as dark and as rich as soil and the high, sharp cheekbones that distinguished their kind from all the other races. Rahadin might have thought her resplendent if he did not already despise her.

"Don't do this," Patrina warned. "You do not want to make an enemy of me, Rahadin."

He sneered contemptuously at her. "Do not pin your lost favor upon me, Your Highness. Your line is diminished. Any credible threat that your family could have represented died the moment Lord Strahd reclaimed these lands."

Patrina Velikovna's delicate lip curled in anger, but her voice was dreadfully calm. Around them the attendants waited. She would not lose her noble composure so easily.

"Strahd loves me. You have never accepted that because you are too deep in your own resentment of the past. It is obvious that you have poisoned him against me."

"Would that I could," Rahadin retorted, "but Lord Strahd's mind has ever been his own. Even the knowledge of House Velikov's betrayals was not enough to diminish his affection for you, I admit. But there are new horizons now, and he does not envision you among them."

Patrina's dark eyes hardened into a bitter glare. "New horizons. You don't mean that red-haired peasant, do you? You always were the gullible prat. Strahd does not truly want her. He is simply envious of Sergei. Even you must see that!"

"If that is what will help you trance at night," Rahadin taunted. Truthfully, he did not really care to know about the extent of Strahd's affection for Tatyana Federovna. Rahadin was simply happy to relish in Patrina feeling threatened by the young woman's presence.

"I still have my instructions. You are to be returned to your brother at the dusk elf settlement in Vallaki at once."

Patrina gritted her perfectly white teeth. "I am not some package to be shipped to and fro at anyone's leisure, you traitorous dog! Where is Strahd? I refuse to believe he would be so cowardly as not to tell me these things himself!"

"He is on a survey expedition with Commander Gwilym at Mount Ghakis and sincerely regrets being unavailable to relay the message personally."

"Expedition! What an insult!" Patrina's nostrils flared and her heavy earrings jingled from the force of her barely contained rage. "I was the one who told him of the temple to begin with! How dare he go there without me!"

Rahadin experienced unique enjoyment in being able to deny her further. "It is a perilous journey, Your Highness. His Lordship only had your safety in mind..."

"Safety?!" She scoffed loudly. "The nerve of him! I am an archmage!"

Rahadin continued as if not having heard her. "...and with Master Sergei's wedding taking place soon, Lord Strahd does not wish for the strife that has been brewing between you to cast a cloud over the festivities. A display of your personal jealousies would be unseemly, you see."

“Unseemly.” The dusk elf princess let out haughty, staccato laughter. A signature of hers. "Oh, Rahadin. How disappointing."

He raised an eyebrow in questioning.

"You could have had it all — even me, if that was your wish. Instead you chose to place your leash directly into Barov von Zarovich's palm. And for what? To play butler to his spoiled children? What a disgrace you are to our kind."

"It is you who has disgraced us," Rahadin spat, dropping all pretense. "Your family's dishonorable betrayals are a stain on our people's entire legacy! I would be prouder on my knees, licking the filth from this castle's privies than to ever be tied to you! It is a blessing that my brother finally feels the same way."

By now the attendants and servants began to scurry away, fearful of being caught in the verbal crossfire. Rahadin saw that two lingered near the grand staircase, purposefully eavesdropping. He looked forward to interrogating them in the dungeons.

"Would you like to know at last the reason why it is you and your men were banished, Lord Chamberlain?" Patrina studied her manicured fingernails, casting feigned boredom above her simmering anger. "I may as well tell you, since this will apparently be the last time you see me in Castle Ravenloft."

Rahadin could see the prompt for the blatant trap that it was. "This has already been well-litigated. And House Velikov paid dearly for betraying the alliance against the Tergs. Whatever your family hoped to gain from those petty machinations matters little now."

Patrina tilted her head back and let out a peal of haughty laughter that echoed shrilly across the cavernous audience hall.

"Oh, my sweet little fool. You really have no idea, do you? It is not what we had to gain that I speak of. It is what you chose to discard when you defied our House and your orders."

Rahadin glared at her. "I know it well enough. Do you think it was a simple matter for me to leave our people behind?"

"Yes, because you have a small and simple mind," she insulted. "You weren't preserving anyone's honor that day, Rahadin, not even your own. All you managed to do was set fire to the future."

Rahadin felt his fingers twitch where they rested over his bare abdomen. The surroundings of Castle Ravenloft wavered, and the canvas walls of the Vistani tent reappeared, merged confusingly with the stone masonry of his memory.

Ravenia Van Roeyen was at his ear, her whispers haunting him. "What have we left behind for our children?"

Completed Chapter on AO3

[fantaworks]

Created some discord reaction stickers of our DnD - Curse of Strahd group along with some of the NPCs

Evangeline (Cleric - Aasimar)

Our little OP pocket healer who's the only Lawful Good in the party so she's the only one stressing out on bad decisions XD

The party's mom.

Fianna (Paladin - High Elf)

My PC, the monotonous and stoic paladin, has adopted two little goblins to her care and loves them very much.

The party's dad.

Alexandria (Druid - Human)

Arguably the biggest troublemaker with her a questionable decisions that almost killed all of us really...

Kouki (Fighter - Aasimar)

Church brother (love interest) of our cleric. Special NPC made for her. Also helps the party out if he's not taking care of the orphans from the orphanage.

Rahadin (I don't need to explain his dumbass - the party's annoying stalker boyfriend)

Strahd (I accidentally made him look too pretty--- THIS IS BAD)

Ismark (my beloved boy)

One could not describe how much I love this man

----

that's not just the party btw, there's like 7 of us in the party XD Ihaven'tdrawnthemyettehee

[chew-on-bricks]

Made a bunch of the official Curse Of Strahd NPCs in Hero Forge because it’s easier than drawing the designs I have for them lol

Strahd and Volenta

Rahadin (in my version he is a pirate)

Izek my Beloved

Barron Vargas Vallakovich (he is now a Minotaur)

Victor Vallakovich (also a Minotaur)

I’ll reblog this when I do more <3

[petalpierrot]

Hey remind me of your ocs! Idr exactly about them/what they look like. I remember vaguely the whole "make a dunk tank of strahd and ireena joking to vasili he should dress up as the strahd for dunking" and "rahadin baking genius". (I believe those were both from your shenanigans)

I love lore dumps

(If you would rather just message me go for it.)

Thank you so much for the ask! Well, I'm in a solo game with 3 characters (for balance reasons and because I wanted to try out some subclasses)

I have Eidys Silvermoon, Moon elf Bladesinger wizard: (accidental Rahadin smoocher and an overall delight to play) She has kind of become the face of the party and is generally very sweet, even to the point of befriending literally every other evil creature, it's a joke at this point. (For a good-aligned character she definitely keeps strange company)

I have Veshen: Shadar-kai Grave cleric of the Raven Queen.

He's been all over the material plane and is very knowledgeable about different creatures. He feels that it is his calling to put restless undead to rest and is always glad to do some grief counseling/provide funerary services to those in need. In our game, Ireena adopted him as her second brother because he's been in Barovia the longest and Kolyan was a big help to him when he first arrived in the village (providing shelter/information etc)

And finally, I have Dris my Drow Monster Slayer Ranger (my beloved loser)

He's like my blorbest blorbo, a character I have played for the longest and will always have a special place in my heart for. His job is forest and he is a survivalist. (he is blue because he has moon elf ancestry) Originally he is a merchant from a homebrew drow city. His family sells poisons. His expertise in terms of monster slaying is undead and humanoids.

~~

as far as those events you mentioned, they were ideas I pitched for my DM for festival games (because the festival in vallaki was approaching) but yes most of those made it, it has been a long while. Our Rahadin's hobby is baking so he won a baking competition during said festival. it was definitely a nice break before they really started to work towards dealing with Strahd.

[unusualindigo]

My Escher Backstory

At 63 years old, Escher is the youngest, and perhaps most free-spirited, of Strahd’s consorts.

Growing up as the son of one of Barovia’s former Burgomasters, Escher was once fast friends with the son of the village priestess, Alexi Donavich.

As the pair grew, they both discovered a talent for the esoteric. Whilst Alexi found himself following his mother down a holy path, Escher discovered his own affinity for the spirits of the departed. Through listening to them, he could channel their stories into hymns, then poems, then songs.

Using his talents, Escher found himself a controversial figure in the village, to his father’s dismay. Alexi and he, though lovers in secret, soon had a falling out as Alexi, grieving the loss of his mother and angry at Escher’s continued use of spiritual energy in his music, led a group to cast him out of the village.

Escher felt his heart die there, watching as the boy he loved spat venom at him from on high, saying that he should be lucky that they only broke his harp, and not his body.

Seeing no future for himself, Escher began to trek to the last place any sane Barovian would tread; Castle Ravenloft itself.

Arriving uninvited, Escher was let in only on the sadistic graces of Anastrasya and Volenta, each looking forward to seeing him crumble before their Lord, Strahd. 

Escher asked only for a harp to play for the Lord of Ravenloft, and left quite an impression as he channeled the raw loathing and hopelessness of the Lord’s treacherous soldiers from that night so long ago.

Six years would pass, and Escher would find himself growing closer to the ladies of Ravenloft. In Ludmilla he found someone to debate the nature of his magics with, and in Volenta an equally mischievous force to contend with. Anastrasya, for her part, was always his harshest critic, though the banter soon became rather catty and playful between them.

In the Lord of Ravenloft himself, Escher found a vigorous philosophical opponent, and the two would spend long hours debating the nature of the spirit and of conflict. Escher always reveled in what glimpses of the man Strahd used to be would filter through.

Once his twentieth birthday began to approach, Escher began to envy the close, if unconventional ties between the vampires of the castle. He began to make overtures in his performances to Strahd, begging a chance to become one of his consorts.

Escher could tell that Strahd had some growing interest in him, but the man was stubborn to a fault, and thought it unseemly to turn him at so young an age, especially given the base of their relationship.

Escher, frustrated, began to scour the castle for ways to make Strahd see things his way. His searches were short lived, as the chamberlain, Rahadin, had never taken a liking to him, and took the opportunity to suggest of removing him from the castle entirely.

Escher’s blood froze as Strahd contemplate that notion. However, Strahd offered him one last chance. He had exiled the werewolves from Ravenloft after one of their prior leaders, Gorick, had slaughtered a reincarnation of his beloved Tatyana.

If Escher could convince their current leader, Amalric, to agree to a meeting with Strahd, and convince Strahd himself of the werewolves worth as agents again.

Before he left, Volenta told him of Amalric’s weakness to the pleasures of the flesh, and with no other options of ease in this trial, Escher acquiesced to the beast’s hunger. He spent many vigorous nights sating the bastard, whispering in his ear of the glories awaiting him in Strahd’s service.

It didn’t even take but two seasons to bend the fool to his whims, and Escher soon found himself contending with Strahd’s iron will, not truly for the wolves, but for his own worth.

To his delight, not only did Strahd agree to let the wolves back in, and to sire Escher at last, but to Escher’s poisoning of Amalric in one year’s time.

Soon, Escher found himself awakening to periwinkle eyes as Strahd cleansed him of the filth of that loathsome man.

Anastrasya also rewarded him quite harshly for his efforts, and the two soon settled into a comfortable distance, trading barbs and competitively seeing who could bend such and such lord over a barrel first, sometimes quite literally.

Volenta made him her greatest asset, a spy who can move wherever he likes in the castle and beyond, and allowing him to hold sway over the wolves, making them his spies in turn. Thus, did he oust Rahadin from his spying duties, though the crotchety old elf is content with that outcome.

Ludmilla and he, sharing a bloodline, collaborate on occasion to perform certain rituals, and still enjoy debating their philosophies and such to this day. Escher even felt comfortable enough to participate in her experiments, so strong is his trust in her.

For forty years Escher served Ravenloft and Strahd in this manner, keeping the wolves in line and gathering information and favor from the broader populace. It was on one such venture that word reached Escher of an assault on the keep.

Rushing back, Escher found only the bodies awaiting him. Strahd dismissed him with nary a glance, throwing himself into an effort to expand the mists around Barovia. Deeply hurt at being cast aside once more, Rahadin took delight in reminding Escher of the reincarnations of Tatyana and their hold on Strahd. One such man had been born outside the mists, and had brought a vampire from there upon their door, who Strahd had slain.

Brooding over his loss of affection, Escher began to recede from public life earlier than expected, watching sullenly as Strahd grew ever more distant from them.

A few years into his seclusion, Escher found a young boy whilst he watched Barovia from a nearby hill. He had auburn hair.

Escher wearily told Volenta of his findings, having also seen the boy’s playmate, the spitting image of a young Alexi. Heart still broken over his first love, Escher took to spying on Doru and his father, enviously watching as they paid tribute to the boy’s departed mother.

When Doru was brought into the Mad Mage’s rebellion, it was only by Escher’s grace that he was merely turned into a vampire spawn, rather than slaughtered like the other fools. However, Strahd’s turning of the boy was interrupted by the Mage, turning the boy into one of the Deamhan line, the most savage and miserable of the lot.

Though he’s sure he should feel guilty, Escher was delighted as he watched Alexi turn to murder and deceit to keep his death seeking boy alive. A cold vengeance, for his broken heart.

[local-dummy-fawns]

Here's a doodle of y'alls beloved dnd elf bastard man <3

[mysaldate]

Haha it's 2am, time to get depressed over the fact I'm a forever dm and will never get to romance the Abbot 🥲

[s7ven-art]

self indulgent ooc Rahadin my beloved

[betaadmin]

cos campaigns of other people: ohh our warlock has a crush in ismark, ohh ismark beloved himbo who we must protect,

my ismark: buried next to his father in barovia village after rahadin rolled up to the party in vallaki and tossed ismarks head at our feet; he was beheaded after strahd made him eat the coin he had promised us for taking ireena to safety. how nice!!! at least we kicked rahadins ass afterwards. never underestimate the taunts of a death warded wizard

[palidoozy-art]

@interstellardragon

haha there's still some stuff left to resolve with Kasimir in our group. Patrina is actually roaming free (she is actually the one who tattled, resulting in the rakshasa that's currently hunting the group down) and one of Kasimir's flaws in our group is that he refuses to do anything about her, even when it's clear she's in the wrong.

More Kasimir/Rahadin rambling below cut.

He is so burdened by his own guilt in the involvement of her death that he can't say no to her, even when it's clear that she does not give a shit and means harm. He will make up every excuse in the book for her. Part of his arc, if the players choose to pursue it, will be slowly overcoming his guilt and realizing the abuse he faced from her (more on that here).

I actually like the idea that he and Rahadin are exes tbh. In our game I actually floated the idea to my players of Barov and Rahadin having been nebulously involved. My players rejected this because they felt like Barov doting over Rahadin as a beloved son with no other problematic ulterior motives* was actually a weird good spot in a monstrous character, and they wanted to keep that intact.

As Kasimir and Rahadin's relationship stands currently: it is tenuous. Kasimir was the deciding vote in the choice between the group choosing to execute Rahadin after his capture. The party felt it best to leave to the leader of the dusk elves, and Kasimir made a vow to end what he views as the cycle of violence his people keep living through (Kings torture Rahadin -> Rahadin betrays dusk elves to Barov -> Dusk elves stone Patrina for smoochin' Barov's son -> Barov's son orders a genocide that Rahadin assists him with, and mutilates the instigator).

HOWEVER, it is hard to forgive someone for taking part in that. Even for Kasimir. It is a test of patience to be able to wake up every day and watch the man who stared you in the eyes as he mutilated you find happiness while you still feel broken, even if it is morally a "good" thing to do. I don't think there's a world in which Kasimir will ever fully forgive Rahadin, and I don't think any of the players will ever ask him to.

On Rahadin's end -- Kasimir confuses him. Rahadin's entire worldview is built around the premise that everyone in the world, especially dusk elves, are monsters that will be cruel to you by default. And in spite of Kasimir and the party being given every opportunity to do so, they haven't. Kasimir made a choice to spare him in spite of being justified in killing him. Ireena gave him food in spite of being justified in giving him nothing. And the party returned two of his most precious belongings, in spite of being fully justified in burning them. He is at the point where he is willing to admit that Kasimir did not deserve what happened to him. He is still convinced that his actions against the dusk elves was just him enacting "justice," rather than calling it what it is. I don't know whether or not that's something the party is going to confront him on, or Ireena will do it off-screen/in a comic, but in order to grow as a character I think he will eventually have to address it.

*Note: To be completely clear by 'problematic ulterior motives' I mean the quasi-incest, the power imbalance, and the manipulation, not the fact that they'd be two dudes.

[lucemferto]

Hey Luc, I also coincidentally had a DND session last night! I finally got my players to genuinely dislike a villain on a personal level - not Rahadin for burning down a town, but a wererat merchant they tried to rob who hit them with a sleeping potion and stole all their magic items and gold because they all failed their CON saves and no one is immune to sleep

That sounds really cool!

Yeah, I noticed as player and DM that it's really hard to make the players care about a villain the same way one would care about a villain in a movie or TV-show or book.

I think it's mostly because they don't get to see the villain because there's no cutaways. Absolutely everything is from the perspective of the players, so the villain has to undertake some direct personal actions against the players to really make that antagonism and antipathy stick.

Like, the person my players liked the least so far is a Tavern Owner, who refused to give the Warforged a room, because constructs don't deserve bed and breakfast.

Now, things have changed slightly with their fight against Sister Donaria, who ran the sinister orphanage where children where experimented on, because she killed one of the PCs and a beloved party pet.

Again, direct personal action.

There's also the corrupt magistrate that is real slimy and interacted with the party a couple of times too. Here, there's a mix of direct actions against them and being a general prick and also just having a constant presence in the narrative, because he's one of the major reasons why the city they're in is so shitty.