#ludmilla edits

[exu-blues]

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

 Rocky IV (1985 )  written, directed by, and starring Sylvester Stallone. 

Dolph Lundgren as Captain Ivan Drago

[godfreygwilym]

some notes on how i've been running the brides

when i first set out to dm cos, one of the first things i was really determined to do was give them more in-depth backstories, since— with the exception of escher getting like one paragraph lol— they're basically just. creepy dolls. which i GUESS works with gothic horror but man i would really like to have female characters with personalities!!!!

*combination of my own interpretation as well as concepts ive integrated from other dms, so if you recognize something specific i probably got it from elsewhere

ludmilla vilisevic

physically in her mid-30s, and is aged roughly 230. i play her with an rp english accent, although in my mind she has a nigerian affect. she is very poised and calculating, and always tries to be the one in control of any situation. has a talent for shadow magic, and her own sentient shadow is the closest she has to a best friend. she also has a barn owl familiar named amicus and a cat named eupraxia. when she takes a human disguise, she goes by the name of filena voltanescu.

before ludmilla married strahd, her name was lumina. she is a wizard apprentice who was lost in the mists and stumbled into barovia. naturally very curious, brave and shrewd, she marched up to ravenloft despite all the warnings. her and strahd ended up having a very romantic relationship (despite lowkey reflags from strahd the whole time lol) for a long time since there had been a long spell of no tatyana reincarnation, although they eventually began to fall apart, partially spurred by her feelings of isolation and longing for her family outside of barovia.

at the point that cos takes place, ludmilla is very distant from strahd and is really only going through the motions/trying to stay useful, though she is determined to remain a step above his other partners in terms of superiority. she spends a great deal of her time researching and experimenting on mostly-unwilling test subjects (she is well aware at this point that what she is doing is cruel, but after two centuries she's become rather indifferent). she's very fascinated by the abbot's work.

in my game, strahd has given her emil toranescu, who is imprisoned in tsolenka pass. she is working on developing a method to transfer souls from one body to another— in my game, ismark is the true reincarnation of tatyana, and ireena merely looks like her.

anastrasya "anya" karelova

physically in her early 30s, anya is just over a century old. barovian accent, and extremely flamboyant and charismatic, she loves being the centre of attention. she has a natural talent for communicating with ghosts, who are often her captive audience. not much combat skill beyond what abilities she has as a vampire, but she has a wicked skill for charming people. in human disguise, she goes by ekaterina bogdana.

anya is from minor vallakian nobility, which comes with all the trappings of petty inter-family squabbles. she has had a terribly unfortunate string of bad luck with marriages, all of her betrotheds have met poor fates or ran off. on a fourth attempt, her parents arranged for her to be married to an older landowner who she did not care for at all.

while she was engaged, anya ran into ludmilla (in human disguise) by chance. they grew close quickly and began having an affair. eventually, ludmilla introduced her to strahd, and she was instantly enamoured. before the wedding, anastrasya's betrothed "mysteriously" died, and she was whisked away to ravenloft. at this point, ludmilla and strahd's relationship was very cold, and he became preoccupied with anya.

volenta popofska

physically in her mid-20s, and is about 65 years old. barovian, and has a very floaty and whimsical way of speaking, though very soft spoken and rather self conscious. she often comes off as eerie. her vampiric abilities are amplified, making her a very good rogue/assassin. in "human" disguise, she is called violet spivakhofska.

volenta is a tiefling who was born in a small fishing village on lake zarovich. her parents did not want her, and so she was raised by the village elder. when she passed away when volenta was a teenager, she no longer had any protection from the animosity of the villagers, so she fled. eventually she was picked up by a small group of bandits, who would've attacked her, but she convinced them to let her join.

she bounced around various groups of bandits and thieves for several years, finding a place but never truly fitting in. after one traumatic rejection, she went to ravenloft in search of strahd, who she had heard stories of since she was a child, and had often wished would come and take her away. to volenta's joy, strahd took a liking to her and made her his bride.

even still, volenta is an outcast due to her awkward and sometimes unsettling behaviour and knack for the macabre. strahd enjoys her, but does little to try and ingratiate her with his other partners, and so she remains self-conscious and eager to win his favour.

escher gerst

physically in his late twenties, escher has been a vampire for just over a decade. i play him with a german accent. he is usually very distant and melancholy, though he becomes much more playful when not around strahd. a bard by trade, as a vampire he discovers a natural aptitude for shapeshifting, spurred by a bit of neuroticism over not being able to see his own reflection. in human disguise, he goes by claudius belasco.

escher is also from outside the mists, the son of poor farmers who ran off to join a bard troupe. he loves stories and music, and has a knack for various instruments, but particularly enjoys the lute and the violin— strahd has gifted him two exquisite models. his troupe was caught in the mists, and unbeknownst to him, strahd began spying on them. outside the village of barovia in the svalich woods, strange orchestrated a wolf attack on the group, sparing escher so that he could swoop in and save him. when escher awoke in a plush bed in ravenloft, he became deeply enamoured with strahd, who he saw as a fairytale prince. they had a very passionate relationship with strahd lavishing many gifts on escher before convincing him to let him turn him into a vampire.

despite not being together long, however, strahd has quickly become rather bored of escher's antics, who became desperate to stay in his good graces to avoid being sealed into the crypts. after the revolt in the village of barovia, strahd took doru as a vampire spawn. escher and him would have been close friends, if escher wasn't so deeply self-conscious and paranoid over his own status. eventually, he convinced strahd to starve doru to the point of madness and return him to his father at the church. escher would feel guilty over this, were he not so deeply concerned over his own self-preservation.

also due to strahd's coldness toward him, escher developed a fascination with vallaki, where he often goes in human disguise. here, he took a human lover, a painter named anton. anton became involved with the feast of saint andral, when escher gave him a bag (secretly containing the bones) and had him deliver it to the coffin shop. during the chaos of the feast, unfortunately, strahd had anton killed— escher beseeched the party to bury him properly and behead him so he would not return as a vampire spawn.

[anantplayingdnd]

In honor of pride month I want to hear about how queer you made Barovia please and thank you.

For my game:

Strahd is a bisexual king right out of the book, which is awesome.

Rahadin is asexual, but not in like, an ace kind of way. Like in a single-celled organism kind of way.

Ireena is aroace! A decision partly inspired by a certain pool of water (iykyk), and also because she’s a little bit my self-insert. A PC hit on her in like session four and was immediately told, “Do not ever speak to me that way again.” She’s iconic and I adore her.

IZMARK. IZ. GAY. And madly in love with the druid. Unfortunately Izmark does not know he is gay. He believes it is very normal to lovingly stare into your homie's eyes and look down at his lips and imagine what it would be like to kiss him. And it is very normal to comment on how attractive your homie is, cause that's just what bros do.

Vollenta is a beautiful lesbian who refuses to let the fact that she is married to Strahd change the fact that she is a lesbian and nobody will tell her or her pile of bodies otherwise.

Ludmilla is on the ace spectrum. I mean, come on. She's with the guy for power and grant money. She says she loves him, and they're definitely intimate, but she's the kind of girly to take notes before during and after, you know?

Escher. What even needs to be said about Escher. He's Ravenloft's resident twink and proud of it. He's a little lonely and can't stop thinking about the boy he was in love with when he was young, who is now old and grizzled from age, while Escher himself remains the same age he was when he betrayed his lover and chose Strahd instead, but like... he's also pretty and immortal, so who cares?

(Escher Bonus Content: Two moms! They loved him very much and were upsettingly supportive of his decision to become Strahd's newest consort)

Anastrasya: idk she's dead pre-campaign in mine so if you came here looking for commentary on her you will not get it.

Ezmerelda is a trans lesbian! She's gorgeous and I adore her. She's just so confident that she can kill Strahd on her own and I think she's right for that. I knew I wanted her to be a love interest for one of my PCs, and it just so happens that the player in question has a type.

Danika is also bi, and she's very happily married to her wonderful little husband. This hasn't come up in the campaign at all it's just something I know to be true in my heart.

The Abbot: Gender! Fluid! Call them whatever you want. He/him when you want to play on ideas of masculinity in religious circles, they/them when you want to make them seem undefinable, she/her when you want your PCs to reflect on how much mom trauma they all have :)

Sergei is straight but that man loves the queer community so much and he deserves an honorable mention.

Arrigal is gay and very pissed that the party keeps knocking on his wagon door at 3am. His ex-husband/current boyfriend has been coerced into co-parenting a child with the cleric.

Edit: FORGOT ABOUT THE RESIDENT SPOOKY SPECTRAL LADS BUT TO BE FAIR THEY ARE CANON AND MY PARTY ISN’T THERE YET

There's definitely others but these are my versions of the little guys. I am so interested to hear other people's takes on them.

[vanhelsingapologist]

Peer pressure works.

[spicyspell]

Dinner time! (Ludmilla edition)

[takofukkatsumi]

Today I bought the brand new, just out of print, edition of Reaper Man with @dr-graf illustrations and spent the last ten minutes losing my mind over the cutest picture of Ludmilla and Lupine ever

[darklordazalin]

Azalin Reviews: Darklord Frantisek Markov

Domain: Markovia Domain Formation:  698 BC Power Level: 💀💀⚫⚫⚫ Sources: Neither Man nor Beast (2e); Ravenloft Third Edition; Domains of Dread (2e); Realms of Terror (2e); Gazetteer II (3e), Fair Barovia Dungeon Magazine #207

Franktisek Markov is the Darklord of Markovia, a heavily forested island with the scatterings of a few small, abandoned villages reclaimed by nature; “Fran’s” manor; and the aptly named Monastery of Lost Souls. 

Franktisek grew up on a small pig farm outside of the village of Vallaki in Barovia. This was after von Zarovich became a vampire and started all this nonsense with these Misty prisons. He married Ludmilla, a young woman from Vallaki and opened a butcher shop there. Franktisek enjoyed the act of slaughtering his pigs, though the act itself was not enough for him and in time he began to experiment on the animals. He performed amputations, skin grafts, glandular injections and became fascinated with the results. I’m not sure where he learned the art of surgery…it is not as if Barovia is known for its education system nor pig farmers for their collection of books. I digress, when his wife discovered his grim experiments, she threatened to leave him and inform the villagers of what he was doing.

Overreacting to this threat, Markov made Ludmilla his next experiment and performed numerous surgeries on her over the course of three days. She died on the third day, her body now resembled an animal more than a person. However, once the villagers realized the truth, they chased Markov into the Mists and Markovia formed.

The Markov Manor was eventually claimed by Thaani refugees from Bluetspur and the echoes of Markov’s past deeds upon Ludmilla had some…well, let’s just say interesting effects on the Thaani. 

Before the Grand Conjunction, Markovia lay where the Shadow Rift now lies. Now Markovia has been transformed into an island west of the township of Ludendorf in Lamorida on the Sea of Sorrows. This transformation of Markovia is quite suitable for our transformed Darklord. Once a man, Franktisek is now a beast with the face of a man, forever searching for his lost humanity.

Franktisek continues his experiments on Markovia. Capturing various species of animals and transforming them into beasts with human-like features. Every attempt he sees as a failure as they have not sufficiently shed their animal side. These “Broken Ones” roam the island and worship Franktisek as a god, referring to him as “the god who walks among us”. Though I believe the Vistani have a better name for him: “Master of Pain”.

Any humanoid that finds themselves on Markovia will likely end up in Markov’s lab, where he transforms them into humanoids with beast-like features. He does not use any anesthesia, so these ‘surgeries’ of his are quite...memorable.

Markov can take on the form of any beast, though always retains his human head and face, which is as ridiculous and terrifying as it sounds. He tends to take the form of an ape, believing it makes him look more human. Perhaps there are no mirrors on the island so he can see how much that is not the case?

[inzertbackups]

Inzert live DJ set - Remiz Radio Show @Tilos Radio - 2014-05-24

Évente egyszer-kétszer rámjön, hogy kéne menni zenélni.... Olyankor felmegyek, a saját mixeimből meghallgatok kettőt és elmúlik :D

TRCKLST:

#1. Remiz Radio Show - Jingle #2. Neo - Record Straight (Fine Cut Bodies remix) #3. BSD - Paramnesia #4. Dopamine - Brave New World (Psure remix) #5. Geon - Additions (Colombo remix) #6. Future Funk Squad - Cold Matter (feat. Refracture) #7. Beatman, Ludmilla - In Breaks We Trust #8. Colombo - Gods #9. Colombo - You Don't Stop #10. Hyper - Take Me Away (Karl Sav remix) #11. Disclosure - Defeated No More (Blanilla Breaks edit) #12. Jurassik - Like This (Rektchordz remix) #13. Chevy One - Mambo Twang #14. Kombainer - I Don't Have Enough Money (4Kuba remix) #15. Mark Knight, Wolfgang Gartner - Conscindo (Kwerk rerub) #16. Geon - Perpetual Motion (Colombo remix) #17. Tonysoprano - Silence (F-Word Breaks remix) #18. Dual Boot - Crank It (Ghettface remix) #19. Lee Coombs - Lilly In The Sky #20. ILS - Next Level (Karl Sav remix) #21. The Crystal Method - Play For Real (LeftRight, Digital Pizza rmx) #22. Quadrat Beat - RAW #23. Colombo - Clubbing #24. Dirty & Acid - Gorras Voladoras #25. Drumattic Twins - LFO Soup #26. Dylan Rhymes - Nightbreed

[strahdapologist]

so I read through your blog and you really don't like the fact that 5e Strahd is a biphobic stereotype. But you run campaigns and play him. Can I ask what changes you've made to his characterisation to make him less of a biphobic stereotype? I know you didn't do the dumb elf genocide thing with him of course

uhm so the first change i made was to his consorts because 5e is shitty towards women and to its other minimal queer rep in the adventure, so in my campaign they were remade to be actual members of his court. their exact responsibilities shifted depending on the ideas i had at the time, but in their latest incarnations ludmilla was in charge of external affairs such as communication with other realms and trade, volenta was in charge of internal affairs, anastrasya was in charge of gathering intelligence and all matters arcane, and escher was charged officially with arts and culture but he was also an active diplomat and spy for strahd. they all have royal titles (that correspond with old romanian nobility) and i made sure they all had their own little story trees of responsibilities to enact across barovia while the campaign was occurring.

i still wanted bisexual representation for strahd that was explicit, however, so a plotline was him and escher breaking up. however their romantic tryst was undertaken with an explicit understanding that strahd was still seeking tatyana, but that in spite of this search he still yearned for intimacy and closeness. escher agreed to these terms and was not taken by surprise when strahd ended things in light of tatyana being reincarnated, though he was still sad about it ending. as strahd's spy, though, he played up this heartbreak to appeal to any who may be against strahd (two members of the party) and tricked them into divulging their true intentions rather quickly. instead of having escher as a hopless gay longing for senpai strahd's love again he became a quietly dangerous character that no one noticed was spying on them lol

i also removed all instances of strahd seeking new consorts in the players. his romantic attention is focused solely on tatyana but in a respectful way that does not cross any lines and instead plays into old ideas of victorian-era courtship. tho he and our tatyana had pre-marital sex so his commitment to prudish courtship is well...... yeah lol

finally sasha was entirely removed. the idea of becoming "bored" of wives and throwing them to the crypts was misogynistic before he was bisexual, and 5th edition made this plot line worse by making strahd bisexual because it implies he is voraciously lustful and can never be sexually satisfied and that the fate of sasha may well be the fate of tatyana if they ever got married. now it's not just sexist, it's biphobic! thank u 5e <3

so yeah tl;dr i just play him as more of a forlorn romantic and gave all the consorts actual titles of duchess/viscount/marquess etc. ditched most of his romantic relationships as well. 5e's biphobia also remove the agency of other women and queer characters in their module so it was important to me not just to adjust strahd's characterization, but the characterization of those around him. through the campaign, it was hinted that ludmilla and volenta had romantic relationships of their own (volenta with gertruda, for example) and escher's crush on ismark turned into the party trying to set the two of them up on dates which is quite sweet. this gave also a lot more room to the tragedy of strahd's love for tatyana when it was inevitably, once again, taken away by forces of darkness

i also spoke to people who are bisexual and i myself read about biphobic tropes in media bc as a lesbian i would find myself icked out by contents of the module but not entirely aware of why or the history of it until context was added, so seeking outside input on what exactly was offensive and why was very helpful

anyway follow me i'm delicious

[exu-blues]

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

Rocky IV (1985) written, directed by, and starring Sylvester Stallone.

[godfreygwilym]

i made the brides (and str*hd 🤮) in ts4 and ive been playing with them way too much

[tea-with-eleni]

This week in Barovia...

Ireena and Ludmilla booked it north to the shores of Lake Zarovich, closely followed by the party and Volenta. They ran into Arabelle, who told them that if they're going north, they're going to need a token to get through the mists. She had a handful of junk, including a coin with a profile Ludmilla half-recognized (cursing the magic of the domains of dread the whole time). The party took a vote and decided to try and leave Barovia.

Which, after a few tries, they managed.

Lucky rolls.

Anyway, they emerged at dusk in Darkon. There's a big golden star overhead, in front of the moon. A critical success on an arcane check suggested it's the remnants of something incredibly dangerous, possibly involving pure life or positive energy. Which. Yikes.

(Reading my earlier editions lore, I'm trying to reconcile the timeline of Darkon with Van Richten's Guide with the War Against Azalin with the fact that Rahadin and Ludmilla and Volenta exist and I think I can stitch it all together fairly seamlessly......? We shall hope. Technically, they should've ended up in Falkovnia, but nothing about Falkovnia appeals to me so I'm cheating some geography a bit. It's fine.

I've decided that Ludmilla would've been in the forces sent to Darkon during the war against Azalin, so sufficiently long-lived locals probably have opinions about her. It works. Sorta.)

Things are going to be interesting come sunrise, given that the party has two vampires and a dhampir and a kobold who are all a bit anti-sun to varying degrees. Fortunately, Ludmilla has Darkness in her spellbook so she can give herself and Volenta a bit of an imperfect solution long enough to find shelter. Hopefully. Unfortunately, Barovian vampires have no reason not to be diurnal... so they're in for a bit of a rough adjustment period.

[crowholtz]

curse of strahd npcs: castle ravenloft edition

Thought I'd do a batch that's just Strahd, Rahadin, and the brides~! Here we have Strahd, Rahadin, Anastrasya, Doru, Ludmilla, Hiski Viski (a custom bride designed by me and my husband/DM. She's a firbolg!), Escher, and Volenta!

[sloshed-cinema]

The Tales of Hoffmann (1951)

Powell and Pressburger love theatrical performance almost to a fault.  Their absolute masterpiece The Red Shoes delves behind the curtain into the catty, cutthroat world of the ballet, and here they put to film an entire opera.  And this is most definitely an opera.  There are moments of absolute musical bliss scattered in between sequences which drag on almost interminably, and characters take for-fucking-ever to accomplish anything.  Lyrics are kinda goofily literal if you think about them for longer than three seconds.  Hell, they even managed to squeeze in the endless rounds of applause which conclude any performance—good job all, but Jesus Christ I’d love to go home sometime this week, I have to pee.  So it’s opera, love it or leave it.  But it’s opera filmed by auteurs who clearly love the medium, which makes it a much more rewarding experience.  Regular repertory players pop up here and there, helmed by Robert Helpmann as the incarnation of evil in each tale and Moira Shearer as Hoffmann’s object of desire Stella and first love, Olympia.  Helpmann is diabolical down to his very bones, all wild stares and even wilder makeup.  Shearer is eminently watchable whenever she dances and here she mixes grace with technical skill and control as the automaton Olympia.  She always has such poise and control in her performances.  How much her eyes must have been watering after some of those takes, the doll not even blinking once or diverting from its glassy stare.  Léonide Massine and Ludmilla Tchérina drop by too for tantalizing dance roles as secondary antagonists.  It’s a night at the opera in a decidedly different sense.

The absolute selling point of this film has to be its production design.  Nobody does color quite like Powell and Pressburger, every frame painterly in its vibrant handling of Hoffman’s fantastical world.  The film leans into an intentionally stagey aesthetic, no attempts made to make sets not seem painted or two-dimensional at points.  Puppets and human actors intermingle freely, creating a world where nothing can quite be believed as true—Hoffmann is quite the showman in his recounting of past conquests.  They don’t make many attempts to hide their tricks, Dapertutto’s jewel-conjuring simple sleight of hand or edits, for instance.  But at points they do take advantage of their medium’s potential, layering images over one another much as they did in The Red Shoes and elsewhere to create ‘magical’ effects.  The end result feels like a product plucked out of time, a small but glistening Technicolor gem.

THE RULES

SIP

Two images are overlaid.

Lindorf or his equivalent in a story makes crazy eyes.

Money changes hands.

Applause.

BIG DRINK

The beginning of a tale.

Olympia gets wound up.

Puppet/human or statue/human swap.