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Culsans Domain of split minds by u/WaserWifle and u/ScifiaseDarklord: Lord Keir van Wagenen Genres: Psychological horror Hallmarks: Hidden memories, a brutal and deceptive tyrant, masked soldiers. Mist Talismans: A banner of the van Wagenen crest, a coin with cryptic words, a bear pelt with heretical runes Culsans is a land where people of all stripes have violent, vivid dreams, where they imagine burning their own towns and killing their own people. Bad enough, when there’s already a dread legion to do that. What they don’t know is those aren’t dreams, they’re memories, leaking through from alternate partitions of their mind. The Dark Lord Keir van Wagenen has mastered the art of splitting the mind in two; one with their whole life, the other a blank slate ready to be indoctrinated. By these means, he’s built not only a callous army to brutalise their own people, but an even more powerful network of sleeper agents. Whether they’re under the command of the sinister Ministry, or gone rogue as their programming fractures, in Culsans, you can never know who you’re talking to. “Why does the innkeeper wake at night to remember he is in his own bed, not strangling a starving bandit with iron-clad hands? Why does the smell of meat on the spit remind the cobbler not of her own kitchen, but of a burning house full of screaming innocents?” Noteworthy Features Those familiar with Culsans know these facts: The domain is ruled by the tyrannical invader, Keir van Wagenen. His masked soldiers, the Burning Legion, use conventional weapons and dark magic to supress the population, and especially control the ancient bridges that span the domain’s many canyons. Traditionally, Culsanians are a rugged people, strong willed yet hospitable. Their lands are filled with engineering marvels in the form of fortresses and bridges, turning the whole snowy mountain range into a shield for whomever controls it. Military service is compulsory for all able adults for one year, but everyone who is enlisted is sent abroad for their tours. When they return, most will comment on harsh training but no action, yet still often suffer from vivid nightmares. The Ministry of Minds is spoken of only in whispers, and their purpose is unknown to all but a select few. It’s known to be the downfall of many would-be rebels, infiltrating even the most trusted circles. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Settlements and Sites The Splitcrown mountains are a dense, jagged range of windswept peaks encircled by the mists of Ravenloft. Travel across the domain involves braving mountain roads through claustrophobic valleys and precarious cliff edges, most paths littered with rockslides and snowdrifts. Only the fortified roads and bridges maintained by the dark lord are reliably safe to travel, except for those wanting to avoid the ever-present scrutiny of the dark lord’s soldiers. The mountains of Culsans are a network of impressive fortress-towns and bridges. Each is itself a remarkable engineering feat, for these ancient structures have been maintained for centuries. Each of Culsans’ towns is a unique stronghold and a testament to the hardiness of its inhabitants. It is no exaggeration to say that Culsans never would have been conquered by the dark lord if he hadn’t employed his treacherous sleeper agents to bypass its ancient defences. Outside of these towns, people live in small villages in the lower parts of the valley. They face greater danger from wild monsters due to their lack of fortifications, but each makes do in their own way. The people of these smaller settlements may be free of the day-to-day direct scrutiny of the dark lord, but are just as infested with his hidden minions as other settlements, and are often targets of his wrath when an example needs to be made. Beyond the bastions of the dark lord, the deep ravines of Culsans are dark, treacherous places where monsters lair and stagnant waters pool, saturated in toxic minerals that seep out of the domain’s many mines. Volsom & The Scarlet Palace The capital of Culsans and the seat of van Wagenen’s power in the domain, Volsom occupies a central location in the mountains with two vast bridges extending in opposite directions. With so much industry and military might concentrated in one place, and Lord van Wagenen pushing out many residents to create his safe and luxurious palace district, the city’s population has long overspilled its ancient walls. Volsom is a very vertical city, with its limited space atop the mountain, buildings are built tall and streets dug deep into the ground. Miners and other low-level labourers live in stacked shanty towns crammed into the footprint of the winding stone streets or clinging to the sides of the cliffs below. The fringes in the shadow of the battlements are lively with trade and imports of essential supplies from the other towns, while skilled labourers and craftsmen find ample business. Deeper in, the streets are narrow and shadowed, where the denizens are fortunate enough at least to be safe from the howling winds. Below their feet are the mines, ever working to forge new arms for the dark lord’s soldiers, or stone bricks to repair the castle walls that get eroded over time. At the city’s centre is the Scarlet Palace, built of red-hued stone, and its surrounding district. The elites of the domain live here alongside buildings of governance and military headquarters. At the command of Keir van Wagenen, the streets here are kept clean and quiet, the mosaic tiles polished to maintain their splendour. The tyrant is too paranoid to allow people to roam freely in the streets he walks, and is determined to enjoy every inch of the ancient city’s grand architecture after he worked so hard to conquer it. The Scarlet Palace is another of Culsans’ engineering wonders, as the red stone it was built from was imported in centuries past and raised up the mountain through immense effort and technical skill. Rather than acknowledge the brilliant minds of the ancient Culsans, the soldiers and nobles that van Wagenen brought over from his homeland prefer to indulge in folklore stories of a castle stained red by the blood of slaves and similarly gory tales. Below the palace are the winding dungeons where the Ministry of Minds conducts their horrific labours. Parts of these dungeons are oddly luxurious with carpets of fine pelt and gilded ornaments inlaid into the walls. After all, Aeson, the dungeon’s most valuable and dangerous prisoner, is still a prince, and the dark lord insists that his son be afforded the amenities befitting of his status. Tolsturn, the Wyvern’s Eyrie At the far eastern edge of the Splitcrown mountains, Tolsturn once overlooked rolling valleys, but now sees only the mists. A fortress town like many others in the domain, accessible only by a road that closey hugs the mountain it wraps around, Tolsturn is built of many tiers. The lowest of these tiers disappear into the mists themselves, forbidden for any to enter. Somewhere in this sunken part of the old fort is a gate the leads to the lands that once adjoined Culsans, though no more visitors ever come. Gazing out across a vast blank wall of fog must have some peculiar effect on the mind, as the people of Tolsturn are much more susceptible to quirks or flaws in the Splitting process. More so than any other settlement, the residents of Tolsturn experience strange visions of their other lives and are haunted by actions they don’t realise are their own. Soldiers stationed here are momentarily startled by their own reflections as they see the armour they wear, while civilians are liable to snap and believe that the invasion of Culsans is still ongoing, and see everyone around them as enemy combatants. The Ministry of Minds secretly keeps watch over the town and restricts access along its single road, using their observations to try and further their understanding of the Splitting process. The Slog Most of Culsans’ marvellous cities were preserved by the dark lord, for practical function and pride in his conquest. The Slog is one of the exceptions. Set low into one of the Domain’s vilest ravines, the ruins of this castle are a maze of damp halls crammed into caves far below Volsom. A shanty town permeates the corridors and spills out onto the old structures that litter the fetid lakes of snowmelt and pollution from the city far above. Soldiers oversee the workers during their toil in the mines, but outside of that they see little governance and so many resort to crime, preying on each other for their meagre offerings. Such a place is an excellent ground for rebel groups to recruit and host meetings, but as a consequence The Slog is the site of many skirmishes between rebels and the dread legions of van Wagenen. It benefits the dark lord to allow the rebels a sort of sanctioned hideout that he is careful to never fully purge. Rumours say that in fact there is something sinister hidden in these lowest mines that the dark lord seeks, hence why he allows The Slog to persist instead of massacring the whole town. Haernrost Kaius van Wagenen rules here, at his father’s appointment. A proud bastion located to the west, Kaius demonstrates well his parents’ teachings of statecraft. The valley that cradles Hearnrost sits along what was once a major road leading from the capital to the world beyond the mountains, now a dead end, it is still valuable for its fertile land, by the standards of the barren domain. Keir van Wagenen’s domain is already rife with underfed commoners, losing control of Haernrost would mean mass famine for all of Culsans. Father and son work jointly to ensure that the roads between their seats of power are safe and clear at all times. It is Kaius himself that is the main threat to the city, as any time his conditioning slips or he is accidentally switched to his old rebel persona, the Ministry agents who protect him instead become his captors as Kaius tries to flee or organise any kind of attack against his father. Temporarily, Haernrost becomes leaderless and this pivotal stronghold becomes vulnerable to anything from monsters and rebels to simple logistical mistakes, with its citizens none the wiser as to why their home sometimes becomes a hunting ground. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Lord Keir van Wagenen Born to the house of van Wagenen in its direst years, Keir and his brother Petar were raised to be commanders of the ailing house’s armies as vassals under their high king. Long ago the province of Culsans had rebelled against their house and in the centuries since, the van Wagenens have bitterly sold their allegiance to greater empires, guarding the border provinces at the cost of their own blood. Wishing at last to finally reclaim the lost glory of his bloodline, Keir van Wagenen proved quite the able commander, and with a cruel ambition he even overthrew his high king in a bloody coup sponsored by foreign nations whom he conspired with. Though ever the traitorous viper, his allies abroad eventually realised that Keir never planned on making good his promises and turned against him, and with the fires of rebellion now stoked at home he now struggled to end the uprising he manufactured. Salvation came from none other than the daughter of the king he killed, Cathrine. In exchange for sparing her life from the ruthless purge the rest of her family suffered, Cathrine agreed to marry Keir van Wagenen, granting legitimacy and the approval of a much-beloved royal. This would, at least, calm the fires at home. But enemies abroad remained, most notably in his ancestral homeland of Culsans. From the nearly unassailable mountains, the hardy soldiers of Culsans launched raids that Keir could do little to stop or retaliate against. Such daring only further incited other neighbouring nations to test the strength of their borders. Seeking a scapegoat, he turned to the ancient patron of his house, Bane, and declared that the cults of the Seven Lost Gods to be the source of his nation’s problems, an insidious foe that could be blamed for any crime and whose malevolence justified any level of oppression. Little did he know that he was forging the strongest weapon against him. Nearly two decades later, his firstborn son, Vladimir, his beloved prodigy coached into leadership by both of his parents, would launch a coup against Keir. A coup that ended only when the ruthless lord took his own wife hostage and forced Vladimir to lay down his arms to save his mother. Tearfully, Keir slew his own son and most promising heir. Cathrine barely lived by pleading her innocence to her husband, but Keir still suspected her of raising Vladimir to usurp him so sent his second son, Aeson, afield to be tutored under his trusted brother Petar. His youngest, Kaius, stayed at home for he was Keir’s favourite and yet too young to be a threat to his rule. Aeson strove to be the paragon he saw in his departed older brother, never quite knowing the truth of Vladimir’s death, and so threw himself into the role of a frontline military commander. He would excel in his duties, living up to the family’s legacy, but still would one day be captured by the cult of Tyranthraxus. When Petar finally rescued his nephew and took him home to his father, it became clear that Aeson’s mind was horribly shattered: he had become Hollow, seeming to have no concept of his own identity or history except for a stream of agonising visions. Worse still, anyone who spent time with Aeson would be afflicted with psychic barrages that caused memory loss, confusion, and debilitating psychosis. Keir ordered his most trusted advisor, Gregorius, to seek a cure for Aeson’s condition at any cost. It was Gregorius that realised that, with enough exposure, the victim’s mind would eventually become Split: Their old memories would be completely supressed, and they would awaken as a blank, impressionable slate. Even better, switching between the two states could be controlled. This revelation caused Keir to immediately put and end to potential treatment, and commissioned Gregorius to weaponize this ability to capture his most troublesome enemy: Culsans. Gregorius immediately set out to capture prisoners from the region, and used Aeson to Split them; The blank slates were then indoctrinated, turned into loyal soldiers, and sent back home. With these perfect saboteurs in place, Keir was able to finally make ground through the mountains. Gregorius took even more prisoners, and turned them into ruthless front-line soldiers, wearing masks so that they could switch between infantry and infiltrator at a moment’s notice. The Split soldiers were terribly brutal, even by Keir’s standards. Gregorius often enhanced them with dark magic to match their weapons training. They would become known as the Burning Legion for their red armour and arcane power. If captured, they would be deactivated, unable to spill their secrets until any amount of interrogation or magical compulsion. Eventually, the leaders of Culsans capitulated in return for the thousands of prisoners that had been captured. This last deception sealed the mountain province’s fate: Keir didn’t just return thousands of soldiers to their home, but flooded every town and fortress with undetectable sleeper agents, cementing his rule forever. This act, while terrible, wasn’t what drew in the mists. Kaius had grown up into a bold young man, adventurous and kind-hearted. When the royal family took residence in the region to oversee the incorporation, he snuck out to learn about these new peoples. Of course, what he learnt instead was his father’s brutality, and in sympathy with them, he joined the rebellion. With his inside knowledge of the palace, he aided them in several strikes, some which nearly killed Keir. Keir raged at his generals, and ordered that his son was to be captured alive at all costs. The ever loyal, ever effective Gregorius was the one who recaptured the rogue prince, and who proposed the solution to his defection. Having lost two children already, Keir van Wagenen was torn: He couldn’t tolerate such a dangerous person to live, yet to lose another heir was a wound he could not bear. Gregorius proposed a solution: Keep the heir, but wipe the slate of his animosity clean. And it was this night that the mist seized the valley, as Kaius wailed under his brother’s psychic torture, his entire life being sealed away to make room for a new, more obedient son. Keir would lament that he was getting too soft in his old age. Lord Keir van Wagenen’s Powers and Dominion As a person, van Wagenen only has the powers of an experienced warrior, backed by a little bit of dark magic and some enchanted weapons (though his reluctance towards subservience has limited his powers as a warlock). See the stat block below. The base of his power in the domain, cut off from the bulk of his regular army, is in those who have been Split, and his ability to create more. His son Aeson is the original Hollow, but a handful more have been created by months of exposure to the original. The Ministry of Minds manages the creation of Hollows, Split, and the retrieval of any that go rogue. Each creature that can see a Hollow within 30ft must make a DC 15 intelligence saving throw at the end of every hour. On a failure, they are under the effect of the feeblemind spell. Once they have failed a total of three saving throws, they become Split: The effects of the feeblemind pass, and they become unconscious. When they wake, they will do so under their new, blank personality. Each Split person is impressed with a code phrase, innocuous but uncommon, that triggers their switch between personalities. The Ministry keep careful record of who has been programmed with what code phrase, and can deliver it by many means: Written on a letter or graffitied into a wall, spoken to them by a stranger, even delivered via telepathy or sending. While the memory-switching is a magical process, the dark lord’s soldiers are not compelled by magic to serve him. They are their independent selves with different memories, indoctrinated by their training alone. In addition, Keir has no qualms at all over invoking evil spirits to his aid, only that he doesn’t trust them and so uses dark magic sparingly. Closing the borders is rarely necessary, as he has effective control over all major roads & bridges. But if he does, then dark demonic shapes fill the mists, and anyone trying to enter is assailed by charms that erase their reason for leaving, or that make them not want to leave. Lord Keir van Wagenen's Torment In his desperate need to supress any rival powers, Keir can never rule over a prosperous kingdom. He knows his own rise to power is based on betrayal, and is intensely paranoid that someone close to him might learn from his methods. Splitting has given him an immense degree of control, yet he suffers from the same trouble as anyone else: When he speaks with someone, how does he know which version he speaks with? His children are his greatest allies, yet also his weaknesses. Aeson’s monstrous condition is as dangerous to him as anyone else even if it gives him control, and kaius could slip from trainee heir to rebel leader at any moment. Both resent his killing of their brother Vladamir. Roleplaying Keir van Wagenen Tall, dark-haired, a warrior’s physique with a long handlebar Mustache. Keir augments his natural bulk with a bearskin cloak and variously wears a golden crown or tall fur hat. Appearing as a man in his forties, his permanent expression is best described as a bear pondering whether to eat what’s under its nose. Lord Keir van Wagenen is a dictator to his heart, at all times concerned with seizing and maintaining his power. He instinctively seeks to dominate any situation, from a minor conversation to armed conflict. He never yields ground, used intimidation without hesitation, and keeps opponents (and dinner guests) unbalanced at all times. But it would be a mistake to say that he is a dumb bully. He excels in creating strife and exploiting it. In war, he pits his opponents against each other or makes false promises to gain allies. In his own government, he fuels rivalries between his courtiers so that none gain enough power to overthrow him. Needless to say, the life of a tenuous tyrant is a stressful one, and the dark lord is perpetually gloomy. He is paranoid and temperamental. It is perhaps the interference of the Mists that he hasn’t died from a heart attack. Traits: “Politics is just war by other means.” Ideals: “Honour is the refuge of the strong but simple, diplomacy is for the clever but weak. A true ruler fights with all methods, at all times, on all fronts.” Bonds: “My empire is hard won, I will not surrender a single inch of it.” Flaws: “Trust? What a stupid notion.” ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Factions The Ministry of Minds Founded by Gregorius during his attempts to cure Aeson, the Ministry is the key to the psychiatric warfare in the domain. The manage Hollows, create Split, and coordinate operations that require Split soldiers. If someone switches unexpectedly, they’re the ones who get them back under control discreetly. The Ministry naturally makes heavy use of splitting on its own agents to maintain secrecy, as well as classic subterfuge and pact magic. But a Ministry agent’s most powerful tool is the ability to call allies from the least expected places, so long as they have the code phrase. As well as utilising their existing tools, the Ministry continues to experiment ever further with mind altering techniques and new ways to utilise splitting. Their headquarters lie in the dungeons under the Scarlet Palace, but they have secret bases of operation everywhere. Despite his unfailing loyalty, Keir grew suspicious of Gregorius, and replaced him with the newly brainwashed Kaius as head of the Ministry. The Split aka the Burning Legion The main portion of Keir’s dread legions, they are elite soldiers augmented by pact magic. Indoctrinated into blind devotion, they are each nonetheless free-willed individuals each with a slightly different brand of cruelty. To the population of Culsans, the legion are foreigners, immune to pity for the inhabitants of the domain, loyal to an unnatural degree through some strange custom. Though they speak the local language, they are taught not to engage with locals, and to see them as inferior. The Burning Legion march to war clad in distinctive red armour and face-concealing horned helms they are never seen without. Decorated veterans and officers may sport unique modifications such as the bones or horns of monsters set into their armour, or ornamental capes made from the hides of terrible beasts, as a mark of pride and openly showing the favour the dark lord has bestowed upon them. When not at their post, they visit shrines to Tyranthraxus to lay out offerings and beseech their evil god for the strength to serve Lord van Wagenen well. As they have few memories of life outside their service, they only have the bonds of battle and bloodshed alongside their fellow legionnaires, and sneer contemptuously at the common folk. Fanatical to the last breath, the Burning Legion will never retreat unless ordered, or hesitate to commit atrocities against their unknowing countrymen. The Royal Armed Forces These are the regular soldiers, loyalists from Keir’s homeland and the rest of his empire, they are a shadow of their former strength as the dark lord has allowed their numbers to dwindle, fearing their potential to usurp him. Thus, if they need any great numbers, they’re forced to ask for Split soldiers. Still, though few in number, it’s his reservoir of experienced battlefield commanders, something the Ministry lacks, and they form the backbone of organised armed responses. Most regular soldiers are unaware of the Splitting process, but General Alexander has been briefed on the basics. Having been devoted to Keir for decades, he’s unsure how to feel about the dark lord’s mistrust of him, and sometimes wonders whether his frequent lapses of his memory are from his heavy drinking, or the Ministry’s meddling. The Rebellion Far from a cohesive front, this is the name given to a secretive coalition of cells that oppose the dark lord actively. Intensely mistrustful, often allied to malign entities, and generally unsuccessful, though they can put up a pretty intimidating interrogation to anyone they suspect of spying, or who wants to join their ranks. NPCs Kaius: The Minister for Minds, and in one mode, Keir’s loyal son. In another, a rebellious one. Unwilling to kill his last son, yet determined to control him, Kaius is both in a position of great authority and under constant guard. For unknown reasons, his conditioning is more fragile than most, thus he is prone to slipping between mental states. He loathes Aeson for his uncanny lack of mannerisms, yet knows that his hidden brother is a powerful tool. Aeson: As a Hollow, he has no great ambitions, largely compliant to those whom he vaguely recalls as friends. Yet as the first, he is the strongest Hollow, with mind altering powers that have yet to be explored. Through the fog of his condition, he still seeks to rebuild his family. His caretakers have become increasingly disconnected from reality, each reporting strange incongruent memories of playing with him as a child, or listening to Cathrine teaching them. One servant began calling himself Vladamir, which led to Kaius executing the man. Cathrine: A shrewd politician who traded her freedom for her people’s peace, she is one of the only un-split people in Keir’s inner circle. Her original master plan was to raise her first son, Vladamir, as a rival to his father, teaching him how to launch a coup. If Keir had a single shrew of morality the plan would have worked. For the sake of her other children, she convinced Keir of her innocence, and continues to plot for his removal and her own ascension. Yet she’s terrified of his mind splitting agents, so has been dormant in her scheming for some time. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Adventure hooks Years ago, an escaped Hollow fled into the mist-wrapped ruins in the lower sections of Tolsturn, and somehow yet lives. The mad creature psychically preys upon any wanderers in the ruins, but may yet remember valuable secrets from its time in the dungeons of the Ministry. Without warning, an unimportant blacksmith loses his mind, and flees into the valley forests, and engages in guerilla warfare against his former friends. The army are sent to retrieve him, but he’s confused as to why they’re hunting him. His family want him healed, the Ministry want him dead before he talks to anyone. A rebellion cell suspects they have been infiltrated, but are struggling to identify the mole. Locked in their hideout until the spy has been identified, the rebels are killed one by one as the spy tries to orchestrate their escape. The players wake up in the remnants of a battlefield, unaware of how they got here. Can they figure out who was responsible for this massacre? The Burning Legion is offering a reward to anyone who can retrieve the body of one of their respected commanders from where they fell into a ravine, but won't let any of the local townsfolk near it.
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