The Carnival

The Carnival was a floating Pocket that appeared throughout Ravenloft. As such, it could be used by travelers to navigate between Ravenloft's Domains, as long as they weren't picky about where they went.

History

The Carnival began as the Carnival l'Morai, a traveling sideshow in the domain of l'Morai under the leadership of the Puppetmaster. After years of abuse, the troupe of performers rose up against their leader and killed him, fleeing into the mists and emerging in Darkon.

In Darkon, the surviving troupe members continued on under Hermos's loose leadership, until eventually going through a reformation that resulted in shadar-kai taking on leadership of the Carnival. Little is known of this period, why it happened, or how long it lasted, only that it was a short enough amount of time for at least two original troupe members from Carnival l'Morai (Hermos and Charlotte) to have lived through it, and continue under Isolde's leadership. One thing was known, however: the shadar-kai brought with them the sword Nepenthe, which transformed the carnival into a floating pocket demiplane of which it was the darklord.

Through a chance encounter, the shadar-kai-led Carnival crossed paths with a fey carnival, led by an eladrin elf known as Isolde. An unconventional trade was struck between Isolde and the shadar-kai—she would lead their carnival, and they would lead hers, until such a time as their paths crossed again. It is unclear which side initiated this trade, but the motivations of each side seem to be clear: the shadar-kai got to escape Nepenthe and its demiplane, and Isolde got to travel Ravenloft, which would allow her to begin hunting down her mysterious nemesis, the Caller.

Since then, Isolde remained the leader of the Carnival, albeit not its darklord. This did not stop some troupe members speculating as to whether it was she who was responsible for 'the twisting'—the term they use to describe Ravenloft's Dark Gifts—that inevitably inflicted all who traveled with the Carnival for too long.

Members

• Alti the Werehare: a bombastic rapper and dancer. As an inflicted lycanthrope, she cannot transform into her hare form at will, but rather only around the full moon.
• Amelia the Vampire: Despite presenting herself as a vampire for dramatic effect, Amelia is actually a human. She had a set of useless, leathery wings that became fully functional due to the twisting effects of Ravenloft. She donned white makeup and spoke with an austere accent when performing as an acrobat for patrons, but was otherwise a cheery and personable individual among her fellow troupe members.
• Charlotte the Fire Eater: One of the few troupe members from the original Carnival l'Morai, Charlotte was unharmed by nonmagical fire, and even had the ability to ignite her breath with nothing more than an open flame. She was also very warm to the touch, and her blood ignited on contact with air, splattering fire on anyone within a few feet of her when she was attacked. A common finale for her act was to coat the blades of multiple daggers in her blood, which she then juggled.
• Hermos: One of the oldest members of the group in both age and seniority, Hermos was a half-giant who handled the day-to-day operations of the carnival.
• The Organ Grinder
• Silessa the Snake
• Isolde
• Professor Pacali
• Tindal the Barker

Appendix

External Links

• Carnival Society article at Mistipedia, a wiki for the Ravenloft campaign setting run by The Fraternity of Shadows.

References

Sources

• J. Robert King (July 1993). Carnival of Fear. (TSR, Inc.). ISBN 0099316714.
• John W. Mangrum & Steve Miller (October 1999). Carnival. Edited by Andria Hayday. (TSR, Inc.). ISBN 0-7869-1382-7.
• Wes Schneider, Amanda Hamon, Molly Ostertag, K. Tempest Bradford (May 2021). Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft. (Wizards of the Coast). ISBN 978-0786967254.