Bathoria is one of the principalities of Mauristatia in the Old World. It borders Ruddlestone and Brice.
Description[]
Bathoria is described as the "domain of demons and the Lords of Night."[1]
Religion[]
The priesthood of the god Death is active in Bathoria.[1] In the Bathorian highlands dwell the sinister Blood Cults, who worship the god Disease and work to spread illnesses on Titan. The Blood Cults sometimes summon a Plague Demon to help them in their attempts to circulate malaides.[2]
Society[]
Despite all these dark inhabitants, it appears that Bathoria is considered by some as not being the worst place to live. For example, the landlord of The Gibbet Tree, south of the village of Balci in the Mauristatian principality of Lupravia, was considering moving there with his daughter Meg as a result of the depredations of the Headless Highwayman.[3] But perhaps that tells us more about Lupravia than Bathoria!
Geography[]
The protagonist of Night of the Necromancer was able to travel from Ruddlestone to Bathoria without travelling through one of Ruddlestone's neighbouring countries, which means Bathoria has a border with Ruddlestone.[1]
History[]
During the Rise of Kakhabad , Bathoria was attacked by the Forces of Chaos from Kakhabad. The Bathorians begged the other civilized nations to help them, but no help came. The desperate Bathorians prayed to their dead to help them. The Bathorians' dead arose as an army and repelled the Kakhabadians.[4] Since then, Bathoria has been notorious for its ghoulish Death-cults,[5] and having Undead creatures walking openly in the streets of its towns and villages.[4]
It is known that the Cadre Infernal drew its members from Bathoria, as well as Mortvania and Lupravia, at the height of its power over a century ago.[6]
In later years, the Death-Mage Thanatos raised up the infamous Bone Shamans, and these figures led an undead army that defeated an invasion from Brice.[4][7] The Bathorians' open tolerance of the Undead aroused horror in the rest of the Old World. A few years after the defeat of the Brician invasion, Bathoria drew Knights from other Old World lands in Crusade against the forces of darkness.[1] During this Crusade, the events of "the Siege of Sanctiphrax" and the "Battle of Fang Rock" both occurred; it seems both of these places are locations in Bathoria.[8] The city of Angevin was also completely destroyed during this Crusade.[4] During the Crusade, scholar-warriors found scrolls in a hidden temple chamber in Bathoria. The scrolls contained text from the infamous grimoire, Vade Mecum Infernum, by the mystic Aughm Lightchaser. The scholar-warriors took the scrolls to Royal Lendle to be studied.[9]
Further Notes[]
- Bathory was the name of a Hungarian noble family, the most infamous of whom was Countess Elizabeth Bathory (1560-1614). She was accused of murdering young girls and bathing in their blood to preserve her youth, giving rise to myths associating her with vampires.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Night of the Necromancer - Dead Reckoning
- ↑ Rough Guide to the Pit - pg. 24
- ↑ Howl of the Werewolf - 155
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 "A History of Mauristatia" by Otto Öviszódi in The Warlock Returns Issue 3, (pg. 25-7).
- ↑ Howl of the Werewolf - Bad Moon Rising
- ↑ Howl of the Werewolf - 328
- ↑ Stormslayer - 368
- ↑ Night of the Necromancer - para. 227; pp. 350-351
- ↑ Rough Guide to the Pit - "Welcome to the Pit!", pg.6