The Land: Hazlan lies south of Barovia and Nova Vaasa, in the southeastern corner of the Core. The eastern half of this domain spreads into lazy, rolling hills that are grassy and easy to travel. In the west, the Balinoks rise up, making the terrain rocky and rough. The northern part of the land is largely uninhabited wilderness, although a small village has sprung up on the estate of the land's ruler, Hazlik.
Hazlik ordered the settlers to build this remote village at the base of his mountain, so that he could teach the arts of magic to a few chosen ones. The village, named Ramulai, is currently home to Hazlik's apprentices and roughly two hundred fifty others. Should Hazlik continue to train mages, Hazlan may well become the center of arcane arts in the Core.
Hazlan has two major towns, Toyalis and Sly-Var. Toyalis houses eight thousand people, and conducts limited trade with Immol in Barovia; Immol produces pottery and finely crafted bowls and other implements needed for certain magical rituals by the growing number of wizards in Toyalis. Sly-Var is home to about forty-five hundred people, mostly farmers and herders. Both towns consist of simple, white-washed wooden homes with red tile roofs.
The village of Ramulai is somewhat more impressive; built to the specifications of Hazlik, it is a compact settlement of stone buildings with slate roofs. The stones are quarried through magical means on the nearby border with Barovia and Forlorn, and the construction of the town is an example of the practical applications of magic.
Cultural Level: Medieval.
The Folk: The folk in Hazlan are sharply divided into two groups: the ruling class and the lower class. This division is made primarily along racial and ethnic lines.
The majority of the population are of Rashemi stock. They are a tough and sturdy people, averaging a little over five feet in height, with dusky skin and dark eyes. The men often wear bushy beards. The women tend to be slightly shorter than the men, and they wear their black hair long, often in elaborate braids. The Rashemi dress simply - in baggy trousers, tunics, or smocks. Jewelry is rare, though an occasional earring, bracelet, or ring can be seen. Both genders are hard workers and make good warriors - a necessity, as they are the working class of Hazlan, subservient to the other ethnic group in the domain, the Mulan.
The Mulan are tall and fine-boned, with sallow complexions. They shave what little body hair they have, usually replacing it with elaborate tattoos. By tradition, men's tattoos consist of geometric shapes and stylized representations of dragons and legendary monsters. Women are tattooed with cryptic runes and abstract designs. Receiving one's first tattoo is a sign of adulthood among the Mulans. Due to the Mulan affinity for tattoos, Hazlan is home to the Core's finest tattoo artists.
As mentioned above, the Mulan make up the ruling class. They own most businesses, pay more lenient taxes, and are the only ones who may sit on Hazlik's ruling council. None of this is surprising if one realizes that Hazlik, himself, is Mulan.
Unlike domains with similar splits between ethnic groups, no linguistic or religious barriers divide the Hazlani ethnic groups. They all speak a tongue known as Thayvian, which shares similar linguistic roots with the language spoken in Nova Vaasa. A Vaasan and a Hazlani can understand each other's native tongues as long as both parties speak clearly and slowly. The only legal religion is that devoted to the god Bane. While priests and worshipers are drawn from both ethnic groups, they worship in separate churches; further, the heads of the church are all Mulans. (Note: Those familiar with the FORGOTTEN REALMS setting should be aware that Hazlani priests of Bane still receive the spells, despite his demise.)
There are two things in Hazlan that Mulans and Rashemi are perfectly equal in. The first is that they basically devote all their efforts to pleasing Hazlik, and he is a tough man to satisfy. The governors relay his commands, and the folk obey each one instantly. Noncompliance means death or a trip to "the tables;" a simple misunderstanding may even mean the same. "The tables" are where Hazlik and his apprentices perform their evil experiments. Fear of this fate makes Hazlani natives paranoid and distrustful. Second, Hazlik's apprentices are drawn from both ethnic groups. The only requirements to study magic under Hazlan appear to be an aptitude for the art and status as a native Hazlani. This has sent shockwaves through Mulan society. They do not understand how their leader could betray Mulan superiority in such a fashion.
Native Player Characters: Players may choose to be either Mulan or Rashemi. Mulan heroes receive the reading/writing and etiquette proficiencies for free. Rashemi heroes receive half the normal starting money, but they each receive a +1 bonus to their Strength scores (to a maximum of 18).
All classes are permitted, though wizards from this domain are still very rare. (Until five years ago, Hazlik had outlawed sorcery in his land.)
The only priests who can safely serve their gods openly are those of Bane. This is the only allowed church in Hazlan, and it preaches that those who rule do so through divine providence. Bane punishes most severely all who would attempt to reach above their station. It should come of no surprise that the doctrine of Bane holds that he is the highest of all gods worshipped in the Demiplane. His priests have major access to the spheres of all, combat, healing, necromantic, and sun and minor access to the spheres of numbers and wards.
During the Grand Conjunction, Bane ceased to grant spells to his priests. The debate over why this happened has caused a minor split in the church. Some believe Bane was punishing his priests for not preventing the catastrophic reshaping of the world, while others believe that Bane was somehow incapacitated by the event. Whatever the reason, however, the Church of Bane is actively watching for signs that another such event is about to occur. If they believe someone or something might be attempting to force such a cataclysm, they will move swiftly to stop it from happening.
Personalities of Note: Hazlik, the Red Wizard, has been the most important figure in this realm since the Mists revealed it over thirty-five years ago. However, in their own way, his small, faceless council of Mulans are perhaps just as important. Since no one is sure who sits on this council, powerful Mulans are generally careful about speaking ill of their ruler. They never know if they are speaking to one of his inner circle.
A young Rashemi woman has come to the forefront recently. Eleni is the most skilled student at Hazlik's academy. Exceedingly fair of visage, she has shocked Rashemi and Mulan alike by shaving her hair and tattooing herself in Mulan fashion. The designs on her tattoos are unknown to all, thought by some to be magical sigils known only to Hazlik. Eleni has even been seen around Hazlik's court, but the despot's business with her has not been revealed.
The Law: Hazlik, an evil wizard, rules this domain undisputedly. Every inhabitant knows that he is the absolute dictator. His small council of governors (basically killers) enforces his rules. Most of Hazlik's enforcers are 1st-level fighters equipped with scale mail and war hammers.
Encounters: Hazlan is a cornucopia of strange creatures, many of them misshapen by magical experiments. Characters have a 33% chance for an incidental encounter twice a day and three times at night.
Hazlik
12th-Level Human Invoker,
Chaotic Evil
| Armor Class | 10 | Str | 8 | ||||
| Movement | 12 | Dex | 17 | ||||
| Level/ Hit Dice | 12 | Con | 10 | ||||
| Hit Points | 45 | Int | 17 | ||||
| THAC0 | 17 | Wis | 1 | ||||
| No. of Attacks | 1 | Cha | 9 | ||||
| Damage/ Attack | By weapon | ||||||
| Special Attacks | Spells (5/5/5/5/5/2) | ||||||
| Special Defences | Spirit transfer | ||||||
| Magic Resistance | Nil | ||||||
Hazlik is a man in his seventies. He is completely bald, and his head is tattooed with many strange and arcane symbols, He sometimes wears a goatee, but no mustache. His left eye is brown, and his right eye is blue. Needless to say, he stands out in a crowd.
Hazlik wears the red, long-sleeved robes that are common to the Red Wizards of Thay. The collar is ruffled, but the robe is open in front, revealing his hairless, tattooed chest. He also wears a silver chain bearing a heavy, round, silver pendant adorned with a single, yellow gemstone.
Background: As a Red Wizard of Thay, Hazlik rose quickly through the social and magical ranks. Unfortunately for him, he managed to make some powerful enemies. His offenses were relatively minor, so his adversaries decided not to kill him. Instead, they humiliated him. They kidnapped Hazlik and tattooed his head and body with designs that only women wear.
Hazlik swore vengeance upon his enemies and devoted himself fully to his craft. (This was easy, because the tattooing left him a social outcast.) One night, Hazlik was searching the woods for an ingredient vital to his experiments. There, he came upon one of his rivals engaged in romantic pursuits. Catching them unawares, he slew his rival's lover and forced her to drink her sweetheart's blood. He then slew her as well. Mists rose from the ground as he left the scene of his brutal crime. As he walked onward, he found himself in the Nightmare Lands. Daunted by its alien nature, he quickly retreated into the Mists. For months he dwelled in the fog, nursing his hatred and making plans for his enemies in Thay. When the fog lifted, Ravenloft granted him the domain of Hazlan.
For decades, Hazlan was the most dangerous place a wizard could find himself. Wizards became symbols of his disgrace, so Hazlik wanted all magical arts wiped from his land. However, during the Grand Conjunction, Hazlik was briefly returned to Thay. There, he discovered that the children of those who had humiliated him were rising to power. For over thirty years he had been trying to obliterate the magical arts from his sight, while his enemies had been founding new dynasties in Thay. He began plotting against them, but before he could turn his plots to reality, he found himself back in Hazlan.
Current Sketch: Hazlik still hates wizards and their magic, but he has decided that sorcery is the only way he will ever gain his revenge. After more than thirty years of introspective hatred, he began taking on apprentices. His hope is that one day, one of his apprentices will return to Thay to wreak his revenge.
For all his grand plans, each night Hazlik still dreams of Thay and his humiliation at the hands of his enemies. In his dreams, he is always weak and cowardly, while they stride boldly across the Thayvian mountains. Thus, Hazlik dreads sleep and uses potions and philters to delay the inevitable. Thanks to this magic, he sleeps only once every few days.
Combat: Hazlik has all of the obvious abilities of a 12th-level invoker. In addition, he can detect the casting of any magical spell in Hazlan. He can also determine the location of the casting within ten miles, minus one mile for each level of the spell. For example, he would know a 3rd-level spell had been cast somewhere in a circle with a seven-mile radius.
If Hazlik is killed, his life force retreats into the yellow gemstone he wears, and only powerful magic can destroy this stone. Anyone who subsequently touches the gem must make a successful saving throw vs. spell or be compelled to wear the pendant. Once the pendant hangs around his neck, the character will defend it to the death (although nothing else prevents its removal). Each night, the wearer of the pendant dreams that he is battling Hazlik. If Hazlik wins this nightmarish struggle, the dreamer dies, and the evil lord invades the victim's corpse. Within a month, the body itself is slowly transformed to fit the description of Hazlik, and the evil wizard is completely reborn.
Spell List:
1st level - alarm, burning hands, detect magic,
enlarge, magic missile, message, phantasmal force, read
magic, shield, unseen servant.
2nd level - alter self, continual light, detect invisibility,
flaming sphere, invisibility, knock, web, wizard lock.
3rd level - fireball, fly, hold undead, item, lightning bolt,
spectral force, wraithform.
4th level - dig, dimension door, fire trap, ice storm, phantasmal killer,
polymorph other, stoneskin, wall of fire.
5th level - cloudkill, cone of cold, dream, magic jar,
passwall, sending, wall offeree.
6th level - Bigby's forceful hand, chain lightning,
contingency.
