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Originally posted by The Hooded One

Hi, all.
Icelander, the use of gates was exactly how Ed rationalized all the anachronistic and anamundistic elements of Ravens Bluff that resulted from the Living City campaign. Charles Oliver O'Kane WAS profiled in a 1-page article at the back of a long-ago POLYHEDRON, but the reason why information on him is so scarce is that he was Jim Ward's character (a costumed Jim Ward and all, at conventions) when Mr. Ward was the Director of Creative Services at TSR, back in the day . . .
In other words, the guy "over" both Books and Games, himself a game designer (Metamorphosis Alpha, etc., and many later games down to the recent Dragon Lairds from Margaret Weis Productions), played the mayor of the Bluff. O'Kane did whatever Jim wanted him to do, said whatever Jim wanted him to . . .etc. So he was very much "more" than anything written about him. He made proclamations, gave out Living City campaign rewards (and mock "punishments" such as banishments and imprisonments), etc.
love,
THO

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Originally posted by LCQBlackmantle

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Originally posted by Icelander

Originally posted by Purple Dragon Knight

Anything beyond 1372 DR is DM territory... IMHO, Raven's Bluff (and most of the Vast) can now serve as an excellent DM-canon area (like Sembia used to...)
And is there any canon on the Raven's Bluff navy before it was destroyed in the war?

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You can contact me off-list at lcquincy@gmail.com. I have everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) Ravens Bluff connected

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Originally posted by Markustay

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Originally posted by George Krashos

I know exactly where your map came from: it was an insert in Dragon magazine, just before the Ol' Grey Box was released. Can't recall the exact issue. Remember getting out my Pages From the Mages articles and trying to find Waterdeep on there. Man, was that a frustrating exercise!

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So long as we are 'threadomancing' away here...

It says 'Ravensgate' on the 2e Bloodstone Lands map. It must have been a VERY early 2e product, considering the map is done in the '1e style'. Anyone happen to know which issue of Dragon magazine sported that map Krash mentioned? (the link no longer works)

Homebrew Lore:
After the waters of the Inner sea receded following the Wailing Years, many port-cities found they had become 'disconnected' from the sea, some by a few hundred feet, while others at somewhat greater distances (dependent upon how steep the coastline was). In the case of Raven's Bluff, the port sat on an undersea plateau, which dropped-off rapidly some half-mile from the harbor. This allowed the dock area to be somewhat protected from harsh storms, even though it was fully exposed to the Dragonreach and the sea of Fallen Stars (wave action is mitigated by the depth). Unfortunately, it also meant that Raven's Bluff was also one of the few Inner Sea cities to be fairly 'landlocked' after the spellplague struck, since the water retreated completely beyond the plateau (which then lay above sea-level).

A settlement sprang up at the new water's edge, to accommodate the sea traffic, and it quickly grew from a ramshackle cluster of squalid huts to a respectable harbor-town in its own right, and was able to handle the transport of goods the mile or so away to Raven's Bluff proper. Originally just considered an adjunct of the city, once it attained a decent population of its own, it earned its own name: Raven's Gate (a name legends say was the name of the original village where RB now stands). Toward the end of the 15th century Ravensgate had become a busting small city, and had begun to siphon-off much of the commerce that had once passed through Raven's Bluff itself, and great feelings of resentment had begun to surface. However, before any of that could come to a head, another 'small' cataclysm (Sundering 2.0) occurred, and the sea slowly went back to its original position after several years (giving most folks plenty of time to retreat from the flooding). Raven's Bluff quickly rebuilt its harbor, with the help of both the folk who never left, and the refugees from sinking Ravengate, and the town remains today just a footnote in The Vast's history... as well as a bit of a shipping hazard and reef just off the coast, beneath the waves.

The top of a wizards tower marks the center of the reef, sticking above the water. Rumors say it is haunted, since the windows in the turret are alight at night, but the truth is far more mundane - the light was magically placed there by Raven's Bluff so as to mark the hazard for ships, much like a lighthouse would. Still, folks report shadows sometimes moving within the light.

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