Open worldbuilding questions (standing list)

Consolidated from all ideation sessions to date. Update this list as items get resolved or canonized — move a resolved item to the relevant NPC/item/lore entry above and note what was decided.

Cosmology & the Fanes:

Khirad/Void Child’s true identity — Elder Evil vs. corrupted Winter Fane remnant. Needs reconciling before Gaille’s arc advances further.
The Amber Temple’s exact relationship to the Spring Fane’s imprisonment — literally named for Baba Lysaga’s act, or an older nexus she later exploited?
Winter Fane’s animal symbol — still a placeholder/question mark. (2026-09-15 ideation: her primordial beast is the Winter Worm — The Primordial Beasts. Not explicitly confirmed as her “animal symbol.”)
The Soul Trap discovery mechanism during the Silver Age — self-identified as chronologically inconsistent, left open.
Berez’s precise “Marina vs. Patrona” flavor detail — reference-only, neither adopted.
Whether Argonvost and Katarina/Madam Eva had a personal history — optional, undecided.
Katarina/Madam Eva’s implied blood-tie to the Martikov/von Zarovich line (via the shared Roc familiar detail) — is this literal, and how does it reconcile with her “separate mortal who pacted with the Autumn Fane” origin?
The “Terror of Mount Ballanok” folk-tale idea — floated and shelved.

Strahd & the three-way power struggle:

Whether Rahadin’s deal with the Dark Powers becomes canon — explicitly left open.
What “advantage” control of the Winter Fane actually grants the winning faction — undefined.
Where exactly the Heart of Darkness is, and why (Lake Zarovich vs. a mountain location; the “drowned in sorrow” justification) — unconfirmed. (2026-09-19: ideation now firmly places it in Lake Zarovich with the Winter Worm — The Winter Worm & the Heart of Darkness — still noncanonical.)
(Added 2026-09-24) Is the Heart of Darkness inside the Winter Worm or guarded by it? One stone, or several that scatter when it breaks? Does it carry the Dark Powers’ corruption?
(Added 2026-09-24) The Summer Fane’s primordial beast — Gulthias Tree, something wolf-related, or other?
(Added 2026-09-24) Strahd’s own Tarokka reading (ideation draft in Strahd’s Own Tarokka Reading (ideation draft, not canon)) — what does it finally say, now that the “raven-haired sacrifice” reading is rejected?
(Added 2026-09-24) Where Volenta fits (“the berserker”), and how Escher’s attachment to her plays out.
Whether the party will actually pursue the Heart-of-Darkness/leave-Barovia bargain, and how Madam Eva’s opposition manifests if they do. (2026-09-19: Strahd’s pitch drafted as a Rahadin-led task force with a magical contract — Strahd’s Offer to the Party, the Bones of Saint Andral & the Brides.)

NPCs & questlines:

Von Richten’s undead-warded bedroll — needs full homebrew stat-out and an in-fiction concealment method.
Whether Esmeralda appears in-session, and how/when.
Gertruda’s independent motivation is confirmed in direction but not yet scripted as scenes/letters.
How Ireena/Tatiana’s convergence-point role will surface to the players — needs seeding, not exposition.
Which NPC branch (Casimir/Petrina vs. Lady Watcher/Stella vs. Victor) actually leads the party to the Tome of Strahd — deliberately left redundant/branching.
The Volokoviches’ redeeming trait/nuance — still being worked out. (2026-09-15: goals articulated — Vallaki’s Factions (current working model) — but a redeeming trait still isn’t named.)
No quest hook yet points toward the Abbey of Saint Markovia — a gap.
~~Isaac “Izek” Strazani as Ireena’s brother~~ — RESOLVED 2026-09-24: canon. Still open: how the two were separated (ideation only), and when and how the relationship is revealed.
(Added 2026-09-24) When and how Izek realizes Ireena is the red-haired woman of his dreams (dye growing out or washing off, catching her unguarded), and where the resulting abduction fight happens.
(Added 2026-09-24) Watcher family naming: is Nikolai the dead husband or a son? — RESOLVED 2026-09-24: both. The husband is Nikolai; the son is Nikolai II.
(Added 2026-09-24) Does Baba Lysaga have covens/agents, and did Lady Watcher learn her occultism from one?
(Added 2026-09-24) Arabelle — what is she for, and therefore where is she? RESOLVED 2026-10-14 (GM-confirmed): she went missing in the Vallaki marketplace on her 7th birthday (Session 10) and is trapped in the coffin maker Henrik van der Voort’s house. Her clairvoyance led her to the vampire spawn nest there; Henrik took her to keep his secret and is hiding her from the spawn. Not connected to Eliza’s disappearance.
(Added 2026-10-14) Arabelle’s clairvoyance: a Vistani gift (shared with Madam Eva?), and did it pull her to the den or did she follow a vision? Could it reach the party (a dream, Cassandra’s cards) as a way to find her?
(Added 2026-10-14) Why does Henrik host the spawn (threatened, paid, protecting someone)? Who do they answer to — Anastrasya? What clues lead the party to the shop, and what would make the spawn notice Arabelle (her scent, growing hunger, the bones arriving)?
(Added 2026-09-24) The Vistani camp near Vallaki — encounter still unplanned. Played in Session 10.
(Added Session 10) Why did Gaille’s amber react to Kasimir? What does he want to discuss privately?
(Added Session 10) Who took Theren’s gold? Resolved (GM-confirmed): the rest of the party, while he was with Eliza. Theren still doesn’t know.
(Added Session 10) How does Reyna know Ludmilla survived? Log the source if there is one.
(Added Session 10) Where did Eliza go? Resolved (GM-confirmed): to Castle Ravenloft; she is Strahd’s spy. The party doesn’t know.
(Added Session 10) Ireena named a family that resents the mill’s new owners. The transcript says “the Andersons.” Confirm the name.
(Added 2026-09-16) Does “Ludmilla Vilisevic” relate to the Session 9 “Woodcutter’s Bride”? — RESOLVED 2026-09-24 (canonical): they are the same character, and she survived via an emergency portal (Strahd’s Brides). Also resolved: “Violetta” = Volenta Popofsky.
(Added Session 9) ~~Who was the noble vampire, and was her unusual death meaningful?~~ RESOLVED 2026-09-24 (canonical): Ludmilla, who escaped by emergency portal rather than dying. Still open: what exactly she was building (2026-09-19 proposal: supply lines to the castle for the Roc and to the upstream poison works — Strahd’s Machination: Poisoning the Winter Worm).
(Added 2026-09-24) Ludmilla’s aftermath: how badly was she hurt, does she know who the party are, has she told Strahd, and does losing her undead workforce set back the poisoning schedule in Strahd’s Machination: Poisoning the Winter Worm? Does she want revenge?
(Added Session 9) Is the Tarokka “lost soul”/ghost-card ally Petrina Velikanova (as previously assumed) or, per the party’s own theory, Strahd’s slain brother? Unconfirmed either way.

Session 11 prep (added 2026-10-09):

Who actually steals St. Andral’s bones (Milivoj, per RAW) and for whom? How does that fit Anastrasya’s heist (15.5) and Henrik van der Voort’s role? ~~Are vampire spawn hidden in the coffin shop, as in RAW?~~ Yes — GM-confirmed 2026-10-14: the coffin maker’s house holds a vampire spawn nest (and Arabelle).
What day does the Feast of St. Andral fall on, and does it coincide with the Festival (day 3)? What day does Von Richten’s zombie swarm hit?
Which cleric (Lyasra or Theren) does Fiona hail as her savior, if any?
What happened to Stella, and how did her diary end up with Morgantha? (The latter is lower priority.)
When does Rahadin’s dive happen?
What are the day-by-day visible signs of the poisoning? What are the stages of the poison, as distinct from the parasite sickness (floated: rashes progressing to jaundice)?
The werewolf raid: does Kiril come himself or send a lieutenant? Is Emil rescuable from Castle Ravenloft? Is there an OC sympathetic to Emil?
What is Dismas doing? (Speculated: at the Watcher house.) Where do Blinsky and Arturi fit?

From Session 11 (added 2026-10-14):

Who is “Strassney,” whom a gate guard said wouldn’t let him open the gate? Izek Strazani?
What happened at the gate after the party went in: the shouting, the scream, the fire and the lullaby on a grass whistle? Were the guards who took Reyna’s bribe punished?
Pies vs. water: Emeric is infected without having eaten a pie, and the refugees drink Lake Zarovich water. What exactly do the pies do, and are the boba-like globules connected to the worms?
Did Lyasra’s purify food and drink work on the pie, and what pushed back against it?
Do the treated refugees (Emeric, Magda, Jen) stay cured? What happens to the rest of the camp tonight, and to Jen’s father?
Why did Belinda feel she was “in the right place” in Vallaki?
Did Kasimir follow the party into Vallaki?
What do the Void Child’s angelfish and swirling-liquid images mean?

Encounters & tone:

Whether the Tser Falls bird is a full Roc or a smaller falconry monster — undecided, likely level-dependent.
Whether a second Roc/nest exists at “Mount Berrypuck” — floated, not committed.
How graphic the Pie Mill’s “bloodberry pie” ingredient gets at the actual table — needs a deliberate decision, separate from brainstorming.
Scripted vs. random encounters as a general philosophy — unresolved beyond the specific Tser Falls bridge case.
(Added Session 9) What caused the erratic/hypnotized behavior in the owlbear and vultures near the Tser Falls bridge? (2026-09-19 proposed answer: runoff from Strahd’s upstream poison works — Strahd’s Machination: Poisoning the Winter Worm.) REVISION check (Session 11): asked at the table, the GMs read the map as showing that Tser Falls does not connect to Lake Zarovich by water. Check this against the poison-runoff proposal and the Luna Lake → Luna River → Lake Zarovich flow in The Withering Sickness, and decide which holds.
(Added 2026-09-24) Parasite life-cycle stages for the withering sickness — to be modeled on real parasitism. (Partly shown in Session 11, canonical: white-blue lines under the skin, darker and moving in children; constant hunger; shivering; flaking skin, with the lines drawing back Reyna’s touch; it comes and goes over days. In the dead, hard, icy boils incubate larva-like worms in the skin and gel-encased pupae inside. Lay on Hands and lesser restoration stop the movement but leave the marks. The full stage sequence is still open.)
(Added 2026-09-24, from the Session 10 Prep doc) Refugee timeline: the first refugees arrived three months ago, but Strahd reawoke only about a month ago (Vallaki’s Factions (current working model)). Reconcile. (Session 10: Morgantha said in play that the gates have been closed for “several moons,” which leans toward months. Session 11: Kasimir said the Barovians only arrived “this last month,” and Magda said the sickness began “a few weeks ago when we first arrived” — which leans toward about a month. Kasimir also said the pie maker has come to Vallaki for about three months.)
(Added 2026-09-24, from the Session 10 Prep doc) Izek’s magic: he conjures fire at the gates, but his night attacks were imagined as cold/necrotic. Is it both, or pick one? (Session 10: fire is now canon via Morgantha’s warning; cold for a disguised attack is still open.)
(Added 2026-09-24, from the Session 10 Prep doc) “No one has died yet” from the nightly bats and wolves, vs. refugees dying in droves from the withering sickness. Keep the tone consistent at the table.
(Added 2026-09-24, from the Session 10 Prep doc) The poison/pastry sedative: valerian (prep doc) or cat-o’-nine-tails (Strahd’s Machination: Poisoning the Winter Worm), both, or is valerian just Morgantha’s cover product?
(Added 2026-09-24, from the Session 10 Prep doc) Is Franz’s wasting disease the night hag’s doing, the withering sickness, or both?
(Added 2026-09-24) Elaine vs. Ellaine spelling (the prep doc has “Elllaine”). Surname is Groze. (Session 10: Michelle said “Elaine” once; the transcript otherwise renders “Elena.” Surname not spoken in play.)
(Added 2026-09-24) Winter Worm fight mechanics: do fire spells work underwater (Chris: no, and warn players ahead of time; Michelle: defer), and which stat block to use (CR 11–15 target)?