D&D: An Adventurer’s Guide to Harkon Lukas – Meistersinger of Ravenloft
Singer, shapeshifter, and creature of the night. Harkon Lukas was the Meistersinger of the Demiplane of Dread, cursed to be forgotten.
Some performers create music out of necessity. The sheer creativity inherent in them flows, and they no more keep from singing or playing than a raindrop can cease to fall. Others turn to the arts to find immortality. Driven by a flame of burning ambition, a need to live on long after their physical presence in the world has faded, some can create sublime works.
Harkon Lukas, Meistersinger of Ravenloft, found that music brought another gift entirely. But before he was the Darklord of the Domain of Dread known as Kartakass, he was the child of lycanthropes.
A Small Wolf With Big Dreams
Harkon Lukas was born to a community of lycanthropes. And no mere werewolf either. The strain of lycanthropy affecting the Lukas bloodline was particularly virulent. And in Harkon, it found new strength. Lukas was always something of a trickster and a sly chameleon. He knew how to blend in with a crowd as naturally as one might breathe.
But at the heart of it all, Lukas was a creature of ambition. Growing up among the lycanthropes, he sought to unite his werebeast family, turning them into an army of monsters that would rule the world. When they failed to live up to his expectations, the young wolf lashed out at them. And his family turned on him.
Lukas murdered dozens but barely escaped alive. He disappeared from his pack, fleeing into a nation of humans.
Harkon Lukas – A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
One thing Lukas knew was how to control his own body. Unlike others of his kind, he was never forced to change his shape. Neither the moon nor the presence of blood or even powerful magic could force him into his bestial form.
A fact that would save his hide as he fled to human-dominated lands. There he learned the security of walking as a human. And there, he learned to change his shape. Like a virtuoso playing violin, he could alter the physical details of his body. Changing the smallest hair or coming up with a completely different persona whole cloth. He might be a handsome, beguiling man one day. And a striking, beautiful woman the next.
As he settled into the human world, Harkon Lukas learned how to manipulate those he considered his inferiors. Adoration became his chief weapon. It sharpened the ambitions the Meistersinger held. If he could not rule over a nation of hunters, he would force an empire of sheep to dance to his howling.
So Lukas became a legend, a performer, a teacher, a scoundrel, and a luminary of all stripes. People flocked to him to bask in his presence.
And when enough people came, the land’s rulers realized Harkon was a threat. But they realized it too late.
Death, “Rebirth”, and Darklord-dom
Though the officials in Lukas’ new homeland tried to quietly imprison him, taking him out of the public eye, the people loved him. Commoners defended him. Harkon had learned how to weaponize affection. Even as the royal authorities confronted him, they played right into his hands.
When royal agents came for him en masse, Lukas feigned his own death at their hands. The ensuing outrage sparked riots that turned into a revolution. Within a week, the nation had fallen to defenders that bore the red-stained coffin of Harkon Lukas at its head.
As the rebel forces neared the walls of the royal palace, they were met by a monarch. Contrite and humbled by the display, the monarch begged forgiveness and argued for peace. But even as the crowd began to be swayed, Harkon Lukas ended his ruse.
He burst from the crimson coffin in wolf form and devoured the monarch before the assembled masses. Drenched in blood, the newly “resurrected” Lukas returned to human form and took up the battered, bloody crown to throngs of cheering. And then the Mists came.
Harkon Lukas in Ravenloft
When the Mists of Ravenloft cleared, Harkon Lukas emerged into a new realm. An unfamiliar provincial land called Kartakass. And here, Lukas was no longer one step away from being crowned king. But rather he was a stranger none could recall.
In the Demiplane of Dread, Lukas is cursed. Though he ever seeks to win esteem and influence among the people he knows, none remember him. The locals constantly forget that he’s a relevant, modern performer. His works are remembered fondly, but only vaguely. From a distance.
This is why Lukas must reinvent himself, again and again, to try and win their lasting love. When he cannot, Lukas instead takes up-and-coming performers as his proteges. Hoping to steal from them their talent, ideas, wealth, and lives.
Happy Adventuring
