Kravenwood

"Should A Wicked Man Enter Heaven, It Would Be As Hell For Him... And Thus, Man Makes Hell On Earth Because It Is The Only Heaven Of Which He Is Deserving"

 
Hell On Earth ~



The warg seems to have been the first breed of werewolf to arrive in the New World forming bonds with the native direwolves from which they would get their name. When the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto arrived in 1541, he cut a swath of brutality killing many of the natives he encountered until they led him to a place where he was warned darkness would consume him. De Soto would discover ancient relics he destroyed for their gold and ancient stone monoliths crimson in color as if soaked with the blood of countless victims. Ordering the monoliths destroyed to assert his powers of persuasion over superstitious nonsense having convinced natives he was a sun god, he would lose most of his men and eventually be destroyed by them after female vampires lured him into a trap where they made him into one of their own. Centuries later, other Europeans arrived to find the Mississippian peoples decimated by the plagues and dark forces de Soto's ignorance had unleashed upon them. Within only three years, de Soto had destroyed millions of people who had themselves forgotten how their ancestors were almost destroyed fighting the evil of this place. They had sacrificed almost everyone to summon greater powers to bind the dark gods who hungered to destroy the world... and now, no one remembered the sorcery nor were they willing to make the sacrifices needed to heal the land that bleeds.

Leopold Charbonneau was a brutal man who had served in the armies of Napoleon where he earned the name le Boucher de Napoleon because of his willingness to do what others would not. In 1797, he arrived in America possessing a writ of ownership to lands given to him for his services. Over the next six years, he cleared the land using soldiers he was given command over and slaves he took by force from local native tribes who so feared this land that he buried them in it. In 1803, Napoleon sold the Louisiana Territory to the United States just as Leopold began laying the foundations for his Château de Charbonneau leaving him feeling betrayed and extremely angry. It was at this time that a spirit began to haunt him, to tease him and finally... it began revealing secrets to him and finally made him a deal that none but they would know. Leopold would continue the development of his château importing African slaves to continue the work as French soldiers not willing to remain with him under American rule began leaving for France. Negotiating with the new owners, Leopold learned that the US government did not recognize his land claims but gave him ownership over a smaller territory to administrate over to placate him. Completing his la Bastide de Marie in 1806, Leopold finally sent for his wife and family having finally prepared room for them. He named his bastide for his mother who arrived with his family proving immediately to be an overbearing woman who was hated by everyone who had ever met her. She was the only woman Leopold had ever given respect as it took only a look from her for him to know exactly what she wanted... and what she wanted, he gave to her. His sister Geneviève was equally overbearing for different reasons as she seemed to compete with his wife for his affections. Leopolds wife Karoline was of royal blood having been presented to him by her caretaker Madame Zofia Leszczyńska as the hidden lovechild of Louis Philippe d'Orléans and Anne Henriette de France (daughter of Queen Consort of France Maria Leszczyńska and King Louis XV who had given him six children... all daughters. Zofia was also of royal blood sent with the Queen Consort of France to serve as a concierge for her and as a nanny for her children. This is why she was chosen to secret away Annes lovechild as the king did not desire the House of Orléans to have a greater claim on his throne. Then came the day, that during a pouring rain, a dark haired boy was seen standing outside through the windows of the Bastide de Marie. But every time they went outside to invite him in... the boy disappeared until on the third day, they opened the door to find the boy standing there waiting and behind him was his identical twin sister. As silent as the grave, Leopold nonetheless knew his name was Valère de Kraven and that his twin sister was named Valérie as she was brought for him. Zofia took the enfant en bas âge Valère as her husband at the age of only nine to fulfill plans set in motion by Leopold even as this boy now became her master. When Valérie came of age, Leopold violated her during a dark ceremony where she screamed out to her brother only to see him smiling knowingly as her eyes lit like fire... and then, Valère killed Leopold covering his sister with his blood as if to complete some dark rite not even she was aware of.

Over the following months, all the women of the Charbonneau family would perish under mysterious circumstances and be buried with none but family present to attend the burials. Valère de Kraven now became Master of the Manor with Zofia guiding him as she focused him on completing the Château de Charbonneau and raising his son... the child his sister had given birth to nine months after Leopold Charbonneau had violated her. A town had begun to form around the Charbonneau Estate that had taken the family name of Charbonneau to honor the family which provided a livelihood for them all. They knew of dark things spoken of in whispers because members of the community had disappeared on occasion... and most knew where and why but said nothing as long as they were provided for. Valérie de Kraven was known as the wife of Valére albeit some whispered that she was his sister as there were chambermaids, slaves and other workers on the estate who disappeared if they were discovered speaking of what they knew. And then, there was the boy. John Kraven was a dark eyed, dark haired child whose very presence filled everyone around him with fear except for his mother. His father also feared the boy as Zofia spoke that when the Château de Charbonneau was completed, he would have served his purpose as she herself had done. Darkness also began to make it's presence felt across the region which once had been granted to Leopold Charbonneau. Towns and cities which were emerging now felt as if the long arm of Leopold Charbonneau reaching out from beyond the grave to claim what was his. The truth was even darker as each of the women in the Charbonneau family had been sacrificed, their heads removed and the blood drunk by Valérie to absorb their power. Each of the family members were involved in the dark arts of sorcery... and each were at the ends of their lives seeking to use Valérie as a means for being reborn. As for Leopold Charbonneau, it was thought that John Kraven was the vessel for his rebirth until he was old enough to claim what was his. When the Château de Charbonneau was completed, Valére de Kraven disappeared and then, everyone noticed that the Governess had also disappeared. Only the boy and his mother were seen from that point forward and both were always dressed in black. The boy eventually grew into a man and the Château de Charbonneau became renamed Kravenwood Manor after the region around it which became known as Kravenwood having been renamed for it's master. John Kraven was now a fearsome man who ruled over his possessions with an iron fist and anyone who crossed him, or didn't do as they were told, simply disappeared. Those who were among his most loyal and faithful supporters prospered and it was rumored that they were all now members of a secret cult... a cult devoted to Satan with John Kraven serving as his high priest. Everywhere he traveled, his mother would walk behind him dressed as if in mourning. Those who looked close enough would see she wore the skull of another, as if wearing a mask, even as a sadistic smile crossed her face as a serpents tongue sometimes caressed her lips. There wasn't a person living in Kravenwood who did not encounter John Kraven and bear his mark. Everyone was in his debt, or endured his wrath, with none being spared his dark countenance. It was even rumored that most children born in Kravenwood were sired by John Kraven even as his mother watched over his dark deeds to ensure that the women he was with were with child before leaving them in peace.

Even from infancy, the two had been spreading fear within Kravenwood yet, they did not limit themselves to the confines of the darkest place on Earth. Stories of a woman in black with a child had been known in different areas of the world all describing the same couple except that the boy seems to have been growing into manhood as the stories were related. The stories relate how the boy offered people their hearts desire through mysterious cursed objects given to them each suiting the recipients nature. If the recipient remained true to their nature, they would gain what they wanted even as their desires eventually consumed them. If they found their better nature confronting the evil within their being, they might break free being scarred by the experience... but at least there was a chance they might escape the fate brought upon themselves. These cursed items would be lost only to be found by others as several demonic beings seemed to be guardians of the objects even to the point they reclaimed them, found new owners for them or even restored them if they were destroyed. These "guardians" seemed to serve John Kraven and would survive after him long beyond his own apparent death. He was given the title Seigneur de Kraven by Charles X for aiding in his escape into exile and purchasing Kirchberg Castle. In exchange for his generosity, a young woman named Sarah Charbonneau was freed after having been imprisoned for a series of violent murders and charges of witchcraft. She would apparently marry John Kraven as she took his name and soon after, Kravenwood Manor mysteriously burned to the ground leaving Sarah Charbonneau Kraven as the inheritor of John Kravens entire estate. Only with the death of Sarah Charbonneau Kraven did the truth become known about what happened at Kravenwood Manor decades before as a group of former Union and Confederate soldiers had returned seeking what had happened to their comrades in a forgotten battle of the US Civil War where few survived and the horrors they spoke of led to silence for fear of being locked away in an asylum. Bringing with them priests and devil slayers, they had broken into Kravenwood only to find the place unoccupied. Then, they found the catacombs below the manor where hundreds if not thousands of remains were kept with some looking as fresh as the day they died preserved by unknown powers but dead nonetheless. They eventually discovered a bidden sanctum below Kravenwood Manor where they arrived during a satanic ritual led by John Kraven himself. Around a large table with an altar raised at it's center sat thirteen people dressed in crimson sheets once white until soaked with the blood of their victims. They had arrived after the latest sacrifice to see blood flowing from the altar down to each of the cult members where it was gathered into skulls from which they drank the victims blood. To one side of the table, no one sat. There, the soldiers saw a pile of bodies with what appeared to be children pulling the bodies away into the catacombs for what means they didn't know. Unable to bear anymore of what they were seeing, the men struck firing their weapons even as priests cried out to God to damn these blasphemies. As the cult members died, John Kraven and Valérie slipped away seemingly uncaring as bullets ripped through their bodies causing them to stumble and even fall but not stopping them from escaping. It was only then that the manor caught fire and only a handful of the men escaped to meet the tender mercies of Sarah Charbonneau Kraven who ordered that none go near where Kravenwood Manor now lay silent as if knowing that through it's destruction... something even more evil was being born!

Years would pass before the first stories began circulating that people were seeing Kravenwood Manor again as if it had never burned. Others reported seeing a dark female figure amidst the ruins with still others reporting that this ghostly apparition appeared pregnant. Almost everyone feared what this meant because people continued to disappear and what was worse, reports of people seeing Kravenwood Manor were coming from different places across the region as if the manor were appearing in one place one day... and then, another days later, if such stories were to be believed. Sarah Charbonneau Kraven had about a dozen children with a daughter being the only one sired by her husband. The people of Kravenwood were all cursed by John Kraven to bear his mark and his blood flowing through their veins with rare exception. Most concealed dark secrets and any who tried to escape often found that no one escapes their fate... and the fate of those born within Kravenwood is to bring darkness with them wherever they go. Even those who would be considered good of heart would remain within Kravenwoods confines for this reason where living a normal life was possible as long as they accepted the darkness around them. But with time, many forgot the dark past or tried to put it behind them as new people moved in and people went on with their lives unknowing or uncaring of the past until the past became resurrected upon them. The land that bleeds, the natives once had called this dark place, a land which seemed to be almost alive and in it's own quaint deceiving way, Hell on Earth where the dead do not always remain dead and those that do generally are the ones who get in Hells way or are sacrificed to the dark gods which prevail here. Many of the communities within Kravenwood are unknown to the outside world and in some cases, even to one another. One moment they seem to be there, and the next... it's as if they disappeared from the map. One moment you find yourself in a modern city, the next you are in a city over five centuries older which seems out of place here as if ripped from another part of the world... in fact, tales of the ancient past are also known here as some speak of creatures that sound as if dinosaurs exist within this place like they once did millions of years ago. The deeper one travels into Kravenwood, the more these anomalies seem to prevail especially at night when darkness is at it's strongest. Most travel through Kravenwood without incident or even knowing Kravenwood exists as it's as if Kravenwood chooses it's victims... or, they simply stumble upon a fate possibly not meant for them. Here., one can find demons, ghosts, vampires, the undead, werewolves and countless other horrors unaffected by the laws of nature governing the world beyond with even death itself seemingly unknown here in any permanent sense as Kravenwood is, . But for those who journey into Kravenwood, those who suffer the greatest misfortune of all, there is one hope as should they find Kravenwood Manor and be found worthy... the Mistress of the Manor will grant your greatest desires at the cost of your soul being forever condemned to the darkest place on Earth. Those who die here... stay here and those who willingly serve Kravenwoods mysterious dark plans are not forsaken even if they might suffer in the process.

The Mistress of the Manor is known to many and she is thought to be the dark mother goddess of these lands with the souls of the entire Kraven / Charbonneau family within her. As for John Kraven, it is thought that he was reborn as the very life force of Kravenwood Manor and that it has become the dark heart of Kravenwood itself. Kravenwood Manor was built using the crushed bones of countless dead as mortar and brick baked from crimson clay soaked in the blood from countless dead. Each brick was marked with a symbol for the name of demons in Hell who serve Satan as his minions it is said and it is through their power that John Kraven achieved the tasks set before him. One might consider Kravenwood Manor the ultimate haunted house if they limit their imagination because Kravenwood Manor is more than any mere house... it is the darkest of evils even as the land around it is cursed to forever endure it's dark grip upon it. Kravenwood does not exist only in the here and now as it seems to exist as a nexus reality of time and space. While doubtful that Kravenwood allows actual time travel, it clearly does exist as a doorway into other realities and dimensions which exist in parallel time. In a future that may or may not come to be, a dark empire will arise upon the Earth where a mysterious God Emperor reaches out to conquer the universe with Kravenwood as the center of his throne realm... yet this is only one possible future and John Kraven may have other plans to rule in his own right or to become the dark right hand of the god Emperor serving as his only begotten son!