For those interested, this is the continuation of the “Realities of War” series. If you’re new to this, you can find my previous posts by clicking on the “Realities of War” tag. My bio is at the top of Part 1. For those interested, this is the continuation of the “Realities of War” series.
The purpose of this Part 4 is to examine the actions of IDF. As usual, my objective with these posts is to familiarize the reader with the pragmatic aspects of war and help build a rational, informed framework through which you can analyze the current events more objectively. I try to abstain from taking sides based on various historical and philosophical arguments and to provide pragmatic "current" context informed by my own experience and deeper-than-average expertise on this topic.
I will break this Part 4 into 3 sub-parts:
Part 4 will be a lengthy Intro – context on the finer nuances of “war” necessary to process things.
Part 4.1 will dive into the “meat” of things – looking at some specifics of IDF’s conduct.
Part 4.2 will answer some specific, relevant questions.
Disclaimer: I’m often criticized for holding a favorable bias toward Israel. I certainly do – I don’t hide it. My bias may seem illogical if you read my bio. My reasons for supporting Israel, however, have nothing to do with "How” this war is prosecuted. Frankly, I don’t even hold that strong of an opinion on whether Israel should or should not have gone to war to begin with. My reasons for supporting Israel are based on a more nuanced moral and intellectual framework informed by my values and experiences. I won’t share further details as they are irrelevant for this post.
As far as my Realities of War series is concerned, I do my best to remain as objective as possible to the events based on (a) my own experience and (b) the knowledge and data points I have access to. In other words – if I believed that Israel was completely botching the operation in Gaza – I would tell you. Because, on a personal level, it would make very little difference to me with respect to my broader support for Israel. Outside of a scenario where Israel reduces itself to the level of “governance” and the methods of Hamas, of course (in which case I certainly wouldn’t shift my support toward Islamism… I’d simply become more indifferent). But right now – I see no evidence of that happening. And frankly, it’d be quite a large delta to cross that would require a fundamental change in character and values of Israelis and their nation.
Here we go…

Is Israel committing War Crimes? Of course it is. And it tells you nothing, broadly-speaking.

If you’ve read my previous posts – it should be very clear to you by now that any war will inevitably have some number of errors, certain amount of sloppiness, and even its share of war crimes – some caused by incompetence, and other very much deliberate.
And yet… saying that IDF has “committed war crimes” tells you absolutely nothing other than that “War Sucks”.
Yes, Israel has and will continue to commit some unknown number of errors and even deliberate or accidental war crimes. So… if you’re the type of reader interested in “gotcha” types of factoids that align with your preconceived beliefs – read no further. Feel free to take this statement and start telling anyone that’ll listen that a “military expert” told you that Israel is committing war crimes.
But if you happen to be a thoughtful type of reader, you probably suspect that there is much more to the story. If you feel like sticking around – this will be a long one. Let’s go.

Not All “wars” are Wars. But Israel believes they’re at War.

(Note: this isn’t according to some law or international standard… I’m simply dumbing down a very complex topic to its pragmatic essentials to make it easier to process).
Not all wars are created equal. It’s not a precise science but, for ease of discussion, I will place them into two “buckets”.
(a) A Military “Operation”
(b) A “War”
Most Wars start as merely “Operations”. When you take Clausewitz's classic definition that “War is merely the continuation of policy by other means” – then every war begins first as an “Operation”… Player A decides there is a political objective they can achieve via controlled violence upon player B.
What happens next is determined by the following questions:
1. Are the objectives of the operation clear, defined, and narrow enough in scope?
2. Are the objectives actually achievable via the military means?
3. Does the initiator have the necessary competence to actually achieve those objectives?
Take the example of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. That was a good example of a “Military Operation”. The objectives were clear, defined, and achieved relatively easily. The follow-on politics, of course, eventually failed. But the failure was that of political ambition and hubris. The military operation itself was completed quite successfully.
Fail to adequately address the questions above, and the “Operation” becomes “War”. Barbarossa was supposed to be an “Operation”. It turned into a bloodbath that led to the demise of the fascist regime. The invasion of Ukraine started as operation. It is now a proper trench war. Etc. Etc.
Even botched operations don’t actually have to turn into quagmires. Typically, the aggressor begins the “operation” from a point of strength. Hence, extracting itself from the “operation” often doesn’t have that many negative implications for the stronger party, especially if the “operation” was optional to begin with (other than the political consequences for the leadership that launched the operation to begin with). Take America’s campaign in Vietnam – after extracting itself from Vietnam, the US didn’t suffer any catastrophic consequences other than the price already paid. There weren’t any massive consequences for the Soviet extraction from Afghanistan either. Etc. etc. But, because of the domestic political consequences, many regimes will not back down, and the botched “operation” will escalate into an all-out war unnecessarily.
Key Distinction: the above holds true, UNLESS the society decides that it’s a “WAR” from the start.
Let’s look at the invasion of Ukraine. To Russians – it was merely an operation. But to Ukrainians – it was a War from the start. A war for national survival. It wouldn’t have mattered of course, have the Russians been competent at conducting the operation to begin with. But you get the idea.
As far as Israel is concerned – they are at WAR. It’s quite clear from Israeli standpoint. Whether you agree with them or not – they believe that they are now in an existential fight. Hence, this isn’t a merely an operation for them, in terms of Israeli public opinion. It’s a proper war. In fact, I would argue, that the international outcry has only served to strengthen the perception among the Israelis that they are in an existential fight that they must win.
The Mindset of being at War inevitably sets the course for HOW the hostilities will play out – an “operation” implies limited objectives. This, in turn, limits your options and the level of pressure and violence you’re willing to apply. The mindset of a WAR removes many constraints. “Enemy Defeat” becomes the objective. Nations go about defeating the enemy in a much different way than achieving a limited geopolitical target – and there are a lot less “if’s” and “but’s” in terms of this objective.

A “War” is a Binary Proposition

Once a “war” becomes a real War – it also becomes a binary proposition even for the observers. Once society defines an “enemy” and declares itself at WAR with the enemy - the outcome is no longer “optional” or conditional.
(Note: again, I’m not talking about legal definitions of a “war”, requirements for declarations, etc. I’m simply dumbing down a complicated topic to its pragmatic essentials).
Of course, there are many questions to parse through – things are never entirely black and white. Etc. But it remains true that the “energy” of a military campaign… its tolerance for violence… its patience with critics – all of it changes once a nation decides that it’s time for WAR.
If you decide to take sides in a WAR – you need to understand a few things:
1. There are “Guardrails” – certain norms, ethics, and morals of the society waging the war will and should remain. It’s never (and shouldn’t be) a free-for-all.
2. Within the “Guardrails” – the room for nuance shrinks. As long you stay within the guardrails – you must be willing to “forgive” things that you wouldn’t forgive under ordinary circumstances.
Ultimately, a society that believes to be under an existential threat will prosecute a WAR in order to win it – not in order to appease the sensibilities of foreign observers.
As for the people observing from the sidelines, you have two options:
(a) You can engage in philosophical and intellectual discussions on the various nuances of the conflict. Perhaps this is intellectually stimulating for you – that’s fine. But understand that it’s ultimately a pointless exercise. Or…
(b) You can take a firm side. This means accepting the fact that this is a WAR. And in most wars, one side will do much better than the other (perhaps not in the long, political terms, but in terms of the outcome of the hostilities themselves).
What does “Taking a Side” entail? You can simply take a side based on “feelings”, of course… or whatever tribal instincts you may hold toward the Jews or the Arabs. But if that’s you – it’s unlikely that you’d be engaging in discussions on this particular forum – you’re more likely to be yelling at people and calling them “Zionists” or “Terrorists” on Twitter somewhere.
A thoughtful person will “pick a side” much differently. First, it requires some intellectual honesty. Because no nation is perfect – the side you support is probably deeply flawed. Delusional belief in the purity of “your team” will always lead to disappointing outcomes.
So, the decision ultimately comes down to a certain moral framework – a set of values and beliefs that inform your “pick”. In most simplistic terms, it goes something like this: “We now have ourselves a WAR. The side A is more aligned with my values. The outcome probably won’t be perfect… lots of people will die. But I would MUCH prefer to live in the world where side A prevails rather than side B”.
WAR simplifies things. (Slight personal detour) Frankly, for me, much of the discussions I read on the topic are interesting… from intellectual perspective… but entirely irrelevant. War is now a reality. It doesn’t really matter who came to the land first – the Jews or the Arabs. It doesn’t really matter how much the British had to do with it. I certainly don’t give even an ounce of sh—t about some obscure thesis on the “nature of oppression”. Far as I’m concerned – there is a Side A that (more or less) aligns with my values. And there is side B, which fundamentally does not. Side A goes to war with Side B. The outcome now has serious implications for the preservation of the core values based on which I support Side A to begin with. Thus, side A must crush Side B, far as I’m concerned. Lots of innocent people will die in the process. Yeah… that really sucks. I take no joy in this. But allowing Side B to win really isn’t an option either. In broader strokes – it’s really that simple for me on a personal level.
But you aren’t here for the “broad strokes” … so let’s dive into some nuance.

Everyone’s “Just War” is someone else’s “War Crime.”

When a society goes to war – in order to win it, society must mobilize around relatively simple core ideas. That society will then believe that their “ideas” are righteous. And they will view the “opposing ideas” (i.e. the “enemy”) as inherently criminal. I’m pretty sure that, was Germany to win WW2, they would probably have their version of Nuremberg trials.
Let’s look at Ukraine again. Ukrainians believe that nearly everything Russia does is criminal. Much of the “civilized” world agrees. Not because Ukraine is a perfect society (of course not – it’s a deeply-flawed country with track record of corruption and political turmoil). But the “civilized” world understands that intentions and aspirations matter. Ukraine aspires to be an independent, functional democracy. And Russia represents regressive, authoritarian ideas that are against the core values of other western societies. Hence, our support for Ukraine.
However, if we’re honest about it, we would also recognize that not all Russian territorial and historical claims are entirely without merit. We would recognize that Ukrainian hands aren’t entirely clean either. But ultimately, “we” don’t care – because a much larger war of ideas is at play. And so we accept some level of “hypocrisy” on our part in our support of Ukraine. Because intentions matter. And we recognize Ukraine’s intentions as far more aligned with “our” values than those of Russian Federation.

The Norms that a Nation abides by in War are a Reflection of the Society fighting the War (even if the War is existential).

Of course, in no way, shape, or form, would I suggest that once an “operation” becomes a WAR – then all rules go out the window. A ton of nuance remains – think the “Guardrails” I mentioned previously. Nor would I suggest that we automatically “forgive” any behavior of the nation we “support” just because that’s “our team”.
To illustrate the point – imagine a scenario where Ukraine develops a super-powerful weapon of mass destruction to which Russia has no counter. Imagine that Ukraine decides that, to avoid a retaliatory nuclear strike, they must wipe Russia off the face of the planet – and then they do.
Well… that would of course be crossing a very thick red line. Ukraine would quickly lose its “friend of the west” status.
But let’s imagine that Ukraine uses such a weapon for a partially strategic target that also ends up killing a million of civilians or so – say it drops a superweapon on Belgorod. Well… I could think of a number of reasons why it may be compelled to do so. But should they do it? Hmmm. I don’t believe so.
But now, let’s imagine that Ukraine’s back is against the wall – Kiev is about to fall… the nation is about to be overrun. Would I forgive Ukraine for dropping a super weapon on Belgorod then as a demonstration? Yeah… I probably would.
In other words – even in an existential war, a society waging the war should make an effort to abide by the norms that society deems acceptable.
Let’s go back to MENA. From a fundamentalist Islamist point of view – the very refusal of a secular society to submit to “Allah’s rule” is a crime. And that ideology has no problem with certain ways of waging a war that we’d describe as “genocidal”.
But the secular “West” (of which Israel is a part) has many more self-imposed Guardrails. That’s why we (the international community) have agreed to various sets of common “rules” – think Geneva Convention and such.
We (the secular West) also have much less tolerance for unrestrained violence on a cultural level. It is a spectrum of course – things like anger, the sense of existential threat, the “personal” nature of certain events will certainly stretch the limit “acceptable” for the nation at war.
However, I will tell you this from personal experience – if you order a platoon of western soldiers to execute a group of civilians – the vast majority of them WILL NOT pull that trigger. That is because the soldiers of in a modern western society represent the CURRENT generation of its citizens. And the basic norms, morals, and values of a modern society are deeply ingrained in the mindsets of soldiers fighting the war.
The bottom line to all the musings above is:
1. WAR is black and white in terms of its objectives: win or lose (from military standpoint)
2. But WAR is anything but black and white in terms of how it plays out. Things like resources, enemy’s nature, time, etc. – they all introduce countless variables into the equation. And so a nation must do what it can to achieve its objectives within the moral “Guardrails” that it abides by.
Which now brings me to the key point – that these “Guardrails” aren’t hard constraints. They are merely a “methodology” to decision-making. I will expand on this concept in the next part.

Part 4.1 follows shortly.
P.S. If you're interested in reading previous posts, you can find them here (huge thanks to u/nar_tapio_00)
* [The Realities of War (let's kill some sacred cows)](https://new.reddit.com/IsraelPalestine/comments/1cwvbna/the_realities_of_war_lets_kill_some_sacred_cows/) * [Part 1.5 - On Killing and Morality in War](https://new.reddit.com/IsraelPalestine/comments/1cxkfmf/part_15_on_killing_and_morality_in_wa) * [The Realities of War - Part 2 (How to invade a place... if you must)](https://new.reddit.com/IsraelPalestine/comments/1cz26en/the_realities_of_war_part_2_how_to_invade_a_place/) * [The Realities of War - Part 2.1 (how to think about a military operation pragmatically)](https://new.reddit.com/IsraelPalestine/comments/1cz8hf8/the_realities_of_war_part_21_how_to_think_about_a/) * [The realities of War - Part 3 (on "Proportionality")](https://new.reddit.com/IsraelPalestine/comments/1d3gtjt/the_realities_of_war_part_3_on_proportionality/) * [The Realities of War - part 3.1 (on Hostages)](https://new.reddit.com/IsraelPalestine/comments/1d3kk1the_realities_of_war_part_31_on_hostages/)

Found this in a storage, full set, 15 pieces. Need a little pricing help. :)

So one of the most disappointing parts of the otherwise amazing book that is Curse of Strahd was Fiona Watcher and her cult. What started as an intimidating minor villain lesser BBEG that seemed to be pulling a lot of strings for Strahd, quickly turned into a shallow side show con artist with so much lost potential. In the book there are blink-and-you-miss-it implications of her being a much bigger threat that goes absolutely nowhere, and kinda ruins the suspense and weight of her threat and the triumph of defeating her for me. So I’ve rewritten and expanded upon her and her cult’s lore and part of the story. A lot of this is non-cannon and completely homebrewed so it may not be for everyone but I hope you enjoy it!

The Ancient Left Hand of the Devil

In the book there’s letters that can be found in Wachter Manor that implies, that due to the reincarnation nature of the people of Barovia, that Lady Fiona Wachter has served Strahd for centuries as different Lady Wachters, though this is never built upon or used. So to start this off, let’s make that a core part of her character.
All the way back in the first few years following the night Strahd completed his deal to become a Vampire Lord and Tatyana threw herself from the Castle Walls, in the town of Vallaki was the eldest daughter of a noble house, Lady Lovina Wachter. Her well connected noble family was secretly the heads of a cult of warlock worshipers and servants of Asmodeus, but with their connection to their master severely weakened, her family was in a state of panic and terror desperately trying to make sense of the changes to the valley. They had found no one but the Vistani could enter the mists safely, let alone leave the valley to travel to other lands. More confusing still, any children born since the mists’ arrival were either soulless and emotionless husks that were quickly being referred to a Misttouched, or had uncanny resemblances in looks and personality to previously dead Barovians with some children even claiming to have memories of what appeared to be a past life. It was a time of chaos and unrest. All had many unanswered questions and few had any answers.
The one blind spot in the sight of her family’s cult was Castle Ravenloft. Since the night the mists came, no one had left the castle that seemed devoid of life. None were brave enough to approach the castle and most believed it to be cursed or overtaken by monsters. Unfrightened by such rumors and fears, and desperate for understanding of what had happened, Lovina slipped away to the castle to investigate for herself.
Inside she found the halls still and empty, as if all life had vanished and the castle was left abandoned. That was until she found him, Lord Strahd Von Zarovich. He was in a depressed stupor huddled in the undercroft of the castle, wallowing in his guilt and self pity. She asked cautiously what had happened and why no one had seen him or anyone else from the castle. He explained everything, how it was all because of him, that he performed a dark ritual with the blood of his brother and made himself into an immortal monster that caused the land to be shrouded in mist. He had expected her to be frightened or outraged, enough to end him or find someone who would, to bring an end to his suffering once and for all. However, being a devil worshiper, not only was Lady Wachter not frightened or disgusted, she was amazed and inspired.
She saw him as not a monster, but a demigod made flesh! A true master of fate and the world. She reframed all the events of the night of tragedy Strahd spoke of as not a fall from grace, but as Strahd’s first steps onto rising to it. She spoke highly of his accomplishments and even described how his influence has changed the very land he rules between the mists and the reincarnation through Barovian children. All of it nearly fell of deaf ears who wanted little more than this annoyance to leave him to rot in peace until she described the reincarnation. Upon hearing that, he was gifted with a piece of hope that he may see Tatyana again after all. With a new fire ignited within Strahd, he found purpose and a cause to strive for.
As thanks to Lovina, Strahd took her under his wing as his new left hand in his court. He helped her remove her parents and siblings as both heads of her family and their cult and threats to her claim over them, and set her to work searching for his beloved with her new influence. He would teach her some magic and together they experimented with the mists and Strahd’s control of it. They discovered that he had the ability to, with proper concentration, restore the memory of those who had reincarnated, but also, with proper preparation and permission from the soul in question, draw a soul from the mists and implant them into the body of another person. While it didn’t work on Tatyana's soul that still feared and hated Strahd, it did allow Strahd to restore Lovina and other mortal servants to life with all the memories of their previous life. They would use this to ensure Lovina’s enduring servitude as his eternal mortal servant capable of carrying out Strahd’s will in ways his undead servants couldn’t.
After Lavonia withered from age, Strahd used his control of willing souls to restore her in a new body, usually a mist touched(or soulless) young adult girl. Since then and with Wachter's help in providing a host body for her soul, he has repeatedly restored her whenever she died, allowing her to continue her twisted form of immortality and faithfully serve Strahd. She always takes on the first name of her new host body to avoid being noticed over the centuries by those not trusted part of her cult or Strahd's court. Regardless of the first name it is always Lady Wachter, the eternal left hand of her lord. Over the many years and many lifetimes Lady Wachter has learned many skills and magics making her an Archmage in her own right with high Charisma and proficiency in all forms of speechcraft.

The Crimson Order

In the book Wachter’s cult is little more than Wachter duping a bunch of easily manipulated idiots with a literal smoke and mirror show before her imp sprinkles a few coins at their feet, making them think it’s somehow a blessing from a devil overlord. It’s not even that big of a faction having only existed for a few years and Fiona’s latest of a series of wacky schemes to take over Vallaki. Making all this little more than Scooby Doo villain shenanigans. The cult doesn’t even have a name, only referred to as Wachter’s cult. So I’ve rectified this.
What was once a devil worshiping cult of Asmodeus, was reformed into the cult that worships their immortal vampire lord Strahd. Viewing him as a more perfect being and his spawn as a proto form of that perfect form that is a blessing from their master. Lady Wachter, their leader, uses her twisted form of immortality through the sacrifice of mist-touched girls as host of her soul as a manipulation tool, promising her followers eternal life like her or through their lord’s blessing as the ultimate goal through their dedication and sacrifice. In reverence of the vampires they worship, the cult symbolize their dedication through blood symbology by calling their group The Crimson Order and dying their robes blood red. Those who have magic granted to them by Lady Wachter also show this through learning to manipulate blood through their magic including the summoning/creation of blood elementals(older edition monsters converted to 5e by the YouTuber Dungeon Dad) to aid them in battle and to protect important locations.
Finally the cult members while in uniform wear a mask, black ones made to resemble the face of a skull, the masks help provide anonymity, but their real purpose is the enchantment on the inside of the masks. Each is hand made by Lady Wachter and enchanted to cast either Finger of Death on the wearer when a command phrase is used or Animate Dead when the wearer is killed in combat. This ensures that the Crimson Order members can continue to frustrate and fight their enemies after death, and that they do not run the risk of being captured and tortured for information, or their corpses being post mortem interrogated as Speak with Dead has no effect on undead creatures. Each Crimson Order member is convinced that using the mask when needed will guarantee favor with Lord Strahd and earn them immortality and will gladly use the mask to end themselves should it become necessary. Some members will even wear the mask under their shirt or dress when not in their cult robes to ensure they are not caught off guard and are prepared.
The Cult’s reach extends to all the settlements of Barovia, including at least one representative that stays with The Yester Hill tribe. They constantly are keeping an ear out for any threats to Strahd and Lady Wachter as well as taking on special missions and tasks from them. Crimson Order cultists or their remains should be found in most places in Barovia to demonstrate their reach including the Amber Temple, Castle Ravenloft, encounters on the roads, maybe even some hunting for the Mad Mage.

Toy Spies

One of Wachter’s primary missions above all is to find Tatyana in whatever reincarnation she has taken. She and her cult have successfully found her a few times but they were hard-pressed to do so. Only two portraits of Tatyana exist, one at Castle Ravenloft and one at the Abbey of St Markovia so Wachter’s agents usually only had a loose description to go on. She used to make leaflets with pictures of her likeness but the color ink was expensive and the leaflets easy to lose by her agents. Recently, however, when Wachter visited the local toy shop to find a perfect wooden replica of Tatyana she was inspired.
She commissioned Blinksy the Toy Maker to make hundreds for her that she would take to her cultists. Together they would enchant them, making them into carrionettes. These Toy Tatyana dolls would be distributed by Wachter and the Crimson Order to as many families as they could, even sending some dolls to find families themselves. With the Toy Tatyanas they had not only something easily scryed upon in most households and spies who could easily slip away in the dead of night to report to when recalled by Crimson Order Agents, but they also acted as a tool to more easily find Tatyana. With a 3D replica of her physical characteristics that both Crimson Order agents could use to compare, but also let the public passively aid their cause since all it would take is one parent, one childhood friend, one neighbor say “that doll looks just like her'' and Wachter and her agents would easily be able to locate her.
Toy Tatyanas should be found in most households even if they don't have children found either in a hidden location in bedrooms and living rooms or hiding among toys or other household items where they are most likely to hear anything important. Should they be found they will remain limp and avoid detection as anything but a toy until attacked or a spell or other magic reveals them, at which point they will try to flee and escape, or use their soul swap ability to take over a creature to use their body to fight back or run away with their toy body in hand.

The Propaganda Machine

To serve both her own end and to support her master, Wachter in her early years learned to put her skills in calligraphy and spell casting to use casting Fabricate to essentially act as a living arcane printing press. There is now a book store in Vallaki owned and run by Wachter and The Crimson Order that both generate coin for the cult's purposes without need of begging Strahd, and distributes propaganda full of lies, misinformation, twisted facts, half truths to gaslight and manipulate the population of Barovia. As one of the only sources of books and escapism in Barovia, Wachter's Book Emporium is a very popular and successful business. Few question the authenticity of the information in many of the books and those that do often are visited late at night by blood-robed cultists.
Using the books Lady Wachter made, the Crimson Order has over the years slowly shifted the views on Strahd from gruesome monster to tragically cursed and betrayed fallen hero that seeks to free Barovia. Not all buy this, but enough that the Crimson Orders numbers have swelled over recent years and it would complicate any attempts to rally an uprising without proof to contradict the propaganda. Enough even feel sympathetic enough that the settlements of the Valley have on occasion agreed to pay tax of blood in place of coin to Castle Ravenloft to alleviate his and his spawn’s struggles.
In most books written by Wachter and the Crimson Order, Sergi is portrayed as the villain who cursed Strahd and the Valley on the night he killed Tatyana to steal her away from Strahd who she was set to marry instead of Sergi. The Crimson Order has worked tirelessly over the years to find and destroy any mention of historical accounts to the contrary. Even assassinating or modifying the memories of any knowledgeable historians who know differently.

Fiona’s Daughters and Wachter’s Rebirth

So to start with, I couldn’t find a way for Fiona’s sons to fit into the story very well and since they’re not much of characters anyway, I nixed them. What I have I think is much more interesting anyway.
To ensure that Strahd would always have the ability to restore her, Lady Wachter partially turned her mansion into an orphanage/boarding school for young girls, especially mist-touched girls. She would choose one or two girls she would dub her “Successor(s)” to be raised as her true daughter(s) to inherit her estate upon her death. Then when she dies, one of her chosen daughters is taken by her cult to a secret ritual chamber where Strahd performs the ritual to draw Wachter’s soul from the mist and force it into the unsuspecting girl who becomes the host of Lavonia Wachter’s soul. While the process of reincarnation in Barovia doesn’t require a body of the same sex to work, Lady Wachter carefully chooses girls for “how comfortable” she would be with as a host for her soul. She has also found that by training a host to be at least somewhat proficient with her skill makes the transition to a new body much easier and smoother as the muscle memory needs to be trained less, meaning she ensures each girl in her boarding school is given proper education and training. Girls who “age out” for her liking are often immediately recruited to the Crimson Order to serve as spies for her ends, though tabs are kept on them in case they become necessary to be made into an emergency host for Lady Wachter.
Lady Wachter’s preferred method of transferring to a new host starts when she reaches the age of 45 when she begins the process of choosing her Successors. She’ll generally pick 1 or 2 girls in her orphanage of the age of 5 or 6 and give them special attention and training, dubbing them her Successors as a “family tradition”. When she reaches an age where she is no longer comfortable in her current body, usually 60 to 70, she will pick a girl to be her host of her Successors, leave instructions for her cultists, then drink a painless poison that kills her in her sleep. There is a cabinet hidden in her bedroom full of this poison for these end as well as to be used to assassinate rivals and enemies quietly. The chosen host is taken in the middle of the night to a ritual sight where the host is brought before Strahd who imparts the soul onto the unsuspecting girls. All that remains for Lady Wachter with a fresh body and new first name to demonstrate her power to her cult and bury her previous body before picking up her plans where she left off.
At the time of the campaign, Fiona Wachter is 56 and has been grooming two of her girls as Successors: Stella and Sanja. Both young women are highly trained mist-touched girls taught how to mask their soulless nature, something unique to Wachter's boarding school that some believe to be a miracle cure. In reality it is rigorous training to give an illusion of such a reversal of nature to ensure few questions about the change in personality after Lady Wachter takes their body. As part of their preparation for becoming a host, they have been paraded around Vallaki to allow the nobility to meet them and learn their names and station. As such, they are regarded as Barovian Nobility of Wachter’s house despite nearly all girls in her boarding house being low-born peasants. From all appearances Wachter seems to be a legitimately caring adoptive mother for them. Despite their act there are very evident cracks in the mask that should show when interacting with the girls in a “uncanny valley” sort of way. It's all an act after all. By the time of the campaign, Stella has been severely psychologically scarred by a curse caused by Victor Vallakovich and in her warped mind she thinks of herself as a cat. This strange curse is a deeply rooted one that can not be cured by anything short of a Greater Restoration. This has only enraged Lady Wachter in what may at first come across as genuine maternal instinct but is more of frustration at the lost time, resources, and potential as Stella was her favorite of the two and first choice as a next host. While Fiona holds out hope for a way to fix Stella, she won’t dedicate any more time or resources to her with her plans for Vallaki needing her immediate attention. Besides, with Sanja she still has a backup host at the ready and there is time to fix Stella later. None of this is voiced by Fiona as she can't have her secrets spilled or her weaknesses revealed.
If something happens to Fiona Wachter and the party doesn't keep Sanja from being taken by the Crimson Order, Sanja will disappear and return a short while later as Lady Sanja Wachter to continue Fiona’s missions which may include trying to get rid of the party. Should Sanja be made unavailable, The Crimson Order will take one of the other 22 girls instead. Should none of them be available, Strahd will be forced to use the form of another random person to restore Wachter, which I encourage the use of a random NPC generator to make it interesting, especially if they settle for a man. As Wachter is a very useful and dedicated follower, Strahd will always ensure her restoration within 48 hours as long as he's able, with the actual ritual itself to restore her taking an hours, the first minute for fishing her soul from the mists into the new form and the rest of the hour for restoring her memory. Should either part be interrupted the ritual may be left half-finished and may have to be redone.

The Cistern

In the book Wachter uses her basement as the main headquarters meeting spot for her cult. Since that is far too conspicuous for a cult of its new size. This is especially so when so many young girls who may not be privy to the cult’s secrets are living in his home, so it's been moved.
Cutting deep underground with magic and forced labor from charmed laborers that were bled dry after their work was complete, is the headquarters of the Crimson Order, the Cistern. Constructed beneither Vallaki to allow the ease of the bulk of its members to easily meet, it is mostly a plain hune stone system of tunnels and caverns decorated with carving and tapestries of exaggerated scenes of Strahd’s life mixed with vampire and blood iconography. The majority of the structure is dedicated to either sleeping quarters for members of the cult, storage of bones and bodies of victims past to be used to make undead, coffins of hibernating vampire spawn waiting to Strahds to collect them, magical components and gear for the cultists, book printing materials and extra stock, yet to be enchanted and incomplete and dormant Toy Tatyana dolls, and of course blood.
In the deepest part of the Cistern is the main ritual chamber where the vast majority of cult rituals are held. On the stage on the East side of the chamber(the side closest to Castle Ravenloft) is a massive statue of Strahd that looms over the chamber, its eyes seemingly watching any who are in this chamber. This is where new members are inducted into the cult, where Lady Wachter’s soul is infused into her new hosts, and where the cult members meet monthly to affirm their devotion to Wachter and Strahd and give sacrifice of valuables and blood to the cult and their master. In the center of this chamber is a massive circular blood pit 30ft wide and nearly 100ft deep filled with blood. Lurking in the blood pit is a gargantuan Elder Blood Tyrant, a massive blood elemental. This monster watches over and protects to cistern from invaders, placated by the blood given to it by the cultists’ monthly ritual. This elemental will, once roused by a threat, flood any hallways and chambers it has to drown and kill the intruders before dragging them back to the pit to bleed them dry before depositing their husks beside the pit for the cultist to collect later. To this end each room in the cistern, aside from the main ritual chamber, is deliberately built to be 20ft in size to allow the Elder Blood Tyrant the ability to fill it in its entirety to more easily deal with intruders.
The main ritual chamber also has small outcropping carved into it with a teleportation circle each in them for the cult’s outposts at the various settlements across Barovia, Lady Wachter’s home, and Castle Ravenloft. None are labeled, but the cultist knows which of them is which to avoid using the wrong one. To ensure they can always be used by even junior member without Wachter or other important members having to be present and waste spell slots, the cult has made a powder infused with magic they keep in pot near the circles. When tossed onto the circle it powers and activates the circle allowing it to be used as if someone cast the Teleportation Circle spell. These circles allow for quick and immediate transport for the cultists to get from place to place quickly and allow Wachter and Strahd to visit with ease without openly and publicly leaving their residences.
Aside from the teleportation circles there are two physical entrances into the cistern, the first is through the basement of Wachter’s Books Emporium behind a sliding bookshelf that unlocks when the “book” “Blood Connection” is pulled. The second is tunnel the leads just outside of Vallaki’s walls that is hidden behind a fake rock that magically shifts out of the way when one whispers the words “Praise Lord Strahd” to it. Cultists use these if they are already in Vallaki or need to discreetly sneak out.
If the cistern is compromised by the party most of the cultists will try to flee through the exits and teleportation circles with a handful of usually low importance and less valuable new members that will be ordered to stay and defend it from the intruders. This gives room for the Blood Tyrant to deal with intruders with minimal unnecessary risk to the cult's members. Something else that only the highest members of the cult are aware of, is that there are hidden glyphs of warding designed to go off in the event the Elder Blood Tyrant is slain. To ensure that the cult’s secrets can't be compromised or used against them and Strahd the glyphs cause the whole cystern to systematically collapse, hopefully trapping the intruders inside. The last room to collapse is the main ritual chamber, this allows any remaining cult members to quickly get out, but it may also allow for the party to make a last-second escape for a crumbling hideout. The party will likely not know where each circle goes so if used to escape it may result in an interesting turn depending on which circle they choose to use.

The Baronship of Vallaki

Over the centuries Wachter and Strahd have been content with her position in Barovia’s nobility. As a wealthy noblewoman who’s family has had long standing influence over the valley her power has been more than sufficient for their goals. However things have shifted in the politics of Vallaki, and possibly Strahd’s goals. The Current Baron, Vargas Vallakovich has been spreading decent and talks of uprising against Strahd. This is something neither of them can allow. Especially if Strahd has greater machinations in the works, plans that could be approaching completion and require as little interference as possible. To end this insolence from Vargas, Lady Wachter, currently Fiona, has made several attempts to persuade him otherwise, even visiting his dreams, though it has done little more than galvanize him. He, and rightfully so, believe that Strahd and his servants are out to get and control him, though he refuses to succumb to their influences.
Since then, Wachter has sent assassins to remove him, but none have been successful thus far. Worse still, Wachter has been attempting to gain control or influence over Vargas’s son Victor so she can ensure his compliance to her and Strahd’s ideals and plans after his father’s removal, but he too has refused her. Her last attempt to worm her way into the Vallakovich household was when she sent her Successors Stella, to seduce young the Victor and wed him so Lady Wachter herself could slip into the family to combine both the power and influences of the Wachter Family and the Vallakovich family while removing a thorn in her and Strahd’s side. This however ended in disaster when, as stated before, Stella was cursed by Victor. Stella was returned to Lady Wachter, a mad and confused mess.
Infuriated by her repeated failures and the damage done to her Successor, she has become desperate for a solution. If necessary, she’ll use the chaos of the attack on Festival of The Rising Sun to have her cult ensure all the Vallakoviches are removed, but she doesn’t want to have to get her hands dirty. She’d prefer a much more peaceful and smooth transfer of power from Vargas to her to guarantee an easy rulership of Vallaki without risk of unrest and uprising. This is where the party comes into play as outsiders who can act independently from her and be easily blamed if necessary. Sending her spy Ernst Larnak to learn about them and find what she can use to manipulate them before inviting them to her estate. Using her charm and wit she’ll do and offer anything to the party to do her bidding to remove Vargas and the Vallakovich family for her.

The Kinds of Cultists of The Crimson Order

Here is a PDF with descriptions, Heroforge made artwork, and stat blocks for each of the different kinds of Cultist and Blood Elementals.

I’m currently having a house built. I’ve made it very clear to my builder that I don’t want any grass anywhere. i want to plant native plants as much as possible to attract bees and butterflies. The lot is all wooded. I will have a 30’x80’ section where the septic field is. What would be some good plants to plant on top the septic? I have to be mindful of how deep the roots will go. I’m located in SE Wisconsin. It will be mostly shady as the clearing is located on the west side of the house, but with full trees all around.
Thank you

This sub is full of horror stories, which brought me comfort during the job search. It was nice knowing I wasn't alone in the recruiting hell we find ourselves. I wanted to write this to share that it can get better...it does get better...it will get better. You just have to keep hoping. Hope was the only thing that kept me going.
To go into it, my previous job was an absolute mess. It had been a sinking ship for years due to bad management. I started looking for jobs in May 2022 to try to get out before the ship went down. I had a few interviews in the first few months, and I thought that the job search would be over quite quickly. Boy was I wrong. The interviews obviously didn't lead to a job and the worst part of the interview process was the ghosting. I had no idea why I didn't get the job, which was so frustrating.
Flash forward to May 2023. The department still exists but most people have left. The ship sank for me after the boss crossed the line from incompetence to maliciousness, so I quit. Due to the circumstance surrounding my resignation, I was able to get unemployment (thankfully).
So that led to the first few months of unemployment. I was out of a toxic job and had more time to enjoy the summer, and more time to focus on my job search. I looked for jobs by using job boards and submitted cold applications, as I always had. Didn't seem to get any interviews, but was undeterred, spray and pray had worked before.
I attended workshops and networking events hosted by the local employment office, which was nice. I started dipping my toes into learning how to use LinkedIn for networking. Made some interesting connections that way, but honestly for the most part a lot of it was people never checking their LinkedIns and my messages going nowhere. I did have some nice informational interviews with some nice people, but no job prospects.
Fast forward a few months and things are going nowhere. I'm starting to think it's me because I was the common denominator, but thankfully a friend convinced me it wasn't but it was, in fact, a shitty job market. That helped. A lot. But if it wasn't working, and the problem wasn't me, what was?
I started off by changing a few inputs at a time. I pivoted the industry I was looking at to something parallel to what I was looking for. And I pivoted my search a few different times as I explored different industries looking for something that might let me in.
The unemployment money ran out in December, so I made the hard decision of moving in with my parents. I saved a lot of money, but damn those were some dark days. I enjoyed being able to see them more than I'd been able to in the past, but man losing my autonomy was hard. Especially because it seemed like there was no hope in sight. It just didn't seem like it would ever end. But I tried to keep the hope alive, even the smallest ember. I kept pushing.
I reached out to as many people as I could networking, friends, friends of my parents, friends of friends, etc. I reached out to my alma mater asking if there were official resources for alumni, but there weren't and that was frustrating. But I did get in contact with some folks from there who were helpful, including someone who helped me get connected with a career transition workshop. It got me in contact with more people. I started building a job search support community/committee because damn I needed all the help and support I could get.
A big help was a friend was a fan of ChatGPT, and I decided I'd figure out how to use it for resumes, as well as the ATS scanner JobScan, which I got for free from the employment office. I don't know when I learned about the ATS, but learning about what it is and how it works was definitely a lightbulb moment for me.
I started, and perfected, how I used ChatGPT and JobScan to write resumes. My callback rate went up considerably (honestly, not by much, but something like 1% to 5%ish is still a good jump). I know that recruiters and other folks will say the ATS doesn't filter out resumes, sure okay I guess. All I know is cold applications started to become less like a black hole after I started using AI tools to get past their AI tools. So I dunno.
What helped a lot too, is using the search features on LinkedIn. Hiring managers will often (but not as much as I would've liked) post about the jobs they are hiring for. I started looking for those posts and making a comment on it with basically a truncated cover letter: hey I applied I'm excited about the position here's why. I did that mainly because, while LinkedIn premium is a scam, you can't message people without it and this seemed to be better at reaching the right person than a connection request. I noticed that callbacks went up a little more with AI tools + LinkedIn comment.
I started getting interviews. It was a wild time.
And then I eventually got a job. How? Good old fashioned networking, actually.
Remember how I'd started looking for jobs in one industry (and looking to talk to people in that industry) and then pivoted and pivoted again? Someone I connected with during that time passed me on to someone else...who got back to me months and months and months later. Which was actually pretty great because she happened to be hiring at the time, but she didn't tell me before. She told me during our informational interview, which became an informal interview. And she encouraged me to apply. So I did. And then I had an interview and then got a job. Got the offer two day after my one year anniversary of unemployment. I couldn't believe it. I've started it and I still can't believe it happened. It's been a wild time. A fucking wild time.
I don't have the hard numbers of how many apps I submitted because I didn't want to know. But it doesn't matter because cold apps don't work anymore beause these robots and recruiters are playing games with people's lives. Shrug.
All I know is it's always been about the human element. My friends, my job support network, my parents. And the people I connected with on LinkedIn who just happened to be hiring. It's wild how that worked out.
It will for you. You just have to believe. It just takes one yes. Sure, those may be just platitudes, but those platitudes kept me alive long enough to see the other side.
Good luck. Godspeed. Best wishes.

It was a slow burn book. It is a murder mystery with different elements from existing media like Attack on Titan anime, Game of Thrones, maybe Harry Potter (only because of the “dancing” of the letters the mc has as a side-effect from being altered.)
The book is told from the perspective of the Assistant Investigator, Signum Dinios Kol, who’s going through apprenticeship under Immunis Ana Dolabra, an Investigator. Their quest is to solve the murder mystery which is part of a conspiracy, on top of the looming threat from the Leviathans. This what made me interested in reading this book in the first place. I’m fascinated by the idea of Leviathans.
I love Din’s character development and I was falling in love with him when I noticed, based on his interactions with Captain Strovi, that he’s gay though there’s actually no romance in this book.
I love the nature of the death in this book, it’s unique, very interesting. It’s not very thrilling though. The only times I felt a thrill is when they were chasing down a suspect and met a tragic end which made me feel sorry for him and when they revealed who the assassin is and fought her, along with the Leviathan’s arrival.
I recommend this book if you enjoy solving murder mysteries.

No shit, I guessed the piano puzzle for the elevator power before I even watched the tapes. I figured, "Well I can only use 4 notes, so what 4 letter words can possibly fit?" I guessed right immediately. The piano in the haunted mansion was also pretty simple for me. I immediately thought of another puzzle horror game that had a piano-word puzzle, and this game also has a theme of deceit. My first guesa was "facade" and when that didn't work my second guess opened the way forward, making me say: "Get the fuck out of here." Even without brute forcing it, the solutions were pretty obvious. The elevator one had a set of dates which I immediately realized had a sequential order, and seeing how each of them would flash a letter on the screen, I quickly figured out how they expected me to figure this out. I then saw 4 calendars off to the side, each of them having the years on the tapes. Safe to say, that last part was a little overkill for me. For the record, I don't want to say that I'm super smart. I unironically had the bike chain for over an hour before I realized that I was supposed to use it in the dig site, and I didn't see the spot in the diner where the sea monsters were supposed to look, for a solid 5 minutes.

So, I had this ridiculously vivid dream where I had most of everything I wanted, friends, rich husband, nice house, cars, ect... everything was fine ect (actually, took awhile to build up... the whole thing was pretty unexpected, I was in Chicago though, which is weird because I'm kinda unfamiliar with the area and don't like Illinois) but, I was eating at a Chinese restaurant and heard a bunch of popping and commotion outside, so I went out to look and across the street there was a bunch of people standing over this hill looking down at a shootout between 4 guys happening at a wendys. (Two guys on each "side". I ran over, looked at the situation and really wanted to help, so I ran back to the restaurant and grabbed my own pistol. (Notably, except this instance I kept it in a case, I usually have it on me IRL though.) Got back to the hill, and before I ever did anything one of the gunmen looked up, took aim and shot me in the collar bone... (Kinda weird because NONE of the other onlookers got hit or any attention paid to by the shooters, even the ones right on the ground telling the men to stop shooting each other.) I got down on the ground, rolled away, ran back to the Chinese restaurant, grabbed my stuff and went back to my car. Noticed the scene across the street had kinda settled down, so I went back over to check it out, and two of the gunmen were dead, and they were holding a memorial at the Wendy's. (Idk what happened to the other two, or how they managed to set up everything so quickly or where the other two gunmen went...) Apparently, the dead guys were somehow the "good" guys and everyone was upset they were gone (I never got a clear idea on how exactly they were the "good" guys, but im guessing it just had more to do with the fact two people in the communitylost their lives, rather than anything they actually did). I went in, started asking around and was talking to someone about what happened and revealed I'd got shot to them.(Somehow, despite being I'm guessing 9mm, it just kinda broke the skin and fractured my collarbone). She gets upset, starts pointing me out to people, and rather than offering medical assistance or anything everyone just... absolutely hates me for it, yelling, throwing stuff, ect even the police/medical staff. I managed to get away from it and ran back to the Chinese restaurant/my car and went home. I told my husband what happened, and... he hates me too. Told me to pack up, leave, take whatever car I wanted to the bus station and leave it there. I picked what looked similar to a 2023 Mercedes SL63, which apparently had well over 300k miles on it, somehow... realized it wasn't going to last long, so I decided to just go ahead to the bus station (despite REALLY not wanting to do that, I don't like public transportation.) But, my phone was acting up and I couldn't get it to work, so I ended up just leaving the area in the Mercedes, hoping I'd find one eventually. Never found one, drove almost to where I wanted to go, (a town in Indiana that I really like thats like a spiritual second home to me,) and the car gave out. I get out, start walking around town (a town that was weirdly like my current one in NC, I dont like being here), start walking around and find someone who's like "yeah I have car you can take". It's a 3 speed manual, looks similar to a 1937 Dodge D5, painted like a WW2 US airplane, silver and pretty badly rusted (and idk how to drive manual) but I take it, decide not to go to that Indiana town and just start going west. I drive off, having a bit of trouble, but I settle in... the dream starts getting fuzzy, and I wake up.
It was a weird one, and I actually have been considering saying heck with it and leaving everything behind, kinda sick of where I'm at in life. It's a bit much to get into here though. Most of it makes more sense the more I look at it, but I really don't understand the overall significance of the bullet not causing much damage. Like, yeah there was some damage but by the time I got to the Dodge it was pretty much a non-issue.

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