Erebus Krais

A man of noble birth, Krais spent much of his life serving causes of goodness and law, most notably as a warrior and leader of armies. Years of such service took their toll upon him however, and by the time he reached middle age, Krais came to believe he had squandered his life and his youth. With this dark mood upon him, he came to conquer the region known as Barovia, and assumed lordship there, building as the seat of his power the castle Ravenloft. From this position of power and security, he called for members of his family "long unseated from their ancestral thrones" to join him, including a younger brother named Sergei.

Some time after this reunion, the Count himself fell in love with a young Barovian woman, Tatyana, though she rejected his affections in favor of the younger Sergei. Filled with despair and jealousy, and brooding a growing hatred for Sergei, Krais sought magical means to restore his youth. In a moment of desperate frustration, he "made a pact with death - a pact of blood." On the day of Sergei and Tatyana's wedding, Krais murdered his brother and pursued the grieving Tatyana until she flung herself from the walls of Ravenloft. Krais himself was shot down by the arrows of the castle guard. Even so, he did not die, but went on to rule the land of Barovia as a  vampire.

Upon this transformation the entire country vanished from Aletrias, claiming all within who were presumed lost. Over time, strange sightings of a sinister mist where once the country stood drew scholars, adventurers and fortune seekers in, all mysteriously vanishing and never to be seen again. This cycle continued for centuries until just as suddenly as it had disappeared, the entire country formed once more. It was revealed that in making his pact, Erebus had doomed the country to existence within a demi-plane where it had had remained until a band of adventurers broke the cycle, defeating Erebus Krais and the entity that possessed him and freeing the cursed land.