Revendreth

Revendreth, Court of the Venthyr, is one of the infinite realms of the Shadowlands founded by Sire Denathrius and inhabited by the Venthyr Covenant. It is a land of gothic spires and dark secrets, and no soul wishes to end up here. Souls sent here by the Arbiter tend to be prideful or have some other flaw preventing them from serving in or going to one of the other realms, and they come here to atone for their sins and hopefully be redeemed, as the alternative is being cast into the Maw. It is the duty of the vampiric venthyr to prepare the souls—through unimaginable torment. Although the realm is mostly shrouded in darkness, there are parts of Revendreth where light has broken through the clouds and seared the earth. Many of the souls in Revendreth are vulnerable to the light and have been chained up in these areas.

Description
''A realm of looming keeps and gothic villages, Revendreth is home to the venthyr, the harvesters of sin. The wretched souls who arrive here may find penance for their misdeeds... or merely indulge the appetites of their keepers.''

''Souls burdened with prodigious pride in life are sent to Revendreth at their end. Anima is tormented from them to feed the appetites of their keepers. Learned humility was supposed to be the destiny of the souls entrusted to our care. I fear those archaic ways no longer have a place within Revendreth. Pride: It is the principal reason mortal souls are delivered unto Revendreth, we exist to relieve them of that troublesome sin and to be blessed by their anima.

The major vista of the region is its gigantic castle, sprawling over a misty forest. The castle's entry ward itself is suffering disrepair, as are the buildings and structures across the grounds, as the region is deprived of new souls and their precious Anima. Sinstones, gravestones with the soul's crimes listed upon it, litter each pathway. Souls sent here can etch these sins off their stones over time as they are prepared for the afterlife by the venthyr. The fog-filled forest is where the venthyr schedule hunts on tortured souls, sending them out with a false sense of hope and security, then track them down and "humble" them. The catacombs are where souls are locked away for eons until sufficiently humbled to warrant being transferred to the Halls of Atonement. There all souls must go through the Ritual of Absolution at least once to be cleansed of sin fully, and the Ritual of Judgment for their final fate to be decided. Some souls, however, are kept in Castle Nathria for the nobles to enjoy. Another notable area is the Ember Ward, found on the western side of the region. There the light has actually broken through and is extremely harmful to Revendreth's residents. The crumbled walls and fragmented landscape is due to the anima drought and devourers.

The lowlands Revendreth is where Sorrowvine is found, a dark and evil vine, used by the Covenants for various ends, such as potions, venoms, and spells.

Throughout the zone, Sinrunners or Dredbat Statues are found to provide ground/flying transport along fixed paths for 5 Infused Ruby. There are also various Carriages throughout the zone that go on a fixed circular path that allow you jump on and off at your discretion. If you join the Venthyr Covenant, you will also gain access to their Transportation Network of Blood Mirrors that connect Sinfall with various elevators throughout the zone.

Getting around
There are multiple transport systems in Revendreth. To use some of them you must have Infused Ruby, which can be collected after completing The Endmire (quest).

To be able to more readily see and find the ones that use Infused Rubies, the dredgers Foreman Scug in Stonevigil Overlook and Mats in Sanctuary of the Mad sells a Stolen Map of Infused Ruby Network for 5 Infused Ruby that lasts one day and the Enchanted Map of Infused Ruby Network for 100 Infused Ruby that is permanent. Both items grant a permanent buff Infused Ruby Tracking making the Sinrunners, Dredbat Statues, and dredger infused ruby vendors have a pink-purple aura; it does not let them show up on your map or mini-map.

Flight masters

 * Courier Gevoraal - Pridefall Hamlet
 * Courier Rehkaash - Absolution Crypt
 * Courier Tarehaar - Old Gate
 * Courier Rokalai - Darkhaven
 * Courier Skraal - Menagerie of the Master
 * Courier Rabatur - Wanecrypt Hill
 * Courier Chip - Charred Ramparts
 * Courier Dreadcarrier - Dominance Keep
 * Courier Shaal - Sanctuary of the Mad
 * Courier Snaggle - Sinfall (requires Venthyr Covenant)

Carriages
Carriages are free to ride.

Sinrunners
Sinrunners cost 5 Infused Ruby.

Dredbat Statue
Dredbats cost 5 Infused Ruby.

Notes and trivia

 * During development, the initial premise for Revendreth was to explore the origins of vampirism and blood magic, pulling inspiration from  and other classic tales. This was then mixed with Greek mythology, Gothic architecture, and Blizzard concept art of tombstones for Shadowlands. Early on, the artists imagined that a vast castle covered in graves and mausoleums would make up a large portion of the zone, as they wanted to capture the ancient feel of real-world architecture that's built to commemorate the dead and outlast time.
 * One idea early in the ideation phase was that Revendreth would have actual veins running through the ground and leeching from the inhabitants on the surface, as a way to capture the zone's vampiric theme in the environment itself. While the artists moved away from this idea, the Revmoat subzone—where subterranean roots lie completely exposed and leak energy filling the air with blue mist—shows that the energies beneath the ground are not like the ones found in a traditional Azerothian zone. The subzone mentioned in this article probably became the Endmire we see in-game.
 * The borders around Revendreth show collapsed walls and floating islands with ruins, indicating the region was larger in the past and that somehow it has been deteriorating, probably due to the drought of anima.
 * The Maw visual in the zone skybox changes after The Master of Lies from an orange/black vortex to a much larger red/black vortex with a river of venthyr anima pouring from the Menagerie of the Master to the Maw. After killing Lady Inerva Darkvein, including on LFR difficulty, the river of venthyr anima is removed as canonically, the anima flow has stopped.
 * The skybox also changes as you channel anima through the Venthyr Covenant. In particular, the Ember Ward skybox gets darker and more clouds appear to block out the light once you channel anima to the Shrouded Asylum.
 * Denizens of Revendreth are not allowed to enter Bastion via Oribos and must use one of their mirror portals to access it instead. According to Theotar, they may even be killed on sight in Bastion.
 * Revendreth's environmental assets, and in particular the Ember Ward, was designed by Kuko Cai, Jessica Dinh, Shem Dawson, Jeffrey Duval, Anthony Xenakis, Ryan Cooper, and Kevin Young. The Castle Nathria raid assets were also developed by Jessica Dinh, Jeff Chang (Sun King's Salvation encounter space and misc. interstitial spaces), Andrew Matthews (The Leaching Vaults Wing), Kevin Young (Council of Blood and Stone Legion Generals encounter spaces), and Anthony Xenakis (Artificer Xy'mox encounter space). Many thanks to Matt O'Connor for raid concepts and color key, Mats Myrvold for raid props, and Ethan Zink for FX.

Inspiration

 * There are multiple references to the, or other Catholic themes, as well as general references in western media or more.
 * Castle Nathria is based upon media depictions of "Dracula's castle".
 * Some Venthyr bear vampire references with regards to historical legends, popular TV shows, and video game franchises. See Venthyr for more information.
 * For cultural inspirations of Denathrius, see Denathrius.
 * The name Venthyr itself is likely a combination of the Ventrue, a prominent vampire clan from  and a number of Eastern European names for vampires or vampire-like creatures, such as.
 * The sins of Revendreth of each Medallion seems to be based off of the Roman Catholic Seven Deadly Sins
 * The Ritual of Absolution in the Halls of Atonement seems to be a spin on the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession), given a soul must willingly confess their sins and want redemption in order for their sins to be released from them properly.
 * In Dante's Purgatory, he envisions the Catholic teaching of Purgatory to specifically purge these seven sins through a punishment that parallels the nature of the sin, e.g. the prideful are forced to carry the weight of their pride as giant stone tablets, much like Revendreth's sinstones.
 * Likewise, while the sin of Sloth is absent in Revendreth, the punishment of the Forest Ward (dread) is running away from the hunters as a form of penitence, which is comparable to how the slothful are punished in Purgatory as well.
 * Within the Military Ward one can see souls floating drowned in the water throughout the area. This could be another Dante reference as in Inferno, the souls of the wrathful are punished in Hell by drowning in the River Phlegethon, the River of Fire, and the Military Ward is ruled by the Harvester of Wrath.
 * Another Inferno reference may be the Ember Ward, which is the site of a war between the forces of Revendreth and the forces of the Light who invaded in retaliation, as it being a desert with burning ash weather effect closely resembles the punishment of the Seventh Circle (the violent).
 * The other Ember Ward weather effect of a sandstorm with ash also resembles the punishment of Wrath in Purgatory.
 * The idea of a fountain of blood-like anima involved in the absolution rituals of sins may be rooted in the medieval imagery of the blood of Christ pouring into a fountain common in Europe, such as the The Blood Miracle of the Heiligenblut Parish Church.