Vampires

Vampires diverged from humanity in ancient days. Their founding members were driven by ambition and the will to dominate, finding an escape from death at a very grave cost. They were cast out of the old Comati empire, exiled and hunted for what they had become. Since then, they have lived largely in the shadows, hiding from the wrath of humanity. Far from meek, however, they often exert unseen influence over the dealings of their prey, affecting change to better suit their own circumstances and motives. Vampires are a threat to all life in the Midlands, though few realize how widespread or damaging they are.

History

The legacy of Vampires begins in a small province of the once great Comati empire. Its ruler Vel, a relatively unimportant noble, held in him a deep ambition for power and immortality. Before magic was properly harnessed and learned by humans, his court was one where pioneers of the art could flourish. He gained a reputation as a patron for all manner of occultists, from minor magicians to charlatans who claimed to have otherworldly powers. While many of these were fraudsters, a notable few actually proved promising in their talents. Chief among these was Numesie, an alchemist and wizard who claimed he could manipulate the dead. He boasted the gift of prophecy, and regularly held seances to commune with spirits in the afterlife. His role as a channel to the afterlife, and his promises of being able to stave off death, made him immensely important to Vel’s desires for power and everlasting life. The pair became inseparable, and Numesie was soon the chief advisor to the noble’s court. Eventually, Numesie claimed he had created the elixir of life, which would give Vel exactly what he wished for. The nobleman drank of the draught, which seemed to deliver what was promised. For some hours afterwards, Vel felt incredibly strong and potent, declaring his quest a success.

But as the liquor ran its course, Vel deteriorated. By that night, he was a husk of a man, withered and decayed. By morning, he had disintegrated altogether. Numesie was captured and convicted of poisoning the ruler, put to death by a court that had long viewed him suspiciously. The saga was seen as put to rest, and Vel’s daughter Vibia took his throne. She would prove to be just as ambitious as her father, and worked to push and expand her dominion into other parts of the empire. Under her rule, and that of several key advisors, their province of Parmar became a much wealthier and more powerful realm. And yet, despite her successes, her father’s fears of being lost to history gnawed at her. She began to fear the end of her life, and became consumed with finding a way to prolong her existence.

Her answer came from within her own court. Numesie had not been alone in his endeavour to serve Vel, and his disciples had largely managed to survive his own execution. One of these such acolytes was the advisor Charu, who had become an important councillor for Vibia after the death of her father. The man had continued to work on Numesie’s work in secret, perfecting the formula for the fabled elixir. Confident he had reached his goal, he revealed himself to his overlord. Her response was mixed. Having condemned the sorcerer for her father’s death, she felt betrayed by his continued legacy. And still, the lure of eternal life proved nearly too strong to resist. Ultimately, she chose to drink of the potion, but forced Charu to take it before her to prove its quality. Charu’s test was successful, surviving through the night. He had succeeded where Numesie had failed, and Vibia was eager to follow him down the path of undeath. The pair would, in a secret ritual, become the first Vampires in the world, cheating death at the cost of their humanity.

Greatly empowered by the magic bound in the formula, the two faced an adjustment to their newfound reality. Both cloistered and secluded themselves from the world, hiding from the sun and miserable in their existence. Vibia was attended by loyal handmaidens, who were the first to feel the savagery of a feeding vampire. Sustained off their blood, Vibia eventually emerged from her isolation and faced her court a new and rejuvenated ruler. Her power over the physical world felt unlimited, and she sought political power to match. Made permanently young and beautiful by the elixir, she coupled this with a bloodthirsty ruthlessness that overshadowed any of her previous ambitions. Her goals of expansion became grander, and her sights seemed set on the throne of the kingdom itself. She worked to bring more of her courtiers into her newfound undeath, using Charu’s rituals to create a cabal of loyal lesser vampires. Her most powerful servant, the bodyguard Aivas, she gave the gift of the elixir itself. The principled and disciplined captain initially refused, though he would undergo the process at the demand of his queen. He would be disgusted with the transformation, and struggle with his newfound identity for much of his life.

Ultimately, the vampiric elite of their province attracted the attention of others in the realm. Calls for the King to stamp out the abominations were strong, and soon the entire kingdom was rallied against the warmongering Parmarans. The fight was difficult, and though the vampires acquitted themselves tremendously in the battles, their province would fall. After a long and bloody siege, the vampires were scattered to the winds, and any trace of them within Comati lands would be destroyed. The province would carry a stain of their legacy until the Orcs of the Sekani conquered the region, scattering the Comati even further and destroying much of their heritage.

Blood Dragons

The Blood Dragons are a cult of vampires who strive for martial excellence. They fight to attain the ideals set forward by their found, Aivas, the greatest warrior to have ever lived. When the first vampires were turned, Aivas was Parmar’s captain and military commander, chief guard of Queen Vibia herself. When he was turned, he resisted the thirst for blood as much as he could, encouraging other vampires in the court to feed only on outcasts of criminals. Instead, he watched his ruler descend into decadence and vice, gradually losing any connection to the proud heritage and people he served. For his part, he threw himself into discipline and training, focusing all of his efforts and energy on becoming the greatest warrior his powers would permit. He refused to turn any followers to vampirism himself, instead relying on his loyal warriors to keep his own impulses in check.

When the Comati came to overthrow Vibia, it was Aivas who led the defence of the city. Greatly outnumbered, he and his soldiers tried to hold the walls valiantly throughout the siege. As the Comati spilled into the city, however, he sacrificed his principles to try and hold on to what little he could. He turned his most stalwart lieutenants to vampirism, and they made a final stand in the inner sanctum of Vibia’s palace. Together, they defended the court for days, tireless as they faced the onslaught of foes. Upon realizing the other vampires had long since fled the city, Aivas saw what destruction the war had wrought. The city around him lay devastated, the Comati having burned and looted their way through its neighbourhoods. His anguish at having lost everything he loved was beaten only by the betrayal of his masters and those surrounding them. A bitter hatred filled him; directed at the living for their eager destruction of a city of innocents, and at the vampires for their decadent rule and callous abandonment. He and his men fled the city and even the kingdom, cutting their way through any who blocked their path.

They rode north, sating their bloodlust on the humans and Orcs that lived between the Comati and what would become the Midlands. From there, Aivas hardened in his decision to leave and solidified his purpose; disdaining all life in the pursuit of martial perfection. He and his men sought out ever greater challenges, converting worthy fighters to their cause. This quest culminated in an epic duel with a red dragon, Aivas besting the drake after three days of combat. He drank from the blood of the dragon, and found himself cured of the affliction he had long suffered with. Freed from the curse of vampiric bloodthirst, he resolved to withdraw from the world and let his followers pursue their own quests. He instilled in them the desire to follow his footsteps, and made each take an oath in the shadow of the dragon’s corpse. He left them then to make their own way in the world, disappearing off to the west.

His acolytes, for the most part, embody the ideals that he set down. They sought out the pinnacle of their own martial abilities, facing down more and more powerful opponents. They also carried with them the same disdain for life that their founder had, seeing humans and other races as mere cattle for them to hunt and cut down. Most avoid life among the living, preferring a more detached and itinerant lifestyle to hone their craft. Yet the ascetic discipline that Aivas practiced is not necessary, and many travel with a few of their own kind. While all Blood Dragons are immensely powerful warriors, they do each have additional skills that they have continued to hone into their undeath. Capable leaders and rulers, some have felt compelled to master stewardship as well as combat. The modern chaos in the Midlands has given some of these vampires an opportunity to put these skills to use, and the bloodline is particularly prolific in the region.

Notable Figures

The Red Duke

The Red Duke, his real name is unknown, is a Blood Dragon who once tried to conquer the Midlands. He made a name for himself as an unmatched swordsman and brutal killer, as praised for the former as maligned for the latter He attracted many followers, each seeking out the glory he could bring them. This band grew into an army, which was defeated by a force of Koraldur. Put down by a great paladin, he was buried and forgotten. Five hundred years later, he rode out of his grave, again plaguing the more established realms of the Midlands. A coalition was once again put together to defeat him, barely scraping out a victory before his forces grew too powerful. This time, however, he was not killed but instead pursued deep into the Obertal. There, he and his followers still remain, harassing travellers and villages in the forest. Some adventurers seek him out, eager to put his legend to rest. Most get lost in the woods, but those few who do find him have yet to return.

Cel Vilantes, Grandmaster of Blood Keep

Second only to Aivas in power is Cel, the greatest disciple of the Blood Dragon patriarch. It was he who took control of the bloodline after their leader departed, giving his brethren structure and order. He shares his master’s pursuit of perfection, but carries other ambitions with him. His desire for leadership and power have grown in Aivas’ absence, and he has used the Blood Dragons to achieve these goals. His loyal warriors have carved out a fiefdom in the mountains near to Arran, which once belonged to a sect of Koraldur’s knights. Renaming the castle Blood Keep, Cel used the fort as a base for his own knightly order. He clings to structure and discipline, tolerating no deviation from what he sees as the proper vampiric code. His keep was cast down by a group of adventurers some three hundred years ago, and Cel fled in dishonour. In his exile he nursed a hatred for those mortals who would drive him from his home. He seeks to rebuild his keep and order to its former glory, and take his vengeance on those who would presume to rule.

Uta Ballenstadt, The Brass Huntress

An Arran noblewoman, Uta was born to an old family in the March. Generations of Ballenstadts had been dedicated to the war against the Routot, and Uta was to be no exception. She trained with her brothers to become a capable warrior, exceeding even their capabilities to become a well-known fighter. Over the course of a raid against the Routot, she and her companions faced down a mysterious warrior who bested nearly all of them over a long night of combat. Uta was left alone against the figure, ultimately falling to his blows. The figure revealed himself to be a Blood Dragon to a dying Uta, and offered her a chance to live again. Taking the opportunity, Uta became a vampire alongside her mentor. She could never fully embrace the ideals of the Blood Dragons, however, instead channelling her hatred for humanity against the Routot specifically. She has since formed her own small retinue of knights dedicated to removing the Routot from the March, going about their task with absolute brutality. Uta wears armour accented with bronze, with pale skin and dark hair. Yellowed eyes stare balefully out at the world, with a vicious smile on her face. Her complexion is alabaster, smooth and unblemished. Those in her retinue know of her condition, though rumours of her unnatural traits abound among the Marchers.

Parmarans

Parmarans are a bloodline of vampires who focus on courtly and diplomatic manipulations. They are all descended from the ancient queen Vibia and her handmaidens, who ruled over the province of Parmar in the Comati Kingdom. She was the second vampire created by the elixir and its most powerful, combining her own ambitions with the strength it provided. She spread her gifts amongst her loyal subjects, enthralling them to her and creating a cabal of capable and unnaturally beautiful women. These progeny learned at the foot of their queen, inheriting her cunning and malice through her education.

When the Comati sought to overthrow the vampire rulers, only a few of these handmaidens survived. They fled with their queen into the wilds, forced to disband and go their separate ways in the world. They travelled individually as strange hermit women and exotic concubines to chieftains, making their way in the world however they could. Yet they were connected by their queen’s desires and goals, tugged by the threads of her machinations. Giving prophetic advice, they influenced and shaped the fortunes of those they enthralled, slowly gathering power to one day return Parmara to its former glory.

This power has grown considerably since those early days, a network of vampires in key roles around the world. At its centre lies Queen Vibia, alive and well in her stolen hold in the mountains. She and her sisterhood seized the mountain fortress from the Dwarves centuries ago, and from here plot their designs. Vibia has remade the stoic Dwarf architecture to better resemble her Parmaran palace, so accurately that it seems to be plucked from history. From this peak she plots her schemes, pulling on the distant threads of her followers to cause repercussions across the continent. Her children range far and wide, in courts and positions across the mortal realms. They ferry information back to their beloved Queen, keeping her informed of events and enacting her will as need be.

Parmarans take great care to preserve their hidden identities and allegiances, using all of the guile and tricks they possess to remain undetected. The Midlands are especially rife with the touch of this bloodline, its shifting and chaotic courts a playground for the master schemers. Vampiric courtiers can be found in most of the princely domains, hiding in the shadows to accomplish unknown goals. In the great human kingdoms too, they lurk and plot, shifting events in favour of their distant mistress.

Notable Figures

Queen Vibia

Former Queen of Parmara, she was one of the first vampires, begetting a reign of undeath over the ancient province. She was the one who spread vampirism beyond her and Charu, taking her role as ruler of all vampires. Her reign was marred by unbridled decadence and a spiral into corruption, drawing the attention of the Comati King and ultimately leading to her downfall. Forced into exile, she sought every opportunity to restore herself to power, using her own skills and those of her loyalists to reach this goals. She used her influence to destroy the kingdom of Calema, established by her brother and his own bloodline. She also used her thralls to scour the Dwarves from one of their holds, making her home in its ruins. Her palace is made to look like her former homeland, and is guarded by a legion of undead sentinels. From this pinnacle she looks down over the mortal realms, using her children to sow discord and ruin among their kingdoms.

Sabina, Queen of Blood

When the province of Parmara fell, Vibia fled with her handmaidens into the world, travelling north to live among the people there. Her attendants were scattered, tasked with gathering influence and power to carry out their queen’s whims. Yet for some, this was not enough. These few Parmarans saw in their queen’s downfall a weakness, and sought to exploit it with their own power. Sabina was one such of these rebellious Paramarans, who used her strength and knowledge to usurp and dominate several hill tribes. Ruling with an iron fist, she earned a reputation for brutality, known as the Queen of Blood. She pushed the limits of her power beyond even those of other vampires, merging them with ruinous sorcery and demonic pacts. Her downfall came at the hands of her sisters and their own human puppets, toppling her reign before it could rival Queen Vibia’s. In defeat, her body was dismembered and scattered, with her limbs sent to the corners of the world. And yet she refused to die outright, her spirit seeking to be reborn. It influences and corrupts those mages foolish enough to draw on it for power, swirling around dark places in the world.

Charans

Charans are a lonely and isolated order of vampire, living a hermetic existence tucked away in caves and towers across the world. Charu was their patriarch, the high seer to Queen Vibia, and the acolyte of Numesie. He was the only one of the magician’s disciples to remain loyal after Vel’s death, continuing his teacher’s legacy and work even after Numesie was put to death. He hid his disdain for the court that surrounded him and served Vibia faithfully. Ultimately, he presented her with his perfected elixir of life, drinking it before her to prove its potency. While it would bestow them both great power, this act would ultimately damn the entire province of Parmara to ruin. As Vibia and her court fell into decadence, Charu found her could not control the strong and ambitious Queen. Spurning the indulgences of her court, he isolated himself to better understand and complete Numesie’s philosophies. Building his own sect of followers, they worked to further the sorcerer’s goals of domination over life and death.

When the Comati rose up against the Parmarans, Charu was quick to flee. Taking his own acolytes with him, they sequestered themselves far from the reach of any mortal. He began work on a great grimoire, planning to collect all of the knowledge about vampirism and necromancy within its pages. Steeping it with ritualistic magic, he also recorded his own mad prophecies; visions of a world of bones, populated only by the dead and ruled by his bloodline. Isolated as they were, Charu and his followers sought to master their cravings for blood, sustaining themselves with dark magics they controlled. This, while successful, robbed them of nutrition. Their bodies twisted and mutated into dried husks, grotesque mockeries of the lives they had once lived. Any vampires the bloodline turns inherit this curse as well, undergoing a painful road to undeath.

This dark magic infested their minds as well and, as their forms had become horrific, so too did they sink to madness. One such enraged acolyte was Metus, an apprentice of Charu who slew and ate his master as he slept. Their leader torn from them, and fearing for their own lives under the insane Metus, the rest of the Charans fled into the wider world beyond. Each suffered from their own paranoid delusions, fearing their brethren sought to destroy their own fragments of research and study. As time marched on, the crazed rantings that would come to pass as communications between them gradually grew silent.

Each Charan works towards essentially the same goals; to dominate and rules a kingdom of pure undead subject to their every whim. While their aim is the same, they rarely collaborate, each too paranoid of their kin’s motives to trust them for any length of time. They fear the desires of their own apprentices, and yet must keep some servants for when they require feeding. Most of their waking hours are spent mastering magic and other natural philosophies, with intense interest in astronomy, alchemy or any science of engineering field. They experiment and examine all manner of life, creating necromantic abominations in an effort to create and perfect the living. Most Charans see themselves as gods, and seek to improve upon the forms that other inferior gods have created. They have found purchase in the isolated parts of the world, thriving where they can remain isolated and unbothered.

Notable Figures

Rathmeter the Unliving

A powerful Charan, Rathmeter discovered the power in several standing stones and ley lines that criss-cross the world. Seeking to steal this power for himself, he has had his wight and zombie followers uproot any they come across. With each one, his power has grown, and so too has his legion of the damned. His targets are often near Elf lands, especially those of the Wood Elves. As such, he makes his home in northern Osse, just across the mountains from the Elf forests of the Kochi. Aside from their magical structures, he takes a keen interest in the Elves themselves. Seeking to find the root of their inherent magic abilities, he kidnaps and experiments on any he can get his hands on. This has made him a great enemy of the Elf settlements in the region, but his concentrated power has thus kept them at bay.

Tuages the Dreadlord

Tuages is a Charan who seeks control of all knowledge. His servants roam the lands, collecting and seeking out artifacts to earn his favour. He believes that any scrap of information could bring the key to restoring Parmara in his own image, and goes about his quest voraciously. His greatest desire is to control the Tome of Wisdom in Osse, housed within the temple of Korin there. The ancient book contains all of Korin’s insights, which Tuages believes could bring him ultimate power. He wishes to supplant the goddess, being worshipped for his own knowledge rather than her for her wisdom. For this reason, he hates any of her followers and seeks to undo the cult. He is amassing a great army of undead with the aim of conquering Osse and controlling the book there.

Veiove

The Veiove are a beastly and feral bloodline of vampires. They are the progeny of Vea, younger brother of Queen Vibia herself. Vea was barred by his sister from drinking the elixir and joining his sister in undeath, as fearful as she was of his usurping her power. He managed to steal some of the draught, however, and turned to vampirism along with her court. Vibia’s rage knew no bounds, and Vea was banished from Parmara for his disobedience. Exiled, he travelled across the Comati kingdom, living the life of a beggar to avoid suspicion. He watched as Parmara fell, a spectator to the destruction of his birthright. He left the Kingdom after the onslaught of the Sekani, travelling with other refugees as they fled to safer lands in the north. Sensing an opportunity, he gathered support among them and established his own kingdom. Calema was its capital, south of the modern Midlands.

Here, he usurped the holdings of barbaric mountain tribes, replacing their nobility with his own followers. Vea proved to be an excellent steward, growing and shaping his new kingdom into a worthy successor of the collapsed Comati homeland. His subjects hailed him as an immortal ruler, his vampirism an open secret among those in his court. He was careful not to revel in their devotion, eager to avoid the corruption that had caused his sister’s end long before. He surrounded himself with people on merit, raising those worthy to vampirism to serve him eternally. As the kingdom’s prosperity grew, it attracted the attention of other vampires who had fled the Comati’s fall. Many resented the success of Vea, and began to plot its downfall. Vibia and her handmaidens especially saw fit to destroy the kingdom, silently guiding threats against it.

Vea and his nobles fought valiantly to protect their kingdom, but they were unable to resist the foes arrayed against them. The hill tribes they faced were rabble, but with so many of them, the kingdom faltered and fell. At a critical point, an invasion of Orcs arrived from the south, flooding the kingdom and forcing Vea back to his capital. With their forces weakened, the strain put on the vampire patriarch was immense. He faced down a brace of powerful Orc chieftains at the gates of Calema, but was finally cut down by a blast of magic. Despite his sacrifice, the city would fall. The last bastion of vampirism would be scattered again.

Those Veiove who survived the fall were scattered into the world. Alone, they were hunted by the Parmarans who sought to eliminate their line from the world. Vea’s surviving thralls fled the Orcs and headed north, where they were harried by the influence of Vibia’s progeny. Here they were forced into hiding, carving out a living in caves and tunnels as they avoided the predations of other vampires. Over time, they became so terrified of exposure and extermination they fled even further from the light of the world.

Able to feed only on hermits, lepers and vermin, the Veiove lost what had once been their noble countenance. Their feral lifestyle transformed them into beasts, scurrying about in the dark and scraping out an existence amid the dregs of the world. Despite all of this, their once prosperous kingdom still lives on in the memory of some. So too does a burning rage and desire to restore themselves to power. Their drive to retain elements of their lordly pasts has followed them to the modern day, and they maintain sad parodies of their courts far from the prying eyes of the living. Outcasts and thralls serve their masters, whose hulking forms juxtapose with the regalities of courtly life.

Vea’s greatest quality, aside from his gift of stewardship, was his physical stature. A massive man, his strength gave him an edge over the other vampires. His progeny carry with them this boon, feeling themselves empowered beyond even the usual boons of undeath. Their bestial nature has given them distended jaws, resembling wolves, with sharp claws and teeth. Rippling muscles bulge at their skin, and some are even forced onto all fours as their skin tightens. The Midlands has naturally become a home for these castaways, though they can be found in urban underworlds across the continent. They thrive when able to live in obscurity, padding their own retinues with other outcasts of all types.

Notable Figures

Phamu, The Black Prince

Phamu is a Veiove who has taken control of a small part of the Middle Princes. Borrowing some subtle manipulation from the Parmarans, and intent to succeed in developing his own realm, he has come to power slowly. Casting himself as a romantic hero, he has paid bards and storytellers to cast his deeds in a good light. These minstrels talk of a man beset with a strange curse, deforming him into something hideous despite his kind and just nature. Under the title the Black Prince, he claimed a castle and small fiefdom for himself. He appears on the castle only at night, and speaks only to his most trusted followers and thralls. The public only catches glimpses of him as he rides out in defence of his realm, visiting justice only on his enemies. A heavy cloak billows about him as he rides through the night, and few can claim to have gotten a good look at him. With his dedication to security, and the cultivated romance surrounding him, he has amassed a sizeable amount of loyal subjects who flock to his rule. Phamu has encouraged this, building his strength and seeking to expand his holdings in the region.

Taitle, the Ghoul King

Taitle is a Veiove who has taken to the catacombs beneath Sarzig. The crypts and sewers beneath the city crawl with his host of ghouls and other undead, camped among the darkest recesses of the labyrinthine tunnels. His agents travel the breadth of the region, recruiting any they can to their master’s cause. Every day his ranks swell, kidnapping sailors and other travellers for his growing army. Taitle was once one of Vea’s top councillors, and he harbours incredible hatred for the Parmaran’s hand in destroying his realm. His army isn’t to restore any former glory or conquer the living, but is instead destined to scour the Parmarans from the earth. His ultimate goal is Vibia’s seat in the mountains, once he can bring his full forces to bear. In the meantime, he works to unmask and reveal their machinations across the world, aiding and assisting mortals to rout his rivals.