Vampire
Vampire | |
---|---|
Creator | Xero |
Information | |
Average Height | N/A (Based on Race of Origin) |
Average Lifespan | Eternal (Feral and Transcended) 100 Years (Scarred) |
Hair Colours | N/A (Based on Race of Origin) |
Eye Colours | N/A (Based on Race of Origin) |
Skin Colours | N/A (Based on Race of Origin) |
Current Leader | Sangesse Elise Eschalot |
Capital | Ischyros Pinnacle Rougeholme |
Continent | Voi'Runil (Scarred Predominant) Imperia (Feral and Transcended Predominant) Other (Lesser Presence) |
Following the major defeat of the first Human kingdom of Luxfordia, Phantom King Vandrash Aspectum Luxford would call on his subjects to close off the kingdom's walls and prepare for a great war against their most prominent enemy: Chronos. Though that war never came, the King would continue to refuse to bring his people out of hiding as fear and paranoia was planted deep within his psyche at that point. He would become complacent and insane, exerting an iron will on his kingdom that practically starved his people over time.
Though there would be some that could escape the mad king's grasp, most would not and their fates would be entwined with that of the old kingdom's. From the shadows of a planet long lost to the Cosmos, a sect of Veryn who had abandoned their divine role as jailers of Demonkind had been able to infiltrate the nation and plant the seeds of corruption into its populace. Not long after their touch corruptive magics, the people who the Phantom King made into pawns suddenly suffered a transformation unlike anything he had ever seen: First a wave of mass death flooded the streets of the ice-covered city; then, those lifeless bodies left behind suddenly began to move again, puppeteered by a dark force and twisted into husks plump full of sanguine energies; lastly, they hunted, feeding upon those still alive until none were left standing, the roads and city walls painted red with the guts and blood of its citizens.
Vandrash did not relent to the rise of undead monstrosities in his kingdom, even if his own royal guard started to lose faith in him. He would stand heroically in the face of certain doom when a swarm of vengeful, blood-thirsty Vampires broke down the gate of his pinnacle and raided his sanctum, hellbent upon ending the reign of the first Human King.
Vandrash would die fighting the undead horde but before his inevitable demise he would slay a dozen of his enemies singlehandedly. The Veryn in charge of this, a faction known as the Bloodwing Justicars, studied the effectiveness and made appropriate changes following the fall of the Phantom King.
Centuries later, the first generation of Vampires have all but a few died out due to an insufficient access to living blood, the primarily source of sustenance to their kind. Those who have survived have also flourished and prospered, growing stronger in undeath as well as regaining the intelligence of their living selves. They have become undead beings capable of thought even when faced with an eternal hunger and while most of them have remained in Ischyros holding onto the lives they had three thousand years ago, newer generations have managed to break the mould and develop a cultural society in the dark corners of mortalkind, using powerful disguises to blend in with society. These "Uncorrupt Vampires" are not spawned from death but rather altered while they are still alive, the primarily method of it coming from a forbidden act of breeding with a Veryn which not only guarantees a child born with a lust of blood but there is also a chance that it transforms the partner of the Veryn into one.
The Divine Scar
Roughly three centuries ago the Luxfordian Royal Fleet departed from Imperia with the desire to invade and conquer the lands of the Bjorn by brute force, however their attack had not even begun before they were taken down and cast into the Voi'Runil Vortex by Elder Kura's counter-offensive. The Luxfordians would survive their crash-landing onto the cosmos-corrupt planet and quickly splintered into three factions each with ideals opposing the other two.
Arnold Swordbract, High General of the fleet and personal bodyguard of Prince Larothron, eldest of High King Edward Greymoore IV, was opposed to fighting alongside the maddened and bloodlusted young Prince and as a result was banished from his royal presence alongside any who defended Arnold. Angered by the brash and ungrateful attitude of the King's son, Arnold took those who sided with him to find shelter from the ceaseless infighting, sorrow and hopelessness gnawing at their minds. From the northern cliffs overwatching the prairie when the war took place, Arnold oversaw the building of a fortified encampment named Light's Peak, a place which he purified with his holy magics and turned it into concentrated soil, easing the acidic pain that was standing on Voi'Runil's land.
They begun to call themselves the Elated, a group dedicated to piercing the dark skies and reaching with their voices to the heavens so that the Gods may bring down upon them sanctuary and salvation.
As the months turned into years and the war raged on, Arnold would fall into a deep depression within his makeshift home, leaving it only to hold holy sermons at the Light's Peak Chapel gathering those who believed in him in holy prayer, yet no matter how hard they tried or how loudly they sung, the Gods could not hear them anymore, they were forsaken, banished in a dark eternal storm where only the damned wander. Arnold would drink himself to death in a fit of sorrow of hopelessness and in his place a new, mysterious figure took the stage - Sir Pyrian Night, a man with deep-black hair and crimson-red eyes.
Pyrian was a charmer, a lover who saw bewitched by one of Arnold's most loyal and pure followers: Elise Eschalot, a maiden who had dedicated her whole short life to worship. Pyrian wished to make her his own and attempted to do so by becoming a hardworking leader of the Elated, leading the Sermons that Arnold once did all to see Elise's bright smile in every gathering he hosted. His efforts would pay off and eventually the two began to see each other on equal footing, standing toe-to-toe as High Priest and High Priestess. One day he would bring Elise to the outskirts of their village so that he could reveal his true self to her, revealing himself as no Human but a Veryn. When she witnessed this, she was disgusted and quickly chastised him for his deception, saying she will never love him as a monster.
The two clashed their magics, though Pyrian was unwilling to fight, and Elise would lose her life as a result, pierced through the heart by a sanguine spike. Desperate for her love, Pyrian raised her into a state of undeath where she'd become a mindless and bloodthirsty vampire. He knew, from the knowledge of the past, that a Vampire would become stronger and live an intelligent existence in due time... she just needed sustenance to give her the time necessary. Pyrian returned to Light's Peak and used his influence to gather all those who followed him and led them on an expedition north for a "holy mission", only to allow his risen lover to butcher and cannibalize their bodies, feeding off of their remains like an insatiable beast incapable of thought beyond primal instinct.
Elise would find the needed satiation in her slain brothers and sisters, weeping and crying as she devoured their bodies one after another. Pyrian, who watched all this unfold, captured those who were saved from the slaughter so they could be fed to her at a later point, using vile and forbidden magics to artificially extend their lifespans for over two centuries. This intense magic coupled with the heartache for his slain lover slowly killed Pyrian yet it would pay off in the end - After two centuries of feeding her own kin to her, Elise would reach clarity and regain a semblance of her old self, though wounded and scarred by the atrocities that created her. She surrendered herself to him, lost and confused in a state of uncertainty and sorrow, and Pyrian promised to her that he'll keep her safe.
The love between Pyrian and Elise would spawn countless off-spring in a place called Rougeholme, countless Vampires lusting for blood and fighting amongst one another would roam the streets of this cursed town that their Patriarch and Matriarch watched over. It did not take long for the rest of the Veryn to notice Pyrian's actions and consequences and come to Rougeholme to put an end to his crimes against nature. When the blade was placed upon Pyrian's neck, it would be Elise who stood forward and protested his execution, begging for his and their children's lives to be spared. In a flash of pity, the True Order Veryn withheld the execution but told that the Vampires of Rougeholme will not be allowed to run freely like berserked animals.
The ongoing issues with bloodlust, combined with a sick curiousity, led the Veryn to developing a cure for vampirism using a blessed blade to carve a rune into the chest of Rougeholme's residents, satiating their hunger but also granting them limited lives like all living beings. A religious group was founded by Elise known as the Divine Scar, the namesake of the reason they could live once more, and with that a new hopeful future was ahead of them.
Religion and Culture
Vampires are altered beings who can originate from any mortal race and as a result they carry the religion and culture they had in life into their unholy state - or abandon it all together.
In Voi'Runil there exist Vampires that have been allowed to live under the eye of the Veryn. They live in either Ashbourne, the capital of the Fordun, or in Rougeholme, a smaller yet still sizable settlement that is considered their own capital. They have shown to have an elaborate culture brewing within it that deals in the worship of a "Divine Scar", a dark faith that is symbolised by a diagonally facing cross. The leader of this faith, Sangesse Elise Eschalot, also serves as the only representative figure for the Vampires.
As part of the Divine Scar's traditions, a literal scar is cut into the chest of the Vampires that have sworn loyalty to their cause. This scar is placed over the region where the heart should be and is magically altered to give the Vampire a limited lifespan, emulating a mortal lifespan, but it also helps limit the curse of the eternal hunger in them.
Society and its Structure
The only recognised nation of Vampires are known by the name "Divine Scar", led by Sangesse Elise Eschalot, the first of the Voi'Runil Vampires. Pyrian Night, Elise's lover and reason for the Rougeholme Vampires, serves as an advisor and ambassador of the Veryn, though there are many in Rougeholme that see him as a honourary leader as well.
Beneath the Sangesse is a council of Dark Advocates who serve as counsellors to the Sangesse.
Following an rise of altered mortals throughout Auria, the True Order Veryn have made it a mission to eradicate Vampires wherever they may crop up. This has forced those who have kept their sentience to go into hiding and disguise their true identities. An exception has been made to one group of Vampires that have chosen to be taken to Voi'Runil and be allowed to live in an semi-independent society under the watchful eye and strict command of the Veryn. Though it is not perfect, this group of Vampires are able to live their lives in relative peace.
Physical Appearance and Behaviour
Vampires are deathly-looking beings who have been either raised into undeath or altered while they are alive. In their Vampiric states they will look more corpse-like, with their skin becoming paler and for furred-races also shedding some of if not all of their fur. Their eyes become slim-slitted and they grow elongated fangs.
"Feral" Vampires are aggressive and mindless. They hunt in order to survive off of the blood and flesh of mortalkind.
"Transcended" Vampires are Feral Vampires that have lived and hunted long enough to regain their intelligence while still confined to carry out the will of the Cosmos. They are known for being sadistic and manipulative, commanding lesser undead and hatching elaborate schemes to threaten ordered life.
"Scarred" Vampires are those living in Voi'Runil that have been marked by the Divine Scar, removing their eternal lives but also the influence of the eternal hunger. They become sophisticated and peaceful, desiring to live life undeterred by a dark force.