Asheri Rising

Rublicant Al'Teyr

Treatise on Vampires, their nature, and their abilities.
By Summoner Lord Rublicant Al'Teyr M.D.

It was the night before last when I stopped in a local tavern in Noit to enjoy a glass of wine. It was one of the back alley establishments, but they had good taste in the blushes, so I stepped inside and ordered a glass of the Chablis. As I turned to find a table, I found that there were no open tables. There was a table in a shadowy corner of the tavern, but a young woman sat there alone. So I went over and introduced myself. Her name was Natalya Velusi, she had once been a gypsy, and as I found out later, she is a Vampire. Nonetheless, I will spare you the details of our conversation, and suffice it to say that we retired to a private room for our extended conversation. It was here that she drank of my blood, and miraciously healed the wound made by her fangs and teeth with but a few drops of her blood. However I'll get to the point now, and share with you the information that I have learned from this woman.

Vamperic Life:

Vampires live off of the life energy contained in blood, and garner their powers from the spiritual power within the blood. natalya described to me that she need not feed every night, and that she preferred not to kill if it were possible. Many vampires do not share this sentiment, by her account. A vampire needs only feed perhaps two or three nights a week, more often if they are younger and less often if they are older. The hunger for the blood, what Natalya referred to as "The Drive" is strong if one of their kind has not fed in an extended period of time, and may drive the creature to madness and violence as it exerts a beastly control over the vampire until the thirst is saitiated. The blood of the victims, as I said earlier provides living life force to allw the Vampire to live, and this life force passes through the vampire and must be replenished. But the spiritual energy contained in the blood, the Ki, stays with the vampire for all time, until the creature meets final demise. This is why vampires grow stronger with age, by Natalya's account. Even though she is a mere 72 years old, and only 51 of these have been spent as a vampire, she has developed stronger powers as she has grown older, and she believes the retention of Ki to be the cause.

Vampires are succeptable to wounds just as mortals are, but these heal almost instantly in all but the most grevious wounds. The only two things that can end their existance are sunlight and fire. A vampire exposed to sunlight is immolated, becoming a living torch and dying almost immideatly. Fire does much the same, but wounds caused by fire can be healed by the vampires body at much the same rate that a human would heal the same damage. Natalya related to me that she had met many others of her kind in her travels in Gran Adageros and Asheri, but many of these vampires, guilty with their place in the world hads cast themselves into bonfires or immolated themselves in the sunlight. She spoke of one very old creature that attempted to immolate himself, but his blood was so strong that it resisted the sunlight and spirited him away to safety, so that he had to spend several agonizing months recovering. This leads me to believe that this "Drive" that she spoke to me about is sentient and has its own self preservation in mind. When the blood has grown strong enough, self destruction is no longer an option for these "Elders", as Natalya referred to them.

Vampires create other vampires by drawing all of the blood from a candidate, and then feeding their own blood into the lifeless husk. This must be done immideatly or the mortal will die. Natalya spoke that it was easy to do, but hard to live with, whatever she meant by that, I do not know. The vampire creating the new vampire is known as the new vampires "Warder" and the new vampire is known as the warder's "Fledgling". Natalya did not go into any more detail about the creation process, though I wish she had.

Vamperic Abilities:

Natalya related to me, that in her travels she had encountered several vampires that were possessed of a multutude of abilities. many of these abilities, every vampire had, but there were some that only mainfested in certain of the creatures. Here I will relate the powers of the blood, both common and uncommon, to you.

It seems that all vampires are possessed of these abilities, as far as the vampires that Natalya has met are concerned. All of them apparently grow stronger with the age of the vampire.

Increased strength, as Natalya demonstrated to me by bending a large iron bar in half. It was not a feat a large man could not do, but certainly not something that a lithe girl less than my age should be capable of.

Increased speed, as Natalya also demonstrated, running down the stairs to get me another glass of my Chablis and returning within seconds.

Increased Fortitude and Stamina, as demonstrated by the healing abilities I previously discussed.

Extendable fingernails/claws. Natalya showed me that she could extend her fingernails up to nearly three inches in length.. They were glassy and almost looked fake. They were quite sharp, and could be used as weapons, if needed.

Darkvision, as she could see me in the darkness when I needed to augment my sight with my fire magic to see her.

And finally, to some extent, all vampires are gifted with the ability to lift themselves off the ground and fly. Many vampires cannot use this ablity when they are young, but all develop it with time, Natalya related.

Natalya also spoke of abilities that some of her kind possessed that others did not. Here is a list of them.

Telepathy, the ability to speak with others within their mind, as well as reading thoughts and delving into memories. It seems as if a vampire can never read the thoughts of the one that has created him, or one that he has created. The reason for this is not known, but she speculated that it has to do with the similarity of the blood contained within the vampires. Natalya demonstrated this ability for me, by dredging up some private memories of my own.

Compulsion: Some vampires are able to manipulate the subconcious of mortals, making them do things by manipulating their minds. Natalya demonstrated this upon me by making me finish the glass of wine that I was holding, and smash the glass to shatters. Of course, I could not tell if this was truth, because, in ernest, I just felt like doing it.

Telekenisis: Natalya said that several vampires that she had met were able to lift things with their minds, and move them about. She was not able to do this, but she said that like all of the other powers, it grew stronger with age.

Pyrokenisis: Natalya related the story of one elder that she met in Asheri that was able to create fire with his abilities. Natalya said that he was the only vampire possessed of this ability that she had ever encountered.

Additional Discussion:

Natalya related to me that it is impossible for one of her kind to use Ki magic, because of the mixing of souls and spirit energy within vampires. She knew one that had attempted dedication after becoming a vampire, and when he attempted to conduce, his mind became filled with the voices of all he had drank from, and he was stricken mad and immolated himself in the morning sun. However, it is my belief that Natalya could still harness Terra magic if she so wished. She did not speak of any of her kind that did so, but she had heard a legend of an elder vampire sorcerer living within the Soulwood in Farai. Perhaps I should attempt to seek him out, but I doubt he would be so hospitable to me as Natalya was. Overall, it seems that vampires draw their dark abilities from the Ki that is in all of our souls, and they cannot, thus harness Ki energy without allowing those spirits that they have drawn in and stored, access to their own mind. How strange. I am still convinced that one of Natalya's kind could use Terra Magic uninhibited.

I must say that the evening that I spent with Natalya still weighs heavily on my mind, and that I think of her often. More often than not, I wonder why she shared with me these things, however, I aslo cannot shake the feeling that she wanted something from me, and that she's going to eventually come and get it.

Kudos, friends.

Summoner Lord Rublicant Al'Teyr M.D.

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Orocia Agua


OOC:*chuckles* ..How strange, I almost posted a question concerning the existence of vampires before I read this.. *grins*

..and for you gamers out there, you might recognize my avatar as "Maria" from Castlevania ^__^