Servants of the Empire : The Inhabitants Of Dran

This page is divided into the following sections:

Races
Creatures
- Vampires
  - In The Undying Empire
- Lycanthropes
Gifted Ones
Made Ones
- The Emperors Guard
- The Shaped
Professions
- The Order Of Midnight
- The Order Of The Eye

Click on the section names to return to the top of the page.

RACES

All of the inhabitants of Dran are human, with many racial types:

The inhabitants of Umbra and the north-west are white, like real world Caucasians, although the Undying Empire itself is racially very diverse.
The inhabitants of the Pirate Isles and the northern steppes and tundra are like oriental people from the real world. They are related to the people of the Thousand Islands, but were split off from them long ago by the arrival of the white race from the south.
The inhabitants of the Thousand Islands are like the Eskimos of the real world. They were pushed out of the north-west lands by the arrival of the white people who now form the core of the population of the Undying Empire.
The inhabitants of the Lunar Empire originally looked like real world Indian sub-continent Indians; the coastal cities to the north are likewise, with an intermixing of Pirate Isles types. However, the Lunar Empire is now very racially varied due to the many refugees who have made their way there from the rest of Dran over the millennia.
The Karthans are generally black, like real world Africans.

Note that there are always exceptions to these types.

Creatures of Cthon and agents of the Undying Lord, the Vampires of Dran are allegedly descended from Amunthru, a 'primal vampire' who gained power from Cthon long, long before even the Undying Lord. He was the chief priest of Cthon from a city, now lost, along the Melkarene. He prayed to Cthon for the power to better spread the word of Cthon, and Cthon granted him this boon, turning him into the first vampire. Amunthru created more vampires until he had an 'army of darkness'. He overthrew the king of his city, and with his army conquered a vast empire along the Malkarene and out from it. But there was much unrest inside the vampire nation, and the other nations formed alliances and pacts against the new empire. War was declared, and although there were great losses, and the creation of a great many vampires, the vampires were eventually defeated, partly from force, and partly because they depleted the population in their new empire so badly. The vampiric empire was utterly destroyed, and Amunthru, along with most of the surviving vampires forced to wander the world with their coffins full of their home soil. Soon after the founding of the Undying Empire, and the Undying Lord's pact with Cthon, Amunthru tried to assassinate him, as he could not accept his being superseded in Cthon's eyes. He failed, and died.

In becoming a vampire, the person dies, their life and soul eaten by Cthon and replaced by power flowing from Cthon's black heart.

There are no 'generations' of vampires as such - a vampire's power depends on age and experience not distance from the first vampire.

The Undying Lord can cut off vampires from Cthon's power, either partially, giving pain and weakness, or totally, killing - excommunicating - them. "You are Cthon's instruments, but never forget who is the conductor," are words the Undying Lord has used under these circumstances.

Vampires are:

At night stronger, faster, more perceptive more dextrous and more acrobatic than even the best of mortals. During the day all of these abilities revert to levels more within the human range, though still, in general, much superior to those of the average mortal.
Possessed of enhanced senses; they see in the dark as well as daylight, and can track by scent.
Immune to cold, disease and lack of air.
Hard to hurt, and heal quickly.
As they age and gain experience they can learn to turn into a mist form, first without clothes and equipment, later changing these things too. They can also learn to control animals of the night such as wolves, rats, bats and so on, have limited levitation powers and briefly cloud minds (not mind control, just the ability to freeze the targets thoughts for a second), allowing them to apparently vanish.
Capable of creating new vampires with their bite. This is something which must be consciously done. It has never, to anyone's knowledge, occurred by accident.
Forced to sleep in the daytime rather than at night, on Cthon's home soil, which provides some kind of spiritual sustenance from Cthon. If they do not they will wither, worse and worse each day, until, eventually, they will truly die. Obviously coffins are the preferred method of achieving this They do not have to sleep during the day, but are sleepy and lethargic if they remain awake, and lose many of their vampiric abilities.
Held back by faith of a type contrary to theirs.
Vulnerable to :
garlic - a plant of the Moon-twins, it burns like acid
sunlight - which is Skirion's energy
fire - again of Skirion
silver - it being the Moon-Twins metal; it burns like acid
Reflect horribly or not at all in mirrors; because light is the Sun's, and they are things of the dark.
Incapable of consuming normal food or drink; these things are nauseating to them.
Reliant on life force for sustenance and healing; young vampires must take this in the form of blood (preferably human blood); older vampires can absorb it directly, withering and ageing their victims, in a manner that is more efficient than drinking blood. As they come into this ability they begin to have side effects on their surroundings - plants wither and die around them, and small animals in their vicinity sicken and perish.
They cannot heal other than by the ingestion of life force.
Pale skinned and their flesh is cold to the touch.
Subject to berserkerism if hurt, extremely hungry, or enraged. Time and experience leads to the ability to control this more and more.

In The Undying Empire

Being a vampire is not illegal in the Undying Empire, but feeding on the wrong people can be, as can creating new vampires without permission.

The un-dead are not allowed to be nobles or bureaucrats, or to own businesses or any property beyond personal possessions. When they become un-dead all such titles, possessions or businesses revert to their heirs or to the Empire as if they were truly dead. This arises from a time in the history of the Empire when vampires came to control essentially every business and the church bureaucracy too, leading to massive stagnation. After this nearly caused the destruction of the Empire the Undying Lord himself commanded the massive purge of vampires which led to the return of vitality to the Empire. Because of these legal limitations, vampires are mostly mages, scholars, warriors, courtiers, assassins or criminals. They can be priests, but not ones within the bureaucracy. There are also a very few vampire slaves, vampires who, for some reason or other have been enslaved for particularly heinous criminal activities. Many of these are maimed in some way to prevent their escape. Vampires cannot be Paladins of Cthon, and vice versa.

Vampires in the Undying Empire organise themselves by interests. Their 'Dark Parent' helps their new 'offspring' over their initial adjustment period (though of course they will not have been chosen unless the 'parent' feels they can handle it), and they maintain a parent/child relationship. However, they generally group by interest not by 'dark family', although these often amount to the same thing - vampires generally choose those they make vampires, so 'dark families' will usually share interests too. Because of this new vampires often end up as students or proteges of their vampiric parent.. By order of size, interest groups include:

Warriors
Mages
Spies
Assassins
Courtesans
Entertainers
Scholars
Priests
Artists and Musicians
Diplomats

Most of the Empire's most beautiful women, most handsome men, greatest artists/musicians and best courtiers and diplomats are vampires, their talents saved from time by their being turned.

Lycanthropes

Lycanthropes also exist. They are creatures of the Moon-Twins, are empowered by them, and have powers linked to the moons. As such they are highly frowned upon by the Empire and Cthon. There is only one type of lycanthrope per area, always some kind of moon-aspected creature, for example:

Around Umbra and across the north they are wolves.
In the Lunar Empire they are dolphins.
In Karthan they are leopards or hyenas.
In Harrakash and the Forests they are Bears.

According to legend, the original lycanthropes, male and female, were lovers of the Moon-twins in mythological times who, when the twins had to retreat from direct intervention in the affairs of man, were blessed with lycanthropy as a sign of the twins favour.

Lycanthropy is usually passed on within families, from parent to child, although it can also be gained in other ways, such as its being gifted from the Moon-Twins or from the bite of a lycanthrope.

Lycanthropes have the following abilities:

Human, intermediate and fully animal forms. These are progressively stronger, faster and have more acute senses as they go from fully human to fully animal form. Their animal form is supernaturally strong, fast and alert, with natural weapons in the form of its teeth and claws.
Instantly heal non-fatal wounds from non-cold iron weapons; cold-forged black native iron (not anything processed), as the metal of Cthon, harms them normally. Silver; as the metal of the Moon-Twins, whose creatures they are, does not harm them.
They are affected by Wolfsbane and similar plants, which are of Cthon.
They cannot use magic in either of their non-human forms.
They suffer involuntary change and loss of control/animalism at the full moon(s). Outside of these times they have control over their changes of form. This is a blessing of the twins when they touch the lycanthrope with their love, which no mortal mind can stand.
They can pass on Lycanthropy with their bite, if they wish to do so, and if the Moon-Twins approve - it cannot be done involuntarily. However, the distinction between voluntary and involuntary is a fine one during the full moons...

Lycanthropes who are captured by the Empire are broken, tortured and lobotomised into the service of the Empire. The Undying Lord likes to use the Moon-Twins own creatures against them (though they tend not to last very long).

As it has become obvious the Lunar Empire had lost and is in imminent danger of invasion, many of the people of the Lunar Empire have, with the approval of the Moon-Twins, become were-dolphins and fled into the sea.

GIFTED ONES

A term used for those who have been gifted with power directly from the Gods.

Paladins of Cthon

Godly warriors fighting in the name of Cthon and imbued with his blessings and part of His power. Paladins cannot be vampires, and vice versa. They were created by Cthon to complement each other (although Paladins are much rarer than vampires) and each can do things the other cannot.

His Paladins gain a variety of powers from Cthon:

Their equipment turns a silky black.
Their weapon of choice becomes un-bluntable and unbreakable.
Their armour becomes more resilient.
They gain the ability to see in darkness.
They can heal themselves and others by killing people, and channelling the life force so released into themselves or others, healing them. This is much less efficient than the healing of, for example, those of the College of Surgeons, and also much less efficient than the draining of life force by a vampire.
They gain enhanced stealth against creatures of the Moon-Twins.
They can, very slowly and with its permission, channel the power of Cthon for greater effects.

It is entirely possible for a Paladin to lose their powers and position if they fall out of favour with Cthon or the Undying Lord. As with vampires the Undying Lord can cut off a Paladin from Cthon's power, either partially, giving pain and weakness, or totally, killing - excommunicating - them.

Paladins of the Moon-Twins

Like the Paladins of Cthon, these are Godly warriors fighting for the Moon-Twins. They gain a variety of powers from the Moon-Twins:

Their equipment turns to silver, both in appearance and effect on creatures of Cthon.
Their weapon of choice becomes un-bluntable and unbreakable.
Their armour becomes more resilient.
They gain the ability to radiate moonlight about themselves, which burns the creatures and worshippers of thon to a level proportional to their commitment to it.
They can sense spirits and the Spirit World, communicate with them, and if necessary exorcise and heal them.
They gain enhanced stealth against creatures of Cthon.
They can, very slowly, and their permission, channel the power of the Moon-Twins for greater effects.

Other Paladins

There may be Paladins of Skirion, but since his death they have lost the source of their power. They are considered to be extinct.

There are no Paladins of Urshanis. She prefers to grant her powers to her followers on a more ad hoc basis.

MADE ONES

A term used for those who were once human, but who have been changed, normally by magic, into something both more than and less than human.

The Emperors Guard

The elite guard of the Empire, who undergo secret surgeries and mutilations to make them what they are. They are never seen outside of their black plate armour once they are fully inducted into the Guard, and there are rumours that it cannot be removed. It is also rumoured that they channel power from Cthon in some way to boost their abilities. They are loyal only to the Undying Lord, and are also known as the Black Guard.

The Shaped

Rare individuals purposefully and permanently changed by the College of Flesh Shapers into a form no longer fully human, either externally, internally, or both. This can be done for any of a vast spectrum of reasons. Some are freaks, made so as a punishment, or for the entertainment of those above them. Others are modified for other specialised tasks, such as assassination.

PROFESSIONS

The Order of Midnight (Assassins)

Assassins are fanatical followers of Cthon with no fear of death who are trained in the Palace of Shadows and used against the enemies of the Undying Empire and the Church of Cthon. They live in the House of Silence.

Their leader is the Master of Assassins. 'He' is a figure of mystery, who always speaks in an utterly featureless voice through an orb of magical black crystal carried by a slave, and who is never actually seen. It is rumoured that only the Undying Lord knows the true identity of the Master of Assassins.

The Order of the Eye (Spies)

Like Assassins, Spies are also religious fanatics trained in the Palace of Shadows to gain and gather information on their assigned subjects. They tend to be more circumspect and subtle in their activities than the Assassins. They live in the House of Vigilance.

Their leader is the Master of Spies. Like the Master of Assassins their true identity is unknown.

Back to the Servants of the Empire Home Page.

THE INHABITANTS OF DRAN