Story Time: The Five

[stabs felcher]

From the book, The Lore of Crescentium, by Mintarin Maezorl

Chapter 6: "The Five"
Of all the tales of faeries, hobgoblins and pikmin throughout Crescentium, that of Luther the Fallen and "The Five" endures as the most fear inducing and, perhaps more chilling, the most accurate.

In the year 149 A.E., a bitter feud between the Paladin of Kelathyr, Sir Luther Dracen of the Order of the Eternal Dawn, and the King of the day, Lord Romark the VIII, saw the paladin turn his back on the foolish young king. However, such was Romark's power that he still held sway over the church heirarchy, and in a petty act of vengeance he had the warrior priests of Kelathyr beat Luther senseless and throw him from the order.

His life built on service to King and God, Luther was distraught, a changed man, it was said. With nothing to guide him, he wandered, becoming a killer of men in his search for revenge against King Romark VIII.

Luther searched for a way to have his revenge, and it is with much shame that I must tell you that at this point my own ancestry enters the story. Though I have done much to put the deeds of my great grandfather behind me, the truth must be known. Luther came to my own relative, Maltarin Maezorl, for help.

Maltarin offered him a way to have his revenge, but it was a curse rather than a boon. But desperate as he was, Luther agreed, and with powerful magicks it was done. Maltarin drew upon ancient lore, and bestowed a great curse upon Luther. He would never again be able to step foot into the holy sunlight of Kelathyr, for even the touch of light would turn him to ashes. But now, Luther had the power to enact his revenge.

With the curse, too, came a hunger for blood. Luther found its consumption greatly increased his speed, strength and awareness. He also discovered that if he willed it, a being drained of blood might rise as a horrid image of himself, pallid, casting no shadow, cold to the touch, and ultimately dead.

With the news of the birth of the King's five children, Luther discovered a way to have his revenge. The three sons and two daughters would be his first children, and he drank of each before reviving them as his spawn.

The distraught King Romark VIII ordered his children killed, but the kind hearted man-at-arms could not see the act through. He instead smuggled the children out of the city, placing them with five adoptive families in the smaller cities and towns surrounding Romark.

As for Sir Luther Dracen, though the Captain's men searched all night, he was never seen again.

King Romark VIII and his wife committed suicide soon after, and his younger brother Hemrir took the throne. The first twenty years of his rule were steady, but as the Five reached adulthood, the terrible curse of Luther overtook them. The need for blood started to grow in them, and the first of the Five started creating spawn to the south west of Holmgard.

The murders became more frequent, and within ten years Crescentium was overrun by the dark creatures who the Church of Kelathyr branded as "Vampyres." At the height of their reign, the Five had over 1000 vampires stalking the night under their command.

But King Hemrir did not sit idly by. Instead, he mobilized the forces of the Order of the Eternal Dawn in a country-wide Inquisition, and in a joint effort the soldiers of the court, led by Paladins of the Order, enacted a great crusade against the undead. For ten years they battled the forces of darkness, until finally in 181 A.E. the last of their number was killed out.

However, the fact that the Five had never been accounted for weighed heavily on Hemrir's mind, and soon after the end of the crusade he stepped aside to allow Duke Hamerdahl to seccede him. With the thought of the Five some day resurfacing, Hemrir founded the Scarlet Nocturne Society, and even today his descendent Matthaeus continues to remain vigilent in the face of the threat of the Vampyres.

[stabs felcher]

From the book, The Lore of Crescentium, by Mintarin Maezorl
Chapter 7: The Five Broods:

”The First will not be the last.
As the king gains wisdom, so does the Fallen.
Taking with him five others to share his curse.
And the five will take fifty,
The fifty will take a hundred.
All sharing the same ambition as the First.”
-Maltarin's Book of Prophecies

Luther The Fallen was affected fully by the curse, becoming empowered with the entire array of abilities of the Vampyre. When he infected the children of King Rothan, however, each recieved only a portion of his power. As time passed and the children grew to age in their respective adoptive homes, these abilities were eventually transferred to their own spawn, forming Five distinct "broods" among vampyre kind. Though the Five have since gone deep under cover, one can make guestimations from evidence left behind at scenes of their feedings, as well as eye witness reports, as to the current locations of the Five.

Vladimir's Brood: The Blood Legion:
The first child infected was King Rothan's oldest son, Vladimir. He inherited Luther's inner hatred for human kind, enabling him to turn into a massive demon whenever bloodlust overtook him. In his demonic form, it is said by those few mad souls who have glimpsed of the beast that he stands over 12 feet tall, and is covered in scales with the strength of a hundred men. More frightening still, each of his spawn receive from him the same ability to assume a demonic form.

Most sightings of Blood Legion Vampyres are to the area north west of Holmgard. It is not uncommon for three bodies a week to turn up, torn to shreds in a maddened frenzy.

Thurgiel's Brood: The Twisted Minds:
Thurgiel's dark gift was that of telekinesis; the ability to manipulate the physical world with a mere thought. Vampyres of his brood can throw a victim around like a rag doll, twist them until their bones break, or merely hurl them into the sky and allow gravity to do its work. Most reports of such supernatural activity is, frighteningly enough, centred in the city of Holmgard itself. Only those doused in holy water or blessed by a Priest of Kelathyr have a chance to resist the abilities of The Twisted Minds.

Raine's Brood: The Crimson Hearts:
If Vladimir and Thurgiel gave humans the idea that all male vampires were thoroughly evil, sadistic creatures, Raine would give those same humans the idea that all female vampires were beautiful and seductive vixens clad in black lingerie. She inherited Luther's ability to dominate humans by meeting their gaze, and her spawn exert great influence over any humans they meet.
Most of the Brood's activity, marked by tales of men mindlessly following the orders of pale, seductive women to their death, is centred around the city of Reis, far to the north.

Anna's Brood: The Three of Ones:
Anna Brood inherited the dark gift of being able to move with preternatural speed, wielding weapons with blinding alacrity or disappearing from sight in a blur of movement. It is said that her spawn can close 100 feet on an archer before he can even draw his bowstring back. Brood activity of the Three of Ones seems split equally between Graven and Port Natharin, with tales of assailants in the night dodging bullets with ease before closing on their victims to feed.

Kendrick's Brood: The Lupines
The youngest of the Five, Kendrick's dark gift was the ability to morph his physical form, one of Luther's most well documented powers. The few vampires he has spawned can turn into wolves, bats, a swarm of mosquitoes, or they can merely become as the morning mist. Being the youngest, however, and suffering from an inferiority complex when around the superior powers of his siblings, Kendrick felt he needed a private army. And he soon found it in the form of the werewolves inhabiting forests throughout Crescentium. Though they once lived in small, disorganized tribes hunted by humans for the countless lives they had taken, Kendrick united them under one clan, aptly named The Lupines, then begat a small number of fledgeling vampires to act as lieutenants.
Most activity of the Lupines can be narrowed down to the forests surrounding the mining town of Lorcae, and so travellers are best advised to stick to the roads and travel in groups with armed guards. No being with the abilities of Kendrick himself has been spotted in many a year.

[stabs felcher]

The Turncoat's Tale
by Mintarin Maezorl Spus Widget watcher

Even amongst vampire kind, there exists one who even the Five Brood Masters fear. The story of Thomas the Bloody strikes chills down any fledgeling's spine, for he is said to be a match to the power of Luther the Fallen himself. The Bloody One, The Turncoat, The Slayer, he earned these names taking great vengeance on his own undead kind. However, while today the romanticized image of Thomas the Bloody as a vampire-turned-good linger, the truth of what drove him to become a slayer of his own kind is far more disturbing.

Tales abound of the days following his turning at the hands of Vladimir of the Blood Legion. It was the year 183 when he rose as a Vampire. Immediately, Thomas the Bloody revelled in his new undead nature, tearing apart countless foes to sate his bloodlust and earn his name. Hundreds fell beneath his blades: warriors of light, men, women, children; he was indiscriminate in his slaughter. After he decimated several towns, gaining in power with each broken husk of a corpse left in his wake, Thomas the Bloody was confronted by Vladimir of the Blood Legion and two of his most powerful lieutenants.

Thomas was told he would enact such slaughter no more. "Drink only what you need to subsist", Vladimir demanded of him. "We strike from the darkness, and do not make ourselves known any more than necessary."

Thomas scoffed at Vladimir, calling him a wimp for cowering before humankind. The Demon Lord ordered his lieutenants forth. These two demonic beings, their blood pure and only two generations away from Luther himself, stalked towards the Turncoat. Between them they could have torn a castle asunder. Muscles bulging, their shoulders eight feet wide, they approached the lythe figure of Thomas the Bloody.

A second later, Thomas stepped forward. The two collosal beasts stood stock still for a moment, unmoving, then before Vladimir's very eyes they toppled to the ground, vicious wounds apparently having cleft them in twain. Thomas merely smirked as he wiped his twin blades clean and approached the Lord of the Blood Legion.

The battle that followed was vicious and brutal, and was said to have lasted some nine hours. Neither side relented, as they fought blade to claw. Much blood was shed, but as the sun rose the two were forced apart. Thomas made one last desperate lunge at Vladimir as the first sunrays peaked over the horizon. He dug his teeth deep into the Demon Lord's neck, drinking fully of the congealed ichor within; blood passed down directly from Luther the Fallen.

Since that day, the Turncoat has killed countless numbers of his own kind. But it is not out of some quest for redemption, some journey towards atonement. No. He has merely tasted of the greatest taboo among vampire kind: drinking of undead blood.

Even today, somewhere, the Turncoat lingers, lurking in the darkness, waiting to taste of his brethren but having no qualms in slaughtering any who get in his way. If you ever hear the whisper of his twin blades springing from their sheaths, you're already dead.