Vampiric History / Families.
written by Angel, October 2003
Diseis [dee-shus]: Daemon cursed to the earth plane. Three children:
Ryas, Ahmose, Chiasahi
Ryas: First true vampire [human-demon hybrid]. Three children:
Aur, Sin, Chausiku
Ahmose - from Egypt.
- Ahmose saw her ascension as a message from the Egyptian gods. Since she was banished from the
most powerful sun god, her duties and loyalty were to the night and the realm of night - or the underworld.
After a prayer to her gods, Ahmose took it as her solemn duty to destroy those that were marked for death,
or less than worthy of life according to the great scales.
- Ahmose served the gods well. Because of her blood, she slowly began to show feline qualities. Her eyes
shifted gracefully to an almond shape, and soon everyone regarded those cat-like eyes as the sign of a watchful
guardian. Ahmose became known as Bast, the guardian, and cats were frequently seen as guides to the realm of the dead.
- The Lady's kiss was granted to only two Egyptians, both chosen as she told them by the gods themselves.
The first, a man by the name of Asim, who adopted the name Mihos when he died; and the second, a woman by
the name of Sanura, who adopted the name Oni upon her death.
Chi-Sahi - from Japan.
- Diseis' third and final child came when she visited Japan and fell in love with a young warrior.
His will was iron, and when she tried to fascinate him with her charm, she seemed to fall short. It was
his seeming immunity to her dark gifts that enchanted her more than anything, and she was determined
thereafter to win his heart and soul.
- Diseis, however, found the task nearly impossible. One night as she left his presence, rejected once again,
she changed. She found her way back while he slept, and she took him for herself, creating her third child.
- "I should let you die," she muttered mournfully, but her heart denied her the ability to follow through with
that threat. Asahi was outraged. He fought to kill her, but when it seemed she couldn't die, he fled her presence
instead. Diseis allowed him to leave. Some believe she buried herself in that field, rejected and finally tired of
life; whatever the case, she has rarely been seen since.
- Chi-Sahi came to terms with what he was, but he never truly forgave Diseis. Tales of her evil were
quite burned into the core of his descendants. From him came two children [Chi-Nigai and
Jaden], each
of whom took a different path - the warriors, and the healers - and both who looked upon their difference, like
their father, as a curse. They made quite an impression on the growing vampiric community, whose families by no
general means sought penitence for what they were.
Aur - from Assyria.
- Ryas, originally from Assyria, took to his native roots once Diseis and he parted ways. His own mortal
family had flourished, and among them was a descendant named Roa. She was beautiful and soft-spoken, and her
heart was genuine and pure.
- Ryas continued to watch her grow, posing as a distant relative, and slowly became obsessed. She was a legacy
of his, and she became like a daughter to him. By the time she was a young woman, Ryas had told her the truth
[in his own fashion] and offered to create in her a new legacy.
- Upon her rebirth, Roa adopted the Assyrian name Aur. Her legacy is still passed through the generations, and
they consider themselves the purest vampires, with a right to rule the families. Most of them are regal and proud
of their family, which rarely has an outcast vampire within it. They are old blood, perhaps the oldest, and are
not hesitant to flaunt that power.
- Aur, according to the storybooks, had two children - but in actuality, she had three. The first was supposedly
killed not more than a week after his rebirth. The vampiric families, already tight-knit when Aur created her first
child, rose up to kill the young man named Ziven [Seven]. He was a common thief, they said; to which Aur replied,
"There's nothing common about him."
- On the night before they were to destroy him, Aur sent her beloved son Ziven away. From her two other children
[Khalid and Uri] come a great fight for whose rightful place is the throne.
Sin - from Sumer.
- Otherwise known as the Sumerian moon god who supposedly ruled the night, Insin was created from a duel.
He challenged Ryas, who had angered him by taking his only daughter, and proved so crafty that Ryas was impressed.
- Ryas finally threw down his weapon and replied, "What do you want?" "Revenge!" Insin exclaimed. "Pick up your
sword and fight me!" "You've already seen you can't kill me." "Everything dies. So can you!" "What if I offered you
eternity?"
- Insin fought for awhile longer with the unarmed, unkillable thing before he finally gave up. Ryas continued to
follow him for years until Insin finally relented to his demands. Upon his rebirth, Ryas renamed him Sin [for the
moon has created you]. But Sin had other plans for his eternity; he rose up a few weeks after his rebirth, once he
learned the secrets of his immortality, to strike down his new father. His attempt failed, and Ryas left him forever.
- Sin created two children - Bau, a girl very much resembling the daughter he lost, and a young man named
Ninurta.
Chausiku - from Africa.
- Chausiku's original name was Chinaka, but Ryas renamed her when she was "born at night." She was the firstborn
princess in a small tribe in northern Africa, given in marriage to unite two tribes into one. The first night Ryas
saw her was on her last night of virginity, as she danced for her soon-to-be mate. He fell in love, and stole her away
that night, using all his dark gifts to enchant her.
- As much as he influenced her and forced her love, her first duty was to her tribe. She went back to it, weeping at
her now-unwanted destiny, and hating Ryas as much as she loved him for doing that to her.
- Chinaka was married and faithful for seven years, but she never forgot Ryas. One night, she finally slipped through
the forest, intent on leaving this world forever. But Ryas hadn't forgotten her, either. He watched her in the grips of
death, and gave her new life that night.
- Chausiku had three children [Aisha, Amon, and Wynne], and guarded her tribe at night long after Ryas left her side.
The Kearii and the Vampires.
Kearii consider themselves above vampires - and they may be right. The last two children of Diseis are where the Kearii
originate; they were chosen by the goddess, whereas the children of Ryas were an 'accident.' Thus, the Ryaen are
regarded as unworthy of the gift which they received.
The difference between a Kearii and a Ryaen [or vampire] is in the way they are reborn. When Diseis created her last two
children, she allowed them to die completely before giving them their immortal gift. Their souls were removed from this
plane, and replaced with Diseis' own essence - the essence of a daemon. There are to date few Kearii in the world, since
few [if any] know how to pass on their lives and legacies in this fashion. It is considered a great honour, even among
vampires, to be a Keari, because of the effort and secrets that are afforded that rebirth.
However, the original Kearii are ironically scorned by the rest of the vampires. They are considered misguided in their
belief that Diseis was the first of the night's children, and refuse to acknowledge Ryas' place within their history.
Diseis, in fact, is considered less than vampire by the majority of Ryaen, since she was never human to begin with –
a creation of the demonic realm, created to serve that purpose and nothing more.
- Kearii still need human blood, but they can also survive on vampiric blood.
- They are weak to Holy, Sun, Faith, and demonic weaponry; they are unaffected by Fire.
- They will become immobile if their heart is removed.
- They have animalistic or otherwise inhuman features.
- Ryaen [or vampires] need human or animal blood. They cannot exist on vampiric blood alone.
- They are weak to Fire, Sun, Faith; affected minimally by demonic weaponry; unaffected by Holy.
- They will become immobile if their heart is removed.
The Inner Families.
- Khalid [shortened to Khal in later centuries]: the rightful heirs to family reign.
- Uri [individually referred to as Urian]: the Urian and Khal households have been divided from the start,
at the time when Aur disappeared. Khalid was the rightful heir to take her place, but there was some question about
Aur's unexpected disappearance that led the families to believe Khalid was responsible. Thus, Uri was given the seat,
and Khalid lived in humiliation until he left the great cities. Their descendants have had a bitter relationship ever since.
- Bau [individually referred to as Bauen]: the Bauen are revered as fierce, stoic warriors by both the Khal and Uri
families.
- Ninurta [individually referred to as Ninurtan]: Ninurta, second child of Sin, was outcast from the families early
in his un-life. He was an informant, and as such, held far too many valuable secrets about each of the families for any of
them to consider him safe. They mutually agreed to destroy him, but Sin spared his life by forcing him away. His descendants
were re-admitted into the vampiric "family" many centuries later, but they are considered more like an outer caste or slave caste.
- Aisha [individually referred to as Aishan]: Aisha was the joy of her mother's un-life, and continued her duty as
guardian of the tribes of Africa. She left that life behind when Chausiku seemed to grow distant, and sought her fortune with the
vampiric families in the great cities. Most Aisha descendants are female.
- Amon [individually referred to as Amon]: Amon are dark messengers, about which little is known. They are found in
city-segments only as passers-by, always moving to a new place - that's somewhere outside the city-walls, apparently.
Nobody knows exactly where these vampires call home.
- Wynne [individually referred to as Wynne]: last child of Chausiku, she was reborn in Ireland long after Chausiku
left her African province behind. She was with her daughter for a short span of a few days, however, and left the girl
to discover her new life on her own. Wynne and her descendants are responsible for many of the Celts' myths about ghosts
and phantoms, including the banshee.
The Kearii.
- Mihos [individually referred to as Mihen]: Mihos became known as the lion-guardian of the Nile, and several of
the surrounding villages, as well as the son of the lion-goddess Bast. The features of his descendants are very feline;
they seem to grow manes instead of human-like hair, they have elongated ears, cat-like eyes and constantly protruding canines.
They have been referred to in more pre-modern cultures as cat-demons.
- Oni [individually referred to as Onan]: The death-dealers is what these descendants are more commonly called.
They have strange, animalistic features, though many such features have been reported, and there seems to be no true pattern
of an Onan's evolving form. Some say that their physical form reflects what their soul truly is. They are quieter than the
Mihen, and although no true conflict has ever been noted between these two tribes, no true communication has been noted either.
- Chi-Nigai [individually referred to as Chi]: The course of evolution for this batch of Kearii has been a bit more
serpentine; they are supposedly responsible for several of the Asian myths about dragons and serpents. Warriors as fierce
as the Bauen, the Chi are perhaps even more honorable than their accepted cousins. The serpentine features vary for all the
Chi - including elongated eyes, retractable fangs, patches of scales where there should be skin, an impenetrable silence
about their movements, a forked tongue, and even, rarely, leathery wings.
- Jaden [individually referred to as Jadeni]: Unlike his brother, Jaden was not Asian; but he took his father's name
after being reborn, in the style of his father's culture. These unfortunate descendants of Asahi were hunted by the
Ryaen for their 'secrets.' Jaden, unlike his father or brother, sought out Diseis. He and his children were supposedly
granted the secrets of life and death by Diseis herself because Jaden made amends with his ancestor for Asahi's
anger at her gift. Diseis is said to guard them because of Jaden's forgiveness and acceptance of her. For this, the
family was feared and envied; and during the medieval period the vampiric families took to their slaughter. They don't share
many of the animalistic traits the rest of the Kearii have been blessed / cursed with. Diseis supposedly took that
away when she granted Jaden the third eye - a way to see into the world for what it really was, exposed in all its
beauty and simultaneous cruelty.
The Outcasts.
- Razvan [individually referred to as Razvani [ra-jha-nee]]: Ziven, first child of Aur, wandered the world for
centuries before finding a family with which he could relate. These wandering clans of people adopted him as their protector
and brother, and at the same time changed his name to Razvan [Ra-zhan]. He has since become the compassionate trickster of the
gypsies, from which he chose his children. His small tribe grew into a family of disconnected rogues and wanderers. They are
never known for staying in one place very long, and would be quite happy if all they owned was the bag of stolen trinkets on
their backs.
- Other outcast families, tribes and clans are much more minor, or have already been accepted within the vampiric
communities again.
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copyright 2003.]