History Literature / EmpireOfTheVampire

* FeralVampires: Those vampires whose Becoming occurs later, after their body and brain has decayed significantly, wind up as animalistic, mindless walking corpses more in line with original Eastern European myths about the undead. These beings are named "wretched" by mortals, who view them with hatred, and "foulbloods" by ancien vampires, who view them with contempt. Originally they were merely the unfortunate victims of a vampire's feeding, discarded after death and left to fend for themselves should they happen to reanimate, for to sire a foulblood by accident was seen as a mark of shame within kith circles. Even without a hunter's intervention, most wretched were left so feral and brain-damaged that their hunger completely consumed them, and they were often simply caught out in the open by sunrise, swiftly burning to a crisp. However, after Daysdeath, their numbers began to naturally surge as the sun could no longer harm them. This led Fabien Voss to discard the traditional Kith stance on siring wretched and begin spawning an army of Dead under his command, an approach which was quickly emulated by the other bloodlines. Currently, the wretched form the bulk of the Forever King's armies, a mindless, starving horde forever enthralled in service to their callous creators.

* PowerTattoo:

** [[TheHero Gabriel de León]]: The Black Lion & The Last Son of Lorson
** [[BigBad Fabien Voss]]: The Forever King
** [[TheHeavy Danton Voss]]: The Beast of Vellenne
** [[DarkActionGirl Laure Voss]]: The Wraith in Red
** [[TheBaroness Margot Chastain]]: [[spoiler:The Empress of Wolves and Men]]
** [[LivingMacGuffin Dior Lachance]]: The Prince of Thieves, The Lord of Liars [[spoiler:& The Holy Grail]]

Gabriel de Léon, the [[LastOfHisKind Last Silversaint]], the [[RedBaron Black Lion of San Michon]], is ready to meet his end at the hands of abominations he has hunted his entire life. Weary, broken and content with one last blow he had just inflicted upon the undead who, in but a few decades, had [[TheNecrocracy risen to take over a continent-spanning empire]], Gabriel thinks himself ready to FaceDeathWithDignity. And yet, on the same eve he is sure he shall be executed, one of his jailors gives him an offer instead - he bids Gabriel de Léon, the last and most legendary of the Silversaint vampire hunters, to tell him his life story. Eventually, Gabriel obliges - and so begins the tale of how he grew into his own dark legend, how [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the world of the living was lost to the Dead]], and of his own [[TheQuest last, desperate gambit]] meant to bring mankind salvation...

* CharacterNarrator: The story is framed as an autobiography which Gabriel narrates to Jean-Francois, one of the vampires keeping him prisoner. The chronicler will occasionally even interrupt the Silversaint's telling for the sake of expanding on the worldbuilding, as his stated mission is to "preserve (the setting's) image long after his name has been forgotten by future generations".

** [[TheHero Gabriel de Léon]]: The Black Lion & The Last Son of Lorson

* SlowlySlippingIntoEvil:
* TraumaticSuperpowerAwakening:
* UnreliableNarrator: Gabriel de Léon serves as the primary narrator of the story, his words being scribed by the vampire historian Jean-Francois Chastain to essentially narrate his autobiography. However, how much of what he states is true is left up in the air, and WordOfGod declares that he is not being honest about everything he tells his jailer.

* VampireVarietyPack: Beyond the basic powers native to all vampires, four distinct bloodlines exist among them, each endowed with an additional powerset particular to their relative:

** '''Blood Voss''', or "Ironhearts", can make their already tough skin [[MadeOfIron as hard as steel]], tough enough it can withstand silver and fire. Additionally, they can also [[BewareTheMindReader read the minds]] of anyone within their vicinity. Their symbol shows a crowned white raven.
** '''Blood Chastain''', or ''Shepherds'', can [[{{Familiar}}speak to and bond certain kinds of animals]], most often bats, rats, cats, wolves and crows, but other species are also possible. The best can also [[VoluntaryShapeshifter shapeshift directly into animal forms]]. Their symbol shows two black wolves beneath twin moons.

** '''Blood Voss''', or "Ironhearts", can make their already tough skin [[MadeOfIron as hard as steel]], tough enough it can withstand silver and fire. Additionally, they can also [[MindReader read the minds]] of anyone within their vicinity. Their symbol shows a crowned white raven.

* FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon:

* VampireVarietyPack:

* HolyBurnsEvil:

** [[TheBaroness Margot Chastain]]: The Empress of Wolves and Men

* VampireHunter: The Silversaints of the Ordo Argent are sworn to hunt creatures of darkness across the Empire, with vampires constituting their primary and most common quarry, though they are also mentioned to have hunted witches, demons, faekin and duskdancers.
* VampireMonarch: Fabien Voss, the eldest of Blood Voss and possibly the eldest vampire in existence. After initiating the first undead rising which overran Talhost, he styled himself the Forever King and began conquering the rest of the Empire. Following his demise at Gabriel's hands, Margot Chastain claims his throne and styles herself Empress of Wolves and Men.

* TheOrder:
* OurVampiresAreDifferent: Vampires within the setting largely fall into all the classic vampire tropes of a standard GothicHorror setting. They are referred to as vampires, coldbloods or the Dead by mortals, and refer to each other as "kith". Their curse is passed via bite and the draining of all blood from a victim, although it is a fickle process over which the vampire itself has no control. Depending on what state they rise in, they are classed either as highbloods, the eternally youthful and beautiful midnight aristocrats, or foubloods, also called the wretched, feral, bestial walking corpses whose only instincts are the consumption of blood. A vampire's offspring is completely subservient to their sire, and cannot in any way defy their will. Based on their age, vampires are divided into fledglings (a few years old and still somewhat human), mediae (a few decades old and only barely human) and finally the ancien (centuries to millennia old and utterly inhuman). They have the standard set of strengths (SuperStrength, SuperSpeed, SuperReflexes, HealingFactor, MindControl over the weak-willed) and weaknesses (sunlight, silver, fire, decapitation, holy objects and icons, running water, dwelling thresholds etc.), as well as more unique gifts particular to the four great bloodlines to which all vampires belong. Finally, despite being technically dead they are apparently alive to [[VampiresAreSexGods maintain certain bodily function]], enough so to couple with mortal women and sire dhampyr children, known as palebloods, who inherit some aspects of their supernatural being.

* RedBaron: Badass titles and nomme de guerres abound within the setting, particularly among the undead aristocracy. Examples include:

* RedEyesTakeWarning:

* VampireMonarch: Fabien Voss, the eldest of Blood Voss and possibly the eldest vampire in existence. After initiating the first undead riding which conquered Talhost, he styled himself the Forever King and began conquering the rest of the Empire. Following his demise at Gabriel's hands, Margot Chastain claims his throne and styles herself Empress of Wolves and Men.

* BattleStrip: {{Justified}}. Armour is largely useless against even juvenile vampires, who have enough raw strength to twist metal with their grip. Thus, Silversaints employ an aegis instead - a set of beautiful, complex tattoos writ with silvered ink, depicting holy images and icons. Such a pattern is difficult to so much as look at for most vampires, and actively burns them should they touch it, whilst also allowing the hunters to enjoy maximum mobility and agility due to being unencumbered.
* BlackEyesOfEvil:

* OurVampiresAreDifferent: Vampires within the setting largely fall into all the classic vampire tropes of a standard GothicHorror setting. They are referred to as vampires, coldbloods or the Dead by mortals, and refer to each other as "kith". Their curse is passed via bite and the draining of all blood from a victim, although it is a fickle process over which the vampire itself has no control. Depending on what state they rise in, they are classed either as highbloods, the eternally youthful and beautiful midnight aristocrats, or foubloods, also called the wretched, feral, bestial walking corpses whose only instincts are the consumption of blood. A vampire's offspring is completely subservient to their sire, and cannot in any way defy their will. Based on their age, vampires are divided into fledglings (a few years old and still somewhat human), mediae (a few decades old and only barely human) and finally the ancien (centuries to millennia old and utterly inhuman). They have the standard set of strengths (SuperStrength, SuperSpeed, SuperReflexes, HealingFactor, MindControl over the weak-willed) and weaknesses (sunlight, silver, fire, decapitation, holy objects and icons, running water, dwelling thresholds etc.), as well as more unique gifts particular to the four great bloodlines to which all vampires belong. Finally, despite being technically dead they are apparently alive to maintain certain bodily function, enough so to couple with mortal women and sire dhampyr children, known as palebloods, who inherit some aspects of their supernatural being.
* TheQuest:

* PublicDomainArtifact:

** Gabriel de Léon: The Black Lion & The Last Son of Lorson
** Fabien Voss: The Forever King
** Danton Voss: The Beast of Vellenne
** Laure Voss: The Wraith in Red
** Margot Chastain: The Empress of Wolves and Men

* TheRenfield:

* BattleStrip: {{Justified}}.

* CharacterNarrator:

* OurVampiresAreDifferent:

* FeralVampires: Those vampires whose Becoming occurs later, after their body and brain has decayed significantly, wind up as animalistic, mindless walking corpses more in line with original Eastern European myths about the undead. These beings are called "the wretched" by mortals and "the

* {{Dhampyr}}:

* FeralVampires:

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Vampires within the setting all gradually become soulless, hollow and utterly inhuman husks.

* AlchemyIsMagic:
* AlwaysChaoticEvil:

* GratuitousFrench:

* RedBaron:

* UnreliableNarrator:
* VampireHunter:
* VampireMonarch:

[[quoteright:653:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/419652963_294238626567021_4426251846391523991_n.png]]

* VampireMonarch:

!!Provides examples of:

Gabriel de Léon, the [[LastOfHisKind Last Silversaint]], the [[RedBaron Black Lion of San Michon]], is ready to meet his end at the hands of abominations he has hunted his entire life. Weary, broken and content with one last blow he had just inflicted upon the undead who, in but a few decades, had [[TheNecrocracy risen to take over a continent-spanning empire]], Gabriel thinks himself ready to FaceDeathWithDignity. And yet, on the same eve he is sure he shall be executed, one of his jailors gives him an offer instead - he bids Gabriel de Léon, the last and most legendary of the Silversaint vampire hunters, to tell him his life story. Eventually, Gabriel obliges - and so begins the tale of how he grew into his own dark legend, how [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the world of the living was lost to the Dead]], and of his own [[TheQuest last, desperate gambit meant to bring mankind salvation]]...