The History of the Vampyre
Taken from the records of the Order of the Undying Flame - the sacred order sworn to rid the world of Dracula and his Vampiric Line.
There have always been Vampires.
In the distant past they lurked in the shadows and preyed on the weak. They lived on the fringes of society and were tolerated or ignored. Every now and then they would be hunted down and slain, or attempted to be slain.
However in the last five hundred years vampires have grown in power and organisation. They have often been the power behind thrones and empires. Their policies have driven countries to war and at the same time they managed to become characters of story and fable. Evil monsters that parents would use to scare their children into behaving, or adults would use as part of their parlour entertainments.
We, The Order of the Undying Flame - being a loose collection of monster hunters, occult experts and vampire slayers have spent centuries hunting these creatures. What follows is our best understanding of their history.
The Finding of the Vampires
During the first Crusade, knights in the Holy Land uncovered five ornate caskets buried deep in caverns underground. By God, they were not ready for the horrors that lay undisturbed within.
Breaking the seals, the Knights unleashed five monstrous and evil entities unto the world. They were named Caligar, Asaladina, Sycorax, Gargamesh and Dracula and their evil spread quickly as each creature sought to bring the world under their control. Great, bloody slaughter was wrought on the Christian and Muslim alike.
To rectify their mistake, the surviving knights formed the Templar Order and, ordained by the Pope, returned to the Holy Land to destroy the creatures. Under the guise of successive Crusades, the Knights Templar sought to rid the world of evil. While they slew the creature Asaladina (or Saladin) its line survived and the Order were ultimately unsuccessful and then betrayed.
Our records lead us to believe that by 1307, Dracula, the most conniving of the entities had cast a spell on King Philip IV of France, controlling and corrupting his mind. The King destroyed the Templars and wiped their noble name from the history books on Friday the 13th.
While the Templars were destroyed, their mission survived and the Order of the Undying Flame would be formed to continue it.
The Rise of Dracula and the Epurare
After the Crusades the Entities swept over the world. The creature Dracula set himself up as Vlad Tepes, ruling from a castle in Europe. Each generation he would present himself as the son and heir of the previous Vlad, feasting on the townsfolk that lived nearby.
By the 1450's, Dracula had grown bored of living as Vlad I, Vlad II and Vlad III and wished to rule supreme amongst the Vampires.
King Philip IV of France
History tells us that the war that followed was against the Ottoman Empire. The Order believes this was actually Dracula's attempt to scour the other Entities and their lines from the world. His method of dispatching - impaling his victims on long wooden stakes is well known to this day.
During this war, the Caligars, as powerful as Dracula himself chose to bend the knee and ally with him, rather than risk his fury. The Epurare (Eh-pew-rah-ray), or Purge in English, ended with Dracula reigning supreme, with the Caligars under his heel.
Dracula immediately set about creating his new empire. From his Transylvanian castle, he sent summons to courts throughout the world, turning Ambassadors into vampires and creating a network of Vampires in every rising empire or global power, with him sitting at the top.
For decades, Dracula ruled the world - controlling Kings and Emperors. But his web was not as strong as he believed.
A letter declaring war signed by Dracula
Dracula impales his victims
The New World and the Răscoala
With the discovery of the New World, Europe was on a knife edge trying to seize control. During the 16th Century we find records of minor houses, such as the Brightwells appearing. Stretched thin, and with Europe boiling over some Houses united and rose up against Dracula.
The Mayflower sets sail for America
The Battle of Sainte-Foy, 1760
In 1756 war is declared. Houses chose their side either for or against Dracula. Unable to keep this war hidden it spills over and causes a chain reaction of fighting throughout Europe and America. Remembered now as the Seven Years War, it was the closest the World had come to full scale war and all in an attempt to overthrow Dracula.
The Vampires call this uprising the Răscoala (Ruh-Skwah-La) and, if they were present for it, it is treated as a point of pride. The Order believes that some Vampires may have even fought against the humans for sport during the resulting global conflicts.
By the bloody end of it, Dracula had quelled the rebellion, although his network was much diminished. Minor houses such as the Brightwells, the newly founded Orloffs and the Van Der Fords who had remained loyal were suddenly elevated to more powerful positions.
It is unclear when the Order of the Undying Flame first came to prominence in this time, as successive Vampiric attacks destroyed many records. We know that the French revolutionary Maximilien de Robespierre was an honoured member and led the campaign against Vampires amongst the French nobility. The Guillotine became a sacred weapon in the order's crusade to quickly dispatch Vampire and Thrall alike. The Order believes that leadership was eventually handed over to Emperor Napoleon who wished to bring Europe to heel and scourge Vampires from the Continent.
The first examples of Council Seats and Sigils, drawn by Dracula
The Vampiric Council
Following the Răscoala and the threat of the Order, Dracula attempted to rebuild his Empire. To prevent further uprisings he formed the Great Vampiric Council, to manage the growing Vampiric presence across the globe. There were five seats taken by Dracula, the Orloffs, the Brightwells, the ever loyal Caligars and the Van Der Fords, an up and coming house based in America.
On the surface, Dracula devolved some of his power and allowed the houses under him to keep him in check. In reality, it consolidated his power. The Houses would not rise up, and he secretly encouraged and orchestrated fighting between them to ensure no one became too powerful. It also allowed Dracula to manage huge lines of Vampires while only actively managing four individuals.
If a House became a threat, or gained too much influence, Dracula had them dealt with in creative ways. Whether it was an anonymous message to the Order of the Undying Flame, a sudden uprising by townsfolk or an unforseen attack by werewolves - whenever a House became too powerful they would not be for long.
The Culls of Orloff and Van Der Ford
There have been two culls in recent memory. The first occured in 1917 when the Order of the Undying Flame targeted the Romanov family of Russia and their sorcerer thrall Rasputin. For many years the Orloffs were the power behind the throne, and it is an open secret that Dracula, fearing their influence, worked with the Order to cull House Orloff. It is believed that the young Princess Anastasia was let go by Dracula to keep the House from being wiped out entirely.
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Rasputin attends an Easter party
The second cull took place in 1925, at the last Great Council Meeting in New York. Order records show that the Van Der Fords had been exchanging messages with the Order, plotting the destruction of Dracula and a coup for power. This plan was discovered.
The site of the Van Der Ford Cull in 1925
The 1900's - today
The Vampires have remained largely hidden since 1925. Following a questionable decision by Dracula in the 1890's to talk to a young author, Bram Stoker, Vampires were catapulted into the mainstream. After the 1925 Council Meeting, the Houses have not assembled since, preferring to hide.
Stories of Vampires persisted and inspired Nazi scientists in the 1930's. Occult minded Doctors create experiments, mixing blood from captured vampires of all houses, werewolves and other creatures to create their own Vampiric soldiers. This new species are looked down on by older more traditional Houses and are not of the blood, or directly from Dracula.
This new breed escaped into the world after the Second World War and took the name Sutherlanders. In recent decades they have attempted to gain acceptance from the other houses and now are even running for a Council Seat much to the disgust of older Vampires and Dracula himself.
Dracula stormed into the meeting and in a bloody rage destroyed the House leaders, beheading them with his bare hands. The Van Der Ford house was declared an enemy and as far as can be found, their line entirely wiped out.
There has not been a Council Meeting since 1925, and the empty seat in the Council remains.
The Death of Dracula
Following missives between the Order and an unknown member of the Council, Dracula has finally been slain. He was cornered in his home, staked and beheaded, turning immediately to dust.
His House has been scattered and the Order has completed a quest one thousand years in the making.
The concept of succession has never been discussed amongst Vampires, but the Council will meet on Halloween to elect their new leader.
The Order will be there to finish the job once and for all.
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