I have always viewed Vampires (or as I prefer to call them, Vampyres) as an organised highly efficient force of evil as shown in films like the Blade series or the novels of Lisle Schwartz. Here I present a new list for IHMN based on the background I use for Feuds of Blood which some of you may have seen at shows around the country.
The great attraction of IHMN is the simplicity of the rules. It is all too easy to take a creature such as a Werewolf or Vampire and make them hopelessly complex to play, so with due apologies to Craig who will no doubt have come up with a better way I have opted for ease of play.
VampireFor Basic non-Campaign Game PlayGreater Vampire: Pluck 2+, Armour 10*, 30 points of Mystic Powers
Lesser Vampire: Pluck 3+, Armour 9*, 20 points of Mystic powers
*Armour values may be supplemented with a Mediaeval Breast Plate which adds +1 to the Armour Score.
To reflect their charismatic charm, Vampires would be very likely to have Mesmerism as a power.
They also have a new Talent: Feed
In the non-campaign Game, if a Vampire kills a living creature, it gains a free Pluck Roll which may be used at any time. This reflects the renewed vigour of freshly drained blood.
Vampires are vulnerable to Sanctified Weapons
A Sanctified Weapon is costed as if poisoned, but effectively removes all modifiers from a Vampires Pluck Roll, including negative ones
For Campaign Game PlayVampires have the Immortal Talent
If a Vampire kills a Living being, instead of gaining a Pluck Roll it may opt to sire its victim. At the end of the Game, the hapless victim makes a Pluck Roll (-1 if killed by a Greater Vampire). If the roll is passed, the victim is truly dead and his soul is saved. If the roll is failed, the victim’s soul is owned by the Vampire and it becomes a Lesser Vampire with the Characteristics above.
The Tridecagon
This is a secret organisation of 13 Vampire Covens that infest the known (and unknown) worlds of man. I have sketched out two with another three hsould you like them.
Firstly an overview of the Tridecagon Order
The TridecagonA name whispered in the darkest corners of man’s empires, the Tridecagon has existed since before the rise of Rome. Their members are among the most feared of the Supernatural beings, the Night Walkers or Vampyres. Over the centuries these creatures have enslaved and fed on the human race, some of whom have been sired into Vampyres when required by war or the purges of the accursed religions.
The Orders of the Tridecagon remained hidden for many centuries, fearful of their enemies, particularly the Holy Inquisition, but as science and atheism began to erode pure faith, so the Night Walkers stepped into the world of man offering a pleasurable alternative to the strict dictates of Church, Mosque and Synagogue. A cornucopia of forbidden pleasures awaited adherents willing to be in thrall to the Tridecagon with the possibility of immortality for those who attended them best.
At this time the Orders represent a potent threat to the balance of power held by the great empires. With their true allegiances hidden, human thralls have infected all the layers of society, from Clerk to High Sheriff, and even in the cabinet rooms and palaces of Governments and Kings, subtly advancing the villainous goals of their Masters.
There are Thirteen Orders (hence the Tridecagon), some of which have yet to reveal themselves to the eyes of man. The structure of each Order is set by a secret council, consisting of the Grafs who control each Order, to ensure that no one Vampyre holds dominion over the Tridecagon.
Each Order consists of 13 Vampyres, a pure-blood Graf and 12 Consorts. Each Vampyre controls a Coven of 13 human disciples, 1 Guardian and 12 Thralls. The Guardian acts as both the Vampyre’s advisor and protector during the hours of daylight. The Graf’s Coven consists of the most experienced and loyal Disciples. If a Graf is destroyed, their place is taken by the most senior Consort. If a Consort is destroyed or raised up, the most senior Guardian within the Order will undergo the blood rite in order to become a Vampyre and Consort for the relevant Coven.
In truth, the Orders have little love for each other and structures are far more ‘flexible’. Areas of influence set by the Council are often ignored and forays by Covens across territories can often result in bloodshed if discovered by the ‘resident’ Order. The greatest fear for mankind lies in the future when the predicted rise of a great Vampyre able to unite the Orders would render the Tridecagon unstoppable.
The First Order of the Tridecagon: The Karlsberg Dynasty
The Karlsburg DynastyBorn the youngest son of a noble Hungarian family, Draco Karlsburg sought honour and fame fighting the infamous Vlad Tepes of Wallachia. Taken prisoner, he avoided the fate of his fellow knights, each tortured and impaled on a greased stake, by offering his sword to the Wallachian prince. Tepes, a Vampyre of great power, ensured his young charges loyalty by submitting him to the blood rite. Karlsburg survived and slated his new thirst in battle against his former king, draining the fresh blood of his captives.
For this his family were crucified and their lands confiscated, but when Hungary fell to the rapacious Wallachian prince, Karlsburg was given back all that he had lost, together with the bordering estates before his country was swallowed by the all consuming Ottoman Empire invading from the East, a behemoth that was stopped only at the gates of Vienna. Karlsburg retired to his estates, feared and shunned by all but his loyal servants and for four centuries held court over his family of the dead.
In 1880, Ottoman influence had receded and the Church was in crisis. Now the Count left his Carpathian stronghold and urged the Tridecagon to break free of its self-imposed shackles and create a new world order. Unity of purpose between Orders was never easy and Karlsburg himself had a habit of breaking truces when it suited him.
Alone among the brethren, Karlsburg has created the deadly Nosferatu; Vampyres physically and mentally altered by alchemy to become berserk killing machines. Usually the fate of male Consorts who displease him, of late the Count has taken to using lunatics, culled from asylums and sired. His own Coven is entirely made up of female thralls, beautiful but fanatic warriors. It is rumoured that they are all half-Vampyres, blood drinkers who can walk in any but direct sunlight.
Karlsberg Dynasty List
The Second Order of the Tridecagon: The Albion Judiciary
The Albion JudiciaryTaking his place among the Grafs, Judge Jeffries leads the call for Justice at the head of the Albion Judiciary. Interred in the Tower of London by William III after a long and bloody career as the Stuart succession’s most ruthless judge, Jeffries was unusually given Vampyre status by the dark powers and his death was faked. Once out of the tower he slipped into obscurity and carefully gathered his Order.
For sheer unadorned ruthlessness and exhaustive bureaucracy, Jeffries is famed amongst the Council. His diatribes against his enemies can last for hours. Any sentient being brought before him is forced to undergo trial in which witnesses (usually his thralls) tell wild and brazen lies before the victim is hung, drawn and quartered (or beheaded if a vampyre!). Torture is encouraged and leniency is unheard of.
Among his consorts are the lascivious Nellie Gwynn and his favourite gatherer of evidence, Titus Oats. The Thralls of the Judiciary prefer to dress in a Regency style with pistols disguised as flintlocks. Many a victim has been greeted with the command ‘Stand and Deliver’ before being dragged away for trial. The Order hides among the rat runs and slums alongside the drains and sewers of Old London.
Jeffries relationship with the dark powers causes tension and much fear amongst his brethren and he has been able to summon many malign beings to his cause, including Wights and other Ghostly beings. In addition the Judge has a scathing dislike of any non-British subject, especially Vampyres arriving from Eastern Europe or the French.
Albion Judiciary List
I shall post photos of these and other Covens as time allows...
May 18, 2013, 05:43:00 PM
