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Lescatia: Land of the Vampire Prince
TL;DR: Prince is Big Vampire and rules kingdom. Takes kinda care of the people and people love and fear him. All the nobles very vampire. Much spooky.
The world, for all who live within Lescatia, consists of a sprawling length of petty kingdoms, dukedoms, princedoms, countdoms, and the like. While all may give themselves grandiose titles, try to elevate themselves above one another, they are all, quite simply, the same petty king as anyone else, just managing other lands.
As such, the so-called Prince of the Princedom of Lescatia would've been no more noteworthy than any other ruler of this time and place. A landlocked nation with poor soil, cold summers, and grim winters. The difference between the Prince of Lescatia and the other petty kings is, he's ruled the kingdom since its inception many centuries ago. It's common knowledge, a bit of an open secret, that the aristocracy of Lescatia are creatures of the night. These vampire nobles have a complexity matched only by their haughtiness over the commonfolk, a constant dance of petty politics, all under the watchful eye of the Prince.
Who the Prince is, none could truly say. Not even his concubines, many as they are, truly know much of the Prince's nature. As one would imagine, there are many rumours, ranging from the Prince being the First Vampire all the way to a god made flesh. As for what is true, none can truly say, as he holds it close to his heart. Only his wife knows, known simply as The Lady, but she is also just as tight lipped about the entire matter.
All that can be known is that the Prince rules with an iron fist. In an ironic twist, his princedom, twisted, insignificant, and hardy as it is, is one of the most stable nations within the entire continent. The aristocracy are flamboyant and complex, yes, but all bow to the Prince's authority, and the land is simply not wealthy enough to catch the greedy eyes of the more warlike petty kings beyond his realm. Should someone dare invade, they will find the very lands itself out to kill them, directed by the Prince's macabre hand. While who the Prince truly is will probably stay a mystery, his skill in combat and magic is without equal. Lescatia has a standing army, sure, but it's true army is risen from the many graves littering the land of the living dead. Riding ahead of these many hosts of dead are typically the nobility themselves. In these warparties, the Prince himself will be at the front, leading by example while clad in armour black as the void and wielding a sword said to drain their victims of their blood. Eventually, the rumours and legends surrounding the cursed land became more than sufficient to ward off invasions
The Prince is also surprisingly reliable in helping the smallfolk. While the entire nobility of Lescatia sees humans as mere cattle, cattle must be managed and protected to ensure longevity. It's even rumoured that the reason vampires are forbidden from killing smallfolk needlessly, not even when they feed, is because of his iron will to maintain this small holding he has. In practice, however, there is a considerable amount that will be overlooked by the Prince, but when things are truly dire, it's not unheard of for the Prince himself to appear, reprimanding or even punishing the nobles managing the land and undoing whatever crisis was threatening the people in that area
As one would imagine, the Prince is seen with great awe and fear by the smallfolk. He is quite literally a being beyond most peasantry's comprehension, and as such there are rare cults that sprout up, worshipping the Prince as a deity. Strangely, the Prince is rather active in shutting that down. He never really gives a reason why, however.
TL;DR: Land Super Spooky. Everything wants to kill the people, but also they have tools to survive it
Lescatia itself, before the Vampire Prince even arrived, was a land known for its pitiful farmlands and inhospitable climate. It is far away from much of anything, with the sun already shining so painfully little, either hidden under dark clouds or simply not shining over the mountain range surrounding its east, south, and west. The people before the Prince's arrival were few and prone to banditry. They frequently took from those who were brave enough to farm the cold, barren lands.
The Prince's arrival only amplified this. The magicks that the Prince wielded quickly permeated the already-bleak land. The sun's light constantly failed to penetrate the thick, dark clouds that seemingly only existed to block its light. The very life essence of the land seemed to be drained, with even dead animals refusing to rot. The land turned into a place of cold bogs and fens, of long patches of dry, dead earth and vast forests of seemingly dead trees. The nights were filled with fell beasts of no natural descent. Bats and wolves the size of horses, constantly emaciated. Vicious spiders of great size and potent venom. Massive rats feasting on the bountiful carrion. Vicious ghouls, both natural and necromancer-made, digging up corpses to feast, even hunting the lone wanderers. The land itself was considerably more hostile, and the already hardy people took to it surprisingly well.
With the land itself becoming harsher, crops that can grow in the blighted lands arrived, as well. And new means of gaining sustenance. There are many rumours as to why this happened, with the Nobility actively promoting that all things good from the change was done through the Prince's benevolence, and all bad things come from something outside the control of the Nobility.
The people have taken to the harsh lands in a way that lets them live, though never thrive. They can continue to carve out a meagre existence, continue to provide the Prince and his Nobles with sustenance, and continue to enjoy the few unlikely boons there is to gain from a ruler that actually cares about its people, even if said ruler only cares for his cattle.
TL;DR: People are hardasses. Everything's shit, everything tryna kill em so they're hardasses. People can serve the vampires as servants but also dangerous. They can learn necromancy but also SUPER dangerous cuz vamps kill threats
The people of Lescatia are a hardy folk. No other people that they know of can say with such certainty that the lands they live in want them as dead as the corpse bogs they use as fertilizer. Nothing truly stays dead in Lescatia, and the Prince has outlawed burning bodies, for it interferes in his necromantic arts. Instead, the bodies are simply dumped into large pits, with a sturdy wooden lid to keep out the smell and make it easy to re open. Death is present in every facet of a Lescatian's life, in many cases quite literally. The very nature of the lands make it that they must fight for every inch of life, having just enough resources and tools to grow in such inhospitable lands.
The people are typically centralised in fortified villages, with palisades, earthen walls, or both erected to protect the houses, built close to each other for safety, from the many creatures and horrors beyond. Every town, be it a miserable hamlet or a "city" that would be considered a measly town in any other nation's standards, have a dedicated militia to protect them from the more aggressive threats. This, in turn, has led to a steady supply of hardy warriors, constantly fighting off the monsters of Lescatia, which in turn provides the Prince with many corpses to raise that still hold the memory of combat.
The more erudite, cunning, and sociable humans can find themselves a place in the relative safety of the nobility, being their servants and labourers on their own dedicated castles and estates. If they are sociable, charming, or just lucky enough, they can even be taught how to read and write, and maybe even how to enact the mystical art of necromancy, something viewed in equal awe and horror by the common folk. A single fledgeling necromancer, taught on the little scraps their vampire masters gave them, is capable of protecting a town far better than a band of militia. No one cares if the dead die again, the only caveat being to raise the dead outside of your own charnel pit, lest the people be disturbed.
Being so close to the nobility is a terrifying prospect in and of itself, though. The whims of the nobility are sudden, and sometimes violent. The Prince interferes if his Nobles kill too many humans, but a few disappearing every month or so is just part of Lescatia's brutal lifestyle. While vampires can feed on humans without killing them, it doesn't stop them from doing it on occasion, either by accident or intentionally, depending on which vampire it is. Necromancers are doubly-endangered, as teaching the very magicks that protect their lands to the common folk is allowed, but those that partake are scrutinized for any semblance of ambitions to leave and teach the world beyond their forbidden arts, or maybe gather too much power. Either way, they must be culled if they are seen as a threat, either real or imagined.
The Rogue Dead
The Vampire Prince
TL;DR: Prince is Big Vampire and rules kingdom. Takes kinda care of the people and people love and fear him. All the nobles very vampire. Much spooky.
The world, for all who live within Lescatia, consists of a sprawling length of petty kingdoms, dukedoms, princedoms, countdoms, and the like. While all may give themselves grandiose titles, try to elevate themselves above one another, they are all, quite simply, the same petty king as anyone else, just managing other lands.
As such, the so-called Prince of the Princedom of Lescatia would've been no more noteworthy than any other ruler of this time and place. A landlocked nation with poor soil, cold summers, and grim winters. The difference between the Prince of Lescatia and the other petty kings is, he's ruled the kingdom since its inception many centuries ago. It's common knowledge, a bit of an open secret, that the aristocracy of Lescatia are creatures of the night. These vampire nobles have a complexity matched only by their haughtiness over the commonfolk, a constant dance of petty politics, all under the watchful eye of the Prince.
Who the Prince is, none could truly say. Not even his concubines, many as they are, truly know much of the Prince's nature. As one would imagine, there are many rumours, ranging from the Prince being the First Vampire all the way to a god made flesh. As for what is true, none can truly say, as he holds it close to his heart. Only his wife knows, known simply as The Lady, but she is also just as tight lipped about the entire matter.
All that can be known is that the Prince rules with an iron fist. In an ironic twist, his princedom, twisted, insignificant, and hardy as it is, is one of the most stable nations within the entire continent. The aristocracy are flamboyant and complex, yes, but all bow to the Prince's authority, and the land is simply not wealthy enough to catch the greedy eyes of the more warlike petty kings beyond his realm. Should someone dare invade, they will find the very lands itself out to kill them, directed by the Prince's macabre hand. While who the Prince truly is will probably stay a mystery, his skill in combat and magic is without equal. Lescatia has a standing army, sure, but it's true army is risen from the many graves littering the land of the living dead. Riding ahead of these many hosts of dead are typically the nobility themselves. In these warparties, the Prince himself will be at the front, leading by example while clad in armour black as the void and wielding a sword said to drain their victims of their blood. Eventually, the rumours and legends surrounding the cursed land became more than sufficient to ward off invasions
The Prince is also surprisingly reliable in helping the smallfolk. While the entire nobility of Lescatia sees humans as mere cattle, cattle must be managed and protected to ensure longevity. It's even rumoured that the reason vampires are forbidden from killing smallfolk needlessly, not even when they feed, is because of his iron will to maintain this small holding he has. In practice, however, there is a considerable amount that will be overlooked by the Prince, but when things are truly dire, it's not unheard of for the Prince himself to appear, reprimanding or even punishing the nobles managing the land and undoing whatever crisis was threatening the people in that area
As one would imagine, the Prince is seen with great awe and fear by the smallfolk. He is quite literally a being beyond most peasantry's comprehension, and as such there are rare cults that sprout up, worshipping the Prince as a deity. Strangely, the Prince is rather active in shutting that down. He never really gives a reason why, however.
Lescatia Itself
TL;DR: Land Super Spooky. Everything wants to kill the people, but also they have tools to survive it
Lescatia itself, before the Vampire Prince even arrived, was a land known for its pitiful farmlands and inhospitable climate. It is far away from much of anything, with the sun already shining so painfully little, either hidden under dark clouds or simply not shining over the mountain range surrounding its east, south, and west. The people before the Prince's arrival were few and prone to banditry. They frequently took from those who were brave enough to farm the cold, barren lands.
The Prince's arrival only amplified this. The magicks that the Prince wielded quickly permeated the already-bleak land. The sun's light constantly failed to penetrate the thick, dark clouds that seemingly only existed to block its light. The very life essence of the land seemed to be drained, with even dead animals refusing to rot. The land turned into a place of cold bogs and fens, of long patches of dry, dead earth and vast forests of seemingly dead trees. The nights were filled with fell beasts of no natural descent. Bats and wolves the size of horses, constantly emaciated. Vicious spiders of great size and potent venom. Massive rats feasting on the bountiful carrion. Vicious ghouls, both natural and necromancer-made, digging up corpses to feast, even hunting the lone wanderers. The land itself was considerably more hostile, and the already hardy people took to it surprisingly well.
With the land itself becoming harsher, crops that can grow in the blighted lands arrived, as well. And new means of gaining sustenance. There are many rumours as to why this happened, with the Nobility actively promoting that all things good from the change was done through the Prince's benevolence, and all bad things come from something outside the control of the Nobility.
The people have taken to the harsh lands in a way that lets them live, though never thrive. They can continue to carve out a meagre existence, continue to provide the Prince and his Nobles with sustenance, and continue to enjoy the few unlikely boons there is to gain from a ruler that actually cares about its people, even if said ruler only cares for his cattle.
The Lescatian People
TL;DR: People are hardasses. Everything's shit, everything tryna kill em so they're hardasses. People can serve the vampires as servants but also dangerous. They can learn necromancy but also SUPER dangerous cuz vamps kill threats
The people of Lescatia are a hardy folk. No other people that they know of can say with such certainty that the lands they live in want them as dead as the corpse bogs they use as fertilizer. Nothing truly stays dead in Lescatia, and the Prince has outlawed burning bodies, for it interferes in his necromantic arts. Instead, the bodies are simply dumped into large pits, with a sturdy wooden lid to keep out the smell and make it easy to re open. Death is present in every facet of a Lescatian's life, in many cases quite literally. The very nature of the lands make it that they must fight for every inch of life, having just enough resources and tools to grow in such inhospitable lands.
The people are typically centralised in fortified villages, with palisades, earthen walls, or both erected to protect the houses, built close to each other for safety, from the many creatures and horrors beyond. Every town, be it a miserable hamlet or a "city" that would be considered a measly town in any other nation's standards, have a dedicated militia to protect them from the more aggressive threats. This, in turn, has led to a steady supply of hardy warriors, constantly fighting off the monsters of Lescatia, which in turn provides the Prince with many corpses to raise that still hold the memory of combat.
The more erudite, cunning, and sociable humans can find themselves a place in the relative safety of the nobility, being their servants and labourers on their own dedicated castles and estates. If they are sociable, charming, or just lucky enough, they can even be taught how to read and write, and maybe even how to enact the mystical art of necromancy, something viewed in equal awe and horror by the common folk. A single fledgeling necromancer, taught on the little scraps their vampire masters gave them, is capable of protecting a town far better than a band of militia. No one cares if the dead die again, the only caveat being to raise the dead outside of your own charnel pit, lest the people be disturbed.
Being so close to the nobility is a terrifying prospect in and of itself, though. The whims of the nobility are sudden, and sometimes violent. The Prince interferes if his Nobles kill too many humans, but a few disappearing every month or so is just part of Lescatia's brutal lifestyle. While vampires can feed on humans without killing them, it doesn't stop them from doing it on occasion, either by accident or intentionally, depending on which vampire it is. Necromancers are doubly-endangered, as teaching the very magicks that protect their lands to the common folk is allowed, but those that partake are scrutinized for any semblance of ambitions to leave and teach the world beyond their forbidden arts, or maybe gather too much power. Either way, they must be culled if they are seen as a threat, either real or imagined.
Lescatia's Dangers
The Rogue Dead
TL;DR: The dead rise sometimes and people gotta deal with it. Usually not a problem. Sometimes massive hordes which is a big problem. Vamp nobles actually want to stop that.
Simply put, the dead have risen and walked so many times in Lescatia that it's impossible to truly corral all of them back into rest. Whether it is because of carelessness, the death of its master, or the foul land of Lescatia's residual magic raising the dead on its own. Either way, the Rogue Dead, as they are called, range from formidable to outright dire in terms of threat. There is no situation where a horde of shambling corpses acting on pure instinct is welcomed by the hardy Lescatian villages. At best, it's a threat that needs to be dispatched, at worst, it's a horde without counting, shambling forward and destroying everything purely on its instinctive need to make life into death in however way it can.
Typically, this comes in the form of unarmed skeletons and zombies, as most of the dead will forget what little they remember if their baleful energies are not managed by an external will.
In a sense, the Ghouls can be considered quasi-undead, and are frequently seen among them. The Rogue dead seemingly don't care for them, one way or another, and the Ghouls are following them for fresh and rotting flesh. They can even go as far as to eat the flesh off the rogue dead, since they don't really have complaints about the matter.
Typically, these rogue dead march in packs of ten to fifteen, ranging from freshly-raised corpses to ancient skeletons, whether man or beast. However, they usually lack any form of combat prowess, and are relatively easily cut down by a determined militiaman. However, it is in their nature to come together in groups, and should a region be left unchecked for long enough, a village might find a horde of up to hundreds of corpses shambling their way to their home.
Luckily for the smallfolk, this is a threat that most Nobles take seriously. Whether it be actually caring about the people in their part of the blighted land, or their attempts to avoid a scandal, most vampire lords and ladies will quickly enthral a massive horde of dead to their will and lead them to rest, waiting for when they should be rightly called. The smaller groups they simply expect the peasants to deal with themselves
The Ghouls
TL;DR: Eating bad meat makes people sick and turns them into mad monster-people-things. Very dangerous. Necromancers can use them in spooky magicks
The Lescatian people know much about true starvation. The Prince's arrival may have given the smallfolk the tools needed to stave it off, they too will fail now and then, and it is the nature of things that a certain number of people will always go hungry. It's common enough that the average Lescatian has an adequate knowledge of foraging in their blighted lands, knowing most of the gnarled roots and sickly leaves that can be eaten.
Even so. Hunger can drive people to heinous acts. Lescatia's dead do not rot easily, and every village is obligated to have a charnel pit filled with their dead. When times are dire, inevitably some will turn to cannibalism, feasting on the slow-rotting flesh within the corpse piles, or gorging on the many bogged carcasses in the surrounding lands.
There is a reason why only the most desperate and starved would do this, however. Lescatia is a dead land, and consuming the too-long-dead flesh of this land invites the baleful energies that's seeped into it. A true Lescatian knows to eat a beast the day you slaughter it, lest you risk becoming a ghoul
Ghouls are a uniqueness among the living dead, as they never truly died. The baleful energies of undead flesh has driven their minds to madness, sapping it of higher thought and mutating its form into a haunched, ragged beast, an abomination of life and undeath. These creatures are one of the more organised threats of Lescatia, roaming in packs and devouring the flesh and bones of forgotten dead. They are, however, more than happy to ambush a lone traveller and kill him, yet will refuse to dine on his corpse until at least a week has passed. The ghouls do not care to wait usually, for they can spend great stretches of time without food.
They are deplorable creatures, hated by most. They can technically be dominated, much like the Rogue Dead, by a necromancer, and indeed it's a practice that is done, but vampires abhor the idea, seeing ghouls as vermin, and very few people will welcome a necromancer with ghouls under his thrall.
It's also possible to forcibly turn a man into a ghoul, by a crude method of forcing necromantic energies into his being, thus destroying it. While this is frowned upon, a group of vampires have created a new art through it, called fleshcrafting. As the unique attributes of ghouls make them very susceptible to the mutating powers of the art and consequently makes it very easy to transform them into abominations, masses of bone and flesh larger than any man, built solely for war
Lescatian Beasts
TL;DR: Rats and Bats of Unusual Size, and Spiders are the tigers of Lescatia. Bandits exist too, but they also struggling
Lescatia, even before the Prince's arrival, was a harsh land filled with vicious beasts. The Prince's necromantic energies only seemed to amplify this. Naturally, the dramatic shift of the ecosystem caused many creatures to simply die out, unable to live in such a lifeless place. Those that evolved and adapted, or seemingly arrived when the Prince did, are quite attuned to the blighted nature of Lescatia.
The giant bats and rats are one of the more common threats to the average man. These creatures are opportunistic omnivores, feasting on whatever scrap of anything they could find. Should there be enough of them, this includes children, elderly, isolated animals, and so on. They are equally as keen for cannibalism, as well, and serve as the bottom rung in Lescatia's wider food chain, as even the wild goats of the lands can sometimes devour them should they not find their blighted grass for long enough. Rat and bat meat are quite common, as the creatures are everywhere, and can be eaten once sufficiently cooked (On the same day it was slaughtered) It's seen as peasant food, rather understandably, and above that typically tastes horrid if not cooked by someone who knows exactly what they're doing.
Direbats and direwolves are the next great threat to the Lescatian people. These creatures grow to the size of a horse, and are constantly emaciated and starved. Like most creatures of Lescatia, they can endure long periods without food, but creatures of such size are far more prone to devouring lone livestock and humans than others. Their tendence to roam in packs only amplify the problem, and it's a common sight for humans, direbats, and direwolves to be stuck in a three-way war.
Lastly are the giant spiders. These are rarer, for they are smart enough to stay away from human lands when possible. Giant, solitary predators girded in an armour of chitin, they are the apex predators of the reborn Lescatia. They are, however, extremely rare. They are solitary creatures, ranging in large swathes of territories and only coming together to breed once every few years. They typically prey on the few herbivores native to Lescatia, and are quite efficient predators. Like most predators, they can endure long times of fathom, and make their homes in the mountains and dark forests of the land. They are also smart enough to leave humans alone, usually
Bandits
Lescatia is a harsh land. It is no surprise that many within the land quickly become disheartened. While most manage to stave this melancholy and hopelessness off, banditry is a quick, if destructive solution. With the many mountains surrounding Lescatia and the choking forests within it, there are plentiful hiding holes for bandits, poachers, and other reprehensible humans. Banditry is, in a sense, even more dangerous than simply surviving in the fortified villages. While they can take from others, they must choose a place where they can survive the lands themselves, and must be careful not to cause so much chaos as to rouse the wrath of the Vampire Nobles. There are many accounts of peasants pleading with their Noble lords so much that they exterminated the bandits to simply quieten them.
Lescatian Magicks
While there are many schools of magic, and many ways to act those schools out, Lescatia is most famously known for its necromancy. The Prince, for all onlookers, is seemingly an all-powerful being of endless magickal strength and skill. His necromancy is both creative, impressive, and terrible, and the morsels and samples he's given his Noble followers throughout the centuries are powerful in their own right.
Necromancy
The art of binding will and power to the dead. It's the backbone of Lescatia as a whole, and is practised, to some extent, by every Noble within the princedom. While there is much iteration of this, which will be briefly addressed, the most basic necromancy is the revivafication of bones and dead flesh, soulless constructs bound to their master's will. The dead do not tire, they do not rebel. They do not eat, nor do they sleep. The inner sanctums of the Nobility who do not favour one of the stranger specialisations, are typically guarded by ancient and powerful wights, imbued with souls and masters of combat.
As the years have gone on. Two new specialisations of necromancy have come. Fleshcrafting and Soulforging
Fleshcrafting is the dark perversions of flesh and bone. Based on experiments done with ghouls and how their forms were defiled and mutated through necromantic crafts, fleshcrafting focuses on imbuing not the bones nor the spirit, but the flesh itself with baleful energies, twisting and warping it into horrors that can only be found in this fell craft. Nobles of the art represent this by having their inner sanctums guarded not by wights, but by abominations of bone and flesh, as powerful as they are terrible and always hungering for dead flesh
Soulforging is a far older craft, and focuses on binding true spirits and souls to the whims of a master. It is, by far, the hardest craft to master, as a soul improperly bound to a master's will will inevitably kill the master sooner or later. There are far fewer experts in soulforging, but those that are, are formidable creatures indeed. Masters of the craft flaunt this by having wraiths, shades, and other spectres as their servants, guarding them when they slumber in the meagre daylight of Lescatia
The Vampire Nobility
Vampires have existed long before Lescatia's existence as a kingdom of vampires, and will probably exist long after the nation inevitably ends, however long that may take. There isn't really a set agreement on how Vampires came to be, indeed some scholars even claim that vampires have differing origins, the only caveat being an ageless being that needs to imbibe blood and holding an aversion to the Sun.
However, it's safe to assume that the Vampire Nobility of Lescatia, for the most part, come from the Vampire Prince himself. Some were the nobility that were there when the Prince arrived, others were given the Vampiric Gift and assigned nobility once they've proven themselves as adequate servants. Sometimes, the Nobility will yearn for a progeny, and "adopt" a human to raise them in such way and teach them the fine arts of vampiric nobility. As such, the vast majority of the Nobility seemingly have the same flavour of affliction.
Lescatian nobles are pale, with an unnatural, ageless beauty to them all. They command a natural air of authority, like hounds directing sheep, and indeed they all have an instinctive command of various forms of magicks. They can easily enthral beasts and the weak-willed into their power through the hypnotic charms they all seemingly possess. That being said, their undead nature makes them quite averse to a number of magicks, as well. Particularly fire, holy, and light magic. They command the shadows at an instinctive level, shrouding themselves in darkness whenever they want to be unseen.
They are significantly more powerful than the average man, being faster, stronger, and far more durable. This seems to scale with age, and the longer a Vampire lives in this world, the harder it becomes to remove them. Vampires, of course, enjoy all their senses being supernaturally enhanced in such a way that it doesn't handicap them. They cannot be deafened or blinded by loud noises or bright lights, but can still see perfectly in the dark and hear a pin drop in another room. All vampires are weak to the sun, the weaker ones outright dying in its light, but the ancient vampires are not killed outright, it's a painful, unpleasant experience that none wish to partake in.
While they may feed however much they wish, seemingly never being completely sated of their thirst for blood, the Prince has enacted strict laws regarding the murder of the Nobility's subjects. Vampires don't need to kill their victims in order to food, and like many of Lescatia's creatures, they can endure great periods of hunger. With some careful pacing, self control, and a bit of planning, a vampire need not kill anyone to sate their hunger. This, however, is seen as a poor man's action, and any self respecting vampire will inevitably drain someone out of bestial need, pride, and simple fear of being ostrasized among the other nobles. Because of this, it's common that death sentences are typically carried out by shipping the sentenced to their vampire master, who will drain them of their blood. This also gives the added benefit of increasing the goodwill among their people, as well as their fear.
Most Vampire nobles, though not all, are versed in magic. As the stories go, there is no school of magic in Lescatia, instead, the ancient families of Lescatia's nobility vie for attention of the Prince himself, who assigns one of his powerful servants to teach them or their "newborn" the crafts. Again, the Prince is extremely close-fisted about what he teaches who, and has forbidden the teaching of others without his approval. He further pretends to not notice vampires teaching each other cantrips, but is swift to react once it becomes clear a vampire is hoarding magical arts for whatever reason.
TL;DR: Eating bad meat makes people sick and turns them into mad monster-people-things. Very dangerous. Necromancers can use them in spooky magicks
The Lescatian people know much about true starvation. The Prince's arrival may have given the smallfolk the tools needed to stave it off, they too will fail now and then, and it is the nature of things that a certain number of people will always go hungry. It's common enough that the average Lescatian has an adequate knowledge of foraging in their blighted lands, knowing most of the gnarled roots and sickly leaves that can be eaten.
Even so. Hunger can drive people to heinous acts. Lescatia's dead do not rot easily, and every village is obligated to have a charnel pit filled with their dead. When times are dire, inevitably some will turn to cannibalism, feasting on the slow-rotting flesh within the corpse piles, or gorging on the many bogged carcasses in the surrounding lands.
There is a reason why only the most desperate and starved would do this, however. Lescatia is a dead land, and consuming the too-long-dead flesh of this land invites the baleful energies that's seeped into it. A true Lescatian knows to eat a beast the day you slaughter it, lest you risk becoming a ghoul
Ghouls are a uniqueness among the living dead, as they never truly died. The baleful energies of undead flesh has driven their minds to madness, sapping it of higher thought and mutating its form into a haunched, ragged beast, an abomination of life and undeath. These creatures are one of the more organised threats of Lescatia, roaming in packs and devouring the flesh and bones of forgotten dead. They are, however, more than happy to ambush a lone traveller and kill him, yet will refuse to dine on his corpse until at least a week has passed. The ghouls do not care to wait usually, for they can spend great stretches of time without food.
They are deplorable creatures, hated by most. They can technically be dominated, much like the Rogue Dead, by a necromancer, and indeed it's a practice that is done, but vampires abhor the idea, seeing ghouls as vermin, and very few people will welcome a necromancer with ghouls under his thrall.
It's also possible to forcibly turn a man into a ghoul, by a crude method of forcing necromantic energies into his being, thus destroying it. While this is frowned upon, a group of vampires have created a new art through it, called fleshcrafting. As the unique attributes of ghouls make them very susceptible to the mutating powers of the art and consequently makes it very easy to transform them into abominations, masses of bone and flesh larger than any man, built solely for war
Lescatian Beasts
TL;DR: Rats and Bats of Unusual Size, and Spiders are the tigers of Lescatia. Bandits exist too, but they also struggling
Lescatia, even before the Prince's arrival, was a harsh land filled with vicious beasts. The Prince's necromantic energies only seemed to amplify this. Naturally, the dramatic shift of the ecosystem caused many creatures to simply die out, unable to live in such a lifeless place. Those that evolved and adapted, or seemingly arrived when the Prince did, are quite attuned to the blighted nature of Lescatia.
The giant bats and rats are one of the more common threats to the average man. These creatures are opportunistic omnivores, feasting on whatever scrap of anything they could find. Should there be enough of them, this includes children, elderly, isolated animals, and so on. They are equally as keen for cannibalism, as well, and serve as the bottom rung in Lescatia's wider food chain, as even the wild goats of the lands can sometimes devour them should they not find their blighted grass for long enough. Rat and bat meat are quite common, as the creatures are everywhere, and can be eaten once sufficiently cooked (On the same day it was slaughtered) It's seen as peasant food, rather understandably, and above that typically tastes horrid if not cooked by someone who knows exactly what they're doing.
Direbats and direwolves are the next great threat to the Lescatian people. These creatures grow to the size of a horse, and are constantly emaciated and starved. Like most creatures of Lescatia, they can endure long periods without food, but creatures of such size are far more prone to devouring lone livestock and humans than others. Their tendence to roam in packs only amplify the problem, and it's a common sight for humans, direbats, and direwolves to be stuck in a three-way war.
Lastly are the giant spiders. These are rarer, for they are smart enough to stay away from human lands when possible. Giant, solitary predators girded in an armour of chitin, they are the apex predators of the reborn Lescatia. They are, however, extremely rare. They are solitary creatures, ranging in large swathes of territories and only coming together to breed once every few years. They typically prey on the few herbivores native to Lescatia, and are quite efficient predators. Like most predators, they can endure long times of fathom, and make their homes in the mountains and dark forests of the land. They are also smart enough to leave humans alone, usually
Bandits
Lescatia is a harsh land. It is no surprise that many within the land quickly become disheartened. While most manage to stave this melancholy and hopelessness off, banditry is a quick, if destructive solution. With the many mountains surrounding Lescatia and the choking forests within it, there are plentiful hiding holes for bandits, poachers, and other reprehensible humans. Banditry is, in a sense, even more dangerous than simply surviving in the fortified villages. While they can take from others, they must choose a place where they can survive the lands themselves, and must be careful not to cause so much chaos as to rouse the wrath of the Vampire Nobles. There are many accounts of peasants pleading with their Noble lords so much that they exterminated the bandits to simply quieten them.
Lescatian Magicks
While there are many schools of magic, and many ways to act those schools out, Lescatia is most famously known for its necromancy. The Prince, for all onlookers, is seemingly an all-powerful being of endless magickal strength and skill. His necromancy is both creative, impressive, and terrible, and the morsels and samples he's given his Noble followers throughout the centuries are powerful in their own right.
Necromancy
The art of binding will and power to the dead. It's the backbone of Lescatia as a whole, and is practised, to some extent, by every Noble within the princedom. While there is much iteration of this, which will be briefly addressed, the most basic necromancy is the revivafication of bones and dead flesh, soulless constructs bound to their master's will. The dead do not tire, they do not rebel. They do not eat, nor do they sleep. The inner sanctums of the Nobility who do not favour one of the stranger specialisations, are typically guarded by ancient and powerful wights, imbued with souls and masters of combat.
As the years have gone on. Two new specialisations of necromancy have come. Fleshcrafting and Soulforging
Fleshcrafting is the dark perversions of flesh and bone. Based on experiments done with ghouls and how their forms were defiled and mutated through necromantic crafts, fleshcrafting focuses on imbuing not the bones nor the spirit, but the flesh itself with baleful energies, twisting and warping it into horrors that can only be found in this fell craft. Nobles of the art represent this by having their inner sanctums guarded not by wights, but by abominations of bone and flesh, as powerful as they are terrible and always hungering for dead flesh
Soulforging is a far older craft, and focuses on binding true spirits and souls to the whims of a master. It is, by far, the hardest craft to master, as a soul improperly bound to a master's will will inevitably kill the master sooner or later. There are far fewer experts in soulforging, but those that are, are formidable creatures indeed. Masters of the craft flaunt this by having wraiths, shades, and other spectres as their servants, guarding them when they slumber in the meagre daylight of Lescatia
The Vampire Nobility
Vampires have existed long before Lescatia's existence as a kingdom of vampires, and will probably exist long after the nation inevitably ends, however long that may take. There isn't really a set agreement on how Vampires came to be, indeed some scholars even claim that vampires have differing origins, the only caveat being an ageless being that needs to imbibe blood and holding an aversion to the Sun.
However, it's safe to assume that the Vampire Nobility of Lescatia, for the most part, come from the Vampire Prince himself. Some were the nobility that were there when the Prince arrived, others were given the Vampiric Gift and assigned nobility once they've proven themselves as adequate servants. Sometimes, the Nobility will yearn for a progeny, and "adopt" a human to raise them in such way and teach them the fine arts of vampiric nobility. As such, the vast majority of the Nobility seemingly have the same flavour of affliction.
Lescatian nobles are pale, with an unnatural, ageless beauty to them all. They command a natural air of authority, like hounds directing sheep, and indeed they all have an instinctive command of various forms of magicks. They can easily enthral beasts and the weak-willed into their power through the hypnotic charms they all seemingly possess. That being said, their undead nature makes them quite averse to a number of magicks, as well. Particularly fire, holy, and light magic. They command the shadows at an instinctive level, shrouding themselves in darkness whenever they want to be unseen.
They are significantly more powerful than the average man, being faster, stronger, and far more durable. This seems to scale with age, and the longer a Vampire lives in this world, the harder it becomes to remove them. Vampires, of course, enjoy all their senses being supernaturally enhanced in such a way that it doesn't handicap them. They cannot be deafened or blinded by loud noises or bright lights, but can still see perfectly in the dark and hear a pin drop in another room. All vampires are weak to the sun, the weaker ones outright dying in its light, but the ancient vampires are not killed outright, it's a painful, unpleasant experience that none wish to partake in.
While they may feed however much they wish, seemingly never being completely sated of their thirst for blood, the Prince has enacted strict laws regarding the murder of the Nobility's subjects. Vampires don't need to kill their victims in order to food, and like many of Lescatia's creatures, they can endure great periods of hunger. With some careful pacing, self control, and a bit of planning, a vampire need not kill anyone to sate their hunger. This, however, is seen as a poor man's action, and any self respecting vampire will inevitably drain someone out of bestial need, pride, and simple fear of being ostrasized among the other nobles. Because of this, it's common that death sentences are typically carried out by shipping the sentenced to their vampire master, who will drain them of their blood. This also gives the added benefit of increasing the goodwill among their people, as well as their fear.
Most Vampire nobles, though not all, are versed in magic. As the stories go, there is no school of magic in Lescatia, instead, the ancient families of Lescatia's nobility vie for attention of the Prince himself, who assigns one of his powerful servants to teach them or their "newborn" the crafts. Again, the Prince is extremely close-fisted about what he teaches who, and has forbidden the teaching of others without his approval. He further pretends to not notice vampires teaching each other cantrips, but is swift to react once it becomes clear a vampire is hoarding magical arts for whatever reason.
Lescatia is a harsh land. It is no surprise that many within the land quickly become disheartened. While most manage to stave this melancholy and hopelessness off, banditry is a quick, if destructive solution. With the many mountains surrounding Lescatia and the choking forests within it, there are plentiful hiding holes for bandits, poachers, and other reprehensible humans. Banditry is, in a sense, even more dangerous than simply surviving in the fortified villages. While they can take from others, they must choose a place where they can survive the lands themselves, and must be careful not to cause so much chaos as to rouse the wrath of the Vampire Nobles. There are many accounts of peasants pleading with their Noble lords so much that they exterminated the bandits to simply quieten them.
Lescatian Magicks
While there are many schools of magic, and many ways to act those schools out, Lescatia is most famously known for its necromancy. The Prince, for all onlookers, is seemingly an all-powerful being of endless magickal strength and skill. His necromancy is both creative, impressive, and terrible, and the morsels and samples he's given his Noble followers throughout the centuries are powerful in their own right.
Necromancy
The art of binding will and power to the dead. It's the backbone of Lescatia as a whole, and is practised, to some extent, by every Noble within the princedom. While there is much iteration of this, which will be briefly addressed, the most basic necromancy is the revivafication of bones and dead flesh, soulless constructs bound to their master's will. The dead do not tire, they do not rebel. They do not eat, nor do they sleep. The inner sanctums of the Nobility who do not favour one of the stranger specialisations, are typically guarded by ancient and powerful wights, imbued with souls and masters of combat.
As the years have gone on. Two new specialisations of necromancy have come. Fleshcrafting and Soulforging
Fleshcrafting is the dark perversions of flesh and bone. Based on experiments done with ghouls and how their forms were defiled and mutated through necromantic crafts, fleshcrafting focuses on imbuing not the bones nor the spirit, but the flesh itself with baleful energies, twisting and warping it into horrors that can only be found in this fell craft. Nobles of the art represent this by having their inner sanctums guarded not by wights, but by abominations of bone and flesh, as powerful as they are terrible and always hungering for dead flesh
Soulforging is a far older craft, and focuses on binding true spirits and souls to the whims of a master. It is, by far, the hardest craft to master, as a soul improperly bound to a master's will will inevitably kill the master sooner or later. There are far fewer experts in soulforging, but those that are, are formidable creatures indeed. Masters of the craft flaunt this by having wraiths, shades, and other spectres as their servants, guarding them when they slumber in the meagre daylight of Lescatia
The Vampire Nobility
Vampires have existed long before Lescatia's existence as a kingdom of vampires, and will probably exist long after the nation inevitably ends, however long that may take. There isn't really a set agreement on how Vampires came to be, indeed some scholars even claim that vampires have differing origins, the only caveat being an ageless being that needs to imbibe blood and holding an aversion to the Sun.
However, it's safe to assume that the Vampire Nobility of Lescatia, for the most part, come from the Vampire Prince himself. Some were the nobility that were there when the Prince arrived, others were given the Vampiric Gift and assigned nobility once they've proven themselves as adequate servants. Sometimes, the Nobility will yearn for a progeny, and "adopt" a human to raise them in such way and teach them the fine arts of vampiric nobility. As such, the vast majority of the Nobility seemingly have the same flavour of affliction.
Lescatian nobles are pale, with an unnatural, ageless beauty to them all. They command a natural air of authority, like hounds directing sheep, and indeed they all have an instinctive command of various forms of magicks. They can easily enthral beasts and the weak-willed into their power through the hypnotic charms they all seemingly possess. That being said, their undead nature makes them quite averse to a number of magicks, as well. Particularly fire, holy, and light magic. They command the shadows at an instinctive level, shrouding themselves in darkness whenever they want to be unseen.
They are significantly more powerful than the average man, being faster, stronger, and far more durable. This seems to scale with age, and the longer a Vampire lives in this world, the harder it becomes to remove them. Vampires, of course, enjoy all their senses being supernaturally enhanced in such a way that it doesn't handicap them. They cannot be deafened or blinded by loud noises or bright lights, but can still see perfectly in the dark and hear a pin drop in another room. All vampires are weak to the sun, the weaker ones outright dying in its light, but the ancient vampires are not killed outright, it's a painful, unpleasant experience that none wish to partake in.
While they may feed however much they wish, seemingly never being completely sated of their thirst for blood, the Prince has enacted strict laws regarding the murder of the Nobility's subjects. Vampires don't need to kill their victims in order to food, and like many of Lescatia's creatures, they can endure great periods of hunger. With some careful pacing, self control, and a bit of planning, a vampire need not kill anyone to sate their hunger. This, however, is seen as a poor man's action, and any self respecting vampire will inevitably drain someone out of bestial need, pride, and simple fear of being ostrasized among the other nobles. Because of this, it's common that death sentences are typically carried out by shipping the sentenced to their vampire master, who will drain them of their blood. This also gives the added benefit of increasing the goodwill among their people, as well as their fear.
Most Vampire nobles, though not all, are versed in magic. As the stories go, there is no school of magic in Lescatia, instead, the ancient families of Lescatia's nobility vie for attention of the Prince himself, who assigns one of his powerful servants to teach them or their "newborn" the crafts. Again, the Prince is extremely close-fisted about what he teaches who, and has forbidden the teaching of others without his approval. He further pretends to not notice vampires teaching each other cantrips, but is swift to react once it becomes clear a vampire is hoarding magical arts for whatever reason.
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