Barthum

The streets of Barthum, covered in arcane mist.

Located in Forestsedge, Barthum is the mist covered, dark skied nation of vampyrs. Ruled by Duke Tepes Ulfvard, Barthum is the most powerful nation within Forestsedge to yet join the Guardian Council. Duke Ulfvard stands in opposition to what the Guardians stand for, while his rival Vladimir Farkas Dashkovari sits on the Guardian Council, hoping to overthrow the violent Duke.

## History and Culture

### The Birth of Vampyrs

Several millennia ago a particularly wealthy and powerful Warlord gathered together thousands of acolytes to perform a grand ceremony in worship to the God of Death and Darkness. He had come into possession of an ancient arcane text of forbidden knowledge, and with this knowledge he undertook the task of bringing about the great heralding of his god into Terra Aletheia as the prophecies had foretold. Despite the best efforts of agents of Light and Order, the Warlord and the new, but rapidly growing, Cult of Shadows could not be stopped in these efforts.

The cultists had established a grand monastery deep within the far reaches of the Crown Mountains where their immense summoning circle could be found within. Once the time of the Great Summoning arrived and the Warlord stood before his servants as they began reciting forbidden chants and undertaking ritualistic blood-letting. As he began to commune with the God of Shadows volcanic clouds and an immense firestorm began to form above the hidden monastery. So powerful was this tempest that it could be seen all the way from the Holy City. The time of great darkness upon the land had finally come.

Unbeknownst to the cultists however, welcoming Edwardius to Terra Aletheia did not simply require blood-letting, but rather themselves as blood sacrifices to their Dark God, their blood and subsequent painful deaths fueling a ritual to imbue a mortal man as the Avatar of Blood, a form in which great darkness and suffering would spread across the land.

With a great shriek of terror the cultists watched as the blood they had spilled was absorbed into the warlord who had promised them a new life. Their terror turned to agony as their life-force was sapped from them where they stood, they had been deceived. Cultists in their thousands began collapsing on the ground as dried husks as their essence was added to the Warlord’s own, the God of Plague became exceedingly pleased.

As the tempest raged, heaved and spawned tendrils that reached towards the earth, forces of Order and Light emerged from the hidden mountain paths. They charged blindly towards the summoning circle, cutting down any who tried to stop them and threw themselves headlong at the Warlord in an effort to prevent the completion of the ceremony. The Warlord had already gained immense power despite the ceremony not yet being completed and cut down one after another as though they were mere playthings until the Champion, blessed by God of Heroes, locked with him in combat.

The Champion and the Warlord fought with thunderous power, causing rock faces to crumble and the ground to shake. Back and forth they fought with such ferocity that had never been seen before upon this plane, but they were evenly matched and neither would give an inch.

In a final act of bravery, the Champion of Light threw himself onto the sword of the Warlord in an effort to smite him. With a deafening scream so powerful it could be heard many miles away, the Champion’s blade landed true and the ceremony was stopped as the Warlord’s was cleaved, and with a violent, malevolent rush, the tempest itself withdrew to the void from which it came. The Champion of Light lay dead, not one hero of Order still drew breath, the Warlord and his followers too lay still, not a single soul left alive. Although the sacrifice was great, the ceremony had indeed been stopped and the darkness to end the world had been halted.

After some time had passed an abyssal moan emerged from the Warlord’s throat that echoed across the circle as he stood to his feet… his wounds miraculously healed, but with lungs that drew no breath, still dead but somehow alive at the same time. As he stood alone in the center of the summoning circle, his plans ruined but imbued with dark necrotic power nonetheless, many of his followers began to rise also; pale and clammy, blood congealed. Those who had not perished before the ceremony had been stopped were now bound to their lord in undeath. And thus the Warlord was no more, instead now stood the dread abominations of Duke Ulfvard and the first vampyrs.

These undead horrors then rested for many centuries within the walls of the hidden monastery until they finally gathered enough strength to emerge and find hapless souls on which to feed. With their renewed strength and vigor, under the command of their Lord, they constructed the first vampyr city, Barthum, the realm of Undeath.

### Vampyr Society

Vampyr society is largely structured around bloodline and is oligarchic in nature, although there is plenty of room for power negotiation using political maneuvering, with one bloodline usually being declared the ruling family and all those within competing against one another and nobles of other bloodlines for position and authority.

But above the political intrigue of the vampiric court nobles are the First Born. These are the vampyr elders that first arose and were bound in undeath to Duke Ulfvard many millennia ago. Although each of these ancient beings still belongs to a family in which they themselves are the progenitors of, they hold the command, respect and a degree of power over all vampyrs that came after them, regardless of bloodline. These elder vampyrs though have long since ceased walking the plane of mortals and now almost exclusively reside within the deepest, darkest, most well-hidden crypts, beings of such ancient wrath that even speaking causes them immeasurable irritation, with even very few elder vampyrs who would dare disturb the rest of the First Born. Of these however, most remained in the lost mausoleums of Aslovilag and did not venture alongside with their offspring during The Exodus.

Vampyrs today as they have been since the days of the Second Generation, are almost exclusively created via death of a mortal, as either as vampyr spawn or for the lucky few, true vampyrs. But on the rare occasion vampyrs are still-born, in a manner of undead speaking. The copulation of two true vampyrs creates what is known as a pureblood. These offspring are usually far more powerful than others of their age due to their pure vampiric formation and have the potential to become as powerful as their progenitors, unlike those who are born mortal and become vampiric through more traditional means, each successive generation being weaker than the last.

vampyr offspring when they are newly birthed are known as “vampyrlings” and are the polar opposite of any mortal child. Rather than lovable bundles of joy, they are ravenous, unruly creatures that, when enter the world, have mouths filled with razor sharp teeth that snap hungrily at any they see and hiss without ceasing. They resemble miniature gargoyles and appear as a mix of both bat and humanoid, much like the final form of those who embrace the unlife of vampiric savagery. They are then quickly placed within a coffin which will eventually lull them to sleep and will begin their long slumber to adulthood. Once they have reached the equivalent age of young child their form begins to take on a purely humanoid shape and their inherent bat-like features become subdued.

During this time spent developing in their coffin the offspring must be fed the fresh blood of mortals regularly to ensure proper development and a full gestation from vampyrling to adulthood can take anywhere from 50-100 years, with the average being around 80 years.

Traditional “schooling” of these creatures is conducted telepathically through means of necromancy or through the traditional link between sire and spawn. To this end, when a vampyr finally emerges from its coffinlike structure, it strides out a fully developed adult with a rich understanding of the world and the knowledge of even the smallest intricacies of vampyr society, able to mingle respectfully with its elder vampyrs as any young adult would be expected to.

Vampyrs see themselves as the highest form of unlife amongst the planes, a perfectly crafted people that spit in the face of the natural order, for they are above such trifling. Due to this vampyrs generally look down upon all other undead creatures, this goes for ghouls also. Despite a perceived close association with vampyrs, ghouls are usually abhorred or denigrated as nothing more than useful tools or cheap fodder for vampiric armies. At one time ghouls that even crossed into Barthum’s borders without permission were ruthlessly hunted down and summarily destroyed. While they are generally tolerated in the Dread City these days, they are restricted to the peasant district only.

### Notable Events in Vampyr History

#### The Birthing

Approximately 5000 BTG The cataclysmic event which saw the transformation of the Warlord into Duke Ulfvard, the first and most powerful Vampyr Lord, along with his First Born servants.

#### The Exodus

Approximately 1000 BTG After Duke Ulfvard disappeared and the hidden monastery city of Aslovilag was burned to the ground, most vampyrs subsequently made the decision to leave the depths of the Crown Mountains for the southern lands. Only the most ancient First Born chose to remain slumbering in the hidden crypts located deep underground beneath the rubble.

#### The Reckoning

305 BTG Upon the return of Duke Ulfvard and the subsequent declaration that all ruling bloodline of Dashkovari vampyrs were to be executed, a great civil war erupted in the Sanguine Kingdom. With the decimation of the Dashkovari bloodline the lands are now known as the Realm of Darkness with their capital having gained the moniker of Dread City of Barthum.