The King is Dead: The Blood is the Life (Revised)



Chains of Blood

The blessed of Sathaniel watch over mankind as shepherds watch over their flocks, but sometimes shepherds must use sheep dogs to guard the lambs from wolves.  To this end, vampires employ their still-living children -- the dunpeals -- and their blood-bonded servants -- the moroi,

Moroi

The power of Sathaniel that flows through the veins of vampires and dunpeals can bestow their inhuman strength and vitality upon mortals who drink it.  Old men feel young again and young men feel immortal when they drink the blood.  When offered such temptations, few can resist agreeing to any service the vampire commands and become the instruments of their own oppression -- sheep trained to be sheep dogs.

Moroi exist in many levels of society.  The Glorious Revolt worries most about those used as assassins and double-agents to infiltrate the secret societies, but the majority are the aldermen, bailiffs, and burgomasters that enforce the law in the hamlets and towns of Malleus.  These willing dupes ensure that their inhuman lords receive the blood tax and that the population remains compliant.

It is rare for vampires and dunpeals to waste their blood on human lovers, unless they have particularly athletic tastes.

Savage Worlds Rules

Moroi are normal humans who have been fed the blood of a vampire or dunpeal and given some of its strength.  An ancient vampire may maintain up to its natural Toughness x 3 moroi, a young vampire may maintain up to its natural Toughness x 2 moroi, and a dunpeal may maintain a number of moroi equal to its natural Toughness.

Any NPC archetype may be converted to a moroi by adding the following template:
  • Enslaved: The will of the moroi is suborned to the master vampire.  This functions in most ways as the Vow (Major) Hindrance.
  • Feed: The moroi must drink at least a pint of blood fresh from its master once a month.  This is otherwise treated like the Habit (Major) Hindrance. 
  • Strength of the Damned: Strength +1d and Vigor +1d.  Since this effectively offsets the Elderly Hindrance, there's some surprisingly spry old men watching out for the vampires' interests.

Comments

  1. Why "dunpeal" and not dhampir?

    I was under the impression "dunpeal" was the unhappy result of translators working on the Vampire Hunter D anime not making the connection to the (intended) word "dhampir."

    --Dither

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's a deliberate joke -- plus, I wanted the vampire-related vocabulary to be a little more English and a little less Slavic because the in-game equivalent of the Balkans is actually under the control of the anti-vampire Ostermann Empire.

      Delete
    2. I get that, jokes are good. ;)

      --Dither

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular Posts