Origins of the Vampire

Debunking the Myth of Vampirism, as written by Asherah, daughter of Julibaal

Lamian Origins​

The origins of the vampires were indeed of the Old World, your scholars got that bit right at least. Their estimations, however, were slightly off. You see, the first vampires were Lamian, and the Lamian civilization had already prospered and declined before Taalios was even a budding nation. We vampires are thus Lamian in origin and not as crude as the Taaliosian hypothesis sought to promulgate.

The Lamian fascination and culture for the worship of death is not a new thing. Your mortal archaeologists have scavenged old tombs and shrines, pieced together puzzles and pieces to understand our reverence for the gray and stoic Jalat.

What you failed to unravel, however, was a far deeper and personal secret that is intimately linked to the existence of our kind. Towards the end our Nakasha, Queen of the Lamia, became incessantly paranoid adhering to a Religion surrounding the worship of death, simply because such a ritual would eventually require the act of dying itself, a fate the rest of her predecessors had been consigned to. The Nakasha herself, the head of our own Religion, could therefore never transcend such fates that have been meted out to her, simply for the fact that our god was one that demanded such from every Nakasha before her.

And in that very portend, it meant that the Lamian civilization would one day be claimed by the same god they worship, for death is a most relentless thing, and it may stall, it may delay, but it will come. Often when least expected it. But our Nakasha was different from those that had come before her. She was determined to not go quietly or to subject her beloved people to the same thralls and traditions.

She claimed she had seen visions, solutions. A way out. In inexplicit dreams and nightmares, she had found something... or someone, that could deliver the Lamian civilization from Jalat's claws.

To the skies and The Underworld the Nashaka cried for one who would answer. But there were few who cared, and even fewer who would dare risk the Ire of Jalat, He-Who-Was-at-the-Beginning-and-Shall-Be-At-The-End.

Finally, one did.

Risthal's Promise​

Borne out of macabre horror, symbols, subconscious and phantasms, Risthal promised the Nashaka, that if she yielded to her, then she shall ensure that neither Jalat nor any Aeternian could ever lay claim to her people. In her restless sleep she hears her whispers, lulling her with the promise of Deliverance if she would only capitulate to her. In darkness, the Nakasha alone prayed, and these were days when the world was young, and prayers were powerful and answered.

But the great Serpent Queen had no other choice. She accepted Risthal's offer. The price, however, was both a blessing and a curse. They were to be changed for their arduous task ahead, to be made be greater than Lamia.

The first to be changed were the Nakasha and those closest to her, her seven handmaidens. Under the rise of Menora, hidden from the prying eyes of Aetheria and Aeternia, they changed, severing their once-fevered connection to the domain of Jalat, and thus ensuring that these Lamian people shall never die.

Infused with Risthal's essence and newfound powers, the seven were driven into a bloodthirsty frenzy and began slaughtering all who were present in the Nakasha's palace. Too late then would the Serpent Queen discover that the bargain from Risthal was not as it seemed, for as with dreams, the concept of symbolism was strong in the power of nightmares, and inasmuch as it was a blessing Risthal had bestowed, she had also cursed the Lamia forever.

And so she gazed upon Risthal's creations, and understood that she was to be mother to this new race.

Nakasha's Sleep​

That was how our kind was born, and it is not known how and when the Nakasha fell into her arcanically induced sleep, whether she had gone willingly, or if she had been forced into it. What was clear, however, was that the theocracy came to an abrupt end with the revolt of the male priests and the seven had no choice but to flee, too untrained in their new-found powers. More importantly, they bore the knowledge that they carried the hope of all Lamia and so could not die, not there, not then.

Each of the seven would then eventually mother the Vampire race, and in those long nights of Menora, loneliness would even drive us to make others like us, imparting the curse to other races we had come to admire and love.

In the legends, Nakasha never awoke. We too, believe in that. But we, the first of the vampires, are patient. We are not many, but we are timeless. We have transcended death itself. We shall wait for the peak of Menora when the Mother shall awake to rule her brood once more, so we can attend to her as we once did, selflessly and faithfully.

Credit​

Credit goes to Roscarnis de Lylles