Races

Khavosian Vampire - by T.A. Saunders ©2009 v1.8

Racial Articles The Start of Vampires on Imarel: The Coven of Ko

And so arrived the Sivanoshei (who would rename themselves Tallis-Shae, or Moon Elves, Humans and a single Vampire upon the continent of Shalzaar where waiting for them were the Shar'Vaire allies they had made. These were the very sorcerers that assisted them with creating a permanent portal on Imarel's side and welcomed them to this realm with open arms.

Ko soon realized vampires did not exist upon Imarel; these Shar'Vaire were simply immune to the turning process she discovered on a night of drunken debauchery with one that died for the trying. However, with this small herd of Humans at her disposal it would only be a matter of time before she would establish her own dark reign.

New cities were built and treaties were made, broken and burned on the flames of war with the Shar'Vaire. Ko'rashae Ri laid low during these centuries and slowly, selectively built her power base amongst Humans and a handful of Elves. She never turned very many nor took control of very many. This is the way she taught her own vampire progeny so they might remain hidden and cultivate their only food source on an increasingly hostile world.

When the time came for the Moon Elves to go into hiding within the untouched cities of Humans, Ko had made her way to the city of Brookshire and helped the people there, under the guise of a war refuge so that she might take control of the entire political system here. With her and her progeny working their way slowly and steadily into the royal cabinet and influencing changes, Brookshire eventually blossomed into a financially stable city and sea port and Ko herself gained a great deal of influence with the Grand Duke. So much in fact, that when the time came to send settlers across the sea, to address the city's overcrowding problem to the new lands being offered in Tal`Rah as part of a non-aggression pact with the Shar'Vaire, Ko was only too happy to take the position as colonial overseer to the new colony of Sundown.

It is also by design that she chose to not allow Sundown to join the other Human/Elvish cities in the Windsong Accord (which brought forth the Nation of Windsong). She knew if Sundown were to join this conglomerate, there would be great risk of her manipulations being discovered. While the thought of taking over the whole accord was tempting, Ko knew this would be over-reaching. Besides, the skirmishes with Human forces that would eventually seek to invade would help keep her people distracted, whilst she continued her little shadow game of control.

Ko had also established a rapport with the Shar'Vaire. While they were distrustful of Elves overall, Ko used her charm, wit and a little seduction of the powerful elder race's political players that won her an alliance for Sundown on the promise her people would never rise against the Shar'Vaire and that they would have free reign over Sundown's skies with their Airships, where they could find a friendly port if they wished.

Ko's coven had infested into every walk of life within Sundown. Vampires were in heads of office, in the Guard and in the merchant guilds. The normal people under them were given a steady diet of their vampire master's blood in secretive ways to ensure their docile obedience and the assurance they could at any time be turned against any one person in the city that could start trouble for the coven. Ko had so much time entrenching herself within the city that nothing short of a full scale civil war finally removed that control at the cost of a great deal of life.

This control was so deep and so complicated, that there were Humans and Elves alike in the city that served Ko and were completely unaware of it because of being controlled by progeny of hers that ensured no direct connection is ever made to Ko herself. Those she could not control, she duped with the ancient illusionist sorcery her people carried from Ishaela. Having lived for nearly six thousand years between Ishaela and Imarel, she had plenty of time to secure herself into power and to fill key minds with the propaganda that vampires never existed at all; which made it all the easier to move the pawns of Sundown as she saw fit.