Fantasy Let there be Night- Lore

[Vampunk]

After the fall of the once prosperous kingdom of Séregial and its unholy reincarnation of blood all life seemed to wane from the lands. Those still clinging to their nation's lost faith, worshipping their celestial deities in hiding, attributed the decay and warping of their home to the influence of the Upir. And they were right in that assumption as vampirekind does not fare well in the lands of the living, for they feed on life itself and green hills and clear mountain streams did little to allow their dark powers to fester, infecting even the earth itself.

And so the unholy marshlands of Ingovàny were born of the decay of the world. It spread from the Vampire city of Sôtet Barlang and soon encompassed every ground, every ounce of soil up to the holy barrier cast over the kingdom. The swamps were the Upir's way of keeping their human subjects at bay, keeping them occupied with fighting the landscape itself so that they would never even dare opposing their vampiric rulers....

But what the Upir did not foresee was that by imposing hardships on the humans, they would grow resilient and strong, and hope for a better future without the warped hellscape and tyrants would soon invade their minds...

And bloom into the idea that sparked the creation of the Ellenàllàs!

What had been nothing more than a mere brotherhood of those willing to fight against the darkness had grown into something far greater than a way to protect their marsh towns from whatever horrors their Upir masters had unleashed into the swamps. They grew beyond their purpose and soon, tales of their legend spread like a wildfire.

Every human heart would carry the hopes of them succeeding, having mortal men grow beyond their mortal flesh...to become an idea.

Their founding members have long since been lost to time, but their Legacy is carried on in those willing to pick up their arms in the fight against the Upir and other terrors of the lands.


The Ellenàllàs are now more than just a collection of farmers wielding sickles and stakes, but are now a dense network of rebels operating in the shadows...or rather the light.
They are a secret organization lead by a council, chosen representatives of every yet so small Marshland town, every subjugated city...and even those poor souls residing in the heart of Sôtet Barlang.
These elder members make up the backbone of the organization, planning ahead and making sure everyone is willing to give their lives for the cause.

They carry the mark of the star's eye, a symbol used between the initiated to distinguish one another from untrustworthy individuals.


Yet joining the Ellenàllas is far less simple than declaring one's loyalty to the cause, as the Upir's eyes are everywhere in the night.
Instead, worthy individuals, and those with strong enough conviction are conscripted...approached by those with the task of recognizing potential in human hearts.

It is always a choice, and those who accept that offer, that chance to fight for a cause, they are taken under the Ellenàllàs' wing.
Their bases are scattered all across the swamplands, hidden in secret coves, sometimes underneath the Upir's very noses.

But the largest base of operation is in Sôtet Barlang itself, spanning underground, hidden in the maze-like slums of the city.
It is the most dangerous place to be...and yet the safest.

For the Ellenàllas know how to combat their masters.
And they do it well.


What had once just been the simple slaying of feral Upir and other monstrosities in order to secure villages has grown into far greater proportions.
For almost two centuries the Ellenàllàs have gathered information on how to combat their overlords, dabbling in the lost arts of the divine, in alchemy and in guerilla warfare.

They found several weaknesses they could exploit.
While the Upir are strongest at night, they are weak during the day and some of them may shrivel up into dust when exposed to direct sunlight, making noon the strongest time for the Ellenàllàs to act unimpeded...
And yet most of their work is done during the night, when the vampires are the most active and when the stakes are higher.

Battling an Upir requires more than a brave heart, but there are ways even mortals can slay the unholy tyrants.
They are unusually weak to blessed silver, and thus have been trying to eradicate any remaining priests of the lost faith, but those remaining supply the Ellenàllàs with blessed silver weaponry for the cause.
Wounds inflicted by such weapons rend the Upir's flesh and allow their strength to seep out, as if drawing poison from a wound. It leaves them unable to regenerate and may even kill them.

Another weapon rediscovered was the usage of Black Birch wood for combat, as the tree's bark seemed to have an unusual effect on the fiends. It renders them unable to conjure their magic and leaves them only capable of resorting to their physical strength.
Prolonged exposure and alchemical mixtures involving the birch bark also allows humans to subjugate upirs and render them utterly defenseless under the right circumstances.

But their greatest strength is the knowledge of their foe, knowing how the Upir society works and where to strike...and where to find the answers needed to finally banish them back into the darkness where they came.

And yet, for all the tricks up their sleeves, the Ellenàllàs face the greatest evil imaginable.

The Upir are darkness and blood given form, stronger than any human and blessed...or cursed...with immortality and power over the elements that gave them life.

Vampiric society mirrors the aristocracy of human kingdoms, and yet they stagnate, infighting is extremely common and with each passing decade, more Upir are born, twisted from human existence.
Their numbers grow, and whatever the Sôtéték were conspiring in the shadows would be soon to surface....and threaten life itself.

The days of a Blood Moon draw nearer, the same one that had birthed them, and the same that may spell the end for more than just the humans trapped with their tyrants...

 

[Vampunk]

The Dark City of Sôtet Barlang

Few remember those days when the blackened city walls were shining marble and the sky never seemed to darken over a city whose name had long since been erased from memory.
What remains is the twisted image of Séregial's capital, recast in shadow and blood.

Sôtet Barlang was the city the Upir conquered first, warping it into their unholy lair where their vast numbers reside.
At the heart of the city stand the Castle of Felhôk, a monolithic construct that reaches far into a gray sky, it is the Upir's seat of power and it hosts all their secrets.

It is where the three clans reside, each of them claiming one of the pillar-like towers as their abode.
But while its tall walls and twisting towers strike an imposing image, seemingly always swarming with their winged masters, the true power of the fortress remains hidden underneath cursed soil.

Few know what lurks beneath, but those who have returned tell of vast tunnels underneath the city, digging into the world's core, as if trying to reach its heart.

For most Castle Felhôk will always be a testimony to the Upir's undying dominion over the realm, as it is what dominates most of the city's silhouette.

If it wasn't for the Slum-like constructs at the foot of the castle. Stretching outwards and only contained by tall walls, each of them heavily guarded by flying fiends, the Slums of Nyomornegyed are where most of Sôtet Barlang's human population dwells.
A self-contained city within a city, governed loosely by those few thralls loyal to the Vampires, chosen Gouverneurs who manage the population, keep them in fear, and manage the monthly bloodletting.

While the Upir only reside in their Castle, with a very few exceptional overseers residing in smaller villas spread around the city's many strategic points, the Slum city lives in their master's shadow.
Poverty and sickness befalls those who do not comply with the vampire's tyrannical rule, cast out of their homes and sentenced to live on the streets...if not worse, for some are taken back to Felhôk to be made an example of, if not outright bled dry in the human city's heart.

Its economy still persists, as those who accepted the Upir's rule are still motivated by the want for security, luxury and the simple act of living. Many families even try striking up bargains with lower Upir who try carving out a name for themselves among their older kin. Some are granted protection, some conspire with the Vampires to take down the Ellenàllàs in hopes for better treatment.

The city's few field of untainted soil are situated on the flat roofs and walls, some of the only earth untouched by vampires, and provided to them by the Upir clans to grow their mortal sustenance. Wheat as well as other crops are grown during the day when the Upir sleep, and distribution and trade is supervised by the many Gouverneurs and those working under the Upir's guide.

In itself, the city has formed a community of those trying to help their fellow humans in need, charity still being one of the few things keeping the forsaken ones from simply succumbing to poverty and disease...or simply being fed upon by the Upir.


But the city's true wealth comes from smugglers...from the Ellenàllàs even.
For there are tunnels and pathways unknown to the Upir, which are used to ferry goods into the city...and outside of it.
Meat, metal, furs, simple luxuries...even People, are being traded, with very daring individuals boasting about their journeys even beyond the barrier, to trade with the outside world beyond the swamplands.

While Felhôk forms the centerstone of the city, there are many human buildings that are crucial to their survival.
Several abodes dealing with the sickly, with matters of faith, with simpler pleasures, are sprinkled across the vast network of winding mazes across the city.
With the most important ones being kept a secret, for the worship of celestial deities is a practice outlawed by the Upir, but practiced nonetheless.


The Upir interfere little with the dealings of humans, intervening only in times of bloodletting, their simple creed is questioned or if there's Ellenàllàs activity to be halted.

Those Upir dealing with such matters are the Szàrny.
Winged enforcers of the Upir's will. Always prowling the nightly sky and soaring over the city like ravenous vultures.
They act independently and incidents of them preying on humans is considered a common occurence in the slums.


But life does not simply stop to exist, and the humans are trying to find some normality...some little joy in their struggling existence.
And those who cling to hope, those whose hearts are filled with the will to rebel, those find themselves approached by the Ellenàllàs.
To fight against the Vampire's oppression, and some say they may even succeed in casting their tormentors off their thrones.