Vempires

Vempires are a sort of mythological kingdom, supposedly created from the ruins of other kingdoms that fell apart in unusual circumstances. Vempires only exist during the night, and can only maintain their populance by luring citizens from other, normal empires into their boundaries. An empire that has been drained of people by a vempire will then become a vempire itself.

Vempires, of course, are nothing but a wive's tale, but they are still a favorite subject of storytellers, and at least one entry in the Calends Gala story telling contests concerns some young Ghyllian who mistakenly wandered into the dark, damp streets of the capital city of some vempire or another.

Besides the nighttime-only and populance-sucking qualities of vempires, other attributes are commonly attributed. Most popularly, garlic will protect a person from their lures, they can transform themselves into a trade caravan, and the only way to destroy one is with a tax collection in the heart. Sometimes it is also possible to destroy them by assassinating the vemperor and stuffing him full of Carthage.

Occasionally, Girth cities will proclaim themselves to be vempires, but they usually have a somewhat different interpretation of what a vempire is, usually one that includes none of their bad qualities and all of their good ones. Some political protestors have also been known to claim that the Dulalian Empire is a vempire, but they are usually speaking metaphorically.

Citations: Carthage, Girth cities, Wive's tale.

--Dfaran L'Eniarc 19:47, 21 October 2005 (EDT)