The Blood Dragons are the knights of the vampire curse, and they trace their line to Abhorash, captain of Lahmia's royal guard and the deadliest blade ever to drink the immortal draught. Where his fellow first-born gorged and schemed, Abhorash held himself apart in disgust and set himself a discipline no other vampire would dare: to master the thirst rather than serve it. Legend says he conquered it by slaying a dragon and drinking its scalding blood, and thereafter needed the blood of men no more: only that of worthy foes, taken in honest battle.
His get pursue the same grim perfection. A Blood Dragon is a warrior-ascetic before he is a predator, forsaking the courts and conspiracies of his cousins for the study of war. They believe that in the flawless stroke lies the mastery that frees a vampire from the tyranny of his hunger, and they hone their art with a severity that shames any living knight's devotion.
They despise the intrigues of the other bloodlines, and honour a worthy opponent as a gift, for only against the mighty can the perfect stroke be proven. But the respect is a snare. A Blood Dragon will salute a great champion, cross blades with him as an equal, and kill him all the same.
Order of battle
The Blood Dragon field the units of the Vampire Counts, a detachment from the roster:
Other Vampire Counts formations
LahmianThe oldest and subtlest of the bloodlines, descended from Neferata, first of all vampires. Lahmians rule from behind thrones rather than upon them, working through courts, temples, and whispered favors in every city of the Old World, while their queen plays a game centuries deep from her fastness at the Silver Pinnacle.
NecrarchThe withered scholars of the vampire bloodlines, heirs of the treacherous W'soran, who loved undeath itself more than any crown it could win. Hideous beyond disguise, the Necrarchs seal themselves in tower-tombs to pursue necromancy in its purest form, dreaming of a perfected world in which the last heartbeat has finally been silenced.
Von CarsteinThe ruling bloodline of Sylvania and the dynasty that gives the Vampire Counts their name. Founded by Vlad von Carstein, they are aristocrats before they are predators: vampires who dress their hunger in title, law, and marriage, and who regard the Empire's throne as an inheritance that simply has not yet come due.
Discussion
- No comments yet. Be the first to reply.