Drannok Lore
Do you truly know what you have become? Think long before you answer. You are a Vampire, a child of night, chosen of the Dark. Yes, all of these are true. But you still have not answered me. What are you? What have you become? Now, answer without thinking. Yes! You are a killer. You are the predator that lurks by night, that which must kill to live. You are strong, you are immortal, you are graced with the perfection of Undeath ... but you must feed.
The Hunger ever gnaws at us, and the living or the weakest of the Nightborn see it as a curse. They are fools. We Drannok think differently. The Hunger is not a weakness, not a curse. It is the greatest gift our mother-father Darkness gives us. All Vampires are agents of Oblivion, the chosen slayers of the Void. The Hunger drives us to this high purpose, and reminds us of what we truly are: we are Beasts. We kill as we wish, without remorse, raised in station above all living things as high as wolves and lions are raised above sheep. The Drannok are the Lords of the Night, the warriors of death. We remember the truth that Drangor, thirdborn of all Vampires, learned when the Void devoured him. I can teach you, if you are strong enough to bear it.
The name of Drangor is strange to you, I see. Listen, then, and hear a mighty tale. Drangor lived as one born to humankind thousands of years ago. On his own back he bore the scars of the Elvish lash, for he, as all the Sons of Men, toiled as slaves of the Deathless Empire. Drangor's masters sought to work their foul magic upon him, to transform him into a horned beast, but for the first time their efforts failed. Drangor's will was too strong, and rebellious slaves freed him before his will could be broken. Once his chains were broken, Drangor fought like twenty men, carving a bloody path through the halls of his masters. Drangor joined the ringleaders of the revolt, and in time helped the escaped slaves establish the second kingdom of Men, a realm long lost to lore or memory. He served as the war-chief of that realm, and was held in high honor for a time.
When the first King of that realm, counseled by Draethen himself, decreed that his people should remain hidden and avoid the wrath of their former masters, Drangor refused. How, he cried, could he forget the horrors that had been wrought upon his people, his children, his very flesh? Drangor left his kingdom behind, and led a band of followers to war against the Deathless Empire. They fought like wolves, striking hard and fast, then vanishing into the wilds. Drangor took the wolf as his emblem, and stopped at nothing to sow horror among his former captors. He ate the flesh of freshly slain Elves, and rode to battle with his face painted crimson in Elf blood. According to legend, the atrocities he wrought at the edges of the Empire exceeded even Elvish cruelty. By the time the Elves caught him, he had slain hundreds, and his name was dreaded even in the realm he had left behind.
The Elves slew Drangor. It took the bloody wolf days to die, in a spectacle of public torture. But Drangor's captors never knew their victory would sow the seeds of their ultimate defeat. For Drangor's deed had not gone unnoticed. Baelgor, second of all Vampires and father of the Belgosch, was lurking in the shadows, hiding among the very kin that had tried to destroy him. He saw the horrors Drangor unleashed upon the Elves, and whatever Baelgor saw, the Dark knew. When Drangor's spirit left his body, it went to no soulstone, it was consumed by the Dark. And on the third night, his flesh arose reborn, as a Vampire. Baelgor called the reborn warrior to him, and together they helped lay the groundwork for the advent of Oblivion, which has come at last. For thousands of years the Eldest Vampires waited, drawing new Nightborn to themselves as they were created. In time, Drangor followed Baelgor's example and founded a Clan, a cult of Nightborn who share in the great secret he learned during his rebirth. You know it already.
Here is Drangor's wisdom: In each of us there lurks a Beast, and the beast is strong.
Drangor knew the Beast's lure even before he died -- perhaps the failed Elvish spells stirred the predator within him. But when he joined with the Dark, the Beast was unleashed. Let the Hunger fill your being, and you shall find und unleash the greatest of the Void's gifts to our kind. Your eyes shall shine with the wolf's dark hunger, paralyzing your foes with terror. The fury of the Beast will smite the souls of all who oppose you, leaving them more vulnerable to the touch of the Void. As the Beast's power fill you, all who follow you in battle shall feed on its ferocity, fighting like frenzied beasts themselves. And finally, of all the night's children, we Drannok know the deepest secrets of fortitude: no blade or point shall pierce your marble skin. The final battle between light and darkness looms, and the Drannok shall stand in the vanguard, bringing death to all that live. Soon all flesh shall look into the eyes of the beast, and feel its strength.
See Also
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