Yahoo Image Search

Many consider vampires, especially the Dawn Fangs, to be the top of the food chain among the civilized species.  They aren’t as obvious as dragons and not as bestial as trolls, which is why they really stand out.  For all you know, you’re neighbor can be a vampire and you’re being used as a cover to keep them hidden for suspicion.  What would they hide from if they’re considered an ultimate predator?  There are three major dangers for the vampires of Windemere and we’re looking at them this week.

The strangest thing about this topic is that we’re going to be discussing those who would be considered the good guys in most stories.  This is clearest when you start talking about priests and paladins, especially the Duragians.  For those who have been following the blog for a few years or read Legends of Windemere, one of the bigger supporting cast characters was Aedyn Karwyn.  He is a priest of Durag the Sun God, which locks that group into the hero side.  Yet, in War of Nytefall, they appear as enemies to the main characters and take on the role of ‘villains’.  Paladins in general are going to be a continuing problem for Clyde and his friends since those holy warriors aren’t known for restraint or nuance.  People will see these characters threaten the ‘heroes’, die like henchmen, and do things that come off as villainous, but only because we’re seeing it from the target’s side.  Oddly enough, this wasn’t much of a challenge when writing the story, so I hope it isn’t that bad for readers.

While the Duragians are the most common holy enemies of vampires, most priests, priestesses, and paladins go after these creatures.  On the other side, vampires will sometimes go out of their way to hurt these people.  That is rare though because holy magic is one of the biggest banes of the undead.  Their energy is the antithesis to the vampires, so getting struck by their spells is seen as worse than even a high level lightning bolt.  Unclear the power of a caster that hurts the body, the holy magic of a priest or paladin tears at the spirit.  This makes it more difficult to regenerate the damage without a lot of fresh blood.  That’s only with the basic spells.  Duragians have designed hundreds of special spells to handle vampires that range from sun-infused blood that will hurt from the inside to an iron maiden of light.  Some temples even require that their trainees design a new spell for vampire eradication.

For vampires, the favored tactic to surviving holy warriors is to avoid them, especially the paladins.  If you have to fight then do it with the intent to create a chance to escape unless you’re strong enough to win.  Older vampires with more control of their powers will be the ones to fight, but even they are leery about messing the priests and paladins.  All these enemies need is one opening to deliver a powerful spell and that’s if they’re alone.  When in a group of adventurers or fellow holy warriors, the danger is multiplied tenfold.  The vampire would have to get through everyone else to reach the priest before any spells are cast and that’s if they even know the person is there.  The only advantage that vampires have here is that they are about to catch the scent of a priest or paladin.  They won’t know the specific god association, but they’ll know there is danger.

A big question here is if this remains true for Dawn Fangs.  They are alive now, which means they shouldn’t have the same weakness as undead.  Well, this is a yes and no situation.  Their immunity to sunlight gives them a big resistance of Duragian spells, but they can still be hurt by holy magic that isn’t sun-related.  Some Dawn Fangs will have the power to stand against their power, but it won’t be a common ability.  That doesn’t mean spells to take them down won’t be created at some point either.  One thing that will stay true is that healing magic will hurt vampires of all types.  Since this type of magic focuses on repairing damage and removing curses, it would identifier the infection as something that needs to be destroyed.  This damage won’t be anything like the holy attack spells, but it will be a more dependable method of pain that priests can unleash.

I will say that there are some priests who don’t hunt vampires.  They’re more interested in other things and believe everything has a place in natural.  On the other hand, all paladins are out to destroy anything they perceive as evil.  That’s pretty much a requirement for the job, which is why Clyde will always have his hands full with them.