Heartland Orphans: History

For my short Vampire the Requiem Chronicle, Heartland Orphans, I introduced a flock of Strix who arrived to plague the vampires of the region. Through clever planning and research, the player characters were able to destroy, defeat or divert them. In the next few weeks I will be presenting their stats and descriptions. This week I am describing their history and a mighty artifact they feel bound to protect.

History of the True Heartland Orphans

For the history of their “mother” look here.

The flock of Strix that I’ve dubbed the Heartland Orphans were created by an ancient vampire known as the Antediluvian.

The story of this group of Strix begins with the Antediluvian’s loneliness and the Idigam bound to her soul by powerful Archmages. The magics placed upon the ancient vampire bound her to destroy any group of mortals that drew too close to a certain location. But the spirit reacted to her wants by gathering, again and again, people and stranger things to worship her, ultimately triggering her blood baths.

It would build a cult for her and she would murder it. It would create a vampire clan to venerate it and she would devour their blood. It would mold a civilization to worship her as a god and she would destroy it.

Though a simple being, the Idigam was not without some cleverness. In one attempt four centuries ago, it carved away part of the vampire’s soul and combined it with another supernatural creature’s innermost being.

That being was a Beast.

The process destroyed the Horror within the Beast, killed the host, and spawned several strange shadowy birds. Between these newly born Strix, a strange nightmare realm formed, like a Beast’s lair.

Also forged at the same time was a shard of the Antediluvian’s heart’s blood, a physical reflection of the spiritual damage to her soul. This garnet like jewel contains a fragment of her power.

When the ancient vampire next awoke, she was pleased. Though the sleep of ages soon drew her away from her children, she used her powers to command the few mortal survivors of her wrath to build a massive mound to house her ‘children’ until her return. They piled earth atop earth until they dropped from exhaustion. The survivors then piled the next layer on top of them. She placed the jewel in the Strix’s care and hid their new home from all eyes mortal or supernatural. To this day satellites skip over it blindly.

She went north and slept.

They waited.

She never came back.

When outsiders entered their mound and stole the jewel centuries later, the Strix chose to pursue them into the modern world. Now they murder, search, and pursue their own long denied goals on their own.

The Heart Blood Jewel (Durability 6, Size 0, Structure 6)

This opaque red jewel contains the blood of thousands of mortals and supernatural creatures, all victims of the Antediluvian. The full powers of this jewel remain unknown.

Possibilities include:

• Destroying it destroys the Antediluvian for good.
• Destroying it frees the Antediluvian to reincarnate.
• Destroying it transforms the Antediluvian into a Rank 5 ghost anchored to her childer.
• Mixing it with the remains of the ancient vampire (or any vampire!) might restore her to full power.
• Using it in a Cruac ritual amplifies its power to epic proportion.
• Devouring the jewel turns the person into a powerful vampire.
• Devouring the jewel turns the person into the vessel for the Antediluvian’s mind and soul, destroying them from the inside out.