Vampiric Temptations and Tyranny
This post was made for Vampire Weekend 2024
On Vampires
The majority of vampires engage in fraught, passionate, and grasping lives, thralls to their desires. Only those who sire and reign with vicious, restrained authority ascend, difficult as they are to entrap with desire. One cannot behave like a ravenous coyote and be hailed as a Tyrant.
Few become true tyrants. Most forget themselves, swayed by the scent memory of a lover or violent passion inspired by a bitter enemy. Those who do ascend endure constant temptation when moving among the herds in cities and villages. They prefer to reside remotely, in community with lesser vampires cowed to obeisance, herdsman selecting choice sacrifices to sate their Tyrant's dread hunger.
Feudal Futility and False Faith
Tyrants spend their existence overseeing ritual, chant and song. The burning of incense and ringing of bells maintain the delicate social cohesion of the Tyrant's sanctum, creating a higher purpose for those enthralled. It is, of course, nonsense, but routine and ritual build bonds of mysticism and obligation. It is a useful ruse to ensure regular feeding with minimal effort. The Tyrant exploits the victims delivered by right and rite and relishes the trickery and exploitation. It whiles away the long days of an endless life and creates deceptive meaning for those who serve, eternally the lesser.
Fighting Vampires Using Their Passions
Learning a vampire's particular passions to attack them with temptation would be a good strategy. So vampires ought to have some particular weakness prepared. And how do they respond if their will falters?
d6 Vampiric Passions (Temptation)
- Melancholy (Doubt)
- Vainglory (Arrogance)
- Desire (Longing)
- Avarice (Acquisitive Opportunity)
- Wrath (Hated Rival)
- Gluttony (Satisfaction and Excess)
Example in play
The Tyrant Harkum ruled a decaying keep teetering on a remote cliff in the hinterlands. Harkum’s temptation is Melancholy; when tempted, he is prone to long periods of isolation. An adventuring party finding themselves in conflict with Harkum might seek to weaken the vampire’s resolve through validating the vampire’s doubts using psychological warfare. If successful, Harkum might isolate himself in his sanctum, allowing for safer exploration.
The cretin Florian is a petty vampire driven by Avarice with a passion for elegant ceramics, glass, and visual art. A party attempting to weaken him might use a piece of rare visual art like a complex trap for an art lover.
The Vampire Weakened
If a vampire’s will falters, they lose their higher mindedness and perspective. This can manifest as battling with less efficiency and forgetting more intellectually challenging abilities,focusing on the immediacy of physical violence. This might provoke a Reaction roll or remove the vampire from the random encounter table.