Lords of the Night

The Vampire Lord is the high aristocracy of the Lineages of Solmarche-Sires — a Convergent-B noble corrupted by the Cursed-Pact transmitted by Vorlach himself or by one of his first descendants. The title is neither mortal nor divine: it is the status of a being who has ceased to age, who cannot die by ordinary sword, and who maintains his Court through a blood-tithe on the human serfs of his fief.

In battle, the Vampire Lord fights with blade, with magic, or both. Causes Fear by his mere presence. Regenerates wounds that would not kill a mortal — a strike to the head does not suffice, it takes the Breath of Dawn or a Shard of the First. Vampiric: he draws from the enemies he fells the energy that sustains him. Immune to Psychology. When he finally falls, his Lineage designates an heir; when he does not fall, he commands his Court for three more centuries.

The Master-Necromancer is the high-ranking sorcerer of the Lineage of the Thousand-Veils — the one that favours patient intrigue and vampiric science. Many are not themselves Vampires: they are corrupted humans, long studied, sometimes converted over decades. They master the Way of the Sires — Breaths of Death, of Shadow, and the Blood-Breath proper to the Lineages.

In battle, the Master-Necromancer stays back, accompanied by a guard of Skeletons or Ghouls. His magic raises the dead as they fall — a vampiric regiment led by a Master-Necromancer does not exhaust its ranks like a living regiment. Immune to Psychology. Undead himself by progressive alteration: his flesh is no longer quite the one he wore at his human birth.

The Vampire is a Sire of lesser rank — often a recent lineage or a cadet of a vampiric House who has not yet reached the title of Lord. He has already ceased to age, already learned the blood-tithe, already killed a mortal for the first time. But he does not yet have a Court, nor the authority to impose his decisions on the Council of Sires.

In battle, the Vampire fights as a diminished Lord — Causes Fear, Regenerates, Vampiric, Immune to Psychology. His blade is less ornate, his magic less powerful, his Court absent. But he has lived long enough to have seen Imperial armies fall, and he holds where a human noble would flee. The Lineage takes note. If the Vampire becomes Lord, it is because he has survived more than his peers.

The Necromancer is a corrupted human sorcerer mid-conversion — still human, but studying the vampiric liturgies and slowly drifting toward undeath. Many will never become Master-Necromancers: the full conversion takes decades, and most die along the way. Those who succeed have agreed to lose their humanity before having gained their immortality.

In battle, the Necromancer stays back. His magic is less powerful than a Master's; it raises less, it wounds less. But well-placed, accompanied by a regiment of Skeletons or Zombies he keeps standing through concentration, he can drag out a battle until vampiric reinforcements arrive. Many Imperial defeats in Solmarche-Sires were decided by the patience of a single Necromancer.

The Wight King is an undead warrior older than Vorlach — a human lord buried in the eastern Marches before the First Convergence, whose tomb was broken by the Veil at the Collapse and who rose without a Vampire having woken him. The Lineages tolerate him; they do not command him. A Wight King serves when he chooses to serve.

In battle, the Wight King wears ancient plate armour and a blade half-broken by centuries, but strikes with a force the Vampires themselves respect. **Killing Blow**: his ancestral blade cuts to the quick, ignoring an adversary's armour when the blow lands true. Immune to Psychology, Undead, he does not feel fatigue. When he is felled, he slowly collapses, like a statue choosing to fall.

The Tomb Banshee is an anguish-spirit — a noblewoman dead under circumstances that prevented her soul from leaving her tomb, brought back to undeath by the Way of the Sires as an ethereal entity. The Thousand-Veils Lineages capture them and bind them to the Court; they are not commanded, they are oriented.

In battle, the Banshee floats above enemy ranks and **shrieks** — Ghostly Howl, a magical attack that passes through armour and walls, striking directly at the spirit of the living. **Ethereal**: can only be touched by magical weapons. **Causes Terror** by her appearance — a pale woman with empty eye-sockets, whose robe drags in the absence of wind. When an enemy regiment hears the shriek twice, it almost always breaks.

The Skeleton Warriors are the standard levy of the vampiric armies — former human combatants fallen in the Wars of Albion or in the internal wars of Solmarche-Sires, brought back to undeath by the Way of the Sires. The Necromancer who wakes them knows their past; they do not anymore.

In battle, the Skeletons hold in **horde** formation, sword and shield, without fear, without fatigue, without memory. They do not break — **Immune to Psychology**, **Unbreakable**. But they are **Unstable**: if the magic animating them wavers, they crumble to dust. An aggressive charge does not defeat them; a Breath of Dawn or the death of their Necromancer, yes.

The Zombies are the marching-flesh of the vampiric armies — recent corpses brought back to undeath by the Way of the Sires without special ritual maintenance. Raised by the dozens from mass graves, recent battlefields, or plague-struck villages, they bear only their own rotting limbs as weapons.

In battle, the Zombies do not hold a line — they **occupy the ground**. Their function is to overwhelm the enemy by numbers, slow an enemy charge, provide the Vampires with a flesh-barrier one passes through but does not really kill. Immune to Psychology, Unbreakable, Unstable, they are the first wave of every serious vampiric army, and the most renewable.

The Dire Wolves are the undead beasts of the Lineages — giant wolves naturally dead in the eastern Marches, brought back to undeath by the Master-Necromancers and domesticated as court-guards or military scouts. Their loyalty is not bought by meat or training: it is the magic that keeps them upright and oriented.

In battle, the Dire Wolves patrol the flanks of the vampiric army in loose formation. Devastating speed — they run faster than an Imperial horse — but fragile per unit. **Vanguard**: they deploy before the other regiments. Loners: they only attack in pack if the Way of the Sires guides them. When a Dire Wolf falls, its companions do not slow.

The Bat Swarms are the undead swarms of Solmarche-Sires — vampiric bats killed in their lifetime and brought back to undeath in whole colonies. They dwell in the abandoned cellars of the vampiric cities, fed by the blood-tithe that flows to the under-vaults, and leave their roosts only at the call of a Master-Necromancer.

In battle, the Bat Swarms fly as a swarm, **Skirmish**, **Fly (10)**, and descend on their target like a black tide. **Unbreakable** by their multiplicity, **Loners** because each swarm acts alone. They do not inflict serious individual blows, but their mass disrupts tight regiments and their collective bite drains a man of his blood in a single pass.

The Grave Guard is the undead elite of the vampiric armies — human knights fallen in service of their Sire, buried under ritual barrow, and brought back to undeath with their armour and weapon. Unlike ordinary Skeletons, they keep a fragment of their identity: they remember the oath that bound them to their Sire, and hold to it beyond death.

In battle, the Grave Guard wears ancient plate armour and shield, iron blade sharpened by centuries. **Killing Blow**: their ancestral strike cuts through armour that resisted an ordinary Skeleton. Immune to Psychology, Unbreakable, Unstable — like all undead. But their Instability is less than that of Zombies or Skeletons: the Way of the Sires holds them better. They hold until their Sire falls.

The Black Knights are the undead cavalry of the Blood Lineage — living or once-dead knights, vampirised or brought back to undeath, mounted on vampiric or skeletal chargers. Their number is limited by the care needed to maintain undead mounts, but every squadron of Black Knights is one of the recurring nightmares of the Imperial armies.

In battle, the Black Knights charge in tight formation, lances forward, **Killing Blow** on their initial charge. First Charge: they strike before the enemy. Immune to Psychology, Unbreakable. Devastating speed. When their charge breaks an Imperial formation, they do not loot, they never loot — they return to formation and await the next order.

The Spirit Host is the ethereal swarm of the Thousand-Veils Lineages — breaths of captive souls, prisoners of the Way of the Sires, who drift in clusters above battlefields like a black fog. They are not truly dead; they are not truly living. They are **blocked** between the two, and it is this suspension that makes them formidable.

In battle, the Spirit Host hovers at man-height, **Ethereal** — only magical weapons touch it. Its mere presence drains the warmth of the living; its glacial-bite kills by cold rather than by edge. Immune to Psychology, Unbreakable. When it is finally felled, the souls it contained escape without always being known where they go.

The Corpse Cart is the undead engine of Solmarche-Sires — a crude wagon drawn by skeletal horses, loaded with fresh corpses and driven by a **Corpsemaster**, a minor necromancer whose function is to transport the flesh-reserve from one battle to the next. The cart itself is steeped in the magic of the Thousand-Veils: it transmits to friendly regiments the **impression of death** that **weakens the nearby enemy**.

In battle, the Corpse Cart rolls slowly alongside the Skeletons or Zombies. Its mere presence emanates a **Miasma of Death** — weakens enemy magic in its radius, slows adversary spells. **Impact Hits** on the charge — the cart's mass crushes what it meets. Immune to Psychology, Unbreakable. When it falls, the surrounding Skeletons often collapse in the same second.

The Fell Bats are the monstrous variants of the ordinary Swarms — giant bats brought back to undeath, whose wingspan exceeds a man's height and whose bite can take a whole limb. They live in the high attics of the abandoned cathedrals of Solmarche-Sires, descend to hunt at nightfall, and return at dawn if the magic binding them has been maintained.

In battle, the Fell Bats dive in loose formation, **Fly (10)**, **Skirmish**, **Devastating speed**. Immune to Psychology, Undead. They preferentially attack mounts and light engines — a gutted horse, a gunner snatched up, a standard-bearer seized in mid-air. When they have finished, they fly back up. No rear-guard: they only return on order.

The Ghouls are the Lineages' mistake — humans of Solmarche-Sires subjected to the blood-tithe too long, who did not survive the conversion. Not quite dead, not quite living, they wander the crypts and cemeteries of the vampiric cities, feed on fresh or rotting human flesh, and vaguely obey the Master-Necromancers who produced them.

In battle, the Ghouls deploy in **loose formation** — they do not hold the rank, they run. Claws and fangs, **Poisoned Attacks** from the carrion they have eaten. Cause Fear — their appearance routs undisciplined soldiers. Immune to Psychology themselves, Skirmish. When they fall, the Vampires do not bury them. They grow back.

The Blood Knights are the martial elite of the Blood Lineage — Vampire-warriors in full plate armour, mounted on vampiric chargers, whose frenzy in combat surpasses any mortal's. They do not recognise the authority of the Council of Sires; they follow the **Elder-Knight** of their Lineage and no one else.

In battle, the Blood Knights charge in **frenzy** — First Charge, Regeneration, Vampiric, Immune to Psychology, Unbreakable. Their charge shatters all that opposes them, and they only stop when the enemy is in total rout or when they themselves fall. Tactical control of a Blood Knight squadron is almost impossible — they charge when they smell blood, do not return to formation between melees, do not listen to the recall.

The Ghoul King is the former Sire of a minor Lineage who has **lost his residual humanity** — by excess of blood-tithe, by internal curse, or by what the Lineages prefer not to mention. He has the strength of a Vampire Lord and the savagery of a Ghoul. He is, thereby, more dangerous than either.

In battle, the Ghoul King fights with claws and fangs, **Large Target**, **Cause Terror**, **Regeneration**, **Vampiric**, **Hatred (All Enemies)**. He no longer recognises either Lineage or Council; he follows the blood he smells, and he strikes what he reaches. The Lineages tolerate his existence because he is useful. None counts him among its peers.

The Dread Bat is the **flying behemoth** of the Lineages — a giant bat the size of a dragon, brought back to undeath by a particularly costly liturgy. A Lineage does not possess more than one Dread Bat at a time, and wakes it only for wars it cannot afford to lose.

In battle, the Dread Bat hovers above the field and **shrieks** — Death Shriek, magical attack on enemy ranks. Its charge crushes, its talons pierce armour, its mere passing causes Terror. Fly (10), Swiftstride, Large Target, Undead, Unbreakable. When it falls — and it always falls in the end, because it does not withdraw — the Lineage that wakes it mourns its ritual investment as much as the creature.

The Engine of the Dead is the **mobile altar** of the Thousand-Veils Lineage — a ritual platform where necromantic relics accumulate, driven by a **Spectral Crew** — captured soul-breaths bound to the machine. The Engine does not truly roll; it **floats** mid-height, moved by the Breaths its crew channels.

In battle, the Engine of the Dead is **Ethereal** — only magical weapons reach it. Its charge causes **Impact Hits**, its ritual mass terrifies enemy regiments. **Regeneration**: what damages it closes as it is inflicted, because the Spectral Crew reintegrates the fragments into the Way of the Sires. When it is finally felled, the Lineage loses a ritual object no other possesses.

The Spectral Riders are the **ethereal cavalry** of the Thousand-Veils Lineages — breaths of former knights fallen in combat, mounted on spectral chargers issued from the same ritual. Neither living nor truly dead, they glide above the ground like a galloping mist, leaving no trace and making no sound.

In battle, the Spectral Riders charge in tight formation, **Ethereal** — invulnerable to non-magical weapons —, **Swiftstride**. Cause Terror by their appearance: human regiments often break before the first clash. Immune to Psychology, Unbreakable, Undead. A Spectral Rider charge against a regiment of Imperial crossbowmen is a battle decided before it begins.