Empusai
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- Empusai are an approved Unofficial race, which are for the moment available only to those who are high ranking members of the Necromancer’s Guild, or are chosen by such as a worthy candidate.
Empusai Statistics
Life Expectancy: Presumably akin to vampires and undead Homeland: Any, with a preference for remote and/or high places Average Height: Any height Average Weight: Any weight Preferred Classes: Necromancer, spellblade, warrior Classes this race can be: Necromancer, mage, spellblade, warrior, priest, monk Preferred Alignment: Naturally drawn toward evil and any chaotic Preferred Weapons: War-gauntlets, symbiotic armour, ranged and melee weapons, arcane and unholy magics Aggression Level: High Intelligence Level: High Magic Rating: High, if original class possesses arcane magic Strength Rating: Enhanced from base race. Without symbiotic armour generally akin to vampiric equivalent of that race; with symbiotic armour also has enhanced stamina and resilience Weak Against: Same as base race, plus additional weakness against Holy/Light magic. Also weak against prolonged exposure to sunlight if unarmoured. Strong Against: Same as base race, plus physical attack, psychological attack and all low to mid level magics not including Holy/Light magic Related Races: Undead, vampire Allied Races: None in particular Enemy Races: None in particular
Physiology
Empusai are not strictly a race in themselves, but a race addition brought about by symbiosis with ganglion-bearing protoflesh culled from a mature Empusai.
Empusai flesh is metamorphic. They cannot, for example, take full animal forms in an instant or behave as a 'shape shifter' and shift to different forms and sizes, but they can, over time, force their flesh to adopt certain shapes (the one exception here is those who have lycanthropy in their lineage, but even then they may only semi-shift, remaining primarily anthropomorphic).
An Empusai certainly cannot suddenly decide to sprout wings, but they might choose to grow the skin and bones of their arms and hands into appendages suitable for flight. Such an extreme metamorphosis takes quite a long time and the Empusai could not 'revert' to having normal arms quickly.
Some lineages which prize deceit over strength possess skill at 'guise' a kind of glamour-magic which allows them to hide the more monstrous aspects of their nature behind an outer shell that is physically attractive. This -cannot- happen swiftly if the original body was ugly or deformed in some way.
Other lines prefer to nurture monstrous aspects and wear them proudly.
Empusai are vulnerable to sunlight when unarmoured. Several hours of direct exposure to bright sunlight can seriously affect an Empusai's ability to regenerate, and a few days of exposure can kill them (as they cannot regenerate enough to save themselves overnight).
A note on regeneration: Empusai may regenerate a limb almost instantly, but the limb will be weak and useless until denser bone-like material supporting it has a chance to grow and harden. Regeneration is dangerous, in that increases the risk of the symbiote taking over the body, and consuming the host. For that reason, it is not something to be done lightly or too often.
Regeneration cannot occur where the flesh has been burned or cauterised. And of course, Empusai cannot grow a new head! Decapitated heads, however, might attempt to grow a new body unless destroyed completely... and the result is always spectacularly awful.
Creation
The process begins when a mature Empusai wills a portion of his or her body to develop a rudimentary ganglion, or ‘secondary brain’. This body part will usually be a hand, as it is the extremity most easily removed without vast inconvenience or disfigurement (though some may care less about disfigurement than others).
The extremity is then severed. Independent of its ‘parent’ Empusai, it soon reverts to simple protoflesh, though with the simplistic ganglion ‘brain’ embedded within it.
The infant symbiote (at this stage more often referred to as a ‘leech’) is then given to a host candidate. The candidate must feed the leech on their own blood to establish a firm rapport, and then gain complete mental control over it. If the host cannot gain mastery, the leech’s undeveloped brain degrades, rapport is lost and the creature will attempt to consume the host as food.
Once the host has control of their leech, they must allow it to attach to their own central nervous system. This is usually done by placing at the back of the neck, upon which the leech (if it has been well-fed and mastered properly) will fuse with the host’s spine and brain stem during an ancient and secret necromantic ritual prescribed in the Forsaken Book of the Dead, (though the ritual in that tome is actually incomplete).
To ensure that the symbiote has the best chance of ‘taking’ to its new master, the host’s Empusai sire will probably immerse the conjoined host and symbiote in appropriate alchemical solutions for a time. This is called ‘the dreaming’, and many Empusai liken it to birth. It is actually a horrific and sometimes fatal procedure.
When this stage is successful, the leech is then a ‘symbiote’.
Symbiosis and Lineage Traits
In time the symbiote will transform the host’s entire body to protoflesh.
Since the host has mastery over the symbiote, he or she also controls this transformation and will often retain many aspects of their original race while possessing the metamorphic flesh of the symbiote and the vampire’s strength, resilience and hunger for blood (if they were vampirised).
It is also not uncommon for physical (and somewhat less commonly, magical) traits of the symbiote's donor to carry through to the new host. Thus, 'lineages' may occur among the Empusai, in which certain desirable traits are nurtured and become dominant. For example, a donor who has a bestial aspect to their lineage will likely pass this along to the new host, to a greater or lesser degree. A donor necromancer who works with shadow magics may pass along a talent for manipulating darkness.
These traits, should the new host eventually become a donor themselves, would pass along to the next 'generation' as well.
NOTE: Unless the host is also a highly adept necromancer with the appropriate knowledge in creating and manipulating protoflesh, he or she will NOT be able to successfully create a new Empusai. For this, they would need assistance from such a necromancer.
This is why most Empusai eventually devote themselves to relevant aspects of Death-magic and the study of alchemy, or otherwise remain beholden to others for the creation of their Empusai armour and continuation of their lineage, and so on.
Empusai Armour
Perhaps one of the most defining traits of the Empusai is the secondary symbiosis necessary to the creation of their close-fitting and often heavily plated armour. Empusai armour is not simply a protective garment, but a once-living being converted to chitinous protoflesh and then bonded to the Empusai via their symbiote.
It is wise for an Empusai to be discerning when choosing the body used for their first armour, as traits from the armour can and often do pass to the Empusai themselves. Consequent armours do not affect the Empusai's body or mind quite as much as the first.
Some Empusai choose beasts or monsters as a basis for their armour, which will enhance a bestial aspect in themselves as the host. An Empusai from a lineage gifted with 'glamour' abilities would probably not find this desirable, and instead seek a body that was more attractively humanoid.
Empusai armour is an 'undead' being and possesses a very dim mind of its own, though Empusai are careful not to allow it too much intelligence - it has been known for overly smart armour to attempt to take control of the symbiote with disastrous results for all concerned.
The armour's outer carapace is akin to that of the chitin beast, being incredibly tough and resistant to both damage and sunlight, while its inner layers are good at absorbing shock. The armour has senses of its own and has been known to react to stimuli before the host themselves are aware of it.
The armour's primary function is to protect and nourish the Empusai in the case of grave injury, in which case its instinct is to form a 'shell' around the host and sustain them with nutrients and salts from its own flesh until regeneration is complete. This takes a great toll on the armour, however, and usually results in its destruction.
Empusai take great pride in creating unique innovations in the armour's design, each being highly individual. One tradition is the formation of the armour's hands into horrendous war-gauntlets with razored chitin knives, hooked extrusions and other means of causing fatal damage to a foe in battle.
Psychology, Society and Culture
Empusai are arrogant, aloof, egomaniacal, vain and aggressive. They are predators, and act accordingly. The nature of the symbiote is that it tends to enhance all of the base qualities of the host, including and especially the lowest aspects of the host's nature - lust, greed, pride, and so on.
Finer emotions such as loyalty, love, friendship and kindness take a back seat to all of the above, and are generally seen as weaknesses.
Being comprised of protoflesh, the Empusai naturally takes on many of the imperatives of that primitive matter, the primary one being survival at any cost. Another is to 'split' and make copies of itself, which is why Empusai are driven to take pride in their lineages, and to at least once in their lives make another in their own image.
Most Empusai prefer to stake out a territory and create a structure, often called a manse, spire, stack or crag, in which to dwell. They then fill it with thralls, necromancers, beasts from their vats, food creatures and so on. They are not usually interested in lands beyond the limits of their own territories (which tend to be only as large as can support the needs of their abode).
As Empusai are too territorial to form large societies among themselves they don't often drive for conquest of an entire nation - unless it becomes necessary as a means of removing actual or potential threats. Even then, once the threat is removed they are more likely to retreat to their abodes than sit on a national throne. Of course, there are exceptions.
Empusai of direct or related lineages will sometimes stake out adjacent territories. There may be several reasons for this, but you can be sure that none involve true friendship or a sense of community, and such groupings often end in bitter 'stack-wars' as territorial needs expand.
Personal Relationships
Empusai do not enter relationships based on humanoid feelings of love or loyalty and many prefer to remain solitary, where possible.
Perhaps it suffices to say that the quality of any relationship with an Empusai will be directly related to the level of one's ongoing usefulness to them.
Being unable to sexually procreate the Empusai do not seek 'mates', but sometimes enter into partnerships with other Empusai with each seeing the other as 'property' or, a great deal more rarely, true equals. Such partnerships are not often long-lasting and do not generally end well, but where two manage to pair up for reasons other than mere lust, and without killing one another, a powerful dynasty may result.
Empusai Fleshcraft
Masters of the art of manipulating protoflesh, the necromantic alchemists of the Empusai enjoy growing a wide variety of useful flesh golems in immense vats in the lower reaches of their abodes.
These creatures vary in levels of strength and intelligence, the lowest rung of the ladder being the near-mindless things used for Empusai construction, the highest being Empusai themselves.
Protoflesh constructs are controlled via telepathic communications with their creators. The exception is with fellow Empusai (among whom the use of telepathy is viewed as unforgivably intrusive and avoided outside of war and other dire situations).
Among the monstrosities known to emerge from Empusai vats are:
- Wingbeasts
- Warbeasts
Religion
Empusai are not famed for their piety. Exceptions to this are those who worship gods of Death or War in return for rewards. Vakmatharas is the default god of choice, as it said the Empusai state was bestowed on the first of their kind as a reward for loyal service. No-one knows whether this is fact or just a tale, but it happens that prayers to Vakmatharas are quite often granted.
History
The first Empusai and the creator of protoflesh in Lithrydel was an Arch-Necromancer and High Priest of Vakmatharas known as Aranoch the Damned, who lived in the time of the first vampires. Though he was already of great age when sired as a vampire, he is said to have been remarkably well preserved due to his experiments with certain alchemical processes.
For his megalomaniacal ambitions and a laundry list of heinous atrocities, Aranoch was banished to another plane by the then Council of Mages, who subsequently ordered all record of him removed from every page in history - past, present and future.
A few scraps of information survived, thanks to a handful of brave necromancers who chose to defy the Council's stringent edict. These remnants remained well-hidden through the ages, until Tenebrae returned from a mysterious journey. She immediately set about gathering all these scattered pieces of knowledge together. There are rumours she was already an Empusai on her return, and that she is gathering all of the Aranochian Fragments into a tome.. but this may all be idle gossip.
Tenebrae has with this combined knowledge resurrected the Empusai race in Lithrydel.
In her travels she also learned the dire and unthinkable fate of Aranoch the Damned himself. Suffice to say, it is wise for an Empusai to keep close control of their symbiote, or terrible things can happen...
Aranoch the Damned was also responsible for the thing which in time would become The Burrower, a vast and shapeless creature of protoflesh which, even though it lies dormant underground while it waits in vain for its Master, has for many centuries in its sleep drained the land of Venturil of vitality.
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