N.L. Bryar

Learn the vampire powers, weaknesses, and supernatural rules in the novel The Curse of the Unholy Grail. You’ll find several beloved supernatural tropes here, some hit with just enough cue-ball English to give them a proper, new spin. And how much of these carry over into the dhampir — the half-human, half-vampire — as she bridges the mortal and supernatural realms? In the novel, the differences are crucial to humankind’s survival.

We’ll touch on a few things a reader may expect to find in the book and explain why their nuances were important to its world-building. Let’s … sink our teeth in, shall we?

Vampire Powers and Features

Folklore has already given us a rich and foundational base-image for these undead. Sunlight ignites vampire flesh, no merciless kid with a magnifying glass required. Daytime, no matter how well shaded, puts the vampire in a coma. Stakes are to hearts what waves are to sandcastles. Entering a home is by-invitation-only. And so on.

But for a race of vampires to fit logically in a modern world, we have to give them logical powers and features. This is where the folklore- and trope-nuances fit in.

Vampire Hunger

Nourished By Life-Energy, the vampires feeding only indirectly requires blood. Blood itself has only minimal ‘energy’ in and of itself, rather it serves as a conduit to the body’s true vitality, to the vampire’s true source of nourishment. (Life-energy is not the soul, it’s an Earth-bound quality.)

As a plot-mechanic, this solves numerous problems: First, those killed by a vampire needn’t be fully exsanguinated, masking the cause of the death and avoiding exposure of vampire activity. For a city of humans to support a vampire-population of any size, they can’t go causing a plague of anemia.

Second, one’s lifelong vitality is an enormous pool of energy, much larger than the few pints of blood in the body. A single feeding can thus repair enormous damage (‘time heals all wounds’ or in this case years of stolen life-essence). With life-energy, a feeding can sustain the vampire in a quiescent, un-demanding state for months. Again, important should a community of vampires wish to avoid torches and pitch-forks.

Third, an aggressive drain of vitality does permanent damage, unlike an acute loss of blood. But a person can quickly recover from just a small drain. This raises the stakes for the vampire/dhampir; over-exertion requires a big feeding , either finding multiple victims or doing great damage to one. Small feedings being recoverable solves (even as it also creates) a moral problem: our heroine’s wake could be no worse than spreading a case of the sniffles (unless she justifies biting everyone she meets)

Fourth, the rate of life-energy- and blood-drain get decoupled, making incapacitating (or eliminating) a foe by bite in multiple-combat more feasible. Also, it allows the vampire to abstain from vitality-draining and just making the victim suffer temporary blood-loss (see the cut-scene The Bishop Leaves Nikki Betrayed ).

Fifth, blood’s minimal dose of ‘life’ decays so quickly that blood-banks are not vampire grocery stores. Moreover, life-energy can be thought of as having a spectra unique to the creature it empowers, thus a vampire will eventually become ‘malnourished’ raiding the zoo. For our dhampir, Nikki, her hunger for human life thus comes with appalling guilt and fears of monstrousness. This also adds time-pressure on our heroine as more vampire entourages arrive — hungry — for the crowning of their emperor.

And lastly, flowing blood behaving like a wire or signal-cable unlocks the Pont d’Âme connection (see below), the means by which memories, skills, and abilities can be exchanged in an instant. The way a vampire sires a new vampire is a special-case of this Pont d’Âme connection (one where a volitional drink by the dying is key).

Vampire Patrons and Sires

Gifted By Their Patron — An entity outside the mortal plane lends a portion of its power to the vampire to animate them. This empowerment is less about direct control than a simple, subtle influence.

The metaphor here is Flatland (inimitably explained by Carl Sagan’s Cosmos video): The Patron rests his finger on the lifeless Flatlander husk and suddenly it can move again. Yet very often the extradimensional spirit/devil/demon patron has no interest in actively directing his finger, its mere ‘pressure’ suffices to make the Flatlander brain direct the husk. This is useful, letting the vampire have all the memories, skills, languages, culture, etc. the person had before death. The patron can pay more attention, but usually they do not.

Over centuries, the husk and the finger stick together, so that when the finger lifts off Flatland, the husk goes with it, with the visual effect of, say, turning to mist as the barest dimples of husk still skim the surface of Flatland. The husk gains incredible strength, resistance to damage, etc., all thanks to the finger powering it.

But to replenish the papery husk, a papery blood is required. Thus even from the beginning, the finger can distort the husk beneath to make fangs appear, claws to form, venom to drip.

Ancient vampires might even distort by that sculpting finger in a flash to sprout wings, form disguises, polymorph to animal shapes.

The Sire and His Childe: When a vampire sires a fledgling, a second finger of the patron comes to bear. This explains why a sire has the obeisance of the childe. The stickiness of husk to finger is yet to happen, the brain yet to enjoy the full contact, hence a fledgling acts like a mindless brute without the influence of the sire, at least for the first few decades of its undeath.

With age comes independence and autonomy (though the sire-compulsion could still be invoked, if resented). This is transitive; the sire of the sire can command just as surely. This was a handy solution to how loyalty could be assured, even to leaders who don’t really deserve it, even by fiends with evil levels of self-interest. (Maybe I didn’t need this mechanic.)

Vampire Society and Politics

In the book, vampires often reside in vampire ‘principalities’ (city-states) lead by a ‘prince’ (not royalty, per se, just the man or woman heading the principality). The principality has the resources to make feeding easier, make establishing identities easier, etc. and those benefits may outweigh the natural revulsion to engaging in undead-politics.

A prince typically won’t have a direct blood-line tie to all his ‘subjects’, so their obedience can’t be compelled the way a sire can his childe. Should a vampire object to the prince’s direction, they find a more compatible principality. Vampire society benefits from such cultural exchanges as well as from principality splits and merges as human populations shift and grow.

Principalities are self-governing with no central vampire authority. With this, the unification promised by the Unholy Grail made the threat of the vampire Apocalypse all the greater.

The pressures of modernity are squeezing vampire communities, making it harder to keep populations of vampires hidden, let alone living in the manner to which they’ve become accustomed. Thus, polarized political factions have emerged, divided on the desirability of the Apocalypse: will it ensure the survival of vampire-kind and furthermore its dominance? Or will it hasten the destruction of the Earth and vampires with it?

(I first saw principality/prince in the video-game Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines, a game I totally adore, even years later. But if you’d prefer the allusion to Nicolo Machiavelli, that works, too.)

Miscellaneous Aspects of the Vampire

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Hypnotic Command — Brute force certainly works, but far better to blend in. Suggest, seduce, compel, enthrall, that’s the first, best means of attaining the vampire’s goals.

To remain hidden in the modern world, the vampire influences the mind of the mortal. Their own desires work to draw the prey into biting range, from willingly surrendering to loyally serving. Commands to ignore, forget, sleep, … lie, defend, kill, these are in the vampire’s mental arsenal. Seduction or tranquility eliminate the need for physical confrontation, a vital survival mechanism.

Controlling animals (rats, dogs, bees, snakes, …) extends from this telepathic command. The simpler the mind, the less strain involved and the less odds they’ll shake the influence, so animal guardians are the preferred way for a vampire to protect their lair during in helpless daylight hours. The non-sentient undead — zombies and animated-skeletons — obey vampires in their midst.

With their bite, the vampire can imbue, as if by a drug, elation, numbness, stupor, or terror. Whatever it takes to passivate the victim … or add savor to the meal.

Perception, Influence, and Magic — With their inherent extra-dimensional nature, the vampire sees within mortal lives, the vampire’s voice resonates from within a mortal’s being. The patron’s finger might even stir the fabric of the mortal plane.

Magical sight and telepathic commands are innate powers of the vampire by virtue of their perspective above the mortal plane.

As their power grows, they may gain the ability to cast spells. First simple ones — fire-starting cantrips, a distracting illusion, hypnotic trances — and later more complex magic — lock-opening spells, summoning fog, etc. imparted through Pont d’Âme. Manifestations of their extra-planar vantage.

The Winds of Lethe — The supernatural craves anonymity, and it has ways to make humans not believe and forget their supernatural encounters.

Heaven (and Hell) need humankind to progress as it naturally would, at the level of individual human decisions. Genuine morals, genuine salvation, depends on an uncoerced will. Thus, the supernatural order wipes away any fingerprints of the divine or infernal. It must, or else order unwinds and the Apocalypse begins.

So, Lethe erases memory (and photos and database entries) — except on occasion. Vampire-hunters remember; Chthonic, universal balance demands they do.

Vampires will never tempt the Winds of Lethe, never take it so irresponsibly for granted that consequences come to call. (Such as the guilty vampire himself getting erased, by his peers or by Lethe’s Underworld). This is why Vampires, as a rule, heal the bites they inflict — despite the energetic cost incurred; Supernatural existence must stay unknown.

(As a father, I’d read the Rick Riordan stories to my kids, and Lethe within Unholy Grail is in homage to Rick.)

Non-Reflection and Non-Shadow — The patron’s ‘pressure’ dips the husk below where reflected light travels. But with mirrors everywhere in modern life, vampires have never been more vulnerable.

‘Vampire-Detectors’ are trivial to build: Use a beam-splitter lens, then compare a straight-on image to a mirror-reflected one. Even a simple laser-beam (blocked directly, passed via mirror) works.

Vampires realize modernity is closing-in on them, making their fake identities harder to maintain, making their safe, undetected travel harder to achieve. It’s only a matter of time before their tells — casting neither reflection nor shadow — make their existence plain and war with human-kind inevitable.

It is these weaknesses that now embolden the old, cautious Vampire Lords to support the Unholy Grail.

The Role of the Coffin — It’s optional, but helpful.

When the patron first makes contact with the husk of the dead, it emits a rain of particles that impregnate the earth of a gravesite. This is the only reason a vampire might desire to sleep in his coffin with the dirt of his grave nearby, the slight boost in patronic energy in the otherwise anti-shadow of daytime.

Returning to his grave (or coffin with gravedirt inside) over years accumulates a dark-energy that might frighten away a grave robber (or greenhorn vampire hunter) or even impart enough reflexes for the vampire to avoid a stake.

Final Death — Fledglings are easier to kill, masters harder, but final-death is always in a shower of sparks and ashy powder.

This is a total nod to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, where it was originally a plot-mechanic to avoid having to hide the scads of vampire bodies Buffy would otherwise leave in her wake. Bravo, Joss Whedon!

Vampiric Nomenclature

Pont d’Âme (Soul Bridge)	How vampires/dhampir teach or impart complex skills and magical powers to each other. Performed by blood-to-blood contact, the doner selectively conveys gifts to the recipient (who might try to pull more).
Redémarrage (Restarting)	Another word for being sired. Some types of dhampir are born normal/dormant and must undergo an activating event.
Vue de Cerf-Volant (Kite’s View)	Opening up perceptions to see supernaturally. All life has a supernatural component, thus glows and crackles when this sight is engaged. The dhampir is vulnerable while using it.
Soi-Dévoilé (Self-Revealed)	Transforming out of a normal human-shape, whether as minor as extending fangs or as major as presenting a misshapen Lord-form. Nikki calls this her ‘Game-Face’.
Unmooring	A supernatural experience’s after-effect too severe for Lethe to repair can leave the person in a state of broken destiny (becoming a vampire-hunter, say), or, worse, left forever tormented by madness and literal demons.

How The Dhampir Differs

The dhampir is half-human, half-vampire. This duality is a maddening balance to walk. This is why your next read should be about dhampirs.

Dhampir Powers and Weaknesses

During the day, their humanity reigns. Though still quite strong, they are otherwise their normal selves (annoyingly light-sensitive at worst). The dhampir can wear a cross, enter a house, be anointed by holy-water, … nothing’s amiss.

They can change to vampire-form as well, and the complete range of their vampire powers emerges, the fullness of their strength and speed surfaces. But the coin has two sides. Even just extending their fangs incurs the suite of vampiric-vulnerabilites. To wear Game-Face in the sun, for instance, is to blister and burn, writhing in pain so fierce that likely you cannot change back to human-form.

At night, the dhampir feels better, stronger, more self-assured. The tax of daytime is lifted. But with the night, the personality also darkens.

Mighty patronage brings force, but mortal-spark makes the edge keen. A dhampir no older than the newest fledgling can cut deep against even elder wraiths and master vampires alike. They are an embodiment of balance as old as the universe itself, and hit with devastating finality.

As a bridge, they are uniquely suited to face the threats one side mounts against the other. More to the point, a dhampir is uniquely suited to confront the Unholy Grail: possessing supernatural power already, that temptation is diminished (so they theory goes), and possessing human agency still, their decisions have consequence. A demon’s objectivity, a soul’s empathy.

Dhampir hunger

Once ‘activated’ (see below), feeding is required. Another dhampir or vampire can do this via Pont d’Âme and the recipient dhampir can retrain a degree of innocence this way. However, once a dhampir has explicitly fed off another human being — or, God forbid, fed to death from one — their innocence is lost. They must forever more feed from the life-energy of human prey, subject to the ravages of vampire hunger.

Dhampir Patrons and Sires

Legends say dhampirs have as their patron beings of immense power and station. To ‘share’ an ensouled body is a delicate task, demanding constant and subtle flows of power that are simply beyond lesser devils to maintain for long. Dhampirs are not mere demon-possessed bodies, crude and blunt (in our Flatland metaphor, a mortal disc crushed by the finger upon it). Nor are dhampirs mere warlocks lent power by a pact. They are beings that bridge the natural and supernatural realms. And they are free agents … mostly.

While folklore claims a dhampir might come from the sexual union of a male vampire with a female human, this is not exactly what happens. Their patron confers latent dhampirism before birth. Typically, some traumatic event or mystic ritual then activates this dhampirism. In the case of Nikki Lange, a vampire gave her a dose of his blood, willingly accepted, to start the Redémarrage. But in the case of the dhampir Lierre, it was a terrorist attack leaving her nearly dead that realized her vampire nature.

A patron may allow the latent dhampirism to be inherited, passed to children and grandchildren, without them even knowing. In the dormant state, a dhampir might heal a bit faster, be very athletic, but not suspiciously so. A dhampir can be a sire, but won’t make a dhampir this way.

Dhampirs in History

Dhampirs of yore have always made their mark in history. Usually infamously. The French nobleman Gilles de Rais, for instance, valiantly fought along-side Joan of Arc … before becoming utterly depraved, murdering hundreds of children in his occult quest for riches. No net limits the fall from the moral tightrope the dhampir must walk. Dhampir hunger can destroy all prior virtues.

Mortal nature does weaken vampiric form, though. To see auras, the dhampir must step out-of-body, while a true vampire would just focus their attention. A vampire glides up walls, but a dhampir must measure every step, concentration fraying should any other power be needed (sensing auras, pushing hypnotic commands, shrouding her presence). And so forces the dhampir to shrewdness.

For every power a dhampir exercises, every strand of darkness they pull into the fore, something human gets tossed behind lost to nostalgia. Which of these thread-bear things will the dhampir care to retrieve? Any?

Wrap-Up