Classic Monsters In Eden I: Vampires

To celebrate Halloween I thought I’d write about monsters. However, the post got far too long so I wouldn’t have enough space for the monsters I wanted. Therefore I’m starting a new series instead. In this series we’ll look at some “Classic” monsters and how they exist within the Spirits of Eden campaign setting. Many of them have different origins and powers than their classical roots, although the classical stories work just as well if one prefers those. I thought I’d do some different things with them and their powers, to make them more amusing to me. You can comment to suggest what the next monster in the series should be. Note that although the name is “Classical” monsters, I won’t turn away people with more recent creatures. It doesn’t necessarily have to date back over a century.

The Shasa: Vampires (and Liches)

In Eden, when one dies, his or her essence leaves the body and join the eternal essence flow that permeates all of the world. Depending on the circumstances of death, or what the person’s Essence was like, however, the outcome of the body in the absence of the soul can be quite aberrant. A Shasa is born from someone young, wealthy and ambitious, cut down in the prime of his or her life. Their blood leaves their bodies with incredible haste, while they whisper to themselves incredulously. Often the final thought of such a person is how anything so terrible could possibly occur to them. Wallowing in desire to continue living, they rise anew. It is said that their longing for their material possessions combined with the jolt of death causes them to remain living despite the exit of their essence.

They rise, pale and cold, and stride weakly to their stores of wealth, their bodies rotting all the way. Eventually, the Shasa is but a stiff, yet horrifyingly aware, mound of bones and stretched skin clutching its gold and silver, its precious jewels. Its mind will either vanish from the shock of its nightmarish immobilization and wasting, or have to will and self-awareness to produce a miraculous effect. By the next full moon, alongside the shriveled body rises a new, beautiful form, representative of all the vanities the Shasa believes about itself. This creature will be the continuation of the old, forever on.

Shasa have no essence of their own, so as most undead do, they have to extract it from living creatures. Shasa get most of their essence from other’s blood. Being the most intelligent of the undead, in general, the Shasa know that the blood of an individual runs richest with their essence, and wringing it from a body gives great stores of power for many weeks to come. Shasa spellcasters might have a predilection for ritualistic soul consumption or other methods. But most just drink blood. Particularly, if they drink the blood of someone willing to feed them, Shasa give off an air of respectability and goodness, and it allows them to continue to be among society.

Because a Shasa’s original essence has left its body, it cannot retain an aura for more than a few days, even with blood drank. They might keep large barrels and wine bottles full of blood, but every drink whittles slowly off themselves, so they are ever losing and having to replenish their auras. Shasa must therefore store essence in objects, where it can keep indefinitely. They surround themselves with portraits, statues and other tokens representative of themselves within which they store Essence. The only requirement is that these objects incorporate something of their old body inside it – a statue built around a bone, or a vase containing a shriveled tongue or ashes of flesh, or a painting with the cloth lined by withered sinews. It is not a requirement that the Shasa make the object itself, though it is the only one who can store Essence in it, and the only one who can remove it.

Shasa have some peculiar abilities. Their new body is a transcendental state, made of Essence, much like a Spirit’s form. Though it is flesh when touched, when cut, when kissed, and even when consumed by carnivorous beings, it is composed of essence and can therefore reform itself with Essence. Whenever it is destroyed, the Shasa’s consciousness will be locked back into a piece of its corpse – and then it will consume the rich, trapped essence in whatever statue or painting it is in, and their preferred new body will pop back out. So the only way to destroy a Shasa permanently is to eliminate all effigies of itself, and make sure to destroy all of its body parts wherever they are scattered.

Other Shasa discover more powers as they age and become acquainted with their new state. They are not spirits, and so they don’t have purviews, neither the benefits of a portfolio nor the drawbacks. But many do exhibit supernatural powers, such as the ability to control others and increased physical strength and endurance. Notably, however, Shasa can only employ their full powers at night. While the sun is out, their powers are very weakened, to the point that they are just about as strong and resilient as they were in life, but no more. Being out in the sun is very irritating to Shasa, and reminds them that the state they have achieved is not perfect. For someone so vain, this just won’t do.

Many superstitions exist about Shasa, but a notable few have some truth in them. All Shasa have some food they hated in life, often potatoes, garlic or onions (foul peasant food) and the hate becomes magnified in their new state, causing them to retch and draw away. This won’t work forever, but surprising a Shasa with a potato might give one enough of a distraction to run. Many Shasa, though not all, also exhibit some obsessive-compulsive behavior that can be leveraged against them. If one throws a handful of beans at a Shasa, it might pause momentarily to try to count them. Or if one knocks over a chair, it might have to right it. Again, these won’t work more than a few times, but every edge one has against such a powerful creature can help prevent death, or facilitate an escape.

Shasa are squarely divided between those that are secluded from society, while still demanding its comforts, and those within society. Periterim has quite a few Shasa among its wealthy upper class, while Andaliel has more hermitic Shasa, living in secluded estates. Shasa can make do with animal blood, but they tend to prefer humans or spirits. So they often have some (willing or unwilling) maid or butler who tends to them personally.

It is very difficult, but not impossible, for magic to mimic the effects of becoming a Shasa, or to turn one into a Shasa. Most Shasa don’t bite people directly for blood, but when they do, it is someone they greatly esteem, and that person will exhibit some of the Shasa’s powers as well, including an extended lifespan (albeit not eternally like the Shasa). Trying to artificially create Shasa is very dangerous. It could create a shriveled corpse forever aware of its state, eternally tortured to madness, that never transcends. One could experiment and control the subjects and the circumstances to perfection, and still never quite manage to prompt that miraculous transcendence. Few are bold enough to try.

Because of their great wealth, Shasa often have many minions. The most lowly Shasa, forever cursing their state, must make do with stupid, lowly creatures easily impressed by them. Usually that means Muks, Sorian goblins. Sometimes Sorians themselves might look to a Shasa as a boss. More impressive Shasa have retinues of sprites and other fey spirits attracted to their undying beauty and supernatural glamour. Mortals can also be drawn to Shasa, either for some object or another in the Shasa’s stores of wealth that they desire (such as access to libraries or magical items) or to serve as personal servants to the Shasa. Their goal may be to eventually get the Shasa to bite, for the power that brings, or they might just be friends of the Shasa in life who want to remain by its side in death.

Though Shasa are stereotyped as being luxurious, romantic beings, many of them are irritating, crazed hoarders who’s outwardly beautiful estates are inwardly enormous labyrinths of garbage, accumulated over centuries of covetousness. They are often needy and irresponsible, so without servants their lives are very messy and pitiable. Those who manage to affect an air of romance and sophistication could indeed just be that well-adjusted and lovely, or they might be completely unhinged inside, and keeping themselves together only as long as needed to violently rip open a throat for a drink. Those Shasa who don’t have enormous mansions and wealth are the most dangerous. They are a a very rare type of Shasa who essentially attribute their wealth to some romantic relationship they were in, and will forever stalk that person. They are the easiest to kill, at least, having no effigies to prolong their life, and often running quickly out of essence.