The Black Princess

(Only known description of the Black Princess, PBS 286)

In the year post black stars 1286, the world has become relatively comfortable for those experiencing
vampirism. While there are certain barriers one must learn to navigate, these days vampirism is largely
understood to be a relatively severe, if benign, blood condition that comes with dietary restrictions and
allergies. Most vampires can enter into a tavern and explain the situation to the bartender, who will do
their best to accomodate them. Indeed, many find the rush of the vampiric kiss desirable, and the
population of bundheim, eager for novelty and new experiences, have come to find vampires, with their
unique sensations and strange desirability, to be highly erotic beings. This perception is helped by the
visibility of the red lord of the dauntless mandate Lucius Krauss, probably the most visible and benign
 vampire of the modern age, despite what the Pentarchy says about him.

How nice for him.

There can be a stigma though. Many have heard the tales of vampires as fearsome, predatory beings
who one must protect against, and while this is a more enlightened time, many more fearsome stories of
vampires go back a long time, after the age of black stars but not as long as you might think, both
immediately before and during the unity wars. You would struggle mightily to find a being that
remembers the unity wars outside of Lucius Krauss himself and perhaps one or two truly exceptional
beings; for the rest of the world, even the long memories of the elves don't reach back to that cursed
generation, and there are no remaining vampiric families older than the Krauss line that choose to reveal
themselves.

Most know and curse the name Domitor Hanesin, the bringer of unity, but it's almost unkown outside of
some obscure historical records that there was someone more well known and feared at the time;
without the resources of an entire nation, her evil was less widely impactful on history, but the records
of the time make it utterly abundant that she was the most feared being of her time; the closest thing
bundheim has had to a true "dark lord". Pieces of her history even harder to fine, almost all mentions of
her true name lost. Most of history just remembers her as the Black Princess. Many of the terrible stories
of vampires seem to reach back to her, but even these are so old and so tied to that bleak time that they
have begun to fade. The most common thing average people are likely to know about the Black Princess
is she inspired the bardic refrains "By Grace" and "Hurt" by Otto Lith first performed by his daughter
Lani, which is are popular and powerful pieces many bards make it a point to know.

Many, many bards who seem to want to practice them right here. So close to just having their throats
torn out.

If one were to spend a truly absurd amount of time and effort traveling the three continents of
bundheim, there is enough information to pull together a relatively complete picture of her life. One may
even discover her vampiric line, and in that moment it becomes very obvious why so little information
about her survives. Her sire was Mikhail Krauss, sire of Lucius and the first proginator of the Krauss line.
Records of her history start in a small village in skickain, a young woman who never knew her true father,
an elven nobleman. She had a younger half-sister she loved deeply.

So deeply.

When she was young, she caught a terrible illness that left her body wracked with pain and left it to
popular wisdom that she would not live past her twenties. The story of how she got that illness is a
difficult bit of knowledge to obtain. The most common story is she was shot with a poison arrow by a
friend in her late adolescence, which is the version most commonly repeated; others claim it was a
disease, which is closer to the truth. This little anecdote shows some of the difficulty in telling the story
of the Black Princess, as many of the most famous parts of her story are folkloric nonsense.
Knowing of a nearby vampire lord who often offered to change those who needed it, she threw herself in
front of him and begged him to change her. However, for whatever reason, he refused. Three more times
she did this, and he refused each time. Finally, in a hidious fury, she opened her stomach in front of him
and in order to spare her from an agonizing death, he reluctantly changed her. Her change was always
marked by this act of coercion, and she never really lost that cruel and manipulative edge. For this
reason, she always seen as the black sheep of the Krauss Vampire line, a stigma she never managed to
shake.

She was magnificent though.

Bleaker still though, her wish proved a double edged sword. Despite her body being made strong and
painless by her vampirism, the black princess was utterly unprepared for the psychological effects of
immortality as a result of her illness shortening her lifespan. When her sister died from old age, the
princess seemed to go a bit barmy, throwing endless parties and spending her time outside "hunting".
Even her peers had to conceed, however, that she was a genius, pioneering many creative uses for
leather and metal, along with countless other crafts, to stave off the boredom of the weight of ages,
many of which are still used today. She spent a lot of time travelling, gathering knowledge and using it to
build the first known Dominiari aegis, as well as the methods used to construct was has become known
as damascus steel (or Kaina steel if you wanna be very technical). Several craftsmanship techniques that
are in common useage these days were pioneered by the black princess, though many more were lost to
time.

Slowly, though, her instability grew, and with it her villainy, practicing all manner of wicked acts as she
worked to make more and more magical discoveries. Slowly, a group of adventurers banded together to
destroy the black princess, though they only fully managed to corner her after the war of unity.
According to the records the heroes left, she was attempting to sieze what remained of Unity after
Danesin was destroyed. After a gruelling battle, the Black Princess was defeated, the heroes celebrated,
and life went on.

For nearly 1000 years, life has gone on.

And on.

And on.

and on and on and on and onand onand onand onand onand onand onand onand onand onand onand
onand onand onand onand onand onand onand onand onand onand onand onand onand onand onand
onand onand onand onand onand onand onand onand onand onand onand onand onand onand
onandonandonandonandonandonandonandonand
onandonandonandonandonandonandonandonandonandonandonandonandonGood story.
 Would you like to hear another one?

Sure.

I'd love too

Sounds fun.

Why not?

In the year post black stars 1286, a stupid, vicious, hateful, disgusting woman who took out her anger on
the world has been trapped alone for 1000 years while

no no, this one's not fun, lets keep things fun shall we?

Right, sorry.

What do you miss most?

What?

What do you miss most?

My hands.

Your hands?

Silly stupid vicious hateful disgusting woman, they're right in front of your face, stretched out.

Right. I can't use. Them. I can't. Make. Anything.

Are you sure that's what you miss most, dear?

She's been stuck here for 1000 years with nothing to do but think, of course she's sure.

You don't miss the cowering in your enemies eyes when you're about to rip out the last of their years of
life from there pitiful necks?

You don't miss building armies that worship the very ground you walk on, catering to your every need?

You don't miss Maria?

I've missed Maria every day for over eleven hundred years.
 Not as much as the blood though. If we get out of here, can you imagine how hungry we'll be?

We should build another force of servants to open their veins in the kitchens for us and spend hours
licking every part of this grime off of us.

Or we could just keep the grime on us, turn into a living statue and tear through that village down there
ripping out throats.

No.

No?

I'm never doing that again.

Good. You're better than that.

No she's not!

Well, she's better than that animal, certainly, but she's still... what did you call it dear? The black
princess? Is it still the black princess?

Fuck you, red, come over here and say that to my face.

I don't know what they call me these days.

They call you the Kaina.

No not this stupid statue, I mean from before.

True. We don't hear many stories about Nina Krauss anymore these days, do we?

No we do not.

Probably for the best.

Shameful, really, that the only monument to your glory is... this.

There was no glory in what I did.

Nina, you're so BORING now. C'mon.

Oh yeah! Look, here they come!

Is she pregnant this time?

Oh how cute! She is!

SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!