Elmerton, this is a warning: Lay down your stakes and worship the real Queen. Queen Amphelise is the one and only. You know as well as I do that she cannot be killed. She cannot be defeated. You risk your lives, those of your friends and of the innocents in the area in your futile attempt of this fool’s quest. If you stake the Queen be prepared to suffer for rest of your lives. Long live the Queen!
People of Magesta,
The Festival of Souls looms before us and with it comes one of the greatest threats this world has ever known. During the festival Queen Amphelise of the first Vampire house will attempt to gain access the Elder Realm. She will try to do this within the boundaries of Elmerton. If she is successful, she will obtain access to virtually limitless power. Our very existence will be altered according to her own dark designs. Among her many unspeakable plans she intends to remove all weakness from vampires and plunge Magesta into a world of eternal darkness and terror.
I speak for the town of Elmerton when I say that we will not stand idly by as she attempts to defile our world. I promise you that this festival of souls we will rise up together and meet her with unmatched force. She will rue the day that she underestimated us.
For those who do not already know, the only way to kill a vampire is with a stake coated in 10 pieces of silver. Elmertonians, if you can spare the silver I ask you to come prepared with as many stakes as you can to the festival. Together we will send countless Vampires on a one-way trip to the void.
Our time grows short and within this next moon we will all be tested. We will all be forced to make sacrifices. I have faith that together we will persevere and Magesta will live to see a new dawn, unchanged by the dark images of a twisted Queen. Elmerton, it is and always has been my greatest honor to fight by your side. I promise you that I will give everything that I possibly can to ensure our victory over the forces of darkness. All that I ask is that you fight beside me and we will make this Festival of Souls one to remember. Elmerton stands ready Amphelise, the next move is yours.
For Elmerton, For Magesta,
-Osirus Mesmirum-
Never did I imagine I would put the following words to paper: Morkanthos, the Incarnation of Pestilence and near-eternal adversary to the Fellowship of Gwendolar, did the right thing.
![Pestilence_by_DH666[1]](http://magestry.com/messenger/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Pestilence_by_DH6661-245x300.jpg)
The Vampire Queen, Amphelise, approached Morkanthos and asked for his allegiance. Who knows why he turned it down? I have to assume it was something like pride or arrogance or jealousy or another equally petty compulsion that caused him to rebuff her advances. Regardless of the reason, he did decline and the Queen…well, the word is, she assaulted the minor incarnation, murdered no small number of his followers, placed him in some sort of stasis, and simply left.
Now, the Fellowship is no longer the passive organization it once was. We keep track of our enemies and I can say with surety: this actually happened. And because of it, the Knights of Nocturne are gone. Perhaps they are in hiding? Perhaps, without their lord, they have disbanded? I can’t say for sure. But I do know that no one has seen nor heard from them since. They have all but disappeared.
What I do know is that Amphelise also approached Gwendolar and was similarly turned away. I don’t know if she tried to attack The Lady or not. While I’m sure Amphelise felt insulted, testing her abilities against a Major Incarnation would certainly have been foolish – so maybe she thought wiser of it.
What’s my point? Anyone reading this now remembers Morkanthos before he took the mantle of Pestilence. But how can many recall that just a century ago, Gwendolar was a goddess before she was Nature? Amphelise has been spotted all the way over in Swardia. For the sake of those who believe Rael is still alive, I hope she didn’t find what she was looking for in those mountains (the irony of a vampire searching out a sun deity is not lost on me).
Irvanshire, I believe Ampehlise is seeking out the old gods of Magesta. I don’t know what her angle is or why they are important to her. I just know that she must not be allowed to get what she wants.
– Revered Master Picco Wryn, Agent of Nature
An Open Letter of Defiance to the Kingdom of Irvanshire, and to Magesta:
Since time began, the Vampire Lords have competed against one another using their ability to cultivate bloodlines to gain control over Magesta’s nobility and other family lines of influence and power. They refer to this simply as “The Game.” Vampire Lords require an amount of time in a hibernation cycle every few hundred years. During these hibernation cycles, they are actually conscious, though their perception of time is different from ours. They change and empower themselves and, like a game of chess, plot future iterations of The Game. When they first enter their hibernation cycle, they do so understanding that their house is in a certain position in the hierarchy: First through Sixth. When they awaken, they awaken in whichever position they were in when starting their hibernation, and they begin their game anew.
The leader of the First House is given the title Vampire King or Queen, and he or she is supposed to be held in a higher esteem than even The Game, and his or her responsibility to the Vampire Lords is greater than The Game. The King or Queen is above it. In this iteration of the game, she is Queen Amphelise. Rarely do the Vampire Lords stray from the purview of The Game or from their insatiable need to continuously consume life and energies, but Amphelise has strayed. I recently learned that she spent her last hibernation cycle away from her house in a location where she had access to the Bloodwaters and to the Dream Realm. It is widely held that the Dream Realm, in ancient times more so, but even today, is responsible for the continual creation of Magesta. In fact, it is thought that our current Dream Realm is what is left of the Orb of Creation, which was the artifact responsible for creating much of the world when in the hands of the Creator, Saedius Magestis. I believe that Amphelise is using the creative power of the Dream Realm to change certain realities, if only temporarily. In this way, she has gained the allegiance of many nefarious forces, and she is gaining more every day. Additionally, she has been able to manipulate one of the most potent denizens of the Dream Realm. You know him as Mister Hi, but his rightful name is The Harbinger.
Since her Awakening, Queen Amphelise has been drawing attention to herself because of the rapidity with which she has gained power and prestige in the various Realms of Magesta. She is a threat to the very nature of the world, to the fabric of Magesta. She cannot be completely destroyed, for Vampire Lords will always eventually re-incorporate (even if it takes a millenium), but if we learn the method of defeating her, we can send her away so that we may undo the damage she has done.
-Professor Methos Wolfstone
Irvanshire Academy