Greetings, Vampire. It is fate which has brought you here. You about are to uncover some of the mystery surrounding our origins!

This compendium has been created to teach each new childe who comes to the Darkside.

While our full recorded history was lost long ago, here we may at least offer you the portions of what remain.

These knowings will lead you to understand how we now exist. Learn it well and teach it to others so that we may never lose our past again!

In the beginning there was Lillith and Caine, then Andilaveris. These are our creators. They are known as the Dark Trinity.

From them came the Originals. As direct descendants of our Dark Trinity these first vampire were not of bloodlines; thus they shared knowledge of all disciplines, and more, indescriminately.

Since the time of the Pharaohs small bands of us spread across Europe and North Africa, and eventually Russia and India.

These times were our first glory. No human knew the truth of us, and vampire openly ruled the human realm from sea to sea. We were worshipped as gods and feared as demons.

Over the centuries our numbers grew and the oldest of us banded together to collectively manage vampire affairs.

They were known as the Elders, and they took great care to ensure we remained in power. Attempting to solidify a stable future for us, they created and oversaw law and order for our kind.

This would quickly change thanks to the deeds of Vlad Tepes, Voivode of Wallachia. His actions caused a landslide which thrusted the truth of vampire into the spotlight.

Although the Elders orchestrated the demise of Vlad... from then on man's eyes were open. With our secrets unveiled, humans spiraled into fear. Their fear beget anger, and anger led them to violence.

While our power was unparalleled, we did have weaknesses. Eventually mankind would master the exploit them, and ccross the globe we became the hunted.

This was known as the Great Purge, and these were our darkest days. For hundreds of years humankind would tear down our numbers.

The Originals were wiped out and our full history disappeared with them. Left behind were only we, their prodigy. Worse, the Trinity had disappeared from us. There were none to teach us of our full potential.

Without their guidance — and with only remnant, useless vampire scattered across the globe— too many of us perished. The few who survived were forced into hiding. It was a sorry existence for creatures of our esteem.

However, in hiding we were able to achieve many things. We raised our lost numbers and relearned the some knowledge of our power. These evolutions were tricky, but with practice some specific traits were honed in.

From this practice came mastery over specific abilities. Eventually, as new vampire were made, this knowledge would become naturally inherited. This was the beginning of our bloodlines.

Bloodlines had redefined us. And though we were powerful and many, we could not shed our weaknesses. As such, we remained under constant threat.

Sensing our power, the Trinity returned to us again, for a time. They did their best to protect us; but the humans were persistent in their eradications.

As more and more vampire fell, it was clear that in the world of men even the dark Three's might could not save us all. Change was necessary.

We required a new place. One restricted from the hatred of humans. One that could offer us sanctuary, freedom, growth, and the hope of further evolution.

It seemed a drastic, impossible change... but the Trinity were as crafty as they were unrelenting. They would find a way.

So it was that the Trinity left us again. We were unprotected in the human realm for quite some time as they discovered and prepared a new place. When at last they had returned, only four bloodlines remained.

The Varaco, masters of the elements; the Gaial, masters of Psionics; the Nosferato, masters of Animalism; and the Muroni, masters of Blood Magic.

On a mission like no other, Caine, Lillith and Andilaveris searched us out across the globe and gathered us together.

They unvieled a new place. A strange supernatural world held in a different realm, which they called the Darkside. Then they taught all how to access it.

How it was that the Trinity discovered this realm remains unknown. Who or what lived there before us has never been explained. Still, this Darkside was an entire world ripe for the taking.

Vampirekind needed it like no other thing.

The Trinity taught us that the Darkside is alive, and it offers symbiosis. It thrives off of our rage and it naturally empowers us in return.

It provides us with Dark Essence, an unknown ephemeral force, with which we may fuel our supernatural reserves. Dark Essence makes us smarter, faster, and stronger.

And so we came then to this Darkside world in tatters. Knowledge of our history was lost. Relations between bloodlines was strained. And while vampirekind collectively felt this turmoil as a constant and gaping wound, we had found a home.

Time moved on. The absence of vampirekind at large in the human realm allowed us to once again deceive humanity. Leaving them with the belief that we were only ever a myth. That we do not exist."

Meanwhile, in our new Darkside realm, great continents spanned a world doused in perpetual night. What light came and passed was unharmful to our flesh.

Stars that are not stars, spangled a darkly vibrant sky... with a red moon hung high above. And at one edge of the world, a great magical barrier looms. One which would let us return to the human realm at our whim.

While we could finally find ourselves at peace, the scars left in our hearts by the Purge prevent it. It is as if we are now all born with a persitent rage that is as powerful as our bloodlust.

This is good for the Darkside. Yet it bears only confilct for us.

Houses feud. Covens turn on one another. Bloodlines battle. Individual bloodshed is common. Our nature has become one of perpetual war.

By now we have long inhabited these lands. We are in tatters no longer. The Darkside is ours, and we have made it a home.

To avoid another catastrophe as was with the Elders, we have created the Council to govern us. The system imbued to the Council is one of power and fairness. Each vampire chosen for it was done so by the Trinity and their decision is supported by the vampire of the world.

The Council is made up of our wisest and most self-secure vampire. To protect them from corruption and allow them to pave our collective future without retaliation or uprising, their identies are eternally shrouded in anonymity.

They receive no recompense for their doings. They are purely in service to us.

While they take no names, offer no face, and give no voice, they have managed to become a symbol of hope for the many who longed for the routine and sanctuary of their human realm homes.

The Council acts through Special Envoys and their highly trained Conciliary Guard. They have aided us by guiding our ways through edicts and devising a full governmental system by which we may follow some structure in our new world.

They have created an archive, collecting all they can on our history, while securing that our future is recorded with great detail and protected through all eternity.

They have made these records mandatory public knowledge by installing Athenaeum Archives in every city on every continent.

Meanwhile continents have publicly elected leaders. Each has chosen powerful and sage vampire to shape their way. Across the world numerous cities, towns, and villages have been erected for vampire to coexist in as much peace as they can allow themselves.

Hemoglobal, the red-blood banking empire, has caressed the populace with its security of our fortunes and sustenance. The Vampire Authorities have risen across the realm to aid the Council in policing civil matters.

The Scientific Investigations Unit has been born to aid us in times of peril, while focusing on the discovering of science in this strange, new world during times of peace.

The Unitary Commission was formed to bring our continental leaders together to better commune, as they work through differences both political and individual, as well as global.

The Necromancer, a Grand Mage from an ancient sect of vampire and lone survivor of the Purge from long ago, has arisen again to teach us the archaic arts of necroalchemy. From this we have together rediscovered the lost art of necromagic, empowering our race even further.

Our numbers grow by the night. Residential growth and institution prospers. New systems are constantly developed.

The vampire who exist here have let their voices be heard to the betterment of the lands, and there is still room for more. We have mirrored our old humanity, but made better for the unliving.

The Darkside is a burgeoning place filled with mysterious, unusual things... things never before seen. And as we explore its mass, we uncover more and more secrets which make us even more powerful than we started.

Mighty vampire rise, nightly, and the weak fall quickly.

We have found rare creatures and vegetations to sustain us. Rare materials have been discovered and are used to build all we need. It is apt to say that our escape to this place has saved us.

With so much time passed and so enforceable edicts in place, we are now allowed travel to the human realm at our whim. We call it Topside.

By the vast knoweldge of the Council, systems have been put in place to keep Darkside structure alive Topside.

Some choose to live Topside. And while holding the knowledge of edicts between two realms is complex, the travesty brought to our kind by the Great Purge has made us experts at understanding what it is that we need to survive.

We are able to prowl Topside and stay, or return to our Darkside rising.

Yet we are what we are. The near destruction of our great race has made us warriors of the night, and our angst is remains high. Passed on from Sire to Childe, our innate rage sees that we battle any and all on every front... even sometimes our own.

The Darkside is in a seperate realm (or dimension, some would say), and is only accessible by supernatural creatures. Thus it is a thingd of its own. This world is rich with deep, dark waters and impossibly large continents.

It has proven impossible to measure, as time works differently here. But many speculate the Darkside is three times larger than Topside's Earth, but it very well may be more.

While an extraordinarily difficult task was presented to them, our wisest and most adventurous vampire have succeeded in mapping each continent. So it is we have a map of the known realm.


In the North resides two continents. bookmark_flagMaiden's Casket
Maiden's Casket is led by Unitary Commissioner, Lila Ballari. It's capitol city, Blackwell, is actually made up of twin cities, North Blackwell and South Blackwell. Many consider Blackwell to the be the capitol of the realm.

On a massive southern island in Maiden's Casket, Darkwatch Isle, is the home the Great Lyceum, where the Council resides. A number of famous cities speckle the face of Maiden's Casket. bookmark_flagMidhaven
While it is the smaller of the two northern continents, Midhaven is a dangerous land. The lands are a center to various unidentifiable supernatural activities that amplify the risk of those who venture here. The safest habitable zones generally are those resting nearest water, with threat to unlife growing steadily as one moves further inland.

With Midhaven virtually uninhabitable, it has no leader. It is closely watched over by both Maiden's Casket and the western continent of Shade, who share the responsibility of ensuring no entities leave the Midhaven to inhabit another.

Even so, Midhaven is not without it's uses. It holds the Eye of Eora, where many Sire choose to take their new childe for training. It well known to be the most popular Childe Training Grounds of all the Darkside.
In the East resides a single continent. bookmark_flagBarren Soils
The Barren Soils are exactly as the name implies, and humble those who attempted to inhabit it. Filled with endless gray sands and ferocious native creatures, the Soils is a trying place. While a surprising number have been successful, it is now commonplace to say that only the most hardened vampires choose to live on this continent. A common vampire saying is "Put a Childe in the Soils and up an Elder beast boils".

It's elected leader, Unitary Commissioner, Maura Malice, has formed the Shadowfall Army... offering the Soils a much needed militia to keep peace throughout the lands.

From an ages old rivalry passed on through lineages, the East challenged the great General Eiron of the Southern Borders, in a confrontation that became known as GroundWars: Opposition. The North gave their support to the Soils, but it was not enough. While they East fought hard and true, Eiron's tactical brilliance along with aid from the West gained them the war. Eiron has banned any from the Soils from a place in the ranks of his militia. The East, unsettled by the loss, are in talks of another confrontation in the future.
In the South resides four continents. bookmark_flag Southern Borders
The Southern Borders is the only other continent to rival Maiden's Casket in size. While this is true, the terrain is mainly of stone, plains, and mountain formations.

While not entirely uninhabitable, it's distance from the main communities in the North, and the Trading routes of the West make for comparatively lower population levels.

Inevitably this is a favorable occurrence, as the Southern Borders are also where the Human realm collides with our own, at the Great Barrier. While the gateway itself is nearly impregnable, many prefer distance from what it signifies.

Herein also resides the largest and most important of our Darkside Militia. Led by Unitary Commissioner General Miles Eiron, appointed general by Caine himself, the militia was created to protect our world from intrusion via the Great Barrier. bookmark_flagGreat Dunes of Kryst
Because of it's connection to the heart of the world, It is thought that the mysteries of Kryst hold untold treasures and a vast array of knowledge regarding the nature of the Darkside... perhaps even to the vampire race.

However, Kryst's connection generates extreme weather conditions—and worse yet, yearly an intense heat stems directly from the core of the Darkside. When at its peak, the heat rakes the desert lands to molten glass, leaving behind a dangerous obsidian terrain once cooled.

So stern is it that only the Trinity have ever freely roamed its rugged regions and returned unscathed. By now the Council and Trinity both have deemed it forbidden to attempt it's exploration. bookmark_flagWirelands
The Wirelands exist in a portion of area where innate supernatural conductivity is so high that immense cloud cover often cloaks it from aerial views. Furthermore, while it doesn't appear so from random aerial views, when searched for the continent becomes divided from every other by such vast ocean that to find it by water is extremely trying.

Some myths say the Wirelands move themselves from place to place to avoid being settled by vampire kind.Because it is so hard to locate, it's been impossble for anyone to prove one way or another its exact location. bookmark_flagElder Islands
The Elder Islands are in the southern-most end of the Darkside and set themselves apart from all other continents.

It is said that the Darkside grew one island for the Trinity to share, but it was shattered into three by the triumvirate themselves, during their first and largest feud. They now encircle one another in solitude, far from the reaches of other Darksiders.

On Primus Atoll resides Caine, in his massive Ruinstoke Castle. On Secondus Atoll resides Lillith, in her Dark Eden. On Tertius Atoll resides Andilaveris, in his Ashlands Temple.
In the West holds two continents. bookmark_flagShade
Larger than Bane by three times, Shade is the most inhabited continent in the West. While significantly smaller than Maiden's Casket, it rivals it's Northern counterpart in population due to it's dense lands and warm climate. Shade is the capitol of Import/Export, and is responsible for 70% of the Darkside's trades.

Lead by Unitary Commissioner, the Shaman King, Shade is perhaps the wealthiest continent in the realm. It's proximity to Midhaven offers its plethora of jungles and highlands extra supernatural properties. As such, much of the continent is divided between religious devotees and import/export workers. bookmark_flagBane
Bane fares well in that the people of Shade offer much of their wealth to its people. A mostly fortified land, only the Southern shores are not protected by massive cliffs. Because of the seclusion it offers, many vampire travel to it's lands as a refuge from the bustling climate of Maiden's Casket. It is led by Unitary Commissioner, Erebus Horne, who is well known for his radical and outlandish antics.