Sylvania

Hurriedly married to the dark stranger Vlad by her father, ‘Mad Otto’, in order to avoid the ascent of her depraved Uncle Leopold, Isabella soon became a von Carstein far more than in name alone. Already narcissistic, prideful, and immoral in the extreme, the heir to Sylvania’s throne was, in so many ways, an ideal candidate for the Blood Kiss. To any other suitor, they would have been abhorrent, deal-breaking qualities, but not so Vlad von Carstein. For Isabella, the marriage was at first purely one of convenience, but as the months passed her natural resistance to his charms caused Vlad to fall deeply in love with his pale bride and she for him. Although he tried to resist her requests to taste the Blood Kiss, to be made Unliving, the terrible, wasting disease that threatened to kill his coldly-beautiful new wife forced his hand. Realising that he could not continue without her, Vlad gave the dying Isabella what she desired and inducted her into the Midnight Aristocracy’s nefarious ranks. Ever since then, the pair have been together – Isabella standing proudly by Vlad’s side, nourishing his lust for power and dominion over the Empire and beyond. On the field of battle, when fighting alongside her husband, she is strengthened by his presence and he by hers. Oft-times, Isabella von Carstein carries the Blood Chalice of Bathori before her, a goblet of gold that belonged to her bloodthirsty ancestor, brimming with fresh blood at all times. She sups it constantly, even in the cut and thrust of the fray – the blood healing her wounds almost instantly and confounding her opponents just long enough for the killing blow to be struck!

The first and greatest of the Vampire Counts was Vlad von Carstein. Some say before his appearance in Sylvania over 700 years ago, he was in the Lahmian court at the time of Neferata’s ascendancy to immortality. Others believe him to be a dispossessed Empire noble who stumbled into Undeath but refused the damnation fate had placed upon him. Instead of withering, he set in motion events that would see the Vampire Counts - and the von Carstein name - challenge the greatest nation of men in the world. Vlad was not the first Vampire encountered by the Empire, but before his rise to power these Undead creatures had been solitary predators. A few had perhaps amassed small forces and carved out far-flung domains, but it was Vlad’s usurpation of Sylvania and legitimate gaining of the title of Count that marked a new era of bloodshed. When he revealed his true intentions to the rest of the Empire, two hundred years after his arrival in that cursed region, he waged war in order to become Emperor - for he truly believed he had a legitimate claim to the throne. It has since become a burning desire of all his bloodline, who feel - righteously or not - that they should become Emperor, for is it not right that the farmer herds the cattle? Vlad has been thwarted in his quest on a few occasions, but has always managed to find a way back to Unlife. Now he has risen yet again – and his desire to conquer the mortal fools is as strong as ever!