A Field Guide to Vampires Read Free Page B

Structure:
    -Medieval-style fealty to Leander Montmartre

11.
The
Hel-Blar
    Hel-Blar
were at one time considered to be rare. They were mostly human victims who were infected and turned into vampires without knowledge of the process and were driven mad by bloodlust and insufficient feeding. Some retain speech and reason but many are rendered insane beyond cognitive functions.
    Ew. Seriously. These guys are gross.
    Now dangerously common, especially in small European towns and Violet Hill, due to Montmartre’s attempt to create his own army.
Hel-Blar
numbers more than tripled as he perfected his creation of the Host.
    Hel-Blar
means "blue death" in ancient Viking dialect.
    Habitat:
    -Nesting tendencies in abandoned houses and thick forests
    Distinguishing Characteristics:
    -Sharpened, elongated teeth; every tooth is a fang. Unretractable.
    -Blue-tinted skin
    -Smell like rotting mushrooms and swampy water
    Food:
    -Blood. From any source.
    Strengths:
    -Strong fighters
    -Feral
    Weaknesses:
    -Usual vampire weaknesses (see section 8)
    -Can lose themselves in battle frenzy, as did the Viking Beserkers.
    Reproduction:
    -The
Hel-Blar
bite is known as a "kiss" and, unlike a regular vampire bite, can turn the victim without the need for blood exchange. Saliva in an open wound is sometimes enough.
    -Even other vampires fear this bite because of the contagious effect on other vampires.
    -Always made, never born, even in ancient families.
    Political Structure:
    -None, beyond nesting. Work in small clans or tribes.

12.
The Hounds
    The Hounds are notoriously secretive and information is difficult to gather and decipher. They know themselves as the Cwn Mamau, “The Hounds of the Mother.”
    Habitat:
    -Prefer caves, the more remote the better. Walls are painted with scenes from their ancestral myths. Details unknown.
    Distinguishing Characteristics:
    -Sharpened, elongated teeth; double set of retractable fangs
    -Very misunderstood; little is known about them
    -Superstitious
    -Wild demeanor and appearance is common.
    -Pale skin
    -Wear bone beads and amulets
    -Dogs taken into their tribes as totem-type animal companions
    Food:
    -Blood, both human and animal
    Strengths:
    -Strong fighters
    -Fiercely independent
    -Extremely fast and strong
    -Well-developed sense of smell and sight
    -Quick healers
    -Good trackers and hunters
    -Magical knowledge about which we have little information
    Weaknesses:
    -Usual vampire weaknesses (see section 8)
    Reproduction:
    -Many of the modern Hounds were turned by a vampire bite and abandoned to become one of Montmartre’s Host. Instead of being reclaimed by Montmartre or another unrelated sire, they are rescued by other Hounds and adopted into the tribe in elaborate initiation rituals.
    Political Structure and Miscellaneous Customs:
    -By all accounts the Hounds do not swear an oath to a particular royal bloodline. They prefer to follow a shamanka (sometimes a shaman) who rules through the use of ritual magic and superstition. They can be recognized by the bone bead necklaces they wear carved into the shape of their particular animal totem. Teeth pulled from previous shamanka totems are also worn.
    My dad wears necklaces like that too.
    -Braiding of the hair is an initiatory practice. Seven braids is said to be the number of luck for the shamanka, five for their apprentice, four for the sire of a tribe, three for the ordinary warrior. Newly turned Hounds wear no braids until their first kill; afterward a single braid.
    -The Hounds are among some of the oldest vampires known. They are fierce and strong and very solitary. They have managed to avoid entanglement in human history and conflict, preferring life in the deep woods or caves.
    Current Shamanka:
    Kala: (white hair in braids and dreadlocks, blue eyes, painted ritual deer cloak)
    Little is known. She is at least three hundred years old, rumored by some to be as old as two thousand. She spent several hundred years living alone in the mountains until she took the