Re: Is Spell Trading the hallmark of a vampire squid?

From: Peter Metcalfe <metcalph_at_hqkjpq31DzDWlj_sWWDaOmtIbBqUyl00muJJ-QKIr_HQmsH1sS7cOBsnGBa62WSDaDZ>
Date: Sat, 17 Dec 2011 20:41:50 +1300


On 12/17/2011 7:44 PM, Jeff wrote:
>> Nontraya - associated with Delecti and possibly Brangbane. More than
>> just vampires as Brangbane is more like a ghoul. Received a major boost
>> when Delecti joined up.

> Brangbane could easily be called a "vampire" except that Delecti is usually called that.

I call him a ghoul because he eats corpses and is called the King of Ghouls by Sartarites. The distinction I see is that vampires drink hot blood while ghouls eat cold flesh. Now there is scope for ambiguity but in the case of the Dancers of Darkness, who undoubtedly swallow chunks of flesh while they rip people's throats out to drink their blood, are still vampires.

Delecti is ambiguous only because the sources unwittingly present two different pictures of him. In Dragon Pass and King of Sartar he appears as an undead Dr Frankenstein without the slightest interest in drinking blood (I wouldn't even describe him as a ghoul in such a case) while in Cults of Terror, he's flatly (and unconvincingly) declared to be a vampire.

Now there's damned little to describe what Delecti is like now (save for Dragon Pass stating that he inhabits corpses, via brain transplants I suppose, until they wear out) and there is a huge disconnect between his prior life as Chief Remaker and Dancers of Darkness's conception of him as the incarnation of Nontraya. I don't anticipate us getting a clearer picture of Delecti anytime soon and for him to be worshipped by different kinds of undead with different ideas of what he is like (ie Zombie King, Prince of Vampires etc) works fine for me.

--Peter Metcalfe            

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