The Vampire Intelligence

This is an essay on the vampire intelligence as researched by Jennifer Kopf, Apostate agent, Tucson, AZ cabal.

Note: Agent Kopf, as well as the rest of her Cabal, were found murdered in San Roque safehouse #3 shortly after this essay was submitted to Nicole for the Black Library.--Dr. Maggie Urquidez, Templar, Paradigm City Cabal

Overview
Many Cabals of the Darklight Society have had violent run ins with creatures that, for us, are synonymous: Vampire, vytokos, blood suckers, rot leeches. For many decades the Darklight Society have puzzled over these, likely the greatest threat the Dread produces. Why are there such similar creatures with such similar abilities but whom, not withstanding, exhibit all of the same mannerisms and most characteristics?

I dedicate my time with the Darklight Society to find the answer. Utilizing resources around the world including our own Black Library, the extensive shelves of The Gaslight Society, and simple interrogation of captured creatures my team--consisting of Apostate agents Miriam Schrieffer our Psychic Sensitive, Niel Pierce Ceremonial magician, and Ralph De-Lucas--and myself have uncovered irrefutable evidence that all of these creatures stem from one gross, vile thing: the Vampire Intelligence.

The Intelligence is an extra-planar entity of insurmountable power. Much of the research my cabal has conducted have found corroboration among books and tomes that describe it as little more than a colossal blackness in the shape of a bat. Sometimes the blackness is just a void, sometimes the body shape is littered with masses of stars and galaxies, and sometimes it is presented as having eyes or the shape of eyes.

The Intelligence seems to have so much in common with the Elder Gods that it should be by rights counted among them, but the problem of so doing is two-fold. In the first place, the Vampire Intelligence seems to exist entirely independent of them; meaning, it has no interest whatsoever of leaving the comforts of its native plane to invade ours. Secondment, many of the documents studied suggest that the Intelligence may not be a single organism but a collective, or species, or horrid things. There's simply just no way of knowing. So for the purposes of this report we will move forward on the assumption that the Vampire Intelligence is a single entity.

The Intelligence on Materia
The primary goal of the Vampire Intelligence; indeed, it's seemingly exclusive goal, is to enter our world for entertainment and pleasure without the need to penetrate the barriers between Materia and whatever native plane the Intelligence hails from. This creates another marked difference between the Vampire Intelligence and the Elder Gods, with the exception of the Petaled Lady(q.v), in that the Vampire Intelligence, much like a parasite, seeks a human host with which to enter into a symbiotic relationship.

Once such a host is found and all the preliminaries attended to, the Vampire Intelligence detaches a small amount of its own essence and transfers that essence to the host. Once bonded to the human host, the Intelligence and the host become a brand new horror: The Master Vampire.

The Master Vampire
The process by which a living and breathing human being becomes a Master Vampire is outlined and discussed in the Book of Eibon, The plak Manuscripts, and the Ordial Tome. Each of these presents the ritual in the same way, thus providing corroboration of the process.

It begins with a human being whom must, by nature, be already cruel and malevolent; otherwise, how could a decent man choose to take this path? The Vampire Ritual is very concise, so there can be no tricking the ritualist into performing the Bond. The human chooses to do so willingly, trading his humanity for power.

The ritualist performs a long and complex ritual that requires much blood-letting. As the ritualist walks widdershins around his offering circle he is requires to self-flagellate. Once the required number of rotations in taken, the ritual draws in the attention of The Vampire Intelligence. The ritualist then must offer three different blood sacrifices: a male, a female, and a child no older than ten years.

Once these sacrifices are made the ritualist then appeals to the Intelligence for power. The ritualist and Intelligence draw up a pact, and when both find the terms of that pact (whatever they may be) amenable then the Intelligence fuels the ritualist with a very small amount of its own essence, creating a monster even more vile than the mortal man that stood there but a second before. The Master Vampire, sustained by blood, bolstered by black Magick, immortal.

The Master Vampire is imbued with a corolla of supernatural abilities. Not every Master Vampire exhibits the same supernatural abilities but as a foundation the powers are generally the ability to move faster than the eye can follow, superhuman strength, and invincibility to most known methods of attack and harm. Master Vampires may also gain additional supernatural powers, including:


 * 1) The ability to transform into a rat, bat, cat, wolf, sentient mist, or all of these;


 * 1) The ability to scale walls and ceilings like a spider


 * 1) use of powerful hypnotic gazes and commands which must be obeyed;


 * 1) The ability to walk through walls or other barriers

These are just a small sampling of the bestowed powers. In some cases, the human being performing the ritual is also a practitioner of dark arts, which can double or even triple the monster's power. However, the Intelligence always hedges its bets to ensure the newly created Master Vampire can't wriggle out of the pact, for by bestowing supernatural boons it also imposes supernatural weaknesses, including but not limited to:
 * 1) The power to hover, levitate, and fly.
 * 1) Being immediately vaporized when exposed to direct sunlight;
 * 2) Inability to act OR losing its powers entirely when confronted by sincere religious faith;
 * 3) The inability to cast a shadow, image, or reflection;
 * 4) A loss of some or all powers if the Vampire doesn't sleep buried in native soil;
 * 5) The complete inability to enter a building, structure, or location without being explicitly invited in by the owner.

There has been no instance that we have uncovered where the pact between the Master Vampire and the Vampire Intelligence does not come with some manner of weakness. Indeed, oftentimes the weaknesses instilled in the Master Vampire are greater in number than the powers bestowed. We have read of this occurring when the human host is already a viable magician, it very well could be that the Vampire Intelligence instills the superior number of weaknesses as insurance that the host can violate the terms of the pact OR turn on the Vampire Intelligence itself. This, naturally, proposes the theory that there may be rites and rituals known by black Magick which would allowed the host to sunder the relationship without surrendering the boons offered by the Intelligence. Those boons, most assuredly, can be numerous.

But by far, the most horrid and baneful supernatural boon that the Master Vampire possesses is to create servants of its own, usually by forcing the victim to imbibe the Master's blood.

The Vampire Servant
Unlike the formidable Master Vampire, the vampire servant is a creature much easier to combat. The process of imbibing the Master's blood wipes out the inherent personality of the victim as the essence of the Vampire Intelligence enters the body and feasts upon the life force of the unfortunate. The servant then becomes little more than a puppet or mannequin, which spends its time fawning over and obeying the Master and thirsting for blood.

In many ways, the creation of the vampire servant is a shock to the Master, an opportunity for the Intelligence to hurt and mock the Master. Our research has found many fable stories of Master Vampires creating Servants out of friends and loved ones over some fatalistic romantic ideal of being together forever, or faux-noble causes such as saving the victim from a painful and/or incurable illness. It doesn't take long at all for the Master, whom emerged from Bonding with the Intelligence with his personality intact, to discover that the creation he has made is nothing but an empty shell, a host vessel for the Intelligence. In some cases the Intelligence will take an additional step and destroy the servant's own intellect, leaving the Master with nothing but a nearly-uncontrollable animal that only thirsts.

Servant vampires don't have any supernatural abilities beyond a noticeable increase in strength and, in most, being extremely difficult to destroy. Those servants whom do retain the ability to think both coherently and for themselves can move about by day( if the Master cannot), and so often guard the Master while he sleeps, tends the house and grounds, or pesters investigators. Vampire servants can be difficult to identify but once recognized for what they are are not nearly as formidable as the Master.

The Vampire Servant is not just limited to human beings in scope. Servants can be created from animals as well; usually large and exceptionally ferocious dogs but there are records of exotic animals such as the big cats, large hogs, and birds of prey. My own cabal once located a servant in a twelve foot long alligator.

Goals
It's impossible to predict and list the goals of a Master Vampire. Often the main root of the desire to become a Master Vampire is for power, recognition, status, or all three. Masters Vampires seeking to flatter their own egos and be worshiped as gods in their own rite often form cults, but these cults can be as small as two people; the Master and its servant. But some Master Vampires cultivate huge cults, which also provide them a sizable herd to feed on without having to draw any attention to themselves.

Other individuals become Master Vampires for romantic idealism. These fragile and sad individuals perform the ritual because they have spent a lifetime of being bullied, neglected, or even just passing through life completely ignored. These Master Vampires can actually be some of the most loquacious of enemies, even to the point of being likeable. They have no interest in spreading misery and causing harm, and only want to have limitless time to pursue hobbies, take in the arts, and enjoy a comfortable social life. They may still be a complete nobody, but they are a nobody with tremendous power, which they seem content to keep as their little secret.

The goals of the Vampire Intelligence itself are very easy to determine. It seeks to enjoy itself and find sustenance by spreading terror, fear, sorrow, and misery. The more death it can cause, the more enjoyment it receives. Mayhem makes it laugh, and it also seems to get very excited at the prospect of having it's little cult leader puppet be unmasked for the Master Vampire it is and then watching the swords get crossed between the good guys and the bad guys. If it gets checkmated and loses its King cest a vie. There's always the next person seeking to become the Master Vampire.

In Conclusion
The Vampire Intelligence relishes misery. However, humanity may be gaining the upper hand on battling the Intelligence, if we haven't gained it already, with the advent of technology, new sciences, and some brilliant maneuvering by our oown Illuminati agents. The onset ot twenty-first century technology and break-throughs in medical sciences creates a slowly closing window for the Intelligence as it no loonger has such a firm grip on  the fear and superstitions of eras past to keep it fed. Our Illuminati agents, weaving together film and book that transform the vampire into a tragic and handsome anti-hero to be adored leaves the Intelligence bereft of the terror that the idea of vampires once inspired. This battle, my fellow agents, may be one that we are on the cusp of winning.

With further research we hope to establish a direct link between not only the Master Vampire and the Vampire Intelligence, but also how or if the Intelligence is responsible for or affiliated with the Vytokos, Ghoul, Jiang-Xi, and other vampire-like creatures.