Whet-Fang

[Catlemur]

The only Black Marsh vampire clan.

[Deeza]

Ah, yes. We discussed this a long time ago, I just need to find the thread...

I reckon we're now at a stage in this mod's evolution where we can discuss this. What are they like? How are they going to be involved?

So far, we have the following ideas:

1. We know from solid lore that the badass vampires in Cyrodiil consider the Whet-Fang the only other clan in the world that's a threat to them, since they show "signs of enlightenment." We also know they keep their victims alive for months in caves and slowly drain their blood.

2. This suggests: (a) they can pass themselves off as the living like the Cyrodiil ones can, and (b) their regular vampire powers have been souped up by something of equivalent power to a Daedra Lord.

3. This naturally led to the idea that the Whet-Fang were produced by the experiments of the Hist. Perhaps they were seeking to acquire the unusual abilities of the disease in order to graft them onto their earlier projects. But the Vampires' allegiance to their own kind was too strong, and the Whet-Fang broke away from the Hist to pursue their own agenda.

4. Here's the tentative lore summary on them I wrote a year ago for the Black Marsh Bestiary:

As far as we know, this is the single bloodline of vampires present in Black Marsh. They are best known for keeping their victims alive in a catatonic state and draining them continuously, which is pretty nasty even by the standards of the other clans. They are one of the very few clans in the world that threaten the power and prestige of the Cyrodiilic vampires, presumably because they are almost as good at getting into positions of power and manipulating world events, which is the only way they could possibly take that lot on. However, they don't have the Cyrodiil bunch's ability to pass unnoticed amongst normal humans, and so will have to act indirectly, through agents or blackmail. However, they are known to be unusually skilled in the arcane arts. Possibly they can use illusion to assume the appearances of people they keep in a coma, and thus steal their identities. They will almost certainly have agents in many factions in Black Marsh, and will be seeking not only to control the Province but to expand their influence into Cyrodiil. Possibly the Player could join them as a faction, but this has not been discussed. Infected players could be cured by the most skilled shaman of Black Marsh in a secret ritual, which is very difficult to complete and involves the player voyaging inside themselves to defeat the monster within. Possibly this strain of vampires was created when the Hist attempted to modify the infected blood of Argonians struck down by porphyric haemophilia, in order to convert the vampires into a new breed of Argonians to serve and protect the Hist. However, their bloodlust was too strong, and the Hist regard creating this breed of vampire as one of their greatest mistakes. Another possible origin story mentioned is that some of the Black Marsh humans voluntarily became vampires to escape the Khenaten Flu.

[Catlemur]

I like the idea of vampire wars.Like a massive battle between Cyrodiilic vampires and Whet Fang memebers.

[Deeza]

Hmm. The idea has some promise. But open warfare isn't their style. Something more subtle, though... It could be that the vampires of Cyrodiil are trying to infiltrate Black Marsh, and vice versa. If the player is a Cyrodiilic vampire, they would be able to help their own bloodline, with a few new quests for the Whet-Fang.

Nothing major though. Maybe 4 or 5 quests at an absolute max, like for each of the bloodlines in Morrowind. One of them for both factions would be to kill a certain number of members of the opposing faction.

Talking of vampires, originally the Governor of Gideon was going to be a centuries-old bloodsucker. I hinted in my "Notable Governors of Black Marsh" that this person was none other than Gideon Praxatel himself, the very first Imperial Governor over a thousand years ago who the city of Gideon was named after. I was thinking he could be a Cyrodiilic who came over with the invasion, perhaps the progenitor of the Whet-Fang bloodline?

[jucklesjenk]

Originally posted by Deeza
Hmm. The idea has some promise. But open warfare isn't their style. Something more subtle, though... It could be that the vampires of Cyrodiil are trying to infiltrate Black Marsh, and vice versa. If the player is a Cyrodiilic vampire, they would be able to help their own bloodline, with a few new quests for the Whet-Fang.

Nice one. I mentioned something like that in this post, but with vampire hunters. In fact, why don't the cyrodiil vamps be in addition to the hunters?

Originally pos
ted by Deeza
Talking of vampires, originally the Governor of Gideon was going to be a centuries-old bloodsucker. I hinted in my "Notable Governors of Black Marsh" that this person was none other than Gideon Praxatel himself, the very first Imperial Governor over a thousand years ago who the city of Gideon was named after. I was thinking he could be a Cyrodiilic who came over with the invasion, perhaps the progenitor of the Whet-Fang bloodline?

In the words of Marty McFly: That's heavy!

That sounds pretty deep, and interesting. Personally, I'm a big fan of vamps and werewolves, and was very disappointed that OB lacked the vampire clan system. I'm liking this, it sounds pretty damn cool.

Also, perhaps (although this would probably turn it into a more major questline, so it probably won't be used) there could have been some rebels that split away from the Whet-Fang, because they broke away from the Hist, so the rebel clan were more of "loyalists" to the Hist, where the Whet-Fang were more "vampirist". It would make lore more interesting and open up more quest and literature ideas. Also, where the Whet-Fang leader would be referred to as a matriarch/patriarch, the leader of the loyalists would be a Shaman Ancient or something.

[Deeza]

So we could have Cyrodiil, Whet-Fang and Hist vampires fighting a three-way turf war... sounds promising.

[Ibsen's Ghost]

Epic-ish but it could be contained...and this gives us another option for what evil lurks in Gideon's sewers.

Personally, as I may have mentioned before, I don't like vampires. I find the endless TV and film shows really tedious (barring the likes of 'Let the Right One In'). Nevertheless, I can certainly appreciate the appeal and will support it. I just won't offer much of my own input in this area...nevertheless, I like the turf-war idea and the lore suggestions behind it.

[Catlemur]

Many quests can be made such as free the alive victims e.t.c.I do not like vampires very much so I want them all dead at the end of the main quest :evil:

[Ibsen's Ghost]

:yes: ...well, double-dead, anyway.

[DoZeNt]

Originally posted by Deeza
So we could have Cyrodiil, Whet-Fang and Hist vampires fighting a three-way turf war... sounds promising.

Now thats a Blackmarsh Gh€tto...