The Calabim

The Marquesa gazed at a sea of human cityfolk from her black marble balcony. "Down with the blood drinkers!", they shouted, as they waved about pitchforks and torches. The time had finally come - the time for humanity to be free from the vampires! Prospero would fall first, and the Family would be killed for their evil. Then, the old order would be restored, and the vampires banished back to the darkness! A smile crept over her pale face.
A black cloud obscured the sun and a shadow fell across the crowd. Her consort put his manicured hand on hers, and smiled too. As the shadow marched over the crowd, the screaming began.
The following morning, the Marquesa returned to the balcony to admire her handiwork. Where the crowd had been the thickest, a colossal pillar had been summoned that had pulled in the protesters and held them tight as she summoned the binding. This binding was magical razorwire - enchanted to tighten when struggled against. Blood dripped from the groaning bodies of the rioters: as they writhed against the wire, their pain would only intensify. Not one to be wasteful, she had ordered great urns to be placed at the bottom of the 300-foot tall pillar, so the blood could be distributed to the nobility.
Speaking to a servant, she murmured. "I actually quite like it here. The Flower of Prospero. That's what I'll call it. Yes, that should keep them in good order."
She left the balcony and hurried; she had a ball to prepare for.
The Calabim, simply meaning "Firstborn", is a shadowy religion which has taken various forms in its ten-thousand year history. In its most basic form, it refers to any follower of Sanguine, the god of vampirism, undeath, and immortality. The Calabim seek to elevate themselves through profane rituals of vampirism at the expense of underlings and non-believers; only the strong have the right to survive. As a result, all of the ruling caste of the Calabim are vampires.
Like a cancer, the Calabim have been excised many times from the history of the world, always retreating to remote lands to replenish their strength before launching new attacks. There have been many Calabim empires to rise and fall, but in its most recent iteration, the Calabim lands expanded to swallow the nations of Tyrallia, Yenir, Emrath, and briefly, almost all of Lornham, Rhudaria, Barovia, and some of the Holmgardian Empire, becoming the largest empire in existence during the Fourth Cycle. Its power was diminished however, following defeats at the battle of Deuromar, Gilgraad, and Anscath, ultimately retreating to its ancient borders within the former nations of Tyrallia and Yenir following the final death of Sanguine.
The leadership of the Calabim is decentralized and is composed of a council of several extremely powerful beings. For example, Queen Floria is the most powerful vampire in existence, having nearly god-like powers over her domain in Tyrallia. Warmaster Hythonia led spectral warriors through the Ethereal Plane, reaping souls in the name of Sanguine, while the Hierarch was a master infiltrator and religious figure who was responsible for destroying Emrath and nearly causing the collapse of the Holmgardian Empire during the War of the Broken Crypt. Domains conquered by the Calabim are generally left to their own affairs; Calabim preference is for the upper class to willingly convert to vampirism and rule their own subjects/chattel autonomously with only loose oversight. Strahd, for example, held only the loosest of affiliations with the Calabim and essentially ruled Barovia as an independent country.
Upper class Calabim live in unimaginable luxury, residing in sprawling estates, gothic manor houses, and fell towers. With all their needs attended to by vampire spawn underlings (who in turn dominate legions of terrified human peons and undead thralls), they pursue deadly intrigue, scheme for power, create fine artwork and architecture, and generally live paradaisical lives. Calabim society is kept together by hope: the hope that with unquestioning service, one's station can be elevated. In a sense, it is meritocracy.
With their mastery over necromancy and sangromancy, undead are commonplace in the Calabim and work as servants, soldiers, and labourers. However, it is every Calabim's worst nightmare to be killed and raised as an undead - a joyless and potentially eternal fate bereft of pleasure and feeling without the opportunity of attaining sacred vampirism.

A place for every human, and every human in its place.

Type

Geopolitical, Empire

Alternative Names

The Calabim

Demonym

Tyrallian