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In the records it is said that the Vanclorens or Vampires as they are known elsewhere, chose to come to this world. But why come here? Why did they choose to flee their Homeworld?

These are the questions that vexed me, and kept me up all night, and yet for so many years I had no answers to these simple questions. So imagine my surprise, when one morning a man showed up on my doorstep, and asked for a bed for the night.

At first I was tempted to drive him away, since I was busy with my work. But in the end I gave him shelter.

He said his name was Simon, and after a while of speaking to him about his home in the Red Lands, he told me a strange tale. He said that he had been captured on the road traveling with a caravan, and had been brought south to Vanclar, where he was forced to serve his new masters.

I admit it was a strange tale, though not unknown heard of, there had been many such rumors of attacks in these lands, and yet he was the first to return. Or perhaps the first to speak of it.

In any case I asked him why he was telling me this, and he gave me this look. This look I will never forget. It wasn't anger as would be expected of such a man, but sadness, almost regret.

He told me that for many years his master had treated him well, allowed him to study in their vast libraries, and live a life of luxury with everything he could possibly want. All that was asked of him was a little blood from time to time, a small price to pay to live in one of the greatest cities in the world.

To my thinking it would have been a fair trade simply to peruse the collected knowledge of these intelligent beings, but as Simon was quick to tell me. It all changed, when his master was murdered by a rival family. War had broken out, and such was the love and kinship that they had for Simon, they urged him to flee.

Eventually, wandering the roads, unable to go back, Simon learned that I wished to study the Vanclorens, that I had been refused entry to their homeland, and came to find me.

He said that people needed to understand, understand that they were not the monsters the world proclaimed to be. And that my dear readers is why I shall now, divulge a little of what I have learned.

~*~

Firstly, to understand the Vanclorens you must understand why they came to our world. And to my surprise, the answer was indeed simple. They needed sanctuary. In another world they called Earth, they were being hunted down, burned at the stake, and where their own sun hated them.

They suffered away in the darkness, toiling each day to survive, and had no hope, no home to call their own. They were cut off from everything that they knew, their memories wiped away as they were reborn, and had to relearn everything. Those that survived their rebirth, building families, families that became the very foundation and bedrock of Vanclar.

Hunted to the point of extinction, despite their many gifts. They found something in the darkest underbelly of the world. Or was it more accurate to say something found them, brought them all together, and showed them a new way. As to whether it was a deity as they claimed it to be? I shall leave that to your own imagination, but suffice it to say that this being taught them how to survive, how to grow, then finally brought them here to Coroleya. A land where they could flourish beneath the light of the four suns, and never live in fear.

Although as astonishing as this may seem, I believed him. For nothing else could explain their sudden presence in our world. How after a few short years they had laid claim to large swathes of territory on the southernmost tip of Coroleya. How they had knowledge, architecture, and traditions that seemed so alien to our own.

They were not from here, and yet I could not believe any deity would have this kind of power.

In either case, in their new home they prospered, their families growing stronger day by day, and brought the first real hints of civilization to a world that had only ever seen war. Their libraries and scholars, the envy of all nations. In time, they built the four golden gates to guard their realm, and those that called themselves primes ruled their families like lords for centuries.

And there, my friends, is where my tale ends. Simon tells me that there is only one way to enter Vanclar, and that is to become one of them. I only hope I will retain some trace memories of these records as I undergo this transformation.

Farewell, and may the four suns shine down upon you.”

Understanding Vanclar by Lord Gildercrest, scholar of the arcane, and renowned adventurer.