We have the City of the living dead, specifically Vampires. They have two Leigh Lines water and death. And good relations with the Mist Village.
Yeah. I imagine they also have a supply of blood, meaning either human (or some other living race) under their rule in some form. Slaves perhaps, or vassal factions that pay their taxes in blood. Its also possible they live on animal blood.
True, there as also some blood drinking on earth. Good to get some distant flavors for the vamps. Spoiler: Blood drinking But then again humans are probably seen as animals anyway, so an industrialized blood plantation is probably a thing. There might even be a forced breeding program to get the best flavors. Like making a better apple or grapes for wine. It will be interesting to see how brutal he will make it, or woose out and have "vassal factions that pay their taxes in blood". Personally I would think the Vamps would kill the non-vamps and drink the blood fresh. Often there are lore that vamps can't have non-fresh blood (can kill them), and are only sipping but never satiating if they don't kill the person / drink them dry.
True, but humans and most other races can't be bred rapidly enough for farming if you kill one every time you feed. While fantasy makes a big deal out of human fertility, reality is that most girls cannot carry a child to term before reaching 12-14 years of age. That's simply too much time between generations for a farm environment. Its also an incredibly vile way to go about getting blood. Forcing nearby factions to pay blood tribute in addition to handing over criminals and captives for draining is a much more effective way of getting blood than raising tens of thousands of slaves to sustain a population of a few hundred vampires. Not to mention policing said slaves as they gather food, build shelters and so on would be extremely time consuming. An alternative way could be to make the draining process addictive. A vampire's slaves might not want to leave.
That is dependent upon how often a Vamp needs to feed. I also wonder how Richter's how increased growth rate (Mist Village has various bonuses it) for animals, would work on people that are raised and viewed as animals by the ruling race of the place of power. They might be able to feed on thralls without killing them.
I don't think the vampires perception of other races will affect how the universe sees those races. That said the vampires could have their own increased growth rate except for thralls instead of animals. For that matter, the villagers are affected by the bonuses of the pop. Its been stated that many of the village women are pregnant, which presumably includes the elven and dwarven settlers. Might even be one or two mixed bloods around soon, though it seems those are pretty rare. Might be infertile or shorter lived than the parent races.
Thinking about the shadow trench, would it be like Jim Butchers under under in the Harry Dresden series? I could see it being a real physical world with a mirror image world for the shadow realm.
Haven't read that one. Is it similar to the other side in stranger things? Would the vampires be using the shadow realm to get around rapidly and get into places they are normally barred from? Talk about a monster under the bed scenario.
I think it’s more likely to be a real place but with heavy influences of shadow and dark and such rather than totally in the shadow realm. Too much dangerous stuff there for them to make a good go of it.
I agree it will be a real place. Although I’m thinking it will also have a mirror image that being the shadow realm. Humans and such living on one side while shadow creatures live on the other. Only some will have the ability to cross from one side to the other like the Vampires and Ricther with his ring.
I am going to go out on a limb here... There is a death ley line, and a water lay line. But shadow has nothing to do with death, though water does have something to do with a trench. That it will be an underground cavern of aquifers or topside but at the bottom of a cliff or valley that is always in shadow, with a water feature (lake and/or river) running through it. Probably on the under/side of one of the mountains...the North Ones.
Well, I just find it hard to imagine humans and other races successfully living in a shadow realm. Everything from shades to shadow bats would prey on humans. Then throw in the vampires and other creatures that go bump in the night. In my mind the vampires would need to do more for their blood bags then a farmer does for his sheep or chickens. Splitting the same city into two mirror images, one for the humans, and one for the shadow world just makes sense to me. It would allow the vampires to cross from one side to the other at anytime with no penalty of not popping out in the shade. When Ricther slipped into the shadow realm he wasn’t in the same reality with everyone else. He had to slip back into the land through a shadow or the light would have an adverse reaction to him from being in the shadow realm. I don’t think all those shadow realm creatures have the ability to travel back and forth from one place to the other. I agree that the shadow trench is all the time in the shadows. That doesn’t mean that all those creatures can pass from one realm to the other at will. If they could no one in the Land would be safe anywhere at night.
I just assume that larger and larger shadow creatures would attack those not of their realm. And I also assume that vampires aren’t of that realm. Plus they can’t immediately go to the shadow side or they’d have evaded the lich and not gotten their oldest ones killed off.
I think their “older ones” were trying to protect their PoP when they were killed. As old and powerful as the Lich was I would think he could see into the shadow realm and even cross into it when he wanted. The lich probably even commanded some creatures from the shadow realm. If Singh had the ability to see someone in the future looking back through memories that were connected to him the shadow realm shouldn’t be a problem.
I don't think Richter was discovered by the past lich, because Richter wasn't in the past he was only seeing it. I think that the very act of observing the Lich in the memory with the aid of mind magic was enough to alert him and allow him to enter the memory from a remote location. He was a Master of Mindmagic after all, the eldritch version. If Richter was discovered by the past lich he would have had centuries to prepare for the rise of a new mist lord in the distant future.
Okay So Does that diminish his abilities and power? And if Ricther wasn’t discovered looking into the memory why would the Lich have placed the death knight at the portal? He was placed their because of that wasn’t he?
No it arguably makes the lich more powerful as he knows when someone sees him even if its in a memory. It also solves the problem with him not preparing for centuries, but springing into action in the immidiate aftermath of the memory encounter. +
So the HM wasn’t very sure of anything. Not really knowing how he did it at all. Richter said he could feel his magic coming toward him and he knew someone was watching him. To me that is a sign of some major power. He also placed the death knight there to protect the portal. The death of the Death Knight was a notification that Ricther was there. Do you think Singh was working or for Rocksasha? (Sorry for the poor spelling of the name) If so do you think they were working with the same group that is behind the alliance? Both groups goals seem to align. They want to spoil or corrupt the land and all in it. They are both looking to reawaken and use old locations of power.
Protecting the portal is just being prudent. Since it only goes from that position to Singh and not the other way around, it makes sense to have someone there so you don't get blindsided. Yes I think he was working for rakshasa (honestly not sure myself and too lazy to search rn). I know it's been posited before that it was more of a partnership or equal parties kind of deal, but I don't buy it. Book 7 chapter 104 “No. No!” the lich cried up to the cruel face. “Do not abandon me, my master!” The response was not what Singh had wanted. I get that Singh is powerful but at no point do I think an exile would be fooled by someone like Singh, or allow them to even think for a second that they were "partners". I don't think Singh was part of the basilisk alliance, nor collaborating with them, but I would not be at all surprised to find out it was another exile behind it. Maybe if it was a small cabal style group of Exiles, like the ones that the dark queen ended up locking up, and this was just part of rakshasa's efforts I could see it. I am curious as to how the Exiles from both sides compare, and which side Rakshasa is from. If the theory about the statues powering the god ward pans out it'd be interesting to learn how the Exiles collaborated the monumental (heh) effort
