Re-Imagining : Darkstalkers Our world is one of many. In the mortal realm all beings that live possess an individual soul but in the demon realm of Makai those creatures born of that primal Devil World share the same soul, divided by flesh but united in spirit. Makai is it’s people and they are Makai as much as the continents Matairku, Daimayou and Daimakai and uncrossable seas of that distant dimension. But just because something is joined beneath the surface does not mean there cannot be sedition. Nine noble houses rose to prominence in Makai: House Aensland, Hose Dohma, House Basinal, House Lepe, House Hartland, House Kreutz, House Drey, House Gilman and Hosue Funechika. The Demon Wars have been raging since any now alive can recall. Belial Aensland usually called Dark Lord was one of many bickering rulers such as Ozom The Deceiver, Kreutz the Beas, and Jedah The Hand in the power plays of Makai although he subscribed to the nearly forgotten belief in his time that Makai and it’s demons were connected and interdependent so no one demon could ever rule the Devil World completely. Unlike the many other beings vying for control Belial fought to defuse the feuds of generations rather than gain power himself. Such was the reason he fought to a stand still another demon would-be king of house Lepe and following his belief in preserving the unity of Makai he exiled his foe to another dimension instead of destroying him. To a parallel world where the demon’s powers would be great, but not so great as on his native soil. Our world. The defeated demon took refuge from the crippling rays of the mortal sun in a ruined estate and using his knack for controlling minds eventually he gathered a following of the human natives of a land he eventually learned was called Romania. He was mistaken for the long dead royalty of a cursed bloodline, the dreaded Maximoffs who were said to be blood drinking monsters in their day. To keep up appearances and establish further influence he accepted his new role and cast aside his demon name for another more appropriate to his new status and command . Count Demitri Maximoff: vampire monarch. In his exile Demitri traveled with the help of his entourage to the four corners of the mortal realm looking for all forms of information on the demon realm as the humans knew it. There had been many crossovers throughout history of exiled, lost, searching or simply curious demons who had been recorded in history as legends and myths. Whether the demons themselves or their estranged hunters the term was the same in almost every instance of these travelers between worlds. Walkers in the shadows. Darkstalkers. And with the discovery of these beings did Demitri begin to plot his ultimate revenge. Part of the plan was to defeat Demitri’s new hated enemy: the shimmering day sphere which he could simply not plan a way of avoiding forever and his numerous painful experiments had proven could indeed spell an eternal end to even his godlike might. So in the course of his expeditions he always held in the back of his mind the bane of his one true weakness. In the feverish jungles of Africa he finally discovered it: an artifact of ancient human invention called The Shadow Sphere. Originally it had been designed as a threat to cover the enemies of an ancient empire in darkness. Now he would now use it to cast the entire planet into eternal night. Ironically enough Demitri discovered his old rival Belial had been right about one thing. Every demon WAS connected. Through the power of his own blood he could channel the energy of Makai itself into The Shadow Sphere, giving him the power to accomplish everything he sought. By happy accident for Demitri’s plans the draining of Makai began to weaken it’s demons, including Belial, and in his weakened state one of many assassination attempts finally succeeded. With his rival dead at last and the sun vanquished nothing could stand in the way of the vampire king taking charge of the Earth. And the moon turned to blood even as the sun was snuffed out of the sky. The Darkstalkers that couldn’t be cajoled by the possibility of a world finally controlled by them and not the humans that had long hunted, imprisoned, and exploited them would have to be brought under his sway in some other manner. To that end he devised The Tournament. As the energies were drained from Makai other travelers from the demon realm came to the mortal realm in order to survive. In the mortal realm they were free of the power of The Shadow Sphere, as well as outside of Demetri’s grip. Living in the margins these exiles had to stay one step ahead of territorial Darkstalkers and dedicated hunters of their kind so when Demitri offered them an opportunity to fight for the right to regain enough stolen power to return home; possibly to get a leg up on their long time rivals. Few realized that in dueling with others of their kind they were imparting their expended energy back to Demitri, perpetuating his eternal night. And even as the world descended into anarchy and chaos in the gathering gloom and monsters stepped out of mythology to stalk the streets the survivors of humanity and Demitri believed at last he held complete domination of the mortal realm, soon to expand his influence back to Makai to exact his ultimate revenge … another player entered the game. A being from beyond the stars arrived, sensing the weakness of a dying world. A monster older than even the elder demons who had once sent his servants to Earth to commandeer it’s forming human population and prepare the way for his arrival and conquest. A tyrant called Pyron. Other notable Darkstalkers join the fray … Morrigan: Often Morrigan is known as the daughter of Belial but this is only partially true. Unknown even to herself Morrigan was summoned into existence in Scotland from a plain of existence that was still unknown, even to the most determined scholars of Makai. She’s known as a succubus: a previously considered mythical creature who can draw power from the emotions of others. The cult that brought her into the mortal realm had intended Morrigan to gain power but when Belial arrived feeling the power spike of her creation they turned her over to the demon king as an offering to make him leave them in peace. Back in the demon realm Belial was fascinated by the concept of a Darkstalker without ties to Makai and this coupled with the inability for Makai creatures to create new demons (except their own strange spontaneous creation from the depths of a sacred cave) convinced him to adopt Morrigan as his daughter and heir. While grooming her for the position he learned that her innate power was so great that it threatened to literally destroy her if she came of age so Belial drained off much of the energies from her soul: splitting the succubus into three separate wells of power. One was sealed inside Morrigan herself. The third, in addition to the soul Morrigan was aware of, became self aware. But that’s another story. As for Morrigan, she was kept from this secret as much as the others. But when her father wasted away in the aftermath of Demetri’s eternal night and draining of Makai, Morrigan was swiftly taken from the demon world by her house’s courtiers to avoid her assassination. With only a third of her soul she was still a force to be reckoned with but desperate demons might seek out her energies to continue their survival and conquer their rivals. Of course since the playful demoness had been constantly sneaking off to the mortal realm to mess around with humans to feed off their emotions even before her exile this didn’t come as great concern. But there was some measure of expectation for responsibility put onto Morrigan given she is the last survivor of really the final demon house to want a united Makai, and given that the current winner of the demon wars Demitri is responsible for killing her father she felt she owed the arrogant vampire a good clobbering for the sake of family honor. The Tournament promised power, glory, and entertainment aplenty with possibly a chance to challenge Demitri at last to a decisive combat, but the succubus was swiftly distracted with the arrival of Pyron who possessed power that even the eldest or most skillful Darkstalker could not match. Power she desired because of her shattered soul leaving gaps in her strength. Power she was determined to claim. Jon Talbain: Kreutz was one of the premiers of the nine noble families, although it would be more accurate to call his ‘house’ retainers of the royal line: elite soldiers in the armies of Makai. The members of the house came in all shapes and one of the most powerful was the demon Baraba ‘The Wolf Lord’ who found one of the forgotten portals between Makai in the mortal realm twenty years prior to the coup of Maximoff. Finding himself in rural England he began to enjoy the sights and sounds of a land apparently where war was not a daily occurrence, even discovering a mortal female, Luciana Talbain, and with her sired a half-demon child who in most respects seemed entirely human in appearance. Afterwards Baraba returned to Makai as was the fickle nature of demons.