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The Vampire Cabal
The full history of the vampire cabal led by Moritas and Scarlet is not known, but patrons of the Parthenon have uncovered several major pieces, and a rough outline of their activity in Coeur d'Ennui can be put together from this information.
The vampires first appeared in Coeur d'Ennui four or five years ago. They were servants of a lich who had "blessed" his eight top lieutenants with undeath and status as greater vampires, and then set them against one another to determine which four would be further strengthened with Ascension and protection against the common weaknesses of their kind. Moritas and Scarlet quickly formed an early alliance among some of the original eight to ensure their own survival by undermining the others'. They also plotted to overthrow their master, seize their independence, and Ascend through their own power rather than remaining dependent on his. To accomplish these goals, they came to Coeur d'Ennui so that they could use the Coeur's Anvhadians as pawns in their plans.
Shortly after their arrival, the Fell Temples' fragile equilibrium collapsed into rare, open infighting between the Shadow Network and the Temple of Kliasta, with the Falcons largely standing on the sidelines. It is believed that the bloodshed is attributable to the vampires' use of the Coeur's Anvhadians for their own goals, which forced them into conflict with the Kliastans. Meanwhile, the vampires' attempts to establish strongholds and further their lich-master's goals outside the city drew them into several battles with adventurers from the Parthenon and other agents of goodly forces based in Coeur d'Ennui.
This period also saw the enforcement of the Edicts, a political coup for the Ahlrighan faction in the High Court that was made possible only because Anselm of the White Rose, head of Athyria's Keep and a steadfast opponent of the Edicts, was temporarily incapacitated and nearly killed by a vampire-driven assassination attempt. One of the first-generation vampires was a former priest of Ahlrigh, and several of their interrupted plots had connections to that temple, but exactly what the vampires were doing in the Citadel of the Lawgiver and what, if any, direct responsibility they had for the passage of the Edicts remains unknown.
Roughly a year after their initial arrival in Coeur d'Ennui, and after the deaths of several members of the first generation at the hands of the Parthenon's adventurers, Moritas and Scarlet succeeded in sabotaging or outright destroying enough of their compatriots to win Ascension for themselves, Goldmane, and Corbat -- the alliance group from the first generation. Immediately after their Ascension, they turned upon and destroyed the lich who had created them. This ended their activity in Coeur d'Ennui for some years, possibly because they were otherwise occupied solidifying their hold over their dead master's domain and surviving minions.
Nothing more was heard from the vampires until the recent death of Earl Danvaer and the fire that destroyed the Night Raven, a plot that may have been personal as much as political for at least one of their number. The political repercussions of this scheme, and whether it heralds a resurgance of the vampires' activity in Calantyr, remain to be seen.
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