= means lifematesa vertical line reflects who sired whomhorizontal lines connect siblings
Unique among blood drinkers, Lyssa and her brood suffer the true curse of duality while constantly striving for redemption.
Who is Lyssa? She is a goddess of the underworld and in days long past was feared
by the Greeks. Her name means "canine madness" for she can cause madness in any
beast, living or dead. It was under Hera's orders that Lyssa forced Heracles to
kill his own family. She made him believe his children to be those of his archenemy
Eurystheus. And in his madness, Heracles killed not only his children, but his
beloved wife as well. While Hera was pleased, Zeus was furious and so Lyssa's
deed would not go unpunished. Zeus gave his brother, Hades, the task of cursing
Lyssa. A task he did not relish, for she was his lover. Nevertheless, with great
sadness in his heart, Hades undertook what Zeus deemed to be a fitting punishment
for one who had caused madness in so many.
Eons earlier, as the children of Adam and Eve were spreading across the Earth,
there was a war in Heaven. The Archangel Michael and his angels drove Satan and
his followers from Heaven and cast them into Hell. Yet what of those angels who
did not choose sides? They were also punished and told to ask forgiveness, lest
their pride keep them from ever reentering the kingdom for which they refused
to fight. Those fallen angels, now often referred to as demons, were given unto
Hades and placed in Tartarus, the lowest of the underworlds. Hades kept them separated,
alone, in cells as strong as their refusals to repent, while his servant and lover,
Lyssa, tormented them with her many gifts. This task she relished for millennia
until Hera sent her to torment Heracles.
And so, Lyssa who loved to walk in the day, to roam free among the animals and
who worshipped Artemis and Apollo, was cursed. As her punishment, her body was
transformed to feed on the blood of living things. To further her torment, the
essence of one of the demons -- a fallen angel imprisoned by Hades who had refused
to repent, one that she herself punished -- entered her body, while her own soul
remained.
For a time, she became as mad as those she had tormented. Her lust for blood
was stronger than her body needed to survive and the demon within her fed off
the emotions of her prey. For a hundred years, Lyssa walked the Earth by night,
a mad thing, tainted with her bloodlust and her desire to procreate. The light
of the sun was denied her and it caused her great pain. The demon essence fed
of the emotions of her prey and often fought for control of the host body.
To her shame and in the midst of her madness, Lyssa made many beings like herself.
Whether man or women, when she transformed them, they took into their bodies both
her blood and her curse. Each of them was given a second and unique essence, an
unforgiven demon freed by Hades for the purpose of perpetuating her punishment.
Those she converted became her "children" and were gifted with immortality.
Lyssa had many children and they, in turn, had many of their own, and those had
many as well. To Lyssa, there were all her children, whether she converted them
or not and like any parent she struggled to assist her family as it continued
to grow. It was her curse they shared and she felt responsible for their actions.
Unlike other demonic families that roamed the Earth, Lyssa's children suffered
and struggled to survive with two beings sharing a single body. Their anguish
was terrible, and although their physical bodies were immortal, they were not
indestructible. They could be destroyed, and many were, either by their own hand
or by others, human or not.
All of Lyssa's children share her desire to procreate and mate. Obsession with
a partner or wanted partner is common. Many of her children enjoy the taste of
pain and fear, while others are connoisseurs of the emotions associated with love,
lust and the high that comes from an orgasm.
Eventually, Apollo intervened on Lyssa behalf and with Zeus's blessing lessened
her curse. He gave Lyssa and her children the ability to make immortal companions,
halflings, that didn't share their bodies with a demon, nor did they have the
overwhelming desire to drink blood. These lifemates balance the soul and the demon
within and are therefore, both treasured and protected.
While many of her children did not survive their first decade, others have survived
for millennia. Living in secrecy, those that survived took up her quest for redemption
and became guardians of sorts. Lyssa led a group of elders and together they created
codes of honor. Hunters were sanctioned to keep their numbers down and to destroy
those who became killers of innocents. The hunters become master vampires more
quickly. It is a master vampire's role to council the young, maintain the quota,
and prevent the world from thinking Lyssa's family is more than legend.
Within Lyssa, a tenuous symbiotic relationship was eventually reached and legend
has it that there came a day when her soul and demon essence merged into a single
being. Whether or not this is true, only Lyssa can tell. Yet this merging of beings
did happen with a least one of her children's children. Given a new task for the
gods, Lyssa mysteriously disappeared, leaving the council to manage her family.
The council of elders grew and changed. Her first born were rumored to have the
ability to contact her, but the rumors were left unconfirmed. Over time, Lyssa
became as mythical as Lilith, Adam's first wife. Few remained who knew her or
from where their demons originated. Many of the demons had been punished for so
long, that even they couldn't remember. They only knew that it was good to be
free.