| Contents |
| History • Strongholds • Advantages and Weaknesses • The Kolduns in DC • Koldun Characters |
| Kolduns | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Pseudonyms | Dragons |
| Sect | Independent Tal'Mahe'Ra |
| Disciplines | Animalism Auspex Dominate Koldunism |
| Rarity | Legendary |
Very few vampires have even heard of the Kolduns, a bloodine of Eastern European sorcerers and naturalists who are seldom seen outside the traditional Carpathian lands from which they draw their power. Dedicated to the ancient Slavic god Kupala, whose spirit they claim to communicate with and channel, they are incredibly powerful and fiercely, independently insular, keeping a wide distance from all other vampires (even, or perhaps especially, their fellow Kolduns). As wildly unpredictable as the natural storms and seasons they serve, they represent an ancient power that is poorly understood (and thus avoided with prejudice) by most vampires, and they like it that way.
History
The Tzimisce claim the Kolduns as one of their bloodlines, but the Kolduns, in the vanishingly rare circumstance that any of them are available for comment, would say it is the other way around. They have been here as long as the land has been here, they would say, and as long as Kupala has animated it; they might not have been recognizable as vampires before the Antediluvians invented the word, but they would say they have always been here, part and parcel of their ancestral lands.
Wherever they came from, they are definitely an ancient bloodline; the first Tzimisce and Assamite writings about encountering them in the mountains are millennia old, and mention strange, solitary vampires that clearly already had their own traditions and unfathomable powers. Whether the idea of them as an offshoot of the Tzimisce is revisionist history, or the idea of them as ancient is mere folklore, it's unlikely that anyone will be able to discover the truth to say definitively.
Strongholds
Kolduns live in mountain fortresses, but these tend to be less built and "civilized" than those made by their Tzimisce would-be-cousins; while some Kolduns do have houses or rudimentary castles built into the solid rock of the Carpathians, others simply choose to live in caves and tunnels, intricate and impossible to navigate for any strangers, allowing them to inhabit the very bowels of their beloved land.
All vampires are somewhat territorial, but the Kolduns have raised this to an aggressive art form. They do not share space with other Kolduns; not only do they refuse to live alongside them, they consider any intruder into their domain, Koldun or otherwise, to be a hostile attacker and generally act accordingly. Many vanished vampiric travelers in the Carpathians are suspected to have been lost due to stumbling across the lair of a Koldun and abruptly ceasing to exist before even realizing what they might have found.
Advantages and Weaknesses
Advantages
Kolduns have an intimate spiritual bond with the land they inhabit, which makes them almost unkillable and certainly impossible to surprise while they remain within it. A Koldun knows about any storm, upset, or natural disaster happening anywhere in their home territory, including how bad it is and what was likely to have started it, and immediately feel the presence of intruders (although they may have to spend a little time pinpointing where exactly they are).
In addition, Kolduns are capable of learning only Koldunism rather than other forms of blood sorcery, but they begin with two sorcery paths instead of only one, and can choose to advance both with study and dedication.
Disadvantages
It's not surprising that the Tzimisce claim the Koldun as part of their extended family; they have a similar curse to bear. Where the Tzimisce must have native soil to rest in or risk illness, insanity, and even death, the Kolduns simply cannot leave their home range at all. Just crossing the border of their territory is uncomfortable and upsetting for them, and the longer they are outside of it (and the farther they travel), the worse it gets, plunging them into pain, confusion, and rage until the only thing left on their minds is returning to their homes. Anyone trying to interfere with their desire to do so is likely to become collateral damage.
A Koldun who is trapped away from their home territory falls into torpor at sunrise, giving them a vested interest in making sure that they seldom leave their homes and are very well-protected when they do.
The Kolduns in DC
There are no Kolduns in DC, which should not be surprising since it's nowhere near the Carpathian Mountains and most of them cannot leave.
Koldun Characters
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| Ghita Albescu |