The following account of vampire language and history is taken from Tepesch Drakul’s memoirs concerning mythology, evolution and ecology of his race, as detailed in the five book series.
Evolution
At the start of space-time, magic poured from the singularity and flooded the universe and the first beings were made. Called elementals, they took many forms. Mistress of dark magic and wove the drinkers of blood, Jalina named them bhuuta (demon that walks) and obyri (demons that fly).
The Jananii were witches of white magic and created the planet Vasudha where life flourished with many peoples. They also created the Vorkha (werewolf), scourge of vampyra and beloved of Jananii.
Feared and hated by the vampire kind, the Vorkha was hunted and destroyed until only one remained. It dwelled in spirit form in the outer darkness, waiting for the day when it would be reborn called forth by Tepesch Drakul and lived within a man called Finn Angmon. Some people still refer to the Vorkha as werewolf today.
The vampire race spread throughout the universe, both wise and terrible and took with them their unshakeable belief in Jalina, bonded to their creator by their own blood. Other life forms travelled the stars.
The Zilon were also born of the same dark forces, but endless mutation separated them from the will of Jalina. They changed to a hive culture, travelling across space-time in their living ships to discover new worlds and harvest flesh to occupy their exoskeletal forms. Above all else, the Zilon sought out the few remaining elementals for their magic.
The Jananii
These are the witch-queens of Vasudha, gifted with the same powers as the other Elementals (Jalina and Ajarah). The Jananii chose mortality and live but a few thousand years until a new vessel for their collective spirit is found. Fei Chok served as the Jananii until deprived of their powers by her daughter-in-law, Wanda.
The Jananii grow to a great age and therefore often appear as ancient crones, dressed in black. They have vampire blood in their veins, but are able to use their gift of white magic to oppose the dark energy. By doing so, a vector is created that gives them immense powers. The Jananii are essentially good in nature and communicate with all of nature, but they are callous too, and attach little importance to human lives.
Each Jananii can call on the collective memory and strengths of their ancestors, and see the pathways of the future.
Vampire evolution and ecology
Sea demons
The Sagaraah bhuuta evolved in the sea and are heavily built, able to transmogrify into their natural state using the power of jiivaa. Vadhul Drakul is of this race.
Winged demons
The obyri is the winged form but only the high caste, born possessing royal blood are able to attain their ultimate form. It is the destiny of the high caste to lose their ability to assume other forms and ultimately to exist as wraith. It is a continual fear of the high caste that they will one day lose the pleasures of the flesh. This takes so long that none on Earth will do so in the age of Homo sapiens.
Low caste
Those of low caste are converted from other life forms by contamination. Jiivaa spreads through them changing them utterly, destroying their free will and enslaving them, but they will never change their form and are destined to die in service of the high caste.
Zilon
Utterly ruthless, killing their own kind without hesitation if any aberration is detected. But also extremely logical and intelligent, for this is a high-tech civilisation of ancient lineage. The Zilon live in giant star ships similar in construction to termite mounds, but many miles across and formed of the living body of the queen.
Vulpa – life stage 1
The young Vulpa do not have legs or armour and are slug-like creatures, feeding upon prey thrown down the feeding shafts. After a month they pupate, emerging weeks later as Timora.
Timora – life stage 2
These are fast-moving predators able to adopt the colours and textures of their surroundings. Large membranes joining their limbs allow the Timora to glide over considerable distances. This is their favourite means of attack, hunting in packs. The Timora face a serious challenge. They have no more than a few months to find their future hosts otherwise death is inevitable. The metamorphosis requires the larvae to fire a fleshy capsule into the body of the victim that contains their individual blueprint together with changers, a primitive form of jiivaa.
Finding a new host – life stage 3
If they are successful, the capsule unleashes the changers within the host, and the host melds with the Zilon invader until a new life is born. The queens take the form of giant spiders and form the living heart of a Zilon star ship. They can read minds across the galaxy, such is their power.
Vampire Language
| Vampyric | English |
| Aalamba | Hook bearer (used to haul the giant tantuna to the surface) |
| Aalukah | Light of life, the living light |
| Aamisa | Means ‘food’, referring to humanoid creatures eaten by the obyri |
| Aamisa dravaah | A killing feast or blood festival |
| Aayus | The canyon. Also ‘Life’. |
| Alpa Tapana | Literally, little sun. The White Dwarf orbited by Vasudha and companion of Gura Tapana, a Red Giant |
| Avataarayati | Command for ‘sit’ used by the Yaayaavara peoples |
| Ajarah | An elemental being of cold, imprisoned by the vampyra and Jalina to protect themselves. |
| Akrosaah | The killing cry of the obyri |
| Analah an aksaah | Lit flesh of my flesh, a command used to bond with a Yar. |
| Aksi | Killing fog, the mist of dark magic created by High Caste |
| Aldeberan | Red giant sun in Taurus constellation, 65 light years from Sol, in Vampyric, Gura Tapana |
| Analah | Dark magic |
| Bala | Literally, force, the power of analah |
| bharakharmaah | Fight to the death, an entertainment of the Yaayaavara |
| bhramarakaah | Zilon hive |
| Bhuuta | Literally, ‘a person’. |
| Yar zaraagh | The blue pyramid, the greatest and most powerful starship (Yar) ever grown by the Vipra priests using dark magic. |
| Caruu | Beautiful |
| Cazash tree | Alien tree within the blue pyramid used to torture immortals by growing through and around them with its twisting spines |
| Cazash kine | Spine of the Cazash, which carries a poison inducing paralysis |
| Hamani-chezu | The all-devouring hunger |
| Darii | Valley, also used to indicate tantuna burrows, a place of danger |
| Drava | The slime that vampires use for blood; a liquid that supports the jiivaa |
| Dravati | Literally, get up. Yaayaavaran word. |
| Eeka, Yamala and Trih | The three moons (also means one, two and three in Sanskrit) |
| gandhavartikaah | Incense of the desert, hallucinatory plants eaten by the yaayaavara |
| Gharahl | Flying lizard |
| hanteh | slayer |
| Hassar | The throne of a pyramid |
| Jada | soulless |
| Hamani-kora | The all seeing eye |
| Hamani-do | Little eye, a magic artefact used by the Vipra to show possible futures. Lit. ‘Eye that looks forward.’ |
| Jalina | Jalina came to Vasudha with the first pyramid, the blue. Jalina provides the power of the torana and energises all the pyramids. Jalina has huge power but the obyri have chosen to forget what it can do, because the vipra feared it would lead to their ultimate destruction, as it had already done many times before. Jalina could even make the pyramids fly, or give superhuman power to an obyri king. Jalina uses her power to protect Vasudha from Gura Tapana (the Red Giant). |
| Jananii | The witch leader of the canyon people. She is actually jiivaa-struck, but uses the power of her will to remain human. Fei becomes Jananii, and to a lesser extent, Saskia Drakul also. Saskia is taught by Fei to use the power of her mind to suppress the jiivaa and so at the end, Saskia is able to live as a human and experience love, but she is also able to die and chooses to do so. |
| Jiivaa | The larvae can infect and produce vampire like changes, including long lives and great strength. The obyri jiivaa is a pure form that is more far reaching in its effects, resulting in the features of the classic vampire. Jiivaa were once controlled by the will of Jalina, but since her imprisonment by the vipra, the vampyra have been capable of free will. |
| Jiivaa of the Maru | Anyone venturing onto the sands of the Maru desert will attract thousands of them and sandfish will follow. Jiivaa were brought by the first obyri and have mutated. The adult form is a plated insect originally designed to live in vampire blood but they have adapted to living off the moisture trapped in sand, feeding off each other. They induce telepathy when they get into the blood. Jiivaa larvae infect everyone who lives in the canyon and they can be found everywhere. |
| Kacchabu | Swamps beyond the fire mountains, where Finn and his followers arrive from the Carbon building in London when he escapes. |
| Kalah duku | Dusk storm |
| kantakitus | Raptor like birds of the Marubhuumi |
| Kazorah | The test all young royals must face to prove their strength and knowledge. Some will die. |
| khuda | A sword used by vampires fighting as bhuuta, curved and serrated |
| Madya | Powerful alcoholic drink made from tree sap |
| Mahiksir | High caste vampire |
| Maru | The desert between the fire mountains and the Pico sea |
| Marubhuumi | Desert beyond the swamplands |
| Maayah | The art of controlling the elements; dark magic, the power that drives the pyramid ships and the torana, and brings eternal life. |
| Maayah-kora | Living weapons |
| Naavika | Peoples of Jivaloka |
| Naadii | The great river that flows through the canyon |
| Nagarah | The ancient city in the gulf of Khambhat |
| Nava | Bible |
| Obyri | The final life stage of the vampire. Royals can shape shift into obyri at will after a few thousand years. Low caste will never attain this form and will die after a few thousand years. Others will become obyri and eventually, lose the ability to shape shift into bhuuta. |
| Onita | City of the sagaraah, in Vasudha’s Pico sea |
| Pico | The ocean. |
| puttikhaah | Termites |
| Sagaraah bhuuta | Demons of the sea. |
| Sah lo dha | Blood, flesh, fear. The mantra of Dra Ona, the first. |
| Samudhra | The sea of sand, on the planet of Jivaloka |
| Sikata jhasah | Literally, sand-fish, living at different depths in the sand. The surface dwellers are flat, feeding off jiivaa larvae and they are very numerous, but deeper down are the tube fish, ferocious carnivores that can be small, eating flatfish, or enormous, eating each other. The tantuna eat them. Samatala jhasah are flat fish. Asura jhasah are the demon fish. |
| Spinner | Common name for a starship, also a pyramid. |
| So ka | Literally, what must pass |
| Sun | Tapana. Alpa- little, Gura- big. See Aldeberan, above. |
| Takarana | Carnivorous plant |
| Tashrani | Mutated spiders, on Jivaloka. Spider crabs on Vasudha |
| Timora | Second life stage of the Zilon |
| Torana | A mysterious, coffin shaped object used to travel between worlds. Each pyramid contains many thousands of torana and at the time of writing, many no longer work. The torana are able to give its users the gift of language, so that they are able to communicate with the indigenous people. Torana are living entities and capable of independent thought. They can communicate telepathically and control lesser species such as humans. The torana actually contains jiivaa and is powered by their dark magic, Analah. |
| Tantuna | Giant scorpions that can grow to many metres in length. They usually wait for prey to fall into their sand traps but sometimes they emerge and attack in numbers, raiding villages in the canyon. The tantuna are pulled from their burrows by the canyon people, and their body parts used for many things. |
| Takrash kalil | The summoning – a way of recalling jiivaa-bearers to Vasudha |
| Treloka | The three worlds of the Obyri – Vasudha, Jivaloka and Earth. |
| Vamati | Saliva from the tantuna. Jiivaa and sandfish are kept at bay by a small amount. Before hunting the tantuna, the warrior must be coated in it in order to approach them with the hook, to pull them from their burrow. The hooksman wears the suit of tantuna armour. |
| Vasudha | The name of the planet of the pyramids, referred to as the kingdom by vampires trapped on earth |
| vipra | Priests of the obyri |
| Vorkha | Werewolf, the name given to Finn by the ancient vampires |
| vosakk | Jiivaa inhabiting the Zilon |
| Yaayaavara | Peoples of the Marubhuumi desert |
| Yamala | Also personified as a warrior god |
| Yar | A spinner star ship or pyramid |
| Yar Hazu | The living seed of a Yar |
| Yazu | Sexual union |
| Yuddha | The right of challenge |
| Zaasakahaa | Vampire queen. Zaasakah is the king |
| Ziighram avataratu! | Bid my thoughts. A saying of the yaayaavara peoples who are able to communicate by thought, lit. ‘do what I am thinking’ |
Vampire Language on Jivaloka
Many of the terms are the same. This table only lists new terms. The constructs of Jivalokan are somewhat different and the language has a guttural quality.
| Jivalokan | English |
| Aakalaah | Sea forests, home of the Adrossal kind. |
| Adrossal | Under the ice. Lit. The sub-marine world of Jivaloka, a largely vegetarian ecosystem dependent on sunlight and volcanic energy from the many rifts of the Smullen ridge of volcanoes, the only true land-mass |
| Apaxal | Above the ice. Lit. A carnivorous food chain based on the Adrossa. |
| Apax-suit | Ice-protective garment worn by the Apaxa people. |
| Bahoolah | Peaceful whale-like creatures that travel under the ice, surfacing for air. |
| Bazax | Sea tigers, fierce predators feared even by the Adrossal vampires. Bazax have two major life-stages. The larval phase is Adrossal but the adult phase is air-breathing and a master of disguise, eating everything. -ula, giant -ino, little |
| Bimbar | Ice crabs. Scavengers that live on bazax. |
| Carcha | A race of people who have chosen an Apaxal existence. They fear and sometimes attack the Adrossal tribes, believing them to be jiivaa-struck. Carcha hunt anything and have a high death rate. Even Carcha children are dangerous and masters of all weapons. |
| Chan | A magical sphere of ice that contains the proxal energies of Ajarah, believed to control the elements. |
| Indogen | Apaxa word for ice-jiivaa |
| Krakos | Undersea spiders used by the Adrossa for transport and hunting |
| Naral-carcha | Ice god of the Apoxa peoples |
| Shmoosha | Very hairy and treacherous stealth-hunters that live in cracks within the ice cliffs. |
| Xantara | Ice-lilies, animals that feed on heat |
| Yaral | What the ice-peoples call the vampyra from the Yar. |
| Yar Ishama | The Yar of Jivaloka, half below the ice and half above. |
Worlds
The Drakul novels play out on three worlds – Earth, Vasudha, and finally, on Jivaloka. Our knowledge of Vasudha is scanty and based on the writings of Fei Chok. We know even less about Jivaloka, but this will give you some understanding.
The planet Vasudha
Vasudha lies within the constellation of Taurus and encircles a solar pair, Gura Tapana (known as Aldeberan on Earth, a Red Giant) and Alpa Tapana, a white dwarf. Vasudha was colonised by the Obyri race (a name for the Vampyra) long before their arrival on Earth some 300,000 years ago. The planet should have lost its atmosphere to the swelling mass of Gura Tapana but the deep powers of the Goddess Jalina have maintained stasis. Thus the vampyra and their Elemental are central to the survival of the planet.
The Landscape beyond the fire mountains
What is the planet like across the Maru desert, beyond the Fire Mountains? The land sweeps northwards. Beyond the mountains, the swamp lands are surprisingly cool, for much of the time cloaked in a dank layer of mist from which skeletal trees arise. Curious rock formations rise from the mists, each one riddled with caves. In the caves live ratura, lizard-like predators, preying on the giant leeches the canyon peoples call raktapa. The ratura walk erect and have primitive language but they are essentially savage.
The Marubhuumi Desert
Beyond the Kacchabu swamplands, a rocky desert sweeps across to distant mountains. The desert is filled with thorn bushes and cacti, many carnivorous. Great herds of game follow the seasonal rains, browsing on the rich grasses but they must also run the gauntlet of the kantakitus, large flightless carnivorous birds taller than a man.
The Yaayaavara are a nomadic people, also dwelling in the Marubhuumi. They are adept survivors and attuned to the desert, travelling with their kantakitus, eating human flesh but they are also fast riders and skilled with weapons. The Yaayaavara summarily execute trespassers from the canyon found on their lands. They wear typical desert garb but unlike the canyon peoples, they are skilled at the use of the bolas. Their weapons make use of the claws and bone spurs of the kantakitus.
Wanda is one of the nomadic peoples, destined to become the next Jananii of Vasudha, queen of all its peoples and with her will be Oisin, son of Finn.
The planet Jivaloka
Jivaloka is very different from Vasudha. It is a frozen world with entirely different ecology above and below the ice. These are the Adrossa and the Apaxa.
The Adrossa ecosystem
The Adrossa ecosystems below the ice are rich and complex, supported by the sea forests that coat the ocean floors and reach the underside of the ice. Humans on Jivaloka are creative and subtle. They have learned to copy nature and work with it in many ingenious ways. Adrossan villages exist high in the sea-forests, the bubbles of air supplied by gardens of algae. The peoples ride sea-spiders and breathe the air they take to their nests.
Above the ice, life is much harder and must withstand the scouring winds and ice-storms.
The Apaxa ecosystem
The food-chains of the Apaxa are entirely carnivorous and nothing lives for long, despite extreme adaption. People were brought to Jivaloka by the vampyra, and three Yar or living pyramidal star-ships rest on the sea floor but project above the ice. The Yar and are there for only one purpose, the imprisonment of Ajarah.
The Apaxa try to survive on the surface, riding ice-yachts after their prey and their cities have been carved from the ice-cliffs that ring the pyramids. Ajarah, the Elemental who captured and subjugated many Vampyric races for his own dark ends, was overthrown in a titanic battle and imprisoned below the ice that now exists.
It is the cold energy of Ajarah that has caused the ice.
The peoples of Jivaloka have learned the secrets of glimmer (white magic) but they do not know how to focus the energies, until the balance of power shifts, leading to the breaking of the ice and the world is forever changed.
