The Old Blood

One of the stranger things about Vathak is the relatively recent (in the setting's timeline) removal of most traditional fantasy races from the stage. There are no noble, long-lived elves unraveling the mysteries of magic and nature. There are no dwarven craftsmen, building fortresses to shield civilization against chaos. There are no orcs to fill that ancient, tired trope of barbaric warrior tribes.

In Vathak, these roles are filled instead by people. As I've told my players, the vast majority of Vathak is at least half-human (except for the svirfneblin, who are unnerving in their own right). The removal of traditional fantasy races puts that focus back upon humanity. The nature of mankind (used loosely here) and that hidden darkness or light inside of everyone is a big part of what defines Vathak.

This is a world rocked by a very real war with very unreal enemies—and yet, life goes on. The stories of these survivors are horrors of their own, a personal sort of horror that comes with the relatively “safe” Grigoria my players have been adventuring through. Unveiling the monsters are living among us is in many ways more horrifying than plundering a tomb of restless dead.

There is no shortage of evil in the hearts of man.

But more practically, as a GM, the absence of the old blood gives a way to bring players into Vathak. This simple departure from the norm of fantasy roleplaying game is a step into the world of discomfiture. Already, as players, we are taken out of our comfort zone of Tolkein-esque dwarves and elves, knights of shining armor and villains of blackened platemail, and stories of pure good and evil. And when they do appear, however rarely that may be, they can be used as touchstones to subvert expectation: restless elven spirits forever lost in the wilderness and unable to find homes that no longer exist, or crumbling dwarven citadels now used as fortified temples to the Old Ones.

Vathak lives and thrives in those strange, gray spaces that make your PCs uncomfortable (and your players, probably, though hopefully not too much!) and gives them a stage upon which to shine. They can shine as beacons of hope and goodness, or fall into the plentiful corruptions and depravities that rot Vathak from the core.

More likely, your PCs will evolve as characters much like ourselves: creatures defined not by a single aspect of their alignment, but ultimately flawed and perpetually in flux. Still, they hold onto that which they deem good in an attempt, however futile, to do what they think is right.

And that, I think, is very Vathak.

The Vathak Touch

Achieving the right tone in a horror game can be a challenge as a GM. Players often have enough abilities and resources at their disposal to confront traditional horrors head-on. There isn't much scary about a zombie when a quick sword blow solves that problem once and for all.

In Vathak, I've played up the horror elements that are beyond the players' sight. The war with the Old One drives so many narratives in Vathak, but it's often something distant and illusory. Is there even a war? And if there, who is winning it? And how? In the heartlands of Grigoria, where my players have spent the majority of their time thus far, these are questions weighing heavily upon the minds of the people. It is what makes the Church of the One True God so strong, despite all of its failings. It is what makes the monarchy of Grigoria so important to daily life, in spite of their imperialistic (and sometimes genocidal!) history. These horrific elements cast that ever-so-titular Shadow over Vathak, leaving a gloomy world for the players to explore.

Name dropping the setting title while explaining its flavor? Yes indeed.

How, then, to bring it home to the players in some meaningful way? Well, I've had great success in taking traditional fantasy elements and giving them the Vathak touch.

In a world this grim and often hopeless, what transformations have taken place in those shadows? Beyond the forces of cosmic horror, what is there? What of the monstrous creatures that roam the countryside? What happens in the unclaimed corners of the world? What grows just beyond the vision of Vathak's defenders? And what festers beneath it, signs of wars both past and present?

To propose an answer to at least one of those questions, I created the blite. Little manifestations of body horror and slasher-flick gore, the blite is a marker of that Vathak touch. They may not pose a significant threat, but they are awash in Vathak's atmosphere. They are a living history of their absent creators. They are unsettling, deviating from the expectation just enough. They are twisted corruptions, signs that nothing is sacred.

 Image courtesy of Dave Allsop and subsequently borrowed from the internet to

 sorta-kinda fill my need for a color-muted mite on my VTT.

(We cannot all be so blessed with artistic talent.)

And, perhaps most importantly, they are a simple threat that players can stretch their murderhobo muscles against while keeping the truly horrific things—those things that truly drive terror into the hearts of not just player character, but perhaps players themselves (but not too much; be gentle to your players!)—looming far enough overhead and out of reach of their blades. The PCs can have the fulfilling rush of making the world a little safer and a little good-er, but eventually must come to the realization they still bask in that everlooming Shadow. For now...

For those interested, the full blite statblock is below. Mostly, it's just a mite with a few different tricks tacked on for that Vathak touch. 

Blite CR 1/2

This grotesque, corpulent creature is more head than body, its eyes a milky white save for bloodshot streaks that bleed a crimson hue across its otherwise pale skin.

XP 200
LE Small fey (half-undead) 
Init +1; Senses darkvision 120 ft., low-light vision, scent; Perception +6

DEFENSE

AC 12, touch 12, flat-footed 11 (+1 Dex, +1 size)
hp 7 (2d6); fast healing 1
Fort –1, Ref +2, Will +3; +2 vs. disease, mind-affecting effects
DR 2/piercing

Defensive Abilities exsanguinate, resist level drain
Weaknesses light sensitivity, positive energy affinity

OFFENSE

Speed 20 ft., climb 20 ft.
Melee 2 claws +2 (1d3–1/19–20)
Ranged blood spray +2 touch (2d3 acid plus disease) or bone needle +2 (1-1 plus bleed 1)
Special Attacks blood drain (1 Constitution), hatred (+1 to attack rolls vs. humanoid creatures with the human subtype)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 1st; concentration +0)
At will— bleed
1/day— ray of sickening (DC 10)

STATISTICS

Str 8, Dex 13, Con 11, Int 8, Wis 13, Cha 8
Base Atk +0; CMB –2; CMD 9
Feats Weapon Finesse
Skills Climb +4, Craft (traps) +8, Escape Artist +6, Perception +6, Stealth +14; Racial Modifiers +4 Craft (traps), +4 Stealth
Languages Undercommon

Gear 1d4 bone needles

ECOLOGY

Environment any underground or urban
Organization solitary, blister (2–8), or bloat (9–20 plus 1 chieftain of 2nd–4th level)
Treasure standard (1d4 bone needles)

SPECIAL ABILITIES
Blood Spray (Ex) Every 1d4 rounds a blite can spray a stream of caustic blood from its bloated eyes as a ranged touch attack with a maximum range of 15 feet. This blood spray deals 2d3 points of acid damage and exposes the target to the blite's toxic blood.
Exsanguinate (Ex) As an immediate action after being hit by an attack that bypasses its DR, a blite can forcibly extrude most of the blood in its body. This gory display leaves a fine mist of blood in a 5-ft.-radius around the blite, granting 20% concealment to creatures within it and exposing them to the blite's toxic blood. A blite that exsanguinates itself loses its DR 2/piercing and fast healing, but gains DR 2/slashing, Improved Grapple as a temporary bonus feat, and a +4 racial modifier to grapple checks, as its need for sustenance grows irrepressible.
Positive Energy Affinity (Ex) The overabundance of flowing blood within it causes a blite to respond to positive and negative energy as though it were a living creature.
Toxic Blood (Ex) A blite's blood can carry many diseases, but most often leprosy. Blites are immune to the diseases they carry, which varies by bloat. (Leprosy: contact; save Fort DC 10; onset 2d4 weeks; frequency 1/week; effect 1d2 Cha damage; cure 2 consecutive saves. This save is Constitution-based.)

Disgusting ambush predators, the blites a constructed race from the subterranean mites that once inhabited Vathak. Given a predilection for blood-based sustenance by the Vampire Lords that enslaved and selective bred their current form, blites that survived the fall of their masters have taken on aspects of their behaviors. Spurning the world of light to hunt blood in the safety of darkness, blites live in isolated warrens much like their fully fey cousins. Cowards at heart, but trapped between a miserable life and unlife, blites wish nothing more than to capture living prey—a single Medium humanoid can sustain a blister of blites for a week until finally being bled dry. A blite's blood gives it remarkable healing properties (a blessing of being attuned to positive energy), but makes them disgusting foes to face in combat. The average blite stands 3 feet tall and weighs 45 pounds (of which half is blood).