Children of a Lesser Hell-God

Contrary to what many assume, vampires come in a variety of different types and bloodlines.  More, creatures exist that blur the line between Living and Undead.  Most famous of these is the dhampir--offspring of a human being and a vampire.

Stranger still is a someone who, although bitten, does not transform into a full vampire.  Exactly why remains unclear. There seem to be some people who (for some reason) resist the complete change.  Certain very powerful vampires seem capable of deliberately creating this bizarre hybrids.  One expert, whose exploits regarding such ended up as a film titled Zoltan, Hound of Dracula, coined an accurate term for them.  Pseudo-nosferatu.  Others call them ghouls.  Another source refers to them as carouche.  Yet they may perhaps be best known via the most famous such entity.

Renfield.

The name conjures up a specific image.  A madman in padded cell.  Bound in a straightjacket.  Hoarding flies, then spiders--intending to eat them.  Not entirely accurate, however.  When one looks for similar beings in the history of vampires, one needn't go far to find them.  Keep in mind also that it remains unlikely all the individuals identified with the name actually bore it.  Accounts of Dracula's soul-clones often end up tweaked to resemble Stoker's novel.  The motion picture Nosferatu included a person who ran a business, was in fact a respected man of property.  Yet who went mad, obsessed with devouring tiny lives, and utterly devoted to serving one of the living dead.

In the motion pictures Fright Night and its sequel, Jerry Dandridge and his sister each had a servant--formidable men in their own right.  They each ate bugs.  When killed, they dissolved into a mass of the creatures, leaving a putrid skeleton behind!

From these and other clues we may well deduce facts about this odd supernatural creature, neither one thing nor the other.  Consider also how the Count of Saint Germain has such a servant, well-treated, even a friend.  Yet dependent upon the vampire.

1.  All pseudo-nosferatu are created by vampires.  Exactly how remains a mystery, but it needn't be permanent.  Xander Harris began the process but returned to normalcy.  The Renfield of the novel even rebelled against his Master (I myself believe the soul-clone Dracula-Mordante was in England before Dracula Prime, and it was he who transformed the man known as Renfield).
2.  Pseudo-nosferatu evidently need to remain in the proximity of at least one vampire.  One almost never hears of one by themselves--and when they are, their efforts to bring a vampire near them are ceaseless.
3.  The pseudo-nosferatu has a will that has been enthralled to that of another.  Indeed, they behave much as a drug addict would if their opiate-of-choice could walk around, think, act on its own agenda.
4.  One of the distinguishing characteristics of the pseudo-nosferatu is that they feed on "lesser" lives.  Animals or insects usually.
5.  Lacking nearly all the weaknesses of a true vampire, a pseudo-nosferatu possesses but one power in common with the true undead.  They are stronger than a normal human being.  They may or may not gain extended youth and vigor.  But they remain harder to physically subdue and kill than is usual.

The House of Van Helsing

VAN HELSING

Almost certainly related by blood to both the Spielsdorf and Karnstein families.  Their award of arms is as follows:  Quarterly, sable and gules, per sinister base a tower or. Who awarded the arms remains a mystery but one likely contender would be the Holy Roman Empire.  Continuing research into this family of vampire hunters continues.  Here are those members of the house which have (so far) been identified.  A family tree showing relationships (as far as they are known) can be found below:

Adelia Van Helsing, Raphael Van Helsing, Otto Van Helsing and Abelard Van Helsing all left notes behind regarding the hunting of demons, vampires, dragons and the like.

Gabriel Van Helsing is a very mysterious figure, whose history remains unknown (quite possibly to himself).

Sir Andreas Van Helsing (   -1789) is mentioned in the series Young Dracula.  His painting is on the wall, albeit with the name “Sir Manly” which indicates the tone of the show.  “Andreas” on the other hand does mean exactly that.  Death coincided with the French Revolution.

Dr. Jan Van Helsing (Before 1791 - ?) would seem to have a scientist of some kind and a refugee from the French Revolution.  His inclusion must be viewed as somewhat speculative since the only reference to him is in a description of Van Helsing ancestors in the novel Covenant With the Vampire, whose plot is generally un-Woldable.  It remains possible this name filtered into the story due to author’s research.  Jan would be father of four known sons:  Boris, Abraham, Cornelius and Henrik.

Unknown Van Helsing #1 (Before 1791 - ?) about whom all we know is that he had two sons:  Fritz and David.

Boris Van Helsing (r)

Boris Van Helsing ( -1909) An interesting and brilliant man, Boris actually invented a vampire cure, which he subsequently destroyed when Dracula-Mordante and Vampirella traveled back in time to steal it (or so he believed).  Precise records of the Van Helsings begin with his generation.  Boris was murdered by Dracula-Balderston.  He had three children:  Sons Arnold and Norris and daughter Miley. (see Vampirella comics as well as 1979 film)

Abraham Van Helsing ( - ) Arguably the most famous member of the clan, whose life saw the start of the Dracula-Van Helsing feud/war.  He had a son, Lawrence, and a daughter, Maria.

Cornelius Van Helsing (?)  Relatively little is known about this man, save that he left a written account of his adventures hunting vampires.  He and a companion followed up on his brother Abraham’s exploits in Transylvania, while Cornelius himself ended up in prison.

Henrik Van Helsing (?)

Fritz Van Helsing (?)  Defeated the soul-clone Dracula-Saville in 1909.  Was evidently fond of or deeply respected his cousin, since he named his some Abraham II after him.

David Van Helsing

David Van Helsing (?)  Initially skeptical of all things supernatural, this scholar learned otherwise when held captive by sect known as The Brotherhood.  As a result, he played a pivotal role in defeating (but alas, not destroying) Dracula-Pan in 1909.  According to Gustav, his great-grandson as told in Dracula: The Series, David at one point made a detailed map that the creature known as Alexander Lucard would use as a base.  He had at least one son to carry on the family name, Peter.

Arnold Van Helsing (?) What we know about Arnold is that he seems to have become completely Anglicized, lacking any trace of his father’s accent.  In 1909 he personally destroyed the soul clone Dracula-Matheson.  He had at least two sons, Jeremiah and another who seemed to have changed the family name to “Hellsing.”

Norris Van Helsing (?) For many years it was presumed Norris to have disappeared fighting the soul clone Dracula-Rominoff, presumably killed.  In the 1980s the much-stranger truth came out.  He had been trapped in another reality dubbed “limbo” since 1897.  His name is mentioned in Young Dracula while what little we know of his story is chronicled in the film The Monster Squad.  He has no known children.

Miley Van Helsing

Miley Van Helsing (? – 1909) was victimized by Dracula-Matheson, who transformed her into a vampire, forcing her father to stake her.

Lawrence Van Helsing (1850-1910) fought many vampires, including Baron Meinster, Dracula Kah and (especially) Dracula-Denrom.  Like his cousin Arnold, he seems to have become completely anglicized.  He had two sons, Leyland and Valdemar.

Abraham Van Helsing II (?-?) evidently emigrated to America and married a woman named Rosenberg.  Since it seems likely at least two of their children followed the Hebrew faith, he may have converted.  Murdered by an as-yet-unidentified bride (or daughter) of Dracula (or one of his soul-clones) he eventually haunted his granddaughter and helped her avenge his death.  He had three known sons:  Ira, Jeffrey and Victor.

Peter Van Helsing (?-?) somewhat surprisingly is the only known member of the family to have joined the Watcher’s Council, that body which oversees the mystic bloodline of the Slayers.  He evidently had at least one son to carry on the family name.

Jeremiah Van Helsing (?-?) was the son of Arnold and evidently was quite the scholar of occult lore.  He learned of a unique ritual that Dracula-Prime intended to enact decades in the future, preparing his son August to thwart the Impaler’s plans.  He has no other known children.

Hellsing #1 (?-?) for some reason changed his name.  Given the timing, one likely explanation is the anti-German hysteria of WWI that might have seen “Van Helsing” as too German. 

Leyland Van Helsing

Leyland Van Helsing (1877- ) accompanied his father Lawrence to China in order to combat the Seven Golden Vampires, then under the sway of Dracula-Kah.  During this adventure, Leyland met and married a martial artist named Mei Kwei.  Many years later, Leyland helped thwart the efforts of Dracula-Lejos.  He and Mei Kwei had two sons, Lorimar and H.R. (what these initial stand for remains to be learned) and a daughter named Jessica.

Valdemar Van Helsing (?-?) remains one of the family about whom little has been learned.  He did however function as a freelance vampire/monster hunter in the 1970s, when he crossed paths with Dr. Adam Spektor.

Jeffrey Van Helsing (1938- ?) took his mother’s maiden name “Rosenberg” and established a therapeutic practice in New York City.  He had a relationship with a model named Cindy Sondheim, and when she became the target of a vampire’s attentions, Jeffrey reclaimed his heritage, albeit not before losing Cindy.  Eventually he had two children, a son named Stan and a daughter named Willamena.

Ira Van Helsing (?-?) was apparently Jeffrey’s younger brother and like him took the Rosenberg name.  Both evidently were raised Jewish.  Ira moved to California, where he married a woman named Sheila and had a daughter, Willow.

Victor Van Helsing (1948-1989) retained the family name but in the end became the victim of a vampire while investigating a nest of the creatures (as noted in the film Transylvania Twist).

Unknown Van Helsing #2 (?-?) was the son of Peter, but very little is as yet known about him, save that he produced a daughter and two sons—Gustav and Abraham III (who may well have been twins).

Lorimar Van Helsing

August Van Helsing (?-?) was evidently a dedicated expert on vampires who continued researches began by his father.  He adopted a son named Noah, but also had two other sons by his wife Martina Bradshaw of Boston.  Interestingly, Martina was a twin.  She and her brother were the illegitimate offspring of one Matthew Caine, a sometimes Shaolin Priest who was the grandson of the man who became Dracula-Latos.  Evidently a deeply religious man, August named his sons from biblical figures, include Isaac and Malachi.

Sir Arthur Hellsing (?-1989) became the head of a paramilitary organization dedicated to destroying monsters and demons.  Evidence suggested he wed a woman from India.  The precise circumstances of his knighthood remain unknown.  He intended his daughter Integra to take his place.

Richard Hellsing (?-?) sought to usurp his niece’s position, and in the process accidentally freed a vampire who considered himself honor-bound to serve the family for the rest of time.

Lorimar Van Helsing (1909-?) strongly resembled his grandfather and followed in his footsteps.  He is known to have had three sons:  Matthew, Conrad and Kurt.

Jessica Van Helsing I (?-?) was a vampire hunter active in the 1940s.

H.R. Van Helsing (?-?) became heavily involved in an American paramilitary organization dedicated to fighting vampires and the like, dubbed the Polidorium.  One of the most fecund of all members of the family, he had at least five children:  Judith, Alex, Veronica (aka “Ronnie”), Francesca (aka “Frankie) and Robert (aka “Bobbie”).

Willow Rosenberg

Willow Rosenberg (1982- ?) might yet be unaware she is entitled to call herself a Van Helsing.  She became a highly skilled magic-user and the best friend/companion of the Slayer Buffy Anne Summers.

Stan Van Helsing (circa 1980-?) seems to be an example of how destiny can act independently of talent.  He quite accidentally helped end a supernatural threat as chronicled in a motion picture that bears his name.

Willamena Van Helsing (circa 1982-?) eventually found herself haunted by the ghost of her grandfather Abraham II and at his urging managed to destroy a powerful female vampire while attending college.  A very bowdlerized version of this story became the motion picture The Sexy Adventures of Van Helsing.

Unnamed Van Helsing #3 (?-?) ended up married to a man named Townsend.  They had a son named Richard.

Gustav Van Helsing (1925-?) was a considerable scholar of history and the occult, but seems to have left the vampire-hunting to his brother (and probably twin) Abraham III.  When he did start to fight vampires, he in particular went after the creature known as Alexander Lucard.  He had at his disposal a powerful talisman known as the Cross of the Magyars.  Gustav and his wife Margaret had at least one son, Klaus.

Abraham Van Helsing III (1925-1965) evidently was an active vampire slayer, as well as the grandfather of Eric Van Helsing who refers to him in Dracula: The Series.  He had an unnamed son and a daughter, Lena.

Noah Van Helsing (?-?) as the adopted son of August, and turned out to be an ally of the dhampir Blade.

Isaac Van Helsing (?-?) was a vampire hunter, as recorded in the film The Last Sect.  He bears a startling resemblance to his great-great-grandfather, Thomas Caine aka Dracula-Latos.

Malachi Van Helsing

Malachi Van Helsing (?-?) also hunted/hunts vampires as recorded in the film My Mom’s Dating a Vampire.

Integra Hellsing (1977-?) survived an assassination attempt by her uncle when she was only twelve years old.  She then went on to head a paramilitary anti-vampire/demon organization.  (See Hellsing)

Matthew Van Helsing (?-2000) maintained an antiques business while holding a powerful soul clone later known as Dracula-Judas prisoner.  When this creature escaped, Matthew sought to protect his daughter Mary, and in the process was murdered by the three new brides of the soul clone.

Conrad Van Helsing (1930-?) is both blind and psychic, and has had many encounters with both Dracula-Mordante as well as Vampirella.  He married Ruth Parrish Keogh and had two sons, Adam and Robert.

Kurt Van Helsing Sr. (1931-1968) and his wife Anna Ambroisius were murdered by vampires and the woman known as Vampirella framed for the crime.  The couple had three daughters—Rachel I, Jessica II and Vanessa—as well as a son, Kurt Jr.

Judith Van Helsing

Alex Van Helsing

Veronica “Ronnie” Van Helsing (1974-?) (see Sword of Dracula comic)

Francesca “Frankie” Van Helsing

Roberta “Robbie” Van Helsing

Richard Townsend (?-?) was a businessman turned into a vampire by Alexander Lucard.  He and his wife Eileen had two sons, Chris and Max.

Klaus Van Helsing (?-?) was also turned into a vampire by Alexander Lucard.  He bears a startling resemblance to Nicholas de Brabant, a medieval knight who became a Sutekhim vampire (see Forever Knight and Dracula: The Series).

Unnamed Van Helsing #4 (?-?) is only known as the son of Abraham III and father of Eric.

Lina Van Helsing (?-?) is a psychiatrist who seems to have encountered a Dacian vampire’s victims but did not recognize the signs.  It is possible she later traveled to America and went mad after a meeting of her own with the same vampiress dispatched (in theory) by Willamena Van Helsing.  (See Snakewoman and The Sexy Adventures of Van Helsing and Lust of Dracula)  She bears a resemblance to some women in the Karnstein family.

Mary Heller (?-2000) used her mother’s maiden name.  Living in New Orleans, she ultimately succumbed to Dracula-Judas, becoming a vampire.  Yet in the end she decided to follow her father’s path, fighting the undead.  [Note:  A fair number of Van Helsings of this generation ended up vampires]

Adam Van Helsing (1952-?) was an adult in the late 1960s and early 1970s.  It showed.  He entered into a relationship with Vampirella, fighting Dracula-Mordante.  Adam was good friends with Michelle Collins of Maine and her son Martin grew up referring to him as his uncle.  In time Adam claimed Martin to be his son, but this seems extremely unlikely due to dates.  Later, after Adam managed to defeat Dracula-Lejos, the two became instrumental (they thought) in destroying a Dacian vampire of the Karnstein family who was a kind of adopted daughter to the soul-clone.  (See Vampirella comics, Dark Shadows unfinished 2004 pilot, the film Nadja).

Robert Van Helsing (1958-1977) tracked down a nest of vampires that turned out to be led by a reformed Dracula-Latos!  This colony in the Arizona desert consisted mostly of undead who longed to stop killing and live in peace, but faced rebellion by younger, more feral vampires.  Sandy, a young vampires who fell in love with Robert, bit and turned him.  He then helped defeat the evil vampires.  (see Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat motion picture)

Rachel Van Helsing I (1950-1982) saw her parents murdered by vampires and was raised by the elderly vampire hunter Quincy Harker.  When Dracula-Prime seemed at long last defeated, she entered into a relationship with Frank Drake, the direct descendant of the Impaler himself.  It did not last but produced a daughter, Rachel II.  Upon resurrection Dracula-Prime turned her into a vampire, but after his defeat she persuaded a hero to destroy her. (see Marvel Comics)

Kurt Van Helsing Jr. (1952- ) defeated a Dracula soul-clone in the 1970s and went on to marry Mary Gibbons, the vampire’s target. (see The Curse of Dracula)

Jessica Van Helsing

Jessica Van Helsing II (1956- ?) was raised by her grandfather, Lorimar (see Dracula A.D. 1972)

Vanessa Van Helsing (1962) was a psychic who aided a team in hunting vampires and monsters. (see Night Force from DC Comics)

Sophie Townsend, nee Metternich (?-?) was the ward of Gustav Van Helsing, eventually falling in love and marrying Chris Townsend, the old man’s nephew.  Due to a strange set of circumstances, she was turned into a Varnean vampire but cured.  Many years later she was turned again, this time into an Orlockian and as a result was vastly powerful, taking the name Lilith and leading a very dangerous nest in Los Angeles.  She and Chris had two daughters, Christine and Amber. (see Dracula: The Series and 30 Days of Night sequel)

Christopher “Chris” Townsend (?-?) was a Van Helsing by blood but not name.  His father vanished and only eventually did the family learn he’d been turned by Alexander Lucard.  In time he married his Uncle Gustav’s ward, Sophie.  They had two daughters, Christine and Amber (see Dracula: The Series and the upcoming The Sisterhood)

Maximillian “Max” Townsend (1970 - ?) never knew his father.  He became like a second son to Gustav, and enthusiastically studied vampires. (see Dracula: The Series).  As an adult, changed his name to Jacob Van Helsing (see Bram Stoker’s Dracula’s Curse)

Eric V.H. and son

Eric Van Helsing (?-?) was a teacher in England whose wife at first did not believe his talk about vampires and the family history.  Then the soul-clone Dracula-Edgar and his family crossed their paths.  Ultimately, Eric was mesmerized to forget the existence of the undead and so was helpless when confronted by same.  His widow and son Jonathan or “Johnno” vowed to carried on in his memory. (see Young Dracula television show)

Martin James Collins (c. 1960 -?) ended up at the center of events in New York when his wife was bitten by the very unusual Dacian dhampir named Irina. (see the film Nadja)  Whether in fact Adam Van Helsing was indeed his father remains a little mysterious, but overall not at all likely.  Then again, Adam might have married Michelle Collins (Martin’s mother) at some point so it remains possible this describes their legal relationship.  Martin and Adam together exorcised the Collinsgreen estate in upstate New York, probably in the late 1990s (see 2004 Dark Shadows).

Rachel Corrigan, nee Van Helsing (?-?) looks amazing like her mother.  Widows at the same time her son Connor died, she and her daughter Kat eventually found themselves associated with a covert organization known as the Legacy.  As a direct descendant of both Abraham Van Helsing and Count Dracula, Rachel has demonstrated considerable abilities as a magic user. (see Poltergeist: The Legacy)

John Van Helsing (?-?) would seem to be the son of Kurt Jr., and whose widow Samantha is a vampire hunter with certain powers (and amnesia).  (see Helsing from Caliber Comics).

The Blood Countess

Few women in history ever inspired quite as much sheer terror as Erzebet Bathori, the so-called Blood Countess of the Carpathians  (7 August 1560 – 21 August 1614). 
Keep in mind the history of the Wold Newton Universe varies from our own.  Evidence against the Erzebet in this timeline remains suspect to say the least.  Achieved through torture by those who stood to profit from her disgrace, this "evidence" consisted of hearsay at best with all witnesses conveniently slaughtered.
 
However, the WNU version of this person proved much worse than even the wildest tales of her accusers.

Brian Lumley's novel Necroscope IV: Deadspeak revealed a hitherto-unsuspected aspect of Erzebet's story.  In the 12th century a vampire made himself a stronghold in Hungary.  This creature, Faethor Ferezcny, came not from this world nor that one but a weird alternate Earth known as Starside.  Vampires there are called Wamphyrie and a tenacious type they are.  Yet withing this world, hugely outnumbered by a people uncowed by their rule, the Wamphyrie nature changed, become more subtle and hidden over time.  "Anonymity equal Longevity" became their byword.  But it didn't always word, for Faethor's touch conveyed something of his evil and his lusts even when he didn't intend it.  So when he dallied with a noblewoman by the name of Elspa Bathori, some taint went into the flesh and manifested in later generations.  Indeed, Faethor claimed to have later 'married' his great-great granddaughter--the very Erzebet who more than any other made that name infamous!  Such actually might account for much, not least the fact that Erzebet Bathori proved such an unusual vampire when the time came.

As far as anyone can tell, she seemed to have been diabolically cruel even in life, and grew only moreso after her husband "died" (or faked his death).  She'd found that bathing in blood had a regenerative effect upon her flesh--surely a sign of the Wamphyrie taint.  The motion picture Immoral Tales was a perfect example of how she pursued fresh blood in this way.  So too did the motion picture Countess Dracula. Yet the closest to conveying the true depths to which the Countess sank was Night of the Werewolf which chronicled some of this woman's effort to stave off time.  In truth, the efficacy of blood began to fade and so she made a pact with the forces of darkness, the details of which remain somewhat obscure.  From various account, including the motion picture Blood Scarab it seems clear she allowed herself to be bitten by either Dracula-Prime or (more likely) one of his early soul-clones--this despite her own preference for the touch of women rather than men.  One possibility is Dracula-Matthias with whom her name has been sometimes coupled.  But the bite, coupled with her own magic and the Wamphyrie taint in her blood, insured that in the event of her death she could rise as a full-fledged nosferatu.  Meanwhile, still breathing, she managed to enslave a male of the cursed Daninsky family line, a man doomed to become a werewolf.  Yet she was caught in the end, sealed in her tomb in the prescribed manner by the Inquisition.

And yet, she escaped.  Preparing the way, she left behind clues for future demonic occultists as well as a medallion that could be used to resurrect her (much as the soul-clone Denrom did).  Exactly when this happened is a matter of conjecture, but during the occult craze in the late Victorian or perhaps as late as the 1920s seems likely.  She was nearly destroyed at this time, at the fangs and claws of a Daninsky werewolf but now she demonstrated a power only seen in the most powerful of vampires -- she transferred her essence into another body.  And it was in the form, traveling amid Europe during the tumultuous twentieth century she sought to hone her powers, increase her body's natural strength to be the equal of what she felt it should be.  After all, she had to flee the sun.  She lacked the ability to change her shape.  Were it not for her sorcerous abilities to take over a different body the Countess would have perished in the 1970s, when a car accident resulted in an accidental staking!  These events can be seen chronicled in the film Daughters of Darkness.  Fortunately for her, a young and strong victim proved available and nearby.  And in this new, more vigorous form the Countess' exploits included her decadent seduction/serial killing as seen in the 2004 film Eternal.  However, having been nearly destroyed so many times, the Blood Countess was on the lookout for finding a way to transcend the limitations of her vampire state.

Which brings us to the aforementioned film Blood Scarab, which chronicles the Blood Countess' arrival in Los Angeles circa 2008 and taking over a castle from her "husband" Dracula (actually Dracula-Lykos).  She then scoured occult tomes for an immunity to sunlight, finding it at last in a possible pact with an Egyptian Deity.  Things did not go as planned, for said Deity believed Erzebet meant to betray the pact and so infused a living mummy to put an end to the perfidious noblewoman.  In fact a member of the Renfield family would seem to have arranged this confrontation, which (seemingly) resulted in yet another death for the infamous Blood Countess.

But recall, she has died before.  It seems wildly unlikely this resourceful creature could be so easily dispatched, especially since she had so recently entranced/turned a tiny harem of young women--any one of whom might have served as a Host.

The Vampire Dimension

Where do vampires come from?
A perfectly legitimate questions, one might think.  One many have sought to answer.  But most often, said answers focus upon chronology--what events led to the undead walking among us?  Here, let us examine another direction.  What specific location might provide an answer?  In what place did vampires arise?

That answer proves rather more important than at first seems.

Modern scientific research indicates ours is not the only universe, that an unknown number of similar or wildly different existences lie a fraction of an atom's width away from us, separated by a gulf of infinitesimal width and very nearly infinite depth.  Mystics and scholars of the paranormal knew this already. In places like Sunnydale, California and Twin Peaks, Washington as well as a room in a mansion in Collinsport, Maine plus many others fissures between our reality and others can be found.  Some lead to extremely similar places, populated very nearly by the people we know but leading somewhat different lives (an entire division of the FBI has become devoted to one such alternate universe).  Others lead to eerie realms, some infused with light and love, while others seethe with pain and horror.  The latter have been dubbed "hell dimensions" by those who study same.  And they come in a wide variety indeed.  There is even a second hand report of a cosmos composed entirely of shrimp.

One such hellish realm apparently has become--or perhaps always was to some extent--the domain of vampires.  The heroic android known as Atomic Robo dubbed this place The Vampire Dimension.  It seems a good name.  Let us keep it.  Careful examination of available evidence now allows for a scenario that more or less explains the nature and general history of this place.

It all goes back to what Gallifreyans called "The Dark Times" when our universe was young and the sun around which our planet orbits might not even have started burning.  Many extremely predatory species arose in this ancient era, including the banished Carrionites and so-called Lonely Assassins.  But perhaps most feared of all were the Great Vampires.  They "came out of nowhere and swarmed...all over the universe."  Vast batlike humanoids they were, capable of draining the life out of whole worlds.  Among their powers were the ability to (at least sometimes) traverse universes.  One such, at the end of their great war with the Time Lords, escaped into an alternate reality called E-Space.  There, this creature was able to infect relatively normal human beings with vampirism.

But where did they come from?  It seems clear they arose in a world or reality suited for such a race--the Vampire Dimension.  Why did they leave?  Perhaps their numbers grew too vast, or other forms of vampiric life competed against them rather too successfully.  One real possibility remains that their reality faced invasion by supernatural vampires.  As the mysterious creature called Lilith (the original, a she-demon or some such, often called the Mother of Vampires, sometimes known ironically enough as Eve) lost purchase on the reality we know, she and her blood-drinking offspring sought a new, better place.  That universe they made their own.  Accounts by those who've visited it indicate that once it was home to a species of humanity, virtually identical to us.  Perhaps they were inter-dimensional travelers, either voluntarily or accidental (like the Telmarines) colonists in the earth-like regions.  Given that we're talking about something the size of a universe, they may not have even been noticed at first.  They certainly had time to build castles and cities.  One castle would apparently be location a human mystic banished his son after he became a vampire (as chronicled in the motion picture Van Helsing).  Interestingly, this last appeared to be in a frozen wasteland far from any human habitation.  Why would anyone build a castle there?

Herein lies two clues about the nature of the Vampire Dimension.  It apparently suffered some kind of ecological catastrophe, as confirmed by Atomic Robo.  The castle where Vladislas Valerius was banished obviously hadn't always existed in an area where humans could not survive.  One very likely scenario is that the Earth-like world where humans dwelt, probably in happy ignorance, finally attracted the attention of the vampires.  Quite likely, a version of what happened next may have become the basis for the motion picture Lifeforce, which depicted the start of a gigantic disaster for the human inhabitants there.  Storytellers from other worlds (such as our own) picked up on the psychic trauma of events less than a breath away, then retold what they sensed of that history--the army of batlike beings led by a beautiful, seductive female, come from the depths of space to feed upon and infect their world.  Other fictionalizations of such psychic projections--demonstrating the long defeat as vampires took over that world--may include I Am Legend and Stake Land and the trilogy written by Guillermo del Toro as well as Chuck Hogan, called The Strain.

But this brings up another interesting point about the Vampire Dimension.  Evidently, its timestream has very little relationship to our own.  If one were to open some kind of scientific or mystic portal into that place, where it emerged in that universe's timeline is random--or at least subject to rules we do not understand.  When the ensouled Turokian vampire known as Angel was banished to this realm, and emerged from it only months later in terms of our history, evidently decades if not centuries had passed for him.  Yet a corollary to this would apparently be that any portal so created does not "shift" in time while it exists.  It remains fixed from a point in time and proceeds from that point so long as the portal remains open.  One particularly vivid example of this is the blood mirror used by the Dracula-Edgar soul-clone to insure his family's transition into full vampires.  Such hints that the Vampire Dimension may well be the source of the mindless demons with which the soul is replaced in the Turokian bloodline and perhaps all vampires (in many ways undeath appears to be a physical disease whose major symptom is demonic possession).  This might help explain the existence of Doomsday Cults among some factions of the undead.  One suspects that the Atlantean sorcerors such as Varnae and Qu'ra whouse the Darkhold to make a new army of vampires used something like the Blood Mirror or opened a hellmouth to the Vampire Dimension.

Which brings up another aspect of the Vampire Dimension, probably the most disturbing one.  Entering or exiting that realm involves a lot of effort, but people demonstrably have done it.  But worse--the same thing seems to be happening from the other side!  My researches indicate the Vampire Dimension seems on the verge of being used up.  Much of it seems now devoid of life, drained by the various and sundry vampires that dwell there.  Entire worlds have died.  Consumed.  Left as husks.  A few areas remain relatively comfortable, even pleasant.  One such I believe was the home to Lady Rawhide (aka Anita Santiago), the 19th century adventuress who became the victim of Carmelita Rodriguez, a vampire sired by none other than Dracula Prime.  Sometime after the trauma of becoming a vampire, Lady Rawhide seems to have lost herself in the swirling instincts and drives of her new state.  I believe she became one of the many ubiquitous Brides that Dracula (and his soul-clones) kept in various castles.  Further, I believe she was pulled into the Vampire Dimension during an attempt by Dracula-Rominoff in 1897 to destroy a powerful amulet for good (as depicted in the motion picture The Monster Squad).  The tellers of that tale called that realm "Limbo" but if I am right, Anita Santiago/Lady Rawhide then fell under the sway of Lilith who convinced her the girl was her daughter as part of an overall plot of Lilith's own.  Anita even took a new name--Vampirella.  Her memories of this place became blended in her mind with those of past life, when in a previous incarnation she was a citizen of the planet Krypton (as was the individual known as Dracula-Mordante).  Along the way, it seems likely Lilith imbued 'Vampirella' with some of her own mighty power, making her invulnerable to sunlight as well as holy objects.  Sometime around 1970, she then returned to Earth with muddled memories.

With this in mind, here follows a rough outline of what we can infer about the history of this parallel space/time continuum.

Like realities, what became the Vampire Dimension began much as our own.  Certainly an Earth or an Earth-like world became home (one way or another) to human beings not noticeably different from ourselves.  Almost certainly other species called this reality Home also.  But for some reason vampiric life took hold somewhere within this universe and went unchecked.  In our history, the Time Lords defeated the Great Vampires.  Not so, there.  In time, the plague of vampires spread.  World after world fell, devoured.  In the equivalent of our XXth century, the vampires came to that Earth.  Even as dread Cthulhu once troubled the sensitive as He stirred in the sunken city of R'lyeh, so the onslought on that other Earth was felt in some way by artists on this one.

How long it took for that version of our world to fall we may never know.  Certainly less than a century.  Possibly only decades.  Or years.

And once it was done, maybe the original invaders left, seeking new races and planets to fatten upon  What they left behind were remnants of cities, the equivalent of New York and Hong Kong, Moscow and Jerusalem.  Left to rot while the undead scrounged for victims, eventually turning upon each other.  The ecology collapsed, or maybe without a high tech civilization generation global warming the next ice age came that much sooner.  It hardly mattered.  Eventually, that Earth no longer lived at all.  Yet it wasn't dead.  For vampires still roamed, still hunted one another for the blood in each others' veins.  Who knows for how long...

But in that future (or what we might call the future if we shared its timeline) hungry mindless ghosts of who knows how many different vampiric entities became the only inhabitants of the ruined Earth.  And in our own time, the history native to our world and universe, the horrible book known as the Darkhold was used to create a means for those demonic spirits to escape!  A coven of sorcerors used that book to make a disease, a pathogen of some kind (although whether they understood that concept remains debatable) which turns a human being into the host of such a vampire ghost from that other world.  Evidently, these ghosts truly are mindless.  They have instincts and drives, enough to overwhelm a weak personality, but no mind as such.  Victims of this terrible condition provide that, a mind which often goes insane.  At least in human terms.  But they aren't human any more.

Indeed, this makes the blood mirror of Dracula-Edgar an even more impressive artifact.  Clearly it serves as a a portal, giving the gnawing vampire wraiths of the Vampire Dimension's future a chance to find form and identity again--from those who've gazed into the mirror and are of the right bloodline.  An impressive magical achievement!  Clearly the Impaler did not waste his years of study at the Scholomance!

I am indebted to the researches of Christopher Nigro and others of the MONSTAAH website and organization as well as Professor John Small for his seminal "Kiss of the Vampire" and members of the Crossover Forum on Facebook without whom this article would have proven impossible.

Wolding Twilight

This is going to make some folks unhappy, but I'm finding it difficult not to include the Twilight novels into the WNU.  It belongs due to a solid link noted right here by James Bojaciuk.  Honestly, that some mythologists so dislike anything aimed at a primary audience of teenage girls (or whatever) to my mind simply cannot count as a factor in this.

Instead, let us examine precisely what the genuine problems of including the Twilight Saga might be.

First, the bloodline of vampires involved.  Actually, this one proves pretty easy to narrow down.  The Cullens (who are the vampires with whom we must deal at the moment) nearly always kill any human being they bite, but can (out of habit and rigid discipline) avoid human blood by feasting on animals.  More, they suffer little or no ill effects from sunlight.  In the books sunlight doesn't bother them at all, but they avoid it anyway--because they sparkle.  Leave the sparkling aside, all this pretty much matches up to the Dacian bloodline to which the Karnsteins belong. Yet there remain disparities. 

A Karnstein vampire in sunlight

The Cullens are much stronger and faster and more durable than any Karnstein.  More, we are told they never sleep whereas Karnsteins evidently most certainly do.  And as far as we know, no other Dacian vampire sparkles.  Unless we consider the question of fictionalization.

Storytellers tend to exaggerate for effect.  In fact the extreme degree of personal strength and power demonstrated in Stephanie Meyer's book would seem exactly the kind of thing an author might bump up.  Just as Superman went from being able to leap tall buildings to easily capable of picking up and throwing a white dwarf star, so the vampires in Forks could easily be a lot less Kryptonian.  When you think on it, that detail makes zero difference to the story. Neither does the sparkling.

If we then identify the Cullens as a group of Dacian vampires who're trying to be "good" a la Nicholas Knight, the vampires of Sundown, etc. what of the other undead in the series?  Who are the Volturi?  Most likely some upper level members of the Myskatos Sect (as identified by Marvel Comics in The Death of Dracula) aka the Corvini Coven (so-called in the Underworld films and novels), rumor of which may have suggested the Camarilla to White Wolf Publishers, creators of the role-playing game Vampire: The Masquerade and later Vampire: The Requiem.  It seems clear from these and other sources that some kind of social order exists among the undead, rather loose in structure but iron-clad when it comes to certain matters--especially allowing the bulk of humanity to realize vampires exist.  Within this social structure Dracula would appear to be a monarch--preferably an absolute one but (as ever) having to contend with efforts by other undead to get away with what they can.  My theory, then, is that the Volturi (named for the town where

Death Dealer

they make a base, Volturra Italy) are the equivalent of upper level aristocrats under the vampire 'king' Dracula.  Most likely their concern about Edward and Bella successfully bringing for a child stemmed (officially) from fears over the creation of yet another dhampir.  These beings, such as Blade, have often proven extremely dangerous vampire hunters.  Of course we also know that the leader of the Volturi hoped to "collect" some members of the Cullens for his court.  In which case the Volturi 'guard' are essentially what in another context we would know as Death Dealers.

As for the other vampires in the tale, they are simply other undead of various bloodlines, pursuing their own agendas.  Much is made of Forks' cloud cover, which might account for why various undead were willing to act during daylight (if indeed they did any such thing).  The Wolf Tribe of shape-shifters offer no real impediment to the story's inclusion.  Actually, given the Corvini centuries-long war with werewolves they justify the Volturi's reaction even further.

Having read the Rip Haywire strip used as a crossover, I must also point out the lack of anything I could call sparkling.  At least I didn't spot it.  But then, I can also pretty easily explain why one specific vampire might sparkle--namely his presence at an explosion near some diamond dust.  The dust became embedded in his skin and there's just too much of it to feasibly remove.  Voila!


And there's also a comic book called Female Force that explains how Stephanie Meyer is under the control of one of Dracula's soul-clones, in an effort to diffuse fear of the undead (Many thanks to the aforesaid Mr. James Bojaciuk for uncovering this tidbit as well as the Rip Haywire comic)!  One the basis of the above, here therefore is a scenario to explain the true history behind Twilight:

Carlisle Cullen

We know a movement exists among some of the undead to live in harmony with human-kind.  At least two of Dracula's soul-clones actually adhere to this idea (Grimpod as well as Latos).  The Sutekhim Nicholas Knight as well as Turokians Angel and Spike plus the Varnean undead Barnabas Collins do as well.  An entire colony of vampires in Arizona have dedicated themselves to exactly such a lifestyle (as chronicled in Sundown The Vampire In Retreat).  Evidently two other covens do as well--one of rather sirenesque women who make their home in Alaska, and the wandering Cullen family, who sometimes make their haven in Forks.  The Cullens are quite clearly Dacians and their sire Carlisle an elder.  He personally turned four others--Edward, Esmee (who became Carlisle's mate), Rosalie and Emmett (who became a couple).  In time their coven was joined by two others, Alice and her mate Jasper--evidently both Dacians and the former (like Edward) possessing extraordinary psychic gifts.

Sometime after his turning during the 1918 Influenza Epidemic, Edward left Carlisle's side seeking to hunt murderous humans.  We can guess it was at this time he suffered an accident involving an explosion and diamond dust.  Quite probably he returned home after this humiliation, when he became The Vampire Who Sparkles (mind you, how diamond dust might have interacted with his vampire physiology remains an intriguing question).

At one point, the Cullens encountered and made a treaty with the wolf-based shape-shifting protectors of a Native American tribe in the vicinity of Forks, Washington.  Many decades later, one of this tribe fell in love with the local sheriff's daughter, Bella Swan (one suspects her father was in his youth a dirt bike racer who accidentally became his own great great grandfather due to a time travel experiment).  What caused a problem was when Bella met and fell in love with Edward Cullen, and he likewise fell for her (part of the initial attraction may have been his inability to read her mind--a side effect of her father's time travel--Edward even

The start of the Swann Clan

notes in Midnight Sun how difficult it is to "read" Bella's father).

One should note this means the fictional retelling of Charles Lyle Swann in the film Timerider (with took place five years before Bella's birth) made him seem almost twice his age at the time.  Likewise, he must have been a few years older than his wife Renee rather than high school sweethearts (probably this was a projection by Stephanie Meyer, echoing her own marriage at age 21).

Leaving the details of the love triangle aside, Edward ended up marrying Bella and making her pregnant.  Vampires generally are not fertile, although this might be a little less rare than it seems.  Circumstances being what they are, the opportunity for non-Corvini or non-Wamphyri vampires to impregnate human women doesn't seem to happen that often.  Also, just because an opportunity exists doesn't mean the woman will conceive.  Yet it does happen.  Sometimes.  Whether Bella's status as the offspring of a time traveler (see River Song for one example) had anything to do with it remains to be seen.

Their child would be a dhampir, like the notorious vampire-hunters Blade and Eve as well as Lilith "Lilly" Munster and a few others.  Coupled with the Cullens' alliance with a race of beings not unlike werewolves, this combination of events brought the attention of the Volturri, almost certainly high-level elders within the Myskatos Sect, one or more of whom might be a Corvini vampire (who have a long-standing feud/war with werewolves, their former slaves).

We don't know what precisely happened next.  But Dracula Prime or one of his soul-clones saw a potential in this story to influence the mainstream of humanity.  Most likely the example of Lestat's increasingly fictionalized versions (eventually becoming entirely imaginary) of his biography as written by Anne Rice served as inspiration.  A Mormon housewife with some undeveloped writing talent became the focus of the Impaler's will.  She even admitted in interviews to the dreams which led her to write the books.  Her world-view became the lens through which she saw and related this story.  Edward sparkled, so in her mind all vampires did.  She herself almost certainly waited until marriage to consummate her relationship, so naturally her Bella and Edward followed suit (which may have happened in the real world as well--it remains perfectly possible).  Likewise she gave to "her" characters the happy ever after ending she so ardently desired for them.  Eternal happiness together, an immortal child who would mature into a young woman, reconciliation with Jacob, the Volturri in effect giving up with none of their friends having to die, etc.

But what really happened?  Well, in Rip Haywire Edward seems to have a human girlfriend.  But she's blonde.  Poetic license?  Or a hint that Bella may be no more?  Where are the rest of the Cullens?  It isn't as if Edward needs to spend every day with his family.  On the other hand... the ending in the book really does seem too good to be true.  The Myskatos as a group react very badly to disobedience or what they see as challenges to authority.  Corvini elder Viktor killed his own daughter for mating with a werewolf.

We.  Don't.  Know.  Bella and her Edward might well be raising their half-vampire child somewhere right now, along side the Cullens and a protective pack of semi-werewolves.  Or the whole group may have been decimated.   Or something in between.  The truth, as some have said, is out there--but that doesn't mean it is always easy to find.

Elegant Warlords: The Corvini

I am grateful to the Underworld Wiki as well as MONSTAAH and The Crossovers Forum without which research on this article would have proven far more difficult, perhaps impossible.

Motion pictures, novels and comic books under the general heading of Underworld tell the story of a specific bloodline of the undead.

Selene & Selene

I maintain that within the (very) ficitonalized tales from Marvel Comics lie numerous hints of the Corvini, their activities and members.  One obvious such, mentioned in the Curse of the Mutants storyline, must be the Myskatos Sect--a faction of vampires who embrace technology and modern business techniques, preferring to function "behind the scenes" rather than seek overt political power.  Among other things they maintain a large public hospital whose high security allows members a haven as well as a source of blood.  This easily corresponds with what we know of the Corvini Coven (as it is called in the motion pictures).  Another bit of circumstantial evidence is the Marvel villain named Selene, a supposed mutant "energy vampire" whose lifespan extends centuries (eventually becoming the Hellfire Club's Black Queen).  Although on the surface the two appear quite dissimilar, in other ways they are remarkably alike.  Given Marvel's tendency to make up lurid details (see Legion of the Strange) for the purposes of story, this at least seems a possible point wherein the Corvini vampires and their faction interacted with characters established as part of the WNU.

Lady Holmwood & Erika

Another example is in the character of Lady Holmwood whose fate was chronicled in the BBC 2006 production of Dracula, telling one part of the multi-pronged effort in 1909 for Dracula Prime to have his revenge against the families who thwarted him in 1887.  While it is by no means conclusive, some evidence suggests that Lady Holmwood, after becoming a vampire, ended up as the concubine to Lord Kraven of the Myskatos Sect in Budapest nearly a century later (the novelization contradicts this, claiming Erica had been a vampire less than a human lifetime, but doesn't really specify what that means--making it possible that detail is a mistake)..

Far more suggestive, however, are events involving the so-called Vladislas soul-clone and the enigmatic being known as the Right Hand of God, i.e. Gabriel Van Helsing in the film Van Helsing.  Elements of that story contain numerous parallels with the Corvini.  Among the most obvious is that the Dracula-Vladislas (and his

Hybrid vampire form

three brides) showed the same startling hybrid form as Marcus Corvini--a huge humanoid bat.  This, we are told, stems from the unique genetic heritage of the descendants of Hungarian warlord Alexander Corvinus.  One of his sons was bitten by a vampire, another by a werewolf while a third remained human.  Most humans could not become either vampire or werewolf from the bite of a Corvini, but descendants of Alexander's third child could.  Dracula-Vladislas counted among his (human) relatives a young man of the Valerius family who became a werewolf of the same type of the Corvini lycanthropes (i.e. Lycans).  The sister of this young man also bore a startling resemblance to the Death Dealer Selene.  One is left with the strong suspicion that House Valerius descended from the immortal Alexander Corvinus (much as virtually all members of the Karnstein family have the potential to become vampires of a specific bloodline).
Then there is the television show Castle in which the title character--a successful author who has done lots of research into conspiracy theories and fringe movements as well as obscure lore--casually mentions his knowledge of the Vampire-Lycan War.  Another mythologist, James Bojaniuk, also pointed out:

Underworld uses the exact same wolf howl from An American Werewolf in London; Underworld: Evolution uses the werewolf transformation from An American Werewolf in London. These two bits of evidence seem to say that the already-included American Werewolf in London takes place in the same universe as the Underworld series.

Another detail that bears mentioning--Alexander Corvinus was the sole survivor of a plague in 5th century Hungary.  He emerged immortal from the experience, or so the story goes.   Methinks this might be something of an (understandable) assumption by observers.  We don't in fact know if his survival made him immortal,

Corwin of Amber

only that he did in fact survive.  I posit he was already immortal, or at least extremely long-lived by human standards, due to his paternal heritage.  Alexander Corvinus may have been the son of the Amberite Prince Corwin,  whose natural lifespan is certainly measured in centuries if not millennia.  Corwin visited Earth on many occasions, once during the Black Death (which he survived, although it left him with amnesia so he wandered the world for centuries, an unaging warrior with no idea who he might be--which brings up another wild possibility, that of he or one of his Shadows being the Left Hand of God, aka Gabriel Van Helsing!).   Although not particularly promiscuous, Corwin hardly could be called ascetic and we know he ended up with at least one offspring of whom he initially knew nothing.  Might he have impregnated a Hungarian woman sometime in the fifth century?  If so, it would help explain much of how Alexander Corvinus (note the name) came to survive that plague.

Still another--and not at all mutually exclusive possibility--remains.  Corvini vampires as well as the Vladislas clone possess one extremely unusual trait--fertility.  Male and female vampires of this bloodline can have children, with each other or with others.  Now and then other vampires (such as the Lejos and Mordante

Dracula-Vladislas & Brides

soul-clones) have shown the abiity to impregnate mortal women.  Others have managed to do it with mystical aid (the method used by Dracula Prime).  But for a vampire female to become pregnant, much less bring the child to term, hardly ever happens.  Among Corvini the evidence suggests this is very nearly the norm.  Indeed, since so few humans can even become Corvini vampires this might well be the primary method by which they increase their numbers!  Dracula-Vladislas encountered some difficulty, but one wonders if that is not because of his unique situation.  If indeed the Vladislas family are descended from Alexander Corvinus, as seems likely, it does not follow that the man eventually known as Dracula-Vladislas became a vampire of the Corvini line.  He might well have been bitten by some other type of vampire and his latent genetic heritage manifested in a way that was not seen again until the early 21st century with the mutation of Marcus Corvinus (as seen in Underworld Evolution).  We have no reason to suppose his 'brides' were related to the Corvinus family, so their ability to reproduce was seriously flawed, requiring help from Dr. Frankenstein to make their offspring viable (see the Van Helsing motion picture).

One more thought--also not at all exclusive to what is mentioned above.  One other breed of vampires demonstrated fertility, extreme damage from exposure to sunlight (several types of vampire find sunlight harmful and/or uncomfortable only) and radical shape-shifting.  I speak of the alien Wamphyri, from the alternate Earth called Starside, a handful of whom were banished to this world over the past few thousand years.  One of them, perhaps not coincidentally, vanished and was presumed destroyed by pirates in the 5th century near the Black Sea.  Nearly the same time and location as the plague from which Alexander Corvinus alone survived.  One must wonder if there is some connection?