Let's Make A Setting

The pathway to the afterlife was blocked off in order to create the ghosts needed to repair reality.

The druids and the nature worshippers were the first to know the vampires had come into our world, which is why they were the first to die.

>In some places, where reality is thin and life dwindling, the Black Domain can start to bleed through into the world, little pockets of nothingness cropping up where decay is ranpant.

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Because people don't develop proper souls until twenty, that's when they receive their "true" name. Before that, they just have nicknames.

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-There is a "Catholic Church" like religion that dominates most of human society who, rather than worshipping gods, engage in a sort of ancestor veneration, guarding cemeteries and the houses of the old and dying.

-(my brother thought of this)
A rampant disease from the Black Domain has infected most of the people living in urban areas today, with symptoms mimicking the Bubonic Plague. Various levels of natural resistance are there, killing some children in infancy, and others in various stages of their lives, and others still are only cosmetically affected by it.

Does this mean most people who have children spend the majority of the child's first 20 years strengthening their soul?

If there's a natural way to grow a soul (aging, but it must be something more than that) then there must be more things one can do. Muscles grow through physical exertion, minds grow through mental exertion, do souls grow through spiritual exertion?

Perhaps constant spiritual exercises, such as meditation and the like, can help to strengthen one's soul prior to it fully developing. Its definitely something to think about, that's for sure.

>Living things drain the life from the fabric of the world around them in order to perpetuate their own existence.

Spiders could technically be considered Vampires, user. As shown in your image.

Vampires are actually large spider-like creatures but they're capable of wearing a magically created fleshy skin-suit that makes them appear human.

This flesh suit greatly reduces their power, which is what allows ghosts to kill them

>Vampire "nests" are large weaves of black webbing, constructed from harvested life energy and mortal suffering.
>It is in these lightless dens that the fiends are at their strongest, unbound from form and the bindings of reality.

The Ivory Galleon
It is unknown where these massive, boney, possibly living sky ships came from, any sightings of them are the hulking vessels cutting through the clouds like a knife, and any time they leave, they simply sink into the clouds again and vanish completely.

There have only been three known Ivory Galleons in the world, documented by the unique shapes of the vessels as well as the unique assortment of possible buildings atop the ships body, those that have sighted the ships believe the massive structures atop of the ship are cities.

Though their appearance is one of horror and awe, the Ivory Galleons are something of a light of hope, as the vessels almost always appear above locations that are under some immense calamity or disaster. The Ivory Galleons split through the clouds, and from the floating fortresses come the White Things, tall, eldritch creates coated in armor of bone like ivory, wielding a vast array of armaments. The White Things will appear like a wind from the vessel, descending on jagged wings of white wood and tackle any threat that is present, silently and viciously carving through any creature that is threatening the local people. Not even the most vicious of Vampire hordes can stand against the White Things. There have been reports of White Things rescuing civilians from danger, providing some unknown medical techniques on fatally wounded victims, saving their lives, and even putting out fires that are raging out of control with bizarre magics. Just as quickly as White Things appear to provide help, they will return to their vessel once the danger has subsided and the civilians are able to stand on their own feet safely, and then the Ivory Galleons will vanish back into the clouds.

man, those nests have gotta be fucking terrifying.

>The only thing in recorded history to ever not only survive entering a massive Vampire nest, but also destroying it completely was a ghost that went by the moniker "Brave Specter"
>Witnesses report seeing the dark robed spirit marching into the valley where the Vampire nest was located, and what followed was a full weak of horrifying shrieks, howls and other inhuman noises. By the dawn of the next week, Brave Specter returned, declaring the nest "cleaned out". Soldiers who surveyed the location discovered nothing remaining of the Vampires and their nest, as if they just vanished into thin air.

Thanks, ghosts.

Internal alchemy.

Areas corrupted by vampires lose color. A person or object spending too much time there acquires a skin in shades of grey.

Colorful tattoos, clothing and pigments increase the time one can stay in vampire nests.

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>As they grow stronger, glutting themselves the flesh of the cosmos and life abundant, Vampires are known to grow and change, shedding their repulsive shells and emerging anew.
>It is thought that this is the means by which these terrors draw themselves closer to the Black Domain and the darkness within.

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> particularly clever vampires infiltrate society and attempt to create unrest and distrust of ghosts in order to cripple societies ability to deal with vampires

>Even with their skill at subterfuge, there is always some tell that gives Vampires away whilst wearing human guises.

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>common tests to see if someone is a vampire have become polite greetings in most places

>Ghosts sometimes work with living partners, empowering them to fight the vampires

>Of course, Ghost and mortal partnerships have their own problems that are not related to Vampires.
>Specifically, most problems stem from the fact that Ghosts are not human.
>At all.

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The story takes place in an alternate universe, where vampires and ghosts have always existed, or at least as long as they can recall. Humanity has had to learn over the course of many thousands of years to survive within the world they inhabit.

(I'm thinking late medieval, at present)

The fabric of the world is literal fabric, in this case. Ghosts are excellent weavers and seamstresses

You know, Ghosts are probably a more benevolent version of the Fae. Childish, playing constantly and engaging in numerous jokes and pranks, but piss them off, or commit atrocities before them, and expect to meet a most painful demise along with your entire line.

going off this, the stronger someone is depends on how much they want to and try to perpetuate their existence. The more they strive to be something the more powerful they become.

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Captain Hyu Hodini, known by the nickname "VampBane"
A mysterious and reclusive soldier who leads one of the most powerful armed forces in the land. With a survival rate in only a handful of years, a soldiers life in this land is extremely fragile, yet the good captain has survived for more than a decade, how is that? Not only is he an incredibly skilled fighter and commander, but he has a mysterious quality, in that, no matter what, he is immune to the Vampire's life draining nature. No one knows if it's some magic accessory he has, some spirit ally, or just the nature of his blood, but he has bravely led his men into the harshest battles, whether it was against their fellow man, or the beasts of the dark.

>Has "Hodini" as a part of his name.
>Has the title of "VampBane
>Is immune to Vampire life-draining bullshit.
>Leads whole armies against the infernal hordes.
Sounds like the kind of guy I would share a drink with.

I imagine these lands are full of great warriors

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The lance, or spear, are the official symbols of Vampire slayers, due to their long reach, they are more capable of striking at the monstrous creatures, avoiding their long limbs and jagged fangs. Thus, there is a vast assortment of lance and spear weapons for various situations and enemies, and to wield a lance or spear is to be seen as a proud warrior who fights for the life of all.

>Some lances have also been specially enchanted with Astral power, specifically designed to oppose the Black Domain and its forces.
>Some of these weapons even come to have Ghosts choosing to inhabit them, greatly boosting their abilities, and making them into near-unbreakable weapons of mystical might to use against Vampires.

since living things destroy the fabric of the world to live and destroy the fabric of the black domain when they die, the existence of living things damns both worlds to a slow extinction. Ghosts destroying vampires to repair the world's fabric and vampires killing living things to repair the black domain will only determine which plane falls first unless all the world's life is ended.

>The Feather Brand Knights are one of the famous Vampire hunter brigades, most well known for their use of The Eight Heavens, eight incredibly powerful spears, believed to be inhabited by eight divine spirits of immense power. However, no reported sighting has ever been recorded of these supposed weapons, as the Knights are incredibly secretive of these weapons, to the point of clearing out any witnesses in the area while they work. The most any report has ever witnessed of them working is a bright light coming from the distance where the Knights were, and a loud sound, as if several voices were screaming from far away.

Vampires that take the form of spiders? That sounds pretty neat

It does. It also gives me an excuse to post all of these spider-monster images.

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Theoretically a proper balance between the vampires and ghosts would allow both worlds to exist since the destruction and renewal would be balanced, bonus points if the total eradication of vampire would have negative effects of baseline reality

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>hundreds if not thousands of people on Veeky Forums
>not one of them can write

Some of us are trying to:
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P.S. More people there would be nice

>plz go to my autistic general
no, le writefaggotry is what spawned nobledark 40k and the abomination that is 1d4chan

Then don't complain sir, and make something better yourself.
And if you do, I would be interested to read it :)

But if you are incapable of making anything better, then don't complain, dear sir

>And thus, did the tremendous faggot rise from the stygian depths, to snuff out all light and hope and to bathe the world in the eternal darkness of its dread faggotry.
>And from its twelve-thousands maws, that gobbled cocks and souls in equal measure, did it intone in an eldritch tongue not meant for mortal ears. In an abyssal tongue older than the material realm, did the dread faggot speak the closest thing that mortal minds could come to understanding it's true name.

>"user".
>And thus the world wept.
There. That good enough for you?

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there is a monastic order that is concerned with transforming a human and a spirit into a unified being of martial prowess, with the spirit often being manifested as a form of invisible psychic force.

>Most attempts to create such hybrids however, have failed, and the few "semi-successful" attempts, merely begat maddened monstrosities that attacked all in their path.

In my "everyone is bugs" campaign I totally didn't riå off from hollow knight spiders are essentially vampires.
>Anti-social and far between but near and in control of other groups of insects
>Powerful and long lived
>Fears the day
>Wears long, dark capes made out of the finest silk
>SACC THE BLAAD, BLEH!

They also have a strange quirk of overloading their brains and freezing up if there's too much going on, so throwing a bunch pebbles onto the floor the spider looses a few seconds "trying to count them all"

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In the future, Faith--the ability for humans to imagine and believe wholeheartedly in the impossible--is the engine which drives interstellar society. Literally. In the core of every FTL drive is a monk suspended in a permanent coma. In his sleep he continues to pray and communes with the spirits of Akasha to twist the laws of physical reality itself and move faster than the speed of light. It can even be weaponized in the form of Faith Disruptors, which can overwhelm the fidelity of all but the most powerful individuals, essentially disproving their entire existence.

Why do these threads always start with vampires?

> Sometimes, those mortals with great wealth and power who sense their end coming will take drastic measures to prevent themselves from becoming ghosts - seeing those doomed to repair the vampires damage for all time as beneath them.
>By undergoing a ritual involving wrapping themselves in bandages woven partly from the webbing taken from vampires, the mortal traps their soul inside their bandaged human form, preventing them from becoming a ghost.
>The exposure to vampire webbing drains their body's life-force and fosters a reliance upon it to continue existing causing their body to appear as a mummified, desiccated husk of what it once was.
>These 'Mummies' are often reclusive, preferring to spend their newfound longevity accumulating more wealth and power from behind the scenes and are often unseen leaders and benefactors, ruling from the top of a pyramid of followers.

This is why they wear sheets of fabric over their ghostly visage.

>Literal white sheet ghosts are the best thing to fight horrifying giant spider vampires

Technically, they would be Ghosts wearing comfy cloth blankets for most, and others looking like something Frankenstein would dream up.

>Moonweed is a flower that grows only in very select areas across the world, areas where the influence of vampires is felt the least. It is unusual in that it draws almost none of the fabric of the world to grow, and grows with vibrant, silver petals. When these precious flowers die, they add far more to the world than they removed. It is unknown where this power comes from, but in this blighted world, such a boon is not oft questioned.

>It is said that eating a moonweed flowerbud grants some protection from vampires, and pigments and paint made from their crushed petals make wards they cannot cross.

>None know of any glades where they grow though. Or if they do, they keep them secret lest the vampires make moves to destroy them.