The Hellfire Club

Prologue


The origins of the Hellfire club go back to Ancient times. The sources we have, placed the creation around 120 BC by a Roman named Lucius Verninus. The sources say, he was attacked by what he calls a, “Lamia” while on the road to Venetia. He made it his mission to hunt down this Lamia. He killed it with a stab to the heart. It was after this, he began researching the superstition surrounding such creatures. He spent ten years of his life investigating them and found other people who knew these creatures.

It was with them, he created his little militia. They were devoted to ridding the Roman world of these creatures. Particularly the blood suckers. The Lamia and the Werewolves. He reported large concentrations of Werewolves in the forested areas of the Greek province, Arcadia. The Lamia were scattered throughout the Roman lands, but seemed to be concentrated largely near Rome and Athens respectively.

It wasn’t long before the militia caught the eye of the Roman Senate. But, instead of being declared outlaws as they expected, they were given private talks with the Senators. The Senate had long been attempting to curb these monsters, while keeping their existence unknown or in mythology and superstition. They had been gathering a small army specifically dedicated to killing the monsters, which they placed under the more experienced leadership of Lucius. They were kept secret. Outfitted as soldiers, but something much more. They defended the Empire from these threats until the fall of the Empire, where they disappeared from history. But the fact they continued to operate is very clear. It is stated that men roamed the ex territories of the Roman Empire, wearing unknown emblems and armours. We believe it to be our group, hiding and awaiting a time to be glorious once more.

They suddenly reappear. In the year of 1094. According to the sources written by them at this time, they have unified all the rogue groups into one. They have bases in Germany, Greece, Egypt and England. They have funding and aid from the governments of the various nations and have managed to cut down the populations of the monsters. They continue to operate in relative peace for around 200 years. In 1300, they begin noting down a sort of organisation of the Lamia, which they are starting to call vampyres. They note that during a routine patrol through the Teutoberg forest, they find a small gathering of wooden buildings, several dead animals and humans gathered in the centre of the makeshift camp. They find no trace of life, and swiftly burn the site down and cover up traces of the dead. They keep the site under watch, and soon discover Vampyres returning at late night.

They discover more sites like these, and in some cases even whole villages or towns under the grip of a vampyre group. They crack down hard on the Vampyres, murdering entire nests of them. Around the fall of the Byzantine Empire, the order noticed increased numbers of Werewolf activity with the arrival of the Turks into Europe. This encourages them to abandon their headquarters in Egypt and England and gather a single, united front in Eastern Europe. It wasn’t too successful. They were driven out of Germany and Eastern Europe, but continued activities against the Werewolves in select areas of Greece. Although, records of these Greek raids stopped around the late 15th Century. During the Renaissance Period, the activities of the Vampires picked up. This caused the group to take drastic action against the Vampire colonies in Italy. Many small villages were razed to the ground in defiance of this newfound organisation amongst the Vampires.

But it didn’t stop them. The order was pushed as far West as the America’s, where they attempted to set up a new reputation in the demon filled uncharted lands. By the early 1700’s, they had a formidable sized colony in Northern America, and large presences in Spain, France and the UK. It was around 1734 that they coined the name, “The Hellfire Club”. Sources point the creator of the name to one of two people. The German, Jurgen Kistvaller or the Dutchman, Piet Zeledenthuis. The sources indicate a very jubilant time up and down the order, with the elimination of a Vampire nest that contained the Vampires leader. He was known as the “The Reaper” and is said to have been 500 years old by the sources. This was later seen to spark a series of brutal retaliations in which hundreds of order members were hunted down, and entire towns wiped out.

Adding to the large spark of suspected Vampire activity in Eastern Europe around this time, the Order made the decision to recall some of the American based members to head to Transylvania and investigate. In the year 1748, the investigators return reports that the vampire influctuations are genuine, and that they should try and establish bases in Transylvania, Bulgaria and Hungary to combat this. Their request was accepted, and we now know, that the huge Vampire superstition in Eastern Europe is down to the order, who managed to recruit over 10,000 recruits into the order.

In the year 1824, the order vacated Eastern Europe, after having successfully driven Vampiric colonies out, and came to deal with the complaints of great numbers of werewolves and vampires in the UK. Now, in the year 1888, there are Vampire colonies springing up along North America and Ireland. And there is still the matter of Jack to be dealt with. God help his next victim…

Sounds like a idea I had years ago, but it's much further along than I got.

I can't help but chuckle about the name, as when I saw Hellfire club, I instantly thought of the one from X-men.

Good so far, even if it was just background.

Awesome.

Lets see if you can keep this one going.

Vigil wrote:Sounds like a idea I had years ago, but it's much further along than I got.

I can't help but chuckle about the name, as when I saw Hellfire club, I instantly thought of the one from X-men.

Good so far, even if it was just background.

The X-men one is the first thing I thought when I saw the title. Nice background. Can't wait till the actual thing.