Virehnai Origin Story

“The very first of us, known as the “First Flames,” died to this life and rose to another in the year 2830 BCE, in the ancient Egyptian city of Memphis, when it was called Hut-Ka-Ptah. The city worshipped the god Ptah, and the goddess Neith. Ptah was the god of artisans and craftworkers; Neith was a mother goddess and seen as the great weaver of time.”

“Khnurn was a merchant who had many contacts. He sold items the local artisans made to visiting traders, while buying the visitors’ goods from faraway places and selling them locally. He had a good life and was wealthy. His brother Zuberi was a priest of Ptah, and a scribe.”

“Khnurn had a concern; it lurked in the back of his mind, and he discussed with Zuberi. What good was all your wealth if you couldn’t use it to have better lives and more power than everyone else? Khnurn had a fair amount of wealth and power he had amassed. Did he want to spend eternity keeping company with Pharaohs and Gods, or did he want to be forced to spend it with people he saw as riff raff; people who had nothing, and spent their whole lives toiling so they could finally live better in the afterlife?”

“These thoughts kept Khnurn up at night, as he tried to figure out a way that he could have not just life in the afterlife, but true wealth and power there, as well. He wanted his afterlife to be an upgrade. He didn’t want to share it with people whose newfound abundance, to his mind…still represented poverty. He didn’t socialize with those people in this life; it was one thing to sell to them; but why would he want to spend eternity with them? He wanted what he felt he was entitled to; what befitted his elevated station in society that his wealth brought.”

“Khnurn and Zuberi discussed it at length, and the two of them hatched a plan with their wives, and included several people of their acquaintance who they’d talked their plan up to. As a priest familiar with magic, it fell to Zuberi to create the spell that would accomplish their aim. He’d spent several days in a cave, apart from others, seeking the blessing and direction of the gods. He only brought with him water, his scribe kit, and a simple hunting knife. How the spell and the design he used came about, felt like divine providence and the active blessing of the Gods. He had sat here in that cave, and the spell and a design, full of power, had come unbidden to him…as a complete ritual, in an instant. He saw it in his mind; he knew how to use the spell and the design even as he saw it.”

“He carved the design into the handle of the hunting knife he had with him and drew the hieroglyphs onto the blade. He also chiseled them into the wall. At the moment he saw the design and the spell, Zuberi also knew they would complete the spell here, in the cave. He stood back, looked at his work chiseled roughly into the wall, and was satisfied that he’d captured what he had seen. It would be an intense and difficult magical rite that, if successful, would allow them all to skip the normal process surrounding death. Instead, they would become transfigured spirits, a cross between human and god, with great magical power like the gods they served, and they would be as gods in this life. Even more, the journey to the afterlife, when death finally came for them, would be simpler, and they would merely transfigure into it, and go wherever the gods themselves dwelled, avoiding judgment and Ammit.”

“The day came when they were ready. It would happen at the full moon, as the first blush of pinks and orange crested the horizon, kissing the landscape as the new day began. The surrounding cliffs and the cave they were in had a natural lightness and beauty that stood starkly in contrast to the magic they were about to perform. They each used the hunting knife Zuberi gave them, inscribed with hieroglyphs and the design carved into the handle to cut their wrists deeply, and bled into a chalice marked with spells, hieroglyphs, and their names. The others who joined them in the cave comprised three other priests and a priestess, who had no clue that their lives - both current and eternal - were about to be forfeit as a sacrifice when they shed their blood in the same way and into the chalice. Once they had all bled into it, Zuberi, in his priestly role, cast the spell, and a red mist formed above the chalice, as they watched, rapt. Each took the chalice and repeated the words that Zuberi spoke, and drank deeply of the blood it contained.”

“Shortly, all of them were gagging, gasping for air, clawing at their throats, panicking and afraid. Zuberi’s last thought was, ‘This wasn’t supposed to happen!’ The last thing any of them remembered was slipping into darkness as they died.”

“Later that evening, as the moon rose, four of the eight who’d assembled that morning awoke: Khnurn and Zuberi, and their respective wives, Renenet, and Sati. They awoke to the overstimulation of their senses, all heightened to the point of madness, and a burning thirst that the water they brought wouldn’t slake. Thus began their new lives as something ‘other’ than what they previously had been.”

“Our first ancestors were alive, but not. They weren’t exactly human anymore, but they weren’t gods either. They had a form of life, but quickly learned that death would not come easily. They discovered being outside in daylight in the desert was horribly uncomfortable. The desert sun caused their pale skin to burn easily, and the burns were incredibly painful, and took longer to heal than it had as a human. Eating food was possible, but only in small amounts, and it didn’t satisfy their hunger in the least; if anything, it made their hunger worse, and made them ill. The only thing that thoroughly satisfied the hunger that consumed them was blood. Initially, they hunted jackals at night in the desert, but the sweetest, most satisfying blood was human.”

“The differences between the First Flames and those around them quickly became plain. They were considerably paler than everyone because of what they now were. They could go outdoors, but they never tanned, and it stood in stark contrast. When they went outside, they covered up as much as they could. Covering up as they did helped on two fronts; not only did it help keep their paler skin from burning, but it helped hide how pale they were from everyone else, to minimize differences. This was around the time they referred to themselves as ‘The Virehnai,’ and became more insular. At first, they maintained friendships and their normal lives, but as time passed, it became dangerous. They ceased any friendships they had with humans, because they didn’t age as the humans did, and it became increasingly obvious. It put them in danger. Only a very few humans were permitted into their circle. If they broke trust with the Virehnai who trusted them, the price was death.”

“Keeping a low profile became more and more important the longer they stayed in Hut-Ka-Ptah. Most people were uncomfortable around them, anyway. The Virehnai were…simply put…different. Their energy felt different. They looked different. The differences made them stand out, as well as made them dangerous.:

“Most of what the First Flames wanted out of life, they now had: long life, wealth, power and connections. While most people were uncomfortable around them, some, strangely enough, were unexpectedly drawn to them. Several, despite discomfort, saw the quality of their lives, and asked to become like them.”

That doesn’t happen much, these days, though. The way the world is today, we blend in much better. Technology helps us hide. Humanity’s own proclivities to group with others like themselves keep them together, and don’t make them suspicious when we do likewise. Being overly pale doesn’t ‘out’ you like it used to. Not dying during a plague doesn’t ‘out’ you. The further you go back in time, the easier it is to play ‘spot the Virehn.’ In Egypt, so far back in our past, there were far fewer people, no technology, and you relied on your neighbors considerably more than we do now. Being pale while living in a desert was so different that we stood out more.”

“The first time one of their friends asked to join them, Zuberi’s only thought was to go back to the cave where they themselves began, and to repeat the spell that went so wrong; he only repeated the spell because it was the only idea he had. It didn’t matter anyway; the spell didn’t work. Not only didn’t it work, but that time, something ghoulish appeared, and attempted to inhabit the dead body of the friend he tried to change. It terrified him and Khnurn both, and they had a difficult time killing it. What happened in that cave when they returned, disturbed them enough that he and Khnurn and their wives quickly sealed up ‘The Cave of Making’ forever. He didn’t want another to summon such evil, ever.”

“Zuberi realized, belatedly, and totally by accident, that their blood, which set them apart in the first place, is what would also create more like themselves. Sati nearly drained someone, almost killing them. They didn’t need to carry more dead humans out into the desert, leaving them for the animals to maul. As an experiment, Zuberi cut his own wrist, and fed some of it to the human Sati almost killed before they expired. He appeared to die anyway. Thinking it failed, they carried the body out into the desert…only to see the person alive later. It worked. The only thing necessary to create another Virehn was a willing person - who was brave enough to allow themselves to mostly bleed out, and consume Virehnai blood…which kills them the rest of the way. Later, they would rise as something only described as ‘not dead.’ Not exactly alive; but not dead. Not exactly human anymore, either.”

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