The opji incursion. What we know. What we need to know.
March 20, 2084
Hold onto your lug nuts, folks. This is a long post. Long but important, and I value any feedback you might have in the comments.
It’s a well known fact that the original Triumvirate of Montreal created the Apex stones and the ward to safeguard the city against constant opji attacks in the last days of the Flood Wars.
For fifty years, the ward stood solid against the vampires. Until Prince Alvar of the Winter Court broke that peace in a childish fit of pique. He joined with opji forces in an attempt to overthrow the Triumvirate and his sister’s reign at the fae court.
He was unsuccessful.
For Montrealers, this isn’t news. What is less known is that, since that aborted coup, the opji have not given up their attempts to invade Montreal.
Barrows and Hedge are overflowing with refugees. And in the close quarters of those shanty towns, disease is running rampant. This is another offense we can lay at the opji’s door.
The refugees are mostly homesteaders, pushed from their homes by the opji who have been steadily moving west from their home base of Vioska in the Ottawa Valley.
Why? What do the opji hope to gain by displacing homesteaders? That question has bothered me for some time. Logic would dictate they are trying to set up a base closer to Montreal—perhaps a military base from which to launch a new offensive.
But other stories from fleeing refugees make me uneasy. The few homesteaders who’ve escaped say that the opji are taking captives. Old, young, male, female, fit or ill, they don’t care. Others tell of forest fires in the northwest filling the skies with smoke and ash. I can confirm this is true, as I have seen the pall of smoke on the horizon.
I don’t doubt the opji are planning to attack Montreal. But what if there is more to their schemes?
What if the opji are attacking homesteads because of some threat to Vioska? I think this is the most likely scenario. Either the forest fires have decimated their land or, as some refugees have suggested to me, the flu epidemic that has hit the towns outside Montreal’s gates has also infiltrated the opji’s human breeding pens.
How much worse would the disease be to undernourished slaves kept in close quarters? It would also explain the desperate opji incursions, and perhaps why they have once again set their sights on Montreal.
So let’s talk about vampires. What do we know about them?
It’s hard to get any definitive knowledge about a normally reclusive race, but I’m lucky enough to have a close friend who has made a study of the opji for personal reasons. From him and the bits I have gathered by talking to refugees, here’s what I know with some degree of certainty.
Opji are vampires in that they drink human blood. Other than that, they don’t adhere to most of the old vampire myths. They are long-lived, but not immortal. Sunlight doesn’t kill them, but they do seem sensitive to it and prefer to travel at night.
I don’t want to get into a discussion about how to defeat an opji because I know the comments will blow up with trigger happy vampire hunters. But suffice it to say that holy water and garlic do not offend them.
The opji are proud of their ancient heritage. They are genetic vampires, meaning they are born that way. Or more correctly, they are born with the potential to be a vampire.
At an opji birth, the placenta is taken away to be dried with special herbs. The opji child grows much like any human, except for their rapid healing powers. At puberty (the exact age isn’t known), the child goes through the zycha rite, where they eat the dried placenta, signifying their death and rebirth as an opji. There is, of course, more to it than chowing down on placenta jerky. There must be some other magic involved, but the secret of the rite is tightly guarded.
One thing I know, is that the zycha helps the opji contain their bloodlust. It slows their hearts, so the need for daily fresh blood diminishes. Without the zycha, an adult opji would have to fight the urge to drink the blood of every human they encounter for the rest of their life. On the down side, the rite also brings on their sensitivity to light. Talk about sympathetic magic. A dark rite that induces a love for the dark. Seems poetic.
With no more large cities to hide in and hunt in, the opji have become creative about fulfilling their blood needs. That’s where the krowa come in. Krowa is the opji term for cow. And these poor souls are kept in pens just like livestock. The lifespan of a krowa isn’t long. The constant blood-lettings siphon off good health along with the will to live. To combat this problem, the opji keep another group of humans as breeders, to replenish their stock. I shudder to think of those souls kept in squalor with death as their only hope of escape.
The opji aren’t the only vampires in Vioska. They also breed an army of undead soldiers known as wojaks. These mindless soldiers are humans turned into undead drones through an unknown rite. They are considered less than dogs by the opji who use them as cannon fodder in their battles.
I’ve seen wojaks in action. They are monsters of wasted human proportions, terrifying precisely because they are so close to being human, and yet not. Their bodies have atrophied to leathery skeletons, leaving their faces fleshless and mad-eyed. They seem impervious to cold, fear or exhaustion.
What’s not clear to me, is how the opji control the wojaks. Mindless as they are, the wojaks could run amok and decimate Vioska. And yet, the opji always seem to have them under control.
This brings me to the last opji subject for the day. Their magic. As I mentioned, they are born with heightened healing. The zycha rite seems to give them longevity. They have the ability to control minds, and their saliva has some healing properties. These skills were perhaps developed for ease of feeding in a past world that wasn’t aware of magical creatures roaming the night. For it is likely, with all the stories of vampires through the ages, that the opji have been around since long before the Flood Wars.
I’d like to start an unofficial group to track the opji movements. I’m certain that Hub has committees dedicated to this problem, but the power of the people on the ground shouldn’t be discounted. If you have spotted opji in your area, please let me know where. I will attempt to track their movements.
If you have any other information about opji that is relevant to the fight, I want to know that too. Let’s pool our resources. Secret information helps no one but the opji!
Comments (71)
So a steak through the heart, yea or nay?
MonsterHunter22 (March 20, 2084)
Is that steak medium rare, dumbass?
Clued-Out (March 20, 2084)
I bet decapitation works most things can’t walk around without a head
BigGameGuy (March 20, 2084)
Wow. Decapitation. Big words for a big guy. Did you have to look that one up?
Clued-Out (March 20, 2084)
Fire cures all ills
SaintBecky (March 21, 2084)
I find if you cutting off nough parts a beast is bound to fall ventually.
Hercules-son (March 23, 2084)
Silver bullets? Put one between their eyes and I bet they won’t get up.
Ilovewolves (March 23, 2084)
You guys make me sick. All people deserve to live. Opji are a noble and severely misunderstood race. We should welcome them with open arms.
DaisyGrace (March 23, 2084)
You do that, sweetheart.
Clued-Out (March 23, 2084)
I saw the opji outside of Barrows. They were watching the town. No one believes me.
Percy999 (March 23, 2084)
I believe you.
Valkyrie367 (March 23, 2084)
We see opji almost every day. So far they leave us alone, but I don’t know how long we can hold out.
North49 (March 25, 2084)
Be safe.
Valkyrie367 (March 25, 2084)
Vamps north of Barrows daily.
Homer-instead (March 26, 2084)
We’ve got ‘em like a plague.
Annequin-Lodge (March 27, 2084)
The sky is on fire. The vamps can’t be far
OnTheRange (March 27, 2084)
...+55 more comments