(This is who we truly are)

The name Dracul conjures images of pop-culture vampires and “satanic” worship for many. The reality however is far from the archetype that has evolved during the years since Bram Stoker composed the novel Dracula that was the seed of these associations. In reality the name or term Dracul is meant to imply the Ordo Draconis which was a knightly order devoted to the defense of Christian Europe from Muslim invaders after the fall of Constantinople. The mixture of the martial and the spiritual as well as the political in the Order of the Dragon is in some measure similar to such groups as the Templars. The fact that some of the families have become linked to the occult is also reminiscent of the Templars. In the case of the Order of the Dragon there is some evidence that some families did in fact engage in acts which could be seen as occultic by some. These three families, the Tsepesh, the Bathory and the Rakoczy, have also been linked to vampirism and the lore of Alchemy. Alchemy and vampirism are linked in Eastern Europe by the legend of the Scholomance, causing some to link the Order of the Dragon with the Scholomance. There is evidence in Eastern Europe of a pre-Christian cult centered on a draconic deity figure so it is not outside the realm of the possible that for some membership in the Order of the Dragon harkened back to rituals and powers of nature outside the order’s public paradigm.

To give flesh to this idea the author has only to point out that two members of the bloodline shared these three families have been shown by history to have been involved in the occult one being Elizabeth Bathory “the blood countess” and the other being history’s “Saint Germain” Fenerc Rakoczy. Bathory was said to have engaged in vampirism and blood ritual in order to maintain her youth while Rakoczy was said to have attributed his apparent longevity to Alchemy, he has been reported many times throughout documented history far longer than any human lifespan. The third family, the Tsepesh, was said according to legend to have attending the Scholomance which is a school devoted to the black arts or Alchemy depending on which version of the legend one reads. With these legends and facts it is easy to see how the modern Dracul archetype has come into being. Of the three families discussed the one most linked to vampirism in the imagination of the masses, the Tsepesh, has almost no historical basis for such a claim.

As part of any occult system the initiated often finds that his sense of self in the system differs from that of himself outside the system in the normal realm. The self that evolves via the system is at times called the magickal personality or magickian-self. As a part of this the initiate often takes or is given a name for use in ritual and in the community that embodies the system of the initiate. We of House Rakoczy call our selves by the name Rakoczy-Dracul; however we are not the only House of the Scholomance system. There are other Houses devoted to other tribes and families of the Upyreshi race just as we are to the Strega tribe. To show our bonds the members of the four Houses each took a name linked to both myth and history with the undead and to that name added Dracul. Dracul refers in Upyre terms to the one blood that unites us all. As should be obvious the four family names are linked to the tribes whose details best embody the mythos attached to said family name. The Strega were linked to the Rakoczy, the Incubi to the Bathory, the Nosferatu to the Karnstine and the Revenant tribe to the Tsepesh. The full reasons for the attributions will become clear if the tribes are studied along side the mythos of these families. Three members of each family constitute the ruling body of the court of Shadows. Two of the three members each have a vote in matters before the council while the third is the deciding vote in the event of a tie. The three members are meant to represent the three families or bloodlines within each tribe.

The council of Shadows in a sense represents the signs of the Zodiac while the nine towers of the Scholomance represent the nine planets used by the system of the OTA. Our society is an image of the night sky, invisible by day, thus are we truly the “Lost People.” The towers serve as conduits for the Cthonic forces used in the occult arts and the council is meant to guide the race backed by that power. The council has no head, this is meant to encourage feudal power plays to bring out and channel the predator nature of the race, and so that matters must be dealt with there are no outs. Eventual conflict between the Houses is a part of our society and goes to the fact that we are a people who hold to a hierarchy in nature from which we do not exempt ourselves. Note that within the Upyre society structure there is no religious authority. This is because each expression of the road or path of the blood is individual to those who are of the blood and hence is its own cult. Our cultural mythos and faith in the Dark Lord is what unites us as do the nine principles of the Path of the Eclipse, which embody our culture and faith.

No House or Tower has any authority over the religious aspect of our society, though the Towers do have the right to say what falls within the paradigm of arts that are said to hail from a specific Tower. Hence the heads of the Umbral Tower do have the right to judge occult arts that stem from it but no right to say what is lawful as to worship of the deity. A factor that the Towers do not have any authority over is the nature of a Foci of a Mantic art, as an example not all necromancers agree as to what necromancy is nor from which tower it stems in terms of energy. All a tower can do is codify what its branches of necromancy are. We are as the stars in the Great Night; we are the reflection of the night as stars made flesh, the emerald blood of the dragon uniting us all. Here and now is the ascension of a new Order of the dragon, a Stygian Order made up of the Upyre.

Ascedium Ordo Draconis Stygianus