(Grounding the Beast in mundane reality)

In our public writings we have set out, defined and related the details of the Zulo, the true self of the Upyre beyond the humanoid shell. The Zulo has three components: the Daemon or spiritual power made of a composite of five animals, the Mantle or metaphysical power that has two animal forms and the Bete that combines the traits of all seven animal avatars with traits of the Upyre’s Patron as well, along with an elemental form. The five animals of the Daemon stand for the mind; the emotions or soul, i.e., the personality; the will; the biology and general life force of the Upyre. The two animals of the mantle represent the astral and umbral or light and dark aspects of the occult realms as they apply to the individual Upyre. The Bete represents the Upyre inside the humanoid shell as well as showing the Upyre’s religious and elemental ties linking the Upyre to that which exists beyond its individual self. The three parts of the Zulo can be related to the Ka, Ba and Khu of the ancient Egyptians that compose the Ahk or perfect eternal being of ancient Egyptian theo-cosmology.

The Upyre is both a spiritual and a material being; the spiritual we have defined as the Zulo and the physical we call generally the humanoid shell. In House Rakoczy, Upyreshi are taught to manipulate and manifest the Zulo in any of its aspects and avatars on an occult level through the practice of mental manipulations of Upyre energies; House Rakoczy terms these mental manipulations as yoga. It is held by House Rakoczy that in the primal past the Zulo was as physical as it was spiritual and the humanoid shell was a mimicked adaptation. Enfleshing or grounding the traits of the Zulo is important to the health and survival of the Upyre as only through the traits of the Zulo can certain Upyre-focused biological imperatives be expressed and productively channeled. The Upyre is able to function as its nature dictates only through its Zulo being active in balance with the humanoid shell.

The Upyre, through the yoga taught by House Rakoczy much like a devotee focused on a saint, can develop stigmata in keeping with the focus of the Upyre, these ”stigmata” having a practical rather than a mystical use. Examples of these practical “stigmata” include the fangs, claws, animalistic eyes and skin linked to the “vampire” of legend. We call the state in which these Upyre traits are manifest the vampyric form. The vampyric form is a subtle overlay of the Zulo’s traits onto the humanoid body. Just as with religious stigmata and such feats as biofeedback it is the Pineal Gland or third eye that causes and controls the subtle alterations to the body of the Upyre. The vampyric form is an example of Shapeshifting a discipline common to many of the sentient nonhuman races of Earth. Early on in development, the Upyreshi often make use of costume to aid in manifesting the vampyric form, such as prosthetic fangs or contacts; in time, these are dispensed with. While normal humans may not see the changes it is the effect of them that is important to the Upyreshi. Among Upyreshi with a ritual bent, masks and makeup are often used in the development of the vampyric form, as is the consumption of “vampire” related media.