This is not Khallam as it is, but Khallam as a narrow beam of pale light hits it, Khallam as seen through one set of eyes, perhaps described to a new comer in a cab ride or what a stranger in Los Angeles might know of it. This is one frame, one image, one point of reference, out of a film a thousand hours long shot at 60 frames per second. Somewhere a vampire picks up a tiny shard of mirror and a blurred image smaller than his finger nail reflects back. And that is the point of view of his life – tiny, insignificant, but perhaps just barely enough to recognize him by if what it captures is distinctive enough. That is what this brief post is and week by week we will start gluing that broken mirror back together and see how much of Khallam we can see.

The numbers for Khallam show a semi urban city in the foothills of the California desert north of San Diego and near Los Angeles. The actual population of Khallam is nearly 900,000 and the metro area with the surrounding towns peaks just over one million. The industry is very high tech thanks to the local technical school and university. But, we’ll save the wikipedia entry for later.

Khallam is controlled in the modern nights by the vampire covenant the Ordo Dracul, lead by the Daeva Phillip Byron. He was brought here by his comrade the Mekhet Istavan also known as the Hungarian, who had visions. They came to this gold mining town in southern California during the early days of the Gold Rush and both grew with the city and shaped it. They, along with the Invictus Ventrue Christopher Tegen, are the Stewards who rule the town. Though there is no prince none doubt that Byron is the true ruler as the local head of the Ordo Dracul and most honored among the Sworn of the Axe. Byron has been a reluctant combatant but an excellent Axe both respecting academics and shown to be a strong military leader, especially in times of great adversity. Byron is rumored to have the Toreador clan weakness but he despises the bloodline and has called them “mutations.” His affectation for science fiction aside, some believe that he is either doing a bluffed deception or may come from an earlier bloodline from which the Toreador derived. Certainly Byron is a known master of Auspex but has rarely shown any aptitude for Dominate. Doctor Byron currently speaks with a crisp English accent and teaches at Khallam University. He teaches courses in Literature as a Tool of Social Movement, Literature as Historical Documents, 17^th Century British Literature and Science Fiction. The last time he had a public persona in Khallam was in the 1940s as a medical doctor named Alexander Brown and at that time had a strong Bostonian accent. He has implied an origin in 15^th century England and that he was embraced in Barcelona in the 17^th century.

Byron’s mastery of the coils extends heavily into the arts of blood and mastery over the physicality of the human form. He believes that mastery of the vampiric condition, indeed of torpor, will come in the form of merging the strengths of a human’s adapatibility with vampiric prowess. Not only is Byron the head of the Sworn of the Axe but has further gathered an elite group of Ordo Dracul vampires, most from the Axe, known as the Dragons of the Last Dawn. This group is especially dedicated to researching how the coils can aid in combat and believes that one day they will be called on as soldiers, perhaps in some apocalyptic battle. Some say that Istavan is a prophet and brought Byron here for that. Many in the Ordo are unaware of the inner teachings of the Last Dawn which go beyond survival and espouse beliefs in nobility and honor to a degree that some might find treasonous.

If Byron is the prince, Istavan is the Bishop. Once a monk of a human Orthodox order he is reclusive and quiet. Of the three Stewards he has the fewest duties and the greatest formal authority. For example, while Byron can declare a blood hunt only Istavan can declare a legal diablerie. Istavan is the eldest among the Ordo Dracul of Khallam, at least in years of service to the covenant and is sworn to both a respected order and a forbidden one. He believes that embracing human values of morality can save a vampire’s soul and that can transform him. While the ideas may seen overly simplistic medieval natural philosophy they may also be right. Istavan has reached out to the Circle of the Crone and the Lancea Sanctum but neither has much foot hold in the city. Indeed, there are more Catholic vampires in Khallam than Sanctified. Istavan believes that a vampire can be saved and sees the Sanctified belief in evil as an easy out. Istavan is an actual descendant of a of mortal Order of the Dragon and brought Bryon here to bring forth the vampiric one to serve the same purpose as its mortal counterpart – to hold the line against demons – or so people say. The rumors that say that Istavan pulls the strings to create this army against evil seems out of line with man of quiet and intense power who claims that all evil must be fought one soul at a time.

And then there is Christopher Tegen. In Khallam the Invictus are an arm of the Ordo Dracul, they are the organizers, the Bureaucrats, the administrators. Christopher arranges the classes, assigns the people who administer the colleges, signs the blood bank contracts and keeps track of feeding rights. Although it may be a Daeva of the Ordo that can make exemptions it is still the Invictus that rules – or at least they tell themselves this in neighboring cities to satisfy why a major city can be controlled by the Ordo Dracul even with such a strong Invcitus foot hold. Still, to be here even the Invictus are scholars and Christopher’s mastery of blood magic is enough to hold him in high regard even if his actual knowledge of the coils is minimal. He seeks to undo vampiric limitations through arts more obscure than even the coils and there is reason to believe he might succeed – with the help of fairies and mages, if he can trust them.

All three Stewards take on specific duties, have their own agendas, are brilliant and are capable masters of the coils and other arcane secrets. However, it is their friendship that has made them a truly formidable force. However, with torpors fast approaching for both Christopher and Istavan, Byron wonders if destiny will come soon enough.