Editing Vampire Broods (section)

===Vampires of Necromunda===

Even deep within Segmentum Solar have vampiric infestations arisen, festering in ancient crypts and layered behind conspiracies.  In particular the world of [[Necromunda]] with its sunless skies, warrened hives, debauched aristocracy, and teeming underworld proved an ideal breeding ground for the vile undead.  The Necromundan Bloodline of Vampires, known in legend as the Voasin, came to the planet countless millennia ago and infested all levels of society.  Through their mortal pawns the Voasin ravenously consumed territory and resources in a bid to gain control of the planet.  However, in 008M39 [[Inquisition|Inquisitorial]] agents discovered their true nature, and so together with vengeful Houses and a detachment of [[Imperial Fists]] they set about the systematic purging the Voasin wherever they were found.

Though their cleansing was through, almost destroying the Voasin utterly, a single Pureblood managed to flee into the shadowy depths of the underhive.  There, hidden in the lawless depths, this Vampire found new and fertile darkness in which to propagate and thrive.  Through the countless centuries its Broods have spawned Broods and so on over and over, but unlike the former incarnation of the Voasin Bloodline this Vampire, simply called “the Red Ancestor” by modern Necromundan Vampires, seems uninterested in unifying its descendants.  Instead, the many Broods act largely independent of each other: a few have crept back into the upper hive manipulating the humans through webs of lies and treachery, while most have festered in the underhive ruling their territory as a tyrannical fiefdom.  Still others seemed to have completely devolved, revealing only in their monstrous nature in the darkest recesses of the hive.

As it is with most Imperial worlds the existence of Vampires is now considered a myth on Necromunda: the populace is kept ignorant and even many within the Houses now believe them to be only folk-lore.  However, House Helmawr knows the truth, and [[Palanite Enforcers|Enforcers]] are dispatched to mercilessly exterminate Vampires whenever found, if only to keep the Inquisition out of Necromundan affairs.  If ever a Brood grows too bold for the Imperial House to handle it is only a matter of time until the Inquisition and [[Deathwatch]] descends upon them with fire and fury.  Thus, the only surviving Broods upon Necromunda, at least those that survive for long, are those that have kept themselves well-hidden, ever keeping their nature from being exposed to the light.

The Obenous Clan is perhaps the most prolific gathering of Voasin Broods.  They say their Ichor is thicker than any other, claiming to be founded by the first generation of Progeny spawned by the Red Ancestor.  With tendrils wrapped infecting every House and Guild in Hive City, with mortal thralls and Vampiric agents in all levels of society, they have considerable hidden power and influence.  Their ambition is nothing short of infecting the Noble Houses of the Spire and finishing what their Voasin ancestors began, but until then they skulk in the shadows.  They send their fledglings into the underhive to form new Broods and collect territory, resources, and human cattle in a horrid parody of Clan Houses and their gangs.  However, the Obenous are at risk in recent decades, as the agents of [[House Delaque]] have come dangerously close to uncovering their secrets on multiple occasions, while [[House Escher|Escher]] alchymyst fleshteks somehow have managed to get samples of their Ichor.

However not all Vampires are interested in political power.  The Coven Occulta, a large and secretive Brood festering deep in the underhive, is instead obsessed with the hoarding of esoteric knowledge.  Lairing in a forgotten alchemical laboratory they seek knowledge as a means of power, and powerful they have become.  While their Ichor curses them with the appearance of an emaciated walking corpse with a hideous bat-like visage, it also grants them remarkable psychic powers beyond most Vampires.  This power and knowledge, combined with the horrors they spawn from their Blood-Pits, leads many to believe they are working to bring about some kind of master plan known only as the Umbral Eternity.  Thus far they seem to be missing some key component, forcing the Coven Occulta to act bolder than ever by spawning new Broods to send out into the darkness to recover their unknown prize.  However, this behavior has not gone unnoticed, and the local [[House Cawdor|Cawdor]] have been whipped up into a frenzy over rumors of blood-sucking mutants.  To make matters worse, the Coven Occulta have discovered a different [[Genestealer|xeno-contamination]] infecting the human herds and have sent word to their allied Broods; a shadow war between alien powers to claim the flesh and souls of Necromunda's people seems inevitable.

Other Vampires are not so subtle, such as the Stygian Broods of Hive Mortis.  Ever since the disastrous plague that brought the entire hive to its knees the Stygians have exploded in number, revealing in the darkened corridors and feasting upon the accumulated dead.  They keep up no pretense of being human, devolving into raging humanoids that embrace their vampiric mutations.  The Enforcers and militias suppress these "mutants" to the Mortis underhive, but they have an unlikely ally in this struggle: [[House Goliath]] gladly hunts the Stygians as good sport.  However, as many have learned too late, despite their appearance the Stygians are not mere beasts and are more than capable of planning and tactics.  Indeed, some in the hive whisper that this will be their final doom: either an unending horde of "mutants" from below or, if not stopped, cleansing fire from above.