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Quote1 Napalm is the metaphor for us. It's persistent, it can't be shaken, and it burns until there is nothing left. Even the dust is destroyed. While dumping it on small children in Southeast Asia is evil, that doesn't make the substance itself evil. Nor the chemical compound responsible for its existence. The Order of Van Helsings is the chemical compound. We're neither good nor evil. We simply are. My point, Professor, is that we often get caught up in labels. Take, for example, our world's current phenomena. They call these caped morons 'superheroes'. As though their moral code supersedes that of not just regular people, but genuine heroes. They move through society with impunity, doing what they want, how they want-- I'm saying what every government in the world is saying, what every sane person in every town across the planet is thinking. Once we've cleansed the world of vampires, we move on to the supers. Although I suppose that's wishful thinking. Quote2
Van Helsingsrc

The Order of the Van Helsings is an ancient order of vampire hunters, thought to be worse than the vampires of the Cult of the Blood Red Moon.[1][2]

History

Origins

They were formed long ago after Cain brought the brood into Egypt during the reign of Ramesses II, during the 13th Century BCE. All in their path were murdered, until someone learned that driving a wooden stake through the heart and decapitation would kill the vampires.[3] Cain and his bride, Lilith, had inadvertently formed them by way of Lilith's first change to a monstrous entity, the survivors of the massacre joining "the destroyers," a cult of vampire "murderers."[4]

The Order have been very influential throughout history, including the invention of napalm, possibly even before the 1940s.[3] According to Professor John Troughton, they not only are the source of the name of Abraham Van Helsing,[1] they are the source of the "nonsense" about monsters in castles, and Bram Stoker spent summers at their castle as a child, though the latter is thought perhaps to be false.[2]

Rise of the Vampires

After the resurrection of Andrew Bennett, Professor John Troughton and Tig Rafelson came to the castle of the Van Helsings in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, on the order of Andrew himself in an attempt to broker a peace. In order to test the veracity of their claims, the Order poisoned the both of them, then smuggled them onto one of their planes and began a flight to America.[2][3]

They found John and Tig's association with Andrew to be problematic, given his reluctance to kill Mary, Queen of Blood. They also claimed not to be inherently bad or good, but merely a tool of great destruction; the Van Helsings are prone to being labelled. They revealed that their plans for the future are to move on to taking out the "supers", once the vampires are dead. Soon after, they began firebombing the assembly of vampires that were fighting; those of Andrew versus those of Mary. Using pendants carved in the likeness of Anubis, the fanatical Order jumped from their plane, descending to the vampires below, where they faced off against both sides of vampires in addition to the newly arrived Stormwatch until Andrew's magic managed to seal all of the undead souls inside of his own body at the expense of his morality. Their main loss was not only a massive number of their forces, but also their leader, who was dismembered twelve times.[3][5]

Wave of Mutilation

After assembling a new contingent of general vampires including Tig, Charles Thompson, and the vampire dog Mishkin, Andrew attacked Castle Van Helsing, easily tearing through their defenses and meeting with their second-in-command before being brought face to face with the newly resurrected and enhanced Van Helsing. Making their way past the leadership, they made their way to the Egyptian Book of the Dead, which they used to go into the pocket dimension that housed the Armory of all weapons known to kill vampires.[6] Finding the brick from the top of the Tower of Babel that touched Heaven and turning the Keeper of the books in the area, the group accidentally awakened a contingent of living statues in the armory, along with Van Helsing, and summarily defeated and murdered them all with the help of their own skills and the brick itself, possibly eradicating the Order in the process.[4]

Paraphernalia

Equipment:

  • Mummy Talismans: Carved in the likeness of Anubis, these necklaces allow the user to reanimate as a mummy immediately after being killed, eyes and pendants glowing green. The resultant figure is caught in a curse that drives them to a virulent hatred of all vampires. Whether they are bitten by a vampire or they bite someone else, their hatred fills the other being, with only intense levels of sunlight or full body destruction being enough to end them, not even decapitation being enough.[3][7][5]

Transportation:

Weapons:

  • Stakes[3]
  • Stake-Loaded Pistols[3]
  • Crossbows[6]
  • Swords[6]
  • Rifles with wooden bullets[6]

Notes

  • The Order appears to worship Anubis, judging from how the pilots on John and Tig's plane state "May Anubis protect us all" as they jump out.[3]
  • The 21st Century incarnation of the Van Helsings carries miniature stakes along their pant legs for easy loading into their stake-modified weaponry.[3]
  • Over the ages, Cain has murdered many of the people who held the title of "Van Helsing."[3]


See Also

Links and References

Footnotes


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