Oklahoma City: Beyond the Veil

Black Court

The Black Court comprises the most well-known kind of vampire, the reanimated bloodthirsty corpses popularized by Bram Stoker's Dracula. In fact, in the Dresdenverse, the publication of that book at the behest of the White Council is believed to be the primary cause of the Court's downfall, as Stoker supposedly published the book as a "how-to" manual to hunt the Black Court. Black Court vampires still inhabit the human bodies that they lived in before they were turned into vampires, with the only difference being their bodies rotting like zombies in the time that they have been undead. Black Court vampires possess all the classic strengths and weaknesses of Stoker's Dracula: they can lift and throw cars with one hand and crash through concrete walls without harm; but must sleep in their native soil and fear garlic and objects of faith. Sunlight, while deadly to younger members of the Black Court, is merely an inconvenience to older members, weakening them significantly, as in Stoker's novel. Mavra, an ancient Black Court vampire, has demonstrated the ability to use magic in the same way wizards do. Before Changes, the Black Court was the smallest and (politically) weakest of the Courts, although those few who survived the purges caused by Stoker's book are among the strongest and most cunning monsters in the world by virtue of sheer Darwinian necessity. They also have the ability to enthrall humans to be passive and submissive, and cultivate "Renfields" (another Stoker reference and similarity to Stoker's Dracula). Where thralls may have their minds restored with minimal lasting effects, Renfields are thralls that have been altered to the point of psychosis, and their minds are too far gone to be returned to normal. A Renfield has had his strength and agility augmented and will kill in a berserker frenzy until put down. Until let loose by their controlling vampire, a Renfield will appear as a normal thrall in a trance-like state; however, their true nature can be seen with a wizard's Sight.