As the Chinese are proud to claim, the concept of this monster developed independently of Slavic vampires - though there are similarities, such that 'Vampire' has often made it into the translated name. A typical Chinese Vampire drains life energy, like the Slavic vamps of old, though more and more jiangshi are draining blood while they're at it due to cross-cultural influence. Behaviour-wise, however, the Chinese Vampire is much more bestial in its monstrosity than its Slavic counterpart; it cannot speak, has pale skin, long claw-like fingernails, and a long prehensile tongue. In what would probably be a particularly huge display of the Uncanny Valley, it moves by hopping and always has its arms outstretched in rigor mortis. Often a bit on the decayed side, they typically wear shabby robes of the kind worn by the nobility in times gone by - nowadays, Qing Dynasty-style robes are the thing. Interestingly, a literal translation of jiangshi is "Stiff Corpse"; being dead, of course, the body is stiff from rigor mortis and has to hop as the subtle motions of walking are beyond it.
In some versions, it detects potential victims by the energy fluctuations caused by their breathing - one can hide, for a while, from one by holding one's breath. Some of these stories purport that if one manages to suck the creature's dying (and still held) breath out of it, it will fall inanimate and become an ordinary corpse. Folklore may also suggest escaping it by strewing many small objects in its path which it would feel compelled to count (usually grains of rice). It may be controlled with a parchment inscribed with runes placed on its head. Legend has it that the jiangshi were corpses enchanted by sorcerers to return to their ancestral burial grounds, where they might be buried among their family, because actually transporting the corpse through conventional means from far away places was usually far too expensive for the average peasant.
Like Slavic vampires and Anglo zombies, a person drained of life-energy will become another of its kind - minus the robes, of course. Unless they were wearing them at the time".
She died at 14
14 years old was the day the young princess was Struck down by an Assasins subtle needles, 14 years old was the girl who lay dying, her mouth foaming from the poision, eyes bleeding as her youthful body struggled to resist the poison that had been brewed to kill those many oxen stronger than her. 14 years old was the princess that was carried to the heavenly burial grounds, to be forgotten even by the Emperor that had birthed her.
So once upon a time there was a little girl that was arisen from her early grave, motivated by nothing more than a dark hunger and the seal the necromancer that rose her placed on her head.... Powerful and deadly like many a Jiangshi, this girl spent 80 years of her death rampaging through peasants, draining their life energy and disappearing into the night. Fortunately for the young Vampire, a kindly old taoist discovered her rampaging throughout a village when her old necromancer master kicked the bucket, with no more orders to follow, she had gone rogue and started draining as many Peasants as she could get her hands on. The monk pitied the young Jiangshi, and instead of striking the deadly vampire down, he would edit her seal... she would still thirst for the life energies of the living, but her mind would come back to her... she could think again now! and she intended to make the most of it....Firstly by taking revenge on the Emperor that had so readily 'forgotten' her.
Nowadays the vampire empress has reached an absolutely peachy 3000 years of age, still a bit miffed she looks like a little girl, she tries to demand respect and fear by continually comitting 'evil' deeds, but still gets a lot of headpats frm those that don't know her reputation...or her power. She's adopted a haughty, insulting attitude towards all the young dudes, but still seems to like childish things, like sweets or cartoons....many a shocked mother finding a mysterious, Rigid girl sitting in their loungeroom hijacking their tv to watch the Saturday morning run.
As for her abilities, Sile is Incredibly strong, Able to overpower beings many, many times her size, being able to kill with a simple jab, or a scratch from her claws...of course that's a waste of good life force! Sile Drains the life force of her enemy's, either by sucking their blood from the neck, clasping her hands either side of their head, or, her personal favorite! swallowing them whole! indeed with her prehensile tongue, she can swallow people entirely! trapping them in her cold wet insides, and 'digesting' them by slowly draining their life force! She's adept at hunting prey, able to sense them by the fluctuations their breath causes in air. Her weakness is, despite her ability to move rapidly, she isn't very agile- Her only mode of transport is hopping about, her body often stiff with rigor mortis... she can hop incredibly rapidly, but any other movement takes time and concentration to perform.... if you push her over, you may have a chance at escaping.
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