The Institute was forged in secrecy by a coalition of powerful and enlightened vampires who understood the need to preserve truth in an increasingly distorted world. Among them was Vlad III of Wallachia, known to mortals as Vlad the Impaler, but remembered by our kind as The Warden of Borders, whose brutal reputation was a smokescreen for the containment of fairy incursions along the Carpathian line. Alongside him, Elizabeth Báthory, The Crimson Archivist, protected ancient records and suppressed fairy-forged texts from corrupting royal courts. John Polidori, the physician-turned-author, planted early seeds of the sympathetic vampire in literature, distracting fairy agents while subtly reshaping public perception. The intellectual powerhouse Hypatia of Alexandria—falsely executed in human history was in fact spirited away and became the Institute’s first Director of Philosophical Alignment, helping encode early vampire ethics and anti-fae protocols. Garrett Morgan, inventor and tactician, secretly developed technologies that helped shield vampire operations in early modern America. And Queen Nefertiti, rarely seen in modern times, was a master illusionist who trained vampires in fairy mimicry and countermagic, establishing the first anti-glamour unit.
“We exist not to seek glory, but to protect truth in its rawest form however inconvenient, however hidden. The Founders of the Institute were not just warriors and scholars; they were visionaries who saw past illusion and dedicated themselves to preserving a world humans may never fully understand. Their work continues through each of us who still believe in the weight of shadow and the honesty it can hold.”
