Carpathians (race)
Encyclopedia
Carpathians are a fictional race of people in the fictional universe of the Dark Series, a group of books by Christine Feehan
. Carpathians survive by drinking the blood of humans, but unlike vampires, they do not kill their human prey. Carpathians use their telepathic
abilities to “call” humans to them in order to feed, and then use those same abilities to erase the humans’ memory of the incident. All vampires were once Carpathians. A Carpathian male "turns" into a vampire when he kills while feeding, loses his lifemate, or fails to find his lifemate.
Carpathians mate for life. This is because males and females are different in nature; while the females are filled with compassion and light, the males are filled with an inner darkness, capable of great violence. After 200 years, all male Carpathian lose the ability to feel emotions, sexual desire, and the ability to see in color. As a result, the darkness slowly spreads and consumes their souls. At this time, the only thing they feel is the thrill when they are about to make a kill. The only way their emotions are returned to them is when a male finds his lifemate
, the "light" to his darkness, the other half of his soul. Once lifemates find one another, the male recites the bonding words. Once this is done, it cannot be undone. They must touch minds and share their bodies often.
At the beginning of Dark Prince
, Carpathians are on the edge of extinction
. There have been few children born to them in the past few centuries; those that have been born are all male and often die in the first year. It has been more than 500 years since a female has been born. Without females, the males are left with a stark choice, "greet the dawn" (i.e. commit suicide) or become vampires, the undead, the monsters of human legend.
A female Carpathian is tall and slender, voluptuous and seductive, though unaware of it. Natural-born Carpathian females usually have beautiful pale skin and long black hair. Humans made into Carpathians will remain looking the way they are, but more alluring. Humans who are not Carpathian usually get turned via a process of blood exchanges. Three exchanges must be made in order for humans to become Carpathian, but the human must have psychic abilities beforehand.
Carpathians live many times longer than humans. The maximum lifespan is unknown, but several have lived to the age of 2000 years or more. In addition to living longer than humans do, Carpathians age much more slowly. In their childhood, they age roughly at the same rate as humans, but once they reach physical adulthood, their aging process slows dramatically, and they maintain their physical peaks for centuries.
Telepathy
All Carpathians have the gift of telepathy
, the ability to speak “mind to mind” to one another. This telepathic ability can cover vast distances, even across oceans. Once two Carpathians have exchanged blood, they can communicate with one another without anyone else hearing them. Lifemates use this ability to strengthen their bond with one another. They use this ability to call humans to them in order to feed. Vampires often plant compulsions, compelling humans to commit awful acts, including murder
. In addition, they have the gift to communicate with animals.
Elemental Manipulation
All Carpathians are capable of controlling the elements for their own needs. They often form clouds or storms to protect them from the sun, and can cause minor earthquakes and splits in the earth. They are also capable of creating clothing from the elements, and can sense through the earth to some degree, able to detect water and cave systems miles underground. This power seems to be linked to the emotions- often when a Carpathian looses control emotionally, they will accidentally summon a storm or earthquake, the more powerful the emotion, the more wild and uncontrollable the effects.
There have been some cases where the Earth itself has accpeted certain Carpathian's as its biological children. Though this is true for all Carpathians and explains their connection to the earth, these individuals are found worthy by the Earth in times of great need or suffering, after which the Earth will provide all it can to assist its child- for example, when Razvan and Ivory were dying and no Carpathian healing could save them, the earth protected them and provided its own healing for them, saving them from mortal wounds. Little is known of the long term effects of being a child of the Earth, but it is known that the Earth will take care of its child.
Shapeshifting
All Carpathians have the ability to shapeshift into various animals. They most often use the forms of wolves, owl
s, bat
s, and leopard
s. They can also take to form of mist
or fog
. They often use these forms to protect their sensitive eyes if they have to rise before the sun completely sets or they need to enter and leave a dwelling undetected.
Healing
All Carpathians can heal themselves by dissolving from their body and mending the cut. They also can heal other people the same way, though many can only heal minor wounds- only people born healer can heal mortal or serious wounds quickly. Carpathians also have a healing agent in their saliva, they use it to stop pain or heal their lifemates. Some Carpathians are born with the ability to heal the earth, and restore damaged eco systems. Others, true children of the Earth, can be healed, very slowly but effectively, by the earth itself- the Earth is capable of reattaching limbs and saving from mortal injuries healers cannot save them from, though this takes many weeks, months or even years.
Magic
A select few Carpathians are capable of controlling magic, though most of those who survive that can are half-mage rather than born Carpathians. There are two types of magic, "White" or benevolent magic, and "Black" magic, which is power that has been abused for selfish purposes. Formerly (hundreds of years ago) those with talent were sent to a special school run by the mage Xavier, but after he turned, killing his Carpathian students and hunting the rest, no known pure Carpathian has been born with magic, though a few born Carpathian's with magic have been found, having survived the attack.
Magic must be utilised by the chanting of a rhyme describing the effect desired, and can create a much wider variety of effects, such as telekinesis, barriers (it was mages that taught Carpathians how to put up safeguards) possession of anothers mind and body, and genetic manipulation. They can also manipulate nature with far more variety than the natural Carpathian though it is more draining, time consuming, and requires years of practise and training. All of the known users of magic are some of the Dragonseeker bloodline, who, after the capture of Carpathian woman by Xavier, have been born part mage, part Carpathian/human. Part mages who are converted to become fully Carpathian usually lose much, if not all of their magic.
Christine Feehan
Christine Feehan is an American romance-paranormal writer. She has published more than 26 novels, including five series, and numerous novellas since 1999.-Biography:...
. Carpathians survive by drinking the blood of humans, but unlike vampires, they do not kill their human prey. Carpathians use their telepathic
Telepathy
Telepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference...
abilities to “call” humans to them in order to feed, and then use those same abilities to erase the humans’ memory of the incident. All vampires were once Carpathians. A Carpathian male "turns" into a vampire when he kills while feeding, loses his lifemate, or fails to find his lifemate.
Carpathians mate for life. This is because males and females are different in nature; while the females are filled with compassion and light, the males are filled with an inner darkness, capable of great violence. After 200 years, all male Carpathian lose the ability to feel emotions, sexual desire, and the ability to see in color. As a result, the darkness slowly spreads and consumes their souls. At this time, the only thing they feel is the thrill when they are about to make a kill. The only way their emotions are returned to them is when a male finds his lifemate
Lifemate
In the Dark Series by Christine Feehan, Lifemate is the term used to describe spouses of the Carpathians . However, the bond between lifemates is much stronger and different than that of humans. A male loses his ability to feel emotions after reaching the age of 200. Those emotions can only be...
, the "light" to his darkness, the other half of his soul. Once lifemates find one another, the male recites the bonding words. Once this is done, it cannot be undone. They must touch minds and share their bodies often.
At the beginning of Dark Prince
Dark Prince
Dark Prince is a paranormal/suspense novel written by American author Christine Feehan. Published in 1999, it is the first book in her Dark Series, which to date has 20 titles.-Plot summary:...
, Carpathians are on the edge of extinction
Extinction
In biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms , normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point...
. There have been few children born to them in the past few centuries; those that have been born are all male and often die in the first year. It has been more than 500 years since a female has been born. Without females, the males are left with a stark choice, "greet the dawn" (i.e. commit suicide) or become vampires, the undead, the monsters of human legend.
Appearance
Most Carpathians are tall, dark-haired and dark-eyed. Most Carpathians are rather lean, but some – like Gregori and his brother Darius – are noted to be rather broad and muscular, which is uncommon. The Golden Twins (Julian and Aidan Savage) are blond-haired and have gold eyes.A female Carpathian is tall and slender, voluptuous and seductive, though unaware of it. Natural-born Carpathian females usually have beautiful pale skin and long black hair. Humans made into Carpathians will remain looking the way they are, but more alluring. Humans who are not Carpathian usually get turned via a process of blood exchanges. Three exchanges must be made in order for humans to become Carpathian, but the human must have psychic abilities beforehand.
Abilities
LongevityCarpathians live many times longer than humans. The maximum lifespan is unknown, but several have lived to the age of 2000 years or more. In addition to living longer than humans do, Carpathians age much more slowly. In their childhood, they age roughly at the same rate as humans, but once they reach physical adulthood, their aging process slows dramatically, and they maintain their physical peaks for centuries.
Telepathy
All Carpathians have the gift of telepathy
Telepathy
Telepathy , is the induction of mental states from one mind to another. The term was coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Fredric W. H. Myers, a founder of the Society for Psychical Research, and has remained more popular than the more-correct expression thought-transference...
, the ability to speak “mind to mind” to one another. This telepathic ability can cover vast distances, even across oceans. Once two Carpathians have exchanged blood, they can communicate with one another without anyone else hearing them. Lifemates use this ability to strengthen their bond with one another. They use this ability to call humans to them in order to feed. Vampires often plant compulsions, compelling humans to commit awful acts, including murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
. In addition, they have the gift to communicate with animals.
Elemental Manipulation
All Carpathians are capable of controlling the elements for their own needs. They often form clouds or storms to protect them from the sun, and can cause minor earthquakes and splits in the earth. They are also capable of creating clothing from the elements, and can sense through the earth to some degree, able to detect water and cave systems miles underground. This power seems to be linked to the emotions- often when a Carpathian looses control emotionally, they will accidentally summon a storm or earthquake, the more powerful the emotion, the more wild and uncontrollable the effects.
There have been some cases where the Earth itself has accpeted certain Carpathian's as its biological children. Though this is true for all Carpathians and explains their connection to the earth, these individuals are found worthy by the Earth in times of great need or suffering, after which the Earth will provide all it can to assist its child- for example, when Razvan and Ivory were dying and no Carpathian healing could save them, the earth protected them and provided its own healing for them, saving them from mortal wounds. Little is known of the long term effects of being a child of the Earth, but it is known that the Earth will take care of its child.
Shapeshifting
All Carpathians have the ability to shapeshift into various animals. They most often use the forms of wolves, owl
Owl
Owls are a group of birds that belong to the order Strigiformes, constituting 200 bird of prey species. Most are solitary and nocturnal, with some exceptions . Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, although a few species specialize in hunting fish...
s, bat
Bat
Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...
s, and leopard
Leopard
The leopard , Panthera pardus, is a member of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four "big cats" in the genus Panthera, the other three being the tiger, lion, and jaguar. The leopard was once distributed across eastern and southern Asia and Africa, from Siberia to South Africa, but its...
s. They can also take to form of mist
Mist
Mist is a phenomenon of small droplets suspended in air. It can occur as part of natural weather or volcanic activity, and is common in cold air above warmer water, in exhaled air in the cold, and in a steam room of a sauna. It can also be created artificially with aerosol canisters if the...
or fog
Fog
Fog is a collection of water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. While fog is a type of stratus cloud, the term "fog" is typically distinguished from the more generic term "cloud" in that fog is low-lying, and the moisture in the fog is often generated...
. They often use these forms to protect their sensitive eyes if they have to rise before the sun completely sets or they need to enter and leave a dwelling undetected.
Healing
All Carpathians can heal themselves by dissolving from their body and mending the cut. They also can heal other people the same way, though many can only heal minor wounds- only people born healer can heal mortal or serious wounds quickly. Carpathians also have a healing agent in their saliva, they use it to stop pain or heal their lifemates. Some Carpathians are born with the ability to heal the earth, and restore damaged eco systems. Others, true children of the Earth, can be healed, very slowly but effectively, by the earth itself- the Earth is capable of reattaching limbs and saving from mortal injuries healers cannot save them from, though this takes many weeks, months or even years.
Magic
A select few Carpathians are capable of controlling magic, though most of those who survive that can are half-mage rather than born Carpathians. There are two types of magic, "White" or benevolent magic, and "Black" magic, which is power that has been abused for selfish purposes. Formerly (hundreds of years ago) those with talent were sent to a special school run by the mage Xavier, but after he turned, killing his Carpathian students and hunting the rest, no known pure Carpathian has been born with magic, though a few born Carpathian's with magic have been found, having survived the attack.
Magic must be utilised by the chanting of a rhyme describing the effect desired, and can create a much wider variety of effects, such as telekinesis, barriers (it was mages that taught Carpathians how to put up safeguards) possession of anothers mind and body, and genetic manipulation. They can also manipulate nature with far more variety than the natural Carpathian though it is more draining, time consuming, and requires years of practise and training. All of the known users of magic are some of the Dragonseeker bloodline, who, after the capture of Carpathian woman by Xavier, have been born part mage, part Carpathian/human. Part mages who are converted to become fully Carpathian usually lose much, if not all of their magic.
See also
- Christine FeehanChristine FeehanChristine Feehan is an American romance-paranormal writer. She has published more than 26 novels, including five series, and numerous novellas since 1999.-Biography:...
- Dark Series
- LifemateLifemateIn the Dark Series by Christine Feehan, Lifemate is the term used to describe spouses of the Carpathians . However, the bond between lifemates is much stronger and different than that of humans. A male loses his ability to feel emotions after reaching the age of 200. Those emotions can only be...
- Dark PrinceDark PrinceDark Prince is a paranormal/suspense novel written by American author Christine Feehan. Published in 1999, it is the first book in her Dark Series, which to date has 20 titles.-Plot summary:...
- Dark DesireDark DesireDark Desire is the second book in Christine Feehan’s Dark Series. It takes place roughly 25 years after the events in Dark Prince.-Plot summary:...
- Dark GoldDark GoldDark Gold is the third book in Christine Feehan’s Dark Series. It takes place approximately 23 years after the events in Dark Desire. It was published in April 2000.-Synopsis:...
- Dark Magic (novel)Dark Magic (novel)Dark Magic is the fourth book in Christine Feehan’s Dark Series. It takes place within a few months of the events in Dark Gold. It was published in July 2000.-Background:Gregori, often called The Dark One, knows he’s very close to turning...
- Dark MelodyDark MelodyDark Melody is the twelfth novel in the Dark Series by Christine Feehan. This is another of her books about night creatures.-Plot introduction:...
- Dark DemonDark DemonDark Demon is the sixteenth title in Christine Feehan’s Dark Series, a series of paranormal/romances featuring the Carpathians .-Plot introduction:...