Patriarch and Matriarch's Guide to Revenants

While the Vampires of the World of Darkness may hold the spotlight, however ironic that may be, in their shadows exist vast swarms of lessers and servitors. Among those servants are mortals that possess some share of the gift of Vitae, Ghouls and Revenantnants that serve at the beck and call of their masters.

What are Revenants

Revenants are those living offspring of ghouls that have inherited an innate capacity to produce and process Vitae, while sharing only a portion of the Curse of Caine. Revenants convert their own blood to Vitae which extends their natural lifespans and grants them access to vampiric disciplines. Those Revenants who possess the skills or dynasty of clan Tzimisce are known as Zadruga, the original term for the creatures.

Unlike their undead masters however, Revenants have the capacity to reproduce biologically, such couplings often producing more Revenants if both parents are either ghouls or Revenants. As living creatures, Revenants do not need to feed on mortal beings to replenish Vitae, and indeed are unable to. Indeed, they are unable to feed on mortals at all, and may only gain the benefits of feeding from consuming the blood of Vampires.

In Princes of Darkness, Revenants are landed and selectable within the Dark Ages: Inquisitor bookmark. Revenants can also be created with a custom character, or by using the custom character decision (which is recommended if you are not overly familiar with the mod).

Playing Revenants

Playing as a Revenant is somewhat like playing a hybrid of Vampires in Princes of Darkness and vanilla CK3. You have access to the same Disciplines as Vampires do, but you will gain more of your experience through passive means than actively and regularly hunting. Like a mortal in baseline CK3 you are able to grow your dynasty through giving birth to children the old fashioned way. You have no option to embrace others and incorporate them into your dynasty, but it is much easier to breed quality leadership into your realm.

In addition to their mortal ability to have children, Revenants retain the mortal ability to age and die, which is less of a benefit. There are ways to circumvent this on an individual level, so don't worry too much, but also do not expect your first generation of spawn to last indefinitely.

Generally speaking, play a revenant as you would a relatively small nation starting nation in normal CK3. Bully those smaller than you, placate nearby powers, marry for alliances and traits where you can, maybe swear allegiance to a nearby threat to avoid war. There are specific things to consider when playing a revenant though.

Children and Succession

Revenants are at the moment probably the type of being most dependent on their family in the mod. The size and quality of your dynasty is one of the most important resources of a revenant, for multiple reasons.

First is that (especially when immortal), landing members of your dynasty is a good way to improve overall realm stability through mutual bonuses realmwide.

Second is that your children inherit many of your unlocked Disciplines and congenital traits, as well as benefiting from dynasty perks. Thus they make excellent knights (Note how my 1 year old son has 43 Prowess), which you will likely want many of as a military core.

Third is the unique builds that Revenants get access to, which universally provide renown. You won't have a ton of renown at the start of the game as a revenant, unlike the Vampires, and you will absolutely want your children in charge of as many holdings as you can manage.

An important note on breeding: As a revenant you will follow a vampiric Road or Path, which means you will most likely have full cosanguinity permitted. You are also likely to be mostly landing your own dynasty when you can. This means that incest is extremely likely by default (as is common with Revenants within the lore). To counteract this, try to add fresh genetic material when you find mortals with heritable traits. You can also try to intermarry with Werewolves, Mummies, or other supernatural beings, but be careful as they may provide heritable traits that would override revenant.

Revenant Buildings

While they possess access to many of the same basic buildings as Vampires, Revenants have access to their own unique buildings which I would largely recommend over their Vampire alternatives. There are 5 standard buildings that are unique to Revenants and Ghouls, which have the following effects (some effects only kick in at higher levels):

• Family Estates, which improves Renown, Taxes, Fort Level, Levies, Fertility, and number of Knights.
• Family Worship, which improves Renown, Piety, Same Faith Domain Tax, Same True Faith Opinion, Same True Faith Levy Reinforcement Rate, and your Learning Lifestyle XP Rate.
• Family Muscle, which improves Renown, Levies, Men-at-Arms Maintenance, Heavy Infantry, Heavy Cavalry, and Skirmisher Damage and Toughness, and your Martial Lifestyle XP Rate.
• Family Enterprise, which improves Renown, Taxes, Holding Building Construction Time and Cost, and your Stewardship Lifestyle XP Rate.
• Family Connections, which costs money to maintain, but improves Renown, Prestige, Max Personal and Hostile Schemes, Personal and Hostile Scheme Success Chance, and your Diplomacy and Intrigue Lifestyle XP Rates.

In addition to the above, Revenants have access to a unique Duchy Building, the Family Rights, which provides the above bonuses at max level.

As the player you will generally want to have as many Duchy Capitals in your personal domain as possible, with Duchy Buildings as upgraded as possible. Following that, you will likely want to prioritize Family Estates to both keep from being declared war on and improve your tax base. Then you will likely tend to want Family Muscle to make acquiring more land an easier matter. I personally consider those two lines essential to having a solid Revenant power base. Your choices then open up, with the remaining Revenant Buildings or Vampire Buildings being viable to fill the remianing Building Slots. I tend to find Family Worship in every remaining Holding, followed by as many Family Connections as I can afford to maintain, with the rest being Family Enterprises works well for me.

Controlled Vampires

Along with their dynasty, a successful Revenant is often differentiated from a failing Revenant by the number of Vampires they have available in their courts and prisons, as well in their vassal baronies. While Revenants are unable to gain Resonance XP from consuming the blood of mortals, they may still demand tribute of, herdify, and replenish Vitae from Vampires.

If you possess a Vampire in your prison, you may use them as a means of converting a valuable mortal into a much more resiliant Ghoul.

Old Vampires are also often exceptionally powerful Knights, as they benefit from well developed Disciplines. With high enough Diplomacy and Court Grandeur, many Vampires can even be invited to become your Courtiers directly after you conquer their territory.

You may also tithe your barons for Vitae, replenishing your own reserves and gaining XP from blood resonance. The same applies to Vampires that you bring into your Herd. Do not be afraid of revoking and granting land a few times in Counties you plan on keeping in the long term to acquire vassals with better resonance.

Lifestyle Perks

Revenants have access to the same Disciplines (accessible through the Lifestyle menu as normal) as Vampires do, but receive a bonus to their monthly gain of XP in these Disciplines from the Revenant trait itself.

While those picks which are good for Vampires are generally good for Revenants as well, there are two important aspects that all Revenants should be aware of. First is that for Revenants your Disciplines have an improvable chance of being passed on to your children, and thus acquiring basic access to as many Disciplines as possible is very beneficial. You can easily acquire one new Discipline every 5 years by acquiring a friend or lover with the Discipline you wish to acquire and expending prestige and stres though the Ask for Mentoring Character Interaction.

Second is that the Revenant Major Objective (which will be addressed later) requires Advanced Blood Sorcery, is made much easier by Mesmerize in the Dominate tree, and unlocks the entirety of the Auspex, Potence, and Presence trees if you already have access to them.

Dynasty Legacies

As with Vampires, Revenants have their own unique Dynasty Legacies that may be selected. They also have full access to mortal Dynasty Legacies, such as those that improve children.

The above are the unique Dynasty Legacies available to Revenants, but it is important to note that each Dynasty may only choose one of Servitude or Aspiration. Servitude as a tree improves the life of a vassal who seeks nothing more than developing their own domain while appeasing their Vampire masters. Aspiration on the other hand is the perk for those cool Revenants that won't accept slavery to their Leech creators and are willing to fight for their place in the world (I primarily choose Aspiration personally). While Servitude improves personal domain, stability, and lifespan, Apsiration makes your Dynasty as whole richer and more likely to spread Disciplines to children. Additionally, Aspiration is generally more effective if pursuing the Major Objective of Revenants.

Major Objectives

Revenants have one Objective unique to them, which is usually worth pursuing as it is how one obtains immortality without giving up their unique Revenant mechanics. By acquiring control of certain locations and vampires, you are able to Steal the Power of Vitae, transcending many of the limits on a conventional Revenant.

Often the easiest way to acquire the required Methuselah Vampires is to Abduct those in Torpor, using Mesmerize as mentioned earlier. Upon completion of the decision, you will receive a number of beneficial traits, as well as improving your Revenant trait into the Bloodgorged Trait, and making you Forever 21 (immortality age set to that).

On a final note, one objective I find worth pursuing as a Revenant is the creation of a custom Path. As you currently gain access to no Major Objectives dependent upon your Road or Path, it is often worthwhile making your own that fits your playstyle better than any of the default do.

This wiki was made in large part thanks to one of our Patrons Mithril Leaf. We thank them eternally into the night, may the blood never sour on their lips, and may all their plans come to fruition.