King Vampire
The King Vampire, (TV: State of Decay [+]Loading...["State of Decay (TV story)"]) also known as the King Yssgaroth[source needed], the Great Vampire, (PROSE: Goth Opera [+]Loading...["Goth Opera (novel)"]) or simply the Great One, (TV: State of Decay [+]Loading...["State of Decay (TV story)"]) was the swarm leader of the extradimensional force known as the Yssgaroth. (PROSE: Interference - Book One [+]Loading...["Interference - Book One (novel)"], The Book of the War [+]Loading...["The Book of the War (novel)"]) After his and his kind's defeat at the hands of the Time Lords, the King Vampire became the last of his kind, fleeing into E-Space.
Biology[[edit] | [edit source]]
The King Vampire was significantly more powerful than the other vampires. As with all vampires, his heart needed to be destroyed completely for him to die.
The King needed blood as his primary food source, which he drank both directly and by sending swarms of bats to devour it from sacrifices prepared by his servants. His servants claimed that he fed on the soul as well as the flesh. (TV: State of Decay)
Biography[[edit] | [edit source]]
The Yssgaroth waged a great war against the Time Lords, who defeated them all with Bowships created on the orders of Rassilon. According to a dramatic retelling informed by Faction Paradox, Rassilon was intent on hunting the swarm leader, whereas Omega insisted that the real threat was the intelligent "things" beyond the dimensional rift, and that the swarm leader was "just the biggest of their servants". (PROSE: Interference - Book One) When the war ended and the vampire corpses were counted, the swarm leader was missing. Having escaped into E-Space, he summoned the human spacecraft the Hydrax there to use its crew as servants.
The ship landed on a planet where it became castle-like in appearance over time. A community grew around it. The King called three humans from the Hydrax telepathically, and made them into Vampires, to serve him and rule over generations of the other humans. Peasants were selected to be fed to the King Vampire, including Karl, son of the head villager Ivo. The fuel tanks of the Hydrax were filled with blood, which was fed to the King through tubing. He lay dormant under the ship for a thousand years, growing in power.
When the Time of Arising came, the King Vampire rose from the ground. The Fourth Doctor launched a scout ship from the Hydrax. The steel hull pierced the King's heart as it descended. (TV: State of Decay)
By another account, the totem used the impale the King Yssgaroth was the Spear. (PROSE: The Brakespeare Voyage)
