Ghûls are supernatural, nocturnal creatures home to the Middle East. They are similar in many aspects to Kindred and yet are not part of the blood.
Characteristics[]
According to legends, the first Ghûls sprang from mortals that lived before the Great Flood. God came down the most wicked of men and told them of their sins and transgressions against Him. He offered them absolution if they would regret and ask for forgiveness, but some among them refused, blinded by their own evil. Those who rejected Him remained alive forever, but were cursed to never again rest for all of the days of the world. While both became the Jinni, the concealed, only the unrepentant became the Ghûls.
Ghûls know that they are the product of a divine curse and their own lifestyle. Every member knows that there was a single identifiable moment in which he could have turned his back on his wicked ways and avoided his cursed state. All lived lives of depraved gluttony and lust prior to their damnation and were too prideful to repent. Now the majority continue their debauched lifestyles, dancing, drinking and writhing in Epicurean pleasure in the dark corners of the world.
Similarities and Differences from the Kindred[]
Ghûls are biologically alive, experience the full range of emotion and have no Beast that plagues their existence. Their bodies do no longer age and the only thing that can destroy them is a complete immolation. Indeed, they are susceptible to the Embrace, which results in them losing their former curse to receive the one of their sire.
On the other hand, Ghûls are compelled to eat human flesh after midnight to sunrise. The exact state of this flesh is meaningless, so they stalk graveyards, unearth corpses and gnaw the flesh from the bones. Furthermore, they are unable to sleep and many begin to develop various derangements following the centuries of insomnia.
References[]
- VTR: Night Horrors: Wicked Dead, p. 51-55
