Bassarab

The sole survivor of the Bassarab dynasty of Walachia, which is now a province of Roumania. For many centuries, this country of the Vlach people was torn by wars and invasions until the great warrior Ralph the Black consolidated Walachia as a nation, and established tha Bassarabs as the ruling family. Reigning under such titles as Vlad I, Vlad II, Vlad III, and Vlad IV, the Bassarabs still had to fight off invasions by Mongols, Turks, and Hungarians, however, and these perpetual wars gave the Bassarabs an unquenchable lust for blood.

One who was horrifying cruel that he became known as Vlad Dracul or Drakul, meaning either 'dragon' or 'devil'. The Walachians said that a man so appallingly evil must have been sired by Satan or a dragon. Also, he bore all the marks of vampirism and seemed to flourish on human blood.

His successors, Vlad Tepes and Vlad Tsepesh, were equally cruel. Vlad Tepes, known as 'The Impaler', liked to have prisoners of war impaled on pointed stakes, and enjoyed eating his dinner in front of a group of impaled prisoners groaning away their lives. In between wars, he indulged this taste for torture by having Walachian men, women, and even children impaled for his pleasure.

Slowly the nation became more civilized and the Bassarabs presented the appearance of learned and cultured aristocrats - although the Turks drowned one of them as the result of a family intrigue and the dynasty is thought to have ended with the death of Constantine Bassarab in 1658.