After the restoration of the monarchy it was almost 200 years before the next crisis arose for the people Salvagard, and the people enjoyed relative peace. The Icemen attacks became more infrequent and the seasons became warmer, allowing for a relative return to prosperity for the northern kingdom.

The only stain on that time was the arrival of the one who would become known as the Blood Queen. To this day no-one knows her true name, as any who did died in the turmoil of the time, but what she was is well known, an ancient and terrible creature known to the humans as a Vampire.

Although the Kingdom had been isolated for many hundreds of years behind its great boarder mountains, there were still many rumours of its existence in the human lands of the south. Many were false, overblown stories of gold cities and fire breathing Dragons ruling over a kingdom of giants and sorcerers. However, there were some willing to test these wild rumours, and although many perished in the frozen passes, some survived. One was the Blood Queen.

All that is known is that she was driven from her homeland after her subjects revolted and the Blood Queen had to flee, moving north and seeking a safe haven. She did not credit the rumours of Salvagard’s existence, but she did believe that something lay beyond the northern peaks, hidden from many prying eyes and ripe for the taking. What she found was beyond her dreams, a land safe from the outside, full of riches and an unsuspecting population for her to control and make her own
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She quickly integrated with the population of the town Frosgard, a settlement in the far southwest, surrounded by the large lake of Teilman. From here she began to create followers amongst the people of the town, seducing them by some unknown means to be utterly dedicated to her in every way, with some so devoted they even forgot to eat unless specifically ordered to do so.

This harvisting continued for almost two years, with almost everyone in Frosgard’s domain falling under her spell or being killed and used for food by the monstrous Vampire. She had them build her a palace by the lake, quite rough by her standards but far grander then anything in the region, almost a match for some of the noble homes closer to the capital city. Although Teilman was a relatively populated region, it received very few visitors in those years, and they never saw the strange palace that had been erected without paying for the sight with their lives.

After three years the Queen now held more territory then any enemy since the Icemen, and yet no-one knew she was there, safe and regaining her power at a steady rate. She was revealed, however, when she tried to expand into the rest of the Snow Kingdom and make it part of her new domain.
It was the third year of her tenure in Salvagard when the rest of nation finally noticed the strangeness that had beset Teilman’s population, and their sudden drive outwards into the rest of the Kingdom to claim more land from their neighbours. Envoys were sent to Frosgard, but none ever returned.

The king decided enough was enough. He began rounding up the wayward Teilman people, taking many for questioning in the dungeons beneath the palace (constructed out of old storage cellars). There they learnt of the Blood Queen’s existence, and that the people of the Teilman region were completely in her thrall.
The king was horrified by the state of the people he once called his own, now so completely in love with this monstrous woman that they had forsaken all other oaths, to him and his country. He ordered a swift execution for the Thralls they had captured whilst he rallied his men to combat this menace.

However, as the clerics gave a Thrall their final blessing and sang their death hymn they placed a silver token upon her head, as was the custom with traitors to the crown. The metal burned into the werewolves’ skin, as expected, and the Thrall screamed with the pain. Then, suddenly, they became confused, as if waking from a deep sleep, not knowing where they were or how they had arrived there in the cells.
The Clerics were bemused by the revelation, and tried using the silver tokens upon other Thralls that had been captured, each having the same effect of releasing them from their infatuation with the Blood Queen.

The King was informed and brought before the prisoners by the clerics, showing him the effect the silver had upon the people. After he had been convinced no trickery was involved on the former thrall’s part the king came up with a new plan to retake Teilman. He ordered the manufacture of as many tokens as possible, which were then blessed and issued to his soldiery. With these tokens in hand (One side was backed with leather for the soldiers to hold without burning themselves) the men could subdue the people of Teilman and release them from their thrall, keeping them alive and minimizing the loss of life to both the soldiers and citizens alike.

So the campaign began against the Thralls of the Blood Queen, with the soldiers hunting through the forests and settlements in small packs to be as mobile as possible. The campaign was not wholly bloodless, with many thralls fighting back to prevent the soldiers from freeing them from their mental captivity. However, for every thrall that fell there were many that were redeemed, and every one rose with vengeance, wishing to fight back against the one who had enslaved their minds and subjugated their bodies.

After only a month almost all of the people of Teilman had been liberated, and only the last few remained with the Blood Queen in her lakeside palace. The Soldiers had gathered together all available citizens, and soon the palace was surrounded, the Queen face imminent death at the hands of her one time thralls. What happened next is a mystery, but it is theorised that the Blood Queen used the last of her power to transport herself away, for when the soldiers stormed the castle they found it empty, nothing left other then some scattered furniture and several lifeless bodies. The forces outside never saw her leave, nor did they feel anything affecting their senses, but they could not doubt that the Blood Queen had vanished. As a precaution they tore down the keep, leaving the ruins as a warning to any of her kind who dared venture into Salvagard that next time they would be prepared. However, the land around it is still uninhabited, with many believing that it is cursed by the Blood Queen’s former presence.

It was 100 Years after the defeat of the Blood Queen that another crisis arose from the outside world, one that the people of Salvagard had thought they had escaped 1500 years before, the advancing human empires.