World Tour: Sons of the Dragon

 When Bram Stoker was writing his novel, he had no intention of  tying his villanous vampire to the 15th century warlord. He just thought the name sounded right. For almost a hundred years, people rarely made the connection. But once they did, throught quasi-crypolozoological looks and modern takes it was hard to let go. The Impaler and the Vampire were extricably linked. For a while, denizens of Romania were sort of offended: Vlad Tepes is a national hero. But eventually, they leaned in, made a tourist industry connecting the Wallachian Prince and one of fiction's most iconic villains.

In the new Middle Ages, this has gone from a way to sell T shirts to a strange sor of diplomatic policy, or curating a Madman's Strategy.

First we have to realize the reason for Vlad Dracula's ruthlessless, and his veneation in spite os said ruthlessnes, was the sort of spot Wallachia was in: The Ottomans had jutst conquered Constaninope, and the Balkans were their doorway through Europe. The absolute chaos of the Industrial collapse meant constant warfare, no rules, and hazy memories. So what better deterrant than hyping up your country has being the birthplace, and domain, of Dracula himself?

Throughout history, leaders have claimed the Divine Right of Kings through some pretty dubious lineages, claiming they were the newest branch of a family tree that included not only Alexander or Charlamegne, but fictonal heroes like Heracles and Arthur. Vlad Tepes, and already cofirmed figure has even more grounding, and for he claims he can  turn into a bat, and drink people's blood? People in the Middle Ages probably weave even more fantasical tales about Abraham Lincoln or Princess Diana, without the foundation of actual vampire myth that profilerated in the Slavic world.

There basically isn't a Romania anymore...the country itself is quite a modern construct, and so we have the kingdom of Transyvania, which includes Wallachia (Vlad Tepes's actual fiefdom) because hey, when mythmaking, it pays to trade on the bigger name.) Bats, wolves, and dragons make up the primary heradly, but some go for other morbid imagrey (like skulls and gorgons), and even monsters that were modern in the Indusria era have found themselves on the standards.

While the imagery does scare off casual invaders, it does sometimes resut in tyranny against the populace, and the peasants themselves spin rumors. The head of state has always taken the name "Dracula", and can often be reclusive. At times people do speculate whether the ruler is a centures (or even millennia) old vampire, and it can be best understood much like how soe present day nations occupy their place in the Nuclear Club. We're not saying there are real vampires, but we're  not saying there aren't.