HOUSE of DENIED PLEASURES

Classification: Magic item/location

Creator: Nostranda

First Appearance: Vampire Tales I#10 (April, 1975)

Powers/Abilities/Functions: The House of Denied Pleasures was a gateway from a Hell-realm to Krindrel (see comments) through which dark forces could reach and rule the Earth, feeding on the purity of its life-blood.

    The House was populated with beautiful and lusty vampiresses.

    Rumors of the house's nature -- seemingly a pleasure palace, with such ecstasy achieved, for a commensurate price, that one might never want to leave -- lured travelers to be seduced and then fed upon by the resident vampire women, whose power strengthened the sentient structure and, through it, its creator, Nostranda. 

    Conversely, the destruction of the resident vampiresses weakened the House, causing it to rumble, shudder, and eventually break apart before finally sinking through a hole into Hell.

History:
(Vampire Tales I#10 (fb) - BTS / Vampires: The Marvel Undead: Vampires Unabridged Appendix) - Adjacent to seaside town Krindrel, vampire sorceress Nostranda erected "the House of Denied Pleasure."

    Per Nostranda, its foundations were rooted in the very pits of Hell, and it was a gateway from Hell through which dark forces may reach and rule the Earth, feeding on the purity of its life-blood.

    Nostranda intended this to be the first of many such houses connected to Hell.

    Nostranda populated the House with vampiresses. 

    Rumors of the house's nature -- seemingly a pleasure palace, with such ecstasy achieved, for a commensurate price, that one might never want to leave -- lured travelers to be seduced and then fed upon by the resident vampire women, whose power strengthened the sentient structure and, through it, Nostranda. 

    Circa the 16^th century, Jarand Vosburg, king of the unidentified land presumably including Krindrel, was driven by lust to enter the House, where he was imprisoned and slowly drained of blood.

(Vampire Tales I#10 - BTS) - Sareena, the barmaid at the Broken Mast tavern, spoke with every sailor at one point or another, and she heard secrets from those foolish -- or damned -- enough to have entered the House of Denied Pleasure.

(Vampire Tales I#10 - BTS) - Suspecting his father's fate, Jarand's son, Zarathon, sought out the House. 

    One man warned him that a giant guarded the pleasure mansion's bowels and advised him to seek further information from Sareena. 

    Sareena warned Zarathon that one he entered the House he would never emerge, as the house held more than denied delights: It held death by pleasure so intense it sucked a man dry, and no one had ever returned. 

    Questioning whether these people had been unable to return or rather that, in the midst of such glorious pleasure, they felt no compulsion to depart, Zarathon resolved that he would have to find out for himself, and Sareena bade him goodbye. 

    Zarathon then traveled via horseback to the House, scaled its wall, and entered a window and found a pair of beautiful women who offered him unheard of pleasures before attempting to mesmerize him. 

    Resisting their gazes, Zarathon pulled aside his coat, allowing his cross to fall into view. As the vampiresses turned away from the cross, he hurled a stake into the one's back, destroying her, at which point the House, pained by this loss, shuddered. 

    Although stunned and pitched to the violently bucking floor, Zarathon reached forward and grabbed the ankle of the longer-haired vampiress as she attempted to flee, knocking her to the ground, after which he staked her as well, and the House trembled in rage.

    Following a dank hall to another chamber, Zarathon encountered a man who had five vampiresses sucking blood from every accessible vein. 

    Outraged, Zarathon hurled a stake and destroyed one of the vampiresses, but as the house shuddered, Zarathon realized he had to flee from their numbers. 

    Reaching a narrow corridor, he dropped his cross, preventing the vampiresses from following him. 

    They raged in frustration, and as Zarathon descended down the stairs into the mansion's depths, they dropped their completely drained victim down in front of him. 

    Wary of the giant of whom he had been warned, Zarathon was pleased to instead find a 4' tall man, whom he ambushed and slew with another stake. 

    Taking the guard's keys, Zarathon opened the door and found his dying father, who warned him of the House's sorcerous properties and warned him to depart. 

    Jarand apparently perished just as another trio of vampires entered the cell, hoping his young and strong form would allow them to replenish the house.

    Zarathon held them back with his cross, but then a fourth vampiress entered, and she hurled the stake she had claimed from the guard's back at his hand, causing him to drop the cross. 

    While another vampiress joined the conflict, Zarathon used his last two stakes to slay a pair of the hellions; the House began to crumble as he grappled with the second, and after her demise, beams began crashing to the floor, incapacitating another vampiress and causing further loosening and falling of mortar, with the walls buckling and heaving. 

    Finally Zarathon reached a torch and set the remaining vampiresses aflame (there were three shown aflame, but perhaps the one struck by the beam revived, as she hadn't been impaled), the floor split open with a roar, and the stench of brimstone billowed from the yawning abyss, followed by the effulgence of madness, and something far more...

    Nostrandra then emerged, floating in the mist and advising Zarathon that she would not permit his destruction of her house. After revealing the House's true nature and purpose, she instructed Zarathon that she would not allow him to crush the rule of Hell on Earth before it began. 

    Driven by his father's memory, Zarathon nonetheless hurled a broken wooden beam into Nostranda's chest, impaling and apparently destroying her. 

(Vampire Tales I#10 - BTS) - With Nostranda's apparent destruction, the crumbling House collapsed into the abyss, after which the ground sealed over it. Zarathon escaped the crumbling house, but was apparently maddened by his experiences.

Comments: Created by Doug Moench, Mike Vosburg, and Howard Nostrand.

    It is presumed but unconfirmed that Nostranda vampirized the women inhabiting the House. It is also possible that she gathered existing vampires.

    Nostranda was first identified in the Vampires Appendix section of Vampires: The Marvel Undead. Her name was obviously an homage to inker Howard Nostrand, while Jarand and Zarathon Vosburg's names were homages to penciler Mike Vosburg.

    Nostranda and the women of the House of Denied Pleasures were likely revived by the prophecy fulfilled in Blade III#12 that brought back every vampire that had ever perished.
    Of course, it is possible that they were resurrected in broad daylight and incinerated...assuming they had the standard vampire weakness to sunlight.

    Krindrel sounds German (as does Jarand), while Zarathon looks like a fancy Solomon Kane, who is English, but spent time in Germany. However, it is unrevealed of what land Jarand was king.

From what I can find, Jarand is of Germanic origin and is found mostly in the Nordic countries, particularly Norway.
And while we're on the subject of naming characters after comics creators, Vosburg and Nostrand are both Dutch and Moench is also Germanic
--David Zuckerman
The outfits are very in the style of the Hammer Horror movies, specifically the ones set somewhere undefined in Europe circa the 1600/1700s. 
Those tended to be vaguely "somewhere in Europe, slightly to the eastern side." Per this map of Europe in 1700, I'd say no further west than the Holy Roman Empire boundaries, no further east than the edge of Russia, no further south than the upper edge of the Ottoman Empire.
And given we're told Krindrel is a seaside town, the regions I've just marked in purple would seem the best options.
--Loki

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
The House of Denied Pleasures should be distinguished from:

• HOUSE - living organism with an appetite--Journey into Mystery II#1

• HOUSE - see WEASEL. alias used while serving as armored security agent in Las Vegas--Deadpool IV#25?

• HOUSE of BLUE LIGHTS (Ingenuity Lee) - earth base of the Asura, pump victims full of K--Hellstorm#12(
• HOUSE of CORRECTION (warden Johnston Coffin, mutants + other teens (many died)) - imprisoned rebellious teens and transformed them into horribly mutated cyborg form under control of Coffin--[Generation X#63],64
• HOUSE of DUST - circa 2671 BC, site in which Nashtoth showed Gidim the Bones of Gilgamesh--Captain America: Hail Hydra#2 (2011)
• HOUSE of ETERNITY - base of Priests of Khonshu--Moon Knight :Fist of Khonshu#1
• HOUSE of FIYERO - ruling house on Hala, had Supreme Intelligence lobotomized, saw Ronan as a threat and gave Tana Nile information on Thanos in exchange for framing Ronan for conspiring against them, attempted alliance with Annihilation Wave, slain by Ronan--[Annihilation: Ronan#1], Annihilation#1
• HOUSE of LOTUS - circa World War II, base of Lady Lotus--Invaders I#38
• HOUSE of RAVE - base of Rave--Marvel Comics Presents#141/4
• HOUSE of RAZOR - home of Razor-Fist, two women servicing Razor-Fist's every need--Elektra I#5
• HOUSE of SHADOWS of the Hyborian era - Family of assassins, the leader of which had seeming shadow powers, all slain by Red Sonja--Savage Sword of Conan#45/4
• HOUSE of SHADOWS - extradimensional entity in form of a house, battled Dr. Strange and Robert Payne (Black Fox) prior to modern era, battled Rom and Rintrah in recent years - aka HAUNTED HOUSE*, DWELLER-IN-SHADOWS, HOUSE, CONDO of SHADOWS--Strange Tales I#120
• HOUSE of SKULLS of the Hyborian Era - home of old crone who granted Fafnir Hellhand his first demon arm--Conan the Barbarian I#161
• HOUSE of 1000 MIRRORS of the pre-Cataclysmic era - abode of Tuzun Thune of the Hyborian era--Mirrors of Tuzun Thune; Savage Sword of Conan#34/2
• BOARDING HOUSE of MYSTERY - magical home, in which Howard and Beverly briefly stayed; residence of Cain and Abel, Anthrax, Splatter Gomorrah, Hellboozer, Interminable (Snoozy, Horny, Dicey, Ditzy, Mournful, Mopey, and Doc), Ravel, and Utah--Howard the Duck III#3, 4
• HOGURTH VAMPIRE - apparently a vampire in the form of a house, consuming those that entered it--Journey into Mystery I#21
• other "House," "Denied," or "Pleasure" locations, beings, etc.
  

4' and wielding a battle axe and short sword, he guarded the dungeon in the House's lower depths.      He watched over the cell holding King Jarand.         As Zarathon sought information on the House of Denied Pleasures, one man warned him that a giant guarded the pleasure mansion's bowels and advised him to seek further information from Sareena.     Wary of the giant of whom he had been warned, Zarathon was pleased to instead find a 4' tall man, whom he ambushed and slew with another stake.      Taking the guard's keys, Zarathon opened the door and found his dying father, Jarand. Note: He was also referred to as a dwarf

images: (without ads):
Vampire Tales I#10/2, pg. 2, panel 1 (House exterior);
    pg. 3, panel 2 (first pair of vampires encountered by Zarathon);
    pg. 4, panel 6 (vampiresses gorging on victim);
        panel 9 (vampiresses' faces);
    pg. 5, panel 8 ("giant" full);
    pg. 6, panel 3 ("giant" death);
    pg. 7, panel 6 (Zarathon, fighting multiple vampiresses);
    pg. 8, panel 6 (Zarathon setting vampiresses aflame);
    pg. 10, panel 4 (house collapsing);
        panel 6 (ground closed over pit)

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

First posted: 10/19/2021
Last updated: 10/19/2021

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