Nostranda (16th century vampire; House of Denied Pleasures owner; Vampire Tales story)

Enemies: Jarand and Zarathon Vosburg;
numerous unidentified victims of the House of Denied Pleasure

Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
formerly "the House of Denied Pleasure, adjacent to the seaside town Krindrel in an unidentified nation (see comments)

Powers/Abilities: Nostranda was a vampire sorceress associated with at least one demonic Hell-realm.

She could apparently fashion a building connected to (or she could connect an existing building with) such a Hell-realm. This structure was apparently alive, drawing power from the vampire women living there who feasted upon those drawn to the building.

She cound float in air and presumably navigate the abyss connecting the house to the Hell-realm. She likely had additional magical abilties, but she was not given the chance to demonstrate them.

Nostranda likely had an extended lifespan and fed on blood to survive, although she may have just drawn on the energy of her vampiresses as they fed on the blood of those who came to them. She presumably could transform others into vampires by fatally draining their blood.

She was certainly vulnerable to a wooden stake through the heart. It is unrevealed whether she had other standard vampire vulnerabilties, such as sunlight, religious icons (the conventional vampires in the House had this vulnerability), garlic, and silver.

It is unrevealed whether she could transform into a bat, a wolf or into mist, or if she could control rats, wolves, etc. It is similarly unrevealed whether she could mesmerize with a gaze.

Height: Unrevealed (she seemed much larger than the human Zarathon, perhaps 8' - 12' or more)
Weight: Unrevealed (at human density, she looks like she'd be maybe 160 lbs. at 6' tall; at 8' to 12', she would be then be 312-1280 lbs.)
Eyes: Unrevealed (black and white comic; she looked to have small dark pupils with no visible iris)
Hair: Black (or something very dark)
Skin: Unrevealed, but likely white or another very pale color

History:
(Vampire Tales I#10 (fb) - BTS / Vampires: The Marvel Undead: Vampires Unabridged Appendix) - Adjacent to seaside town Krindel, 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.

Rumors of the house's nature -- seemingly a pleasure palace, with such ecstacy achieved 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 nostranda-vampire-hodp-post-hurled

(Vampire Tales I#10 - BTS) - Suspecting his father's fate, Jarand's son, Zarathon, sought out and entered the House, destroying many vampire women (causing the house shudder and tremble in rage and agony) and ultimately finding his father seconds before his death.

(Vampire Tales I#10) - After Zarathon had set the house aflame, the floor split open, with the stench of brimstone billowing from the yawning abyss, followed by the effulgence of madness, and something far more... nostranda-vampire-hodp-impaled

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 destruciton, 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.

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
nostranda-vampire-hodp-map

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.

At first I thought about somewhere near Sylt in Germany. But looking back there would have been no kingdom there in the 16^th century - Duchies that were part of the Holy Roman Empire, but not a kingdom. I check to either side, and similar problems - not kings, but other leader titles. So I glanced west, and the Netherlands, but not a kingdom at the time (a republic back then it seems). I then wondered if we'd placed any fictional countries into the region I'd previously suggested, so I checked the Marvel Atlas, but nope. Not in the north of Europe. All the fictional countries carved out of Germany have no coastlines.

In the bit of the map I'd previously marked that was down in the Balkans, rather than the top edge of Europe, I think we have a winner. Carpasia. Per the Atlas entry, Carpasia became a kingdom in 1628 - 17th Century rather than 16th, but the actual story in Vampire Tales doesn't cite a date that I can see - and remained so until modern times, but we have no names for any of the monarchs outside of the first, so we can easily fit in Jarand and Zarathon.

--Loki

Appearances:
Vampire Tales I#10/2 (April, 1975) - "House of Pleasure, House of Pain" - Doug Moench (writer), Mike Vosburg (penciler), Howard Nostrand (inker), David Kraft (assistant editor), Don McGregor (associate editor), Len Wein (consulting editor), Marv Wolfman (editor)
Vampires: The Marvel Undead (December, 2011) - Jeff Christiansen, Mike O'Sullivan, and Stuart Vandal (head writers/coordinators); Markus Raymond & Mike Fichera (assistant coordinators); Ronald Byrd (writer)

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