Carmilla
Carmilla, V, is a unique monster that appears in dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack. Carmilla is an undead human and one of Vlad the Impaler's vampiric wives, making her a lord to vampire-kind: she is strong, unbreathing and amphibious, has flight and enhanced regeneration, can track the hero and see other creatures using normal sight and bloodsense, and can be seen via infravision. Carmilla will seek out weapons, armor and other items to pick up, waits for the hero to approach her, and can follow the hero to other floors if she is adjacent. She can reach level 30 and has 10 points of AC in the 'natural' category.
Carmilla has a single-target active gaze that can initiate seduction, a single weapon attack, and a vampiric bite attack. Carmilla possesses cold resistance, sleep resistance, poison resistance, drain resistance, and death resistance, and has a weakness to silver.
Carmilla can be warded by a fourfold Elder Elemental Eye.
Generation
Carmilla is always generated hostile. She is not a valid polymorph form or genocide target.
Carmilla is always generated in the central room at the top floor of the Windowless Tower, where she is placed on the leftmost square with Mina Harker to the right (opposite both Vlad and Ilona Szilagy) during level creation.
Carmilla is always generated with a rapier, a bow and 10–29 arrows, and Victorian underwear.
Strategy
While Carmilla is individually on the weaker side, her ability to charm the hero while also stealing their items can leave a player thoroughly disrobed and robbed of vital weapons and armor if they are unwary or under-prepared. To that end, be careful that wands of striking or fire are not zapped at the doors to their room, even if you are only targeting the other vampires in the surrounding area—if they are destroyed, one of more of Vlad and his entourage may be able to see the hero from where they are meditating, usually becoming active much earlier than you want.
Origin
Carmilla is an 1872 Gothic novella by Irish author Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu that is considered a foundational work of English-language vampire literature and one of the most influential of all time: it is a defining work of Gothic horror in general that established Le Fanu as a major writer in the genre of vampire fiction, and directly influenced many works of horror and mystery within and outside the genre, such as Bram Stoker's 1897 Dracula. First published as a serial in The Dark Blue from 1871–72, the novella subsequently appeared in Le Fanu’s 1872 short story collection In a Glass Darkly in 1872.
The novella is narrated by Laura, a young woman living in a secluded Austrian castle, who becomes the object of both affection and predation by the enigmatic Carmilla, leading to a complex and dangerous relationship marked by both romantic desires and vampiric violence. The narrative is famous for popularizing the "lesbian vampire" trope, and explores themes of sexual identity, the supernatural, and the tension between innocence and corruption, while maintaining a sense of dread and suspense.
Carmilla is one of the first works of Gothic fiction to portray female empowerment, as the titular character is actually involved with her victims both emotionally and physically—the work also challenges the Victorian view of women as merely being useful possessions of men, depending on them and needing their guardianship. Carmilla is also one of the first fictional figures to represent the concept of dualism, which is presented in the story through the repeated contrasting natures of both vampires and humans, as well as lesbian and heterosexual traits. The story exhibits many of the early traits of Gothic fiction, including a supernatural figure, an old castle, a strange atmosphere, and ominous elements. Due to its popularity, the work has been anthologised, having been adapted extensively for films, operas, video games, Halloween plays, comics, cartoons, radio, and other media since the late 19th century.
Encyclopedia entry
She was slender, and wonderfully graceful. Except that
her movements were languid-very languid-indeed, there
was nothing in her appearance to indicate an invalid.
Her complexion was rich and brilliant; her features were
small and beautifully formed; her eyes large, dark, and
lustrous; her hair was quite wonderful, I never saw hair
so magnificently thick and long when it was down about her
shoulders; I have often placed my hands under it,
and laughed with wonder at its weight. It was exquisitely
fine and soft, and in color a rich very dark brown, with
something of gold. I loved to let it down, tumbling with
its own weight, as, in her room, she lay back in her chair
talking in her sweet low voice, I used to fold and braid
it, and spread it out and play with it.
Heavens! If I had but known all!
