Remember Interview with a Vampire? Or any of the vampire chronicles by Anne Rice? Although Anne gave her characters a presence which seemed to have been omitted in such tales of the genre prior to her Lastat, friends and family saga, she came no where near the success of Chelsea Quinn Yarbro.
In MANSIONS of DARKNESS, Ms. Yarbro created a character with character, class, personal wealth and honor. In the process of ’’fleshing out’’ her story, Ms. Yarbro also gave us an insight into past history surrounding the conquering of the Incas and the confiscation of their land by the Spanish.
It is the year, 1641 in what has been christened the town of Cuzco in what now is known as Peru. Land that had once belonged to the Inca, is now under Spanish rule. Into this colonial post in the New World in which Spain had established itself as the predominated European force the previous century, came Francisco Ragoczy, el Conde de San Germanno.
The Roman Catholic Church shared rule with the military, both oppressing the last remaining descendants of Incan royalty in an attempt to wrestle from them the last vestiges of treasures. In fact, these treasures of gold and silver -- prior to the appearances of the first Spaniard warriors -- once did exist in abundance.
Now, neither man of the cloth nor of the sword will accept the denial of their existence. In their greed, to uncover the whereabouts of what they feel is being hidden from them, they will resort to harrassment and torture, since conversion to their faith has been refused. The religious and the scroundrel military men will stop at nothing to persuade the last royal descendant to surrender these riches to them.
It matters not to them Acanna Tupac is a woman alone, and the last living pure Incan descendant. It does, however, matter to the foreign count, San Germanno, who somehow has abilities more powerful than any other and who wishes only to observe and study the native peoples of this land. He has, in fact, been allowed to establish his House in Cuzco and is under the protection of Don Ezequias Pannefrio y Modestez, governmental regional magistrate. The Conde is not only wealthy, but is titled, as well, which gives him privilege to the enjoyment of such protection.
San Germanno befriends Acanna Tupac, offering his social status, as well as his unusual abilities in her defense. He only wants to learn of her peoples’ history, perserving it as best he can in return. However, those who lust for the wealth of the Incas will not be detered by a mere man, who, by the way, only proclaims himself to be of the privileged class.
They are many against his one. And, cannot be bothered by the superstitious rumors that he has inhuman powers of physical strenght and the ability to save those who might have died had mere men of medicine attended them. These were, after all, only rumors. Furthermore, with this Conde out of the way, not only would those deserving of this wealth have advantage of Incan treasure, but of San Germanno’s significant riches, as well.
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro takes us from the Peruvian town of Cuzco and the surrounding mountainous terrain to Mexico, and into the areas which will become known as Texas and California. Our main character, the count, San Germanno and his faithful manservant, Rogerio, who has served him well for more than several centuries, discover much in the histories of peoples we will know during our time as essentially extinct. This count is what I would expect of an intelligent being whose existence has seen more than 3500 years.