Vlad Tepes is considered one of histories greatest villians. He is most famously known as a basis for the original vampire. The original Dracula.
He ruled a small kingdom in the Balkans. His subjects lived in fear. His enemies lived in fear. After Tepes would defeat an army, he would impale prisoners on large pikes and leave them in the hills for all to see. He would do this to those not loyal to him. He would do this to powerful families to keep them in order. He would do this to those who broke the law.
The Impaler. Some had the pikes driven up their asses. Others hung by their rib cages. Others would decay and gradually slip to the ground, their own weight and gravity fighting the friction of the pike, forever spiked into the earth. Hundreds of bodies, impaled and hoisted in the air for all to see.
During this time, the Turkish Empire was growing in ambition. They had just vanquished Byzantium. The Fall of East Rome had just occured. West Rome could not muster the chaotic Europeans together to stop the Muslims. Europe could not unite to stop a powerful force like the Turks.
Kingdom by kingdom fell to the powerful Turks. Their ambition was to seize all of Europe. They certainly had the armies to do so.
The Turkish armies approached the kingdom of Tepes. At night, they thought they were approaching a forest. But as they drew closer, they realized this was not a forest of wood, but of bodies spired on 20' pikes. Tens of thousands of corpses hanging from poles. A forest of bodies.
The Turks withdrew their Balkan invasions - The troops feared what evil lay beyond the forests of death. No man was capable of this - It must have been demonic. The troops lost all morale to carry on any further, their leader grew sick and withdrew his armies. One insignifant kingdom buried in the woods and mountains and mists of Translyvania. One man.
No matter how large your enemy is, put enough fear in them so that even in death, they fear you. Even in death we can be immortal.
