Nagaraja

Nāgarāja "King of the nāga" (Sanskrit; Wylie: klu'i rgyal po ) is a figure commonly appearing in Indian religions.

Hinduism

Hindu texts refer to three main deities by this title, Shesha, Takshaka, and Vasuki, the children of the rishi Kashyapa and of Kadru, who are the parents of all nāgas.

Shesha, Vasuki, and Takshaka

Shesha, also sometimes known as Ananta, is the eldest brother, was a devotee of Vishnu, and represents the friendly aspect of snakes, as they save food from rodents. Lord Vishnu is always on continuous meditation (Yoganidra) with Ananta forming a bed for him, and this posture is called Ananta-Sayana.

Vasuki, the younger one was a devotee of Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva always wears Vasuki around his neck. Vasuki also has a sister named Manasa.

Takshaka represents the dangerous aspect of snakes, as they are feared by all due to their venom.

Temples

At Nagercoil in Kanniyakumari district of Tamil Nadu, a temple dedicated to Nagaraja exists.

There is another famous temple named Mannarasala in Alleppey district of Kerala. The deity in this temple embodies both Anantha and Vasuki into one. A temple devoted to nagraja exists in kaippattoor of Ernakulam distinct in Kerala, India. It is known as thekkanattil nagaraja kshetram.

Vampire: The Masquerade

Vampire: The Masquerade is a role-playing game (RPG) created by Mark Rein-Hagen and released in 1991 by White Wolf Publishing as the first of several Storyteller System games for its World of Darkness setting line. It's set in a fictionalized "gothic-punk" version of the modern world, where players assume the roles of vampires, who are referred to as "Kindred", and deal with their night-to-night struggles against their own bestial natures, vampire hunters and each other.

Several associated products were produced based on Vampire: The Masquerade, including live-action role-playing game's (Mind's Eye Theatre), dice, collectible card games (Vampire: The Eternal Struggle), video games (Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption and Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines), and numerous novels. In 1996, a short-lived television show loosely based on the game, Kindred: The Embraced, was produced by Aaron Spelling for the Fox Broadcasting Company.

Development

Vampire was inspired by RPGs such as Call of Cthulhu and RuneQuest, as well as the writings of Joseph Campbell and Mafia and vampire movies such as The Lost Boys. Rein-Hagen felt that hunting vampires, as a game premise, would get boring so he came up with the idea of a game where the players played vampires instead of hunting them. Rein-Hagen specifically stated that he purposefully didn't read Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles until "very late" in the development process but admitted she was probably an influence on the vampire films that inspired the game. He wanted to go beyond what Anne Rice had done by creating individual vampires, with a whole secret vampire society and culture.