The Vampyre World Instead of "vampire", the authors use the variant spelling "vampyre" throughout the series. This convention is also applied to the words "vampyric" and "vampyrism". In the
fictional world of
House of Night, a small percentage of the world's teenagers are changed into vampyres when adolescent hormones trigger a strand of what is otherwise
junk DNA. Fledglings are "marked" by a Tracker vampyre with a blue
crescent-shaped tattoo on their foreheads; when they become full-fledged adult vampyres, this mark becomes solid blue, and is eventually elaborated upon with the addition of further blue '
tattoos', which extend over their forehead and cheeks, typically taking designs related to some aspect of their personality. Fledglings that die and then are later resurrected have their crescent tattoos turn red in place of the usual blue. Red fledglings appear to complete the change once they have made a choice to side with either good or evil, and their expanded tattoos are the same red. The marking of a fledgling, and the consequent gifts received as part of being a vampyre, are considered to be gifts from the goddess
Nyx, the
Greek personification of the night. The change from human to vampyre takes four years, during which the vampyre teenagers, known as "fledglings", must attend one of the "House of Night" boarding schools, and must remain in constant proximity to adult vampyres, as otherwise the fledgling will die. As a result, fledglings rarely leave the schools in which they live. While at the House of Night boarding school, fledglings are required to take lessons in vampyre history, sociology, and in the powers gifted to them as part of their transition into an adult vampyre. However, one in ten fledglings die before completing the transition into adult vampyre, as their bodies reject the Change. Fledglings who do survive the Change into adulthood are physically stronger than most adult humans, with accelerated reflexes, enhanced dexterity, a heavily extended lifespan, and heightened senses, including night vision. ) Older fledglings and adult vampyres need to drink small quantities of human blood, but vampyres at the House of Night do not attack humans to get this, instead receiving donations from blood banks. The taking of blood is pleasurable for both human and vampyre, comparable to and described as better than sex or a drug rush within the series, and may lead to a strong emotional bond between the human and the vampyre, known as "Imprinting". An Imprint can be broken through death, the vampyre Imprinting upon another, or through mystical means; when an Imprint is broken, it causes considerable anguish for both the vampyre and the human. The series has a strong religious setting, with both
Christianity and the beliefs of the vampyres a common thread throughout. In the human world within the series, various faiths exist in opposition to or in support of the vampyres; the "People of Faith", a fictional
Protestant Christian denomination, is highly intolerant of those they perceive to be in opposition to their beliefs, including the vampyres.
Catholicism also plays an important role later in the series, with the fledglings joining forces with Catholic nuns against Kalona. The religious setting of the series gives it a strong moral perspective, as it is often enforced that Nyx gives vampyres and humans free will. Throughout the series, Zoey faces difficult decisions and commonly questions whether or not she has made the right choices, with one character dying as a result of her actions in
Tempted. In
Burned, a
Manichaen view of the Universe is presented, in which Good battles Evil, and characters must choose which side to be on, with the black and white bulls, known as Light and Darkness respectively, introduced as representatives of these forces.
The Human World The series is set in
Tulsa, in a small and reclusive part of
Midtown, with many locations in the series taken from real-life Tulsa itself. The House of Night campus is in the real life campus of
Cascia Hall Preparatory School, and the climactic scene of the first book in the series takes place in the extensive gardens of the
Philbrook Museum of Art. In the series, Zoey also sometimes travels off-campus to the real-life shops of nearby
Utica Square, and several important confrontations take place in Utica Square's
Starbucks coffee shop. Some of the novels' most dramatic scenes take place in a catacomb-like network of tunnels under downtown Tulsa, built by bootleggers during
Prohibition; though a few such tunnels do indeed exist, and can be visited, they are far less extensive than the tunnels described in the series. The abandoned
Art Deco train depot where the tunnels begin, however, is real, and is slated to become a concert hall. The location of Aphrodite's parents' mansion, South 27th Place, is a real street, though the mansion itself is fictional. Though Aphrodite's father, Mr. LaFont, shares a similar name to former mayor of Tulsa
Bill LaFortune, his character is not based on LaFortune himself. The Benedictine monastery to which Zoey and her friends flee in the series is real, known as St. Joseph Monastery. The devastating ice storm through which they flee was based on a
real ice storm that hit Tulsa in December 2007. The climactic scene in
Tempted takes place far from Tulsa, on San Clemente Island near
Venice, called in real life. The church at which the Vampyre High Council meets was built in 1131. Much of
Burned takes place on the
Inner Hebrides island of
Skye, in the palace of Sgiach, the vampyre queen. According to Scottish tradition, Sgiach (usually spelled Sgathach) was a princess many centuries ago, who ran the best warrior training school in Scotland. Princess Sgathach lived in
Dunscaith Castle, which is today a ruin. ==Characters==