That's at least compatible with what I know about death & decay in
the other world...
(Edit:
Quote:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire yields the following additional information on decay:
Fountain of blood when staked
As a body decomposes, the internal organs rot first because the food that is fermenting there continues fermenting and cannot get out. As a result, a body can swell like a balloon. Put pressure on this and the pressure seeks a way to escape.
Finding vampires in graves
When the coffin of an alleged vampire was opened, people sometimes found the cadaver in a "healthy state" and beautiful, meaning that the corpse was a well-fed and pale-skinned vampire. Reasons for this appearance include:- In the past, people were often malnourished and therefore thin in life. Corpses swell as gasses from decomposition accumulate in the torso. The implication was that the corpse was not famished and, because blood was sometimes found in the corners of the mouth, it was assumed that the "vampire" had been drinking blood.
- Before modern times, people who didn't work the land, such as nobility, had pale skin. They also commonly had longer fingernails, as theirs didn't break from doing hard labour. After death, the skin around the fingernails retracts, which make them seem even longer. Corpses also become pale because, eventually, the upper layer of skin is shed, revealing the white skin underneath.
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I do indeed enjoy amusing off-topic conversations, but there is still an unanswered question of mine remaining: 
Doeas a pretender still remain within the ascension race, if she doesnt own any provinces by herself anymore, but nevertheless has dominion over some provinces as well as commanding some hidden troops (including herself if that matters)?
(i.e. is it worth the trouble to recapture all the province those savage sneakers snatch immediately and thus threatening a quick wipe-out so that they cannot hide every other turn?)