Vampire

Vampires are a type of undead that fed on the blood and were extremely vulnerable to sunlight. Myths suggest the first vampires were knights of the Aldresian Crusade who, in their envy of the elves' longevity and their relative immunity to the White Pestilence, were cursed by the gods after desecrating an elven temple. However, darker theories say that the first vampire was in fact Ettalinde the Wretched, who was cursed after trying to trick the Infernal Court, who then either willingly or forcibly turned the crusaders who woke her from her tomb.

For the eastern variant of vampire, the energy vampire, see Jiangshi.

History

Origins - Surael's Damnation

Up until the 17th century it was believed that the first vampires were crusaders (mostly of Roilsardi origin) who, upon seeing the end of the White Pestilence (1040-1053) that ravaged Corvuria and The Borders began to settle the depopulated lands as its new lords. Since the War of the Sorcerer-King Corvuria had been known as the Corvurian Protectorate, which was a vassal state of the Phoenix Empire where sun elves ruled the governed the Corvurian population. After the Aldresian Crusade, however, Jaher gave the human Roilsardi knight and hero of the crusade, Lucian síl Vivin the title of Protector of Corvuria, becoming the first non-elf to hold such a title.

Corvuria was divided culturally and racially between the native Corvurians, who saw their origins as a mix of the old Korbarid tribes and Castanorians, the crusaders, who were largely of Roilsardi descent, and the remaining sun elves who settled the land under Jaher's rule. Despite Lucian's loyalty to the Phoenix Empire and focus on restoring the land in the aftermath of the White Pestilence, many former crusaders began to grow deep envy for the sun elves who still saw themselves as the ruling class of Corvuria. Pogroms against the elves grew and Lucian was said to have turned a blind eye to the atrocities, which culminated in a desecration of an elven temple to Surael in Corvuria. The myth goes that Surael then cursed the envious crusaders with vampirism, forever to shun his sunlight and feed on mortal flesh in exchange for a perverted version of the immortality they craved.

These alleged first vampires would be known later as the Errant-Princes, a corruption of the term "knight-errant" and "prince" which was both the title of the rulers of the elfrealms and a growing honorific for the elven peoples.

Alternate Origins - Ettalinde

The alternate theory, which was first recorded in the 1200s, subscribes the origins of vampirism to Ettalinde the Wretched instead of Surael. The story goes that Ettalinde during her time as an acolyte tricked the fiendish gods of the Infernal Court by creating warlock contracts exchanging allegiance for power without each of the gods knowing. Eventually the Infernal Court found out and each dealt a curse onto her which made her the first vampire, inadvertedly saving her from being destroyed by the Sorcerer-King and Canrec the Defiler.

In an Order of Chroniclers interview with the Errant Theodore sína Trinás in 1900, he claims that he and his fellow Errant-Princes were investigating the rumours of her survival in their search for immortality, having grown envious of the long-livedness of elven life, and that they found Ettalinde's tomb underneath a temple of Surael in Corvuria. When refused entry by the monastic order that lived in the temple, they slaughtered everyone, eventually waking a slumbering and weakened Ettalinde. Ettalinde then broke free and fed on crusader and elven monk alike until she was finally satiated, offering Theodore and the would-be Errant-Princes her dark gift in exchange for freeing her.

For individual reasons, the Errant-Princes swore secrecy, allowing various theories of their existence, like the popular Surael's Damnation, to fester as they grew their individual vampiric covens and kin.

As for Ettalinde, Theodore claims she had been living in relative secrecy and was uninvolved in vampiric affairs until the 1800s, when the Blood Court, the international organization that governs mainstream vampiredom, captured and imprisoned her for fear of the Law of the First Sire, which claimed that if Ettalinde was killed, that her children, that is, all vampires, would die.

The Protector's Crusade

TODO

• Lucian The Protector fights vs vampires and tries to wipe them out. Eventually they turn him which allows vampires to entrench themselves in Corvurian society. Maybe they turn his daughter which kinda makes him like "damnit well I love my daughter"
• Eventually they bury him in Daravan's Folly (see vicky3 info)

Spreading throughout Cannor

TODO

• Spread across Cannor, primarily Lorent, Roilsard and The Borders. Some of the Errant-Princes moved back there anyways

Rule of the Blood Court

TODO

• was made during the crimson deluge
• Made in Corvuria after the vampire nobles there consolidate, work with the human monarchy there
• It's the Camarilla

Physiology

TODO

• description, powers, appearance, not being able to see themselves

Weaknesses

Vampires as a whole share many common physiological weaknesses, such as not being able to see themselves in mirrors or any other form. Other weaknesses though, they differ dependent on the generation of the vampire. Second generation vampires are said to gruesomely die instantly on contact with sunlight via combustion, bursting into flames and disintegrating. Third and fourth however, merely ignite and burn on contact with sunlight, dying within a minute instead of instantly. Progressing onwards, fifth and sixth do not combust immediately like the prior generations, but instead burn on contact with sunlight and over a minute of exposure will cause combustion. The last recorded change is in the seventh and eighth who never combust, but can still burn to a crisp from sunlight through prolonged exposure, and catch on fire although it's not all consuming like the others. Chronicler Chroné of Logis first noted this intriguing trend of growing less sensitive to sunlight going in tandem with the fact that only the second generation are unable to cross running water, and only the second and third are unable to enter residencies without permission. This seems to suggest that the diminishing physical powers of vampires are traded off for their diminishing weaknesses.

Feeding

Vampires can only sustain themselves, and their mind, by consuming blood. A vampire who does not feed, whether by choice or by inability, will eventually enter a state where they become more beast than man, reverting to bestial instincts and thinking - these individuals are known as feral vampires. Should they consume enough blood, feral vampires can still return to their former state.

There have been attempts in the past to commercialize the need for blood, such as blood banks or a coterie of thralls to feed from. To the disappointment of many a vampire, drinking blood this way for a currently unexplained reason is less filling and nourishing to a vampire's thirst than blood gained from a hunt. Research into this area indicates the hunt itself is necessary, making the predatory part of their nature critical to their survival.

Vulnerabilities

There are only 2 confirmed methods by which a vampire can be killed (as they are naturally immortal): exposure to direct sunlight and staking them through the heart while they are resting in their coffin. Staking a vampire through the heart whilst they are outside their coffin will not be lethal but will paralyze the vampire. A vampire who has been greatly wounded will enter a mist state, and return to their coffin to heal. The vampire will be unable to leave the coffin until fully healed from this wound, this is also the only place a vampire can recover from fatigue and rest.

The final method, although unconfirmed, revolves around the Sire Bond Theory. This theory, derived from a compilation of ancient adventuring reports, states that the death of a second generation vampire will result in the extinction of their descendants. Primary debates surrounding this theory include whether the death of the progenitor vampire would mean the death of vampirism, whether this is a second generation power, or whether this is a weakness that has emerged in later generations.

Vampires have two supernatural impulses that forbid them from acting. One is crossing running water, which they cannot do unless on top of a vessel like a boat, or the water is covered (such as by a bridge) - though the water itself does not harm the vampire. The other is entering a person's residence without permission.

The most powerful vampires have the natural ability to charm people in a fashion not dissimilar to enchantment magic. This ability is not all-powerful, some people can resist or break free of this spell, and subjects cannot be forced to harm themselves or do anything they wouldn't do normally without risking of breaking the charm, like basic enchantment magic.

Creation

The creation of a vampire is called siring, where the vampire creating is called the sire and the vampire created is called the child.

• To create a new vampire one must drain the child of blood to near-death,
• then feed the child a substantial portion of the sire's blood until the child passes out (in reality, this is the child dying)
• eventually (usually the next day) the child will wake, slowly gaining the powers and vulnerabilities of a vampire over a period of around a week
• if the child does not feed themselves on enough fresh blood straight from their prey during this period, they will turn into feral vampires

Sire-bond

The bond between sire and child is often extremely close, like the bond between family or lovers. Indeed, it is expected by vampire society that the sire teach the child how to live as a vampire and within vampire rules, as a parent would with their actual child.

The bond is also physical and mental, and depending on the child's personal willpower, will form a strong attachment and subservience to their sire and are unable to act against their sire's wishes or commands until they grow stronger in their abilities - which síl Vekt marks as usually under a decade. However, the sire will still always have sway with their children and their sires, and thus the entire sireline - though how much sway is dependant on the sire's personal strength and degrees of separation. On one occasion, the Errant-Prince Mihaela prevented her own assassination planned by her own sireline through force of will, rendering her attackers unconscious.

Generations

Compiled through popular theories such as the Sire Bond theory and the Ettalinde progenitor theory, this diagram represents the generational progression of vampires up to and including the 5th generation.

Generations determine how far removed a vampire is from the progenitor vampire Ettalinde. When a vampire sires a new vampire, their generation is one higher from their parent (so a 3rd Generation's children will all be of the 4th Generation).

The older a vampire is, the stronger they are, but their generation acts as síl Vekt describes as a "maximum potential" for their powers. While a vampire’s generation may determine the maximum potential for their vampiric powers, the rate at which they meet that potentially varies from vampire to vampire. Besides generations, vampiric power can only be increased through age. As such, though a 500 year old 3rd gen may be stronger than a newborn 2nd gen, a 500 year old 2nd gen will be significantly stronger than a 500 year old 3rd gen.

Thralls

Vampire thralls are mortal servants of vampires who are subservient to their masters. The most common way is through long-term usage of a vampire's innate abilities that work akin to enchantment, but the alternate way is similar to the creation of new vampires: that of feeding on a vampire's blood.

Known as blood thralls, or just thralls, these are mortals who have received portions of a fully-fledged vampire’s blood. Depending on the thrall’s willpower, this can become an addiction upon the first taste whereas for others it takes a few feedings. These thralls can sometimes be given limited powers such as regeneration and enhanced senses in exchange for a high sensitivity to sunlight, but not death like their masters. Should the thrall stop receiving feedings for a week, they will go through intense withdrawals becoming unfathomably ill, which often leads to death if untreated.

Society

Territories

Vampires can be found all across the world, though they are predominantly found in Corvuria, The Borders, Roilsard and the Bay of Wines. In Aelantir, the landowners of Marlliande have been theorized to be vampire slave-owners, feeding off their orcish slaves free from the purview of the old world of vampires in Cannor.

Fundamental Laws

With the exception of feral vampires, and a few outcasts, most vampires are organized under the Masquerade. The Masquerade has a single purposes: to keep vampires secret from mortals and keep them safe from harm.

The following rules are those that appear most commonly amongst vampires, however they have been known to vary regionally:

1. Vampires should not, in any way, let their vampiric nature be known to mortals.
2. Obeying a Sire, the vampire who created you, and the local vampiric authority, is paramount.
3. Creation of new vampires can only be done with the consent of your sire and the local vampiric authority, and should a vampire choose to sire a new vampire they are held accountable for their actions.
4. Destruction of a fellow vampire is forbidden without the explicit permission of the local leader of the vampiric authority.

What constitutes a "vampiric authority" can vary greatly across vampiric communities, some find themselves organized under a single, or multiple, vampiric lords who hold authority over all vampires within the community, while others fall under the authority of the Blood Court.

It is important to note that the Masquerade is an effective tool even when hunters or others may be aware of its presence or the presence of vampires. So long as news of vampire attacks are kept to a minimum and any feral vampires are swiftly dealt with tracking down an individual vampire proves extremely difficult and hunters, who rely on the generosity of locals to fund their activities, often find rewards for vampire hunting are minimal and so all but the most zealous often prefer to hunt more lucrative monsters.

Power Structures and Organizations

TODO

• section about pre-blood court stuff. like elders rule or places are divided into domains/protectorates etc etc
• section about vampire lords and stuff which is more autocratic?
• blood court

Notable Vampires

Progenitor (1st Generation)

• Ettalinde The Wretched: Acolyte during the War of the Sorcerer-King and first vampire, cursed in an attempt to trick the devils of the Infernal Court. Allegedly imprisoned by the Blood Court.

Errant-Princes (2nd Generation)

• Theodore sína Trinás: famous for exposing vampire society as a whole in 1900,
• Mihaela: infamous for becoming a God Queen of Taychend under the guise of the White Queen, and siring the Taychendi vampires
• Amolusan: powerful mage vampire

3rd Generation

• Lucian the Protector: Former crusader and ruler Corvurian Protectorate and later King of Corvuria, despite fighting against Vampiric influence in his ruling years he ultimately had the curse forced upon him. Previously entombed in Daravan's Folly. Missing.

4th Generation

• Lucian sil na Toars: Captain of the Thorn Company, a mercenary company during the Lilac Wars and the Greentide. Led the state of Luciande that was settled by this company. Dead.