Vampires
Hail from a cult of hemomancers that had a sabotaged blood spell ritual changing them into Azure Neculai or vampires
They were from Egrukar originally
Over time, they have spread out into seemingly isolated cells with minimum contact between each other.
One thought is that the first vampires crossed from the Shadowfell to Aku. They had some level of this pseudo-celestial magic that they were using at the time, but it was weakened due to their undead state. Upon meeting the industrious people of Aku, they decided that they might be able to expand their power. At first, they begin calling themselves the Nicolai, referring to their personal victory of arriving on a mortal plane full of inventive "non-believers." It was also a way of endearing themselves to mortals that might aide them.
The mortals that followed them were called the Azuri, or the blue ones, refering to the almost deathly palor that they began to take (it's a bad permutation of Aznera's name, thinking that she was to come for them soon). The mortals were often used in the early experimentation for hemomancy because their blood was more viable in a lot of ways, more powerful because it was flowing naturally. So, many of them were drained in ways that gave them an unhealthy pallor, including blue bruising marks.
Over time, the experimentations in hemomancy progressed until the first spell that truly equaled in power to the gods was performed. It was a life siphoning spell that healed wounds on the user from siphoning life from the donor, but it was also quickly reversed to damage a user while healing a target. There's a quirky story where someone shouted, "Nicolai! Nicolazuri!" upon this success: "Victory of the people! Victory of the blue ones!" And from that, their name was formed.
More appropriate records indicate that there was some sort of interracial mating of the original vampires that came from the Shadowfell and the mortals that worked with them. As more interracial children were born or more vampires were created from those offspring, the more confused people became when trying to distinguish them, so they just kind of portmanteau'd their way to Azure Nicolai. A few returned to the Shadowfell to demonstrate what had been learned, but the hemomancy almost had to be reengineered to work with the less mortal blood of vampires in the Shadowfell. If you were to compare the hemomancy across the two planes, self-harm spells tend to be stronger in Aku while the spells that use the blood of others or sacrifices tends to be stronger for those who learn in the Shadowfell. Blood binding spells (like the blood of user and a sacrifice from another) tend to be about equal across the planes. Obviously, there’s variation in this, but it’s viewed as general rule of thumb among those who thoroughly know about hemomancy.
The oldest vampires of Aku are actually the product of interracial mating, which has resulted in a blue-grey tone to their skin. Shadowfell vampires tend to almost have more red or pink notes than blue in their skin.
They were from Egrukar originally
Over time, they have spread out into seemingly isolated cells with minimum contact between each other.
One thought is that the first vampires crossed from the Shadowfell to Aku. They had some level of this pseudo-celestial magic that they were using at the time, but it was weakened due to their undead state. Upon meeting the industrious people of Aku, they decided that they might be able to expand their power. At first, they begin calling themselves the Nicolai, referring to their personal victory of arriving on a mortal plane full of inventive "non-believers." It was also a way of endearing themselves to mortals that might aide them.
The mortals that followed them were called the Azuri, or the blue ones, refering to the almost deathly palor that they began to take (it's a bad permutation of Aznera's name, thinking that she was to come for them soon). The mortals were often used in the early experimentation for hemomancy because their blood was more viable in a lot of ways, more powerful because it was flowing naturally. So, many of them were drained in ways that gave them an unhealthy pallor, including blue bruising marks.
Over time, the experimentations in hemomancy progressed until the first spell that truly equaled in power to the gods was performed. It was a life siphoning spell that healed wounds on the user from siphoning life from the donor, but it was also quickly reversed to damage a user while healing a target. There's a quirky story where someone shouted, "Nicolai! Nicolazuri!" upon this success: "Victory of the people! Victory of the blue ones!" And from that, their name was formed.
More appropriate records indicate that there was some sort of interracial mating of the original vampires that came from the Shadowfell and the mortals that worked with them. As more interracial children were born or more vampires were created from those offspring, the more confused people became when trying to distinguish them, so they just kind of portmanteau'd their way to Azure Nicolai. A few returned to the Shadowfell to demonstrate what had been learned, but the hemomancy almost had to be reengineered to work with the less mortal blood of vampires in the Shadowfell. If you were to compare the hemomancy across the two planes, self-harm spells tend to be stronger in Aku while the spells that use the blood of others or sacrifices tends to be stronger for those who learn in the Shadowfell. Blood binding spells (like the blood of user and a sacrifice from another) tend to be about equal across the planes. Obviously, there’s variation in this, but it’s viewed as general rule of thumb among those who thoroughly know about hemomancy.
The oldest vampires of Aku are actually the product of interracial mating, which has resulted in a blue-grey tone to their skin. Shadowfell vampires tend to almost have more red or pink notes than blue in their skin.
Scientific Name
Azure Neculai
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