Vampire

"Vampire" is a broad term used to describe a variety of humanoid beings that consume blood as a primary food source. Vampires vary widely in origin, nature, and power, with two major lineages: the Lesser Vampires, the first and oldest, and the Greater Vampires, who came later but far surpassed their predecessors in power.

Lesser Vampires

Also known as: Undead Vampires
Origin: Created by Mallakar
Nature: Often formerly mortal, undead

Lesser Vampires were the first vampires, created by Mallakar to influence the world through the undead. They are sometimes referred to as undead vampires, due to their origin: mortals who died and returned as blood-drinking creatures. Though capable of reproduction, most lesser vampires are created through infection rather than birth.

Turning Process

When a lesser vampire bites a mortal, it is usually to feed. The bite is not always fatal—death occurs only if the vampire consumes enough blood to kill the victim. Most survive the bite, but those who do are not unchanged.
Survivors contract a condition known as sanguine fever, a progressive affliction caused by the vampire’s bite.

Symptoms of Sanguine Fever:

• Fever and nausea
• Itchy skin
• Dry throat
• Sensitivity to light
• Pounding headaches

These symptoms begin mildly and worsen steadily. The disease can resolve in several ways:
Recovery – In some cases, the victim’s immune system defeats the fever, after which they return to normal.
Death – Most succumb to the fever, especially when it goes untreated.
Rebirth – Many of the deceased (approximately 75%) reawaken, not as mortals, but as vampires.

The longer the fever lasts before death, the higher the likelihood of returning as a vampire. This process can take a few days to several weeks, and there is no sure way to predict the outcome.
If people are known to have the disease, and they die, they are buried with wooden stakes punched through their hearts, which prevents them from turning into vampires. However, it is easily mistaken for other, more mundane diseases.

Early Vampirism

Newly awakened vampires are at their most dangerous, wracked by extreme blood starvation, they are aggressive and irrational, driven by instinct to find and drain a living mortal. Once fed, their mental clarity returns and they regain much of their former personality, though always with certain vampiric traits layered atop.

Behaviour and Weaknesses

Fed lesser vampires can be reasoned with, though they remain violent by nature. Starved ones become erratic, impulsive, and dangerously unpredictable.

They possess enhanced physical strength, but are vulnerable to:

• Sunlight – Prolonged exposure is lethal. A thick cloak or hood offers protection, though even indirect light weakens them.
• Fire – They burn far more easily than mortals.

Greater Vampires

Also known as: Bruxa, Elder Vampires
Origin: Created by Apollyus
Nature: Innately vampiric; hierarchical; diverse bloodlines

Greater Vampires were created by Apollyus in a deliberate attempt to expand his dominion. The first was made directly from a fragment of Apollyus himself. After this, he created seventy-nine more on the continent, it was long believed that those were the only originals, until the discovery of Armir, and their vampire originals, of which there are an additional eighty. This makes for a total of one hundred sixty Originals. The descendants of the originals are known as Elder Vampires, the most ancient and powerful of their kind.

Now, three types of greater vampires exist.

Elder Vampires

These are direct descendants of the eighty originals. They are incomparably powerful and long-lived, often ruling over entire regions of vampire society. Each elder represents the purest form of their bloodline.
Elders can only be born by being the direct descendants of another elder.

Full Vampires

Full vampires are often called Bruxa, if they are female. The males are often just called vampires, or full vampires. They were first created when mortal women, or women who were made thralls, fell pregnant with the child of an elder, turning into a bruxa. This was often lethal if the woman hadn't been turned, killing them instead, although it was, and stil is, rare for vampires, let alone elders, to take mortal lovers.
When bruxea have children with a thrall, or a mortal, they produce full vampires. The offspring of elders will always be elders.
Because early elders often had many mistresses, these bruxa grew in population very quickly, and they now form the bulk of the greater vampire population. Though not as strong as elders, they far outmatch any lesser vampire and often possess unique abilities inherited from their bloodline.

Thralls

Thralls are mortals who were turned by either an elder or a full vampire, rather than born. Though they lack the full strength of elders or full vampires, they are still far more dangerous than their lesser counterparts. A thrall’s capabilities often depend on the bloodline of the vampire that turned them.

Thralls can reproduce amongst themselves, and their offspring will be full vampires, although they will not be as strong as those from purer lineages..

Turning and Feeding

Unlike lesser vampires, greater vampires do not transmit disease through their bite. Simply being bitten by one will not turn a mortal.
To create a new vampire, a greater vampire must inject venom, a conscious, deliberate act they can control. Without this, the bite is simply a bite.