Undead - True Vampires, Infected
The Undead which inhabit much of the Necropolis are often raised by the Necromancers, but there are plenty of other creatures which have their own history and description. Truth be told, however, the only properly sentient population of ‘Undead’ are actually not dead at all – merely that large amounts of lore surrounds their type of behaviors and conditions, and those have been attributed to ‘things that are animated dead’.
Vampires, True and Infected
Vampiric people come in two distinct varieties: those who have been infected or cursed, and those who are born that way. Those who are infected are often thralls of their master, and will eventually waste away. However, those who are born to Vampirism are another story entirely.
True Vampires are ‘creatures of the night’, that is to say that they have certain conditions of the skin and eyes which prevent them from being out in natural sunlight even for a short time. They don’t much care for the bad reputation that the Infectors have given Vampire kind. After all, they won’t just up and bite someone unless they’re actually starving and on the verge of death. They do, visibly, have fangs – their one distinction from typical Humans. They do have a much lower body temperature than normal Humans, and thus the idea that they are ‘undead’ is perpetuated. They can also, in times of dire need, go into a state of hibernation or very slow metabolism. So in many regards the facts that surround them have been liberally mixed with the myths of the Infected. What they aren’t able to do – or in most cases want to – is bite a person and ‘convert’ them.
True Vampires are able to sustain themselves on blood, raw meat, and sometimes just plain brains. Whatever has a heartbeat and blood that is red (not ichor or other types) is open game for lunch. They love wine, though, and can enjoy dinners with normal folks with ease, though they tend not to eat any of those greens on their plate. For an adult Vampire, they would normally consume around a gallon of blood a month, sometimes less. In general, the fresher the better, but they can subsist on magically preserved or even refrigerated blood just as well. Most prefer not to just bite into someone, as that’s seen as very rude indeed. They like a slice, or a hospital-style drip, put into a cup. Vampires are intensely polite that way.
They consider any of their own kind that does pounce on victims or suck from the neck of someone to be an utter boor, pervert or even worse, a criminal. That kind of behavior is unacceptable to them, and thus they are always on the lookout for Infectors so they can take them out of their territory.
Vampires are otherwise quite a lot like normal Humans. Their appearance varies just as much as other Human cultures, with skin generally pale but more ‘doesn’t get out much’ faded than just outright albino. Their eyes tend toward red or brown, but brilliant exceptions in yellow, green, blue and violet have commonly been seen. Their hair is of any type at all, and grows normally (unlike on a ‘true’ dead body that has stopped). They have a fertility cycle that is reasonably quick, though not monthly, and a mother-to-be has priority for any blood around her. A pregnant Vampire is actually a sight to behold – she almost literally glows, primarily because of the tremendous blood intake needed to produce a child and keep it healthy. Where a male Vampire takes in a gallon a month, a pregnant female would easily consume three times that and still be hungry. In fact, the more blood she does consume, the quicker her pregnancy will be over. Some buy a cow and drink from it freely, during their pregnancy, just to hasten the child’s birth. That doesn’t mean that she will simply pop out a fully formed child without consequences: it’s possible to accelerate the process, but it’s not necessarily wise. The closer to a normal 10 to 12 month gestation a Vampire baby has, the more ‘normal’ they will be. Those forced out too quickly may suffer from disorders up to and including going mad enough to feed like an Infected. Dying during childbirth is also a very serious risk for a mother to be. Being able to process enough blood to replace what might be lost, quickly enough, is almost impossible. There are usually blood mages on hand during any Vampire’s birth, to keep that to a minimum.
In other aspects of their life cycle, Vampires are Human – they mature around the same pace, but when they become ‘adults’ (around age 16 to 20) they simply stop aging if they have adequate blood supply. Vampires who have not fed properly look older than those who have. Truly aged Vampires are more gaunt and leathery than younger ones, no matter how well they’ve fed. Vampires may die of old age, given long enough, but there are known members of their population who are upwards of six thousand years old, and still going. The main cause of death in a true Vampire is injury, if they cannot acquire enough blood to heal themselves, they will simply die. It only takes blood loss to kill them, really, as they are immune to everything else except sunlight, and broken bones only piss them off. Sunlight exposure however causes a terribly painful burn, and if they’re out in the sun directly for more than a few minutes, they will in fact start to turn to an ashy substance. Nothing left but a grease stain and some dust; which is why they hardly ever attend funerals for people who are being cremated. It’s far, far too close to home for them.
Vampires do almost everything any normal Human would do: they run taverns, they buy and sell goods, do crafts and love art, they do cultivate foods but mostly for use in potions or for sale to others. Generally they don’t keep pets, as the temptation to use them to feed is too great. They are not sea-farers and while they don’t dread the open sea or moving water (that restriction is generally the Infector Vampires fault) they don’t like the thought of any accidents happening that will leave them exposed on the open sea during the day. Thus, they often travel in their secure, large and well made coaches (usually hiring those undead horses from the Necromancers) and travel on land.
There are several different language groups shown in Vampiric society, though they all appear to be roughly alike in grammar, and are thought to be strong dialects of one original language brought with them originally. Names of Vampires are exactly equitable to Human ones, with a given personal name, perhaps a middle or honorary name, and a family name, plus the possibility of a title or job description.
Magic for Vampires is evenly balanced between spell-magic and elemental psionics. Most Vampires have one or two specific elements that they learn to control from a young age, but also study some book-magic to round out their abilities. Their use of low-level, practical magic is very common, almost every one of them knows how to preserve blood given a proper container, and that is often the first spell taught to a young Vampire. Very rarely a Vampire will know more than two elemental types, but equally rarely they only know one. By the same token, very few Vampires become truly known for their spell-magic, but when they do, they are amazing at it. Because they are known as Blood or Life Elementalists, they have been known to control animals – such as bats, wolves, and insect swarms. But unless they have also mastered a number of strong spells (or have additional Air powers), they don’t fly and cannot turn into mists or animals.
True Vampires have time on their hands, but sometimes feel a bit left out – half of that long, immortal lifetime is spent while the rest of their warmer companions are asleep.
Infector or Cursed Vampires, on the other hand, are essentially living on borrowed time. They are hardly independent, usually under the mental or spell thrall of the individual who purposefully made them this way. They must feed much more often, but this is more of an addiction than a requirement of their biology. It is unknown quite when someone decided that this was to be a curse put on a small number of existing Vampires, but for whatever reason several thousand years ago a rash of murders began, and never quite stopped.
Cursed Vampires may be magical in nature, the curse itself causing them to become more and more bestial or homicidal. This does not mean they’re less intelligent than their counterparts, but they are more or less ruthless and literally bloodthirsty. Infector Vampires may be the victims of some kind of blood magic that passes itself during contact, and affects them psychologically long before they ‘grow fangs’.
They don’t – actually – grow fangs. If a normal Human was to be infected, they would behave as though they had fangs, and on discovering that their teeth are all flat, some of them seek to sharpen them. Plenty of Vampire lawgivers know the signs of Infection, it starts when a toothbrush is replaced by a rat-tail file. Their constant state of hunger may also be purely psychological, but over time if an Infected individual continues to drink blood they do also begin to rely on it for sustenance. Refusing normal foods and drink, eventually the Infected will waste away because their body is simply not getting all the nutrients it needs to survive.
There have been a few, very few, cases of rescues of such Vampires. Only with studious treatment and careful observation, along with a strong batch of blood magic and psychological counseling, could an infected person be reintegrated to their own society. More often than not, when an Infected is discovered, they are captured first, questioned, and an attempt to find the root of their condition is made. It’s more important to find the one making them, than to try and fix the damaged Infected. Thus, after capture, it’s almost a guarantee that they will be killed.
Along with the curse of addiction or desire to hunt, Infected Vampires seem to be utterly paralyzed at the thought of crossing streams or rivers, certainly never attempting to swim or go on a boat. Perhaps their senses are disoriented by the quickly moving lights and the sound. Also in that regard: they don’t recognize themselves in mirrors. Not that they don’t show up – of course they do. But they simply cannot ‘see’ themselves even if they’re the only thing being reflected. Whatever affects their brain, making them act this way, is something to be avoided at all costs. Also comes the belief that they are unable to do typical things associated with numerous Vampire legends: such as enter a building without being invited, enter a church, or be near religious iconography. This behavior is absurdly far from True Vampire life: they have religion, churches, and drop by their friends houses unannounced all the time. Plus, True Vampires run hotels and businesses: if they were constrained to have to wait to enter them, no one would ever get any shopping done!
The Necropolis supports a thriving two-million True Vampires. The actual number of Infector Vampires is unknown, probably less than ten thousand. True Vampires will actively hunt these Infector types, making a sport of it. It’s very wise to remain outside the Necropolis if you’re an Infector, because their population prizes its civility. Biting people and leaving them to die on the streets is exceptionally uncivilized.
The Necropolis is patrolled by a good number of True Vampires and their hirelings, but they all respond to a council of elected officials. While there are royals and nobility among their ranks, the royalty tends to inherit land and wealth, while the elected law givers come from all social strata. They have no kings and queens, but they definitely had them in the past. At some point, given their lengthy lives, someone must have realized that there was little need for one person or one family line to continue lording over the others, and gave the rest a chance to see how it worked. This seems to agree with their culture overall, theirs is a remarkably stable democracy.
Well-Known Vampires of the Current Era
(none at present, though there are a good number of bartenders and comely wenches just waiting to be discovered… on the other hand, there are also several well known mass murdering Infected, some still may be at large.)
