Vampirism

There are about three main strains of vampirism:

• Ghouls: These vampires need to drink blood in order to keep living. They are physically stronger and generally more animal looking. Their strain tends to infect more species resulting in a wide variety of different kinds of ghouls. Their origins are from the lower-class who originally created the rituals for vampirism. They tend to have the greatest physiological mutations. 
• Dracs: These vampires are so powerful that they don't need to drink blood. Dracs are generally created when someone drinks the blood of a Ghoul and doesn't allow themself to be fully turned. Their strain tends to mostly be found in humans, though that doesn't mean they can't infect other species. Their origins are from the aristocrats reacting to the conception of the Ghouls and appropriating the power. They tend to either look eternally young or like a dried-out mummy. 
• Daywalkers: These vampires are the strongest. They don't require blood and aren't harmed by light in the same way as the others. They are created when two Dracs have a child. No one knows who discovered how to create Daywalkers. No one knows exactly what a daywalker looks like, though many believe that they look eternally young and have no mutations at all. 

Transmission & Vectors

There are two main ways for vampirism to transmit. The first way is by someone consuming the blood or flesh of another and absorbing the magical energies inside the blood, this can be from a vampire or any other magically powered mortal. The second way is by being the child of a vampire. This second way is much harder, because the normal organs inside the vampire, including the reproductive organs, stop working as the vampire gets older. The most common way is for a vampire to impregnate a mortal, though this also has a high chance of the child dying.

Causes

While no one knows for sure where vampirism originally came from, they believe they know the event that started it. It is believed that vampirism came into existence because there was a point in time in a place where aristocrats were essentially hoarding the most magically incline bloodlines. So in order to level the playing field, people would drink each other's blood and gain their magical power. This eventually resulted in immortality, some of the greatest magic-users ever, and the first sentient undead. The place is suspected to be in the mountains east of the Seramani Sultanates, a volatile place filled with power hungry Ghouls.

Symptoms

Vampires all usually tend to have paler skin, luminescent eyes, and a couple of fangs. Vampires are physically stronger and faster their race normally would be (varies depending on which race the vampire is coming from) and they have a natural affinity for magic. Other physical mutations can happen such as growth in the muscles, organs (specifically the brain), and bones. Also, necrosis along stretches of the skin can be seen if the vampire doesn't take proper care of themself.

Treatment

There is no known treatment for vampirism, though some have tried certain things, all of which have killed the vampire during the treatment. Magicians have tried to pull out all the blood the vampire has drank over their unlife. Priests of Alyna have forced vampires out into the sun. Many other religions have tied vampires down and read holy texts for days on end, starving the vampire of blood.

Prevention

The most effective way to not get vampirism is not to eat flesh or drink blood from a vampire, or any powerful magical creature. Becoming a vampire is a voluntary choice that people have made for one reason or another. Though, there are reports of Ghouls force-feeding people their flesh to make them join them in undeath.

Epidemiology

Since taking in vampirism is a voluntary choice, it tends to spread very slowly or very quickly, depending on the area and current social climate. There have been times when the number of new vampires rose quickly due to many people wanting power and the young vampires being more willing to share the gift of undeath. During these times, a lot of vampires also tend to die. Sometimes when a vampire sets up in a city, it usually takes a couple hundred or even a thousand years for other vampires to be created. The reason being as older vampires tend to be warier of creating their own kind and also want to keep the blood supply to themselves. This is especially true in Ghoul territories, where blood supply is hotly contended for.

History

Pre-Sultanate legends and accounts talk about the idea of blood-sucking creatures. This makes vampirism very ancient, though no one knows exactly how ancient. No one has found a vampire who came into being at the original inception of the creatures. Even in some countries, vampirism is spoken in legend, though for many it is quite a normal occurance. Ancient Elven texts, especially from the Mainlanders and Underground, there are stories of bloodsucking monsters. Some scholars believe this can be analogous to ancient Ghouls, or an even more primitive version of vampirism.

Cultural Reception

Almost all the races are absolutely disgusted or hateful towards the vampires, or at least have been at some point. Most religions condemn vampires and smaller sects even gather warbands to hunt down and kill every vampire they can. These guerilla groups tend to fall into paranoia and superstition and kill more innocents than vampires. Though, this, of course, drives the vampires away as the blood supply down and becomes too volatile to propagate safely. This kind of relationship is common between The Church of Alyna and the Drac Covens of the sea between The Great and Holy Empire of Endolia and the Seramani Sultanates. 
On occasion, societies have been able to exist peacefully with vampires for prolonged periods of time. This usually happens not because of any change in social belief, or that someone finally had the epiphany that vampires are usually sentient and emotion-feeling creatures as well, but because the vampire has control over something the society wants. An example of this would be the Drac Covens between the Endolian Empire and the Seramani Sultanate. These Covens tend to control islands extremely important for trade, and so press their influence to gain either more wealth or to drink blood.

Type

Magical

Origin

Magical

Cycle

Chronic, Acquired & Congenital

Rarity

Rare

Affected Species

• Orcs
• Human