Vampirism

O drinker of blood, stealer of souls, begon!

Forms of Vampires

There are multiple types of Vampire (Blood)s who parasitize others for their survival or benefit. Vampires can still eat and drink normal food and water, but it must be supplemented with their energy source at least once a month. Supplement sources include blood, magical energy, and life energy. While there are vampires who exist on sexual energy, these are generally considered to be Cubi rather than vampires.

Transmission & Vectors

Vampirism is transmitted by ingesting a certain quantity of the vampire's blood. Typically, a cup of blood is enough to enthrall someone, while ingesting roughly half of your blood volume within two to four hours will result in becoming a vampire. There are other methods to introduce the blood into the body that will work for this.
In addition to the blood exposure, there are rituals to induce vampirism.
The blood becomes actively contaminated a week after the vampire first rises.
A note - Excessive consumption of vampire blood can lead to permanent enthrallment as it acts as a drug. Vampires can forego the enthrallment by providing an addiction to the blood rather than enough to enthrall.

Causes

The cycle begins by either a ritual or introduction of vampire blood into the victim's system. The type of vampire blood determines the type of vampire that they become. After the initial amount to enthrall the victim, it generally becomes easier to coerce them into the transformation.

Symptoms

After the initial introduction, depending on the amount introduced (such as forcefully introducing the entire amount required in one go), the victim will either become enthralled (1 cup introduced quickly, in under five minutes) or jump straight to the stage.
Stage 0) Enthrallment - The victim's mind is warped, giving them utter devotion to the vampire and willingness to do their bidding. This needs to be refreshed depending on the victim, as enthrallment can be overcome by sheer will power.
Stage 1) Fevers; Chills; Body Aches; Abdominal Cramping
Stage 2) Vomiting; diarrhea; Nose Bleeds; Vertigo; Dizziness; Weakness of extremities
Stage 3) Heart Palpitations; Chest Pain; Rapid Heart Beat; Delerium; Organ Failure; Death
Stage 4) Hibernation - The victim's body has shut down entirely. While they are technically dead their body is undergoing the biological transformations; such as growing fangs, bone restructuring, organ restructuring to absorb blood from the stomach into the body; spirit magical senses develop; Elemental magic is lost; skin turns pale and ashen; hair color may fade; and irises turn dark, almost black or deep red.
Stage 5) Awakening - The victim awakens and rises from the grave, a fully fledged vampire. The organs restart, performing their functions again as normal.
A victim who was enthralled prior to stage 4 remains enthralled until their 'parent' vampire dies. Vampire blood for them at this point is like a performance enhancing drug.

Treatment

There are only two known treatments for vampirism.
1) Holy rituals performed by Myrada priests to cleanse the body and reverse the transformations. The process is extremely painful for the victim and exhausting for the priests. Few victims survive.
2) Purging the agents inside vampire blood prior to stage 4. There are several herbs and potions which can purify the body. In their absence, priests and paladins of Myrada or Amynd are capable of this feat.

Prognosis

The likely outcome of this condition is vampirism or death. It is rarely identified in time to purge the body and the survival rate of a cleansing is less than 3%.

Sequela

On the off chance that the victim recovers from vampirism, they experience a complete loss of their magical ability if they had it prior to the infection. This includes familiar bonding. They also gain an intolerance to sunlight, physical weakness, and the inability to digest meats.

Affected Groups

This disease can affect anyone regardless of age, sex, habits, etc. The only species immune to this are Dwarves (being made of stone and dirt), and Kindlings (The blood being too hot to ingest safely).

Prevention

The best way to protect from Vampirism is to slay suspected vampires. Barring that, there are wards available from the churches; herbs such as garlic, rosemary, and lavender that repel the undead; holy signs of Myrada; Iron; and Silver.

Epidemiology

The condition is rare, as vampires tend to remain hidden in the outskirts of society. Most want to be left alone and feed off of animals, though there are the rare few who will abuse the power and enthrall villages.

History

The first known blood vampire emerged from a dark ritual. The man, Draclau Vesbin, purposefully transcended the mortal bounds of humanity as a blood drinking vampire. He enslaved the nearby villages and converted several of his cult members into enthralled vampires. Draclau was destroyed, but several of his vampires escaped. Enthrallment wore off on them and several chose seclusion rather than continuing their bids for power. Some sought cures and failed.
Dor'Vin LandWalker pulled several mages into a ritual to turn women into sexual vampires for a brothel. While this did work, creating the first Cubi, their appetite proved to be deadly for clientele. Marabelle, one of the women he turned, organized the others and enthralled clientele while turning other workers and covering it up until they completed their turn. When their numbers were significantly bolstered, they turned on their masters and killed them. Freed from their enslavement, the women turned on their thralls, keeping them as slaves or killing them. They disappeared into the night to stay hidden from the public.
Ivan Formin, a human king and mage, accidentally became a magic vampire while working on his experiments. He was pronounced dead from a sudden illness, poison believed to be the culprit. He rose from his grave days later and attempted to resume his previous life. The people, fearful of the dead man, chased him from the kingdom. His heirs sent hunters after him to put the corpse of their father to rest. Ivan slew the hunters out of desperation and self preservation. He encountered a cult of Amynd who took him in and made a pact with him. In exchange for a vial of his blood a week, the members would provide him with magical energy for his nourishment. The cult discovered the drug like properties of the blood and began to fight over it. After a year of bickering, they properly chained up Ivan and fattened him up on the magic energy of captured people in order to force him to produce more blood. The cult leader horded it until he could turn several captives and create a vampire farm. Unfortunately for the cult, over feeding Ivan increased his magical strength. He broke free of his bonds and decimated the cult before freeing the other enslaved wretches and sequestering himself from the world.
Over the years, over ambitious cultists and mages transcended to vampires, enslaved others, turned others, and were destroyed. One vampire, Val'Sa Stormrider, a misguided orc, joined priesthood to find a cure. The priests allowed him to turn people from the ill and homeless population in order to experiment on them and find ways to cure the disease. They succeeded in finding ways to stop it as well as reverse the transformation after a full turn, though only one person survived the curing. Val'Sa did not survive when it was attempted on him.

Cultural Reception

This condition is feared by the populace. In most places, it is not illegal to kill a suspected vampire. The victims are seen as walking corpses who will spread the disease with a single bite or scratch. The only good vampire is a dead vampire.

Type

Magical

Origin

Magical

Cycle

Chronic, Acquired & Congenital

Rarity

Extremely Rare