Vampire

Vampires are undead who, in most cases, are unliving, sentient beings with memories of their past life. Though their body is no longer alive, their spiritual essence is (usually) mostly or wholly intact, making them creatures that are often pitied by those who are not outright mortified of their existence. In nearly all cases, they require blood to keep their undead bodies functioning.

There are many undead with similar attributes which fall under the category of "vampire." We will continue to document them as they are discovered. Each vary in their own specific ways.

## Candle Vampires (Kerze)

Created by a dark magic ritual after death, rather than the popular legends of a bite. A blood candle is waved over the corpse of a mage who has been deceased no more than 24 hours, and does not work in all cases. The blood candle evokes dark necromancy, powered by the magical energies of either the caster or the once-living victim, provided the victim's magical power has not yet dispersed. Even then, it is speculated that the ethereal essence of the victim needs to be accessible.

**Blood Candles**

The blood candle is written of in Germanic texts and legends alike. It is created by hand dipping a wick into a mixture of a victim's blood, enchanted wax, and essence of ferrocore, much like you would hand make a normal candle. Such blood may be left intentionally by a kerze vampire intended for this purpose, or may be the result of a sloppy or interrupted feeding. Any necromancer or other kerze vampire from that point on can use the candle to attempt to make a new kerze vampire. Ferrocore, a metallic herb with a heavy stem of iron oxide, is often used in both earth magics, grounding a spirit in astral travel, and in blood magics. It is used to both channel the blood magic, and to anchor the consciousness back to the body.

### **Appearance**

A kerze vampire retains their physical body, though the skin is gaunt and a sickly pale color. Their hair still grows, but at a slower rate than when they were alive. Their nail beds are pale to match their skin, and they have sharp fangs with which to feed. Older kerze vampires often appear to have irritated, pink eyes and slightly distorted features, though it can be corrected with magic.

It is unknown how long the undead kerze vampire can exist, as none have been recorded as simply expiring; it is theorized that there is an expiration date based on their own magical power being drained to keep them animated.

### **Food**

A kerze vampire simply must have human blood once a week at least to provide them the necessary nutrients and oxygen to the brain for survival if they are to prevent themselves from losing control. They can survive for a short while on animal blood, but the longer they go without feeding, the more likely they will lose control over their hunger and fly into a feeding frenzy.

They are capable of consuming human food, but it provides them no nutrients and is generally either of muted flavor, or flavorless altogether.

### **In Magical Society**

Many individuals feel that kerze vampires should be hunted and slain, whether due to their unnatural existence, the danger they pose, or due to the Dark Magics that created them. In most civilized societies, however, kerze vampires are protected as non-humans, and treated with some empathy and pity since they are a reanimation of a once-living person. The Ministry of Magic, because they have protected the race, has set up donated blood banks in an effort to create peaceful harmony and reduce fear of attack.

Potions and magic can be used to temporarily mask a vampire's undead appearance. Anthrofic Potion is a specific type of personalized human-shapeshifting potion used by many such kerze vampires, though if used too often, their body can build up an immunity to its magical effects. Inserting their own DNA into the potion allows the drinker to return to their previous physical state of when they were alive. This potion is advanced with expensive ingredients, and takes a full turn of the moon (roughly a month) to brew.

Since they are no longer alive, they cannot have children.

Due to a kerze vampire’s natural physical state, they often find it uncomfortable to view themselves in mirrors (they DO have reflections, however). Occasionally, the process and impact of having been reanimated takes a mental toll, impacting their personalities or even driving them to insanity.

### **Abilities**

All known kerze vampires are created from mages, and they retain what magical powers they had when they were alive. This same magic is, in part, tapped by the dark magics keeping their bodies functioning, though any drain of magical power is extremely slow and has not yet been recorded to be a cause of the vampire's death. Some kerze vampires tend to turn to Dark Magic as their primary source of power, because Dark Magic is how they were created, giving them a certain affinity for it. That being said, many also stay away from Dark Magic, hating or fearing what created them.

Most kerze vampires gain somewhat enhanced strength and the ability to shapeshift into bats, though why specifically a bat is unknown. Some suggest it is a subconsciously chosen shape, while others theorize that it is a hint to the source or necromancy ritual that created the original, first kerze vampire.

#### **Suggested Combat Spells**

In addition to whatever spells they may have had in life, some suggested species-related spells are:

* Drain Life (3), Greater Drain Life (5)
* Shadow's Bite (1)
* Shapeshift (Bat, level 3+ spell with flight and increased AC)

## Parasite Vampires (Pencuri Lintah)

This gruesome variety is an undead parasite, whose host body is, itself, a living victim. They are able to fully take over the host's body through the brain stem, and feed on humanoid blood to survive.

### **Creation**

Pencuri lintah, or "thief leech," are small, sentient, worm-shaped parasites which burrow into a living, biological host, make their way to the brain stem, slowly integrate with it, and thus take over their host. This is not possible to do on those that do not have a functioning brain stem, and generally target species which have blood. They gain access to the memories of the host, so often this change will go unnoticed until it is too late to save the victim, at which point there is an abrupt change in their personality. The integration with the host allows the parasite to control them, and eventually, they take over as the sole personality inhabiting that body. When the body becomes unusable, the parasite will attempt to find another host.

### **Appearance**

So long as the host is being fed a proper diet according to its species, the pencuri lintah vampire can remain in control of it for the duration of its natural lifespan. If, however, the vampire finds itself in need of the blood the host carries, and begins to feed from it directly, the host will gradually grow more gaunt, sickly, and pale.

### **Food**

Pencuri lintah vampires feed off the blood, but to drain their puppet host would force them to have to find a new body to feed upon. Their own physical limitations are likely what led to their development as parasites, puppeting their host to collect blood from others to feed them with. If they are unable to collect blood from other sources within a month, only then they will turn to taking blood from the host; this is only done when necessary, because if the blood of the host runs out, the body dies and can no longer serve as a vehicle.

During this process, the host needs to maintain their own diet specific to their species, so that the body is still able to function properly, despite the draining of their blood. The parasites are able to survive on animal blood temporarily, though this seems to not be sustainable, leading some researchers to theorize that the parasites were magically created as a form of biological warfare.

### **In Society**

Being undead parasites, these vampires usually have a high level of unconcern for human life along with their bodies' physical appearance. Any concern or attachment is related to how easily they can hunt tend to have a certain level of disregard for human life and their own appearance, as they are somewhat unattached to the bodies they gain control over.

Pencuri lintah vampires are able to integrate into society relatively easily, often utilizing the same blood banks that kerze vampires do to gain blood. However, if they are found to be parasites as opposed to kerze vampires, they are often disapproved of, shunned, or outright destroyed since they are not the victim but rather a form of parasitic possession. Most of the time, they are able to simply masquerade as kerze vampires who are using an Antrofic potion. Because of their ability to blend in, the majority of humankind is not aware of their existence, and very little information is available in most archives.

It is unknown how or even if the parasites themselves can replicate, since they are, themselves, undead. It is theorized they were created by a necromancer in Indonesia (due to their name) who may or may not even exist anymore.

### **Abilities**

A change in magical abilities is a common symptom of vampire parasite infestation, because the parasite's control of the body does not extend to being able to manipulate the host's own magical abilities. Instead, the parasite is able to cast its own spells, being a magical undead. They also often filter poisons out of their host's blood in order to keep it alive longer.

#### **Suggested Combat Spells**

The innate magics of a parasite vampire show some variation from specimen to specimen, but all have these common abilities that can be taken as combat spells:

* Drain Life (3), Greater Drain Life (5)
* Shadow's Bite (1)
* Flanking Strike (3), Sneak Attack (5)
* Magic Shield (1), Minor Deflection (2), Deflection (4)
* Minor Haste (2)
* Cure Poison (3) to emulate an immunity to toxins
* Envenom (2) using poisoned magical weapons