Vamparism

"When you fall prey to a vampire, or when a vampire gets you... you die. That isn't to say you die and come back as a vampire spawn but you die. A vampire, spawn or not, isn't a living creature. It's undeath and evil manifest. A creature of inversed good and paradox, a thing of white and black mixed in unholy conjunction. It is dead, yet seeks life. It kills, but occasionally plants the seed for more of its kind to be... not born but formed. When a vampire comes into being they don't behave like the people they were in life. They are inverted, the chaste becoming temptresses, the kind becoming cruel, the once holy now finding glory in perversion. All their once positive qualities are specifically inverted to form a more personalized evil."

— Dr. Rudolph van Richten

Transmission & Vectors

Vampirism is transmitted to those who die to a Vampires bite or blood drain, resulting in a greater vampire. Vampire Spawns that kill someone this way still create other spawn, but they cannot ever become full fledge Vampires, these are known as lesser vampires.

Causes

Death by Vampire bite or blood drain.

Symptoms

• Paleness of skin
• Tightness of skin
• Eyes turn red in color
• Canines extend dramatically
• Hunger for fresh blood
• Loss of hair (not always)
• Bouts of Madness

Treatment

It is rumored that Pelor or Selûne can remove the disease, as can the Lord of Disease and Poison, Talona, who is credited with the creation of the disease.

Affected Groups

Any age, any humanoid mortal race, and a select few other races can be afflicted.

Hosts & Carriers

It is said that in Talona's Plane of Ruin, grows a tree whose fruit change with the cycle of the sun. Growing a red fruit in the summer that is capable of healing the most grievous of injuries with just a few bites. And a white fruit in the winter, this fruit is reported to be able to kill with just one bite, and those that fall this way, can become full vampires, blessed or cursed, by Talona.

Prevention

One can prevent this by being blessed by clerics and paladins against being brought back to life after death, however this is reported to not always work.

Epidemiology

Vampirism can spread rapidly through a population or never at all, depending on how the Master Vampire conducts his work. Most of the time, they convert select outcasts, as to not raise suspicions of the common folk when someone goes missing.

Cultural Reception

Most cultures kill vampires at the stake by burning or decapitate them. Either way the outcome is usually death. This is not the case however with one royal house in Darkshelf. The Bar Wizards see vampirism as a possible path to achieving power over a wizards enemies. As of this, the inflicted often move to Darkshelf to avoid prosecution and Death.
Rumors in Carcino say that Lady Basilinna didn't get out unscathed from her perverse ritual that turned thousands of citizens into undead. These rumors claim the lady of House Hierophant is now a powerful Master Vampire. In truth, since the death of Strahd von Zoravich, the First Vampyre, at the hands of Tessa Howard Edison and her compatriots, Strahd's power was scattered, and the Dark Lords of Shadow granted some of this power to Basallina during her ritual, transforming her into the Vampyre Queen, taking the mantle that Tessa refused to take for herself.

Type

Divine

Origin

Divine

Cycle

Chronic, Acquired & Congenital

Rarity

Rare