Vampires

Of all the monsters of Emaxus, few occupy such a large place in folklore as vampires. While tales may tell of vampires solely as bloodsucking monsters born of dark rituals, vampires are far more diverse than such tales lead people to believe. Comprised of three main bloodlines (Bloodbound, Lovebound, and Ragebound), vampires are a powerful and varied race of predators.
While Envalanath, Mother of Blood was the first vampire, modern vampirekind was actually created by her children, the Bloodless. It is for this reason that there exists three bloodlines of vampiredom: Entherinith created the Bloodbound to be wise and ancient, Engainaral created the Lovebound to siphon mortal passions and love, and Envorinan created the Ragebound to live like predators and hunt like them, too. While the bloodlines vary in how they stick to those initial pursuits, it is a rare thing to encounter a vampire who does not love---or hate---their Bloodless progenitor.
Each of the true vampire bloodlines are detailed below, alongside the two kinds of false vampires within each: spawn and strigoi. Spawn are weaker versions of their true counterparts which are created in ways dependent on their bloodline, while strigoi are uncontrolled monstrosities created when a true vampire's Turning fails in some way.

Bloodbound: Night Stalkers and Bloodsuckers

In the folklore of Emaxus, Bloodbound are the only vampires referred to as vampires. As their name implies, Bloodbound feed on blood. They do not need blood---and, in fact, there are notable cases of Bloodbound forsaking blood entirely; however, food and drink loses all appeal to the Bloodbound and blood becomes an intoxicating, steroid-like form of sustenance.
With or without blood, Bloodbound are incredibly powerful, especially as they grow older and learn to harness their mutations to their fullest. They are impervious to the wears of time and age, exceptionally strong and agile, and possess senses far more developed than any mortal race. They need not sleep nor breathe, and their hearts do not beat. While Bloodbound typically physically resemble the mortal race they belonged to before Turning, they are physiologically identical among each other as opposed to their former, mortal brethren.
When a Bloodbound consumes blood, their strength and agility increase greatly. If they practice magic (as many do), their connection to the lunar-arcane grows stronger. This effect tends to further increase with more blood, but blood is like alcohol for the Bloodbound and too much puts them into a drunken rage, often known as bloodfrenzy. Most respectable Bloodbound avoid this, and the codes of many Bloodbound tribes and clans forbid the frenzy. And, as a Bloodbound consumes more blood over the course of their life, they steadily grow stronger. The difference between a well-fed Bloodbound of five centuries and a well-fed, newborn Bloodbound is in orders of magnitude.
While not harmed by the sun (despite common folklore), Bloodbound prefer the night because of the many advantages it affords them. They know mortals do not have the senses to navigate the night as they do, and they don't sleep regardless. Also, the closer Lysithea is to full, the greater a Bloodbound's strength during the night.
While Bloodbound tend to walk among mortals in the forms they had before they Turned, Bloodbound can adopt their true forms for hunting or battle: dagger-length claws, bat-like faces, elongated fangs and, for some, leathery wings.

Bloodbound Spawn and Strigoi

When a Bloodbound feeds on a mortal till death when Lysithea is in full, their victim will rise as a Bloodbound spawn. These false vampires are granted many boons---strength, agility, and prolonged life---and many curses---an uncontrollable hunger for blood and a love of night that often manifests as a fear of day. And, unlike true Bloodbound, these spawns always appear like ghouls: pale and horrifically emaciated versions of their living selves.
Bloodbound strigoi, on the other hand, are controlled wholly by their thirst for blood. They become even more monstrous than a Bloodbound's true form, often appearing like a horrific bat-humanoid hybrid. They stalk the night and feast on the living, rarely with the subtlety that allows their true brethren to survive for so long. Strigoi have many of the advantages granted true Bloodbound, but they lack the control and intellect that their fully-turned brethren maintain. The failure to convert fully drives strigoi to insanity and back, and thus they are naught more than starving beasts who can never slake their thirst.

Children of Hunger

Vampires are an incredibly diverse species, with each of the three Trueblood types being so different, their spawns behaving and looking different, and strigoi being completely different based off the bloodline they were supposed to belong to. Their behaviors are unique, their appetites are determined wholly by their bloodline, and the evolution they undergo is completely different based on said bloodline.
However, the one thing that unites all vampires---Trueblood, spawn, or strigoi, regardless of bloodline---is their hunger. Whether it is a hunger for blood or emotions or a voracious ambition for power, all vampires have an innate hunger. Some vampires learn to control and even completely kill this hunger, though this process takes centuries and leads to a certain numbness; thus, ancient vampires who have mastered their hunger are often hermits and sages, numb to the ebbs and flows of mortal life.

Born of the Bloodthorn Rose

All true vampires are created with The Blackthorn Rose. For more information on the rituals related to turning, see its article.

Envalanath, Mother of Blood's Misbegotten Spawn

Although true vampires must be Turned with the Blackthorn Rose (which is believed to have been created by Envalanath), they are distant from their ancient progenitor. Some vampires form cults devoted to her worship, but most look instead to her children, the Bloodless, as the true paragons of vampirekind. While the Bloodless can be just as aloof as their mother, they are the originators of the three vampiric bloodlines and thus act as ancestors for all vampirekind.

Hard to Kill

All true vampires can only be killed in a few ways: decapitation with a silver sword, decapitation in sunlight, or mortal wounds dealt by another true vampire (hence the predominance of the Creeds of the Lycan and Blood in The Iron Order).

Lovebound: Emotion Devourers

Confused by many to be incubi and succubi that take mortal forms, Lovebound are vampires who subsist off of emotions. Typically, Lovebound harvest this emotion through the heights of passion found in lust and sex. Lovebound may run brothels or manage caravans; unlike many Bloodbound, Lovebound tend to be the faces of organizations, as this power puts them in the position to have the private, intimate moments they need to feed.
Unlike Bloodbound and Ragebound, Lovebound need not kill their victims to feed properly. In fact, some Lovebound have mastered micro-feeding on their victims, siphoning just enough passion to leave their victims slightly dulled for a few days but not catatonic for months, as some Lovebound feedings do.
Unlike Bloodbound, Lovebound are practically mortal when they have not fed for too long. They do not age and they can morph their bodies to appear in any humanoid form they wish, but they have no unnatural endurance, strength, or agility; however, also unlike Bloodbound, Lovebound can feed in an almost passive state. While they need intimate peaks of emotion to feast to their fullest, Lovebound can sustain themselves in a semi-sated state just by being in proximity to the whims of mortal hearts. Thus, Lovebound tend to live in cities; a day strolling through the marketplace and basking in quiet kisses and loud arguments can satiate their thirst near-wholly.
When fed, Lovebound are physically powerful, sure, but most importantly, their connection to emotions comes to the fullest. They radiate an aura of emotion and connection that can charm and manipulate any mortal who hasn't steeled themselves. This power is the strongest tool in the Lovebounds' arsenal. It is not unheard of for a Lovebound to organize a party or orgy and bring all attendees under their thrall---sometimes forever.

Lovebound Spawn and Strigoi

A Lovebound spawn is a mortal who's emotions are drained until they can no longer feel anything. These people go through life dull to all emotion and stimuli, and they tend to have one of two fates: they serve a Lovebound as an enforcer and thrall, or they meet a violent end from their own lack of awareness/care. This numbness can drive spawn insane, or send them into a vegetative state of catatonia.
Lovebound strigoi, on the other hand, become sociopaths who pursue lust and pain from mortals in a desperate attempt to feel something themselves. They lose the ability to form connections or to feel true emotions---but feeding on mortals gives them that sensation for passing moments. Lovebound strigoi become manipulators and sexual coercers, pulling as many people in to the heights of passion and lust as they can to siphon the memories and love that makes their victims mortal.

Ragebound: Lycanthropes

By far the most common type of vampire, Ragebound are the most animalistic and uncontrolled of their species. Known today as lycanthropes, Ragebound do not need to feed, nor do they live forever. While true Ragebound can live for centuries, they do age and grow feeble. Unlike their other vampiric siblings, Ragebound have two distinct forms: their mortal forms and their lycan forms. True Ragebound can completely control when they transform between each state.
True Ragebound also choose the type of lycan form they possess when they are Turned. This choice is permanent, and each of the lycanthropic forms have their own strengths and weaknesses. The most common Ragebound are werewolves, werebears, and weretigers, but wererats and even weresharks have been recorded.
In their mortal forms, Ragebound appear and are practically mortal. They age slower and are slightly more durable, faster, and stronger than their comparable mortal counterparts, but they can be killed normally and do not appear any different than normal mortals; however, they can transform into their lycan form at a whim, in which they become a hybrid of mortal and animal that is far stronger than the sum of its parts. While Ragebound do not need to feed, they are known to hunt and feast in their lycan forms---on mortals or animals.

Ragebound Spawn and Strigoi

Ragebound spawn are born when a true Ragebound bites but does not kill a mortal in their lycan form. The victim becomes infected with a diluted strain of the Ragebound's blood, turning them into the wild lycans that many folktales speak of. Ragebound spawn are beholden to the full moon of Luna. Because vampires are connected to magic by their Turning, the diluted strain in a Ragebound spawn's blood takes over in the full moon, forcing them to turn into the lycan form they were infected by. While spawns can learn to control their lycan form over years of practice, they tend to go on rampages and get killed long before they can do so.
Ragebound strigoi occur when a true Ragebound stays in their lycan form for too long during the first week of their Turning. They lose touch with their mortal form and lose the ability to revert back. Thus, they become permanent lycans, often driven mad and violent by the animalistic urges of their form. Strigoi tend to either join a pack with a true Ragebound at the head, or hunt as lone wolves, but either way, their violent sprees tend to get them killed quickly.