Vampires

Description

Feared by many, reviled by others, vampires are iconic creatures that are the focus of many a story or myth. There are many tales about their origins, most of which are false. The truth is that the first vampires were Fae, cursed and banished from the Weald, locked into pockets of the Shadowfell. Here they slowly changed, having been cut off from the wellspring of energy that suffuses the Weald and being drained by the bleak terrain around them. They lost something important, their life energy, also known as 'vitae'. They became walking dead. Hungry, ravenous dead with an immense thirst for the vitae they had lost. Eventually some of them escaped and they spread through the Weald, but also the other planes, including the Prime. They spread, and propagated.

Lifesuckers

As mentioned, the vampires were drained of their vitae, and now they thirst for it. Partially out of necessity, but also out of desire. They need to drain life energy, for without it they wither and go mad with hunger, before eventually dying. But it has also become delectable to them, which is part of why they hunger for it so. To drain the living of their vitae however, they need an intermediate.
The most common in tales is blood, which is an easy intermediate to acquire and one they naturally gravitate to as it conforms with their feelings of thirst and hunger. Another common one is flesh of a living creature, a vampire can instead devour a person to drain them of their vitae, although this often leaves the corpse in such a state that it cannot form a proper spawn. But it can be something else as well, a vampire could for example remove the teeth of its victim and insert those in his body, draining their vitae through them while armoring themselves. Other fluids or body parts such as cerebrospinal fluid, or nails are viable alternatives as well.
There are two consequences to the draining of a living creature. First, the vampire absorbs the vitae, which means they don't wither, but it does nothing to slake their thirst and hunger. They also grow more powerful, the more energy they absorb. This is why vampires often take more and more risks in their pursuit of power. Powerful vampires often use their powerful life energy to gain some measure of control over nature or the beasts around them, as a way of gaining loyal servants without free will. Some are also capable of stealing memories or emotions from their targets through their vitae. And very powerful vampires may even be able to control vitae from a distance, puppeteering their victims or debilitating them in a myriad of ways.
The second is the consequence to the victim. In a way vampirism can be considered almost like a magical disease. If a living person has been fully drained of their vitae and is not blessed or put on hallowed ground, they will in time rise as a vampire as well. A vampire spawn that is. They are not free, not from their hunger, or from their master's control. They function in the same way, requiring vitae to sustain themselves and grow stronger. But to be free of their master's control they need to either drain some of the vitae of their master, or their master needs to die. So while they are forced to be loyal, they will often try to trick their new masters to cause either their death or gain some of their blood or flesh to consume and free themselves.

Behavioral Observations

Vampirism has also been called a curse of stagnation by some. It is a contradiction of life. Life, by nature, is ever changing, ever adapting. People are born, grow old, and die. People change and evolve in even the smallest of ways, all the time. This is not the case for a vampire, they are a human mind, trapped in an unchanging body. While their thoughts can change, they rarely do as they do not get the experiences of growing old, or feel that pressure to push them to change. Instead they seek stability in their unending lives, to not constantly have to change, move or rebuild. It is their nature to yearn for that stability, for a constant. But life will never be truly stable or constant. But they cannot stop reaching, they will always desire more, an unchanging empire for themselves. That ambition, that desire for stability, often destroys them. It causes them to overreach beyond what they can control.

Lifespan

Immortal

Average Height

As in life.

Average Weight

As in life, perhaps a bit lighter due to the lack of blood and as their flesh can start to rot and wither.