Vampirism

Vampirism was a supernatural condition that caused dead creatures to rise again as undead, hungry for the blood of the living. A creature afflicted with vampirism wasn't neccessarily a vampire immediately; as a supernatural process, the specific method varied regionally.

Transmission & Vectors

Vampirism can be transferred in a variety of ways. The vampires of southern Ofica, all descended from Queen Sorcha, acquired their condition after succumbing to the wounds of another vampire's bite. This alone was not enough to complete the process. Many died from vampire bites without changing at all. A creature that died from a vampire's bite would rise as a vampire's spawn after burial in the earth. This was thought to be a reference to an ancient link between a primordial earth deity and a primordial evil deity, wherein they mate and produce evil offal. If a true vampire allowed a spawn to draw blood from its own body, willingly, the spawn would then metamorphose into a true vampire no longer under its master’s control. Few vampires were ever willing, of course, to relinquish their control in this manner. Vampire spawn became free-willed when their creator died, though most perished in a depressed agony without their master.

Alternatively, the Jiangshi of northern Ofica survived on the psychic life force of their victims; new jiangshi were thought to be created when souls became trapped in their corpse. Further, jianshi victims rise after death as an altogether different type of undead. The victims of this secondary undead sometimes then rise as a jiangshi vampire.

Table of Contents

Type

Supernatural

Cycle

Chronic, Acquired