Much like lycanthropy, the werewolf disease, vampirism is not very well understood.
What most people know is that the skin turns deathly pale, the eyes may change into either an amber or golden color, and the creature will suck out the lifeblood of its victims. —often at night.
If you work or attend the academy, or live in places like YoonKao where the books overflow and the gossip runs like a river, you may also be aware of vampirism's lesser-known facts.
For instance, vampires prefer the night; but, that is only because they fight and feed more easily when the sun is down and the sky is dark. Thus, much of their sustenance and energy comes during the night when they feed; they cannot take in any lifeblood and therefore nutrients. This makes every morning and early afternoon a lethargic time for vampires.
The equivalent would be for an animal to hibernate in the winter, and grow ravenous with hunger when the Spring and Summer season enters once more.
Another misconception is that when humans transform into vampires, they become stronger in the Dark Arts of magic and sorcery.
This is also a falsehood.
Vampires often grow stronger in the Dark Arts because their lifestyle intrinsically funnels them into a life of Dark Arts craft. A vampire cannot live a normal life with other humans, and they cannot interact with much of the rest of society.
So, many of the conventional methods of Arcane arts become foreign and sometimes even worthless to their lives.
Even a "friendly" vampire, one with clean intentions and who chooses not to feed on humans, cannot sustain the lifestyle for long before succumbing to the Dark Arts before once again ravenously feeding on human flesh and blood.
Although not much is known about the effects of vampirism, common observations seem to indicate some level of similarity among them. Though not all of these traits are shared, they are the most common:
1. Strength and resistance to Ice/Cold magic
2. A natural weakness to Fire and Lightning.
3. A severe weakness to holy and light magic —however, weakness to light magic may be a result of personal distaste rather than physical weakness.
4. Strength in damp environments, and resistance to water magic.
5. A proclivity for seduction and manipulation. (this often manifests as great beauty)
6. Easily satiated during the Summer and Spring, but hungry during the Fall and Winter.
7. A distaste for oily foods.
8. Preference for muted colors, particularly black tones.
9. Long hours of sleep (10-14 hours per day.)
10. Fast movement is a result of different bone structures in the leg.
11. Hearts on the right side of the chest are more common.
12. Left-handedness is also common.
13. Many vampires have attachment issues.
14. Cleverness.
15. Longer lives —which make them formidable foes due to their longer experience in combat.
16. Slow Aging. Though, not exempt from aging.
17. Death is only possible by piercing of the heart, then decapitation. (must be done in that order.)
However, if there's one thing everyone can agree on about vampires, it's that no one truly knows their origins.
The first recorded incident of vampirism was found far beyond westward, 2150 years ago. It was recorded in a manuscript and translated —tirelessly— from Old Elvish.
It read that the king's brother came unto his bed chambers in the late of night. He attempted to sink his teeth into his brother's neck, only for the then-king to catch him in the act. The king grabbed his vampiric brother by the neck and chopped off his head with a mounted decorative axe. However, his brother came back again from the dead to drain his royal blood once more...
only to get decapitated again.
And again. And again.
And again.
The document ends with the royal guards burying the king's brother in a coffin many layers deep beneath the earth, where a crypt would keep his still pulsating corpse sealed in charms to prevent him from rising once again. Whether that worked or not, well, no one knows.
Another story of the origins of vampirism is as a heavenly act of vengeance from the sky.
One day, The Lord of Prying Light himself descended into the mortal realm only to find that humans had discovered fire. They learned to master it, and in doing so created civilizations that struck fear into the god of light. According to him, human light, "threatened heavenly sanctity in its perfect visage."
So, to counteract this, The Lord of Prying Light created an opposing element: cold-blooded fire. The cold-blooded fire, otherwise known as blue fire or pale fire would sow chaos into humanity, and bring them to their knees such that they may never outshine the gods. It was meant to be a school of magic that was impossible to wield and serve only to undo the progress of civilization. However, this is not what happened. The school of blue fire magic could never be fully created, let alone master. Unlike other schools of magic where solid spells and incantations have structure, the art of cold-blooded fire was filled with half-developed incantations and odd magical mishaps.
But, what could one expect? Gods like the Lord of Prying Light were foolish for thinking they could create their own schools of magic.
And, it was from these mishaps in the development of cold-blooded fire that turned its users into vampires. Despite their connection to cold-blooded fire being long gone, they still hold an affinity to Ice/Cold magic.
Or, maybe that was in fact what happened. We don't know. Much of our history on vampirism is based on whimsical storytelling and conjecture.
But, despite all these stories and their strange, fantastical tellings of Vampirism, there remains one that seems to ring true. It's the most asinine of all accounts on vampiric lore; but, somehow, in its otherworldliness, it seems too profound to be false.
It's the story of True Vampirism.
The True Vampirism story comes from the story of witches.
Before the empire of YoonKao forged the many regions under one unified rule, before there was any notion of "empire" at all, there were squabbling nations.
And, before nations, there was nothing.
Before nothing, there were witches.
And, it was during the reign of witches who lived in the great, far beyond, that the first notion of True Vampisim existed.
According to legend, the first vampire was locked and resided in an eternal slumber far north of north —where the cold runs deeply so, that any semblance of light perishes. No light magic nor natural fire could cast rays into the North, for the darkness and everfalling snow simply consumes it.
Be that as it may, it was the ruling witch lord Areus IV who dreamed that a sacred artifact rested in the far North. It was waiting for her, in a secret cave far beyond reach from mankind.
In a spur of prophetic fervor, she gathered her royal expedition party and ventured into the deep dark north. Many died along the journey —considering how survival would be impossible without seeing anything in front of you, let alone the threat of frostbite.
But, as they journeyed, she came across the fated cave in her dreams.
When she entered the cave, it felt even colder than before. It seemed impossible, but the cave was true darkness: a blacker black than anything witnessed in the great beyond.
Yet, the expedition pursued. How an expedition could continue to walk in a straight line without seeing their surroundings is beyond anyone.
Then, in a stroke of irrationality, the cave grew lighter.
At last, it breathed. And, there was light.
Light.
Except, it was no ordinary light, but the light of blue fire dancing across the halls of chipped stone. They reflected a malevolent, sinister glow that almost made the darkness surrounding the Far North feel welcoming.
In the center of the cave…
A pillar of ice.
Areus IV stretched a hand forward, against the advice of her expedition, and brushed away the layers of snow to reveal a crystalline, glass-like surface. Within it, perfectly preserved, petrified man with black hair and bright, red eyes half closed —suspended in the air as if all time stopped itself.
So was the visage of the first vampire. So was it's beauty, so gentle in perfect darkness, so cruelly sealed in everlasting darkness.
It is said Areus IV, in that instant, torched her entire expedition in blue fire in gratitude of its holy beauty. A dark offering. She would return from her journey to the North as the first member of royalty blessed by the blue flame —and the first noble vampire to grace the mortal realm in perfect darkness.
But, these are just old wives' tales… right?