Vampyres

This page serves as a source of information about vampyres as it is applicable to World 42 roleplaying characters. Everyone is invited to add to this information.

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Vampyrium
Vampyres were once primitive predators that roamed the lands and skies of their homeworld in small packs competing for prey. Zaros eventually arrived on their plane, which was the second he had discovered since taking his leave from Freneskae. He looked upon the vampyres and saw potential. Zaros applied his knowledge of the demon culture on Infernus, eventually establishing a society and civilization among these creatures. This hierarchy which Zaros put into place is still evident today in Morytania in the form of the House Drakan monarchy.

Gielinor
Vampyres originally arrived in Gielinor sometime in the early second age, along with their leader Lord Drakan and his family, from the realm of Vampyrium. Throughout the Second Age they served Zaros and assisted in helping him achieve the size his empire reached. After the betrayal of Zaros and banishment and subsequent return of Zamorak as a god, Zamorak permitted Drakan to invade the Eastern nation of Hallowland during the Third Age, for Drakan's support during the overthrow of Zaros. Drakan conquered the Hallowland and renamed the region Morytania, transforming Hallowvale into a blood-farming ghetto. Drakan's near 3,000 year reign has been marred by violence, including, among countless others, the Fall of Hallowvale, the Misthalin - Morytania War, the Morytania Campaign, the War of 164, and the Sanguinesti Liberation War.

Accepted Lore
This section addresses details about vampyres that are widely accepted throughout the world 42 roleplaying community.

Strengths

 * Juvinates and up are able to transform into vaporous clouds and wisp away to recover. They can still be dangerous in this form, but are susceptible to holy water. Juveniles, or at least those within the Sanguinesti Region, can also enact this ability.
 * Fully developed vampyres have a slight ability to read minds. It's suspected that this isn't a developed talent, but rather an innate reflex to predict motion. This allows, in many circumstances, for a vyre opponent to predict a next move. However, this talent should be used sparingly in role-play.
 * Fully developed vampyres can fly. Vampyre juvinates have small, underdeveloped wings that are thought to function much like a chicken's.
 * As vampyres evolve up through the stages, they develop natural strength significantly greater than that of a normal human - defeat of a particularly powerful vampyre by a human would require strategy and technical skill. Given the right tools, though, a human with good defenses could still fell a typical vampyre.
 * Vampyres can smell the difference between humans, vampyres and werewolves.
 * Drawing blood from its prey slightly heals a vampyre.
 * Vampyres have no scent, which is another reason why werewolves fear them.

Weaknesses

 * Vampyres are strongest within Morytania. Time and distance away will gradually weaken a vampyre, though since the Salve Barrier was erected, it is impossible for them to leave the country.
 * Vampyres are weak to sunlight, and its effects are considered a constant annoyance, much like an itch that simply can't be dispelled.
 * Vampyres are weakened slightly by garlic, but it will not have any significant effect unless the vampyre has already been weakened in some other major way, like exposure to sunlight or prolonged distance from Morytania. Some players see their young vampyres be annoyed or distracted, but not weakened, by the smell.
 * Stakes work similarly to garlic unless made of blisterwood.
 * Vampyres are weak to all forms of silver and silver alloy (like silvthril).
 * Vyres can be hit only with unpredictable weapons like silver flails or blisterwood crafts when in Morytania.
 * Blisterwood is extremely harmful to all forms of vampyre. Weapons carved from it harm them even more so. Magic channeled through blisterwood harms vampyres to the same extent that the wood itself does. However, use of blisterwood is often questionable, as its only source is in the heart of Darkmeyer.
 * A vampyre that has gone too long without drinking blood or who has developed an insatiable bloodlust seems to lose some of its abilities. It becomes weaker and can be harmed by any weapon. Lacking blood isn't known to kill vampyres, but it does seem to turn them into ravenous beasts.
 * Any vampyre west of the Salve has already lost their power to the degree of being weaker than a typical trained knight. They are susceptible to all forms of attack. Stronger vampyres will need to take a stake to the heart to kill.

Other

 * There are three known stages of vampyre: juvenile, juvinate, and vyre. Their strength increases respectively. Once they reach the vyre stage, they vary by social hierarchy depending on their power and status.
 * A juvenile is the lowest stage of vampyre, converted from a bipedal creature of some sort (most likely human or werewolf). They can be harmed by silver, holy water, or blisterwood. Some, often found farther away from the core of the Sanguinesti Region, can be harmed by any weapon. Juveniles can be found patrolling all over Morytania.
 * A juvinate is one stage up from a juvenile. They cannot be harmed by usual weaponry. They can be found patrolling throughout Mort Myre and west of Burgh de Rott, but dominantly within the Sanguinesti Region.
 * Vyre Transformation.gif developed vampyres (vyres) have the ability to change between batlike and humanoid forms. However, this seems to be unusual or taboo, as such transformation is only seen in-game by the most powerful of vyrelords and vyreladies, and is rarely, if ever, seen among the average vyre. The process itself spans over a few seconds in which the vyre is compressed into a ball (and multiple ringlets) of blood magic, and is then released in another form. Click the gif to the left for a fragment example of a cutscene.
 * Vampyre_Juvinate.png a vampyre is fully developed in its life stage (vyre), it can no longer be converted to its prior race by way of a Guthix Balance potion. When used on a juvenile or juvinate, the potion has a 1/3 chance of successfully reverting the individual to its original form. The other two chances are immediate death, or a form of mutation in which the juvenile or juvinate is rapidly converted to a ravenous vampyre.
 * Vampyres survive on blood rather than food or drink. It is commonly accepted, however, that they can consume most liquids, such as alcoholic beverages, without fatal consequence.
 * If a vampyre is injured, it will need to feed sooner rather than later.
 * Only a select few vampyres in Gielinor were actually born as the race, and those originated from a realm known as Vampyrium. The Drakan family is the only group of vampyres known to fit this trait.
 * Aside from those select few from Vampyrium, no vampyres are born. The child of two vampyres is born a human (or whatever creature the more dominant genes from one of the two parent vampyres originally were), and that child would have to be "turned" and go through the stages of development to become a typical vampyre.
 * According to Xenia, there are no vampyres across the Salve apart from Count Draynor.
 * During the Legacy of Seergaze, it is revealed that when a fully formed vyre dies, their corpses become as hard as iron and as light as wood. If the afflicted vampyre had not been evil before contracting vampyrism then their souls will be tormented by their evil deeds, and the only way for the soul to rest peacefully is for their remains to be cremated.

Naming Conventions


"I haven't seen you before. What's your name?"

- Sanguinus Varnis

Vampyres have naming structures that focus on a wide range of letters and pronunciations, making it hard to follow any particular trend, although many vampyre names are based off of real-life Romanian origins. One noticeable thing, however, is that most vampyres have first, middle, and last names (some lack middle names, others do not). One very important thing to note is that no turned vampyre seems to retain their former name prior to turning, and instead choose a new vampyre name to suit their new racial status.

A Useful and lore-friendly way to create a unique name (for almost any race) is to mix and mash tidbits of other names, or make slight modifications (addition or subtraction of letters) to create your own. An example would be Sanguinius (adding an I at the end of Sanguinus to modify the name), or Valentiscula (a combination of Valentina and Vanescula). Here is a list of nearly all vampyre names mentioned in lore, see if you can create something unique out of them!


 * Male First/Middle Names: Artyom, Dessous, Draynor, Grigan, Grigori, Lowerniel, Malachi, Malak, Misdrievus, Ranis, Ruantun, Sanguinus, Simeon, Solomon, Tenebra, Tytn, Vanstrom, Vergidyad, Victor, Zigfrid.


 * Female First/Middle names: Anastasia, Masha, Mornid, Sascha, Valentina, Vanescula.


 * Last names: Alzeph, Bloodmortis, Draemus, Drakan, Ghrazi, Gorthaur, Jovkai, Kaust, Kaninus, Klause, Lamescus, Myrmel, Mortshade, Noctantine, Pyrah, Plaguemanst, Remanis, Shadum, Vakan, Varnis, Vitur.


 * Player Vampyric Names (these are the list of names the player chooses from during The Branches of Darkmeyer):

Debated Lore
This section addresses details about vampyres that are still subject to speculation and discussion either because of conflicting information in-game or because use of the detail in roleplay creates an unfair scenario (usually involving overpowering or another common roleplay problem).
 * Powerful vyres, especially including but not limited to those who originated from Vampyrium, are thought to possess suggestive abilities (persuading people to do things against their will just by telling them to). It is also suspected that they can pull blood from their prey without touching it and can turn shadow to solid form.Vanescula_and_Ranis.png
 * Vampyres are the origin of blood magic. (Theorized, but with no canon evidence.)
 * An upper-tier vampyre, especially those who serve as vyrewatch, have a fully developed, natural ability to read minds.
 * Vampyres who live in covens often adopt common scents, sometimes thought to be a result of the hive pheromones mixing together, and can thus the groups can be identified by smell. (This is common practice but is not canon.)
 * As an extension of the ability of a matured vampyre to shift between bat and humanoid forms, some also allow their vampyres to make a complete transformation into a convincing human form. (Some cite Malak and early Vanstrom as human-vyres, but disputers claim those NPCs have outdated graphics.)
 * Others simply consider this an extension of a vampyre's ability to completely shapeshift, as in the case of Nessie.
 * Others still conclude that the most powerful of vampyres do not just have a vyre form and a humanoid form, but rather the ability to alter their physical figures as they please.
 * Vampyres can/cannot cross the Salve barrier. Those who believe vampyres can cross claim that it weakens them and speeds up further power loss. Others suggest that vampyres may cross with minimal effect when the Salve barrier is weakened. However, there are numerous players who do not accept any vampyre crossing the Salve, and these players cite a Gielinor Games quote to back the standpoint up.
 * This is a highly controversial topic, as some players feel vampyres shouldn't be limited to Morytania, as elves aren't limited to Tirannwn, and Mahjarrat are not limited to hiding, but others feel that this creates illegitimate risks and encourages pop-culture vampires.

Common Mistakes
This section addresses traits that inexperienced roleplayers often bestow their vampyre characters but that aren't actually seen in vyres on Runescape.
 * Vampyres neither burst into flame upon contact with sunlight nor can they go completely unaffected by exposure.
 * Vampyres are not beautiful humans - they are bat-like humanoids and would have serious trouble hiding their race from a human without a full face mask. Even the human forms of great vyres have an exotic look that tells their race.Vanescula_and_Ranis_Chatheads.png
 * Vampyres do not sparkle, nor do they have unique magical abilities.
 * The vampyres in the Haunted Woods and the God Wars Dungeon are blood lusting vampyres. They may have been created from angry vampyres.
 * Vampyres can cross-breed with humans. The resulting offspring is a human.
 * Vampyres are eventually affected by aging. While Lord Drakan is pushing 8,000, Vanescula describes him as getting on in years and not thinking as clearly as he once did. However, this could have been a political tactic deployed to make Lowerniel appear weak, as she is plotting to overthrow him.
 * Vyrewatch are not their own stage of vampyre; it was confirmed in the 11/08/12 Lore Q&A that the vyrewatch are the town guards - a defense force - rather than a stage in vampyric development. The prefix "vyre" is the stage of development, and the suffix "watch" defines its social status. The same can be said of the Vyrelords and Vyreladies; the suffixes of "lord" and "lady" define them as having the highest social status available in Darkmeyer.
 * Vyres are not corrupted icyene.
 * Vampyres are not undead like fictional vampires; they are in fact alive.
 * Vampyres are not Zamorakian; if anything, they revere Lord Drakan as a god-like figure as opposed to Zamorak. The Chaos God was merely considered an ally at one point in time.

Other Info

 * The use of blisterwood, the most effective known material for anti-vampyre weapons, is generally considered taboo among Morytanian roleplayers. Usually, blisterwood is treated with as much (and often more) rarity than dragon metal, though its scarcity has been categorized similarly to bane metal (example: mahjarratbane). The rationale for this is based on the difficulty of access; aside from the few NPC-owned weapons distributed into the highest ranks of the Myreque by the Adventurer, the only way to gain the material is by harvesting it from the tree itself, a feat that would be difficult for even a vyrelord given the heavy area security.
 * The fact that the blisterwood tree even exists is a closely-guarded secret kept by the vampyres, which leads to a very, very limited knowledge of its presence on Gielinor. That being said, only the Adventurer, higher ranking Myreque officers, and the vampyres themselves know of the tree. For another being to even learn of it, they would be required to spend a great deal of time in Morytania in confidence with upper-class vampyres to learn of its existence and location.
 * Bloodpouncers originated from Vampyrium, the homeworld of the vampyres. If any are alive and are in Gielinor today, it is most likely that they would be few, and kept in Darkmeyer to serve as either pets or tracking animals used to hunt human prey. It is assumed that they would drink blood as sustenance.
 * While the vyrewatch held a spear prior to the graphical update, they no longer used any weaponry aside their claws after it was initiated in-game. However, a spear is shown in the concept art for the vyrewatch; it is assumed that this weapon will feature in-game in the future, and is possibly reserved for some higher tier vyre with a different guard occupation superior to watch. The spear also appears to contain a capsule for storing blood, which suggests this is a tool to extract the liquid from the human cattle of Meiyerditch. This leads to the theory that it's reserved for a tithing vyre unit that has yet to be released.
 * Some vampyre names are similar to Romanian or German names, likely due to the fact that one of the most well known vampire stories of all time is that of Dracula; a vampire who originated in Romania. In the quest Branches of Darkmeyer, the player is allowed to choose a vampyric name in addition to their guise. Here is a list of those available for players to choose from.
 * Recent lore has suggested that strong vampyres like Drakan were powerful enough to pose a significant threat even to Mahjarrat.