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
The history of the vampyres begins on their homeworld: Vampyrium, a harsh world in the lower planes near Freneskae. Vampyrium is a world with blood red skies where even the moon is tinged a shade of crimson, it has strong predators and a myriad of docile prey species, and it is also where the famous bloodwood trees originated from. The vampyres themselves began as loose packs that roamed the skies, competing with each other for prey. Eventually these groups would each rise into eight distinct tribes, each with their own unique aspects and lineage: Alzeph, Drakan, Ghrazi, Jovkai, Myrmel, Pyrah, Shadum, and Vitur. Originally, the Ghrazi tribe held dominance over the others, due to their strongly combative and militant heritage, but that all changed when Zaros came to Vampyrium. Zaros looked upon the vampyres and saw potential, and introduced the finer points of culture to the vampyres; art, fine language, structured laws, and court systems, which he had learned from the Chthonian demons of the neighboring world of Infernus.

Zaros chose one vampyre to guide from the Drakan tribe, and began to uplift the vampyres towards structured society. This one vampyre, after triumphing over the other houses in the civil war that ensued from his conquests, would eventually come to rule over the entire world Vampyrium, and the vampyre race for thousands of years after that: Lord Lowerniel Vergidiyad Drakan, who became the lord of vampyrium, and established the Drakan line as the hierarchy over the other tribes, now renamed "houses". Once the homeworld of the vampyres was put under his rule, Zaros then began to bring the vampyres over from Vampyrium to Gielinor, where they would join in with the empire of Senntisten.

Gielinor
Vampyres would arrived on Gielinor sometime in the early Second Age, along with their leader; Lord Drakan and his family. Throughout the Second Age they served Zaros and assisted in helping him achieve the size his empire reached. It would come to pass, however, that Lord Drakan began to resent the feelings of loyalty that Zaros's nature compelled in him, and Lowerniel's path in life took a violent turn. To escape Zaros and his dominion, Lowerniel sided with Zamorak, and after Zaros was banished, Lord Drakan turned his sights towards the neighboring icyene kingdom of Hallowland for unknown reasons, then began a vicious conquest of the region.

During this war, Drakan abducted the icyene Queen Effaritay's human husband: Ascertes, and the city of Hallowvale surrendered. Through treachery, Drakan conquered Hallowland and renamed the region Morytania, transforming the city of 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.



Eventually, Lord Drakan's reign was put to an end by the Myreque, an adventurer, and Lowerniel's own sister: Vanescula, near the very end of the Fifth Age. Vanescula herself, after Lowerniel's death succeeding him as ruler of Morytania, betrayed the Myreque and killed Queen Effaritay's own half-breed son: Safalaan, then drank his blood. With his icyenic blood flowing through her veins, Vanescula was sanctified against the River Salve, and through Haemalchemy she seeks to transfer this immunity to the river to all vampyres in Morytania, in order to invade and conquer Misthalin. The vampyre nation now sits, gathering its strength, until Vanescula's plans come to fruition.

Accepted Lore
This section addresses details in lore about vampyres that are widely accepted throughout the World 42 Role-Playing community. Everyone is invited to add to this information.

Biology
Vampyres are a physically and magically impressive race: originating from the lower planes like the demon races and the Mahjarrat, vampyres possess qualities that take them beyond the limitations of other races.

"Unlike you humans, we are not so easily killed!"

- Lord drakan.


 * First and foremost: vampyres consume blood and nothing else. It is what they survive off of, they need it to live, and they cannot go without feeding or they starve; just as most other races need food to live. When a vampyre is injured, they need to drink blood more immediately than a healthy vampyre does. While drinking blood can speed up healing for any vampyre, some heal more quickly than others, with Lowerniel and Vanstrom healing almost instantly after absorbing blood.
 * Vampyres have control of their own forms, with their innate abilities of blood magic, and are able to transform into humanoid shapes (both resembling humans with vampyric traits or perfectly mimicking them). It was revealed this ability was taught to the vampyres by Zaros. It is unknown if vampyres can enter any other shapes besides humanoid (though Vanescula was skilled enough to appear as a harmless, little eight year old girl, showing she could manipulate her size, not just outwardly appearance). When vampyres transform their shapes, they do this in a matter of seconds, with swirling blood magic covering and hiding their forms while they change shape.
 * One very noteworthy trait is their ability to turn other races (only humans so far have been observed to be affected) into vampyres by infecting the victims with their blood. Generally, it is accepted that "true-born" vampyres are superior in their natural abilities and physical strengths than the "human-born" vampyres, though that does not mean human-born vyres are not strong: Vanstrom Klause was the strongest known human-born vyre, with his claws and magical attacks being able to tear through and heavily damage players wearing even Barrows quality armor during the fight against him. Vampyre blood, regardless if it comes from true-born or human-born vampyres, is black.
 * As revealed in a podcast by Mod Ana: turned vampyres burn in the sunlight, though true-borns are not affected by it. It is for this reason the Drakans conjure a dense, dark cloud lair above Morytania to protect their human-born army from the sun.
 * Another rather odd trait of human-born vampyres is that if two human-born vampyres breed, the resulting child will always be human, not vampyre. There is no known explanation in lore that directly addresses this phenomena.
 * 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.
 * The strongest vampyres are creatures to be feared and respected: Azzanadra, one of the most powerful known Mahjarrat, fled for his life from Lord Drakan.
 * The only weaponry capable of harming vampyres is silver-based, as all vampyres, regardless of origin, have a weakness to silver. A vampyre at their strongest, even a human-born like Vanstrom, does not consider weapons such as the silvthril crafted, blessed and enchanted Ivandis Flail, much of a threat. For particularly strong vampyres, weaponry crafted from the wood of a blisterwood tree is the optimal choice for killing them. Blisterwood, however, is very difficult to obtain, as the only surviving tree left is heavily guarded at the center of Darkmeyer, and it took the efforts of Vanescula Drakan herself to give The Adventurer access to the tree, after an undercover attempt to blend into vampyre society and rise of the ranks by said human hero. The tree is also a very closely guarded secret, only the Myreque and the vampyres themselves know of the tree.
 * Vampyres have an innate mind-reading sense, which, although supposedly not true mind reading, it allows them to sense the intentions of their foes during combat. This makes a vampyre an incredibly difficult creature to harm; rendering most silver weaponry useless. Only silver weapons like a flail, where it is hard for the weapon strike to land where the warrior intends it to, can throw a vampyre off, and allow blows to be made. Blisterwood is unique in that the tree has intention: the plant, although it doesn't think anything specifically, intends to grow out in all directions it can, and to move its branches. Since the wood of the tree still lives after it is cut and fashioned into a weapon, its own intentions mask that of the wielder, allowing blows to be made with much more strength and accuracy than a flail, and the magic of the tree itself is harmful to vampryes (meaning silver doesn't have to be added into the construction of the weaponry: all three combat styles, melee, ranged, and magic can be used).
 * One other known weakness that vampyres have is garlic, though this by itself is not harmful, it only seems to irritate their senses slightly, so it must be used with other weaknesses to even be effective.
 * Vampyres can willingly transform their bodies into a vaporous form, which they often do when they are injured. It allows them to escape if they are in mortal danger, and helps them survive grievous wounds. While in this state, they can envelope their foes and drain their blood to heal. While in vaporous form, only holy water can finish a vampyre off if they are injured in this state.
 * Human-born vampyres go through three stages of development, in which they progressively move closer towards becoming actual vampyres. The first stage is the juvenile, which, depending on how far they are into the stage, can be harmed by any weapon, or only by silver/blisterwood weapons, and they are fairly weak. The second stage is the Juvinate stage, in which the turned human begins to take on an even more vampyre-like appearance; they begin to develop special powers, and it is this stage that they are able to enter vaporous form (they can only do this when injured, not at will), and have small underdeveloped wings hidden under their clothes. Juvinates can only be harmed by silver/blisterwood weaponry. The third and final stage is the vyre: in which the human-born vampyre finally becomes a full fledged vampyre, with all the standard abilities (such as the mind-reading ability) and defenses.
 * Guthix balance potions can be used to cure turned humans, but only if they are in the Juvenile or Juvinate stage, once the vyre stage is reached, the process is irreversible. When Guthix balance is used, there is a 1/3 chance that one thing will happen: the vampyre will be cured, they will instantly die and crumble ash, or it reverts them to a bestial, blood-starved form, often called an "angry" vampyre (only Juvinates seem to be able to degrade to this stage, fully formed vyres do not revert to this state). Juvinates also seem to degrade into the feral state naturally, without the interference of Guthix balance, if they enter into blood starvation.
 * Vampyres apparently let off a lack of scent to other races, as not even werewolves are able to smell them approach, although vampyres themselves are able to tell the difference between their own people and other races.
 * One trait that true-born vampyres have over human-borns is that true-borns have a much more highly refined palate. They are able to go beyond the taste of the blood types, temperatures, and freshness of the blood they drink: they can literally taste the emotional state of a victim during the time of their death or when the blood is drank from a still living victim (what race the victim is does not determine the emotional flavor state). They do not taste the emotions themselves, but the emotional state of the victim transposes a certain taste in their blood.
 * Loathing and disgust produces blood that is spicy, and has a grainy texture.
 * Hope and optimism produces an intensely sweet flavor.
 * Hate and aggression produces a very strong and overwhelming flavor (a fair comparison is that it is the blood equivalent of hard liquor, without the alcoholic effect).
 * Love produces blood that is bittersweet with a lingering finish.
 * Regret, coupled with the adrenal response of fight or flight, produces an aromatic blood with an effervescent fizz.
 * Mourning and grief, along with a period of stagnation in the corpse after death, produces a foul smelling and greasy blood (the flavor, however, is very complex and rich).
 * Feelings of loyalty and subservience produce a flavor that is both salty and sweet.
 * Awe, wonder, and respect produce a blood that is incredibly fresh and pure, although the flavor is bland.

Culture


"Enjoying our way of life, are you?"

- Vanescula.

The culture of the vampyres, just as their history and their physiology, is as unique as they are, with a heavy focus on blood that has influenced it. There is nothing else quite like vampyre society on Gielinor.


 * Vampyre society is rigidly split between the human-born vampyres of Darkmeyer, and the true-born nobles who live in Castle Drakan, away from the turned populace in the city.
 * Those of the true-born nobility are the highest of the high in vampyre society; they have little care for the human-born vampyres under their rule, and only the most elite of the vyrewatch ever spend much time around the true-born nobility. Those of the true-born nobility enjoy luxuries that are not afforded to the human-born population outside of Castle Drakan: they seemingly have access to as much blood as they want (rather than it being rationed to them), they possess ownership of personal tithes and the occasional werewolf pack, and are served and protected by all the human-born vampyres of the city.

True-Born Houses
There were once eight great houses on Vampyrium; eight family lines that comprised the ruling body of their homeworld, and although not every single one of them remain, nearly every true-born vampyre today can trace their heritage back to at least one of them. Each house had their own individual customs, and their own particular palate for a certain flavor of blood. As stated elsewhere on this guide: true-borns have more highly refined palates than human-born vampyres, as they are able to taste flavors that are influenced in the blood by the emotional state of the victim.

House Alzeph

House Alzeph vampyres enjoyed spicy blood with a grainy texture, which was created when their prey felt emotions of loathing and moral disgust. Due to these being emotions that are mainly held by sentient beings, house Alzeph cannibalized other vampyres to make the other houses have these emotions towards them. Due to this practice, when Lord Drakan established his house and the main ruling body, he genocided them, and the Alzeph were supposedly all wiped out. Today, some Alzeph vampyres may still yet live within the true-born nobility, hiding their true lineage from the others.

House Drakan

House Drakan is the main ruling body of all the other houses, with their aristocracy being established by Lowerniel on Vampyrium. Those vampyres of House Drakan have a sweet tooth, as they enjoy blood that has a very sweet flavor to it. To get this blood, the victim has to feel safe, optimism and hope, and so the prey has to be killed unawares before they know they are being stalked. If the prey catches on, they are allowed to escape and resume their calm feelings before another attempt is made. Today, the only known surviving member of House Drakan is Vanescula herself, there are no other vampyres of House Drakan that we know of.

House Ghrazi

The vampyres of House Ghrazi are of a proud warrior heritage: they were famed for being the most vicious of all the tribes, and prided themselves on their ability to fight rather than stalk. Fighting was a integral part of their heritage, and they only hunted the most aggressive prey of vampyrium. They enjoyed the overwhelming strong taste that aggression added into the blood (an acceptable metaphor would be that the Ghrazi drank the blood equivalent of hard liquor) they drank, and they believed that they were ingesting the strength of all they ate when they did this. Such was their battle prowess that Lord Drakan did not confront Lord Malachi Ghrazi directly when he began his conquest over the other houses, but instead resorting to poison to kill the Ghrazi leader.

Due to their more aggressive nature, the Ghrazi transitioned poorly into the new civilized society Lord Drakan was forming on Vampyrium, and so the vast majority of the Ghrazi were wing-clipped and forced to serve as pack animals in blood hunts. Those of the Ghrazi line who were able to transition into civilized society likely kept their noble status, though with their house largely diminished in number. This house very likely still exists today on Gielinor, as Lord Drakan made sure their line continued because he valued their ferocity in battle.

House Jovkai

The vampyres of House Jovkai are of more refined origins than the majority of their kin: they enjoy a bittersweet taste with a lingering finish in the blood they drink, which can only be gained when the prey is in a loving and caring emotional state. As such, the vampyres of House Jovkai treated their prey with a care and tenderness (their food sources were likely domesticated), allowing them to feel safe and cared for, before mercilessly slaughtering their victims behind closed doors. Today, House Jovkai is alive and strong.

House Myrmel

House Myrmel is comprised of vampyres that enjoy a light and aromatic blood, imbued with an effervescent fizz. To get this kind of blood, the prey must be filled with feelings of intense regret, and be pumped with adrenaline from the fight or flight reflex. Generally this is done by killing one of the victim's loved ones first, and allowing the other victims to escape, then hunt them down afterwards. The process for acquiring this blood is very wasteful, so Lord Drakan decreed that it should only be practiced on special occasions, with the primary victim's blood used to feed the lower-born vyres. Today, House Myrmel is still going strong.

House Pyrah

The members of House Pyrah were described as "loathsome carrion feeders", as they enjoyed a very complex and rich flavored blood, which had a greasy texture and foul smell, created by feelings of grief. The process to make this blood, however, was very abhorrent, as multiple victims of a single prey group were held together in close confines, where they were held until they died of natural causes. The weakest would die first, and the others would be left to grieve in as the piles of bodies started to add up around them. The bodies would be left to ferment for a while before the blood was harvested (hence the greasy texture and foul smell). For these disgusting practices, Lord Drakan had House Pyrah destroyed. Some may have escaped this genocide, and might live in secret to this day among the vampyre nobility; hiding stores of rancid blood elsewhere in Morytania where none may know.

House Shadum

House Shadum enjoy their blood from creatures that are along the lines of loyal and submissive, which creates salty-sweet flavor combination. In the past on Vampyrium, they had enslaved another sentient race who wanted their protection, and agreed to servitude, which was where House Shadum received their main source of loyal/submissive blood. Today, the enslaved creatures left on Vampyrium may be either very rare, or extinct since they were left behind, while House Shadum left for Gielinor. Today, it is seen that one of the members of House Shadum has ownership over a werewolf pack, which is where they may get their supply of loyal/submissive supply.

House Vitur

House Vitur vampyres, along with a few other sentient beings of Vampyrium, were extremely devoted towards the dead founder of House Vitur, whom they believed to be a god. From the other sentient creatures that worshipped, house Vitur collected blood that was imbued with feelings of devotion, awe, and wonder, which left an incredibly fresh and pure taste to the blood, albeit it was rather bland in flavor. Those of House Vitur today would likely jump at the chance to collect blood from an active worshipper of any god.

Human-Born Society
-To be added.

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, Nadezhda, 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 Information

 * The origin (and acceptance in lore, due to them coming off of the Soloman's Store) of bloodpouncers, a winged, vampyric cat-like creature, is debated. Some think them to come from Vampyrium, others think they are turned skypouncers. Regardless, it is said that some vampyres fear bloodpouncers, as they feed on vampyre blood.
 * 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.
 * The Salve River Barrier is a magical wall created by Saradomin, which specifically blocks vampyres, and certain Zamorakian creatures, from crossing over into and out of Morytania. One werewolf described his failed attempt in crossing as "incredibly painful". If a vampyre does somehow cross the Salve, even the most powerful vampyres are left in an incredibly weakened state, and unable to return to their former strength unless they manage to cross back over into Morytania. Count Draynor, Lord Drakan's brother, was weakened so badly that he was no stronger than a human.
 * For a vampyre to cross and remain unaffected, the Salve barrier would have to be brought down, or the vampyre rendered immune to it. If a vampyre drinks icyene blood, however, it sanctifies them against the Salve, allowing them to cross. Vanescula Drakan did this when she drank the half-breed icyene Safalaan's blood, and intends to spread this immunity to the Salve to other vampyres when she learns how to do so, but this has not yet come to pass.
 * According to Xenia, there are no more vampyres across the Salve: Count Draynor was the very last.
 * 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.