Vampyr
Vampyrs are a type of undead that fuel their existence through the consumption of life essence, specifically through the drinking of blood. While it's speculated that vampyrs have existed for millenia as various different cultures have stories of them, the San'layn mark the largest congestion of confirmed vampyrs and the first known instance of vampyrs operating as a faction.
Description
Vampiric Blood from Hearthstone
Unlike many other undead, vampyrs don't show obvious signs of decay for as long as they remain adequately fed, as the life energy they subsist on serves to fuel a living facade. However, the majority of them possess subtle signs of their nature, such as more pallid flesh, prominent fangs, claw-like nails, or other mutations likes more bat-like ears or even wings. The more starved or drained a vampyr is, the more their true nature shows, as they start to deteriorate into a corpse-like state. Vampyrs can lengthen their fangs in preparation for feeding, and this, along with flashes of red in their eyes, can serve as indicators of heightened emotion.
Vampyrs, unlike nearly all other undead, also require sleep, and normally can only do so at their gravesite or another location that has been adequately mixed with grave dirt from their grave. Some vampyrs are capable of creating additional resting places using mementos that were important to their living lives, or can go without sleep entirely, though the latter comes with its own drawbacks, as they still need to adequately rest in order to recover their full abilities.
The internal biology of a vampyr is incredibly mutated, and any organs that are not necessary atrophied or converted into storage for the blood they consume when they were turned. In addition, their nervous, circulatory, and digestive systems are completely combined, as consumed blood runs throughout their bodies. While the blood of a vampyr is their own, it is made up of all the blood they consumed.
Abilities
Vampyrs are very durable and capable of a heightened regenerative ability which makes them hard to successfully kill. Many wounds that would kill a living person serve as an inconvenience, and even beheading a vampyr is ineffective, as they are capable of reattaching limbs as long as they are held in place. Powerful vampyrs, even if they are seemingly "slain," simply burst into mist so that they can attempt to seek out their resting place to recover.
They also possess limited shapeshifting abilities and can transfigure themselves freely into a cloud of mist, or various animals, though the animals they can take the guise of are limited to nocturnal varieties or those known to bring about ill omen. Vampyrs can freely communicate with beasts that they can turn into, and have an increased kinship with them that may even result in swarms of these beasts answering a vampyr's call for aid.
Vampyrs can also walk up solid surfaces much like a spider, and can freely hang upside down on ceilings. They have an innate charm ability that enables them to convince others to view them as trusted allies and becoming willing targets of their draining bite.
Weaknesses
Most vampyrs are innately repulsed by sunlight as they burn up beneath their rays, and even those who have managed to innure themselves to the worst of the sun's effects still have difficulty seeing and a great deal of their natural abilities, such as their regeneration, ceases to function. Holy damage has a similar effect.
They also cannot enter abodes without a direct invitation, and running water burns their flesh like acid. A vampyr asleep in their resting place can become completely paralyzed (or even destroyed for weaker ones) if they are impaled through the chest with a wooden stake.
Unlike any other varieties of undead, vampyrs are capable of starving to death if they go too long without feeding. It's believed this inevitability can be delayed by entering a hibernation stupor, but it also increases the likelihood that the vampyr would be unable to resist the Hunger once they reawakened.
Psychology
Vampyrs are fueled by an endless Hunger that is never truly abated no matter how much they consume. They are obligate predators that are incapable of surviving without feeding on the living, and many of their natural abilities are suited to this role, as it allows them to get closer to living populations than many undead would be able to. While many vampyrs are able to resist the urge to feed when the Hunger is at its weakest, if ignored for too long the Hunger eventually becomes all-consuming and a vampyr can enter a feral state until it successfully feeds.
Extended bouts of extreme starvation could result in lasting damage to the vampyr's mental state, with a possibility that the vampyr might enter permanent, voracious ferality.
Types of Vampyr
- San'layn — Specifically elven Darkfallen vampyrs that were created through the dark magic of the dread sword Frostmourne when Kael'thas Sunstrider was raised into the first san'layn.
Creation
New vampyrs are spawned when an existing vampyr completely drains the blood of a living creature—killing it in the process—and the corpse is then buried. After a long and painful transformation, the corpse rises as a new vampyr spawn that is under the direct control of its sire. Vampyr spawn are incredibly loyal to their sire and compelled to obey any command given to them, even if it would mean injury or death, and they are unable to grow fully into their abilities like a freed vampyr can.
A sire can choose to free their spawn by allowing them to drink their blood, at which point the control the sire has over the spawn is shattered, and the spawn is free to act autonomously. However, there is frequently a bond that remains between a sire and the vampyrs they created, which can manifest in various ways depending on the nature of the relationship. All vampyrs have a necrotic scar that marks their death wound, which primarily manifests as a spidering bite mark on their necks where their blood was drained.
Powerful necromantic magics can feasibly spawn new lineages of vampyrs, as was the case of Kael'thas Sunstrider when he was raised as the first San'layn through the necromantic magics of Frostmourne. The majority of the San'layn can trace their existence back to him and the first vampyrs he raised at Deatholme.
Notes and Trivia
- While common myths describe vampyrs as being unable to see their reflection, being repulsed by garlic, and other such limitations, many such stories are not accurate. However, Venthyr have many of such weaknesses, which means the stories may have originated from a case of mistaken identity.
| Warcraft Creature Types |
|---|
| Aberration • Beast • Celestial • Construct • Demon • Dragonkin • Elemental • Fey • Giant • Humanoid • Monstrosity • Ooze • Plant • Undead |
| Undead Creatures | |
|---|---|
| Corporeal | Abomination (Flesh Giant • Fleshshaper • Plague-dog) • Crawling Hand • Deathcharger • Deathroc • Dullahan • Frost Vrykul • Geist • Ghoul • Homunculus • Lich • Mummy • Nightscreamer • Shadehound • Skeleton • Undead Dragon (Bone Drake • Emberwyrm • Frostwyrm • Magmawyrm) • Vampyr (San'layn) • Zombie (Vargul) |
| Incorporeal | Banshee (Farshee) • Shade • Spectre • Wisp • Wraith |
