Vampire Lore

Long ago...

On Israidius, there once lived a people, not unlike humans, known as the Xivion. Today, they are no more, and only True Vampires remain. The early Xivions were divided into several kingdoms and war was their way of life. One of their kings, a man named Dimitrious Pendral Tempes, believed that he was destined to unite the Xivion people and restore peace. At the height of the conflict, Dimitrious led his soldiers into battle to fulfill his destiny. Many years passed, but absolute victory eluded him. Dimitrious grew older and despaired, watching helplessly as his dream slipped away with the sands of time.

Unwilling to accept defeat, Dimitrious traveled alone into the very heart of Israidius, deep within the Blasted Lands. There he came upon a temple dedicated to Sadin, the God of Death. Exhausted, he fell to his knees and begged the deity to save his people. Sadin was intrigued. "Very well," the god said. "I will grant you eternal life and power, mortal. But only if you agree to sacrifice yourself and be bound to the darkness forever."

Dimitrious, pushed to limit of his reason, opened his mouth to accept, but before he could speak Sadin held up a hand of caution. "Be warned," said the god. "Make your choice with care. If you refuse, both you and your kingdom will fall. The Xivion will pass to dust, as all things should. If you accept, your people will prosper, but they will never be the same."

Dimitrious hesitated, considering the words of the god, but he was faced with an impossible choice - death and the unknown. He accepted the offer and Sadin gave him a sharp, blood red ruby. Fearfully, the Xivion king lay the Dark Gift upon his chest. His heart stopped. He ceased to breath, to grow, to change, and –in that place- the very first Vampire was born.

Dimitrious returned his people in triumph. He bestowed the Dark Gift on his most loyal followers, turning them into True Vampires. From this time on he was called the Blood King. With his new army of immortals the Blood King waged a great war and conquered his enemies. Finally, the Xivion people were united.

But the mortal Xivions feared the vampires, and the Blood King had to establish a council to keep order and maintain laws. Thus, the Vampire Order created a code.

• 1. The Dark Gift shall not be given to the very young, the very old, the ugly, the sick, the maimed, the weak minded, the crazed, or the depraved. These are abominations, and should be destroyed on sight.
• 2. The Dark Gift shall not be given by force for it may drive an unwilling convert mad or create a helpless being. An Intended must understand the benefits as well as the consequences of the Gift and it accept it of their own free will.
• 3. The Dark Gift shall not be given lightly. An Intended should be a person of worth - self-sufficient, intelligent, and of value to society. Therefore, a vampire of the Order shall not give the Gift to someone who willfully seeks it out.
• 4. The Dark Gift shall be nurtured. Once initiated, a convert shall not be abandoned. It is the duty of all vampires to teach their children how to survive. Converts must be taught the rules and laws of the Blood King before they shall be permitted to venture out into the world.
• 5. The Dark Gift shall not be refused. Any convert who proves unable or unwilling to comply with the Code must be put to death to ensure the sanctity of vampire ways.*

* This last sentence was added to the Code when the vampires were introduced to Calamia.

The code established order and peace reigned, but then - less than a decade after Dimitrious’ victory - a devastating event known as The Corruption occurred. The ordinary Xivions died in droves and those who remained were mutated to such an extreme that the race was practically wiped from the face of Israidius. Dimitrious was devastated. Everything he had fought for was gone. Only the True Vampires managed to evade harm. Desperate to protect them, Dimitrious formed an alliance with the Emperor of the Valdharian Empire - Jeremas.

During the war that followed, known as the War of Daishevar, the Blood King supported his newfound ally, wrecking havoc across the lands of Calamia. His soldiers found their human foes to be inferior and swept them aside easily … until the sun rose. Then, as the sky began to lighten, they felt an impending dread. Something was wrong. A retreat was called. Some of the Blood King’s followers managed to escape, but most were burned alive or slaughtered by their human enemies. Today, less than fifty True Vampires remain. That horrible day became known as the Perdition. After Jeremas’ defeat, many of the demons he once controlled went into disarray. The vampires, who were severely reduced in numbers, retreated into the depths of the Sanctuary to avoid complete extinction. There they remained until Gornaz came to power.

A few True Vampires, unable to flee with their brethren, remained on Calamia and its sun remains, to this day, a constant threat to their existence. Exposure can cause a young vampire to spontaneously combust and they become ash in mere moments. Older vampires suffer massive burns, charred or melted flesh, and can die within a few minutes of exposure if they don’t reach safety in time.

More than a thousand years after the war, the True Vampires began to create Converts on Calamia. The largest of these line stems from one True Vampire named Volrin Dashar, who disobeyed the Vampire Code and choose to become a Rogue. He created numerous children – rogues who also refused to accept the Vampire Code - as well as abominations. These justly labeled monsters are the kind of vampires that most Calamians are familiar with now. The latest antics of Volrin Dashar have been the decimation of Dalantus in the lands of Auraton. He still continues to preach his blasphemy and meddle in the lives of humans, enjoying his puppetry and chaos.

Fortunately, some of Volrin’s ‘Rogue’ lines were later converted over to the ways of the Order. The Blood King agreed because so few of his people remained and their numbers needed to be replenished. The newly accepted Converts formed groups to uphold the rulings given by the Blood King. However, Volrin’s mass conversions were difficult to keep up with and the growing myth that vampires were evil, demonic beings bent on chaos made finding worthy converts more and more challenging. The Blood King and his vampires began to track down the rogue lines, destroying the abominations, and teaching only those among the rogues who were worthy.

After time, however, seeking out such rogue covens became untenable. The Blood King then decreed that all such converts, be they abominations or worthy rogues, be destroyed. Mass conversions were banned in order to preserve the Vampire Codes and their way of life.

However the damage had already been done. The secretive lives of the Vampires were now widely exposed and Vampire Hunters began to arise, vowing to kill each and every one they crossed. The hunts were often brutal and deadly. Many vampires – mostly rogues - were burned alive at the stake, beheaded or drowned in tubs of holy water. The most noted of all the Vampire Hunters were the Mandra family.

Faced with this new threat, True Vampires began experimenting on the humans of Calamia. It was discovered that True Vampires could reproduce with humans to create a half-blood. Such children appeared normal, but when they reached adulthood they would stop aging and gain their Vampire parent’s traits. They also discovered that these Half-Vampires could walk in Calamia’s sun and thus, gave them the nick name Day Walkers. The experimentation was halted, however, by an uprising lead by the Day Walker Lance Al’Damoreth. As a result, half-bloods are now very rare.

The Vampire council still exists today, although their numbers are small. A few vampires, including True Vampires, continue to break the code and create rogues, but the Day Walkers have disappeared.