Vampire

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Vampire
A vampire feeding
(Creature)
Vampires attack!

A vampire is an intelligent undead creature which feeds off the blood of the living in order to prolong its unnatural life1 afflicted, or blessed depending on one's viewpoint, by the curse of vampirism.2 Amongst their own kind, true vampires use the slang term full-blood to distinguish themselves from those they consider lesser but associated beings, for instance, vampire spawn or dhampirs.3

Types of Vampire

There are four distinct primary types of vampires.4

Jiang-shi
These vampires are created when a creature is buried without the proper ritual and has an unfulfilled grudge or wish.
Moroi
This most common vampire is what most people think of by default when a vampire is mentioned. They are created by other moroi, serving as slaves until released or upon the death of their master.
Nosferatu
These ancient vampires can no longer reproduce and are on the slide to extinction. Some obscure and dangerous rituals can create nosferatu.
Vetala
Evil children buried improperly in unholy land sometimes rise as vetala.

Origin

Vampires on Golarion share a common ancestor, the strigoi, who came from the Plane of Shadow for reasons lost to history. The Whispering Way believes a necromancer opened a portal to bring strigoi to Golarion. These original strigoi no longer exist, having either died out—all evolved into one of the current varieties of vampire—or returned to their home plane.4

Nosferatu evolved first, driven to rage by their hunger and decay. Some of these adopted the traits of their human prey, pretending to nobility and youthful exuberance, becoming the moroi. Those that rebelled against drinking the filthy blood of lesser beings nearly starved out, but eventually evolved into the vetala. Strigoi who hibernated for hundreds or thousands of years wake up, driven by their desires, and are now jiang-shi.4

Vampires of Golarion

For full a list of specific vampires on Golarion, see Category:Vampire/Inhabitants

Religion

Popular gods for vampires to worship include:10

Major Vampire Deities

Less Common Vampire Deities

Dhampir

Dhampirs are almost without exception the progeny of a male vampire and a mortal woman. There are five dhampir 'heritages' depending upon the type of vampire spawning the half-breed:12

References

Paizo Inc. published a major section about vampires in Monster Codex.

For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.

  1. Paizo Inc., et al. “Monsters A to Z” in Bestiary, 270–271. Paizo Inc., 2009
  2. Tork Shaw. “Overview” in Blood of the Night, 5. Paizo Inc., 2012
  3. F. Wesley Schneider. Bloodbound, 442. Tor Books, 2015
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 Tork Shaw. “Overview” in Blood of the Night, 4–5. Paizo Inc., 2012
  5. James Jacobs, et al. Classic Horrors Revisited, 50–51. Paizo Inc., 2010
  6. James Jacobs, et al. Classic Horrors Revisited, 50. Paizo Inc., 2010
  7. James Jacobs, et al. The Inner Sea World Guide, 77. Paizo Inc., 2011
  8. F. Wesley Schneider. “Cities and Settlements” in Rule of Fear, 40. Paizo Inc., 2011
  9. F. Wesley Schneider. “Counties” in Rule of Fear, 29. Paizo Inc., 2011
  10. Tork Shaw. Vampires of Golarion” in Blood of the Night, 25. Paizo Inc., 2012
  11. James Jacobs. “Lords of the Abyss” in Lords of Chaos, Book of the Damned Volume 2, 29. Paizo Inc., 2010
  12. Tork Shaw. “Dhampir Heritages” in Blood of the Night, 20–21. Paizo Inc., 2012

External links

  • Vampire (Real-life mythical entity) on Wikipedia