Introduction to Vampires

An Introduction to Vampires

by

Don Carlo de la Vega

Master of the Order of Gend

The legends about the vampire are numerous many: they die upon seeing the sun, they can only be hurt by wood or silver, they fear garlic and cannot be reflected in mirrors. One becomes a vampire upon being bitten thrice and dying, and that the only way to kill such a fiend is by a wooden stake driven through the heart and even then, one must take their head lest they return.

And this I say to all those story tellers: If you had never before seen a dog, and then saw a black dog with three legs, would thou sayest "Lo, all dogs are black and have three legs"? For this is what the makers of fable do. Having seen or, more likely, heard of a vampire which was killed by having a wooden stake driven through its heart, their tongues flap and say "Lo, a vampire can only be killed by a wooden stake through the heart." Thus in the hopes that ye might learn from the hard teacher of experience and not from the witless teacher of folklore, I pass onto you these things which I myself have seen and can confirm. Let us then begin with how may one become a vampire, what a vampire is like, and then on to their strengths and weaknesses.

On Becoming a Vampire

A person may become a vampire by being bit by one, even once, as happened to an old woman in Strasbourg. But for some even many bites is not enough, as one of my own captains can attest, having been bitten numerous times in his battles and not yet turning. There is a simple method of making sure ye will not become a vampire: do not get bit.

On Termes

Since the vampire takes the physical body of another, who is deemed dead, yet appears to be alive, we shall call the new fiend the Vampire, and the poor soul who was bitten and thus turned shall be called the Victim. Thus we will say that the Victim knew such and such, did such and such, but then became a Vampire who did thus and so.

On the Nature of Vampires

The Vampire has full ken of all that the Victim knew. Thus he may approach friends of the Victim and if they know not of his demise, the fiend can deceive them and turn them into vampires. Or if the Victim knew a skill or practiced a trade, the Vampire knows it likewise. Be wary, for if the Victim was a soldier, then the Vampire will know all the arts of war. Truly, the greatest blow to the Cause happened when the entire command of the Lithuanian, Zod, being a shortened form of his actual name which few could pronounce, fell to the Vampires. They have since organized a terrible army, and are the greatest threat to our ultimate victory, for in life, any one of Zod's Rangers was more than a match for a dozen soldiers. Fortunate it is, then, that most Victims are drunken layabouts and ladies of the night, whence the Vampires have only the skills of drunken layabouts and ladies of the night.

Even then they may be dangerous opponents, for vampires have tremendous strength. With my own eyes I have seen men tossed about by vampires as a normal man might throw a dog, and a vampire take a table that would be a burden for a normal man, and hurl it across the room as if it were made of feathers. Even normal men may harm one another by simple blows. How much more devastating would a strike from a Vampire be!

Vampires also be very quicke. In far off Hind it is said there is a snake called a Cooper, which strikes so fast that it cannot be seen. I believed this not until I saw firsthand how fast a vampire may move and strike, and understood what the chroniclers meant. Men who thought they were beyond reach of a vampire suddenly found themselves knocked on the ground or hurled through the air by a furious attack.

Some Falsehoods Regarding Vampires

It is said that you may know a vampire because he fears garlic, holy symbols, and shows not in mirrors. If you put your faith in these, then you will have a short and eventful life fighting vampires.

First, though many vampires be repulsed by garlic, those of Italy find it quite pleasant.

Second, a holy symbol may drive away a vampire, but some are not hindered by it. One unfortunate cleric waved his symbol at a vampire, who snatched it from him and forced him to eat it, perhaps copying the practice of stuffing a dead vampire's mouth with sacred wafers. It was well that the cleric's symbol was an orb.

Third, vampires do show in mirrors, though they sometimes will make great efforts to avoid seeing themselves, and break all mirrors they find.

A Thing Which May Be False Regarding Vampires

It is said that a vampire cannot stand to see the sun and will die upon the sunrise. For proof, they say, the vampires are never seen during the day. For the witless, this is indeed a very potent argument. But those who are capable of thought may wonder. For men avoid rain, but are not killed by it. Indeed, one may wonder how it is known that vampires are not seen during the day, for a vampire would surely not go about saying "Lo, I am a vampire, see me walking about in the daylight."

But, some will say, vampires are only seen feeding and killing during the night. As if a vampire would say, "Lo, I think I will go out in the middle of the day and let everyone see me commit murder in the full light of the sun." Even common criminals know better than to practice their robberies in daylight. How much more so would a fiend against whom every hand is raised prefer to remain under cover of darkness.

Some Things Which Are True Regarding Vampires

Vampires must feed on blood, and it is one sure way in which a vampire may be distinguished. They do have fangs through which they might make punctures, though these fangs not be visible at all times, and a vampire may appear to be as any mortal man. I do not know how often they must feed, nor whether they can sustain themselves on food such as people eat, though they seem perfectly happy to feast upon humans or dwarves or, when they can catch them, even the fair elves. As for trolls, vampires bite them not, for surely their fangs would chip and break on their rocky hides.

How They May Be Killed

The first man to kill a vampire was probably a peasant armed with naught more than a wooden stake, and when he stabbed the vampire in the heart and saw it die, said "See, the only way to kill a vampire is as I have done, by a wooden stake through the heart."

Truly, vampires may be killed by driving a wooden stake through their heart. They may also be killed by decapitation. They may also be killed by being cut into small pieces. Burning them works as well, as does crushing them beneath heavy stones. I have not yet had opportunity to shoot one with an arquebus, but I may venture that a bullet would also do grievous if not fatal damage to them.

Blessed water, like garlic and holy symbols, will affect some vampires but not others. As for this, I suspect that what some sell as Holy Water is naught but water put into bottles marked with a symbol on it, and one may doubt the purity and blessedness of it. As for me, I would put my faith in good steel.

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