[Author's note: Loads of this is nicked and inspired from other,
non-Gloranthan sources, including White Wolf's "World of Darkness" and
"The Masquerade." I also like Anne Rice's interpretation of Vampyres.
Another good modern interpretation of Vampyres from a "realistic"
viewpoint is in Phil McGreggor's "The ruins of the university", an
Aftermath scenario pack.]
Vampyres are corrupted spirits that inhabit their own dead bodies. They pay for eternal life on Glorantha with their afterlives. A Vampyre cannot die as they're already dead, but when his or her existence comes to an end there is no place in the halls of the dead for them.
Vivamort - The First Vampyre
All Vampyres are directly descended from Vivamort, the first Vampyre. Vivamort was a minor darkness spirit mortally wounded during the greater darkness and, seeing nothing but the void ahead, begged the Devil for help. The Devil, being an obliging sort, gave Vivamort the ability to drink the blood of others to replace the blood he was spilling on the land. Vivamort found that by allowing others to drink his blood, he transferred part of his pain to them, making his need for blood less. He created many Vampyres during the greater darkness so they took on the burden of his wound for him. These Vampyres in turn unloaded much of their burden onto new generations of Vampyres they created.
Many Gods were concerned by Vivamort creating legions of unwilling undead to help spread the ache of his corrupted soul. During the compromise it was agreed that only those willing to accept Vivamort's pain voluntarily would become Vampyres. Vivamort railed at this, but in the end he had to concede. If he hadn't he would have been shut out of the compromise altogether and unable to interact with Glorantha.
After the dawning Vivamort offered incentives to those who would join him: As well as eternal life, he offered them physical beauty, strength, health and celerity. Vampyres would be far more physically perfect than they had been as humans. Vivamort, more than any other God promised his followers that they would be the image of their God on Glorantha.
Thus Vivamort became the God of those who were afraid of loosing their bodies, who didn't want to see them decay away under them before casting their spirits into an uncertain universe. He is the God of vanity. Those that follow the way of Vivamort need never grow old, need never loose their beauty, and need never suffer the attentions of Malia. Vivamort is also a God of temporal power, the God that's worshipped by people who didn't want to have to wait for their turn to come.
While Vivamort is not liked or trusted by any other Deities, Humakt and Uleria have particular reasons for disliking him. Humakt because Vivamort never tells the whole truth when attracting worship and he allows people to pass through death and return at the cost of their souls. Uleria sees Vivamort as the ultimate deviant sexuality, a perversion of the kiss in Vampyre feeding.
The Vampyre
Vampyres are the image of Vivamort on Glorantha. As they're part of their God, they don't receive many of the benefits that worshippers of "ordinary" Gods get. There is no point in a Vampyre calling for Divine Intervention, as he is his God and there is effectively no outside agency to help him. Likewise, Vivamort provides no Divine Magic. The Vampyre is part of Vivamort, so if he can't do something, then his God can't either. This doesn't mean that Vampyres become different people to when they became Vampyres: Only those that have comparable goals to Vivamort would think of becoming Vampyres.
Physically, when a person becomes a Vampyre, there is no immediate change. If they haven't fed they look a bit paler and feel a bit colder, but any acquaintances before their apotheosis would be hard pressed to notice. Over the next year the canine teeth may become a bit more prominent and their eyes may reflect in the dark. However, as the Vampyre gets older, instead of aging, he or she becomes stronger, more agile, faster and attractive. They also discover new powers within themselves: Some can change their forms into other creatures, others can dissolve into mist. Almost all can mesmerize people of their former species by looking at them. This is particularly potent when used against members of complimentary gender and sexuality.
Vampyres pay terribly for these powers though. There is always the nagging pain of Vivamort's wound gnawing away at them, manifesting itself in a lust for blood. They are only truly satisfied drinking the blood from a sentient being. The feeling of a victims heart stopping is similar to an orgasmic release. Sometimes their weird sexuality backfires, as several Vampyres found when they lost their free will, enslaved by Lady Ensklon, the Blood Witch of Loskalm. She enslaved three Vampyres to her will in return for them feeding off her menstrual flow. Finally, as a Vampyre becomes older and more like Vivamort, he or she feels more of Vivamort's pain and needs to feed more often or bequeath his or her power to lesser Vampyres.
Game Mechanics
[They're going to have to wait for Monday as I haven't typed 'em in yet]
Cheers me dears.
Aesc (Pretentious old English for Ash)
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