In my opinion, Vampires are sorcerers, and vampires do, from time to time, share their magical knowledge. They are loosely organised into something called the Cult of Vivamort. In reality, the cult of Vivamort is not a true divine cult (Vivamort is not a true deity), but something like a combination of a sorcerous tradition and a giant scam - there is nothing to truly be gained from 'initiation' into the cult, or 'lay membership' (in reality more like 'herd membership') other than the dubious benefit of association with vampires, and possibly a chance to become one.
They do have some supernatural benefits in addition to their sorcerous ones - turning to smoke, hypnotic gaze, magic drain, and so on.
I am not sure if you can be turned into a vampire purely by draining etc or if you still require the ritual - the ritual, interestingly, cannot be cast by vampires. I suspect that vampires do not require the ritual to create other vampires. The ritual, however, means that vampires will always exist as long as knowledge of the ritual exists.
Vampires originated in the West, probably around Ralios or Seshnela (anyone have any more info? The Vampire Kings of Tanisor in the Gbaji war is the first historical reference to them, though there are legendary references prior to that), and the 'Cult of Vivamort' is an adaption of the vampiric lifestyle to the theist central genertelan cultures, rather than the original form.
I like to make Gloranthan vampires less obsessed with blood and its specifics, and more sorcererous and intellectual, in contrast to the World of Gloominess and its imitators and antecedents. That is not to say that all vampires are sorcerous scholars, but they in general reflect something of a sorcerer centred Western worldview.
Cheers David '...never support evil as a preferred lifestyle' -TSR Inc corporate standards OldThinkers UnBellyFeel MoonWise! - Nick Brooke ------------------------------
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