Dhampir

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Name Dhampir
Race Undead
Type Vampire
Faction Nightbred
Premiere Desideratum: Blood Bonds
Relative(s) None Applicable

Vampires are a type of undead monster in the Anaxverse. As seen in the novel, Desideratum: Blood Bonds, vampires in the Anaxverse are collectively known as the Nightbred. Nuit’s corruption of human blood works similarly, to some degree, as that of other demons from the Outer Darkness. Being a goddess more aligned with the night and death, her minions walk a line between the living and the dead. However, while her curse affects the spirit and is spiritual in essence, blood is a physical corporeal substance native to the Physical World. Like all genetic material in the chaotic material plane, every time a vampire forms, there stands a chance for mutation within their strain. Oftentimes, on these rare occurrences, the afflicted vampire obtains a singularly useful ability- perhaps to shape-shift or to sexually reproduce. In some cases, due to circumstances in a given area or population, a particular vampire strain might spread like wildfire. It could also be that people of certain descent and DNA might be more prone to become particularly affected by certain strains of vampirism due to their gnome.

In Balkans folklore, dhampirs (sometimes spelled dhampyres, dhamphirs, or dhampyrs) are creatures that are the result of a union between a vampire and a human. This union was usually between male vampires and female humans, with stories of female vampires mating with male humans being rare. In reality, if a woman is pregnant when exposed to the Nightbred curse, and she becomes a vampire, the baby becomes something different. In a way this is similar to pontianaks, another undead creature.

Dhampirs can have a range of abilities that are based on whatever happened to be the strain that their mother was exposed to. Likewise, they occasionally have human abilities. For example, a dhampir whose mother became a Varcolac might be able to shift into a wolfman form. Likewise, that same dhampir might be able to walk on a very cloudy day with minimal pain or swim in water without losing all their strength and sinking as a vampire normally would. Generally angry and disliked by both humans and vampires, they can find some small comfort in bringing harm to either one.