Excerpts from "Book of The Beast" (Edition IV)

Transcribed from the sealed archives of the ??? and translated by ???

OVERVIEW. Among the many creatures catalogued in this tome, few inspire such equal measures of awe and dread as the vampire. Across kingdoms and centuries, the name has been whispered with fear by common folk to nobility. Yet to speak simply of “vampires” is to ignore the breadth of their kind, for they are not bound by a single origin or rule.

Vampires are beings sustained by blood, damned with eternal hunger. Their actual origins are unknown, but many claim them as a subsect of demons or cursed beings. Covens, the name for vampire clans, guard their secrets well. However, through intense study, we have gained some insight into how their kind spreads, their inherent truths, and other relevant factors.

CREATION. Vampires are spawned in a multitude of ways. From coven to coven, the precise rites of propagation differ, often fiercely guarded as sacred secrets. What is known to outsiders is but fragments, gathered from rumor, testimony of survivors, and the rare confessions of the condemned.

The most widely attested method involves the injection of large amounts of venom into the mortal body. This venom, carried in the vampire's fangs, is said to reshape a subject into one of their kin. The process can be immediate or a slow and agonizing process. The cause of variation between transformations may be due to the vampire’s will or a result of the coven’s magics. There are also clans that require some sort of sacrifice, ritual, or certain requisites to be met for the turning to be successful. The envenomated are often referred to as revenants - those who have revived from death. It must be noted that not all who are bitten or slain by vampires rise again. Many die outright, some linger as husks, and a rare few awaken as a fully fledged vampire.

Troubling enough, venom alone does not encompass the full breadth of vampiric reproduction. Among many circles, there persists a heated debate regarding those who are not made, but born. There are rumors that vampirism can be passed from the relations of human and vampire parents to a child, a mimicry of human relations. Such offspring are called dhampirs.

Even more frightening is the hearsay concerning the union between two vampires, resulting in a fully fledged vampire spawn. They are known as purebloods and are said to possess powers beyond those of turned kin: keener senses, higher capabilities, access to advanced magics, and more. Many suspect Purebloods to be the hidden lords of the vampire courts, whose ancestry is older than the empires of man.

Lastly, the classification that stretched the limits of credibility are the firstborns. These creatures [the rest of this portion has been struck from record]