[Captain Stillios]

Greetingsssssss my fellow hereticsssssss.....

Anyway....going on most info that I can find most if not all Vampires have been human, my question is.....

Have there ever been any elf or dwarf vampires and is it possible?

 

[Dave T Hobbit]

I believe there was an Elven vampire in one of the Genevieve books by Jack Yeovil.

 

[MidnightSun]

I can't imagine a Dwarf tasting very nice... Vampires would probably just infect the nearest other race to them, and as they don't live in holes in the ground, or on Ulthuan (I don't think) then the only other big empire is, well, the Empire (Apart from Khemri, but there's nothing to bite there) and perhaps Ogres. A Strigoi might go for an Ogre though. Woo, imagine that, Vampogres. Even stronger and a lot faster and have insatiable thirst and hunger at the same time. And of course use Gutomancy to bring back dead Ogres. Oh, this is gonna be a sweet army!

Midnight

 

[needskonstruktion]

Well from what I've heard (not a lot, been out of the hobby for a bit, am a bit rusty ) vampires need blood to survive/they have a desire to it and would search for it.

So in my opinion, it is entirely possible for a vampire to attack and feed of the nearest thing when the need arises. So if they were near a human settlement, they'd suck the blood of the inhabitants, if they were in the middle of a wasteland and they saw an ogre/skaven, they would feed off them if the need arises.

I wouldn't see a problem in it. Maybe some models vamped up would look a bit crap - Dwarf models come to mind, some would look pretty awesome (Aforementioned ogres).



Also, nice to see someone else from the north east ^^ I live in durham, near newcastle

 

[Angel of Blood]

Well they need blood to survive so could in theory feed off most races, but who knows if Vampirsm can be passed on to all races. Would be interesting to see an Elven Strigoi

 

[Commissar Ploss]

You have to remember, just drinking from another thing does not make it a vampire itself. There is the Kiss, in which a vampire turns another "thing" into a vampire. In most cases when a vampire drinks from something, it becomes its swain, although i think this may only be for humans...

CP

 

[darkreever]

I would imagine that it is possible to turn other things into vampires, but they are not for specific reasons. Perhaps they leave certain races alone because they have ancient laws forbidding it, to create a strain of vampire from an elf, for example, might lead to vampires on unimaginable magical strength, a strength they might not be able to control.

Though with some races, specifically warriors of the northern wastes, mutants, and the skaven; vampires leave them be because their blood is to tainted or mutated. There is no telling what blood infected/infused/corrupted by the warp or warpstone will do to a vampire but it likely will not be anything to good.

 

[Tim/Steve]

Vampires certainly drink the blood of mutants and non-human races... Im currently reading the Mathias Thulman- Which Hunter omnibus and one of the vampires in that happily shows down on skaven and mutants (well, happily until he comes out of the blood frenzy).

I imagine that only having human vampires is a direct result of vampire nature and the nature of the realms: no vampire would want to create a thrall that was more powerful then them so making a vampire from a species that was likely to be naturally powerful would be unlikely... and making a vamp from a lesser race would be distasteful in the extreme.

 

[Dave T Hobbit]

Fished out my copy of Night's Dark Masters (WHFRP Vampire Supplement):

"Vampires pass on their curse to Humans. Halfling and Dwarf vampires, if they exist, are so rare that most believe they cannot become vampires. If an Elf has ever been transformed, there is no record of it." - p103

However, it does also say Dwarves do not taste great to Vampires.

So, fluffwise, Vampires are all ex-humans but sometimes feed on other races if necessary.

 

[Angel of Blood]

A Elven Strigoi would just be very interesting if you ask me. wonder why no elves have been turned, bit dull

 

[Masked Jackal]

A Elven Strigoi would just be very interesting if you ask me. wonder why no elves have been turned, bit dull

Well, the idea of Elven vampires, as said above by a few people, is something that most vamps would balk at. They'd be obscenely powerful. If there are Elven vampires however, perhaps they're so awesome that they can conduct stuff behind the scenes without anyone knowing of their existence.

 

[Angel of Blood]

I quite like the idea of tht, could bring in a good storyline or even a campaign. Elven Vampires manipulating the other races behind the scenes, like the Fantasy version of the Illuminati or something

 

[Vaz]

There is rumours that the Emperor of Cathay is a Dragon, and that he is able to shape shift between the two, or a Celestial. However, it's also believed that the Emperor is a Vampire, which explains his Immortality.

Of course, it could just be the fact that the Emperor is only a man, and the public only ever see him once in a while. If he dies, it's kept private, so it's believed that he's everliving.

 

[neilbatte]

In the blood bowl books from BL an orc gets turned into a vampire which makes him really powerful. Right up until he gets his head ripped off and shrunken down for a necklace.

 

[eyescrossed]

Vampires don't need blood to survive; they need magic. It's just convenient that the blood of most races contains magic and is thus the easiest way to sustain them (for example, a lot of Necrarchs don't feed any more; they siphon magic out of the air into their bodies).

That's why Dwarfs taste bad to them (they have next to no magic in their blood), and it is said that an Elf tastes like " ... a sweet wine, best to save for a treat or as dessert but far too strong to dine on regularly."

As to why there are no/very little Elven Vampires, the others covered that.

 

[DecrepitDragon]

Vampires don't need blood to survive; they need magic. It's just convenient that the blood of most races contains magic and is thus the easiest way to sustain them (for example, a lot of Necrarchs don't feed any more; they siphon magic out of the air into their bodies).

Sorry but this is mostly wrong. The legacy of Neferata, the "Elixir of Life", imbued humans, whom it was specifically designed for, with immortality. This came with a price - the need to feed on fresh blood.

Necrarchs are scrawny because they dont feed as often as other vamp bloodlines, they are too busy studying necromancy, and thus become weaker and more frail. Strigoi's fed on tainted or dead bodies and the nature of the decomposing blood changed their nature over time. The other bloodlines have similar feeding preferences that have shaped their background for centuries.

Also, I believe that the problem of never seeing vamps from other races can again be explained by the Elixer of Life. It was created for humans, and while they may not understand genetics in the conventional sense, it must have been alchemically and magically "attuned" to human physiology for it to have the desired effect.

All vampires that exist currently have been "sired" by another, older vampire. The Elixer is lost, so the successive generations of vampires have become less and less powerful.

I can only make an educated guess here, but its my opinion that the genetic requirement of the elixer that now flows within the current generation of vampires may not be quite as specific as it once was, so there may occasionally be the odd "exception" to the humans only vampire. They would be extremely rare, however, and the snobbish and picky taste of vampires in general might also go some way to explain the lack of any other vampire types.

 

[eyescrossed]

Are you sure there hasn't been a retcon? Everywhere I've read, the reason for it is because their souls are cut off from the Realm of Chaos and they need to replenish it with magic, which is why they drink blood. At least, that's what I remember from Liber Necris/Night's Dark Masters.

 

[DecrepitDragon]

Are you sure there hasn't been a retcon? Everywhere I've read, the reason for it is because their souls are cut off from the Realm of Chaos and they need to replenish it with magic, which is why they drink blood. At least, that's what I remember from Liber Necris/Night's Dark Masters.

Very sure mate.

Now having said that, to clarify - they must feed on blood. Its the "why?" I think that you may be thinking of. The "Red Thirst" is a by product of magical tinkering within a once human body. None of the Vampire army books ever mentioned a magical thirst precisely, but the background is open to interpretation as to "why" it has to be blood.

This says to me that, for a lack of a better explanation, the magical essence that is life, and therefore sustenance to a vampire, can only be found in blood.

The very fact that this "life essence" is flushed with magic is, to my mind, only one part of the "Red Thirst" and may explain why some writers have wrote of souls and magical energy, but the fact still remains that the "Red Thirst" is primarily a thirst for blood, as sustenance.

Its this lack of sustenance that causes Necrachs, corrupt sustenance that causes Strigoi. The quest of the ultimate source of sustenance and freedom from the thirst drives the Blood Dragons to martial excellence. And so on for all the bloodlines.

 

[Commissar Ploss]

The blood of beings all taste the same to a vampire. Whether they are the holiest of saints to the lowliest of thieves. There is an exception to this of course. Those whose blood is tainted by chaos have a particularly rank and unpleasant taste. And are therefor not fed upon by most vampires. I speak only from the experience of the Lahmian Sisterhood, however, as it is the most current foray into the canon.

CP

 

[Akatsuki13]

Actually they have kind of explained the Vampire's need for blood in the Nagash Trilogy. Probably should spoiler tag this for those who haven't read the Trilogy yet.

The original Elixir of Life was created by Nagash to extend his life and the lives of his followers, the Immortals as they were called. The Immortals were largely like the Vampires but without their weaknesses, their unique abilities or the need to feed on blood. However they needed to regularly consume the Elixir to survive which was made with blood. The original Elixir was created through magic and human sacrifice. I can't remember the exact details right now but basically he would cast spell that would kill the victim and bind his lifeforce to his blood which Nagash would then consume.

The first Lahmian Elixir was actually a watered-down version of the original that gave only longevity and drastically slowed down the aging process. The second version that created the vampires was created through accident, combining the Elixir with extremely rare Sphinx Venom and certain incantations from one of the Tomes of Nagash.

Basically the Vampires and Nagash's Immortals feed off the lifeblood of living people to extend their own lives. What you interpret that lifeblood to be is up to debate. As to why there aren't really any non-human vampires, I believe it is tied to why there aren't really any non-human necromancers out there. Most vampires come into being nowadays either by first becoming a necromancer to some degree to extend their own lives, learning of vampires and other undead things in their studies and voluntarily becoming one or by catching the eye of a vampire and bring turned into one. The later is largely the only way I can see of non-humans becoming vampires. If you look at the former it becomes more evident why vampires are human. Dwarfs have no magical ability and longer lives than humans, Elves have even longer lives, the Chaos Gods despise the vampires, each for different reasons which is why no servant of the Dark Gods would seek to become one, most Halfings don't really have the mental discipline to study Necromancy, same with the Greenskins and Orges, the Lizardmen are utterly dedicated to the plan of the Old Ones wouldn't deviate from it.

I suppose there could be freak incidents of other races being turned but I've heard of them happening.