Vampires in Wesnoth

[Aethaeryn]

My thinking was that they'd be able to regenerate using stored extra life essence from all the people that they'd previously killed. And of course, they'd have drain as well . After all, you don't want your über-villain to be too easy to kill, do you?

In fact, under the drain+regeneration model you could create a variant "starving vampire" who would have less powerful spells and no regeneration, as well as fewer hitpoints. It could be useful to have a less-powerful variant around, and it could either level up into a vampire, or you could do some crazy thing to keep track of blood drained and force it to level up that way (although that would probably be easier than leveling it up with XP...).

I'd have to say only the level 4+5 versions would have regeneration, then. These are more intended as bosses than regular enemies.

As for liches, there probably would have to be a new level 5 demilich to match/counter a lvl 5 master-of-vampires.

[solsword]

/agrees

I only ever imagined the vampire as a L3-4 boss-type unit, although I suppose you could make progressively more starved versions for L0-2? I don't *think* there's any real need to escalate things to L5, but if you want to, go right ahead (you're presumably the unit designer at this point, no?).

Also, one of the properties of vampires in modern mythology is that they're very difficult to kill. I think that this is a good one to bring over to Wesnoth, because honestly, if they're not that hard to kill, then they're not all that scary either (unless there are a lot of them, like zombies... nevermind).

Liches in Wesnoth are already difficult to kill because they've got a draining attack and some good resistances in melee (bludgeoning units in general are pretty rare). At ranged, they've got good arrow resistance, and if you attack them with a mage, who deals good damage, the attacker is going to take a *lot* of damage in return (actually, archers have this problem too). This means that to kill a lich you usually bring several units up near it, kill off any nearby enemies, and then try to surround and quickly kill it in one or two turns. This gives a suitably epic nature to battles against liches (especially ones where you can't follow this strategy and have to desperately fight it one- or two-on-one). I sincerely hope that however vampires turn out stats-wise (which isn't really the main topic of this thread, although the stats we've been discussing so far have been closely tied to vampire abilities, and thus their mythology), they have are similar to liches in the lengths one must go to in order to kill them.

[Elerium]

Just like to add my $2 to the topic of Vamps as well:

The way they could be implemented in Wesnoth is like something akin to the "Disciples" series of games, Necromancers evolved into either Liches or Vampires, the fluff text behind Vamps was that in every Necro's personal quest to receive eternal life and knowledge, instead of destroying their flesh bodies and becoming an eternally immortal skeleton empowered by magic (i.e. Liches), they instead choose the other path of draining the life essence of mortals, requiring fresh blood to keep them eternally youthful- both ways of escaping and cheating death.

The way Wesnoth could do it is having Vampires being more along the path imo for the kind of warlord Necromancer, those who command great armies and respect yet want to live forever, overseeing their empire, yet would never be accepted as a lich or want to suffer the ill effects of being a lich, or simply through those who desire beauty or eternal youth whilst commanding great magical powers. In addition their martial skill accumulated through their years of immortality and innate vampire powers are as powerful as the scary magic thrown around by the magically intensive/seclusive liches.

In Wesnoth, it could work that the Vamps are in control of some human empires who obey the Vampire with some undeath constructs as protection for his human minions along with the said scarily powerful immortal as the hero. Liches on the otherhand just don't care, their morality bankrupt they just use zombies and other plagues to kill the enemy and then raise them. Where Liches just go out alone on the quest for knowledge and then seclude themselves (or make a big undead empire from raising skeletons), Vamps just go around expanding their warlordy empires looking for people to come under their kingdom with the promises of greater glory, perhaps a once noble king who has chosen the dark path to lead his people further, or just a Necromancer looking for eternal life and power through not losing his physical body, or a Necromancer who chooses the path of a wanderer to look for more knowledge whilst blending in with society without standing out or losing sanity becoming a lich, yet he risks being found out especially if those societies have special authorities to deal with rogue magi/supernatural problems.
Infecting other people as Vampires could be an ultimate gift reserved for others to inherit their empires when a Vampire is dying and seeks a true heir, "passing" some of their essence into others creating insanity in those who inherit, however this is very rare as it is seemingly impossible to befriend/become part of the inner circle of an elder Vampire, find a dying vampire, or find one who actually desires to hand it over, so more go the line of becoming a Necromancer and finding out themselves so they can gain eternal life without suffering the insanity trait.

[uzytkownik]

Hmm. Maybe the wesfolk have been banished after some sort of doctrinal conflict?

Just an idea - lichdom and vampirism is two discovered ways of quesi-eternality. The liches, leaders of Wesfolk, which weren't totally corrupted at this point, accused the vampires about prolonging their vanity by sucking blood and started a conflict which they ultimatly loose.

While lich may be not entirly corrupted (Mal Keshar) vampire seems to be - or may be I see only one side of problem - yet to hear the other side.

[Noskillz]

Vampires don't really fit into Wesnoth gameplay or lore wise. But then again, it really depends what cliche vampires are you drawing from?

"Classic" movie vampires are better suited for Loyalists Let the Fencer become a vampire duelist.

The monster type grotesque vampires could be upgraded from ghouls

What would be much better is having half-beasts so we can have race-hybrids. THEN we could consider having a real vampire bat-man

[Drakefriend]

Some ideas how the Vampire Bat got her name although the islefolk did not know vampires before they met the Vampire Lady:

1:"Vampire" is simply their name for this kind of bat, and a "vampire lady" is simply a lady who is like a "vampire" bat.
1a:"Vampire" means "blood sucker" (in fact, that is the case in our world).a"vampire bat" is a "blood.sucking bat", a "vampire lady" is a "bloodsucking lady".
2:It is a Wesfolk word, for the Wesfolk is a people where necromancers are what mages are in the islefolk/Wesnoth and quite probably know vampires (at least the Lich Lords).

[battlestar]

How vampires bats came to be
In Wesnoth, there are living bats who suck blood from animals as nourishment. These little buggers usually live in caves far away from human settlements. Sometimes dwarves and trolls dig into their habitats, but before the coming of the second sun, food was plenty or they'd be hibernating. There was no need to go up against creatures wielding sharp things and wearing metal.

The world itself is quite a complex entity and so are the magics that exist in it. Arcane magic, fire magic, lightning magic, and even death. Hidden among the magic schools was a secretive and very unpopular kind of magic, a magic that earned its affinity by learning from these bats. The problem of blood magic is obvious: serious lash-backs from their magic and the need for blood sacrifice. Occasionally murder cases would be solved and the blood mages would be sentenced to death without the world knowing their identities.

They persist but there're so few of them and they're so dispersed, they're really of no importance at all. Even the necromancers shunned them, considering the risks in performing their magic too great, and their methods too awkward. Necromancers generally preferred a quicker way to kill. However, one particular part of their practice caught the notice of some necromancers. The practice of using blood of another to rejuvenate themselves. No sucking was involved, just rituals performed with daggers. This aspect of blood magic seeped slowly in several magical communities even including one such as the orcish shamans (their curse that drains).

Necromancers wanted nothing to do with blood mages so they went directly to study the source of this magic, the bats. They were living bats, and they die. When they die, it was natural for the necromancers to try to revive them, and their methods were met with success. The resurrections began after the bats were fully dead, then resurrected within the day. The time frame was necessary for the bats to retain their behavior while remain under control. Unlike many other resurrected beings whose flesh rot and eventually only bones remain, the bats deteriorated very slowly, and it was later found to be due to their continued blood-sucking behavior.


How Vampire Bats became known almost everywhere:
These bats are truly plenty, several folds the population of human, elves, orcs and dwarves combined. They also had great mobility. Being undead, they were able to be led off of their habitats to travel with the necromancers. They can be maintained as long as there're critters around with blood in their body.

It was natural for them to be incorporated into the undead armies, and that's when humans, elves, dwarves and other humanoids started encountering dead bats jetting towards them with their fangs exposed, ready to sink in. They gave the bats a name, Vapirs, meaning "dead flesh sucking the blood of the living, thereby destroying them."

The bats became popular among necromancers and eventually, wherever there's undead to be seen, there's surely vapirs among them. Over time, the word evolved into "vampire." It was also no strange thing that these undead bats became known far and wide.

How vampires came to be
Many of the necromancers' curiosities did not end where vampires joined their army. The ability to retain flesh after death was fascinating... and desirable. Even though most necromancers desire eternal living but there were ones that thought the form of a lich was rather disgusting. Therefore research in vampirism that exhibited in the bats continued.

These necromancers finally found the secret of the vampires, and how to incorporate it within themselves. It was a very delicate mix between blood and death magics. The subject in question has to be resurrected within a much more precise time frame than the ritual for lich-hood. The resurrection ritual must begin before the subject's definite death, or the subject becomes a mindless zombie retaining no desired behaviors, or a Dezocine (artistic license in naming?) that had the behaviors but lacked the cognitives.

The rituals had to begin mid-dying process and many things could still go wrong. The rituals themselves were dangerous, with many humanoid vampires waking up with missing limbs or other missing noggins or what not. The rituals had to be done quick and clean, as any prolonged rituals could result in an eternal torturous state where the soul is half-bound to the flesh, a position where them suffer in life while fearing death. Vampirism research was popular back then, and these failed creations went berserk.

Villages after villages were sucked dry, and husks of what's remained littered the streets. Finally the authorities in the different parts of lands stepped in and systematically wiped out the rampaging humanoid vampires. Even some Liches helped because the crazed vampires could not be controlled and therefore a threat. The horrors seen by people in this period of time still haunts the minds centuries later. Perhaps this was the reason that vampires inspired greater fear than mere skeletons.

The ones who succeeded the ritual were in full control of themselves and never felt better... in their own special way. They stayed in the shadows during the incident. Every original humanoid vampire that survived the ritual went through hell itself.

Humanoids are always so egotistic. The humanoid vampires came to be known in their current name, while the bats became the vampire bats.

Scarceness of humanoid vampires
Then they discovered a problem in the long-term application. The feeding need was great if they were to stay awake constantly. Full-sized humanoids were not tiny bats, and one would require to drain at least one grown person's blood to keep their present state. That would be too noticeable. Then it came to them why even the bats hibernated.

The surviving vampires made a close-knit community of their own, secret from the rest of the world. They dispersed, and entered long hibernations. Only a vampire knows how to contact another. However, only few a completely severed from the community.

The current vampiric society resembles nothing of the horrors within people's minds. Although very much capable of such terrors, the vampires simply prefer to keep their privacy and their way of life. They only make contact with beings other than vampires during feeding, which is quite infrequent (so none of the historical figures we know today had to lead any wars against vampires, and it was hard to run into one).

evolution of vampires
They remain in a catatonic state. Most of the vampires would have their minds completely shut-off as well. A few exceptions found a technique to remain awake in the subconscious and furthered their abilities during hibernation. As time passed, these select few stood above others of their own kind and it was they who improved the vampire making ritual. The old ritual was forgotten because of the dangers, and the new ritual is much safer but require the blood of a current vampire. The new ritual no longer requires the subject to be a necromancer.

Since then, races such as elves and orcs joined the ranks of vampires. They were carefully selected by their predecessors. Dwarves seem to be resistant to the ritual. There seems to be a troll vampire hiding in the dark somewhere.





Just an idea, and having some fun.