Undead Vampires

Summary: An extremely new species to earth, this variant of the vampire is entirely unnatural and sustained by magic. Biologically, these creatures are dead, however magically, they are very much alive. When ancient blood magic was used in a dark ritual via the blood of Hades, a royal vampire was resurrected and became the first undead vampire. Such a ritual can be repeated only once every millennium, and the one used in the twenty-first century spawned these creatures. They share some similarities with their living counterparts, but not many. 

Metabolism: Undead vampires are powered completely by mana, and most of their organs do work due to the necromancy magic keeping them animated. However, a signature trait of undead vampires is the lack of heartbeat despite bloodflow. Undead vampires are extremely cold, especially compared to their living counterparts with high metabolisms. There is no way an undead vampire can procreate naturally. Undead vampires require a much higher amount of mana than living beings. Cutting an undead vampire off from a high amount of mana can result in their true death. 

Undead vampires can manually control organs; they are still beings that consume and expel waste. Their cells are still in need of oxygen, though far less than living vampires, so they barely appear to be breathing. They can still feel all of their emotions, including pleasure, and can still enjoy sex like any living being given their mana replaces their blood and still transports hormones/controls their muscles. As stated, this process is manual, so the vampire must put effort into ‘waking themselves up’ so to speak.

Diet: Like living vampires, they require blood to survive. Humans are sufficient, but undead vampires gain more nutrients from living vampires than even humans. They also can drink the blood of many other humanoid creatures and derive many more benefits than their living counterparts. Their empowerment via magic when drinking from something other than humans is a temporary boost in power, however, whereas in living vampires the benefits could be permanent. Undead vampires can absorb mana at a much higher rate than living creatures from their prey. 

Immune system and aging: The cells on an undead vampire are forever frozen in time, and therefore they don’t age. However, they are prompted by mana-powered magic to repair any damage to the undead vampire, meaning their healing is on par with their living counterparts. However, just like living vampires, they have an extreme allergy to silver. 

The heavy disadvantages to undead vampires are that they catch fire in the sun if exposed for too long. This is a magical side-effect of the ritual that created the first one, and is passed on to every one sired after. In addition to this, their eyes are more sensitive to bright light than their living counterparts. 

Finally, a major weakness to undead vampires are objects specifically ‘blessed’, or enchanted, by Hades (see deity enchantments section). Since the ritual to create the first undead vampire used the blood of the underworld’s king, they are punished via magic by bursting into flame if they get too close to the ‘blessed’ objects. 

Notable Features: Undead vampires have skin that looks dead to the naked eye, with a slightly grey hue whether it’s pale or dark. Their aura tends to be a mixture of dark blues and blacks, which look to almost extend to the liquid flowing through their veins and keeping them animated. Living creatures tend to be very offput by them, be it humanoid or other animal. There’s always a scent of a looming snowstorm that comes with an undead vampire as opposed to rot, which isn’t what happens to undead vampires in the first place. Their ‘biology’ more closely resembles being frozen than decaying. 

Their eyes are always a deep hungering red, and no matter what, they have an eerie glow to them that never fades. On rare occasions are their eyes a complete black, however even in this state do they have a red glow.

Magical Proficiency: Undead vampires are naturally inclined to necromancy, as this is what brought them onto the planet in the first place. Thralls and ghouls can be created by an undead vampire going through a partial siring ceremony, in which they have almost complete mental control. The servants can negate this with high enough willpower, however. 

If the undead vampire was originally a living royal, they retain some of their natural power, but not to the potency that they had originally. Rather, an undead royal vampire will have necromancy that is even more powerful than other undead counterparts. 

Siring ritual: To sire an undead vampire, one must obtain a living vampire and put them into the center of an area which has the necromancy symbol scrawled out in the sire’s blood. The living vampire must be fed the blood of the sire, and not every living vampire actually makes it. This ritual effectively kills the living vampire and forces them into a frozen undead state. This ritual requires a significant amount of mana as well, and the sire must output a huge amount of necromancy magic.

The First Undead Vampire: ???