Jander’s Expanded Guide to Vampires: the Elven Strain
One could write a book on the whole of the Vampire condition. In fact, one has! Our friend Doctor Van Richten spent quite a lot of time researching his Guide to Vampires (and I count myself an uncredited source, for some of it), and the result is as reliable as any bestiary ever was.
But, comprehensive as the Guide is, the good doctor focuses primarily on the Human strain of Vampirism. This is understandable, seeing as that’s the most common strain available - I myself am of the human variety, despite being a sun elf in origin. I am a rare example, though, as multiple other strains exist in these lands, and each one tends to favor a particular race.
Thus I will begin by describing what I consider to be true Elven Vampires, and compare them with the more standard human variety with which you might already be familiar.
The stereotype that elves are all, what was it, tree-hugging granola freaks (thanks, Soth), is perhaps an unkind one, but not strictly inaccurate. So, of course, when these misty lands decided to craft a Vampire to specifically target elves, they did so by turning nearly every aspect of our natures on its head. Elven Vampires inhabit the same forests that their living brethren adore, but slowly corrupt the landscape by their very presence. They share a cruel attunement with forest animals, and can summon and command swarms of small mammals, or birds of prey, or, of course, wolves. Many of the spell-like abilities an Elven Vampire possesses mimic druid spells, in how they shape and control plant life, and a hunter must always be wary of having their environment turned against them in this way.
Other considerations for the aspiring hunter include the naturally frightening affect these creatures have, beyond that of ordinary undead, and their terrible Black Thumb curse. This is the one point of commonality I share with Vampires of my own race; no living plant can bear my touch, and withers dead on contact. This is the cause of no small grief in myself and my similarly afflicted kin, and it even extends to one of the most powerful abilities a true Elven Vampire possesses, which is an innate ability to treewalk. Through this skill, an Elven Vampire might simply walk into an appropriately sized plant, and appear walking out of another plant of the same type elsewhere in the world. This action instantly kills both plants involved, and cannot be used to cross Domain borders, but good luck pinning one of the bastards in place when they can just vanish into the nearest tree.
Rather than feeding on blood and physical health, as human-derived Vampires do, Elven Vampires typically feed on charisma itself. This manifests as disfiguring marks and scars resulting from contact with the creature - although one must wonder if this isn’t a case of poor data collection, given that physical attractiveness is but one aspect of one’s charismatic charm, and victims of Vampire attacks really have enough to worry about already without knee-jerk ableism dropped on their heads as well.
And on top of everything else, a true Elven Vampire diverges from one’s expectations by being diurnal. Really! Diurnal! I’ve been struck with their Black Thumb curse, for the crime of having too good a time gardening, but they get to keep the sun!? Unreasonable! Inconceivable! I want to speak to a manager!
Ahem. Excuse me. The strange fact of the matter is, true Elven Vampires physically cannot tolerate either the open night sky, nor the presence of earth over their heads. They are restricted to daylight hours, and abhor underground spaces. It is as though the rules are utterly reversed for them – which makes hunting them as a human-derived Vampire a chore and a half, let me tell you.
If you seek to destroy such a creature, know that the typical trifecta of repellants (mirrors, holy symbols, and garlic) will do you no good. Instead, reach for fresh flower petals to create a line on the ground that the Elven Vampire cannot cross, and season your stakes in the fire until they become as charcoal. Once paralyzed by staking, sever the head and burn it in a fire built of flowers and flowering plants for at least twenty four hours. A lengthy process, but an aromatic one, and the reward you will reap is the freedom from undead tyranny - at least, for now.
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