Vampires are among the oldest and most feared beings in Arcainia. Neither truly living nor truly dead, they are immortal creatures whose souls have been severed from the Veilstream, forever unable to sustain themselves through the natural flow of mana. Where every other living creature draws life from the world around them, vampires must steal that life directly from others.

To most, they are monsters of the night—predators cloaked in elegance and eternal youth. Yet beneath every crimson eye lies the echo of an ancient tragedy that forever changed the course of history.

Unlike many curses, vampirism is not a disease, nor is it divine punishment alone. It is the oldest magical scar upon the world, born from the betrayal of the Last Queen of Fey and the first corruption of Arcainium itself.

Long before the kingdoms of today, when the Fey still ruled beneath an unbroken Veilstream, the Seelie Court flourished under its final monarch, Queen Aelitania, whose name survives today only in the oldest Fey songs and forgotten royal chronicles. To most of the world, she is remembered simply as the Last Queen of Fey. Every surviving account agrees that her reign marked the final golden age of the united Fey before division consumed their people. Yet even paradise is not beyond corruption.

Among the Queen's closest circle arose whispers of doubt, ambition, and fear. While Queen Aelitania remained beloved among the ancient High Fae houses, many lesser Fey had grown resentful of a society increasingly shaped by inherited privilege. Pixies, satyrs, brownies, and countless others watched noble bloodlines flourish while their own voices carried little weight. Some believed reform remained possible. Others concluded the old order had to fall. From these quiet frustrations emerged a movement history would remember as conspirators—but which its own members proudly called themselves the Liberators. Hidden among these conspirators moved an unseen voice—one that delighted not in murder itself, but in the slow unraveling of certainty. Though many later blamed Sithus for the Queen's death, the oldest accounts insist he never forced the conspirators' hands. He merely whispered to hearts already willing to listen.

Eventually, one High Fae—whose name has been deliberately erased from nearly every surviving record—delivered the fatal blow. The murder of the Queen became the first great betrayal in Fey history. What followed changed the world forever.

The assassin expected liberation. Instead, the Veilstream rejected them. Their bond to natural mana was severed completely. Food became ash. Water became meaningless. Every breath left them weaker as the world itself refused to nourish their soul.

Only after unbearable agony did they discover a terrible truth. The lifeblood of living creatures still carried refined mana. To survive, they drank. Thus was born the First Vampire.

Where the Queen's royal blood fell upon raw Arcainium, something impossible occurred. The crystal changed. Its brilliant blue light darkened into deep crimson as its mana became corrupted by blood and death. This was the first piece of Delirium—the earliest known corruption of Arcainium and proof that blood magic could wound not only flesh, but magic itself.

Every Delirium crystal created since has been an imitation of that first catastrophe, requiring horrific rituals and sacrificial blood to recreate the impossible. 

The Queen's murder did not merely create a monster. It changed magic forever.

Queen Aelitania did not remain dead. Many believe Queen Aelitania died that day, and only the Reborn Queen returned. Her soul, too deeply intertwined with the Veilstream to pass peacefully beyond it, returned to her body. But something had changed.

Though innocent of betrayal, her soul bore the same wound inflicted upon her killer. She awoke unable to draw mana from the world she had once nurtured. She rose from her tomb hungry. She became the Second Vampire.

Unlike the First Vampire, however, she had committed no crime. She was not cursed by guilt, but transformed by the world's attempt to heal a wound it could not understand. Many believe she wandered the world in secret, refusing to surrender to the monster within. Others claim she embraced her new immortality and became the first true Queen of the Damned. Whether she still exists remains one of Arcainia's oldest mysteries.

Whether the Liberators were idealists seeking justice or radicals blinded by resentment remains one of the oldest debates in Fey history.

The Fey could not distinguish between degrees of guilt. Every conspirator, every accomplice, every noble who remained silent, every guardian who failed their oath—and perhaps even some who bore no guilt at all—was branded Unseelie. Stripped of title and homeland, they were exiled from both the Fey Courts and the emerging elven kingdoms.

Generations passed. The exiles descended into the Underdark. Time, isolation, and their new environment reshaped them into the people now known as the Eludrin.

Thus, one act of betrayal gave rise to three enduring legacies:

• The First Vampire, born of cosmic judgment.

• Delirium, born of corrupted Arcainium.

• The Eludrin, born of exile.

Unlike ordinary creatures, vampires cannot absorb ambient mana from the Veilstream. Their souls remain permanently severed from the world's natural lifeforce. To survive, they must consume mana already refined by another living being. Blood is simply the most efficient vessel. 

Without feeding, a vampire weakens steadily, becoming increasingly feral as hunger overwhelms reason. Older vampires generally possess greater discipline over this hunger, while younger vampires struggle against constant temptation. Every vampire carries a fragment of the First Curse within their blood.

All vampires ultimately descend from the First Vampire or the Reborn Queen, though countless bloodlines have emerged over the millennia. Ancient bloodlines often guard unique traditions, magical talents, and philosophies passed through generations of immortality.

Some embrace nobility and restraint. Others surrender completely to predatory instinct. To vampires, lineage is often more important than nationality. Blood remembers.

Among ancient vampires, lineage is more than ancestry—it is identity. Every fledgling inherits not only blood, but traditions, philosophies, and rituals stretching back thousands of years. Some houses preserve ancient Fey etiquette. Others embrace the ruthless ambition long associated with the First Vampire. To the Blood-Cursed, blood remembers more than names ever could.

Different houses preserve different pronunciations of the First Vampire's forgotten name, each insisting theirs is the oldest and most faithful.

Contrary to popular belief, vampires are not united beneath a single empire. Most exist within isolated noble houses, hidden courts, or ancient estates concealed throughout Arcainia. Their immense lifespans foster patience beyond mortal comprehension, and many schemes unfold over decades rather than days.

Some feed sparingly and maintain uneasy coexistence with neighboring civilizations. Others regard mortals as little more than livestock. Among vampires themselves, age commands respect, but wisdom commands loyalty.

To vampires, time is abundant. Mastery of music, philosophy, architecture, swordsmanship, and magical study often spans centuries. Hospitality remains sacred among many ancient houses. Once welcomed beneath a vampire's roof, even sworn enemies are traditionally protected until they willingly depart. This custom is believed to be one of the few surviving echoes of ancient Fey etiquette.

Many vampire houses also maintain elaborate rites surrounding the creation of fledglings. Though each bloodline preserves its own traditions, nearly all include whispered prayers honoring the mysterious progenitor from whom their curse first descended. The First Vampire's true name is spoken only during these ceremonies, and even then only in hushed reverence.

Many elder vampires still preserve fragments of forgotten Fey songs, ceremonies, and dialects lost everywhere else in Arcainia. Ironically, some of the oldest remnants of Seelie culture now survive within the descendants of its greatest tragedy.

Most mortals who handle Delirium for extended periods eventually succumb to paranoia, obsession, hallucinations, or complete madness. Vampires are different. They are not immune; rather, Delirium resonates with the same spiritual fracture already present within every vampire soul. Where others hear unbearable whispers, vampires often describe Delirium not as whispering to them, but as recognizing them—as though the crystal bears the same wound carried within their own souls.

This unusual affinity allows many vampires to wield Delirium with remarkable stability, making them among the foremost practitioners of blood magic in history.

Some scholars have described Delirium as "mineralized vampirism"—Arcainium itself afflicted by the same spiritual wound carried within vampire blood.

Among the sacred relics of Sithus, none is more infamous than the Chalice of Bewildering Whimsy.

Legend claims that after the Queen's assassination, Sithus claimed the first Delirium crystal ever formed and forged it into a magnificent brass chalice. Believing himself capable of mastering its impossible truths, he drank deeply from it for centuries.

The chalice granted unparalleled insight. It also slowly unraveled his divine mind.

Many theologians believe the relic transformed Sithus from a brilliant seeker of forbidden knowledge into the God of Madness known today. Whether the chalice caused his descent or merely revealed what already slept within him remains fiercely debated.

Eludrin:

Though their origins are forever intertwined, relations between vampires and Eludrin vary dramatically. Some view one another as distant cousins born from the same catastrophe, while others see only painful reminders of ancestral shame.

The Fey:

To the surviving Fey Courts, vampires embody the oldest betrayal in their history. Few beings are more unwelcome within Fey lands.

The Church of Solis and Agonis:

Most temples regard vampires as living blasphemies whose severance from the Veilstream represents an affront to the natural order.

Scholars:

Historians endlessly debate the Crimson Legend, uncertain where history ends and myth begins. Even among vampires, the oldest truths are guarded with jealous secrecy.

To mortals, vampires are monsters. To historians, they are living relics. To the Fey, they are the eternal reminder of paradise lost. And to those few who have gazed into the crimson glow of Delirium, they are something far more unsettling: Proof that even the purest soul, the brightest crystal, and the greatest civilization can be broken—and that some wounds never truly heal.

Historians often describe the Crimson Legend as the moment the First Age truly ended. In a single act, the Fey lost Queen Aelitania, the world gained its first vampire, Arcainium revealed it could be corrupted, the Unseelie were cast into exile, and the seeds of countless future tragedies were sown. Whether remembered as an assassination, a revolution, or the Fall of Aelitania, few events have shaped Arcainia more profoundly.