Hi Guys, 

First off, I want to say that this is a very early concept for a homebrewed Vampire race that is meant to become a playable vampire race and the lore surrounding them.  It is by no means the final draft - just a very early concept based upon my initial thoughts.

I am trying to brew a playable Vampire race and create their surrounding lore. I am also trying to tie it into existing lore about vampires, though with some modification.

This Vampire race is going to differ from a typical Vampire in the Monster Manual, in that they are Purebloods.  Purebloods are vampires who can have offspring in the usual way. They are not undead, but a living, mortal race of Vampires, that are born and live and die. Though they possess enormous regenerative capabilities and live for thousands of years, they can die, either from disease, injury or old age.

I am then going to write some lore that says; when a Pureblood vampire bites a human to feed (which they need to do once a month), the human will either die from blood loss or toxoplasmic shock, caused by the venom the Pureblood injects into its prey (the real purpose of the bite).  Or less rarely, survive the attack, and suffer the slow agony of transforming into an Undead vampire. 

The process that creates an Undead vampire also causes significant memory loss, and the memories that they do retain are like shadows - visions of someones else life that plague the Undead vampire, driving them insane.

Unlike Purebloods, Undead vampires don't need blood to survive, but the transformation process imprints an extreme psychological need for blood into the mind of the Undead vampire, who psychosomatically feels a deep ravenous hunger that the Undead vampire cannot sate, no matter how much blood they consume.

Add the feeling of emptiness created by memory loss, the profoundly ingrained psychosomatic need for blood and the corrupting nature of undeath and you get an irredeemably evil being - the typical Undead vampire from the Monster Manual.

A mutation caused during the creation of an Undead vampire means that rather than injecting venom when they bite their victim, their saliva is full of parasites that cause a parasitic infection.  The parasites enter the bloodstream through the wound created by the bite and cause a massive immune response.  Eventually, they find their way to the victim's brain. 

Once there, they attach themselves to the brain of the victim and begin to produce an enzyme that dissolves part of the brain.  The parasite then consumes the liquified brain matter before reproducing asexually.  As the parasites eat the victim's mind, they take over the operations of the part of the brain they have eaten.  In this way, they keep their host alive for as long as possible.  The host might as well be dead though because everything they ever were is slowly stripped away as the parasites eat their brain and slowly take control of their body.   Once they have full control over the host's body, the parasites will use it, to looks for new victims to infect and the host becomes the vampire spawn from the Monster Manual.

The Undead vampire can control their vampire spawn by controlling the parasites using pheromones unique to each Undead vampire sire.

Pureblood are not able to control the Undead vampires that they create. They also hate and despise Undead vampires, and actively hunt them.  It should be noted though, that Purebloods are not immune to the parasitic infection that creates vampire spawn and if bitten can be turned just the same. However, the regenerative capabilities of Purebloods mean that they survive much longer than regular human victims, and this allows the parasites to grow to maturity - creating an Undead Vampire Lord or Lady.

When this happens, it is not uncommon for Purebloods to assemble en masse, to bring down these powerful Undead vampires. They see this as their sacred duty, and the destruction of an Undead Vampire Lord or Lady is the only thing for which Purebloods will put aside their differences and rivalries. It is not uncommon to see Pureblood houses which have been mortal enemies for centuries, work together to bring down an Undead Vampire Lord.

These alliances are short-lived, however, and as soon as they have completed their objective, the old hatreds of each other return and the fact that they were forced to work together, become an inconvenient truth that neither house will openly admit.

I would greatly appreciate your thoughts on these initial ideas for this race and their lore.

Thanks, everyone

I have a tenancy to think first edition; which is why I say Mundanes [0-levels] spread like rats.

Igor's the human servants of vampires in my line are enthralled mundanes NO Class levels ever [the definition of Magical Hero in my campaigns.

They can live hundreds of years but not Elf long, then die.

But they don't gain peace,  they rise again as little more than an intelligent zombie.. necrosis is caused not by bacteriological life, but the sun.  they han heal such damage on a one for one basis by drinking human blood.. a three for one animal blood.  a well fed Igor is even immune to solar-necrosis for 8 hours, if fed off of a Hero 48.

Igor's that are created with only one hit point are immediately destroyed, and any that falls to one is fed.. due to the runt factor.  

most Heroes in my campaighn never gain more than one hit point per racial die before the Mana starts to flow that creates magical heroes at puberty.  The problem is that if an Igor stays at 1 hp long enough.. remember they can't die of old age now.

And like Moon or Mage-silver thralled Shapechangers, the Call of the Hero breaks the thrall. 

This gaining of class levels creates a Vlad, a rebel undead that require blood to heal, any wound, and to grant immunity to the sun.

So looking at your Lore.. I might say that an Igor.. only exists because the parasites require both a Host And Heroic Mana.  The parasitic infection is enough to build a psychic thrall to the mundane but it doesn't survive the Manaic starvation.