Good Morning / Afternoon / evening,
So I have been studying up more than usually lately (literally the past two days have been me eating, sleeping, and breathing CoE nonstop with no breaks in-between) for all the details that have been "breadcrumbed" to us. (Can you tell that I'm pretty hyped regardless of the remaining time for development/release?)
All these breadcrumbs lead to questions and theories. So let me start off by pointing out the things I've come across the past several days so that way you guys don't have to point out the things I've already come across and stuff that I could have just googled myself and nobody has to LMGTFY the answers for me.
*For Reference I do know that if implemented into the game it will more than likely not be at launch.
Information
Most like vampires, but have no common-name, these creatures are a race that feed on the spirit/souls of Mann-kind. Weaker Vampires just drain spirit from their targets, reducing their overall life span. The more powerful Vampires can consume a person's soul entirely, sustaining them for much longer, and increasing their power. Doing so "captures" the soul, making it no longer playable by the owner. As well, the person who lost their soul becomes a Vampire themselves. A Vampire is extremely difficult to kill, and has many of the known advantages/disadvantages from lore.
Facts
- It isn't easy to detect a vampire.
- If you do manage to kill a Vampire, however, it's permadeath for them. As well, any souls they'd consumed and hold onto are released to the Akashic Records.
- In short, Vampires are among the worst creatures in Elyria, and they are always KoS.
- Vampires are soul-less.
Disadvantages
The biggest disadvantages from the player's perspective are:
- No adventuring during daylight hours.
- They have to feed on Mann-Kind in order to maintain the Spirit they lack.
- If they're killed, it's permadeath - and everyone will be trying to kill them.
Advantages
- They never age or die.
- They get more powerful over time.
- They develop additional Talents as they consume Souls.
References
Caspian, Posts #55 and #57 in Forum thread 'DJ#3 is live - Easter egg hunt here', 17 August 2015
Caspian, CoE Discord tag ##4.15.2018#Supernatural#, 15 April 2018
This is what I have located in regards to anything with sourced materials. While yes, I know that if we ask the Dev's they'll simply say "Vampirism, Lichdom, and Magic are all a myth." Why would they mention it to begin with if it's only a myth? Why would they give so many details in regards to it if it is nothing more than a legend? Whether it is only a method to making us want to go out and find these myth's, creating an adventure out of the legend - or something that would be obtainable it definitely makes me curious.
Looking at the sourced materials here, each aspect of the page brings questions to my mind.
So I'm going to go through each part beginning on Facts and move down from there.
In the very first line it states:
- It isn't easy to detect a vampire.
So in theory if it isn't easy to detect a vampire - would you not be able to live in a village, with nobody the wiser to the beast that you are?
In the second line it states:
- If you do manage to kill a Vampire, however, it's permadeath for them. As well, any souls they'd consumed and hold onto are released to the Akashic Records.
If theoretically a vampire kills you - and as a result you turn into one yourself, would killing that said vampire afterwards (returning the soul to the Akashic Records) kill you as well?
In the third line it states:
- In short, Vampires are among the worst creatures in Elyria, and they are always KoS.
This remark is the one that gets me the most. In line one of facts it states that "it isn't easy to detect a vampire" but they're also KoS? So are the vampires in CoE going to be more Strigoi (think Nosferatu vampires) or are they going to be more humanoid that require souls to feed for survival? Are they able to walk amongst mortals and not be attacked or are they going to be noticed right away?
So would it be possible to be a herbalist vampire, farming and gardening his way through life one unsuspecting vict-- I mean one accidental death of a lowly peasant passing by his house at night? Or would you constantly be under attack because of your monstrous appearance?
What do you guys think?
I want to know what/how you guys think the mechanics behind Vampirism will work in CoE. Let me know in the comments below. :]