Vampires

Vampires were created by the Mantle through blood alchemy as weapons against the Wardens. Potions made using Warden blood transformed mortals over roughly a week of violent fever, killing some but leaving survivors long-lived, physically enhanced, extraordinarily receptive to magic, and marked by grey Warden-like pigmentation and warden-like eyes. These traits made Mantle Vampires exceptional illusionists and particularly capable wielders of Void-enchanted blades, allowing carefully prepared assassins to pose a genuine threat to Wardens.

Vampires become increasingly powerful the longer they abstain from Heir blood, but gradually lose their sanity and connection to their mortal humanity, developing increasingly predatory impulses and a powerful craving for blood. Feeding restores their mental grounding while tempering this heightened power. The Mantle learned to exploit this balance, carefully pushing assassins toward instability before difficult missions without allowing them to become uncontrollable. After the Vanishing, distilled Vampire blood replaced Warden blood in the transformation process with equally effective results. Vampirism remains deeply secretive and widely hated, a legacy of the Wardens' efforts to destroy those who had deliberately made themselves into distorted imitations capable of hunting them.

Fasting Vampirism
As Vampires go without "treatment", their altered physiology becomes increasingly powerful but progressively less stable. Their bodies grow leaner and stronger, their irises turn red, their canine teeth lengthen into pronounced fangs, and their magical and physical abilities intensify. At the same time, judgment, restraint, and connection to their mortal humanity deteriorate. Mantle assassins sometimes deliberately fast before exceptionally dangerous missions, balancing greater power against the risk of becoming uncontrollable. Treatment restores their mental grounding and gradually reverses these changes, though severely deprived or long-feral Vampires require increasingly large amounts of treatment to fully recover.