Bloodbound

A race of immortal Higher Beings feeding on the blood of others

Appearance

The Bloodbound are tall humanoid beings, usually at least 1.7m in height, some reaching up to 2.5m. Their skin colors reach from extremely pale, appearing almost transparent, to very dark, almost invisible when not under direct moonlight. They have long pointy ears, slightly longer and sharper teeth than most other higher beings, and features that appear to be eternally youthful.

Most have long hair, reaching at least to their shoulders, but often even longer. Usually, unless explicitly died, their hair color ranges from pure white to a pale blonde, shining bright and alluring in the moonlight.

Matching their regal and noble appearance, Bloodbound like to wear fine and expensive clothes. Often this includes long robes as well as fine and expensive materials.

As they are also functionally immortal, many Bloodbound prefer both clothes and accessories that are as ancient as they are themselves, often searching far and wide for artifacts of more ancient times.

Ryxos' Curse

As if to punish their longevity, Ryxos' influence slowly drains the blood from their bodies, slowly and invisibly syphoning their life energies. In order to keep their immortality, and even survive in the first place, the Bloodbound thus need to constantly consume fresh blood.

The older the blood is, the less sustainance they can gather from it, making it impossible to store collected blood for more than a day, without it being completely useless. Thus blood needs to be regularly collected and immediately consumed.

While it is possible to consume only animal blood, blood from other higher beings is much more nourishing and lasts for a longer time before a Bloodbound needs to feed again. Ones that refuse to drink blood from other higher beings, for example for ethical reasons, thus have to be constantly on the hunt for more and more animals to consume.

If they do, however, accept they need to drink higher being blood instead, unless they somehow have access to many dead bodies that only very recently passed (which might be only possible for occupations like doctors), they need to hide in the shadows and hunt people when they are unaware. There are indeed many murders attributed to rogue Bloodbound, but this is generally rare as eating people is generally frowned upon.

Cultures

Many Bloodbound live among other higher beings, for example in Aethera, either living in the shadows, feeding on locals they can get their hands on, or assimilating into the local culture. In this case, they often take occupations where they can get their hands on blood in a at least somewhat more ethical way, such as undertakers or butchers. There are however, some interesting communities mostly comprised only of Blodbound.

The Icefangs

One of the biggest communities of Blodbound, known as The Icefangs, lies deep in the Rimefang Peaks, in the northernmost parts of Moonspire. In these mountains, they carve intricate buildings and sculptures, some directly into the stones of the mountains, others from pure ice, often a combination of the two.

This extens to their homes, often intricately carved palaces with parts underground and in the mountains, and peaks standing high oabove the mountains, both being visible from far away, and giving the inhabitants a view far into the distance.

They see themselves as above other creatures and higher beings, calling them the "Dying Ones", and thus have no qualms about feeding on anyone and anything. But because the Rimefang peaks are very hostile to life, and there are very few creatures, let alone higher beings living there, the Bloodbound have developed multiple ways to travel large distances in a very short amount of time, allowing them to reach their prey even over large distances.

The Green Court

The Green Court constitute themselves as the direct opposite to the Icefangs. Instead of separating themselves from the world in the Rimefang Peaks, most of them live in the Vaerwood, and often travel around Moonspire visiting other cities and cultures. Some of the communities in the Vaerwood are mixed with Corpsevines and Chimeri also living among them.

As might be expected from a community like this, the Green Court also categorically rejects getting any sustainance from the blood of other higher beings. Instead, they rely on hunting wild animals and drain them of their blood only after killing them. Since they then don't have any use for the remaining meat and bones left behind, these are distributed among other higher beings in their communities or used in trading.

Religions

Icefangs have a long history in the study of divination, seeing the future in icy prisms held against the light of the moon. Some even have such prisms built directly into their palaces, that are hit by the moon during a specific time, at which they gather to read the future. Thus, many Icefangs worship the couple of Divara, the goddess of fortune and Ithron, the god of destiny. To them, these are two sides of the same coin, fortune representing uncertainty in the outcome of decisions, while destiny representing a larger path set in stone that all uncertain decisions slowly move towards.

The primary god among the Green Court is the often forgotten Fearyn, the god of nature and plants. They understand him, like themselves, as unfairly misunderstood and demonized, but ultimately good and caring.

Other bloodbound are more varied in their religious beliefs, often adopting religions and practices from their environment.