Vampire questions

[swarbieofthehivemind]

Hey guys,
Been thinking about maybe starting a vampire counts army sometime in the future (probably in a couple of years, knowing me) and was thinking about the fluff I could do for my army. I'm a little rusty on the whole VC background, so a couple of basic questions.

1- The Bloodkiss is different for every vampire, correct?

2- Can vampires change races other than humans?

Thanks in advance, and here's hoping to be able to write a nice piece of fluff even if the army itself never gets off the ground.

Edit: Fluff is now posted on the second page of this thread

[Deadstar_MRC]

Yay, Vampires! I can be useful again!

1 - Correct. GW have very sneakily mentioned that the process involved in the blood kiss in incredibly secretive (i.e. make up your own because we couldn't/didn't want to think of anything) and, as you said, can be different from Vampire to Vampire.

2 - I'm not entirely sure that there's a lot of Canonical evidence out there, but I believe there are one or two cases in GW published stuff of non-human vampires. I can't provide any sources, though.

[swarbieofthehivemind]

Thanks Deadstar!

Okay, so the Bloodkiss can vary from vamp to vamp. Excellent.

And seeing as there's nothing against non-human vampires, I'm going to go with it. In this case an orc and a dark-elf. Check the WHFB army fluff section in a week or two to see if I actually manage to write something.

[Exarch Thomo]

There is nothing saying that they can't change races other than human. I believe it was stated somewhere that there isn't much appeal to elves and other long-lived races to extend their lives indefinately through becoming undead - at least not the same appeal it holds for humans

[CaptainSarathai]

This question pops up every few months or weeks...
Really, GW never states anything for or against non-human vampires. They mention at one point that there aren't really any inhuman necromancers, because the longer lived races have no interest in prolonging their lives (false: Dark Elves). However, they "neither confirm nor deny" if there are any non-human vampires.
I personally believe that they're willing to consider non-humans as vampires, as there is a studio army of Elves turned to Vampirism.

[Herald of Huanchi]

I think Orc(&Goblins) and Lizardmen pretty much already live forever, if they aren't cut down in battle.

Also I think I read somewhere that Dwarfs natural magic resistance makes it somewhat difficult for them to be 'turned'

But if your after converting up some rotting corpse or blaech bone skeleton versions of the above, I say;

GO FOR IT!!

[CaptainSarathai]

I think that the problem with the Lizardmen is that the only thing worth turning is a Slann, and they are functionally immortal. The Skinks and Saurus, while intelligent, were created as tools for the Slann, and wouldn't really be smart enough to act on their own.
Whether or not Orcs are immortal is debatable, since I doubt any of them live to be much older than 20-something.

I'd give the go-ahead to anyone who wants to convert an army. My friend is converting an army from Harkon, the vampire who created a pirate haven in the southlands. He has human vampires in control, but his army includes all sorts of Lizardmen and High-Elf corpses and equipment, alongside the humans, to represent the way that the vampire has built his army from slain foes.

[swarbieofthehivemind]

Yes, well I think my fluff will contain three characters. One: the vampire that turns the other two
Two: A dark elf leader of some kind (will probably write it from his viewpoint)
and Three: An orc boss.

And at the moment I think they will accept the Bloodkiss without knowing what it is (drinks anyone?)

[Deadstar_MRC]

Originally Posted by swarbieofthehivemind

(drinks anyone?)

Ha! I like this idea! Here, have a drink... And now you're a Vampire! Surprise!

Not sure quite how you'll get a Dark Eldar or an Orc to sit down for drinks, but that's half the fun of writing fluff.

[Visitor Q]

Actually there is one race which I could see really wanting vamparisim....Skaven.

They have short lives, shorter still because of their tendancy to backstab each other, they don't go out much in the sun at the best of times and they crave power.....

Mind you a Skaven Vampire with the Black Hunger might be too uncontrollable.....

I demand Clan Moulder look into this new scheme!