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From the writings of Abd-al Hazir -

It must be a strange feeling to be fearless of death.

To be completely detached from all life would be, in my eyes, a fate worse than death. However, one must first be given the chance to taste the good in life before one can miss it. The thought of this saddens me but the reality is that there are those in our world that have never had such a chance...

Over the many years of my life I have travelled far and I now count myself among the most learned scholars in Sanctuary. However, nothing I had seen nor read prepared me for my first encounter with a Dhampir. The encounter I speak of is amongst the most confronting moments of my life, though, I doubt the tale will end the way you expect it to...the way I expected it to. My tale begins with me running for my life...

Time seemed to stop as the dark figure hunting me paused in the shadows.

“Life and Death?” he said - repeating part of my question back to me. The shrill tone of his voice made me shiver in fear. I could tell from the way his expression changed – first deadly, now thoughtful – that my reaction to his vicious approach surprised him. As he glared at me his glistening fangs slid slowly back into the darkness.

“We know both well here my friend.” His bright eyes narrowed and he locked me into his bottomless gaze.

“Why are you here Hazir? This is not a place for scholars to be wandering.” The mention of my name struck me like lightning and I was unable to answer. How could he know my name? Was this someone I had met before? It took all of my resolve not to turn and run in fear from the man hidden in the shadows.

“Yes, I know you old man.” He smiled at my apparent surprise revealing his slightly sharpened teeth and began to prowl toward me again – his body language was no longer enraged but curious.

“You are known among the Dhampir for your extensive writings. We have used your discoveries to aid us in our quest to destroy the ones whom birthed us.” His explanation did nothing to ease the tension I felt in his presence - but the icy fear swimming in my stomach began to turn to burning curiosity.

As the man came forward from the shadows I could finally make out his face. He was dark-brown skinned with straight blood-red hair that ran to down to his shoulders. He made no attempt to move his thin hair from his face. Through the strands of his hair his eyes glowed a lucent blue in the fire-light. Such a contrast of colours I had never seen before! Could this be? I had hoped that I would one day catch a glimpse of the infamous Dhampir but now that I had one lurking before me I could not believe it. The tales I had heard of them were ripe with bloodshed and fear so I had come to expect more of a monster rather than the man standing in front of me. I had indeed studied the vampiric demons that are thought to have created the Dhampir and so I was not so ill-informed - like the majority of people are – as to their true nature.





--- A bit of background spin-off



It is written in ancient scrolls - well past their used-by-date - that the Vampires that served Diablo ‘Lord of Terror’, created the Dhampir in their image with the hope that their children would inherit their strength in a human body. This would allow them to walk through the daylight and amongst a human population without ever being noticed. After spending many years perfecting their blood-binding rituals they were finally successful in creating the first ever Dhampir. He was named Vemenos by his father’s and, if the said scrolls are accurate, he would now be the strongest of his kind. You see, as time passes the Dhampir grow in strength – this is unlike any other demon-kind I have studied. All of my studies have led me to believe that a demon is unable to change it’s form in any way without the use of dark magics. Basically - they do not have a natural growth. If it is indeed true that the Dhampir are subject to change over time, then I speculate that this anomaly is one of the side effects of having human blood flow through their veins.

I feel the deepest sorrow for the mothers chosen as Dhampir hosts for my studies of the blood-binding ritual has lead me to believe that their very souls are sacrificed to Diablo – the Lord of Terror - in order to give their children life. In fact, it has been said that as the Dhampir take their first breath their Mothers breathe their last. I speculate that this fact plays a major role in the Dhampirs relentless motivation to hunt their makers.

From birth the Dhampir grow rapidly and after their first year are big enough to pass as a fully grown human. I have not discovered the precise reasons the Dhampir have chosen to fight for light over darkness but maybe the red-haired blue-eyed predator in front of me would be willing to share his story? After all, I have helped them in their relentless hunt to kill their fathers, albeit unintentionally.

"The demons did not anticipate the strength of the human soul that carried on to us through our mothers. Once we were old enough to learn the fate of our mothers and the plan the demons had in store for us we rebelled against our forced fate and began to hunt our creators as revenge."

So began the Dhampir’s war fueled by revenge.
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Excellent, excellent! I'll add it to the DFWG list when I get back tonight.

Quote from "Seth" »

Excellent, excellent! I'll add it to the DFWG list when I get back tonight.

Thanks Seth. I will work on the story - I'm excited with some of the ideas forming in my head.

The below info gives us some insight into how the Dhampir would be to play as a hero in Sanctuary:


What I have in mind for the Dhampir is probably not quite what you expect.

As the Dhampir is half Human - he is also half Demon (Vampire counts as a demon no?) and this has given him strength, coordination and abilities that no human possesses. However, as the Dhampir is half Demon - he is also half Human and thus, he is vulnerable just like any other hero. Indeed he would need to wear armor in battle as he will also bleed like our other heroes.

The reason Diablo and his Vampiric minions created the Dhampir was to have a demon in their ranks that could pass as human in every way... but hidden in them would be the watered down demonic strengths of their fathers.

As this is the case in my story - the Dhampir are subject to the use of weapons and armor.

I will work on the skill tree later but to give you an idea of what I am planning for the Dhampir see below: (the base skill ideas forming in my head are similar to legolas from lotr but with a Diablo world demonic spin-off. Sounds a lil funny I know but keep reading)

Armour type:
-Medium-light heavy - as the Dhampir require flexibility and speed over brute defense they would primarily wear a combination of heavy leather and light mail.

Weapon type:
- Primary: Ranged - as the Dhampirs greatest strength is their speed and dexterity - they are very coordinated. Their eyesight is also impeccable. Both of these characteristics make them a perfect bow and crossbow user. This primary weapon choice allows them to hunt their creators in greater numbers at a safe distance.

- Secondary: CQC Two curved short swords/cutlass - perfect for utilizing the Dhampirs core strengths which is coordination - parry/dodge/severing arteries/slicing limbs. The Dhampir would be passive-aggressive in CQC - counter attacks and using parry/dodging to set themselves up for their kill shots. Any weapons/defense items that slow them are detrimental to their core characteristics and so any shields/heavy armour/weapons are not used.

The dark powers hidden within the Dhampir allow them to imbue and enchant their weapons with dark magicks making for a deadly & very interesting/intricate skill tree.

Anyway - that is what I have in store for the character so far...when the story develops and I writes some gruesome battle scenes it should all fall into place nicely. :cool:

Cheers
Shibblicious