I believe that many of the most feared monsters of Atheles are simply creatures that adapted to other worlds, which are now thrust into our own and attempting to survive this new, terrifying environment.

As a case study, I chose the upir as my subject. Unfortunately, my attempt went horribly wrong.

I wanted to meet an upir, who is, by all accounts, very intelligent. Perhaps, I thought, I could show him that I was no threat and thereby open a dialogue between our kinds. If we could assure him we would not harm his kind, perhaps he could convince his kind that we would not harm them.

I went into his lair, and it was not as I expected. For an intelligent creature, his lair was surprisingly dingy and stunk heavily of mold and rot.

He emerged from a dark corner and approached me slowly. He was cautious in his approach, but his gait, I could see, was unafraid. Then my eyes met his, and my knees weakened. The world seemed to warp before my eyes, as if I had eaten the hallucination-inducing dung of a creature of the Wastes.

This is the last I remember for a time. I had come in secret, so I assumed that none would come to my aid.

Weeks later, I heard Etahn’s voice calling to me from afar. I looked around me, semi-conscious and self-aware for the first time since that first gaze into the upir’s eyes . . . but I was not home yet. I stood in a heavy mist, my mind heavy with sleepiness, wanting nothing more than to sink back into the darkness. But I did not. I followed Etahn’s voice, and when I eventually reached him, I found him gripping my shoulders and still calling my name.

When my eyes finally focused on his, a smile spread across his face and he embraced me tightly. “I thought you dead,” he said with relief.

I must assume I did the creature’s bidding while under his thrall. I do not know what he forced me to do, but I do know I was covered in blood, grime, and a foul stink that took numerous scrubbings with pork fat and a brush made with coarse ank bristles.

I still believe the upir can be negotiated with, but I also acknowledge I must take much greater care with my future studies.

—Delgon

Becoming an Upir

Upir are not born as a distinct species. They are created from living Beings through the ritual of another upir. An upir retains much of what it was in life, but becomes stronger, faster, extraordinarily difficultYour skill is halved when a task is harder than average, whi... More to kill, and cursed with an insatiable hunger for the life of others.

Apply the following changes to the base creature.

Characteristics

The upir gains:

STR +6, DEX +4, INT +2, ACU +2, SOC +4.

CON remains unchanged. Although an upir is undead, they still cling to their life essence, and their body has stamina and grit.

Combat Value

Increase the base creature’s CV by +3.

Recalculate its combat skills and attacks against its new CV, while preserving any exceptional skills, TalentsExtraordinary abilities that define your character. More, equipment, and abilities it possessed in life.

Class and Type

The creature’s Class remains unchanged. Add Upir to its Type.

For example, a teran transformed into an upir becomes Teran (Upir).

Hit PointsA measure of the relative health of your character, represen... More

The upir retains its normal HPA measure of the relative health of your character, represen... More, though its Fast Healing and Immortality make it considerably more difficultYour skill is halved when a task is harder than average, whi... More to destroy.

Armor ValueThe numeric value representing how much damage armor absorbs... More

Increase the base creature’s AVThe numeric value representing how much damage armor absorbs... More by +2 as its undead flesh becomes unnaturally resilient.

Horror An optional system where your character’s mental health is ... More

Use the Horror An optional system where your character’s mental health is ... More rating appropriate to the upir’s new CV. Life Drain also triggers a Horror An optional system where your character’s mental health is ... More check each time the victim is drained.

Life Drain

An upir may use a Standard Action to drain the life from a creature it is touching or has grappled.

The upir and victim make an opposed Heroic Action using the upir’s SOC against the victim’s ACU. If the upir wins, the victim suffers 1d8 WitherWither bypasses AV, unless the armor is silvered. Silvered a... More damage, and the upir regains HPA measure of the relative health of your character, represen... More equal to the damage inflicted.

The victim must also immediately make a Horror An optional system where your character’s mental health is ... More check (1/1d6).

Dominate

An upir can overwhelm a creature’s will by meeting its gaze. As a Standard Action, the upir targets one creature within 30′ that can see its eyes.

The upir makes an opposed Heroic Action using SOC against the target’s ACU.

If the upir wins, the creature falls under its influence. At the end of each of its turns, the victim may attempt another opposed Heroic Action to break free.

If the victim fails three times before succeeding, it becomes completely dominated for 24 hours and no longer receives additional attempts to escape during that time.

Create Spawn

An upir can transform another Being into an upir through an arcane ritual.

The ritual must be performed at night upon an unconscious victim who has been reduced to 0 HPA measure of the relative health of your character, represen... More through Life Drain but has not yet died. The upir gives a portion of its own essence and blood to the victim.

The victim awakens consumed by supernatural hunger. Once the victim feeds upon the life of another living creature, the transformation is complete and the Upir template is applied to the creature.

Fast Healing

An upir has Fast Healing 5, regaining 5 HPA measure of the relative health of your character, represen... More at the start of each of its turns.

Fast Healing does not function while the upir is exposed to direct sunlight.

Memories of the Past

When an upir successfully uses Life Drain, it absorbs fragments of the victim’s memories and thoughts.

The StoryGuideThe director, or guide for the game, who helps you create ch... More determines what memories are gained, with stronger or repeated feeding revealing increasingly personal information.

Mindless Victims

If an upir kills a victim through Life Drain, it may choose to leave the victim’s body animated but stripped of its former mind and identity.

The victim rises as a mindless undead servant under the upir’s control.

Immortal

An upir cannot be permanently slain through ordinary damage.

If reduced to 0 HPA measure of the relative health of your character, represen... More, the upir becomes incapacitated but is not destroyed and may recover through Fast Healing.

To permanently destroy an incapacitated upir, a wooden stake must be driven through its heart and its head severed with a silver weapon. An incapacitated upir may also be exposed to direct sunlight; it turns to ash after several minutes.

Innate Magic

An upir possesses supernatural abilities that mimic magic but require no spellcasting.

An upir can use abilities equivalent to Spider’s Grasp at will, and Transform once per day.

Light Sensitivity

While exposed to direct sunlight, the upir’s Fast Healing ceases and all of its attacks become DifficultYour skill is halved when a task is harder than average, whi... More.

Silver Weakness

Upir suffer double damage from silver weapons.

Upir Warrior

This upir was a skilled warrior before its transformation. It still wears the ancient armor and carries the morningstar it wielded in life, though decades of undeath have turned it into a patient and ruthless predator.