The Curse of Wolker, or Vampirism, is the blood-curse born from Wolker Malleus, the first vampire, a mortal who broke faith with the Gods and fed on the life of his own kin to escape death. Cyraeth refused to claim him, Eryndar refused to take his body, and so his soul was left twisted between life and death, starving but unable to die. His blood now carries that same refusal of the grave, turning those he drains without killing into vampires bound to hunger, fire and silver. Children touched by the curse in the womb become Dhampir, half-damned and half-merciful, forever walking the line Wolker tried to leap across.