[Spoilers] Confused about vampires in Blood and Wine and the Witcherverse

[prince_of_nothing]

[Spoilers] Confused about vampires in Blood and Wine and the Witcherverse

Simple questions really..

1) Are vampires alive, or undead?

2) Are they born, or are they created from a host species like a human, elf etcetera? And if they are born, do they reproduce sexually?

Blood and Wine, or perhaps the Witcherverse in general, seems like it sends mixed signals about those two questions. Bruxae for instance seem as though they are created, but "higher vampires" like Regis appear to have been born..

And to top it off, they have their own world or sphere which they originated from, and is presumably filled with vampires and vampire like creatures..

So which is it? Or are they both correct?

 

[Troldierman]

Vampires are born as vampires in the Witcherverse. Yes, they have their own realm. They arrived during the Conjunction of the Spheres, more or less like all the monsters and magical creatures.

 

[prince_of_nothing]

But bruxae appear to be created, at least from the Witcher games as there are incidents in the first Witcher game, and even in the third which supports that notion..

I don't suppose you know how they reproduce? But since they are obviously male and female vampires, then the likely answer is that they reproduce sexually like humans..

 

[Eredin_Breacc_Glas]

Simple questions really..

1) Are vampires alive, or undead?

2) Are they born, or are they created from a host species like a human, elf etcetera? And if they are born, do they reproduce sexually?

Blood and Wine, or perhaps the Witcherverse in general, seems like it sends mixed signals about those two questions. Bruxae for instance seem as though they are created, but "higher vampires" like Regis appear to have been born..

And to top it off, they have their own world or sphere which they originated from, and is presumably filled with vampires and vampire like creatures..

So which is it? Or are they both correct?

Nope; they weren't created. Even Bruxae (Brownie points for spelling it properly.). Vampires are a race, or collection of races, just like humans. Except, our differences seem to be minor, while theirs are much greater.

I.e.: they are born vampires, and they die vampires (As rarely as that happens.).

I think a few of them accidentally came to our world during the First Conjunction. Given how much some of them miss their home-land, it just doesn't seem purposeful. I might be completely off-base, though.

 

[prince_of_nothing]

Nope; they weren't created. Even Bruxae (Brownie points for spelling it properly.). Vampires are a race, or collection of races, just like humans. Except, our differences seem to be minor, while theirs are much greater..

Spoiler

And in the Witcher 3 B&W, there is an encounter where a woman is grieving over the death of her husband. This same woman turns out to be a bruxa who was turned by another bruxa whom she had an affair with.

So as you can see, there are discrepancies..

 

[Eredin_Breacc_Glas]

But as I said, there is a quest in the original Witcher called House of the Queen of the Night" in which Geralt helps a man who's sister has been entangled in a brothel run by a bruxa, and if she gets her way, becomes a vampire herself!

Spoiler

And in the Witcher 3 B&W, there is an encounter where a woman is grieving over the death of her husband. This same woman turns out to be a bruxa who was turned by another bruxa whom she had an affair with.

So as you can see, there are discrepancies..

I haven't encountered these yet, and I hope I never do. Very, very anti-lore.

 

[theslowarrow]

Speaking from novels, they are not undead, nor is vampirism infectuous.
The exact means of their reproduction is not fully discussed, but given that Regis once had a succubus girlfriend, theory of their sexuality is well founded.

Spoiler

'Let us leave for a moment the symbolism of blood,’ said Regis. ‘Because the myths actually have some justification in facts. Let’s focus on myths, grounded in fact that they don’t have, and yet are widespread. After all, everyone knows that being bitten by a vampire, if you survive, makes you become a vampire. True?’

‘True,’ Dandelion said. ‘There was a ballad …’


‘Do you know basic arithmetic?’


‘I studied all seven of the liberal arts. And I received a degree summa cum laude.’


‘In your world, after the Conjunction of the Spheres there were about two thousand two hundred higher vampires. The total abstainers, such as I am now, far outweigh the number of those who drink to excess – as I once did. So on average every vampire drinks at every full moon, because the full moon to us is a celebration, which we used to drink … Let’s bring this to a human calendar and accept that there are twelve full moons in the year that leaves us with a theoretical figure of fourteen thousand people bitten each year. Since the Conjunction, again counting by your reckoning of time, it has been about fifteen hundred years. From the result of simple multiplication it shows that at present there should theoretically exist in your world twenty-one million six hundred vampires. However the increase in vampires would have to increase geometric rather than arithmetic …’


‘Enough,’ Dandelion sighed. ‘I have no abacus, but I can imagine the number. Or rather, I cannot imagine. This means that the contagion of vampirism is nonsense and fantasy.’


‘Thank you,’ Regis bowed. ‘Moving onto the next myth, which states – the vampire is a human being who died, but not quite. In the grave it does not rot, nor turn to dust. It lies in the grave fresh and ruddy, ready climb out and go out biting. Where does this myth come from, if not from your subconscious and irrational aversion to the venerable dead? You remember your dead and honour their memory, you dream of immortality, in your myths and legends every now and again someone is raised from the dead. But if you late venerable grandfather suddenly left his tomb and asked you for a beer, a panic would arise. And no wonder. The body, in which life has ceased to exist, is subjected to decay, rotting and smells. The immortal spirit, an indispensable element of you myths, abandons the stinking carrion in disgust and flies away. It is clean and you can safely worship it. But imagine a disgusting spirit that doesn’t fly away, does not leave the corpse. It is disgusting and unnatural! The living dead are for you disgusting anomalies. Some moron even coined the term “undead” which we so eagerly bestow.'

Either they made a translation mistake or Regis was really not good at arithmetics...

 

[zeypheruk]

Spoiler

And in the Witcher 3 B&W, there is an encounter where a woman is grieving over the death of her husband. This same woman turns out to be a bruxa who was turned by another bruxa whom she had an affair with.

So as you can see, there are discrepancies..

No that incident if you read the book properly. The husband was worried his wife was going pale due to the other woman. Basically vampire woman was drinking her. Tne bruxae killed the husband and his wife. No vampire was created.

 

[Maerd]

B&W has a lot of logical mistakes with vampires, which is easy to notice. Only another vampire can kill another vampire statement make them pretty much gods.

1. Let's say one vampire was pulverized to atoms by a non-vampire. Atoms cannot be vampire-specific atoms because they can regenerate, for example, limbs and don't need their old limbs for that. Consequently, the material for regeneration is taken from the environment, which consists of non-vampire-specific atoms. So, any atom will do. Then, if their atoms are just normal atoms then inability to kill a vampire by non-vampire doesn't make sense unless what constitutes a vampire is a pure idea. If the being can constitute only of an idea it is a deity by definition.

2. If you read books in Tesham Mutna (I don't remember if the spelling is right) about free-ranged humans you'll notice that in the past vampires considered humans similar to cattle but somehow they don't control the country now. I don't think they would voluntarily go into hiding and start avoid people, over whom they could easily establish control and set their rules. Who defeated them if they cannot be killed by non-vampires? If you say other vampires then it still the same problem of why those other vampires are not dominating humans, like becoming a vampire-king.

3. Apparently from the secondary accounts we can see that vampires multiply sexually like humans, otherwise Regis would have been indifferent to succubi or Dettlaff wouldn't be able to feel anything for Syanna besides being a source of food. Vampires never die therefore the number of vampires would always increase and they will overpopulate the world. The missing male alps and male bruxas is suspicious... Alps and bruxas are named different species therefore they should have separate male counterparts if they are actually species.

 

[Eredin_Breacc_Glas]

B&W has a lot of logical mistakes with vampires, which is easy to notice. Only another vampire can kill another vampire statement make them pretty much gods.

1. Let's say one vampire was pulverized to atoms by a non-vampire. Atoms cannot be vampire-specific atoms because they can regenerate, for example, limbs and don't need their old limbs for that. Consequently, the material for regeneration is taken from the environment, which consists of non-vampire-specific atoms. So, any atom will do. Then, if their atoms are just normal atoms then inability to kill a vampire by non-vampire doesn't make sense unless what constitutes a vampire is a pure idea. If the being can constitute only of an idea it is a deity by definition.

2. If you read books in Tesham Mutna (I don't remember if the spelling is right) about free-ranged humans you'll notice that in the past vampires considered humans similar to cattle but somehow they don't control the country now. I don't think they would voluntarily go into hiding and start avoid people, over whom they could easily establish control and set their rules. Who defeated them if they cannot be killed by non-vampires? If you say other vampires then it still the same problem of why those other vampires are not dominating humans, like becoming a vampire-king.

3. Apparently from the secondary accounts we can see that vampires multiply sexually like humans, otherwise Regis would have been indifferent to succubi or Dettlaff wouldn't be able to feel anything for Syanna besides being a source of food. Vampires never die therefore the number of vampires would always increase and they will overpopulate the world. The missing male alps and male bruxas is suspicious... Alps and bruxas are named different species therefore they should have separate male counterparts if they are actually species.

If I'm not mistaken, Alps and Bruxae are female-only. My guess is that they mate with higher vampires.

 

[Ðarkstar]

B&W has a lot of logical mistakes with vampires, which is easy to notice. Only another vampire can kill another vampire statement make them pretty much gods.

1. Let's say one vampire was pulverized to atoms by a non-vampire. Atoms cannot be vampire-specific atoms because they can regenerate, for example, limbs and don't need their old limbs for that. Consequently, the material for regeneration is taken from the environment, which consists of non-vampire-specific atoms. So, any atom will do. Then, if their atoms are just normal atoms then inability to kill a vampire by non-vampire doesn't make sense unless what constitutes a vampire is a pure idea. If the being can constitute only of an idea it is a deity by definition.

2. If you read books in Tesham Mutna (I don't remember if the spelling is right) about free-ranged humans you'll notice that in the past vampires considered humans similar to cattle but somehow they don't control the country now. I don't think they would voluntarily go into hiding and start avoid people, over whom they could easily establish control and set their rules. Who defeated them if they cannot be killed by non-vampires? If you say other vampires then it still the same problem of why those other vampires are not dominating humans, like becoming a vampire-king.

3. Apparently from the secondary accounts we can see that vampires multiply sexually like humans, otherwise Regis would have been indifferent to succubi or Dettlaff wouldn't be able to feel anything for Syanna besides being a source of food. Vampires never die therefore the number of vampires would always increase and they will overpopulate the world. The missing male alps and male bruxas is suspicious... Alps and bruxas are named different species therefore they should have separate male counterparts if they are actually species.

1. As hard as it would be to pulverise something into atoms, those atoms would still have post-conjunction properties (which is impossible to describe with science). So in theory, if you did pulverise a vampire into atoms, it'd take well over ten thousand years or more to regenerate. Since Regis needed help from Detlaff to regenerate, I think it's safe to assume that without help an atomised vampire would be the closest thing to dead.

2. It would be against their nature to boldly rule, not only that, some of them have probably already tried and were cut down by their own species and other witchers. They have masquerade-like rules in place and rules are usually made from past mistakes soooo....

3. Ever seen a female higher vampire? Alps and bruxaes are obviously sentient so it's quite possible that they're the female counterparts to the male higher vampires. In the short story A Grain of Truth Vereena (a Bruxa) could transform into a giant bat much like a higher vampire. It's also safe to assume the reason why they don't multiply like humans is because there's only a handful of them compared to humans. Vampires having human-like emotions would mean they have the same or very similar laws of attraction so unless there's a vampire couple that's focused on reproducing, they'd have even less of a chance to overpopulate than elves do. Being isolationists by nature, I imagine them bumping into each other doesn't happen regularly.

I think by a glance you'll see errors in the lore but with educated guesses and the wikipedia these can be easily cleared up.

 

[Maerd]

If I'm not mistaken, Alps and Bruxae are female-only. My guess is that they mate with higher vampires.

If they can mate with higher vampires and produce offsprings then they cannot be separate species because only members of the same species has an ability to produce viable offsprings. If they are not separate species then there're also a whole bunch of logical errors in their representation, it's illogical in any case, unfortunately.

---------- Updated at 02:53 AM ----------

1. As hard as it would be to pulverise something into atoms, those atoms would still have post-conjunction properties (which is impossible to describe with science). So in theory, if you did pulverise a vampire into atoms, it'd take well over ten thousand years or more to regenerate. Since Regis needed help from Detlaff to regenerate, I think it's safe to assume that without help an atomised vampire would be the closest thing to dead.

The logical chain I constructed shows that the possibility of vampires being made of special atoms is either zero or they wouldn't be able to regenerate as shown in B&W. In either case it's a logical error.

2. It would be against their nature to boldly rule, not only that, some of them have probably already tried and were cut down by their own species and other witchers. They have masquerade-like rules in place and rules are usually made from past mistakes soooo....

Well, according to B&W witchers cannot cut them down at all. Ruling from the shadows happen only when ruling directly is dangerous, which is not the case. Masquerade rules are based on the assumption that anyone kill a vampire by dealing enough damage, which is not the case here. In B&W vampires cannot be killed by humans at all and has nothing to fear in terms of their life therefore there's no reason for hiding. Any vampire can become a king of men and rule for eternity. They can even be benevolent kings if they like. The argument that they don't like to rule doesn't cut it because it was clearly shown that they ruled before due to existence of Tesham Mutna castle. Castles are built to control the area militarily, also read the books there, it was quite clear that they enslaved all surrounding population when the castle was active.

3. Ever seen a female higher vampire? Alps and bruxaes are obviously sentient so it's quite possible that they're the female counterparts to the male higher vampires.

Already answered that such possibility is also illogical, see above. If Apls and Bruxas are actually higher vampires and not separate species (as it is explained in the game) then why Geralt can kill them if they cannot be killed by anyone but vampires? Dettlaff even condemns Geralt for killing bruxa in the cellar. Why does he tell that if she's immortal? It's a logical error no matter how you turn it. And I don't think vampires "bump into each other" rarely if we believe what was shown in the game.

 

[Ðarkstar]

If they can mate with higher vampires and produce offsprings then they cannot be separate species because only members of the same species has an ability to produce viable offsprings. If they are not separate species then there're also a whole bunch of logical errors in their representation, it's illogical in any case, unfortunately.

---------- Updated at 02:53 AM ----------


The logical chain I constructed shows that the possibility of vampires being made of special atoms is either zero or they wouldn't be able to regenerate as shown in B&W. In either case it's a logical error.


Well, according to B&W witchers cannot cut them down at all. Ruling from the shadows happen only when ruling directly is dangerous, which is not the case. Masquerade rules are based on the assumption that anyone kill a vampire by dealing enough damage, which is not the case here. In B&W vampires cannot be killed by humans at all and has nothing to fear in terms of their life therefore there's no reason for hiding. Any vampire can become a king of men and rule for eternity. They can even be benevolent kings if they like. The argument that they don't like to rule doesn't cut it because it was clearly shown that they ruled before due to existence of Tesham Mutna castle. Castles are built to control the area militarily, also read the books there, it was quite clear that they enslaved all surrounding population when the castle was active.


Already answered that such possibility is also illogical, see above. If Apls and Bruxas are actually higher vampires and not separate species (as it is explained in the game) then why Geralt can kill them if they cannot be killed by anyone but vampires? Dettlaff even condemns Geralt for killing bruxa in the cellar. Why does he tell that if she's immortal? It's a logical error no matter how you turn it. And I don't think vampires "bump into each other" rarely if we believe what was shown in the game.

Using real life science to describe anything in a fantastical universe with 100% accuracy is next to impossible, I don't see how you could label anything without including "magic" as a base for any explanation. How does real world logic come into effect into a fictional universe that has it's own logic? At best you're putting it into ways an actual scientist could understand which is neither appropriate or beneficial since you're just going to come across holes anyway. Do you expect a scientific explanation for everything in The Witcher universe?

The fight with Detlaff negates any notion that a witcher has absolutely no effect. Like was already discussed, a witcher could behead a vampire and incinerate the remains into ashes, this wouldn't kill the vampire but like Regis explained, it would knock the vampire out of the equation for a few centuries or so if nobody were to find the remains.

The defunct castle is also by no means proof that there was a vampire king, just a small dominion over human cattle. Think of Dawnguard for Skyrim, the vampires that lived in the castle didn't much care for the rest of Skyrim, just themselves. A small amount of cattle at a time, almost staying out of mortal affairs entirely.
And no, humans fear the alien, so an immortal vampire ruling over humans wouldn't last even if the vampire was benevolent. Would you think a human would want to be ruled by an elven king?

Without giving into any more assumptions, there are no female higher vampires or any indication of them in the game so really only CDPR could explain if higher vampires are all men or not.

Detlaff fell in love with a human from Beauclair, Regis was following Detlaff, Detlaff's friends and followers were also follwing Detlaff. They were all in Beauclair for a reason. Outside of the events of Blood & Wine, do you think vampires just have orgies together and hang out on the town? How often do you find katakans in packs in the base game?

Like I said, all it takes is an educated guess for it to make sense. If you have any qualms with the fact that absolutely everything in The Witcher universe has scientific discrepancies then maybe you should stop poking holes into what already looks like Swiss cheese in terms of real world application.

 

[Maerd]

Using real life science to describe anything in a fantastical universe with 100% accuracy is next to impossible, I don't see how you could label anything without including "magic" as a base for any explanation. How does real world logic come into effect into a fictional universe that has it's own logic? At best you're putting it into ways an actual scientist could understand which is neither appropriate or beneficial since you're just going to come across holes anyway. Do you expect a scientific explanation for everything in The Witcher universe?

The difference between fantasy and science fiction is that the first one doesn't explain phenomena, which it describes, and the latter explains. By trying to explain the vampires CDPR placed themselves into sci-fi category. Sci-fi is harder to write than fantasy because you have to be an expert in the field you're trying to fantasize about, which is why overwhelming majority of well known sci-fi writers about space, for example, have PhDs either in physics or math. So, CDPR shouldn't have tried to explain vampires at all, it would have been a right decision.

The fight with Detlaff negates any notion that a witcher has absolutely no effect.

That was not even a topic of discussion. We discussed mortality, not temporary disability.

The defunct castle is also by no means proof that there was a vampire king, just a small dominion over human cattle. Think of Dawnguard for Skyrim, the vampires that lived in the castle didn't much care for the rest of Skyrim, just themselves.

If they controlled a land then you can call the boss vampire essentially a king, no matter how tiny his kingdom is. As you know in our early history first kingdoms in many cases consisted of one single city. In Elder scrolls series the vampires are as mortal as humans therefore has a reason to hide, you cannot bring them as an argument.

And no, humans fear the alien, so an immortal vampire ruling over humans wouldn't last even if the vampire was benevolent. Would you think a human would want to be ruled by an elven king?

Nobody would ask those humans. Elves are ruled by human kings in the witcher world, they don't like it, nobody ask them what they prefer. Elves can be killed therefore comparison to vampires would be incorrect. As I've shown, vampires' in-game description fits being deities.

Without giving into any more assumptions, there are no female higher vampires or any indication of them in the game so really only CDPR could explain if higher vampires are all men or not.

Higher vampires cannot be all male and at the same time has sexual reproductive organs without existing females. And they do have them because Regis tells Geralt that he likes sex with succubi and Dettlaff felt in love with human female therefore vampire females must be somewhere otherwise it doesn't make sense.

Outside of the events of Blood & Wine, do you think vampires just have orgies together and hang out on the town?

Their social behaviour is a different topic, we were talking about fundamental vampire physiology.

How often do you find katakans in packs in the base game?

According to the description Katakans are not higher vampires, so they're not a problem.

Like I said, all it takes is an educated guess for it to make sense. If you have any qualms with the fact that absolutely everything in The Witcher universe has scientific discrepancies then maybe you should stop poking holes into what already looks like Swiss cheese in terms of real world application.

Again, they shouldn't have explained vampires, it would have been a fantasy genre, which would have been fine even with discrepancies. Unnecessary explanations were for the worse.

 

[Eredin_Breacc_Glas]

Snipped!

I stumbled across something that you may find to be very interesting, Maerd (This also applies to Gilrond, but I have no idea how to tag people.).

"The bruxa is a higher vampire, that is, a post-Conjunction creature, and intruder in our world. She assumes the form of a beautiful woman, then turns terrifying when she grows hungry and attacks. As befits a vampire, the bruxa drinks blood. The victim of a bruxa is often both her lover and her chief source of sustenance.".

-"Bruxae - Eulogists", TW2.

This confirms a few things.

1. There are two kind of vampires; higher and lesser. Lesser are the dumb ones (Ekimmaras, Garkains, etc..). Higher vampires are the intelligent ones that can blend in.

2. The latter group is split up among women (Alps and Bruxae.) and men (Simply referred to as "higher vampires".).

3. To reproduce, the females can mate with victims, or male higher vampires.

4. Alps, Bruxae, and male higher vampires are all one species: higher vampires.

This sheds so much light on the matter.

Also, I think Geralt's remark about Alps and/or Bruxae being "lesser vampires" during "The Night of Long Fangs" should be considered non-canon.

 

[Alexius321]

Regarding the subject, they have made a bit of a mess in the games in my opinion. Announcing that 'only a higher vampire can kill another higher vampire' was something they introduced so that they could involve Regis in a meaningful way when dealing with Dettlaff. Apart from that, it was completely unnecessary.

In the books Regis says:

....‘In the case of higher vampires–never, I agree,’ Emiel Regis said softly. ‘From what I know alpors, katakans, moolas, bruxas and nosferats don’t mutilate their victims. On the other hand, fleders and ekimmas are pretty brutal with their victims’ remains.’.....

He obviously lists bruxae as higher vampires, so we have a possible inconsistency here. We also have a clear example of a bruxa in the books - Vereena. She is said to be a bruxa, and she did transform into a giant black bat just like other higher vampires do, and unlike what we see in the games. She also fits perfectly into a higher vampire classification because she was obviously capable of love, etc, etc. However, she did die in the end. Of course, it is open to debate whether her 'death' was permanent or not, but it seems that in the books higher vampires can be killed.

If bruxae are indeed 'higher vampires' in the games, then why are they 'mortal'? It seems that further classification is needed. I have initially thought that Orianna, the bruxa from the trailer, was a (female) higher vampire. But it seems that she is 'merely' a bruxa, since she can obviously be killed and has the same fighting style. Another problem is Hubert Reik (Carnal Sins vampire) who can die and is also listed as a higher vampire. And another one is that one in the sewers who tells you to sod off. Yet another contradiction, although perhaps debatable, is that Dettlaff is vulnerable to igni, and we know that higher vampires are resistant to fire (books-Regis). So there's another one. They should have introduced further classification to distinguish between them and to make it consistent.

Here is something from The World of the Witcher:

Many experts include alps, mulas, katakans, bruxae, and nekurats as members of this group. These species indeed possess several unique traits not shared by their lesser cousins, and thus are commonly called higher vampires. They are resistant to sunlight and most can mask their true natures and pretend to be human, which aids them in hunting or evading pursuit. Many are also capable of transformation and possess telepathic powers, making them formidable foes. Despite all these abilities, however, they are not true higher vampires.

Genuine higher vampires are a separate, extremely powerful breed, commanding great powers are sometimes unique to particular specimens. They are masters of the art of camouflage and in most cases appear nearly identical to humans. Only their their teeth, and the fact that they cast no shadows and have no reflections in mirrors, can reveal their true nature. I have even met one higher vampire whose presence did not trigger a reaction from my witcher medallion. Besides being supernaturally fast and agile, higher vampires can also assume the form of a giant bat, become invisible, and use their gaze to mesmerize their victims or put them to sleep. They are invulnerable to sunlight, fire, and silver, and have unbelievable regenerative powers which allow them to return to life even after beheading, dismemberment, or incineration- though in such cases the process may take many decades.

A lot of inconsistencies here. In my opinion, they shouldn't have tried to provide that much explanation at all. So, homo sapiens sapiens, thus higher higher vampires?

P. S. @Eredin_Breacc_Glas you just need to put @ in front of someone's profile name in order to mention them. Try it out

 

[jj284b]

Blood and Wine brought good explanation for this - Regis and Detlaff are a bit different kind of a vampire. Probably it would be best to call them Elder vampires, and as such they are immortal (unless another elder kills them/drinks their blood) - Ancient/Elder vampire (in the cave) was clearly much stronger than Regis of Detlaff, while Regis and Detlaff were much stronger than ordinary Alps Bruxae, katakans or Ekimarae.

But of course, Detlaff being vulnerable to fire is a logical bug, he should be immune to it, same as Regis

and regarding reproduction, they could be easily in the same situation as Elves - way too old to have children... maybe some of them are still capable, but its most likely very rare thing.

 

[AutumnalWanderer]

My guess would be that even the Alps and Bruxaes have different abilities. What I meant by this that they aren't so easy to distinguish, they are much more complicated species.

 

[Gilrond-i-Virdan]

If I'm not mistaken, Alps and Bruxae are female-only. My guess is that they mate with higher vampires.

Where does it say that they are female only?

---------- Updated at 05:40 PM ----------

3. Ever seen a female higher vampire?

They are mentioned in the books. For example Regis tells that he was meeting one, but she grew distant when he became addicted to blood. Actually TW1 hints that it's the Queen Of the Night (and she is supposed to be a higher vampire).

 

[Eredin_Breacc_Glas]

I stumbled across something that you may find to be very interesting, Maerd (This also applies to Gilrond, but I have no idea how to tag people.).

"The bruxa is a higher vampire, that is, a post-Conjunction creature, and intruder in our world. She assumes the form of a beautiful woman, then turns terrifying when she grows hungry and attacks. As befits a vampire, the bruxa drinks blood. The victim of a bruxa is often both her lover and her chief source of sustenance.".

-"Bruxae - Eulogists", TW2.

This confirms a few things.

1. There are two kind of vampires; higher and lesser. Lesser are the dumb ones (Ekimmaras, Garkains, etc..). Higher vampires are the intelligent ones that can blend in.

2. The latter group is split up among women (Alps and Bruxae.) and men (Simply referred to as "higher vampires".).

3. To reproduce, the females can mate with victims, or male higher vampires.

4. Alps, Bruxae, and male higher vampires are all one species: higher vampires.

This sheds so much light on the matter.

Also, I think Geralt's remark about Alps and/or Bruxae being "lesser vampires" during "The Night of Long Fangs" should be considered non-canon.

Where does it say that they are female only?

---------- Updated at 05:40 PM ----------



They are mentioned in the books. For example Regis tells that he was meeting one, but they grew distant when he became addicted to blood.

Read passage above.