Vampyrisation

Vampyrisation is the process of converting humans or (less commonly) other humanoid species into vampyres. In Gielinor, unlike most other fictional depictions of vampires, this is not simply the result of being bitten by one. Rather, it is a process that necessarily involves magic, specifically the branch of blood magic known as haemalchemy, and requires refined daeyalt ore as a catalyst. During River of Blood, the player visits a facility that is used for large-scale conversion of humans into vampyres.

During the quest The Lord of Vampyrium, Lord Lowerniel Drakan expresses his opposition to the practice, believing that human-born vampyres are unnatural and that true-borns should reproduce naturally, return to their home-world and revert to their primitive state. In response, his sister Vanescula Drakan angrily proclaimed that she did not want to be anyone's "brood-mare" and endorsed vampyrisation as a way of building up a vampyre army to invade Misthalin. This led her to revolt and (using the player) to kill her brother.

Apart from humans, the only other species known to have been vampyrised are Icyene. A vampyrised icyene is known as a wyrd, and the creation of wyrds is generally frowned upon due to their unpredictable personalities and hallucinogenic venom. It is unknown at the type whether other humanoids such as gnomes or ogres can be vampyrised or not. It is not known at this time whether other human or non-humanoid species can be vampyrised or not. (The Vampyre bat is not a vampyrised bat, although it may be related to vampyres in some way since vampyre dust is needed to summon them).

It is possible to reverse vampyrisation; the Guthix balance potion can do so but only works 1/3 of the time. During River of Blood, the player discovers how to make Extreme Guthix balance, which always works. Human-born vampyres become human again, while true-borns remain vampyric but lose their thirst for blood. Most true-borns end up refusing the "cure" since they are offended by the idea of vampyrism being a disease.

Trivia

 * The taboo on creating wyrds mirrors Twilight, in which converting young children into vampires is forbidden because they become super-powerful but forever stay at the same age, thus an "immortal child"'s temper tantrum can be deadly. Wyrds have similarly strong wills and tend to disobey authority, which combined with their unusual powers makes them a threat.