Vampires were undead beings.
Sylvania is a fictional land of dark forests in the Warhammer Fantasy which is home to vampires , ghouls , and other beings . A vampire is a being from folklore that subsists by feeding on the life essence ( generally in the form of blood ) of the living . In European folklore , vampires were undead beings that often visited loved ones and caused mischief or deaths in the neighbourhoods they inhabited when they were alive . This increased level of vampire superstition in Europe led to mass hysteria and in some cases resulted in corpses being staked and people being accused of vampirism . Bram Stoker 's 1897 novel Dracula is remembered as the quintessential vampire novel and provided the basis of the modern vampire legend .