MURONI
Lore
The Muroni is a particular variety of Romanian vampiric revenant that arose in the agrarian world of Wallachia and Transylvania. Etymologically, the creature's name traces back to the root "mor," which evokes death and decay. Folkloric accounts stress its "excess": once exhumed, the body appears bloated, the skin a deep crimson, the nails elongated, the mouth crusted with blood, and the teeth striking less for the length of the fangs than for the overall predatory set of the jaws. It is this extreme swelling and reddening, people say, that proves it has been feeding on human blood at night.
A Muroni comes into being when someone dies a violent death, practiced sorcery in life, or when a child born out of wedlock to parents who were themselves illegitimate dies. This sort of double bastardy sets a generational curse in motion. Other routes of transformation include violent death, suicide, active witchcraft while alive, or dying from the bite of another Muroni.
The Muroni's key trait is its ability to take on different shapes. The most common are a flea or a spider, which let it slip unnoticed beneath the clothes of sleeping victims; black dogs and cats are also reported. These transformations make the Muroni especially hard to spot, since the bites and blood loss look like the work of ordinary pests. Its disguise lets it drink human blood in peace, because no one suspects a vampire has appeared in the settlement, and no search ever begins.
By day the Muroni lies inert in its grave; by night it wanders within the bounds of the village, most often near the homes of relatives or acquaintances. Sunlight does not destroy it outright, but weakens it so badly that by dawn it must return to the earth or be left a helpless corpse. Exceptions are the nights of Saint Andrew (November 30) and Saint George (April 23), when the borders between worlds thin and the Muroni's activity peaks. The creature is fiercely territorial, cannot abide its own kind, forms no packs, and usually leads a secretive, solitary life.
