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This article summarizes what is known about The Blood of Dawnwalker before its release.
Official announcements are treated as the primary sources, followed by information reported in hands-on previews as secondary sources.
After release, I will play the game and revise, update, and expand this article as new information becomes available.
Overview
A compulsory blood-collection system imposed on the population by Brencis and the vampire regime, conducted as a religious ritual.
It has been confirmed that members of the clergy officiate these ceremonies. The inhabitants give their blood to Brencis and his followers in exchange for being cured of disease.
By conducting these rituals, Brencis and his vampires effectively keep the human population under their control.
The vampires also store and transport human blood as a resource, and blood convoys can be encountered throughout Vale Sangora.
The Blood Mass is the central event of the prologue and the direct catalyst for Coen becoming a Dawnwalker.
The Blood Mass in Laslea
During the Blood Mass in Laslea, every adult in the village is required to attend and give blood.
Coen’s mother is too overwhelmed by fear and physical weakness to attend. If she fails to appear, however, not only her family but potentially the entire village may suffer the consequences.
Brencis’s soldiers seal the village gates, preventing anyone from leaving until the offering has been collected.
The Blood Mass in the Prologue
Coen cannot prevent the Blood Mass itself from taking place after sunset.
However, the choices made by the player during the day can alter the relationships and circumstances leading up to the ritual, as well as its outcome.
The Blood Mass ultimately goes wrong, and Laslea is treated as a village that has defied the vampire regime.
Afterward, Coen awakens inside Laslea’s silver mine with a strange and unnatural hunger.
Brencis chose to turn Coen into a vampire as a warning to the villagers.
However, Coen becomes an unusual being capable of enduring sunlight and begins his journey as a Dawnwalker.
The surviving villagers and Coen’s family are captured and scheduled to be sacrificed at Brencis’s coronation 30 days later.
The Blood of Dawnwalker Story Choices and Endings Guide: Family and NPC Survival Conditions
The Blood Mass Crash Bug
In my environment, the game crashed repeatedly during this event.
I have written an article documenting my troubleshooting process and the workaround that ultimately worked for me, so feel free to refer to it if you experience the same issue.
Sources
The Blood of Dawnwalker — Gameplay Overview (Part II)
How The Blood of Dawnwalker Filled Its Living World with Vampires – Xbox Wire
