An Air Vampyre is not an undead, as many new clerics mistake them, but actually a living, breathing, winged humanoid.
The Air Vampyres have grey, leathery skin and large grey or black bat-like wings. They live off of human blood, which is the reason they are called vampyres. However, they prefer the blood to be taken from one who is dead, rather than alive.
They can be found anywhere in the Air Abyss. Since gravity only exist near a fragment, they do not tire easily and can fly very, very long distances. They have an unbelievable sense of direction. Even though one of them may not have been to a particular fragment for many years, and even though the fragment moves through the abyss unpredictably, they can still find there way there without error.
Air Vampyres tend to sleep near the edges of fragments. They can stay awake for days at a time, but choose to sleep on a fragment, or perched on the cliff's edge of a fragment. This is one reason mothers always warn their childred to stay away from the edge of a fragment, for fear that the child may be stolen and killed by an Air Vampyre.
Vampyres have been known to attack a dragonship if they have not eaten for a long time. One of the customs on a dragonship of throwing overboard any one who has died (like burial at sea) is a way of giving the Vampyres a "gift" and hoping they will be satisfied with it and not attack the ship. It is not unusual for a one or two Vampyres to be seen on a long voyage. When more than one or two are seen, it is usually a sign that the ship is being scouted out for an attack.
The AV is very strong, usually in the 16+ range. They speak common, and their own language. They are highly sought by the Engineers for experimentation to find out more about they're fantastic fragment location ability. From the Engineer's point of view, it is a very good thing the Vampyres prefer to eat humanoids than work with them. The Engineers navigating monopoly could be disrupted if the Vampyres turned friendly.