Various mentions of Rorikstead date to considerably older eras - there is a dated reference as old as 2nd Era 373, and an undated reference that may go back to the First Era... Yet, in the Fourth Era, the land was apparently barren during the time of the Great War, and a new village founded there under that name, by a local noble named Rorik, who apparently purchased the land to found the village - at least, most of the local land, though he may have lived there himself.

Even more confusingly, at the time of the Imperial Simulacrum (near the end of the Third Age), a village existed at that spot, but under a different name - Lainalten: a village which itself disappeared from the map at some time during the next two hundred years, leaving the land barren once again. So, at least three villages or towns have existed on that spot, possibly more, and the first and last (at the very least) have been called Rorikstead - while at least one intervening one wasn't.

The most recent founder, of course, is a Rorik. The original founder, of course, was also a Rorik (its original name, from the earliest undated manuscript, refers to it as Rorik's Steading, which leaves no doubt about this.)

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What if... like the Spenard "dynasty" in Rivenspire - all the Roriks that have founded and re-founded Rorikstead upon the same spot are, in fact, one and the same very old vampire? And as his people farm the land, he "farms" them for his own sustenance... very carefully, a little at a time so that nobody dies or is turned, and possibly even by tacit arrangement.

Evidently he would have to be very disciplined about it, because no other vampires exist in the region, so he is not turning others into vampires. Nor have there been suspicious disappearances or deaths reported, which suggests he may have a Ravenwatch level of self-discipline. And he would have to be a master of illusion magic, to mask his appearance to appear as a normal human.

But of course, sometimes things go wrong. His nature gets revealed to the outside world, he is damned as a monster - perhaps over the years he became careless and lost his discipline, and actually became one - or maybe one of his "dinners" turned and became a vampire themselves, but lacked his self-discipline, and one vampire thus became two, then four, then more, with the old master taking the blame - and, eventually, he is put down and slain.

And the village cheers. The monster is dead, yay, ring the bells and dance and sing...

...And then things start to go wrong. Perhaps, without its protector, the rich lands become the target of another jarl's envy, or of raiders from the Reach, or a greater war passes over the land and leaves its population dead or fled. Or unseasonal local weather causes the crops to fail once too often, and people starve or move away. The land reverts back to its wild state, and to the technical ownership of the Jarl.

And then, years later, someone spills too much blood in the wrong place, either by accident or design, and the vampire Rorik returns from death to undeath. And, as he has done before, decides the best way to not be noticed is to pass for human as best he can, and set up a position where he can feed a little from many people without harming them, and preferably not create any more new vampires who will be competition for him. So he sets up a plot of land in the wilderness, gets into the service of whoever is the Jarl of Whiterun at this time, earns his support to re-found a village at what is apparently a very good site, honestly sire, can't think why there isn't one there already... And Rorikstead, too, is reborn. And the previous, long-abandoned town on the site gets lumped in with all the other previous ones, as "Old Rorikstead" as if they were one continuously-existing town.

On one occasion, while Rorik was still out of action, a Jarl of Whiterun saw the unoccupied land, and decided to found a town there himself. And, in a break with tradition, named it Lainalten. It became a thriving town for a while. But eventually it fell victim to the same issues that had bedevilled the Rorikstead(s) of the past, lacking the original founder and protector who *was* the land... And then, some years later, a man named Rorik made his name during the Great War (of course, a war is a perfect place for a vampire - he can feed himself by supping from the slain), and petitioned his jarl for the right to buy land. He has even acquired the perfect partner for his lifestyle: his friend Jouane Manette (are they "friends" or just friends? Will we ever know? Do we care? All we know is that he lives in Rorik's Manor) is a healer and master of restoration magic, so there will be no "accidents" since he can cure the local variant of vampirism (Sanguinare Vampiriis) before it sets in.