Vampire biology

Once bitten...

A vampire turned another vampire by having them drink their blood. This can happen willingly or unwillingly. Once vampires are turned, they are forever the age they were turned at.

The transformation process is excruciating, the poor humans being turned often passing out from the pain. If the vampire was turned by a vampire who was a first-generation vampire (meaning, the vampire was turned by a demon, instead of another vampire), the gums suddenly push out the canines already in the mouth. A pair of sharp fangs, anywhere from 13-19mm, grow where the old teeth once were. First and second-generation vampires also have a forked tongue. This process takes place in only a matter of seconds. The process of a vampire who isn't turned by a first-generation vampire is similar, but instead of just losing the canines, they lose all their teeth. All the teeth are replaced by jagged fangs made to tear apart meat.

If the newly turned vampire has any food in its system at the point of being turned, the body purges the food, having no more use for it. The enzymes and bacteria of the digestive system die off as the blood the vampire blood the human had drank hits them, being replaced by proteases, an enzyme that can only digest protein. As the vampire adjusts to its new diet of blood, they will develop the bacteria in their digestive system made for digesting blood.

The vampire will interant the eye color of the vampire who turned them. Almost always, this is red, with rare exceptinos like The Children of Dionysus, or in Clara Oculus.

Newly turned vampire senses are about as heightened as they will ever be. As the body adjusts to its new abilities, everything goes into overdrive; the senses pick up everything, leading to intense sensory overload. This gets better with time.

The transformation process burns through the body's glycogen storage; as a result, once the pain is over, the first thing a vampire will experience is intense hunger. This often leads the newly turned vampire to lash out mindlessly, unable to control themselves as this new hunger, accompanied by new instincts, takes over. As the vampire adjusts, this too becomes easier to manage.

Those born into power...

Vampires born as vampires age at the same rate as a human child; there are apparent differences; they have fangs, drink blood, and have the enhanced senses associated with other vampires, but their development is almost identical to human children. Whenever a vampire reaches around the age of 25, it will cease to age whenever the brain finishes developing. They will stay at this age until the day they are killed.

Time to feed...

Vampires need blood to not only survive but also to stay sane. Optimally, they should eat once per day, about one pint of blood at a minimum. There is no upper limit on how much a vampire can drink. Drinking more blood is associated with more power. After about five days without food, the vampire will start to lose themselves, experiencing blackouts where they will try to pounce at anything perceived as prey. These blackouts are short, and a vampire can snap themselves out of it with enough willpower. Once at seven days, things get significantly worse. The vampires grow more animalistic, often feeling like they are losing control of their bodies and watching it from afar. Anything with a heartbeat, a vampire will pounce at and try to drain all the blood of the prey. At ten days, the vampire grows very weak and has zero resemblance to the person they once were. They attack anything in sight, with no memory of what is happening. They growl, pounce, and behave like wild animals. They will die if they don't get anything to drink shortly after this.

Vampires can drink various types of blood; this includes animal blood, human blood, and even the blood of other vampires. The following are ranked from the most nutritious to least nutritious:

1. Human blood
2. Vampire blood
3. Blood of were-animals
4. Blood of other mamals
5. The blood of fish, birds, etc.

A vampire can somewhat live on vampire blood or were-animal blood; however, they are at risk of developing some nutritional deficiencies. All vampires need to drink human blood occasionally.

All vampires have the glycoprotein draculin in their saliva, which prevents blood clotting while the vampire is drinking. This trait is helpful for first and second-generation vampires who can use it to keep the blood flowing from the wound from clotting. However, it is useless for third-generation vampires or lower since their teeth can easily rip apart flesh. They do keep this trait as an evolutionary leftover.

As the generations go by...

A first-generation vampire is a vampire turned by a demon instead of another vampire. They still go through the transformation process like other vampires. A second-generation is a vampire who was turned by the first-generation vampire, and so on. Vampires who were born that way use the same system. A second-generation vampire's child will be a third-generation vampire

Some first-generation vampires will be granted extra abilities by their demons. These can be things such as the ability to induce insanity like with Dionysus, or the ability to use create shadows that you can bend to your will like with Hades. These abilities fade as the generations go on; some abilities fade faster than others. The most powerful traits are associated with The Children of Dionysus, which are present up to five generations in. The abilities of other vampires like Hades fade much quicker, almost entirely gone by the second-generation, and completely gone third-generation and onward.

How to kill the unkillable...

As a tradeoff for vampires' incredible powers, they also develop many weaknesses. Their weaknesses are as follows:

• Silver. This is especially dangerous in the form of silver weapons. If a weapon of silver breaks a vampire's skin, burns and bad scarring will occur. Even if a piece of silver doesn't break the skin, it will still leave burns where it touches the skin, and if it stays there long enough, it will eat away at the skin. Drinking colloidal silver is fatal and is a common assassination strategy.
• sunlight. Though not as dangerous to vampires as in most mythos, sunlight induces intense headaches and migraines. During these headaches, vampires are significantly weaker.
• Damage to the heart. If it would destroy a human's heart, it'll kill a vampire.
• Plants from the Amaryllidaceae family have properties that induce headaches and sensory overload in vampires. The Amaryllidaceae includes garlic, onions, and some flowers.
• Christian symbols, such as crosses. Like silver, these objects will leave burns and scars upon contact.

Other methods can still kill vampires, but they are tougher than humans.

When the dead show their face...

Vampires look like humans for the most part, except for having fangs, abnormally colored eyes, and being paler than humans. With enough effort, they can pass as humans.