Vampire
Hunters of the Night
A vampire is a supernatural being that lives off the blood of living creatures. They generally feed only at night due to their weakness in sunlight. They all typically can shape change into an animal, whether a bat, a dog, a cat, a raven, or an owl. Vampires have super strength, agility, speed, and senses and, depending on their age, can hypnotize or control the minds of their victims.
Vampires are cursed, undead beings feared by the living, though some vampires believe their curse to be a blessing. Whether they consider themselves cursed or blessed or give in to their instincts, they are deemed unnatural abominations by some.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Vampires are distinct from mortals; their skin is typically pale and cold. Their facial features are sharp, with shallow cheeks and narrow chins. They possess four sharp teeth -- two upper fangs and two lower, smaller fangs. Their eyes are cold and distant, yet somehow brighter and more pronounced in color.
They do not age physically and do not require oxygen, water, or food. They take on an otherworldly beauty that is both haunting and enticing, which allows them to lure in their prey. They do not have a heartbeat and can only obtain body heat temporarily by drinking heavily on their victim's blood.
A vampire's body contains the feral nature of the curse, and as the vampire ages, its skin transforms from sickly pale to ethereal. A newborn vampire's skin is pale yellow until its circulation slows into the pale skin most commonly seen on vampires. Their skin is also highly reactive to certain elements, namely silver, mercury, oak, hawthorn, and UV rays.
The hair and nails of a vampire stop growing immediately upon their undeath. Their nails become retractable, and a vampire will keep them sharpened into claws to use as an extra weapon. If a vampire cuts their hair, it will always grow back by the next night.
A vampire's upper canines are also retractable and are often elongated only to feed. A vampire typically uses only its upper fangs on pets and victims they don't intend to kill. The lower fangs of a vampire prevent blood clotting upon biting the victim, so even if the vampire doesn't kill them by biting down, the victim will more assuredly die of extreme blood loss. However, a vampire can seal the victim's wound by pricking their finger and closing it with magically induced blood.
All vampires have powerful eyes that can see perfectly day and night and irises equipped to adjust to both. The color of the irises is typically a brighter version of their mortal eye color, with flecks of blood seen in older vampires. Some vampires' eyes become fully blooded, depending on how often and how much they drink, so they appear red. Vampire tears are always red as they are made of blood.
Vampires possess enhanced sight and smell. They can hear a mortal heartbeat from miles away and smell and hear the blood flowing through their bodies. They have extrasensory perception and can sense presence through the heat spectrum or psionic means. They can see beyond the typical range to an almost microscopic enhancement. They have an enhanced taste for blood, like sweet nectar, but they have lost all taste for regular food and drink as it tastes like sand.
A vampire's sense of the taste of blood is so strong that a vampire can determine what race the mortal is, how old they are, their gender, diet, and the presence of chemicals -- drugs, hormones, liquor. When drinking from a drunk mortal, not only can they, too, get drunk off of the blood of said mortal, but they can even determine the type of liquor and its vintage. Their other senses are also heightened and more sensitive to touch and heat. Vampires crave the touch of the living to experience the sensuality of contact and the warmth of their bodies, but often, their bloodlust prevents them from getting too close. A vampire cannot feel cold or pain from mundane weapons.
A vampire's respiratory system is much stronger than a human's, and since they do not need to breathe, they cannot be drowned. They cannot contract diseases and are not susceptible to standard poisons. Their heart does not beat; their blood flows via their souls.
Genetics and Reproduction
A vampire can create a new vampire by exchange of blood. The vampire feeds off of the mortal to the point of near death. When they sense the heartbeat has slowed enough, they tear open their flesh and offer their blood to the dying mortal, who must then willingly drink it.
Once enough blood has been fed, the vampire pulls away and allows the mortal to begin the painful transition of death and rebirth. The vampire's cursed blood reanimates the mortal's naturally dead form, and they are reborn as a new vampire. If a mortal dies within 24 hours of ingesting cursed blood, they will also transform into a vampire; however, a vampire's blood has regenerative properties and will more than likely revive an injured human and make them bloodbound than turn them. A vampire can also turn demons into vampires, especially succubi and incubi. If the demon tries to draw from a vampire's soul energy, the curse will latch onto the demon's soul and begin turning them into a vampire, with or without blood. Once the vampire's soul energy has latched onto a feeding demon, the demon cannot escape its fate unless it is significantly stronger than the vampire. Male vampires can also create dhampyr (half-vampires) by copulating with a mortal female and manipulating the cells.
Once enough blood has been fed, the vampire pulls away and allows the mortal to begin the painful transition of death and rebirth. The vampire's cursed blood reanimates the mortal's naturally dead form, and they are reborn as a new vampire. If a mortal dies within 24 hours of ingesting cursed blood, they will also transform into a vampire; however, a vampire's blood has regenerative properties and will more than likely revive an injured human and make them bloodbound than turn them. A vampire can also turn demons into vampires, especially succubi and incubi. If the demon tries to draw from a vampire's soul energy, the curse will latch onto the demon's soul and begin turning them into a vampire, with or without blood. Once the vampire's soul energy has latched onto a feeding demon, the demon cannot escape its fate unless it is significantly stronger than the vampire. Male vampires can also create dhampyr (half-vampires) by copulating with a mortal female and manipulating the cells.
Growth Rate & Stages
Newborn: Newly turned vampires. They are highly unstable due to their heightened senses and uncontrollable need to feed.
Fledgling: A young vampire who is still learning how to control their thirst and only feed when necessary, as well as not kill their victims. They are highly susceptible to the sun and will turn to ash immediately if they go into the sun. Can be killed by a stake or silver.
Elder: Mature vampires who have full control of their urges. Stakes only paralyze them and the sun will typically slowly burn them alive. Silver can kill them if they do not cleanse themselves with mortal blood within a night.
Ancient: The oldest of vampires, typically thousands of years old and usually first or second generation removed from the First Vampire. They can still be killed by the sun, Silver only slows them down and makes them incredibly weak, but they can still die if a silver blade removes their head.
Dietary Needs and Habits
A vampire's digestive system is built only for blood, as ordinary food and drink will make a vampire feel sick. They have an unnatural, insatiable need for blood that drives them to seek out prey.
They prefer human blood, which gives them better nutrients and tastes better than animal blood. However, they will drink animal blood in a pinch. They do not need blood to stay alive, but without it, they would become weak and feral, unable to control their urges.
Behaviour
A vampire slowly becomes detached from all mortal ties as it becomes a hunter of its former race. Young vampires can still feel love and attachment, but they distance themselves from society as they age. A vampire rarely finds love in a mortal, and when they do, they tend to bring those mortals over to their side, turning them into their blood children.
A vampire can make its bite as pleasurable or painful as they choose, but they are typically incredibly sensual and sexual creatures. Therefore, some mortals seek the pleasure of a vampire, and both vampires and mortals will find a different emotional attachment from the experience. Vampires will more often than not use these mortals to handle their daytime affairs in exchange for becoming a pet of sorts, a mortal who is used as food and pleasure but is never killed.
Vampires can have sex and take great pleasure in it, but unless they learn the art of cell manipulation, they cannot reproduce. This allows a vampire to take its pleasure wherever and whenever they want, without risk of childbirth or disease. They take great joy in combining the art of feeding and sensual pleasure, even if their victim does not survive the encounter.
Additional Information
Social Structure
Most vampires are typically solitary creatures, their bloodlust preventing them from forming mortal attachments. They tend to wander from place to place, hunting for some time before moving on to avoid suspicion.
Some vampires form small social structures known as covens, which usually consist of a vampire and his direct blood children and mortals who have become their pets, both bloodbound and not. Those that form covens may decide to stay in one place for a while since pets allow them to have a constant source of food, allowing the vampire to keep from hunting for some time.
A pet is a mortal who has either chosen or forced into the servitude of their vampire master. They provide the vampire with a constant source of food, and in exchange, the vampire will provide the pet with sensual and sexual experiences during feeding. Many pets are also pampered and provided with luxurious accommodations where they protect their vampire master and conduct their daytime affairs. Bloodbound pets are closer to enslaved peoples and zealously serve their master through the vampire's whims or even to their deaths.
Not all pets are treated with reverence, especially bloodbound ones. Some are treated like the slaves and animals that vampires believe them to be.
Despite this, vampires have built a set of rules within their society to protect their mortal pets from the whims of another vampire:
- No vampire can touch another vampire's pet without their master's permission, including consensual intimacy.
- A pet cannot speak back to another vampire except that an elder vampire's pet can speak without permission to a fledgling vampire.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
Vampires originated in Eastern Galea but can now be found all over the world of Erde.
Average Intelligence
Vampires are highly intelligent hunters, utilizing their skills to stalk and seduce their victims before drinking their blood.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Abilities
Superhuman Strength: Vampires possess a superior physical strength compared to mortals. A vampire can lift a mortal adult male single-handedly and throw them across the room. As a vampire ages, their strength increases. Superhuman Speed: Vampires can move quicker than a mortal eye can track. They can dodge bullets and react with unnatural quickness to any threat. They are slightly faster than werewolves. They are so quick that mortals tend to think they can teleport. Superhuman Stamina: Vampires can move quickly for long periods and do not tire easily. They do not need to sleep or need oxygen or food. Superhuman Agility: Vampires can jump further than any mortal, from rooftop to rooftop or building. Their reactions are so quick they can dodge a bullet from only a few feet away. Superhuman Durability: Vampires cannot be slain by conventional weapons (guns, blades, or lesser spells), nor can they feel pain from such attacks. Only a silver blade could harm them. They are immune to cold and poison and heal instantly when blood is present. Superhuman Senses: Vampire's senses of sight, smell, hearing, and touch are supernaturally heightened. They can see in perfect clarity in total darkness and sense a mortal's body heat. Their hearing is similar to an owl's; they can hear a spider's web being built from a distance. Their sense of smell is acute, like a wolf or dog, and they can track their prey for miles using scent alone or tell individual people apart based on their blood or body odor. Their sense of touch is heightened enough to catch the vibrations of a hunter's footsteps or feel a heartbeat through a wall. In addition to heightened senses, they also have a preternatural sense of being able to sense the life force of mortals through their hearts or blood. Healing: Vampires have regeneration and can recover from injuries that would incapacitate or kill a mortal. They cannot be killed by poison, suffocation, extreme cold, aging, drowning, or disease. Immortality: A vampire never ages and cannot die of natural causes. Their healing factors allow them to regenerate wounds and injuries. Hypnosis/Mind-Control: A vampire can hypnotize a mortal to their will with eye contact and speech if the mortal's will is weak. The older the vampire, the greater this power is. Suppose a mortal drinks a vampire's blood without being drained to an inch of their life prior. In that case, the vampire's blood will mix with theirs and instead make them Bloodbound to the vampire, enslaving them to the vampire's will and becoming obedient to the point of being willing to sacrifice anything and everything for their master. Shapeshifting: Vampires can shift into the form of a bat, cat, dog, rat, raven, or owl. Telepathy: Vampires can read the surface thoughts of mortals, and older vampires can read the minds of younger, weaker vampires. Vampires can also communicate with each other through their minds. Flight: Older vampires can see wind currents and manipulate their steps to walk through the air at incredible speeds, simulating flight. Blood Enhancements: Some supernatural races will provide a vampire with another temporary aspect when their blood is drunk. For example, the blood of Celestials will give a vampire temporary immunity to silver and holy items, and the werewolf's blood increases aggression and bloodlust.Weaknesses
Silver: The touch of silver burns a vampire's skin. Liquid silver injected into a young vampire will kill them but will merely slow down the supernatural abilities of an elder vampire, rendering them with mortal senses. Any silver weapon used to decapitate a vampire can kill it, no matter the age. Religious Iconography: As vampirism was originally a curse induced by the gods, sacred and holy implements will burn the vampire, and holy symbols may halt a vampire in place. Sunlight: All vampires will die when exposed to direct sunlight. The vampire's age determines how long the sun burns them to death. If an elder vampire can escape the sun fast enough, they will be severely injured until they can feed on mortal blood again. Stake: A stake run into a vampire will paralyze it. If made with silver, it will kill the vampire when it's run into the heart. Exsanguination: Any vampire entirely drained of its blood will go into a coma and eventually die. Fire: Fire and fire magic are extremely painful to a vampire, but depending on the severity of the burns, they can likely survive fire with time and blood. Starvation: Vampires can become sick and weak if they go a long time without feeding, but this generally does not happen because the bloodlust causes a frenzy that forces them to seek out sustenance wildly. Dead Man's Blood: The blood of a recently deceased mortal can make a vampire very ill and incapacitate them.Civilization and Culture
Naming Traditions
Vampires typically keep the names of the mortal society in which they came from.
Major Organizations
- Ville de Sang Coven
- Altreides Coven
Major Language Groups and Dialects
Due to their psionic natures and the abilities they gain through drinking blood, vampires can speak any language of any mortal they drink from.
History
The first vampire was the son of the god of death, a half-mortal named Donatien Sanerae. Disenchanted with his father's stand on life and dismayed that as the son of a god, he would never be able to become an Ormandyr or dragon rider, despite his noble birth, he and his best friend Faolan forced a bond with some of Orm's children. They then used that bond to control the great dragons against their will to challenge the gods directly.
This challenge angered Orm and The Three, and though it pained Jul Cassan to punish his son, his transgressions against the gods and the blessed dragons they had allowed to bond with the Erulaeren were too severe to be ignored.
The god of death, Jul Cassan, cursed Donatien never to die but never live again, his bloodlust sated by only drinking the blood of others
The god of time, Norne, cursed the Donatien to lose all mortal attachments over time and to never rejoin living society as one of them.
The goddess of life and the sun, Anka, cursed the Donatien never to be allowed to see the sun again. To ensure that Donatien and Faolan could never work together again, the gods gave Faolan the curse of the first werewolf. They made them bitter blood enemies, never able to look upon each other without wanting to kill each other. The house of Donatien's mother shunned him for what he had become, and he was forced to leave home when the bloodlust became too great to stay near his community. Alone, he wandered, submitting to the bloodlust repeatedly, trying to learn not to kill his victims and seeking companionship. It was only by accident that he made the first vampire. He had drained yet another victim without wanting to and thought that he might revive this victim since his blood could regenerate. It succeeded, turning the mortal into a fledgling, but the mortal was so horrified by what he had become he fled Donatien, fled their blood bond, and Donatien later discovered that the fledgling had died in the sun. Still, knowing the secret to making more of himself, he started making others. Some fell to the same fate as the first fledgling, but some survived, and he taught them how to live. Unfortunately, all turned at this time hated him for what he had done and eventually left him. They would go on to make more vampires whom he would encounter in his wanderings, but vampires remained the solitary creatures they were cursed to be. It wasn't until millennia later that he discovered a young human woman named Aleksa. By this time, he had grown enough in power that he was able to control his bloodlust and stay closer to cities. He found the pleasures in his heightened senses and the erotic dance of the drink. Aleksa was as charmed by him as he was with her and saw himself returning to her repeatedly. He started to learn the intimacy of what would today be known as a blood doll, a mortal used solely for the drink without the ties of a pet, and he grew to love her in a way only a vampire can. She, too, had become fascinated by him, by his nature. She had heard nothing but horror stories of vampires, ruthless killers of the night who hunt mortals like animals. But Donatien was different to her, nothing like what she expected, and she fell in love with him. She knew, however, that they would not be able to be together forever, for he could not live in society, and her life was too short for him. Donatien decided to offer her eternal life, to share in his immortality as his child. At first, Aleksa was hesitant to shed her mortal life, but her life outside of Donatien was cruel and sad, so eventually, she chose to go through with it. Donatien took her to a secluded place, and with all that they had learned of the pleasures of the blood, they spent the night in sensual passion, ending with Donatien bringing her to the cusp of death before bringing her back with his blood. The act of this transformation formed a much stronger bond between sire and child than had ever previously come before. Donatien did everything he could to show her how to live as a vampire. And Aleksa was an eager student, reborn with new eyes and a new outlook on life. Together, they left the community to wander, hunting with renewed vigor. The vampire community slowly learned of these bonds, and as it grew, the society of vampires formed new ways to forge bonds through children, Blood Dolls, and pets. Detached as they were from everyday life for centuries, by the time the gods had left the Material Realm for their planar homes, the vampires had learned to break the loneliness of the curse and grow into the creatures they are known as today.
The god of time, Norne, cursed the Donatien to lose all mortal attachments over time and to never rejoin living society as one of them.
The goddess of life and the sun, Anka, cursed the Donatien never to be allowed to see the sun again. To ensure that Donatien and Faolan could never work together again, the gods gave Faolan the curse of the first werewolf. They made them bitter blood enemies, never able to look upon each other without wanting to kill each other. The house of Donatien's mother shunned him for what he had become, and he was forced to leave home when the bloodlust became too great to stay near his community. Alone, he wandered, submitting to the bloodlust repeatedly, trying to learn not to kill his victims and seeking companionship. It was only by accident that he made the first vampire. He had drained yet another victim without wanting to and thought that he might revive this victim since his blood could regenerate. It succeeded, turning the mortal into a fledgling, but the mortal was so horrified by what he had become he fled Donatien, fled their blood bond, and Donatien later discovered that the fledgling had died in the sun. Still, knowing the secret to making more of himself, he started making others. Some fell to the same fate as the first fledgling, but some survived, and he taught them how to live. Unfortunately, all turned at this time hated him for what he had done and eventually left him. They would go on to make more vampires whom he would encounter in his wanderings, but vampires remained the solitary creatures they were cursed to be. It wasn't until millennia later that he discovered a young human woman named Aleksa. By this time, he had grown enough in power that he was able to control his bloodlust and stay closer to cities. He found the pleasures in his heightened senses and the erotic dance of the drink. Aleksa was as charmed by him as he was with her and saw himself returning to her repeatedly. He started to learn the intimacy of what would today be known as a blood doll, a mortal used solely for the drink without the ties of a pet, and he grew to love her in a way only a vampire can. She, too, had become fascinated by him, by his nature. She had heard nothing but horror stories of vampires, ruthless killers of the night who hunt mortals like animals. But Donatien was different to her, nothing like what she expected, and she fell in love with him. She knew, however, that they would not be able to be together forever, for he could not live in society, and her life was too short for him. Donatien decided to offer her eternal life, to share in his immortality as his child. At first, Aleksa was hesitant to shed her mortal life, but her life outside of Donatien was cruel and sad, so eventually, she chose to go through with it. Donatien took her to a secluded place, and with all that they had learned of the pleasures of the blood, they spent the night in sensual passion, ending with Donatien bringing her to the cusp of death before bringing her back with his blood. The act of this transformation formed a much stronger bond between sire and child than had ever previously come before. Donatien did everything he could to show her how to live as a vampire. And Aleksa was an eager student, reborn with new eyes and a new outlook on life. Together, they left the community to wander, hunting with renewed vigor. The vampire community slowly learned of these bonds, and as it grew, the society of vampires formed new ways to forge bonds through children, Blood Dolls, and pets. Detached as they were from everyday life for centuries, by the time the gods had left the Material Realm for their planar homes, the vampires had learned to break the loneliness of the curse and grow into the creatures they are known as today.
Historical Figures
- Donatien Victoire - Father of Vampires and son of the god of Death
- Entreri Lestat Vaeonis Taele - Former Queen of Leidrin
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
As sensual and sexual creatures, they will seduce any sort of humanoid, however their detachment to the mortal world causes them to rarely form any lasting attachments.
