Vampires- Blue

"Rise, children of my mind, bearers of the soul of Z'hrat, creatures of boundless ambition. May you ever thirst for knowledge, and gather understanding and truth in the name of goodness and light." - The Oracle of Erudition to the first Blue vampires, pre-Year 0.
Blue vampires are undead creatures who feed off of the emotions and memories of the living.

Basic Information

Anatomy

All Blue vampires are bipedal humanoids. Although they're known to use illusion magic to change their appearances, a Blue's true form looks identical to the person it used to be.

Biological Traits

• All vampires are functionally immortal and will live until killed. They are capable of almost instant recovery from most injuries. Blues, thanks to their natural paranoia, are exceptionally difficult to kill. They have magically-enhanced strength and speed.
• All vampires are sensitive to sunlight and fire. Exposure to broad daylight will quickly cause overheating and severe skin burns. Due to this, they tend to live underground or in windowless homes, and naturally keep a nocturnal schedule.
• They feed off of mind magic. Vampires are similar to engines in that regard- they can function at near max capacity until they run out of "fuel," at which time they instantly revert to a dormant, deathlike state until fed.
• Similarly, contact with graveyard dirt will cause the vampire to fall dormant. 
• Like all magical beings, they are unable to cross thresholds without expressed permission from a resident.
• Blues are extremely skilled at mind magic, moreso than any mortal wizard.

Genetics and Reproduction

Very few Blue vampires exist, as they reproduce more slowly and thoughtfully than their Red cousins. Due to the ritualistic nature of their reproduction, it is impossible to turn a person on accident, and extremely difficult to do so without consent. The choice to change someone is normally informed by the will of the coven as a whole.
The transformation into a Blue is an extremely long and dangerous ritual, which requires careful torment of a living being until they relinquish their sense of self entirely. The old self is gradually siphoned away and replaced with a fragment of the vampire's magic and consciousness, a process which slowly and painfully kills the person.
About half of all transformation attempts fail. Most of the failed cases result in the young vampire never resurrecting, although, in rare circumstances, the body may continue to rot and deteriorate after resurrection.

Growth Rate & Stages

Regardless of the person's age at death, all vampires are considered fledglings for their first year. During this time, they must register with the Occult Tactical Response Unit and submit to careful monitoring. At this stage, as they adjust to their newfound hunger, they aren't considered fully in control of their actions, and their master takes full legal and social responsibility for training them to properly participate in society.
Blue vampires consider their offspring to be fledglings for their first five years, and juveniles for their first century.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Blue vampires are fueled by psychic energy, and so they must consume the memories and emotions of others to survive. Choosing to get nourishment from one person all at once is likely to kill or permanently disable their victim, so most prefer to blend into crowds of people to soak up energy from many people at once.

Biological Cycle

Fledgling and juvenile Blues are far more frivolous, energetic and mortal-like than their seniors. As time wears on, the constant sensing of the minds of the city often becomes overwhelming. This, combined with their natural urges to protect themselves and their hoard, causes them to generally grow more reclusive and paranoid with age.

Behaviour

• Blue vampires are generally smarter and more cautious than their Red cousins, as they're slightly weaker and fewer in number.
• The Oracle created Blues to function like immortal repositories of knowledge. Each one has a unique compulsion to hoard and catalog some sort of information, emotion, or item. The biochemical source of this compulsion is unknown, and it's impossible to predict which thing a fledgling will develop a passion for.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Blue vampires have formed into intergenerational covens, which function as family units for the purpose of protecting fledglings and sharing information. One example of this is Spider's coven, which leads the Shadowweavers.

Facial characteristics

In their natural forms, Blue vampires have dazzlingly bright turquoise eyes.

Average Intelligence

Blues can be extremely intelligent and analytical. Centuries of consuming minds causes them to be well-informed and uniquely skilled at predicting the behaviors of mortals.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Blue vampires have the same five senses as a normal human. In addition, they are extremely sensitive to the psychic energies that they feed off of, and describe the sensing of this energy as something halfway between smell and taste.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Upon reanimation, fledgling vampires choose their own name, typically a simple noun or adjective. This is known as the vampire's "soul name," as it usually reflects something deeply important to the new vampire's muddled, hybrid mind, and it serves as a mental and spiritual anchor point during their development.

Gender Ideals

Due to the melding of minds involved in the transformation process, Blue vampires are far more likely to identify as multigender or genderfluid, compared to the rest of New Z'hrat's population.

Courtship Ideals

Because vampires don't reproduce sexually, they're free to pursue any consenting partner (or partners) they'd like without judgement from the coven. This can include relationships between individuals from the same coven, which outsiders often tend to view as gross or inappropriate.
Vampires are immortal, so they do not mate for life, but even after a breakup, it's not uncommon for the Blue to remain close lifetime friends with their partners.

Common Taboos

Blues lie all the time, except to other Blues. They tend to be blunt with each other, because there's no point in trying to conceal your intentions from a person who can smell them. Lying to a Blue is seen as disrespectful and patronizing.

History

• The Oracle of Erudition created the first ancient vampires at the founding of the world.
• Early scholars of mind magic learned their craft by studying Blue vampires.
• The first fledgling Blue was Huntsman, turned by Spider in Year 1109.
• When mind magic, and therefore Blue reproduction, was made illegal, the Reds saw an opportunity to subjugate their cousins. This resulted in about a hundred days of behind-the-scenes war unbeknownst to most historians. One ancient Blue and one ancient Red, along with about twenty Red juveniles, died, and the conflict was considered a tie.
• After the Serpentine War, the coven which would eventually be known as the Shadowweavers assassinated the Oracle of Erudition.

Historical Figures

• The Oracle of Erudition, god of knowledge and creator of vampires (deceased)
• Spider, Malice, and two siblings (one decreased).
• Huntsman, first transformed Blue.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

• Blues, like all immortals, are a respected group among New Z'hrat's supernatural community. They tend towards neutrality in conflict, but make for skilled strategists and powerful enemies when they do get involved.
• They have a long history of conflict and clashes with Red vampires.
• The intense magic in a Blue's den tends to seep out and "stain" the area surrounding it. People and animals that live nearby are affected, and may behave irrationally. Due to this magic, Blues have a deep symbiotic relationship with their territory, which only grows larger and stronger the longer a Blue nests in one place.

Average Physique

Vampires' true form is the same as their former bodies. However, the ancient Blue vampires (created directly by the Oracle and thus have no former bodies) are about seven feet tall and unnaturally lanky and flexible.

Related Organizations

• The Shadowweavers