Vampirism
An unfortunately misunderstood illness that's often traumatic for those who have it.
Transmission & Vectors
Contrary to popular human beliefs, vampirism is not contagious, but entirely genetic; generally hereditary, but can be caused by spontaneous mutation.
Causes
One can only get it by both having two copies of the recessive gene and being born a supernatural. It's generally evident in early childhood that a child has the condition, sometimes even at birth (i.e., if the child is born featureless, in the case of changelings) or during pregnancy (i.e., if the mother is constantly, inexplicably cold, in the case of yuki-onnas).
Symptoms
The type of vampirism will be determined by how the gene interacts with the patient's magitype. Yuki-onna, for example, as users of ice magic, need to feed off of the body heat and life force of others or they will freeze to death, themselves. Changelings are what happens when shape-shifting magic reacts so severely to the vampirism gene that the victim must take on the appearance and memories of another or they could simply blink out of existence.
Treatment
The most common way to subdue the condition's effects is for the effected person to consume only a little of what they need from many people.
Prognosis
Those with the condition often have shorter lifespans because of either not being able to get enough of whatever they need or overdoing it and being put to death as punishment (or, unfortunately, simply out of fear of them). With proper support, however, they can live just as long as any other supernatural without causing those around them noticeable problems.
Cultural Reception
There's a lot of stigma against the condition, with humans pretty universally using its victims as scary bedtime stories and some supernaturals thinking they shouldn't be allowed to reproduce or even mingle with the rest of society. As a result, most do their darndest to keep their condition a secret even from other supernaturals.
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