Limax Vampirism

== Overview ==
Limax Vampirism is a form of Vampirism endemic to Welt, it is distinctive for not being a viral, bacterial or curse based form of vampirism. Limax Vampirism is caused by the infection of Hemo Slugs, a parasitic near microscopic slug organism invading a host's body. 
The other races can contract Limax vampirism and have their own distinctive traits that differ from the Dalmer version of Limax vampirism. 
Limax Vapirism is considered one of the most prolific versions of vampirism found on Welt. 
== Hemo Slug ==
The Hemo Slug is a parasitic organism that is transferred from organism to organism by bites. The slug is a hemophage and feeds off the blood of its victims, once inside the organism the host body goes into a state of shock and the heart stops beating while the slugs feed off blood. The slug infection stops the lungs from working, whose role is replaced by the hemo slug. 
Once the slug has fed sufficiently it dispenses oxygen and stem cells around it, allowing the muscles to work and repair themselves from injury, but most internal organs save those affecting perception stop working altogether. With this method the host body keeps acting alive thanks to the slugs in the organism that dispense oxygen to the muscles allowing a form of semi life. The caveat is that since the slugs feed off the hosts blood that is no longer produced by the host body, the host must find a fresh source of blood.
=== Reproduction ===
Only neck bites from hemo slug infected victim seems to cause vampirism, as the slugs affect the brain before the immunitary systems responds to destroy the slugs, and the neck has the richest blood of the organism, which the slugs prefer. 
Bites elsewhere than the neck do not give vampirism. Bites to the head are ineffective as the flesh around the skull is too thin to support the slugs.
The slugs reproduce and lay their eggs in the buccal mucous to facilitate transfer of the newborn slugs into the next host. 
Living beings infected with vampirism can bite each other, but this serves no real purpose as they have little blood to feed the next generation of Hemo slugs. Worse, hemo slugs are not social creatures and will fight each other in the host body. This causes severe allergic reactions due to the hemo slugs fighting each other and is considered vampiric cancer. This is why vampires have an unspoken rule against interspecies biting. 
== Natural abilities ==
Cheetah effect: Vampires are quicker and more agile than their peers of the same species, however their stamina is also shorter than normal. 
Mosquito sense: allows vampires to find similar blood types
Snake smell: Vampires can “taste” their surroundings for prey
Deathrage pheromone: when a member of a species is angered it emits a pheromone that enrages nearby specimens of that species.
Necrosing fangs: Vampire teeth stop healing processes, they necrose tissue and blood of whatever they are inside. This makes vampires biting themselves a permanent hazard.
Pressure healing: Vampires don’t regrow body parts, they reattach with pressure, however injuries made to vampires related to radiation remain intact.
Semi Corpselessness: Upon death vampires crumble into dust. The dust is usually bartered by vampire hunters as proof of success along with the vampires effects.
== Lifestyle abilities ==
Vampire abilities are conditioned to the environmental factors and lifestyles they choose to follow. Below if a table explaining the extremes of both sides of a particular lifestyle.
Input 	Excess 	Lack
Same species Blood	Strength, durability, healing factor 	Powers of the Fast, skeletal appearance and constitution
Animal Blood 	Feralism, Animal senses, speech impediments, quadrupedalism 	Cognisance, healthy appearance, less at risk of rabies
Sunlight 	Sun death 	Stealth
Rest 	Soul flight, telepathy, skeletal appearance and constitution	Charisma
=== Abilities ===
==== Same species blood ====
Vampires that are well fed in same species blood will see an increase in muscle mass, durability, and quicker healing abilities due to the hemo slugs being able to reproduce faster. However the increase of hemo slugs in the organism means that they will not produce thaums.
==== Feralism ====
Vampires that are well fed in animal blood will see their social abilities impaired to the point of feralism. Ferality is caused by drinking an animal blood type; as animal blood is toxic and can lead to feralism.
Ferality causes animalism, distortion in the voice, abnormal teeth arrangement and growth, and slouched walking that invariably ends in quadrupedalism.
Returning from ferality is possible by ascending the “social ladder” ie. feeding off better food sources. 
There is no particular benefit to never feeding off animal blood for vampires, as this is considered regular behavior. It is not uncommon for vampires to never feed off animals in their afterlife.
==== Powers of the Fast ====
In some cases, when the host does not feed for an extended period of time, the out of blood Hemo slugs replaces blood with thaums, which give incredible powers to aid the host to find blood. It is common practice for the more resilient of vampires to exploit this feature by refusing to feed to gain supplementary powers. These include electrokinesis, hypnotism, cryokinesis, and aerokinesis.
Fasting is taxing for the vampire however, as some go insane from lack of feeding over long periods of time, some simply go comatose, unable to awaken from their food deprived state. 
==== Sun exposition abilities ====
The less vampires are exposed to UV lights, the stealthier they are, however the more they are exposed the more they risk sundeath and burns. Rest related abilities
Rest isn’t natural to vampires as their metabolism simply keeps going as long as they supply the hemo slugs with fresh blood.
The more a vampire rests, the more immaterial abilities they gain, such as telekinesis, lesser vampire dominance, and necromancy.
=== Weaknesses ===
Cheetah Effect: Vampire hearts are weaker due to hemo slugs being less apt at distributing oxygen than the heart, as such vampires are quicker and more agile than their pre vampiric selves but have shorter stamina, this is known as the cheetah effect.
Sundeath: Vampires are susceptible to UV rays, which can cause sundeath, the relation between sundeath and the weakness exhibited by bearded dragons is unknown. 
Rabies: There exists a form of vampiric rabies where an affected vampire will actively seek to bite other vampirism afflicted creatures. This is thought to be brought upon by vampires who drink, smoke and use drugs. 
Rain: Vampires senses are dampened in the presence of rain. As such, vampires detest water in general. 
Society: Since vampires cannot go outside when the sun is out or when there is rain, they are ignorant of most social cues and behaviors outside the nightlife. 
== Reversal ==
Just as certain individuals are natural born vampires, certain individuals are born with a natural deterrent against vampirism, in the form of blood with the ability to revert a vampire to its original self. These individuals also have the ability to heal quickly. Imperialistic Vampires or those too old to survive reversal effectively hunt down these individuals to continue to proliferate their kind. 
Reversal causes blood allergy in the vampire who will throw up the slugs in its system, becoming normal again.
Reversal blood acts as a vaccine for 5 years from vampirism, the quantity necessary to reverse a vampire depend on the vampires mass, age, and time since feeding. Vampires that undergo reversal maintain adrenaline surges of violence, depression and their affinity (but no longer a need) for blood. Sometimes reversed vampires maintain UV sensitivity, but completely lose their blood thirst. Reversal blood tastes like death to vampires.
Reversal blood takes time to regenerate, hence those who produce it tend to need to sleep for years to recover from a transfusion.
Reversal blood can be incredibly toxic if ill used, if a reversal bites a vampire, the vampire will die, however if the vampire bites the reversed individual, it will turn back to its pre vampire form.
It is unknown if reversal is caused by a similar type of slug or other parasitic life forms.
==Slug infection==
Linked to limax vampirism. Leads to the regurgitation of slugs. 
Category:Conditions
Category:Vampirism
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