Porcelain Vampires

Porcelain vampires are a species of insect-like vampiric monsters notable for the porcelain texture of their hosts' skin as the infection responsible for their condition advances.

They are perhaps the most feared of Xaxalin's native vampires, infecting only children and often clever enough to pose as such in order to win the trust of those around them.

## Life Cycle

The porcelain vampire has a complex life cycle, alternating between egg, larval, and adult forms multiple times throughout its lifespan.

### Initial Infection

Each cycle begins in the form of a small, winged, insect-like creature, the 'Beelrik.' Its needle-like nose is similar to that of a mosquito, but instead of merely siphoning blood through its snout, this creature burrows directly into the host's flesh. From there, it worms its way toward the victim's brain. On reaching the blood-brain barrier, its entire body dissolves, releasing a small sack of eggs and the worm-like tendrils with which it will overtake the victim's mind.

Unlike many species of vampires, the porcelain vampire is only capable of infecting those with underdeveloped immune systems, and so by its nature prefers children to adolescent or adult victims. If a child is exposed to the 'bite' of a porcelain vampire at this stage, it will shortly exhibit the symptoms of a mild fever. The illness will seem to pass as soon as the vampire's parasitic threads have stripped the child's brain of its senses of compassion, generosity, and all else that would compel it toward decency. By contrast, the child's natural predilection for cruelty and deceit are enhanced.

### Parasitization and Larval Gestation

If the child was infested by a standard Beelrik, it will likely be completely unaware of what had happened to it until its first hunger pangs begin to strike. These can take up to a month to surface, from the moment of 'resurrection.' These pangs are caused by the biopsionic activity of the larvae currently inhabiting the child's brain. These larvae, called 'Meelriks,' instinctively manipulate their host's brain to seek out the nourishment that will allow them to grow. They do this by compelling their host, now devoid of all goodwill, to seek out blood and pain.

What happens next largely depends on three things: First, the familiarity of the host's community with the nature and symptoms of porcelain vampirism; two, the strength of will of the host's family; and three, the parasite's own awareness of itself.

Most Beelriks have no consciousness of their origins, and live solely on instinct until they infect their host. In this case, the host will proceed with its life unaware of any intrusion into its mind. It may find these newfound urges to hurt people surprising, though not necessarily in an unduly way. It will proceed with the innocent naivete of any child, no more aware than any child would be that these impulses are neither normal nor tolerated by most societies.

These hosts are more likely to be identified as porcelain vampires, particularly if the community in which they find themselves are familiar with the old legends. Though their parents may try to protect them, or steer them down a better path, if the nature of a porcelain vampire is known to the community then any particularly erratic behavior in recently feverish children may come under suspicion and the host may be destroyed before it completes its function.

The behavioral patterns of the 'true' porcelain vampire, which is to say the infested host, are centered around the pursuit of fresh blood, particularly that of the host's species. For the next ten to twenty years, the host will seek out opportunities to kill its fellows and drink their blood, learning and adapting to its environment even more rapidly than would a normal member of its original species.

It will not, however, age. Instead, its skin will harden into a smooth substance reminiscent of porcelain and its eyes will become round and innocent. Its features will be solidified into a face not thoroughly unlike the original host's, but different enough to be subtly disturbing to anyone who might have known the child it once was. Notably, its eyes will cease to blink and the entirety of its upper face and head will harden into an immobile mask. Only its mouth and eyeballs will remain mobile.

If it succeeds in nourishing itself, then a decade or two after infection the porcelain vampire (or more properly, the Meelriks living inside itself), will complete gestation. Any Meelriks which survived the years will burrow through the now brittle skull and emerge as winged Beelriks. The host will be left in great pain, with only fragments of memory and intelligence intact, but alive and still driven by its urges to feed on the living.

### Beelrik Differentiation and Neurological Cloning

One of the hatchling Beelriks, however, will be special. Over the time spent in the host's skull, one of the Meelriks will inevitably out-compete its siblings. This Meelrik will, toward the end of gestation, begin to absorb the memories, personality and experiences of its host, and when it hatches the Beelrik it becomes will carry the host's sense of self with it. Its new host will be granted a disproportionate understanding of what it is and what it must do, and in turn will pass on the memories of itself, and its predecessor, to its successor.

## Victims

While the primary victims of this species are children, it is possible that they can also infest the plague-ridden or the elderly.