Vampires

## Hierarchy of vampires

### Progenitor

The original, and purest vampire bloodline, and the bloodline of the royal family. All other pureblood bloodlines are derived from this bloodline. Those of this bloodline are basically immortal, and do not suffer from the typical weaknesses of vampires. However, those that carry this bloodline are few in number, and do not usually give birth to any offspring. Since all vampire bloodlines have their roots in this bloodline, the Progenitors are the only ones that are able to conduct a ritual to “purify” another vampire’s bloodline, which grants a boost to said vampire’s bloodline and thus power. A progenitor is also able to utilize the bloodline abilities of every pureblood bloodline to some extent.

### Pureblood

Bloodlines that contain various parts of the progenitor bloodline, and are purely of vampire blood. Due to it not being the complete bloodline of a progenitor, they can only display certain parts of the power of a progenitor, but in exchange they tend to specialize in their specific abilities, drawing out the full potential of their given bloodline. The purity of a bloodline is determined by how much of the progenitor's bloodline was included in the pureblood's bloodline. The greater the included part, the purer the bloodline, and the stronger the average vampire hailing from that bloodline will be. Typical weaknesses of vampires apply, such as being weak to sunlight. However, depending on the purity of the bloodline, they may be able to resist these weaknesses to some extent.

### Mixed Blood

Vampires who carry blood of other races in addition to vampire blood. Because the power of their vampire blood is mixed with that of another race, the interaction between these will result in various mutations in their powers, and will vary from individual to individual. The various strengths and weaknesses of being a vampire will either be amplified or reduced, but the specifics depend on the individual.

### Converted Vampires

Also known as lower vampires, these are vampires that were converted from other races. Their strength vary depending on the circumstances behind their conversion, but since most of these types of vampires are just viewed as “a tool that can be used” by most purebloods, they only receive the bare minimum of the vampire bloodline to be functional as vampires, though there are those who were given a proper bloodline.

## Lifespan

Contrary to popular belief, most vampires are not immortal, although their lifespan is longer if their bloodline is purer. The only truly immortal vampires are those with the progenitor bloodline. Lifespan of a vampire can range anything from a few centuries (lower vampires) to a few millennia (noble vampires). The lifespan of mixed-blood vampires varies, but will typically depend on the race of their other half. For example, an elf-vampire mixed-blood has a longer lifespan than a human-vampire mixed blood.

## Food

As a price for their power, vampires are required to consume blood instead of normal food. If a vampire has not consumed any blood for an extended period of time, they will begin to feel thirsty, though it can be endured. However, if this continues, the thirst will go stronger until it causes the vampire to go into a frenzy and attack indiscriminately in order to obtain blood to quench its thirst.

The purer a vampire’s bloodline, the less dependent it is on the consumption of blood. For example, a lower vampire may need to drink some blood every few days or risk frenzying, while some noble vampires can go on for months or years without drinking and not have any problems. Progenitor vampires do not require blood to survive.

In addition to being a form of sustenance, blood can also be consumed to accelerate recovery or overcharge a vampire’s abilities.

Vampires are able to ingest normal food, however it will not do anything to ease their thirst for blood, and it provides nothing of value other than the taste.

## Weaknesses

Vampires are weak to sunlight and things that are of the “holy” attribute. They take extra damage from these sources, and injuries caused by these things take longer to heal. Just standing in sunlight is enough to cause vampires immense pain, and prolonged (exact time in sunlight depends on the vampire) exposure will cause them to literally burn away.

Due to these reasons, vampires typically are more active at night when the sun is down, and like to move around in the shadows. If they must move around in the day, vampire will wear thick clothing that fully cover themselves, especially so in hot weather when the sun is strong.

Recent improvements in technology however, have resulted in a special type of sunscreen that provides ample protection from the sun even for vampires, which allows vampires to move around in the day without being bundled up in clothing.

Progenitors do not have these weaknesses.

## Abilities

Being a race so closely related to blood, vampires have the inherent ability to manipulate blood. The easiest blood for a vampire to manipulate is their own blood, and the specifics of the manipulation will depend on the individual. While it is possible to manipulate other sources of blood, this requires the vampire to “resonate” with the blood first in order to manipulate it. Thus, it is easier to influence blood that is not from a living thing, as a living thing’s blood is protected by their soul’s field, making it near impossible to manipulate. Vampires are also naturally gifted in the arts of stealth and shadows, having spent a long time hiding away from watchful eyes.

Some examples of blood manipulation include, but are not limited to:

### Physical manipulation of blood

The ability to shape blood into a physical object, such as a weapon

### Blood boosted magic

Blood and soul are very closely tied to each other. As such, blood is typically used as a catalyst to boost the effects of magic in many scenarios. A vampire, however is able to bring out the full power of this effect, and can use blood to directly boost the power of their magic.

### Flight

Though this is not possible for lower vampires, come mixed blood vampires and all pureblood or higher vampires have wings that function as a catalyst for flight spells. Flying physically with the wings is possible, although it requires practice and tires the user out rather quickly.

### Improved regeneration

Vampires have naturally increased speed of recovery, and are able to further accelerate the healing of their injuries at the cost of increasing the rate of thirst (since they are using the blood meant for sustenance to heal themselves) if they wish to. However, injuries cause by sunlight or holy power are harder to heal.

### Vampiric Conversion

While this is known as vampiric conversion, the actual process behind this involves a vampire giving the recipient part of his or her bloodline, either willingly or unwillingly, which would grant the recipient vampiric powers stemming from the bloodline and thus become a vampire.

All pureblood bloodlines are part of the progenitor bloodline, so a progenitor may bestow a pureblood bloodline to anyone they desire. Progenitors are also unique in the sense that they can “edit” bloodlines, which ranges from “purifying” a bloodline so it is more similar to the progenitor bloodline, to outright stripping a vampire of their bloodline. While it is difficult to resist the bestowal of a bloodline, due to the vampire’s weakness to holy power, if one has sufficient control over holy power, it is possible to burn away at the bloodline that is being bestowed. If one succeeds in completely burning away the bloodline before the bestowal is complete, one will be able to cancel their transformation into a vampire. However, if they fail to do so, they will end up being bestowed a damaged bloodline, which likely means that they will turn into a lesser vampire. The exact result will depend on the bloodline being bestowed, the one doing the bestowal, and the ability of the recipient to burn away the bloodline. The stronger the bloodline, and the more resistant the bestower is to holy power, the harder it is to burn the bloodline away. Resisting the bestowal through sheer willpower is also possible, but this will only delay the conversion.

### Immortality (Progenitor)

Progenitors are immortal, and will not age or die. If they are killed physically, they are able to reform themselves on the spot if there is sufficient blood (they absorb the blood and use it to recreate their body), or they can reform at a predetermined location containing sufficient blood to facilitate this process. If neither of these choices are possible, a progenitor will still be able to reform slowly over a longer period of time.

## Vampire Society

Vampire society is that of a monarchy, with an emphasis on the strong having the final say.

Though there were many who were unhappy about the massive changes brought forth by the current ruler, they were silenced after being beaten up. After all, the strong has the final say here.

While it is officially known as the Vampire Nation, it is not in fact a nation of vampires, but rather a nation ruled by vampires. In fact, vampires only make up a small proportion of the population living in the vampire nation. At the same time, only a small proportion of the entire vampire race are currently living in the vampire family, most notably the royal family, while most vampires are scattered throughout Omphalos (and a few on Terra). This is because the vampire nation was founded on the Royal Family’s territory, while various noble vampire families already have their own territories in other parts of Omphalos and thus chose to remain in their territories instead of migrating over to the vampire nation.

### Progenitors

The ruling clan since the founding of the vampire nation.

Current ruler is the Progenitor Vampire Princess, Hiyuki. Her parents, the previous king and queen have retired and left the throne to her. Keeps the title of princess and refuses to be called the queen “since it doesn’t sound cute”.

### Noble vampire clans

A bunch of pureblood bloodlines that form the noble council. Although, there are more vampire bloodlines then the number of available seats on the noble council, so every couple of years there will be a competition to determine which bloodline gets a seat in the council, through a tournament. Naturally, as a nation where the strong have the say, the top-ranking ones of the tournament will be selected for the council. Additionally, the ruler may choose to directly name a bloodline for a seat, and allow them to skip the tournament process. This is done to ensure the council is not full of muscle heads.

### Normal folk

Iin the past, normal folk were limited to vampires, and other races were treated as livestock for their blood, the current ruler had abolished this tradition and expanded the normal folk to included everyone, regardless of race.

### Racial distribution

Due to the nature of vampire requiring blood from other as sustenance, the population of vampires is rather low. Rather than being “a settlement of vampires with other races”, the cities, towns and villages in the vampire nation are better described as “settlements of those from various races with a few vampires that offer protection to the settlements in exchange for blood”.

## Population

Vampires are not a race with a large population, in fact the number of progenitors are typically never more than five or six at any one time (3 generations at most), and even then those who remain active in worldly affairs usually only number one or two.

As for pureblood vampires, there are a fair number of households, but each household typically will not exceed ten pureblood vampires of the bloodline at any time. With at least a hundred pureblood families in existence, the number of pureblood vampires only number one or two thousand at most.

It is difficult have an accurate estimation of the number of mixed blood vampires alive, since the nature of mixed blood means that they have varying levels of strengths, so their survival rate varies vastly from individual to individual. Furthermore, due to mixed bloods being looked down on in the past, many have been killed upon birth. The most accepted estimate on the number of mixed bloods is that there are less than a thousand of them, and even if there are more, their numbers will be less than that of the purebloods. Furthermore, any mixed blood that have survived the olden days of discrimination are definitely not pushovers, and are likely on par with purebloods in terms of their abilities.

Lower vampires used to number in the tens of thousands, having been created to function as cannon fodder and a labor force for the pureblood vampires. However, with the new rules set in place by the royal family, their numbers have been limited to around ten thousand or so at most.

## Opinion of Vampires by other races

Due to events of the past, vampires are known as bloodthirsty monsters that will not hesitate to capture and enslave those from other races as livestock for their blood. Thus, most inhabitants of Omphalos are not particularly receptive to vampires. However, under their current ruler, who has done various things to change this perspective, vampires are slowly being accepted by other races, though scars of the past still remain, so people still tend to be wary of vampires.