Vampires

*"The gift of eternity is both a blessing and a curse. Do not bestow it lightly."*

*-Anonymous*

Vampires are the reanimated corpses of deceased humans, returned from death by the powerful curse that raised their ancient progenitor Cain, the Father of Murder. Monsters of the night, the vampiric undead feed on the life essence found within the blood of living creatures, which fuels their undead bodies and unnatural abilities.

Vampires are one of the most common supernatural beings, thanks to their ability to transform other humans into their kind through a process known as the Embrace. For thousands of years, they have hidden themselves within human settlements, living among mankind since time immemorial, and embedded their influence deeply into all manner of mortal institutions.

## Physical Traits

One of the most notable aspects of vampirism is its effects upon aging. Upon being transformed into a vampire, a process known as the Embrace, being sired, being created, being made, or being turned, an individual ceases aging entirely, and will physically remain in the state they were in when turned. They are unable to gain or lose weight, or to develop any new blemishes upon their skin indicative of aging, unless some form of magical alteration is employed. However, a vampire is still capable of growing their hair and nails, requiring them to be periodically cut or trimmed.

Upon being Embraced, any unhealed injuries that the new vampire experienced prior to their Embrace are mended, and most mundane diseases they were afflicted by are cured. Conditions that have caused physical deformities, such as leprosy are no longer painful or contagious, but the disfigurement they cause remains. Additionally, injuries that have already healed to the fullest human extent, such as scars, lost limbs, etc, along with disabilities such as blindness or nonfunctional limbs, remain in effect, unless magical aid is attained.

Under ordinary circumstances, vampires do not exhibit most standard vital signs, Their hearts do not beat, their brains are inactive, they do not breathe, sweat, or produce body heat, nor can they consume ordinary food. Clinically, they are for all intents and purposes, dead. However, they are still capable of moving about, perceiving the world around them, or even engaging in sexual intercourse.

### Life Veil

The Life Veil, also known as the False Breath, or simply "Breathing", is an ability all vampires are capable of learning, where they magically reactivate the mechanisms of their body. Their flesh grows warm, their hearts beat, and breath fills their lungs, making the vampire appear alive, for all intents and purposes. They can sweat and cry, and even consume, digest, and excrete normal foods.

The one limit of Breathing, however, is that even in this facsimile of life, vampires are completely sterile. Though they can fully perform all the processes required for creating life, they are unable to conceive.

### Shadow Face

Ordinarily, vampires are physically indistinguishable from ordinary humans. In moments of extreme hunger, anger, or fear, however, their features change. The blood drains from their face, making their flesh grow pale. Their eyes darken, becoming pure black voids, which drink in any light that strikes them. And, most notably of all, their canines transform into fangs. This is not a matter of simple retraction of hidden teeth; the fangs simply grow, and fade away when not in use.

Vampires collectively refer to this frightful transformation that all of them employ as the Shadow Face, though younger vampires have been known to use the term "vamping out."

## Torpor

Torpor is the state that vampires will periodically enter throughout their existence. It is a deep, supernatural slumber in which they are practically indistinguishable from a true corpse, not moving or giving the slightest sign of life. Whilst in torpor, a portion of a vampire's energies are automatically devoted to healing any injuries they have sustained while active.

Torpor comes upon a vampire each day as the sun begins to rise, and can only be fought off with tremendous willpower or magic. Once in their slumber, a vampire is very difficult to rouse, and unless they are adept at sensory magic, people can pick up and move their bodies around without them even noticing. It takes extreme circumstances to wake a vampire from their daytime torpor, such as sustaining injury or the threat of imminent death. Even if they do wake, they are usually sluggish and slow, and have an extremely difficult time using their powers. Vampires naturally prefer to slumber beneath the earth, as it is from the earth that every vampire first emerges into their undead existence. However, this is by no means a necessity, and a vampire who spends daytime torpor on a feather bed will suffer no detriments compared to one who buries themselves in the ground.

Vampires also enter torpor whenever a they are deprived of blood. Without blood, and the magic within it, a vampire is unable to move, and will be powerless until they ingest blood in order to replenish their own supply, during which time their body will steadily wither into an emaciated husk. Upon being fed blood, the vampire will be able to rise again, though they will be weakened and ravenously hungry.

Additionally, vampires can be forced into torpor by immense injuries, especially if they are supernaturally inflicted. If they fall into torpor as a result of severe damage, they will not rise again until their injuries have healed. If a vampire is injured, but was not forced into torpor by the damage, they might still rise for the night only partially healed. If a vampire forced into torpor due to their injuries is unable to fully heal themselves due to lack of blood, they will remain inert until fed more, and allowed to recover.

Lastly, torpor can also be entered voluntarily for long periods of time, spanning months, years, decades, and even centuries. This sort of torpor is known among vampires as the Long Slumber, and many older vampires have been known to succumb to its call in order to pass the time after having grown weary of the world.

## The Blood

Vampires gain no sustenance from mortal food. In order to sustain their immortal existence, vampires must consume magic in order to fuel themselves. This magic is derived from drinking the blood of other creatures, drawing upon energies of their souls, the source of magic in mortal beings, leeching it out from the victim's blood and converting into into vampiric blood. The Blood animates their dead flesh, allowing them to rise and move about each night, and fueling their supernatural abilities. The more potent a vampire's blood, the longer they can go without feeding, and the stronger the powers at their disposal are.

#### Feeding

##### Overview

As mentioned earlier, vampires feed on life energy, gaining sustenance from the spiritual energies of their victims. For this reason, animal blood is far weaker than that of humans, as animal souls are less bright and potent than those of men, resulting in vampires who sustain on animal blood needing much larger amounts of it, or dooming themselves to having weaker powers. The blood of supernatural beings, such as werewolvess, mages, possessed individuals, or other vampires, is filled with far more magical energy, making it far more satisfying to consume and granting them more powerful abilities.

##### The Spirit of the Blood

In the process of feeding, whereupon a vampire drains their victim of their life essence, they will feel a rush of pleasure as magical power floods them. Additionally, the consumption of the soul's essence results in a vampire experiencing a taste based on the current mood and recent memories of their victims, meaning that flavor varies depending on what emotions the victim is feeling as they are fed upon. This also allows vampires who are inexperienced in the use of telepathy to scan an individual's memories (predominantly recent ones), although sorting through memories before they slip away requires practice. The essence of a vampire's victim remains active within them for around a night, before fading away almost completely, although the magical energy gained remains to fuel the vampire until they use it up. During this period of time, a skilled vampire gains access to a bit of their victim's memories, allowing them to recognize people their victims know and giving them some proficiency in their skills. The more blood a victim consumes, the more access they gain to their spirit and psyche. When a vampire drains their victim dry of their blood, killing them, they fully absorb their soul, and are flooded with memories and feelings from their victim's life, as well as entering a state of euphoria as the power of such an act floods through them. This lasts for approximately one night, at the end of which the soul will pass on to its afterlife, unless the Embrace is performed.

Furthermore, it should be noted that while the vast majority of the magic gained from feeding dissipates or goes right towards sustaining a vampire, a tiny portion of it is permanently added to the blood, increasing its overall potency, especially if the victim is killed. This means that a vampire will be slightly more powerful than another vampire of similar age if they continuously drain their victims to death, especially if they feed from other supernatural beings. Draining and killing a more powerful vampire, for example, has the effect of considerably increasing the power of the murdering vampire, granting them some of their victim's supernatural abilities and some of their skills, which, unlike with other creatures they kill, will permanently persist due to the way the magic in vampire blood functions.

As one might expect, vampires take a very dim view of cannibals, and those known for preying upon their brethren, commonly referred to as (insert name when i think of one), are typically hunted down by the rest of their communities.

#### The Blood Bond

Main Article: Vampiric Blood Bond

The Blood Bond is the name for the mystical bond forged whenever someone drinks a vampire's blood. Drinking a vampire's blood causes a number of effects for both participants, as the drinker becomes more loyal to the one whose blood they drank, and in turn, gains a portion of their power. Those who drink too deeply eventually find themselves utterly enslaved to whoever has opened their veins to them.

#### The Embrace

The Embrace is the act of a vampire transforming a mortal into another vampire. The parent vampire is known as the sire, maker, or creator, whilst the offspring is referred to as the progeny, get, or spawn.

Contrary to popular belief, vampire bites do not transform humans into vampires. In order to embrace a mortal, the vampiric sire must first drain them of all their blood, thus absorbing the soul of their progeny to be into their own body. This is usually performed while the progeny to be is still living, but can also be done if they are recently deceased, so long as the blood in their veins is still warm.

After draining the human, the sire must deposit some of their own blood, now housing their progeny's soul, back into the fresh corpse, before the both of them are buried beneath the earth, where they must spend the next day in torpor together. During this time, a fusion of souls occurs between the two vampires, forming a permanent Blood Bond between the two of them. The next night, the both of them will rise from the earth, with the newly made vampire, known then as a fledgling, will be ravenously hungry, and focused almost entirely on feeding. It should be noted that the progeny always rises before their Maker, as the latter usually takes some moments to minutes to recuperate from having their essence drained into the newly made fledgling.

## Powers And Abilities

### Universal Powers

The following abilities are intrinsic to every vampire, bound within their very blood. Thusly, all these powers can be utilized without any degree of training whatsoever.

**Regeneration:** Vampires have the ability to heal any wounds they suffer by entering torpor, the great sleep that grips them with every rise of the dawn. Each night they rise fresh and invigorated, with any previous wounds having been begun to repair. More grievous wounds, such as those inflicted by magical sources, take longer to heal. As a vampire's blood grows more potent, they find themselves able to recover from more damage each night. This form of regeneration only occurs in torpor, but through the Blood Gift of Ardor, the need to enter torpor can be foregone.

**Undead Resilience:** Given their nature as risen corpses, vampires possess a number of advantages over living beings. Not needing to breathe, they are immune to drowning and suffocation. Being sustained purely by magic, they may survive horrific injuries, such as being disemboweled, stabbed, or shot in the head, without any lasting harm, and in some cases without even having their movements altered. They are also immune to poison and disease, as their undead flesh provides no housing to such pestilences.

* **Pain Resistance:** Vampires are highly resistant to pain, being mostly unfazed by bullets, blades, or other forms of dismemberment. Vampires are only seriously hurt by sunlight, fire, wooden weapons, or magically inflicted injuries.

## Weaknesses

Decapitation: With the exception of powerful vampires wielding potent and exotic abilities, decapitation will instantly kill a vampire.

Fire: Fire, like the sun, is anathema to vampires, and is capable of ending the unlives of weaker vampires with little difficulty, consuming their undead forms and reducing them to ash.

Wood: Another vampiric bane, wounds caused by wood are hard to heal and can inflict far greater pain than normal weapons. Furthermore, wood embedded in a vampire's heart can be fatal for weaker vampires, whilst less feeble ones are immobilized until it is removed.

### The Sun

Perhaps the most famous of the vampiric banes, sunlight is not nearly so deadly to vampires as it is presented in popular media. Rather than causing them to burst into flames and die, sunlight weakens several of a vampire's supernaturally abilities. The vast majority of vampires standing within direct sunlight are unable to change their shape, with the exception of manifesting their Shadow Face, although even that is taxing. All but the strongest uses of Mesmer on any subject standing in sunlight fail, and attempts at telepathy are stunted. Using the powers of Umbramancy while in the sunlight is all but impossible for most, and using a Life Veil or healing wounds while standing in the sun is far more taxing.