Vampires
From DirtyWiki
Now in the hands of a third person, Scout.
Contents |
Vampires
Overview
Vampires are born vampires, just like angels, demons and lycanthropes. As with the ther supernatural creatures too, vampirism is dominant over humans; however, it is the least dominant of all supernatural species. That is to say, is a vampire had sex with an angel, demon, or lycanthrope and the woman (vampire or not) were to become pregnant, an angel, demon or lycanthrope would be born according to which species the partner belonged to.
It is important to note that although vampirism is the dominant gene over humans, vampires cannot turn humans into vampires. Vampires may bite and feed off of any species, but no magical qualities will be transferred between them. The only thing aside from the replenishing of blood, that may affect a vampire more with supernatural creatures than humans is the intake of their emotions – another part of the feeding process. Angels and demons both have very strong emotions, so therefore will affect vampires accordingly.
Vampirism is a form of anemia. Scientifically, it can be explained as a red blood cell deficiency. If a vampire doesn’t feed, it is common for them to feel ill; specific symptoms being fatigue, shortness of breath, dizziness, rapid heartbeat, abnormal pallor, decreased appetite or body temperature, as well as depression and sometimes uncontrollable emotions. Unlike anemia on the other hand, a vampire’s blood basically kills itself off, thus needing to be replaced frequently.
Appearance
Vampires will look no different than any human. To the normal person, they will look no different than any person you may see on the street – angel, demon, lycanthrope or human. Like angels and their unusually bright eyes, vampires have a similar trait of unusually dark eyes. This is not always an occurrence however, unlike angels; it is very possible for a vampire to be born with bright eyes, though this is rare.
Unless you are an angel (or, possibly, a demon) you would not be able to pick a vampire out of a crowd. If you know what you are looking for however, you will be able to tell when a vampire has the urge to feed. Uncontrollable urges are more common during the teens (more on this later), though can still happen to a more controllable degree later in life. Other vampires will be able to tell easily, but nothing as drastic as Hollywood movies happens so that anyone on the street would pick it out. The canine teeth become more pronounced, the teeth even darker than usual – they will seem to draw you in hypnotically instead of frighten you like a demon’s.
If a vampire is unusually pale, it means they have not been feeding.
Feeding
The need for blood develops during puberty. This doesn’t mean vampires stop needing other sources of nutrition. They need to eat to survive just like anyone else, but on top of it also need blood.
The systematic killing off of the red blood cells happens at a different pace in every vampire. Some may need blood every day, other may need blood only once a week or every other week. The longest period of time any vampire can go without blood is two weeks, before feeling the consequences. No vampire can survive on drinking blood once a month without constantly being sickly. Just like a human with a really bad diet, malnourished vampires are prone to all the same health problems – loss of weight, hair, pallor, energy, a decreased immune system, etc.
Any type of blood can be drunk, but there is a hierarchy. As vampires are basically human outside of the fact that they need to replenish their blood, human blood is the best source of nourishment for them. However, not many vampires may drink human blood, due to the difficulties in getting it. A vampire is able to bite humans without being especially noticed, particularly if the feeding happens during sex. (Of course, this depends on the human. If someone doesn’t want to be bitten and is bitten to the point of drawing blood, they are going to freak out.) After human blood, animal blood such as cows and pigs are the most common to be drunk. This is easier to obtain (from butchers) or in freshly cut raw meat. However, something like raw steak is not an adequate source of blood for most vampires, because the amount of blood in a piece of raw meat is small.
If a vampire does not feed, it leads to bad consequences. They will go into a rage, attacking people and draining them of blood completely. This often leads to arrest and time in a psychiatric ward or jail. Their need for blood is innate - if a child grows up outside of a vampire family having no idea what they are or why they feel the way they do, they will eventually snap - their body will take over and somebody will get bitten.
Vampires also feed on energy and emotions. Wile this can fill the place of blood for a short time, they cannot solely feed off emotions and drink blood only one a week if they need to have it every two days. Because of being able to feed off emotions, vampires could be called a sort of psychic. Often, however, this feeding will happen in crowds. It is rare for a vampire to feed off one individual person when they are in complete control of themselves. A big exception is an angel – angels have such strong and bright emotions that a vampire may not be able to help themselves. (This can be addicting, so it’s best not to make a habit out of it.) After feeding off especially strong emotions, or doing it in a very charged crowd, it is not unusual for a vampire to act something like high, or tipsy. It depends on the vampire. Vampires also have to control how much emotion they drain people of – uncontrolled this easily makes people pass out.
Vampires cannot feed off other vampires, because there is no nutritional value to a vampire’s blood. They will get no satisfaction out of it.
If a vampire is in an accident where a lot of blood is lost, transfusions can take the place of a feeding. If a vampire has a transfusion they will most likely not have to feed for about a month.
The Bite
A vampire’s canine teeth are formed especially sharp and hollow, so they take in the blood through their teeth and it goes directly into their own bloodstream. There is no drinking of blood or digesting of blood. The bites look like normal human bites (bite yourself as hard as you dare and you’ll get a good idea). A natural anesthetic is created within the salivary glands and is automatically released when a vampire bites, which aids in the flow of blood as well as masking exactly what they’re doing and aiding in the healing of the wound. If you’re bitten there will be a slight numbness followed by a calm ecstasy. If a vampire holds on long enough this would progress into unconsciousness, but a vampire in full control of him or herself will not let the feeding get that far. If a vampire is for some reason biting to kill it will be far from painful – the person would feel the same numb ecstasy and will have passed out long before there are drained completely.
After being bitten, the wound will bruise lightly, the puncture wounds healing very quickly. Within a day it often doesn’t look like a bite wound at all, but more often than not a hickey.
Powers
To aid in attaining blood, vampires have developed a hypnotic charm. This is where the Hollywood image of the suave, attractive, irresistible Dracula comes in. Even if a vampire is not particularly attractive, something about him or her will draw people too them. Some people comment that it’s the eyes, other the voice. Because of this it’s extremely easy for vampires to quickly climb social ladders, and many have become social and political leaders over the years. It is not uncommon at all to discover very old, elite vampire families.
The charm is not an automatic power – only if the vampire wants to charm someone will that person be charmed, and this also depends on the willpower of the other person. Some vampires can get away with murder, others couldn’t charm or lie their way out of a paper bag if their lives depended on it.
Another power they have is the ability to make themselves “invisible.” This does not mean completely unable to be seem, but is more of a chameleon-like power. When they want to or need to be, a vampire can easily be looked over by other people. This is easiest to do in shadows, obviously. Needless to say this gives them the advantage to be able to sneak up on you without you hearing or seeing them.
Aging
Vampires age about the same as angels and demons – slower than any human. Unlike angels and demons though, a vampires does not stop aging at any point. They will grow to look like a 90 year old human (should they live that long), but be around 350 years old. 350 years roughly equals 100 human years, so although a vampire could live longer than that it won’t be by many years and they will very likely be limited in their activities. A vampire dying of natural causes or old age most often means heart failure. Eventually their blood processing circulatory system fails, is unable to process new blood, and the vampire’s heart will fail.
A vampire can also be killed by any other means. They can be shot, run over, electrocuted, mauled to death, kill themselves, basically anything that would kill any human. Vampires can also kill other vampires by biting them and draining them of their blood.
The Complicated Parts
It's up in the air whether vampires can carry HIV/AIDS yet. Due to a lack of medical knowledge, I personally think we should steer clear of that. Vampires do get sick just as anyone else. They carry germs and STDs just like anyone else.
When a female vampire is pregnant, only if her partner is human or vampire will the baby (if born) be a vampire. Unless the fetus is an angel or demon, it can be miscarried like any other. Because of the blood being redirected to the growing fetus, a pregnant vampire needs to have blood at least once a day to keep the fetus and herself healthy. Because genetics are usually all about procreation, all blood will be redirected to the fetus first, then the mother, if the mother is not getting enough new blood. However, like anyone else, the mother needs to stay healthy for the fetus to be completely healthy too. This will show up in doctor appointments: if the mother is not getting enough blood the fetus will have a higher heart rate, not get enough oxygen, and its development could be halted. The mother would have all the other symptoms of lack of blood as always.
Myths
Vampires are not immortal. Nor can they be killed by silver or sunlight, or be driven away by garlic. They do not (normally) sleep in coffins. The percentage of nocturnal vampires is no different than that of the entire human population. They do not have super human strength or speed.
