Vampires Are Not Undead

Vampires are living, breathing humans with the fundamental need to obtain life-sustaining energy from an external source.  They're not the animated undead, possessed by demons, or anything of the sort.  Likewise....


Vampires Are Not Immortal

While healthy Vampires can live longer than humans, and with much more vitality and youth, they do someday die of old age, assuming they are not killed prior to then.  While I have heard not confirmed reports of this, it is possible that a supremely healthy Vampire could live long enough to be seemingly immortal but even with the aging process moving at a glacial pace there will some day come an end.


Vampires Feed On Energy

All Vampires have the same need; energy from an external source.  In most cases, this energy comes from other people; in the form of emotional energy, psionic energy, or blood.  In all cases they are taking Anima, just in different forms.  You will often hear people refer to themselves as being "psivamps" or "sanguine," distinguishing which feeding method they use.  It is also possible for a Vampire to feed off of ambient energy in a crowded room, animals, elements, and the weather.  A very small number of Vampires feed off of elemental or weather energy predominantly.


All Vampires Can Feed From All Sources, But With Unequal Gain

A "blood Vampire," for example, can feed off of wind or fear or psi or any other source of energy though.  However these sources of energy are metabolized much less efficiently.  Let us convert energy into units for the sake of simplicity and clarity.  A blood Vampire will suck 10 units of energy from someone in the form of blood and 9 or all 10 will be converted directly into energy in the Vampire.  If that same Vampire sucks 10 unites of energy from the rain or from fear only 1 will be converted into energy in the Vampire.  Therefore a person who says he or she is a "psivamp" is really more of a Psi-dominant Vampire.


You Can Be "Turned," But It Will Take Time And Effort To Be A True Vampire

Vampirism is somewhat more complex than simply having a greater need for energy than your own body can sustain.  Excess energy on a human is wasted (which is why a Vampire can generally feed off of a person without hurting them).  A Vampire, however, can metabolize and use all of the energy he or she contains, which opens up the potential for increased strength, vitality, youth, and general health.  While you can be made to have the same deficiency as a Vampire, it will take a timely transition in order to aquire a Vampire's ability to use energy so fully.


Vampires Really Are Sensitive To The Sun

While Vampires are gifted at metabolizing the energy from people, the energy of the sun is "raw," for lack of a better term.  Most Vampires find themselves overwhelmed and almost choked by the sun's energy and find it hard to metabolize as humans do.  Lunar energy, however, is of a nature which is easily metabolized by Vampires and, as far as energetic needs are concerned, takes the place of Solar energy, which is why many Vampires have a predisposition towards becoming nocturnal.  It is not a conscious choice, but rather the body's natural reaction; it sleeps beneath the force which taxes it and is active beneath the force which vitalizes it.


Vampires Are Not Evil By Nature

A common misconception is that Vampires are evil or in some way morally reprehensible.  This is because people confused Vampires feeding on humans with Vampires preying on humans.  The vast majority of Vampires who feed on humans do so with people who knowingly consent to being fed upon.  Of those who do not, most of them feed off of surplus energies which are cast off such as sexual energy or the ambient energy in a high-spirited place such as the mall.  It is only a small number of Vampires who knowingly feed off of people against their knowledge or will, and even then they rarely do so to a degree which harms the people in question.  There is nothing inherently evil to the nature of a Vampire any more than there is of a Human.


Vampires Become Unhealthy When They Cannot Feed

When a Vampire cannot feed or cannot feed enough, many of the following symptoms may surface:

  • Severely increased sensitivity to light

  • Increased sensitivity to sound or specific sounds

  • Depression

  • Anxiety

  • Insatiable hunger or thirst

  • Insomnia

  • Sleeping for up to 12 hours and waking tired

  • Lack of mental acuity

  • Fatigue and aching


Very often the need to feed can be experienced as a hunger or thirst but inability to find any food or drink which is palatable.


Each Vampire Has His Or Her Own Feeding Needs

In addition to each Vampire having an energy source which is best to feed from, each Vampire also has his or her own amount and frequency of feeding.  Elemental Vampires rarely need a specified feeding and instead tend to feed slowly and constantly.  Psi Vampires usually need to feed 2-4 times a week.  Sanguine Vampires generally need to feed 2-12 times a year.  These are, of course, generalizations and each person will have their own needs and each situation that person enters will have a subtle (or not-so-subtle) affect on that.


Vampires Really Do Have "Bloodlines"

While the term "Bloodline" is somewhat inaccurate (there is rarely any blood connection) and it's overused by films and books, the essence behind the name does exist in actual Vampires.  Most Vampire Bloodlines are connections of turned Vampires; you are in the same Bloodline as the Vampire who turned you and anyone you turn will then be part of that Bloodline as well.  There are, however, a small number of hereditary Vampire Bloodlines in which the parents produce children with Vampirism commonly enough that the Bloodline can survive.  Bloodlines carry with them innate energetic tendencies so Vampires of a specific Bloodline often have a set of common energetic gifts and failings.


Vampires Really Do Have "Houses" and "Courts"

These are in fact so common that you can easily look them up on the internet.  A Court is a small group of Vampires in an order analogous to a Werewolf Pack.  A House is a much larger group and is analogous to a Werewolf Tribe.  They have rules, traditions, and they very often have common beliefs.  As with Werewolf Packs and Tribes, there are now many Courts and Houses which exist predominantly (or exclusively) on the internet.