Post by Vierlyn on Jan 20, 2011 9:08:53 GMT -5
Vampires. The simple word strikes fear and wonder in many hearts. Where Vampires came from is something lost within lore over thousands of years. Wherever they came from they have captivated the imaginations and hearts of mortals ever sense word of them started. These dark creatures have feasted and roamed the world for years, and they are not simply going to vanish. Where ever there are humans there will surely be a vampire with a smirk on their face. Though there have many reports of 'real' vampires, were simply fakers...Once in a rare while a real one is found. Knowledge over these divine creatures is limited, and needs to be tested. But how can you try and kill something that doesn't stand out in a crowd?[/blockquote]
Anatomy, Physiology, and Reproduction[/b]
Vampires have been depicted as the big busted or thick muscled beast of the night. Through the media they've been described as deathly pale, oddly colored eyes, and supreme pearly whites. Vamps have been described as creatures easily lusted over. Some of these images have been based on reality, but with time they have become warped. To survive Vampires prefer to distance themselves from those 'classic images'. As they were derived directly from humans they still appear like the people you'd see in your local mall. Vampires also don't have the same sight stunning figures. Unknown to most mortals vampires vary from heights, weights, and epidermis colors. No body type or color is considered 'typical'. After all variety is the spice of the afterlife! Such diversity has helped promote survival through the ages. Vampires look mainly like they did before they were turned. Of course there are a few differences.[/blockquote]
Generally being dead causes your body temperature drop. For this reason they prefer geographical areas that are warmer as it makes fitting in public areas a little bit easier. As for pale complexions, that's mainly for books and movies. A vampire starts losing their 'color' when they need to feed. Blood enriches the cells in their body, giving them a very healthy living like glow. Changes in color when the vampire needs to feed of course is less difficult to notice in vampires with larger amounts of melanin. In reality the only thing about them that seems to age are their eyes; in a manner that reflects knowledge and cunning. As for that these immortals' appearance does not change greatly. A vampire body works and operate much like the humans they were turned from. Though in the afterlife they have greater stamina, strength, speed, and agility. This seems to have come as a blessing from the Devil, so that they can do his dirty work with amazing accuracy. Also as they are dead they do not need to fear diseases, or the sun. Though they can still house diseases, anything from the cold to STDs. Vampires also do not need to worry about breathing. Though breathing was so programed in at life it's an automatic function.
Most vampires feed of of mortal, animal, or even werewolf blood. Not all vampires feed on blood though... Feeding methods for blood drinkers vary from vampire to vampire. It all depends on their personal history and personality. Many bite the neck, writs, or other ares where an artery or large collection of veins are closely located to the skin. Others prefer to cut their prey and suck the life out of their prey. Fangs are very useful for blood drinkers. Usually when thirsty or aroused a vampire's teeth change. How this process works is quite unknown. It's been rumored that gums recede, the bones grow at an insane rate, or that vampires really have a second set of teeth in their upper jaw. Whatever the case the vampire bite has been feared and adored by mortals. When a vampire feeds it regains nutrition, energy, and extra stamina. Also when vampires consume excess amounts of blood they can regenerate lost body parts (except for the heart and head). Blood is key in vampire life, just like mortals. It keeps the vampire 'alive' among society, heals the body, and generally sustains the vampire for certain amounts of time. Depending on the activity and feeding habits of the vampire, some may only need to feed once every three days, and others may need to eat once every night.
Much to many people's disbelief a vampire has a heart beat. As once it feeds it needs to circulate the nutrition through the entire body. As their body takes in and uses the blood to sustain the vampire the heart continues to function. If a vampire is in dire need of a meal the heart has to beat faster. A higher heart rate is a sort of warning to the demon that they are in need of a feeding, if their stomach hasn't already informed them of it. The heart beats at an increased rate to try and circulate what little hemoglobin is left in the system to the brain, and eventually back to the heart. Vampire meals mainly are liquid and their body absorbs almost every blood cell that they gather from their prey. As for 'mortal food' vampires still have active taste buds. Unless a vampire consumes much mortal food and drink (that is somewhat more difficult for their bodies to absorb), they will not need to use common restroom facilities. Mortal food doesn't nourish the vampire's body, and often they will pass many nutrients through their system.
Being dead does put a damper on your breeding abilities. Vampires are unable to breed like humans. The only way a vampire is able to 'breed' is if they sire a human and turn them into a vampire. Often a vampire finds a human that they seem to enjoy and turn them for companionship. The process of turning a human takes quite a bit of time. The vampire must take their time and drain the human of all of their blood. Considering how many pints are in a human this takes a while for a vampire to consume all at one portion. After all the blood has been removed the vampire must manage to place enough of saliva into the human. The saliva acts as to reactivate the heart. Then time takes hold of the mortals fate. Often it takes over forty eight hours for a human to be turned into a vampire completely. All of this depends on the amount of saliva, the position the mortal is in, and where the saliva was transfered into. After awakening they must feed within their first two hours of afterlife. Many vampires do not manage to survive if they are picked up by the police.
Behavior
Vampires behavior is as diverse as their looks and where they were turned. Vampires commonly retain their traits from their human personalities. As a vampire ages through years, even centuries, and their behaviors are subject to change as their life experiences grow. There are some vampires that are loners and other’s that are very social. Every subculture or stereotype that the human race has come up with, somewhere a vampire fills the social requirements to be put there.
About ninety percent of vampires have distain of werewolves, no matter what social structure they fit into. Though over the years there have been some vampires that have created some civil relationships with small packs of werewolves. Mainly vampires want to stay away from the other species, as sometimes it’s hard to get along with the ego’s of their own kind.
Many vampires have jobs in normal human society, advancing technology and improving the lives of their prey – so that they will be able to continue to easily feed on them. Vampires have gotten into a variety of jobs; from the gritty underbelly of drug dealing, prostitution rings, and economic scandal. Others spend their time creating the finest dishes of food and wine known to man. What a vampire does as their “job” or “hobby” it always leads them to humans in one fashion or another for feeding purposes.
Social Structure
Vampires sway between inner societies that act like something of the British Royal family, to territorial tom cats. A lot of it depends on the vampire’s personality on what they want to do and where they want to be with their afterlife. Of all vampires it’s very common to show respect to older vampires, as their obtained knowledge is valuable and delicious as finely aged wine. Still, there are other vampires that believe that wisdom and knowledge are not just obtained by age and they shun vampires that flaunt their age in a young vamp’s face. Weather a vamp is considered an ‘Old Blood’ or “New blood” depends on the social circles that person runs in.
New Blood are relatively young vampires, or older ones that have shunned the “Old Blood” way of life. These vampires have modern tastes and dabble in the latest technology to relate to their victims or obtain new hunting grounds. New Blood Vampires are seen as “cocky hot heads” by Old Blood Vampires. These vampires are often seen as “babies” or “teenagers” of the undead vampire world.
Old Blood vampires thrive on flaunting class, living in luxury, dabbling in heavy politics, and continuing to maintain their ancient empires. Old Blood vampires have been around for a while, varying from a century to almost a thousand years. They often own successful business and live quiet lives. In some cases these vampires harvest human blood, creating empires on selling, trading, human blood to other vampires. So when a human donates at a blood drive, it might not really be going to help their fellow man. Old Blood vampires are seen by New Blood as “pompous rich pencil pushers” that also don’t have any grasp at the changing world around them.
The last class of vampire has a deep air of mystery. Very few vampires know of this class, or only talk about them like fairy tales. These are the Ancients. The Ancient vampires have been around for thousands of years, possibly even having been around the dawn of the vampiric age. There are wide rumors that they are deformed and beastly creatures, looking more like demons than vampires or humans, but nobody has been around an Ancient Vampire for at least three hundred years. Only upon major events does an Ancient appear out of the darkness. They are solitary creatures, seeing both Old and New Blood as general fools to the greater scheme of things. Sense Red Snow, ancients are slowly making a comeback, but many stay deep in the underbelly of vampire society – farming and breeding humans for the most delicious blood combinations possible, quietly pulling strings on the Old Blood vampire’s economic empires, and whispering rumors to New Blood Vampires.
History
Was it Dracula that started the Vampire race, or further back to the tales of Judas selling his soul to the devil that started this mess? Not even the Ancients really know. All that anybody knows is that Vampires have been around for a very, very long time, and their cunning is keeping them around.
In the beginning of their species existence they really were a plague on humans. Vampires were the bloody, vicious, and merciless creatures that stories explained. They would raid towns and villages, mindlessly killing for the thrill and simple blood lust. They would taunt, tease, and viciously torture their food before consuming them. This section of vampire viciousness lasted up until the rumors of a specific vampire came about; Dracula.
Dracula, while a popular vampire figure, was not, in fact a vampire. Still, it was around that time where rumors on how to kill Vampire started to appear. This was a big problem. Fear still struck their mortal food, but now the meal was trying to strike back in self defense. Vampires were dying left and right. Some mythical killing tactics did happen to be effective and it took vampires to figure out what could really harm them. Of course sometimes it was too late if a vampire got their head cut off. So the demonic blood suckers started to change their game plan.
The age of the romantic vampire began and Dracula was drawn into this section of vampire history as well. Vampires started to lure their prey to them. They played the roles of charming men and flirtatious women; making “getting lucky” a deadly game. Vampires started using their brains a bit more. Of course there are those that miss “the old days”, they started to use their intelligence from the battle field into more of a complicated chess game. This is where the rumors of the beautiful creatures of the night came about. In reality they just learned how to use what they had. Vampires perfected the first pickup lines, lived long enough to obtain the best fashions, and they generally became the best speakers in the dating game. From prostitutes to aristocrats, vampires stepped into their own.
This cunning stayed with them and vampires began to branch from the two original roles, the lover and the fighter. They dabbled in different sections of society and as time went on vampires started to become entangled in human events. Vampires happened to fight in almost every war known to man, as well as help fund and guide humans to losses or victory. Vampires started to use politics because once World War Two rolled around they figured out that humans were going to kill themselves off if they didn’t step in to keep them around. It didn’t matter what side really, from the Revolution to Desert Storm, vampires were taking part; both on and off the battle field.
Then the “modern age” stepped up to plate. Technology boomed, the club scene, and the drug scene literally exploded. Vampires poked around once more and became further entwined with their food. Once the rumors of Red Snow became actual fact, several portions of the vampire race dove into the drugs. Selling, buying, shipping, they took control over all of it. And here we are in this supernatural war…