Vampire Facts/Myths (V:tM/Zemyazan)

From Atlantic Roleplay Wiki

(Note: These are not universal rules. Play it as you wish, this is simply how the V:tM and Zemyazan vampires on the shard play it.)

• Vampires are immortal. True. While they can be killed (a very difficult process), they do not age or die from natural causes. They need no food such as humans eat, and they do not need to breathe.

• Vampires are living dead and must sustain themselves with the blood of the living. True. A vampire is clinically dead – its heart does not beat, ir does not breathe, its skin is cold, it does not age – and yet it thinks, and walks, and plans, and speaks…and hunts, and kills. To sustain its artificial immortality, the vampire must periodically consume blood, preferable human blood. Some penitent vampires eke out an existence from animal blood, and some ancient vampires must hunt and kill others of their kind to nourish themselves, but most vampires indeed consume the blood of their former species. Vampires are no longer physically able to consume mortal food – they are unable to keep it down for more than a few hours before their body violently rejects it.

Vampires drain their prey of blood through use of retractable fangs, which are gifted to vampires when they first become undead. Each vampire can also lick closed the wounds made by their fangs (healing properties in the saliva, it is speculated), this concealing the evidence of their feeding.

Blood is all-important to the Kindred, for it is both the crux of their existence and the seat of their power. Blood is the Kindred’s only passion, and without it, they will quickly wither and fall dormant. Moreover, each vampire can use the blood to perform amazing feats of healing, strength, and other strangeness.

• Anyone who dies from a vampire’s bite rises to become a vampire. False. If this were true, the world would become overrun with vampires. Vampires feed on human blood, true, and sometimes kill their prey – but most humans who die from a vampire’s attack simply perish. To return as undead, the victim must be drained of blood and subsequently fed a bit of the attacking vampire’s blood. This process, called the Embrace, causes the transformation from human to vampire.

• Vampires are monsters – demonic spirits embodied in corpses. False…and true. Vampires are not demons per se, but a combination of tragic factors draws them inexorably to towards wicked deeds. In the beginning, the newly created vampire thinks and acts much as she did while living. She does not immediately turn into an evil, sadistic monster. However, the vampire soon discovers her overpowering hunger for blood, and realizes that her existence depends on her feeding on her former species. In many ways, the vampire’s mindset changes – she adopts a set of attitudes less suited to a communal omnivore and more befitting a solitary predator.

At first reluctant to kill, the vampire is finally forced into murder by circumstance or need – and killing becomes easier as the years pass. Realizing that she herself is untrustworthy, she ceases to trust others. Realizing that her existence depends on secrecy and control, she comes a manipulative user of the first order. And things only degenerate as the years turn into decades and then centuries, and the vampire kills over and over, and sees the people she loved age and die. Human life, so short and cheap in comparison to hers, becomes of less and less value, until the mortal “herd: around her means no more to her than a swarm of annoying insects." Vampire elders are among the most jaded, unfeeling, paranoid beings the world has ever known. Maybe they are not demons exactly – but at that point, who can tell the difference?

• Vampires are burned by sunlight. False due to game mechanics. Vampires are nocturnal creatures in V:tM literature, and are damaged by sunlight in it as well. However, because game mechanics limit our ability to come out only at night because of the short night/day durations. Some agree that vampires should simply have their abilities limited in the light of the sun.

• Vampires are fearful of fire. In most cases, True. I say in most cases because it is really up to the player. However, fire is ultimately a very useful weapon against them, and is one of the only techniques of properly disposing a vampire.

• Vampires are repulsed by garlic and running water. False. These are both myths and nothing more. Garlic is said to cleanse the blood, so perhaps this has some relevance should it be ingested, but you won't really see a vampire ingesting such, will you?

• Vampires are repulsed by crosses and other holy symbols. This is generally false. It varies by case to case, however. Also, the ankh is a symbol of immortality so vampires may come to appreciate such. Crosses don't exactly exist in UO.

• Vampires die from a stake through the heart. False. However, a wooden stake – or arrow, crossbow bolt, etc. – through the heart will paralyze a vampire until it is removed.

• Vampires have the strength of ten men; they can command wolves and bats; they can hypnotize the living and heal even the most grievous wounds. True and false. The power of a vampire increases with age, or generation level. Young, newly created vampires are often little more powerful than humans. But as a vampire grows in age and understanding, she learns to use her blood to evoke abilities, which vampires call Disciplines. Powerful elders are often the rivals of a fictional Lestat or Dracula, and the true ancients – the Methuselahs and Antediluvians who have stalked the nights for thousands of years – often possess literally godlike powers.