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Post by Sepulchre on Jul 28, 2010 21:27:42 GMT -5
The exact origin of the term vampire is unclear, but it's associations with the undead, the feeding on life essence, and the nighttime are very prominent. Vampires are humans that have died and had their essence removed, by a vampire or another person. Therefore vampirism is passed from vampire to vampire. Vampirism may not be compatible with other species.
The weaknesses of vampires are sunlight, which burns their skin and bodies, garlic, and generally anything that severely damages their heart or causes decapitation.
Vampire are pale in complexion and have harshly sharpened features. Most vampires are approximately human height, but appear very thin and scrawny. They have increased senses, such as sight, hearing, and smell. A main characteristic of vampires is that they are undead - they have no pulse, their blood does not flow, and any wounds received have to be healed by a magic user since their body is not active. A vampire's breath is a neuroleptic sedative, which renders their "vicitm" mostly unconscious and unable to feel anything.
There are two types of vampires: sanguine and psychological.
Sanguine vampires are the most traditional type of vampire. They feed off of blood from humans (primarily) and other animals. Sanguine vampires must feed at least every several weeks, but as vampires age, their need for food decreases. A sanguine vampire's victim exhibits traits of anemia and nausea after being fed off of, but will not become a vampire unless blood is exchanged between the victim and the vampire or unless all blood is removed from the victim.
Psychological vampires are a relatively new type of vampire. They feed off of the life essence (soul), memories, or strong emotions of their victims, which are humans. Psychological vampires must feed every few weeks, but rarely does a psychological vampire go without food due to the plentiful nature of emotions and memories. Psychological vampires are drawn to victims that are of the same "age" group as they are (in appearance, teenage appearing vampires, though hundreds of years old, are drawn to teenagers) and they may have a specific type of emotion that they enjoy due to personal tastes (hate, love, confusion, etc.). A victim of a psychological vampire will often be missing memories, have bouts of amnesia, have non-sensical memories (as a replacement for the ones "taken"), or experience severe depression or mood swings for no apparent reason. Mostly these symptoms are solely linked to the presence of the vampire that attacked them. A psychological vampire is created when a person dies tragically or is murdered in a place that is already connected with emotions (graveyard, asylum, hospital, etc.), but their souls are not ready to leave the living yet. Occasionally, psych. vampires have been related to ghosts, shades, will-o-wisps, and wraiths.
Vampires do not usually kill or brutally injure their victim when they feed.
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