On Vampirism and Its Causes

Diabolic Compact: by power of a compact with dark and unspeakable forces, immortality has been granted in the form of Vampirism. These are the undead, but they can, through the severing of their compact, be brought back to life and made killable. Baring this, only holy forces can truly ever destroy them. While this form of Vampirism can be spread, the original vampire is forever lord and master over his brood, most of whom lack many of his powers and invulnerabilities. Power is based largely on experience and strength of will. These Vampires are extremely susceptible to the power of holy relics and symbols but are merely weakened in daylight. They cannot cross running water without being encased in grave soil and they must rest within the embrace of the earth. They have many dark and terrible traits. Blood has no value to these beings, but they must drink it to slake their never-ending thirst, if only for a time.


Daemonic Lineage: born to a race of dark beings who feed upon the vital essences of man, these vampires have never known what it is to truly be a mortal and can only envy man his humanity. This form of Vampirism cannot be spread except through a process known as rebirthing, whereupon the Dark Being completely consumes the vital essence of a mortal, sucking the vessel dry of even the tiniest trace, then transforms that essence into a new one of the parent kind. This is the means by which such creatures spawn and so most are female. Males of such species are usually totally impotent when it comes to spreading the species, unless they have grown powerful enough to impregnate mortal women with their Dark Seed… such pregnancies are seldom safe for the mortal mother, often resulting in twisted monstrosities and a dead mother, but a rare few such births result in powerful mages with only minor daemonic traits. Sometimes the mother of such mages even survives. These vampires drink both spiritual energy and blood and have even been known to consume the flesh of their victims. Magic and divine workings are quite effective on these nasties, but weapons tend only to slow them as they heal non-magical damage quite quickly. As lovers and seductresses, they are typically far less violent, at least initially, than other forms of vampire. Like most deamons they cannot stand running water, but they can cross it. These beings cannot stand the sight of themselves in mirrors, for no really concrete reason.

Blood Taint: this form of Vampirism is a disease of the blood which uses its transformed hosts to transmit itself. Anyone bitten by such a Vampire but not slain will transform into one unless their body can successfully fight off the infection, an extremely rare occurrence. Such “Vampires” are driven to feed and are usually quite bestial. They are also among the weakest of all “Vampires”. Often this sickness spreads from animals to humans. No real strengths or weaknesses. Sometimes these diseases mutate to create flesh eating Ghouls instead.

Blood Rites: through dark and secret rituals these adepts have stolen the immortality of some dread being and in doing so gained great power… at a price. Some such Blood Cults serve their dread master, others are forced to keep the bastard alive to preserve their own extended lives and powers, while others have no such obvious shackles. Most Blood Cults can only spread their darkness by the sharing of the master blood, or in the case of those cults with no living font, by sharing the mixed blood of several initiates with the neonate. These Cultists lack the fangs of more traditional Vampires but more than make up for it in other, more subtle, ways. They must observe certain rituals when they drink and most of their powers are blood based.

La Sang Sacre: Those who have tasted of the blood of the sacred, those who have slain the blessed, are damned, never to die, never to find true peace until somehow atonement is granted by the higher powers. The blood of such beings cannot spread their condition, for it is a sickness of the soul not the flesh and their consumption of lesser blood serves only to prolong their lives and ease their suffering. Such beings cannot be slain, merely contained.

Damned Indifference: Some of the Fallen Angels fell not to Hell but to Earthly Realms and some of those fell with a terrible violence and hit especially hard. In order to survive, many such Broken Angels joined with a mortal host in order to survive. No one knows exactly why such beings feed upon blood, but such is the nature of the beast.

Nature of the Beast: Ancient spirits of blood and death that have plagued mortals since the days when fire was new, these blood drinkers took many forms over the ages until they realized that Mankind’s ultimate predator was Mankind itself. These spirits are harmless without a form, but can bring new life to the dying as long as the desire is great and the hunger greater. Originally appeased with offerings of blood by primitive tribes, these spirits know only hunger in these more “civilized” times. The body of such a vampire can be slain, but the spirit will simply seek out another host and return at some later time. They can only be truly stopped by defeating the spirit in spiritual combat.

Apex Predator: An evolutionary adaptation, a mutation some say, the Apex Predator Vampire is born and breed a hunter. Their prey? All those with blood, for the Apex Predator needs nothing else. The most ravenous of all Vampires, but also the least discerning, for an Apex Predator can subsist on any kind of blood. Apex Predators are not in the least dead and although they are long lived they do age and can be slain.

Hunter of Hunters: these are the Blood Angels, bound for their vengeful ways, to hunt the darkness and to draw sustenance only from the evil. Their prey is all who tread in darkness, who live in sin, and who prey upon the weak.

Immortal Blood: These are the true vampires, immortals comprised entirely of pure blood. While the weakest of their kind can be slain or dissolved in running water, the strongest cannot be destroyed but only dealt with, imprisoned, or banished.

Xian Hua: the Jumping Dead, deceptively fast and dangerous, these dead beasties have no personalities or obvious weaknesses.

Shiny Happy Vampies: a direct reaction to the common gothic vampire, the SHV's are immortals with style, ones who are not weakened by sunlight but rather shine in it.  It is theorized that the carbon in their bodies has been altered, restructed into diamond nanotubes, thus giving it great tensil strength while maintaining its flexibility.  SHV's are shunned by the more traditionally minded Vampire Groupies who react to anything outside their comfort zone with such scorn and disdain that one would think themselves stuck at a GOP rally.