This booklet is written on vampires. Many legends and rumors are spread about, and this will attempt to clear away the confusion and rumors, while also revealing truths and facts. This booklet is based on research and experimentation on real vampires. At the time of printing, it contains everything one must know about the night terrors.
Vampirism is an infection of unknown origin. It has been suggested it has something to do with the somewhat recent appearance of Zounih across the planet, however research suggests otherwise. Vampires have been known even before Zounih started affecting the planet, and their "magic" matches nothing about Necromancy or even any other Zounih based magic.
The infection is by all known means incurable. The only known way of truly removing vampirism is the death of the infected. The process of being infected with vampirism already having killed the body.
Vampirism is "transferred" when a vampire drains a victim's body of their blood completely, leaving not a single drop inside. This kills the victim, and leaves the corpse ready for the second and most important part of the process. The vampire then has to feed a good part of their own blood to the victim, its magical properties bringing back "life" into the body, now a vampire.
The testimony of a Spirits magician present during a conversion experiment states that the victim's spirit exits the body upon being drained, and then is forcefully sucked into the body to awake as a vampire. The vampires don't seem to remember this.
This infection seems to reside within the vampire's blood in the form of a special magic filled blood. Said magic blood will hereby be referred to as "Vitae". This Vitae, more commonly "vampire blood", is what fuels the vampire, it keeps the corpse of the victim forever maintained, healed and young, even fuelling magic for vampires that practice it.
The Vitae preserves the body, quickly healing any injuries and preventing aging past what has been shown to be roughly the age of 25 years. It has also been shown that people whose bodies had naturally decayed or been injured in some manner, had their bodies restored to a healthy state, healing a great many afflictions.
The body is now immune to disease, or thought to be as vampires among the sick do not get sick themselves. In some extreme cases where a vampire had lost its arm, even that has been shown to be able to be regenerated, even if very slowly.
A vampire's Vitae does not come from nowhere. It can be gained through drinking blood. The most "nutricious" blood for vampires is of Humans and other similarly intelligent species. The consumed blood is gradually converted by the vampire's body into Vitae. The purpose of the slow transfer is presumably to make sure that the vampire cannot accidentally use up all of the newly drunken blood instantly, to ensure survival by metabolising it over time, until another source can be found.
The vampires have a physiological need for Vitae, their bodies both requiring it to keep functioning, and having inbuilt "safety mechanisms" to ensure a vampire keeps up the required amount of Vitae. Namely, the vampire feels a sort of "thirst" for blood just as a human would feel a hunger for food, or thirst for water. This Thirst, unlike humans, can only be quenched with blood. This thirst will keep growing until eventually it is too strong for the vampire to handle, and it drives them into a mad rage, the vampire attacking anything nearby that may contain blood with the goal of feeding. This phenomenon is called "Frenzy", and should be avoided at all costs, due to possible loss of life. A frenzied vampire is completely unable to control their actions or how much they drink, often leaving their victims drained and dead. Research has shown that animal's blood can prevent a vampire from frenzying, if only keeping them on the edge. In addition to that, it requires alot of animal blood to keep the vampire from frenzying.
Vampires have the ability to consume food and beverages in a manner similar to humans, experiencing taste and texture. However, they do not gain any sustenance or nourishment from these sources, as their bodies no longer metabolize regular food and drinks. Instead, their primary source of energy and sustenance is derived from the consumption of blood, which provides the Vitae necessary for their survival. While vampires can engage in the social act of eating and drinking with others, it serves no functional purpose for them beyond maintaining appearances and blending in with human society.
To drink human blood, the body has changed the structure of its upper jaw. The vampire's canine teeth grew significantly and become fangs. These are long, hollow teeth that the vampire inserts into the body of its victim. They are then used to pull blood out of the opened wound, directly into the vampire's blood stream, through the canals within them.
EyesA vampire's eyes also change noticably, their irises growing red, along with a slight glow to them. These red eyes do more than just show that someone is potentially a vampire, they possess some magical qualities too.
They vampire can use them to cause a few minutes of amnesia within the victim, the exact timeframe varies between vampires. This is thought to be a tactic to make people forget any obvious signs of them being vampires that may have accidentally been shown. As well as amnesiating its victims, the eyes can also provide the vampire with excellent vision, having shown to give them Darkvision, a type of magical vision that can see up to sixty feet within complete darkness.
SkinThe third and final noticable feature of a vampire is their pale skin. Vampires naturally have pale skin. More generally, they look as though they are suffering from anemia. This applies all species that have skin. This alone is not to be treated as a definite sign of vampirism, one should suspect anemia before suspecting vampirism. Though if it does appear, one may try to look for other signs.
A major characteristic that isn't directly visible on its body is the fact that vampires are invisible to mirrors. This is an unambiguous and definite sign of vampirism, and should be treated as such. Though, while alternatives are uncommon, it is important that the mirror is built using silver, as alternatives do not show this same effect.
Weakness to sunlightThe vampire's skin shows another major weakness: the sun. Upon initial exposure to sunrays, the vampire will begin to feel a burning sensation, nothing that gets in the way, but it does cause major discomfort. Should the exposure continue for around one minute, the vampire will begin to notice weakness and fatigue in their muscles. Over the next few minutes, until about five minutes, the vampire will grow weaker and weaker in their body.
The vampire will also notice symptoms like shortness of breath, lightheadedness, headaches, and an ever increasing burning pain where the sun is touching them. Past the five minutes, the vampire will usually become too weak to stay standing, and be forced to sit or lie down. at roughly 12 minutes, the vampire will begin to feel increasingly sleepy, their consciousness becoming weaker as the pain also weakens. This continues on until about the 20 minute mark, where they go completely unconscious. This unconsciousness will hereby be referred to as "sun stupor".
Holy Magic ExposureVampires experience significant discomfort when exposed to holy magic, which affects them in a manner similar to a weakened form of sunlight exposure. As holy magic is innately opposed to the dark, unnatural nature of vampirism, the presence of holy magic can cause adverse reactions in vampires. Over time, continuous exposure to holy magic can gradually weaken a vampire, resulting in symptoms akin to those experienced during sunlight exposure, albeit at a slower and less intense rate. Prolonged exposure to holy magic will eventually lead to fatigue, pain, and difficulty in using their vampiric abilities. Vampires should avoid areas or objects imbued with holy magic to prevent these debilitating effects and maintain their strength and vitality.
Sun StuporSun stupor by itself cannot kill a vampire, though it is important to note that it may end up leaving the vampire in a long coma. Should a vampire fall into a sun stupor, it is crucial that they are removed from sunlight, as them being left there will result in a longer, but temporary coma. After being removed from the sunlight, the vampire's body begins to recover, though this process is going to take more time than the amount of time the vampire had spent in the sun. Once the body has recovered, the vampire will slowly begin to wake up again.
Stake StuporVampires can be brought into another type of stupor. By piercing a vampire's heart with a stake, the vampire is forcefully brought unconscious, and does not wake up until the stake is removed. This alone is not enough to kill the vampire.
Thirst stuporShould a vampire driven to frenzy be unable to get any blood within a day, they will fall into what this booklet will refer to as "thirst stupor"
Strength and speedThrough the magic coursing through their veins, vampires have the ability to enhance their muscles, increasing speed and/or their strength at will. However, this enhancement is closely tied to the time of day. As creatures of the night, their enhanced physical abilities begin to wane once the sun dawns on the horizon, leaving them with strength and speed comparable to an average human. As the sun sets and night falls, their supernatural abilities return, once again granting them the extraordinary strength and speed that is characteristic of their kind. Using this power drains the vampire's Vitae over time, so a vampire that has used this power extensively will need fresh blood soon.
SmellingVampires naturally have a very strong sense of smell that is always active. Due to their heighened sense of smell, vampires do not enjoy strong smells, as it overwhelms their senses. This fact has lead to the rumors that vampires are weak to garlic, which is not entirely true. It is true that vampires are discouraged to go near cut garlic, as that has a strong smell, but that fact is true only because vampires are discouraged to go near any strong smell in general.
Immunity to coldVampire bodies, perhaps due to their noctural nature, seem to be completely immune cold temperatures down to 46°C, their bodies protecting itself from frostbite with its magic. Infact, vampires don't seem to have a body temperature of their own. As a result, vampires usually take the temperature of the space they are currently residing in, though often a slight bit colder.
Bat formPowerful vampires have shown the ability to turn themselves into bats capable of flight, though none of the vampires involved in the experiments have shown this ability. Thus no more is known about the exact nature of a vampire's bat form.
Should one ever be in a situation where one has to kill a vampire, it is important to prepare a wooden stake. This wooden stake should be stabbed into the vampire, making sure to stab their heart as that is their weak point. This will put the vampire into a stake stupor and will make them unable to act. Once they are in stake stupor, they are to be placed in sunlight. Exposure to sunlight while in this state will kill the vampire within thirty minutes, reducing them to dust as the magic that sustained their life is destroyed. Alternatively, one could also starve a vampire into thirst stupor, and then put them into sunlight, though this risks damages as the vampire frenzies, and is not advised.
This part of the booklet serves to clear up falsehoods in common folklore, ideas that have been proven false.
It is often heard that vampires require an invitaton to enter someone's house, though this is unfortunately not true. Vampires are in fact able to enter someone's house without permission, and have been doing so ever since they existed, proven by records of many incidents.
Less often, but still occasionally, it is said that vampires get hurt by any type of running water. This is also not true, as rain is one of the best allies of a vampire during the day, protecting them from the sun.