Out of Character (OOC):
Chronicle: Mage 2: The Dethroned Queen
Venue: Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition
Chronicle Storyteller: Jerad Sayler
Assistant Storytellers: Hannah Nyland & Alex Van Belkum
Kindred Physiology: Considerations
The following is a rundown of vampires work in the most basic sense for the RPG game Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition, part of Onyx Path's Chronicles of Darkness (nWoD 2.0)
Vampires are not human
From the moment of their awakening following the embrace, they are profoundly aware that they are different. It is more than just facts such as lack of heartbeat, pulse, or warmth. It is a complete physiological change that can be felt from the first few seconds and stays with them their entire requiem.
Some of the more mundane aspects of this difference are:
1. Bodily Functions
Your organs and glands, including your heart, do NOT work. Therefore you do not breathe, eat, sigh, swallow, blink, fart, or pee. With the Blush of Life, a vampire can force blood to parts of the body to artificially to add normal pallor to the skin, breathing, blinking, pulse, and temperature which can simulate mortal life. Many younger vampires still blink and breath out of habit but its completely unnecessary and if they are distracted they may stop those ticks. Older vampires usually have to make a conscious effort to remember to breath and blink but may have more practice at pretending to be human. Just remember this when you are playing - 'She sighs and says…' is technically wrong. You do need to draw in air when you speak, but that is not the same as breathing, and that spoken breath will not steam on cold winter air, because…
2. Circulatory System
Your blood does not circulate, and your cells do not burn energy, therefore you are cold to the touch. Only the unobservant will fail to notice this even when just shaking hands. A freshly fed vampire will be somewhat warm for up to an hour, provided they consumed a lot of blood in the feeding (half to a full amount of blood found in a person. If it was only a small amount (a pint or two) then it makes no difference - you're cold. At best a vampire will feel room temperature, about an average of 70F or 20c, nearly 30% colder than a normal human being. Your heart does beat about 10 times a minute but this is sporadic, it really only pumps a few times if you are expending vitae on something. The Blush of Life can be consciously activated to simulate higher body temperature and pulse rate.
3. Bodily Fluids
You do not have saliva or any other bodily fluid. The only way to mimic these things is to force blood through the appropriate tissues (usually Blush of Life). All orifices of a vampire are normally dry unless recently lubricated with blood. That means that any contact with these orifices for another person is either dry and cold, or bloody and cold. Think about that before you kiss, or whatever. Blood is used to produce plasma or saline aspects for tears (though reddish in larger quantities) and saliva. Blood can be expended (Blush of Life) to engage sexual organs to function normally however the only fluid involved is plasma and blood. A vampire can heal bite marks on a victim by licking the wound, this is because Kindred saliva has their Vitae in it and vitae heals humans almost as well as vampires. This is also why being bitten by a vampire is usually extremely pleasurable (this is called the Kiss), the bite carries a lesser strength addiction similar to being feed straight Vitae.4. Organs
5. Fatigue
The feeling of being 'tired' for humans arises from a buildup of what are called 'fatigue poisons' in muscles and brain. These are waste byproducts in the cells and blood that come from cellular activity, and once they reach a certain level, they impair function and the body shuts down to clean them out. These are the same chemicals that cause 'muscle burn' when exercising. Since a vampire's cells do not function this way and burn nothing, no such poisons are produced. Therefore a vampire never feels tired or fatigued (save perhaps mentally, which is psychological, not physical as the brain is not producing waste chemicals either). From sundown to sunrise, you are at your peak. You never experience fatigue, aches, stiffness, muscle cramps, or any other side effect of activity. You feel 100% at all times as long as you have a sufficient amount of blood in your system. Mechanically this is represented by Strength dots directly correlating with the strength table when it comes to lifting or carrying things and Stamina need not be rolled and it rarely relevant to tasks). A vampire can run at top sprint speed all night without an issue. The only restriction is that the rising of the sun compels a vampire to find shelter and return to a torpor state during the day. This compulsion can be fought and some vampires have the fortitude to remain awake during the daytime or awaken early during daylight hours.
6. Sustenance
The vampire body no longer requires human food or drink. It gains no nourishment from these things, and by consequence it will not react to them with feelings of longing when they are present. Food does not smell good any longer, except in purely psychological ways. Its all salt, water, and ash. The vampire body does require not human blood, however, human blood is the best. Therefore, humans smell like food. No vampire needs to be told the difference between a vampire and a mortal under normal conditions, one strong whiff of either one and the hunger or predatory aura will supply the answer. Vampires can eat but must spend a vitae to stimulate the stomach to hold it and it must be purged later (vomiting the mess). They can spend another vitae to turn a little of the blood into an acidic enzyme to break down the food but it essentially wastes the blood to burn the food. The waste is slowly secreted from the body as tiny quantities of a neutral ash-like substance over the course of daytime sleep as the blood forces the foreign substances from the body and returns them to their natural state. Being a vampire means being in a bodily form of death/stasis. While a vampire sleeps (in which they appear completely dead) any changes such as haircuts, tattoos and any other bodily changes are reversed unless the vampire expends willpower to keep one of these changes.
7. Scent
Speaking of scent - the human body produces scent in dozens of different ways, from hair oils, skin oil, sweat, breath, body order, pheromones and other, less savory expulsions. The entire combination of scents produces a unique signature smell, just like in any other animal. Vampires have none of these means of producing scent, but it does not mean they are without a distinct smell. Most importantly vampires would smell like blood, especially near their mouth and nose, and they would smell like the environments in which they spend their time. Foreign scents like smoke and incense still cling to them normally, and if they wear perfumes or use common toiletries like shampoo, then all these smells combined will form a unique scent for each vampire. Odor doesn't cling to their dead skin very readily and so most of the scents will probably be coming from the hair or clothing.
8. Skin
A vampire's skin is unusually pale and smoother than in life the Kindred was in life. The paleness comes from the fact that there is no blood circulating near the surface. The smoothness comes from the same effect that is observed in corpses where the skin takes on a smooth and waxy feel shortly after death. It is possible for a vampire to expend vitae and make themselves appear more human with the Blush of Life, but they would not be inclined to do this except when hunting, interacting with kine or otherwise only when absolutely necessary. Vampires also don't leave any dead skin tissue or traceable DNA behind. Lost blood loses its supernatural aspects very quickly once it leaves the body and DNA testing would reveal the dead blood cells and fragmentary DNA from the many different people the vampire has fed on. Without skin oils they don't leave fingerprints either.
9. Drinking blood
Vampires do 'swallow' blood in the conventional sense, but this is a muscular effort of the body akin to a vacuum cleaner, not an effort of the throat. The organs at the end of the esophagus contract and this pulls blood in. This is why an entire humans blood supply can be consumed within 20-30 seconds with a small bite mark. If a vampire desires they can tear a larger hole in a person and drink even faster but at the cost of painfully maiming the victim. When a vampire bites someone it induces the Kiss which causes the victim to be lost in a swoon of euphoria and disorientation. Many can't recall actually being bitten or rationalize what happened. While not as addictive as being fed Kindred blood, the Kiss alone can induce kine to want to be bitten again.Taking all of these things into consideration, it becomes easy to see that a vampire would be unable to delude themselves into thinking they are still human. The fact that their body just doesn't react the way it used to in so many different ways would make any attempt at pretending to be mortal a waste of time and a source of inevitable frustration and depression
10. Images
Due to some unknown and supernatural aspect of being Kinred, a vampire's reflection is blurred strangely where one would normally see the skin, hair and the face of a person. With concentration and the expenditure of concerted effort the vampire can appear normal for a short amount of time in these reflections. This also includes any pictures or video of the vampire and makes them very hard to track historically or for criminal prosecution.
But those were just the mundane aspects of the change, consider:
A vampire awakens from the embrace feeling very different than they did in their last moments of life. They are no longer in cooperation with their body in many ways, they are now in complete command of it, save for the hunger and their beast. And as they age this body control increases. If they wish to remain still they can appear unnervingly inanimate, providing an advantage to stealth that normal people cannot duplicate.
11. Strength
A vampire awakens feeling stronger, faster, and with a keener of sense and mind, than they ever felt in life. This is because they are no longer distracted by the disposition and function of a living body. This part of the change is not necessarily represented in any stat changes or mechanics, but it is nonetheless true for any vampire. In many practical ways they are superior to their former mortal selves.
Consider strength as an example. The human body does not have a set strength capability, it has a limit that is defined by health, preparation, level of fatigue, and a dozen other attributes that make the actual limit of any person's strength a fluid and nebulous thing. There are large men that lift heavy weights in competition professionally and have lifted as much as 700 lb. (320 kg), once, in a bench press. But when they are forced to do many lifts in a short period of time, what they can lift drops to around 500 lb. (225 kg) or less. This falls back to the fatigue chemicals and activity impairment. It is functionally impossible for a human being to work at their maximum capacity for more than a few tasks at most. Doing it too many times creates the restrictive chemicals which prevent the body from hurting itself. Without these chemicals a person could tear themselves apart.
Now, consider the vampire - they have no impairment that prevents them from using their maximum potential in every task if they so desire. So it is possible for a vampire to exert themselves completely in feats of strength, making them seem to be up to twice as strong as they used to be. This has no effect on the upper limit of their strength, which doesn't change until they learn the Discipline: Vigor or exceed normal attribute limits imposed by Blood Potency. This simply means that they can operate at that limit all night, without ever getting tired. The blood makes them tough and durable so that they don't tear themselves apart from the effort. Any micro muscular tears or damage to the body through physical effort is repaired instantly by the blood. They can also Call upon the Blood, expending it to temporarily increase their strength to preform truly amazing feats of strength for a moments.
12. Speed
Likewise a vampire will seem to be twice as fast on their feet as they used to be when they are forced to run. Why? Because the average human can sprint for a few seconds at a speed roughly twice what they can maintain in an extended run. After those few seconds, the muscular fatigue forces them to slow down. Another factor in running is cardiovascular fitness, if your lungs and heart are out of shape or impaired in any way, they can't supply oxygen as fast as the muscles need it, and the muscles slow down. Vampires do not breathe, and never suffer fatigue, therefore their running speed is in essence their sprint, around 12 mph (19 kph) for the average reasonably fit human of average size. The Discipline: Celerity can be learned by any vampire which will propel them to transhuman levels of speed and deftness. Also, any vampire can Call upon the Blood to increase their Strength and Dexterity for very short periods of time, making them quicker than mortal limitations.
13. Senses
What about the senses? Why would they be better? This is a bit more nebulous, but in the case of the big three (sight, hearing, and sense of smell) it relatively easy to explain.
Sight - human eyes dry out when they stare, they water, and they are irritated by various elements in the air quite easily. Combine these things with eyestrain, blinking, and a dozen other factors, and you will see that focusing sharply is difficult at best for the human eye. Since none of these considerations apply to the vampire, it is also easy to see why they would seem to experience clearer and sharper sight. Add to this that vampires have the supernatural advantages of being able to see in darkness and low-light.
Smell - humans receive scent data from molecules in the air that they breathe in. Simple enough. But they breathe OUT again almost as quickly, by necessity, and therefore reduce the amount of sensory input they can get from any one breath (this is the reasons that animals, especially dogs, breath shallowly and rapidly when scenting, they cram as much as they can as quickly as they can into their nose, with a minimum of exhalation). Since vampires don't breathe out - well, you can see where this is going. Additionally, vampires are literal blood hounds. Their physiology is optimized to pick up on the smell of blood, like a shark smelling a drop of blood a mile away.
Senses can also be superlatively heightened by the Discipline: Auspex.
14. Vitae - Vampiric Blood
These factors add to the inhuman and unnatural sense that vampires have of themselves, but they are by no means the largest indicators that they have changed. One factor remains, and within it are many attributes that combine to make the blood the largest and most pressing sign of the new vampire's status.
The Blood is everything to a vampire. It is every meal, every breath, every thought, every feeling, every action they have ever or will ever take. It is their first, last, and only requirement, their best friend, and at times their worst enemy. Without it they simply cease to exist. The Blood is their power, their drug, their means to live and their reason for living. Its the thing that animates them beyond just being a corpse. The blood, in many ways, IS the true vampire, it simply is animating a corpse like a hermit crab living in a shell. And the Blood brings with it the hunger, and lurking behind the hunger is the beast that all vampires fear to some extent.
The Blood, which vampires call 'vitae', infuses their entire body. It takes the place of their circulatory system and bonds with their nervous system. Vitae doesn't flow the way human blood does. It's simply there, to be used as needed. It allows them to move, to feel, to think, and to do things no mortal could dream of. It is the most precious thing in existence to a vampire. They never waste it, and they use it carefully, because getting more isn't exactly easy.
15. Hunger and Hunger Frenzy
If they run low through exertion or stupidity, they begin to battle the hunger frenzy, that driving need to have more before it's too late. The hunger from the beast is not a sensation like human hunger or thirst, it is more akin to the drive for self-preservation in an animal, that instinct that will cause a wolf to gnaw off it's own foot to escape a trap, the same kind of drive that will cause even the tiniest creature to turn and bite viciously when cornered. The unthinking, unreasoning, uncaring need to survive. Woe to the vampire that let's the hunger get too strong, because then the beast takes over, and that hunger/anger/fear is personified. A vampire in frenzy will gladly rip the head off their own lover to drink from the fountain of their gushing neck, they would rend their own children in half to get at the blood hidden in their small bodies. Nothing is more important to the beast than survival. Nothing.
16. The Taste of Blood
The average human finds drinking blood somewhat distasteful (it tastes of copper and salt water), except where culturally tolerated or encouraged, but to the vampire blood is more than just a necessity. It is more potent and delicious than the most powerful drug or the finest of meals. Nothing can compare to the all-consuming ecstasy a vampire feels when drinking, or the high that stays with them long after the meal is finished. It is a permanent and absolute addiction that instantly becomes the center of their lives. A vampire never treats blood lightly unless they have gorged themselves to the point of bursting, and they can never ignore it. Even the thin trickle from a mortal's cut finger sings a siren call to the senses of a vampire, distracting them, drawing their attention. Open bleeding has been known to drive vampires into a feeding frenzy, they simply can't help themselves. They can smell blood in a room the same way a human being can smell dinner cooking, and they never fail to take notice. Vampire blood (Vitae) is even more addictive, even to other vampires, but drinking it drives too even greater blood addiction and slavery to the one you drink from in the form of a blood bond.
17. Hunting
Vampires face a problem to their need for blood, however, due to the world they live in. Getting the blood they need is generally socially unacceptable, and they must be careful in how they go about it, lest they wake up with a stake in their chest in time to see the ax descending on their neck. If they want to maintain absolute secrecy, they have to hunt carefully, lure potential meals away from spectators, take what they need but not enough to endanger life, then somehow hide the fact of what they've done from the victim as well. If they accidentally bleed someone dry they have to deal with an exsanguinated body Some vampires are blessed with powers of the mind to help accomplish these tasks, others have to rely on subterfuge, wits and the power of the Kiss to get by. A particularly active vampire may have to spend half the night just in the hunt, since their hunger demands more than what just one victim can provide (if they don't want to kill the kine). For this reason some vampires will keep Herds, groups of people kept solely for the purpose of feeding and bribed on blood addiction or the pleasure of being bitten. Having a Herd raises its own problems, because the vampire needs to care these people somehow and ensure their silence. No matter how they do it, the quest for Blood, for survival, becomes the driving force in a vampire's every waking hour and flavors every aspect of their Requiem.
18. Losing Humanity
Despite all of these very real and immediate changes, there is one thing, and one thing only, about a vampire that doesn't change right away. The one thing that becomes a curse that makes all the other curses of vampirism pale by comparison: their emotions, morals, social conventions, and human nature.
For a time, often a long time, vampires still feel the way a human would. Their hearts love, laugh, hurt, and cry just as though they were mortal. This is the ultimate bane of the vampire, to be a monster by nature and design, but to be human at heart. As they go on, they discover that they cannot truly obtain the same level of emotion they had before. Part of this is the radical changes in bio-chemical make-up of their undead bodies. The other part is that their soul is now unable to experience true emotion, only the memory of it (like a shadow of what should be felt). Emotions fueled by the beast are still authentic and are amplified: anger, fear, hunger, rage, paranoia but these are less than helpful.
They can feel from their first seconds of requiem the truth of what they've become. They can often see it. From those first moments they begin a struggle between their new natures and their old inner selves. The hunger demands blood, and will kill to get it, but the human within recoils from the horrors that they now find themselves capable of. Guilt, remorse, regret, horror - these things plague new vampires as they feel the monster within clawing its way to freedom. Murder becomes a temptation and a horrifying inevitability they must wrestle with. They look at former friends and smell the blood in their veins, becoming wracked by disgust that they could think of a friend or lover as food, and a secret terror that comes from the knowledge that if they lose control just once - that friend will die by their hand. If they retain their humanity long enough, they watch people, places, things they love age, rot, and die as their own immortality carries them onward unchanging.
For these reasons many withdraw from human society quickly, but many more struggle with the terrible slide away from being human, and experience pain and heartache like they never suffered in life. Some try to turn to their own kind for comfort or cling to Keystones that anchor them in the mortal world.
Vampires view each other as potential threats, competitors, and enemies. At best there can be alliances, carefully plotted and jealously guarded. The demands and pressures of requiem make no vampire trustworthy, and many other factors, such as the blood bond, render them downright suspicious. This emotional minefield often drives vampires to complex and manipulative ends to try and create some form of lasting security for their dying hearts. They sire childer and try to hold them to themselves, sometimes by binding them with the Blood. They will surround themselves with ghouls that have no choice but to love their domitor, and they will even trick and seduce other vampires into the bond. Ultimately it all fails. In the end the vampire must face the crushing weight of hunger and the march of ages alone, and make their peace with it whatever way they can. Virtually none of them survive this ordeal with more than a shred of their humanity intact, and the loss is like a surgery without anesthetic that lasted centuries.
To fight this horrible tide, most vampires embrace artificial passions to keep themselves feeling 'alive' inside. This zealous pursuit of stimuli to stave off the death of their human side has become so ingrained in the whole of vampire society that it has overtaken and become the very shape of that society. And so it goes, through every possible version of human expression, mirrored and refined to a grotesque art by the immortal souls fearing the darkness within - revenge, trickery, deceit, love, madness, the list goes on. In the end, every vampire is defined by what makes them inhuman, and what they do to try a fight that inevitable truth.
Eventually, when the ages where them down or their blood has become so potent they must feed on their own kind (and are still subject to blood addiction and bondage) they give themselves the Final Death or go into Torpor. Torpor becomes a lucid dream of fact and fiction. It can be as maddening as staying awake. Memories of ancient centuries get blurred with dreams and it can drive the humanity away.
19. Vampire population (speculative)
Most newly Embraced (called Neonates) either die from their own stupid actions or self-destruction. Those that survive the first 50 years tend to stabilize the descending curve. After that only the very old vampires tend to eventually destroy themselves when immortality becomes unbearable as the curve slopes slowly downwards. Despite immortality, this creates a curve average vampire lifespan. Most vampires are neonates and not even half of them will reach the 50 year mark (and make up approximately 50% total population (no one has ever been able to confirm this, just a wild as guess (WAG)). Ancillae make up the 40% after that (50-250 years), 9% are 250-500 years old, 1% over 500+ years (they really are the 1%) and only a tiny sliver 0.0005% have lasted a millennia. It looks like a pyramid scheme... and the Invictus would say that this is how it should be.
Those estimated percentages would also include those in Torpor, old vampires that are sleeping their blood potency down or trying to escape the Danse Macabre for at least a little while. Perhaps 20% vampires are in Torpor at any given time.
If you consider the world population that live in urban centers (about 54% of 7.5 Billion, and approximately one vampire for 100,000 people which radically fluctuates from city to city), then that means there should be around 40,500 vampires on earth and 32,400 are active, the rest in torpor.
I highly recommend reading The Blood: VtR Player's Guide if you want to know more about what it feels like to be a vampire.
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