Vampires

Vampires cannot create life, but they can spread their curse to others. With superhuman physical abilities and a predatory instinct, vampires have been able to carve out a place in the world as hired killers and black-ops assassins. There are two strains of the vampire virus, which has produced two distinct groups of vampires in conflict with each other.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION

The two strains of the vampire virus are commonly known as Prime Strain and Second Strain. These viruses can infect people of any species (except werecreature), and therefore appearance can vary across all vampires. Transformation into a vampire requires the progeny to be drained of blood near to death before consuming a small amount of their sire’s blood. The progeny will experience symptoms such as a high fever, chills, cold sweat, convulsions, and thirst. After roughly 12 hours they will fall into a comatose state. Their vital signs will fade until they appear to be dead, at which point they will wake as a vampire.

Common traits:

• Pale skin
• Weakened by exposure to direct natural sunlight
• Halted aging
• Retractable fangs
• No detectable vital signs
• Body temperature the same as the air around them
• Night vision
• Thick, dark blood
• Accelerated healing of minor injuries (cuts, sprains, bruises)
• Sterile
• Can sire another vampire by first drinking from the target until they are near death, then feeding them vampire blood

Prime Strain traits:

• Eyes change colour to red, at will or when in a frenzied state
• Telepathic mind link between a vampire and their sire; can communicate at will and regardless of distance, but cannot read thoughts other than what the sire/progeny is projecting to the other
• Better able to control their bloodlust
• No older than 334 years (appearance of Koschei, siring of Clan Chiefs)

Second Strain traits:

• Eyes change colour to yellow, at will or when in a frenzied state
• Emotional or empathic link between a vampire and their sire (cannot converse telepathically); feelings/impressions are conveyed involuntarily and regardless of distance, as this ability cannot be controlled
• Often unable to control their bloodlust, more prone to fits of violence
• No older than 80 years (creation of Second strain virus)

All vampires must feed on fresh blood to survive. If a vampire goes too long without feeding, they will deteriorate physically and mentally. Effects will start to show after a day, including increased agitation and difficulty concentrating. After 5 days with no food they become delirious and aggressive. At the extreme end they become severely emaciated and lose their higher mental faculties. They go insane with hunger and will attack anyone or anything and try to feed on it. Consuming a sufficient amount of blood over several days will reverse these effects. They will not die from lack of blood, but if they are starved for too long the mental damage done to them may become permanent.

It is possible for vampires to live on synthetic or animal blood but it is unsatisfying, and the vampire will find themselves still possessed of a constant baseline hunger.

CULTURE

All Prime Strain vampires, who call themselves Primul, are ultimately descended from Koschei. Koschei was a warlord in his own realm who was banished to this world through a Nexus Gate in 2066. Koschei sired seven others, who became the seven Primul clan chiefs: Vissarion, Marzanna, Asherah, Amon, Vorador, Janos, and Syros. To learn more about the Clans, click here. After Koschei led a failed march on the Tunguska Oasis in 2081 and was defeated and imprisoned, the Clans retreated to their lands in Masovia. Though they had established laws and a governing Septarchy, without Koschei’s leadership the Septarchy devolved into politicking and bickering among the chiefs. Centuries have passed, and while the Clans will close ranks to defend their kind from outside threats, they spend much of their time scheming and politicking against each other. Primul vampires have no nation of their own, but each clan claims territory in cities around the world.

Becoming an assassin or an operative for the Clans, called Strigoi, is seen as a worthy ambition. These Strigoi are renowned in military, intelligence, and criminal circles. In 2350, during the First Corporate War, XeroCorp partnered with Gordian-Allod to capture several vampires for their top secret super-soldier experiment, as part of the infamous Project Zodiac.

They reverse-engineered the vampire 'curse' (determined to be a kind of virus) and successfully infected their own test subjects. These became the first of the Second Strain vampires, or known derisively by the Primul as ‘skals’. However, these vampires were erratic, violent, and uncontrollable. What XeroCorp didn’t know was that the vampire curse was twofold: physical, and spiritual. Without the spiritual aspect, the Second Strain vampires were only half transformed, with the spirits of the living trapped in the bodies of the dead. This created an agonizing existence. They eventually escaped, killing most of XeroCorp's scientists, and fled into the night. The Second Strain virus spread rapidly, as these vampires lacked the social rules of the Clans and the guidance of elder vampires. They killed many, and drew the attention of vampire hunters. These hunters did not discriminate between Prime and Second Strain.

Primul view the Second Strain ‘skal’ vampires as disgusting perversions of the bloodline, and generally have no issue exterminating them with prejudice. Second Strain vampires must endure being outcasts even among their own people.

TRAITS

Base Evasion: 12

Night Stalker: Vampires start with the General skill Blind-Sight. Cannot be picked up on thermal cameras. All Prime Strain vampires have a telepathic link with their sire, while Second Strain vampires have an empathic link with their sire. -1 to all rolls when in direct natural sunlight

SPECIES ABILITY

Bloodlust: A vampire may bite an enemy in order to feed on their blood to heal themselves. The vampire will make a Strength/Level roll against their target and if successful will do Strength DMG x2 to the target’s base HP, healing themselves for an equal amount. This may be used once per quest or duel.