Vampires are created from Humans. A Vampire bite can accidentally turn a human into a Vampire.
Statistics
Vampires are extremely much more likely to be Women than men. One in every five thousand bites can cause a woman to turn, whereas it is one in many millions for men.
Vampires
Created when infected by a bite, a Vampire has their genetic code re-written. They gain increased physical strength as muscle tissue is polymerized. To sustain the loads, the skeleton absorbs metals and becomes an alloy over time. It is stronger, more flexible, and far heavier than a humans calcium based bones.
The changes go on for life, but the vast majority occur in the first ten years as natural forces replace every atom and cell in the body with the new models.
Vampires are designed by nature to be the alpha species. The one that preys upon the one that thinks it is the Apex
Because they drink blood, the immune systems have evolved to add
Male Vampires
Most male Vampires are half or less the physical strength of a Female Vampire. The genetic modifications that the infection causes seem to be targeted at females. Males are thought to be an ‘accident’. All the other Vampire capabilities are on the same spectrum relative to a human: better eyesight, Hearing, Taste, and sense of smell.
Male Vampires are implicitly not trusted. See the short story ‘Becky’ for why.
Hypersensitive:
Humans have a wide range of senses. Some people see colors others do not. Others are far more sensitive to odors. In humans there is such a thing as a ‘Supertaster’.
Standard bell curves apply, with most of the population clustered under the bump in the curve.
Vampires are far more of all of these things than humans. The most sensitive human nose is nothing compared to the least sensitive Vampire one. A bloodhound has the ability to distinguish far few parts per million of any given molecule than a human. Vampire are closer to Bloodhounds
A Hypersensitive is as far about a normal Vampire as a Vampire is of a human. This is not just more rods and cones and other structures for other wavelengths, or a denser forest of nerves in the roof of the sinuses, it is also denser and more extremely interconnected brain structures needed to absorb and sort the assault in sensory input a Hypersensitive must deal with.
Because of all this input, a Vampire defense is that one has to be paying attention to it to notice the additional data.
Standard Vampire
The standard Vampire is a woman, who looks to be about twenty-five years of age. Vampires can live thousands of years and typically die of boredom. That is to say, they have seen it all, done it all, experienced all they are, and they decide to leave this mortal coil, usually with help from someone on the Cleaning Crew, since they must deal with their body
A female vampire is approximately four to five times as strong as a very strong human. A male is only about twice as strong. To be able to be that without massive bulk, their muscles have undergone polymerization, and their bones have become stronger and more flexible by absorbing metals. The older a vampire it, the heavier they are, no matter what they look like. Helen, to swim, has to paddle very quickly or she will sink like a rock.
Vampire fangs are retractable, but in a vertical way, not in a flip down arrangement. They sit up inside the lateral upper incisors, not the canines, and they are largely metallic and hypodermic rather than for tearing. If a Vampire were to put huge holes in peoples necks, the might notice.
This arrangement is handy for injecting things like the hypnotics, and it also allows the vampire to control the size of the holes. A very pissed off Helen does in fact tear with them in Naked Came the Vampire.
Vampires have very potent pheromones. If you think of the way a female bee attracts male bees or any of a number of similar animal situations, pheromones can make an animal lose their minds with lust. See all the dead animals during their rutting season. V
Unless you are Adrian, and then it seems he might be a bit of a mutant.
To handle the speed and strength and additional bandwidth of the senses.
A Vampire brain is also me generalized than a human one. Along with the density and interconnections, resources from one area can be assigned to another. For example, when using Hypertime to slow his perception of time, Adrian generally loses the ability to hear. Like so many things in the Vampire ‘Attention Economy’ to be able to access the additional characteristics of the Vampire body requires paying attention to something. You do not see in IR unless you are paying attention to IR, etc.
Relationship Styles
The most common relationship in the Vampire world is some form of group relationship. Polyamory. It can be a lasting, full-on-sharing commitment, such as a group marriage (which is what Jessica, Adrian, and Helen have) or it can be living together. It can also be monogamous (What Rachel prefers and what she and Helen used to have)
At a Conclave, no matter what relationship you are normally in, the hot tub parties tend to get out of control, especially later in the evening.
Since Vampires come from humans, the full range of human sexual preferences are present. Becoming a Vampire and having your brain rewired might change how one perceives scents or colors, but it does not change anything about your sexual orientation, or anything about one’s perception of oneself in that regard. If one is straight, they are still. If one is gay, they are still. Bi is Bi. Pan is Pan.
Vampires have fortress mentality. They see it as themselves against the world. That they must always stay hidden. Also be in control, but from behind the scenes. They therefore tend to form small groups as a mutual support system.
Further, paucity of males means that they can often be both shared and protected by larger groups around them. Where some forms of polyamory are exploitive of women, this is the reverse, and tends to be exploitive of the men. In the world of vampires, males are often sex objects. Adrian complains about this with some frequency, and Helen and Jessica often tease him by calling him a boy-toy.
Body Modifications
An unfortunate side effect of the healing properties of Vampires is that trans means if one is
Other modifications to the body are also problematic. Breast implants are rejected. All plastic surgery is undone. Tattoos are erased. This last one means that Tattoos can be more recreational since they are not permanent. Jessica mentioned this when she talked about having a pair of wings tattoo’ed onto her back and them being gone fairly quickly. They last longer than a Henna tattoo in any case.
A Vampire can literally grow a new arm or leg over time, and teeth are quickly replaced when damaged,
So: What if you are literally someone born the wrong sex? I am thinking