Vampire

Vampires have two forms: their original human form and their bat form. When in human form they are mostly indistinguishable from a normal human, and have mostly the same anatomy as a normal human, however will possess extended canine teeth and a longer tongue. When in bat form they have the same anatomy as a normal common vampire bat (desmodus rotundus), however they are much larger, more than three times as long and heavy.

The biological traits of a vampire conform to whatever form they currently possess. When in human form they will have the human traits they always had. When in bat form, they will have traits that would correspond to their human characteristics. For example, if they are a tall human, they will be a longer bat; if they had long arms as a human, they will have a larger wingspan.

All vampires are rendered sterile in the infection process, and thus cannot reproduce. The only way for the species to keep it's population up is by converting humans. In the past this was done accidentally, if the vampire did not kill its prey for whatever reason. Nowadays, though, vampires often convert other humans on purpose, for a variety of reasons. These can include if they knew the person previously and wanted them to be with them, if they wanted someone to be like them, if they wanted someone to serve them, if they were on orders to do convert them, if they needed that person strategically, if they were intending to gain more members to their dynasty, or other reasons.

The growth rate of a vampire is the same as a normal human's. The stages of development are the same, so a vampire's human form will match it's human age. However, their lifespan is the much longer, so vampires over 100 years old will begin to appear extremely old, although their physical capabilities will not be reduced. The long term effects of their porphyria will also take effect, and they will lose their nails and hair, and their skin will tighten. Due to the large mismatch between the average human lifespan and the average vampire bat lifespan, a vampire's bat form will appear to grow at a much slower rate. The stage of development for a vampire's bat form will match it's human form, and since human developmental periods last longer, the stages in growth for their bat form will last a lot longer.

Vampires can theoretically live wherever there is large enough animals to feed from. However, they prefer areas that are isolated, allow a good place to hide during the day, and where they can fly in bat form. As such, vampires historically lived wild in the forest or jungle, hibernating in caves and leaving only to feed on local fauna such as cattle or humans. Some may have lived in abandoned buildings, but this was uncommon.   With the advent of modern civilisation, vampires didn't change much initially. It was only when the more intelligent generations of vampires began to surface that they moved closer to towns and cities, establishing domains and preying on the local humans. These vampires lived in either rundown areas of the towns and cities, the outskirts, or underground. Newer vampires even began to use modern technology, and gained in depth understanding of the cities in which they lived.

Vampires are 'hematophagous', meaning they only feed on blood. Vampires are still able to theoretically eat all the foodstuffs that a human is able to eat, however it will provide them almost no nutrition. They can drink blood in either human form, due to the extended teeth and tongue, or bat form, but will prefer to do it in bat form as it is easier, owing to the fact they are smaller and can fly in that form. Vampires can either feed on large animals or humans; historically, vampires would feed on whatever they found first, but newer vampires prefer humans.   Vampires don't need to eat very often, only about once a month, however they can do it as often as they like if they want to. Historically, therefore, vampires only left their cave a couple of times a month to feed, but modern vampires usually choose to feed more often. Feeding can take anywhere up to 10 minutes, usually leading to the death of the victim, and most vampires are not willing to share.

Most of a vampire's biological cycle is similar to a human's, therefore not much affected by seasonal changes. However, slightly affected by the lunar cycle. As vampires cannot be exposed to sunlight, the current phase of the moon affects their level of activity, as moonlight is merely reflected sunlight. While moonlight does not have a particularly strong effect on vampires, most will avoid clear nights with a full or near-full moon, and activity will increase on overcast nights and during or near the new moon. Also, all vampires are forced to shift into their bat forms during a lunar eclipse, where at least 60% of the visible surface of the moon is in the Earth's shadow, and cannot change into human form until the night is over. After the night is finished, vampires will then be forced to transform back into human form, but afterwards will regain the freedom to change as they please.

In the past, vampires were solitary creatures, living alone and having a territory that they defended against other vampires. New vampires would often have no connection to the one that converted them, and would leave to find their own territory.   Newer vampires, with their increased intellect, have a much better understanding of the ideas of a social structure. At first, some vampires recognised the benefits of banding together, and held territory as a simple group. Nowadays, though, their structure has improved greatly. Vampires have started to form 'dynasties', where one older vampire acts as the leader of a group of vampires. The others serve the head vampire, and they all seek to sustain themselves and expand the dynasty. These dynasties are still quite territorial, and will fiercely defend their territory against other dynasties, wild vampires, or anybody seeking to harm them.   Vampires usually form dynasties out of the people that they convert, with themselves at the head. However, vampires are always seeking to gain more power, and since newer vampires are usually more intelligent, there is a constant power struggle in these dynasties, between the older ones trying to keep their power, and the newer vampires trying to gain power. If a vampire is able to keep their leadership for a long time, the dynasty's power will usually increase, as they have constant leadership instead of internal fighting. These dynasties most commonly exist near towns and cities; some integrate secretly into the local populace, allowing them to project their influence to feed and gain more members.

Vampires are believed to have originated in South America, however nowadays can be found all over the world, though favour areas that locally have more areas to hide during the day and have more potential prey. Historically, vampires were more found in the wild, in forests and jungle, though nowadays more vampires can be found near cities and towns, where there are more humans.

The intelligence of a vampire, as stated, depends on its previous intelligence as a human and which generation of vampire it is, with more intelligent humans becoming more intelligent vampires, and succeeding generations of vampires retaining ever more of their previous intelligence. As such, the average intelligence of the species used to be very bestial for most of history, but over the past few decades has increased dramatically, and is increasing all the time.

When in human form, a vampire will have heightened senses above that of a normal human. Particularly, their hearing is greatly improved, similar to the keenness of a vampire bat's. Also, they will be able to effectively use echolocation when in human form, allowing them to move in the pitch blackness. When in bat form their senses and abilities are no different from a normal vampire bat's.

Vampire culture is very iconoclastic. They will constantly and easily discard the past; past achievements, past idols, and past leaders. They even discard most writings about their history as a race. This stems from the fact that they are ashamed of it. They know they used to be predatory beasts, and seek to forget all that and embrace themselves as things equal in intelligence to humanity, if not superior. This iconoclasm about their distant past then affects their actions relative to only a few generations previously. As each new vampire generation is progressively smarter, they consider themselves better than all the previous ones. Past generations in a dynasty are quickly and intentionally forgotten, and in some cases individual older vampires have even been driven out. This also feeds into the constant power struggles in dynasties, and is why modern vampires will be actively hostile to the more ancient, still animalistic, vampires.

No one knows when the first vampire(s) were created, or where, though it was likely in South America. No one knows how they first made their way out of that region and into the rest of most of the world, either, as it seems to have happened before explorers could even sail the Atlantic. For most of history, vampires have been predatory, territorial beasts, some would even say monsters. Once a human was bitten they lost who they once were and became one of these monsters, fleeing into the wilderness, and living to feed on the blood of animals and humans alike, though preferring humans. They lived for centuries and many myths and legends appeared about them, in fear of them as evil creatures. Humans greatly feared them, though most did not know they really existed. Some did, and dedicated their lives to hunting them, dangerous though it was.   As humanity progressed and became more civilised, little changed for vampires. Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, humanity expanded, learned new technologies, and developed new ideas. But this did not matter to vampires, who only cared about feeding, and simply benefited from more humans in new places, and more places to hide, closer to their prey. However, when the population began increasing in the late 19th century vampires started to change a bit. The more intelligent the human, the more intelligent the vampire they become (if they are not killed), and so as humanity became more knowledgeable, the average human became smarter, and hence newer vampires around this time were more intelligent. Yet this effect also depends on the generation of vampire; how many have been sired before them. Lower generation vampires did not keep much of their intelligence, even if they were very smart; the effect built slowly over the generations, meaning vampires had only basic intellect in those days, sometimes forming small packs and using basic weapons.   Magic users were never fond of vampires. They knew how bestial and aggressive they were, and they knew they could not be tamed, civilised, or reasoned with. Some actively hunted vampires, but most simply avoided them. When the Enneagram Alliance was founded, vampires were considered a pest, and while the Alliance did not seek to actively destroy them, it sought to resist their actions worldwide, as well as keep their existence a secret for the sake of the masquerade. No vampires ever learned magic, and indeed in their still mostly animal-like behaviour they could not conceive of what the Alliance even was.   It was only when the human population began spiking in the middle of the 20th century that things really started to change for vampires. Suddenly there were many many more humans all around the world, and vampires suddenly had more prey than they needed, so they fed lots. As such, the generational snowballing of intelligence built up quickly, and soon vampires started becoming ever more sapient. They began to organise themselves in more complex ways, forming groups of vampires called 'dynasties'. Vampires would create a dynasty in a local area with the vampires they converted serving them. These dynasties would organise the local vampires, allowing them to coordinate themselves, defend their territory better, keep the amount of feeding on humans in check, and ensure they remained undiscovered. However, these dynasties were often hostile to one another and to older, feral vampires. They were also constantly plagued by infighting, as vampires jostled for power. Often, the vampire in charge of a dynasty would be deposed quickly by one of the new, smarter, generation that they created, who would would then be deposed by the next generation, and so on. But when these dynasties were controlled by a strong vampire who held their position, they were very powerful.   By the late 20th century, vampires were approaching the intelligence level of normal humans. The Enneagram Alliance had some plans to fight vampires directly to stop their advance, however before they could do so they became embroiled in the conflict with ORCHESTRA, which would eventually destroy them. ORCHESTRA itself initially saw vampires as a mild threat. They were somewhat organised but mostly bestial, isolated monsters, and for years ORCHESTRA ignored them for more important targets. By the time they turned their attention to vampires, it was too late, and vampires had become just as intelligent as humans. There were some claims that some vampires had even gotten more intelligent than humans, but these are hard to prove. There were were also many more of them, and were far more organised. They were able to organise defence against ORCHESTRA's attacks, and even learnt to hide themselves well. Some dynasties even had long-term plans that they sought to enact, plans that would make ORCHESTRA redouble their efforts to stop them.

Vampires, even the new intelligent ones, ultimately see humans as prey. The fact that they were all once human is lost on them due to the effects of their disease on the mind. They will only interact with humans in order to find a victim, though they may pretend to be friendly with them for their own ends. However, vampires are also aware of the importance of, and seek to uphold, the masquerade. They will also be actively hostile to those that seek to hunt them, such as ORCHESTRA.   Vampires don't see magic users as that different to normal humans as far as they're concerned; older vampires cannot tell the difference at all. Vampires recognise that it's not a good idea to get on the wrong side of one, however they ultimately still see them as potential prey, just one that is more difficult to get. They also understand that magic users could be powerful allies, but also understand most magic users are hostile to them.