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Blood Retardation

Some Vampires have trouble living with their need to consume the blood of the living. They can't stop themselves from killing once they've latched onto somebody, so they decide to feed only on creatures they considered acceptable to eat when Human; animals. What they don't know is that what they're subsisting on isn't the hemoglobin; it's the very soul of the creature. Non-sapient creatures have simpler souls incapable of sustaining sapience. The more a vampire relies on non-sapient blood, the less sapience they have until there's nothing left of their former self.

Causes

Blood retardation is a sort of nutrient deficiency. Sapience is a dietary requirement of vampires, and if it's not in their diet, they'll lose it in themselves.

Symptoms

An afflicted vampire will act irrationally, showing little to no speech capabilities, and little to no regard for any social norms. Most can be rationalized as 'crazy hobos' by ignorant humans. Hissing at passerby, wearing layers upon layers of random clothing and other cloth scraps, living in burrows or difficult-to reach nooks like the girders of bridges. They're likely to snatch up animals that pass by them with no regards for getting caught.

Treatment

If caught early, it can be reversed with proper nutrition. But once the damage sets into the brain, it becomes irrerversible.

Prognosis

Early symptoms are a simple dumbing down of the person; critical thinking becomes harder, simple solutions to problems become less obvious, etc. As it develops, cognitive abilities fade more, as do understanding of things like language and cultural norms. Once the vampire ceases to see humans as a potential food source it quickly becomes irreversible. After that point, they're only by the need to obtain blood and avoid sunlight. The methods afflicted vampires use to reach those ends may be..... unconventional, to say the least.

Cultural Reception

Vampire hunters often use afflicted vampires as examples of "what those beasts are really like under that posh exterior."   Vampires themselves pity the afflicted, and will try to treat those early on in the condition. Those who are too far gone are treated as animated corpses of who they used to be, and put down out of respect for the person.
Type
Neurological
Cycle
Chronic, Acquired
Rarity
Rare
Affected Species

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