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| − | '''Kindred''' is the collective name by which the vampires refer to themselves.
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| − | == Creation ==
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| − | Vampires are created through the [[Embrace]]; during the Embrace, a vampire drains a candidate of all their blood and replaces it with a small amount (generally a single drop) of their own. This causes the corpse to rise as a new vampire, usually instantly. The vampire who initiates the Embrace is the [[Sire]]; the new vampire is the Sire's [[Childe]].
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| − | == Feeding ==
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| − | Blood is usually replaced by sucking it out of humans. While vampires can feed on animals, they do not enjoy the taste of it and older vampires will acquire no sustenance from it. The process of taking blood is euphemistically called the [[Kiss]] or feeding. Vampires do not have to completely drain a victim, although [[Frenzy|frenzying]] vampires are likely to do so. Vampires can hide the puncture marks of feeding by licking the wounds, making the process fairly subtle.
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| − | The Feeding process is highly pleasurable (arguably the only pleasure) for vampires, and is also extremely pleasurable for victims. [[Vessel]]s who are drained regularly can become addicted to the Kiss.
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| − | == Physiology ==
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| − | Vampires change considerably after the Embrace. When a vampire is Embraced, their internal organs atrophy, and almost all their bodily fluids are replaced by blood. Vampires use blood (also called [[Vitae]]) for a variety of purposes; blood replaces most bodily fluids, so vampires will sweat blood and cry blood under certain circumstances. Blood is also used to get up and move; every night, vampires expend a certain amount of blood to rise.
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| − | In addition, vampires can use blood to enhance their physical attributes and use supernatural powers called [[:Category:Disciplines|Disciplines]]. Blood is used to Embrace, as noted above, and also to create [[Ghouls]]. Finally, vampires can use blood to heal damage to their bodies.
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| − | Once Embraced, vampires become immortal and are locked into a form of stasis. Apart from wounds, vampires are restored to their condition at the time of Embrace every time they rise up for the night. This physical condition eventually extends to their mindsets as well; old vampires find it very hard to learn new things.
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| − | While mostly incapable of eating food, vomiting it up almost instantly, vampires who have trained to do so can hold down food for longer before they must expel it from themselves, therefore keeping their façade of [[Humanity]] intact. As a result, the vampire is paler and generally thinner than they were before the Embrace. Certain [[:Category:Clans|Clan]] have more extreme physical changes.
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| − | == Psychology ==
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| − | In addition to the physical changes, vampires experience extreme intellectual and emotional changes. The vampire is now a predator, and has a raging inner monster called the [[Beast]]. The Beast reacts to a variety of stimuli, notably hunger, anger, fear. The Beast continuously assaults the character, and if the Beast's demands exceed the character's own capacity to control it, will react in a [[Frenzy]] or [[Rötschreck]]. Vampires can permanently lose control to the Beast, entering [[Wassail]], a state of permanent Frenzy. In this condition, all humanity is lost and the vampire becomes a ''[[draugr]]'', a mindless killing machine.
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| − | Although they have no need or interest in sex, as the act of feeding replaces all physical urges, they can imitate the physical reactions if needed.
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| − | == Vulnerabilities ==
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| − | Vampires are highly vulnerable to a some physical threats, most importantly sunlight and fire. Vampires burn easily, and will burn up almost instantly in sunlight. However, outside of these, vampires are very hard to kill - bullets do not cause much damage, and their superior strength and speed make them hard to hit, let alone damage in combat.
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| − | When wounded, vampires can pass into a deathlike stasis called [[Torpor]], which allows them to heal more extreme damage. Torpor can last for centuries depending on the circumstances, and as a vampire gets older, Torpor becomes a more attractive option. Some vampires have been in Torpor for millennia. One of the dangers of Torpor is the [[Fog of Eternity]], which can muddle the vampire's memories.
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| − | == Clans ==
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| − | There are five clans in ''VTR'', as well as a number of related sub-clans, known as [[:Category:Bloodlines|bloodline]]. A vampire's clan is determined by the clan of his [[sire]].
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| − | * [[:Category:Daeva|Daeva]]: Vampires as seductive predators (''Interview with the Vampire'').
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| − | * [[:Category:Gangrel|Gangrel]]: Vampires as animalistic wanderers (''Near Dark'').
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| − | * [[:Category:Mekhet|Mekhet]]: Vampires as shadowy, skulking hunters (''Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story'').
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| − | * [[:Category:Nosferatu|Nosferatu]]: Vampires as deformed monsters (''Nosferatu'').
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| − | * [[:Category:Ventrue|Ventrue]]: Vampires as deranged overlords (''Dracula'').
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| − | Each clan covers a broad range of vampiric archetypes. The '''Daeva''', for instance, are both seductive and predatorial, evoking the image of vampires who glide through society as debonair hunters, much like [[Wikipedia:Lestat|Lestat]] in Anne Rice's [[Wikipedia:The Vampire Chronicles|Vampire Chronicles]]. The '''Gangrel''' encompass the theme of the lone, savage and brutal hunters, much like the vampires of the [[Wikipedia:Blade (film)|Blade]] series. The '''Mekhet''' are conspiratorial occultists, vampires who hide in the shadows gathering lore and knowledge while manipulating others from afar. '''Nosferatu''' vampires are the alienated or disfigured monsters of legend (such as ''Count Orlok'' of their movie namesake), while the '''Ventrue''' represent vampires possessed of an aristocratic, ''lords of the night'' sensibility, like Bram Stoker's [[wikipedia:Dracula|Dracula]].
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| − | == Covenants ==
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| − | There are five major political factions, or covenants, in '''VTR''':
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| − | * [[:Category:Carthian Movement|Carthian Movement]]: Vampires who seek a progressive government for their own kind.
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| − | * [[:Category:Circle of the Crone|Circle of the Crone]]: Pagan blood-sorcerers bound in worship of their goddess(es).
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| − | * [[:Category:Invictus|Invictus]]: Neo-feudalists hungry for power and money as well as blood.
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| − | * [[:Category:Lancea Sanctum|Lancea Sanctum]]: Judeo-Christian vampires who believe that God put them on Earth to be monsters.
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| − | * [[:Category:Ordo Dracul|Ordo Dracul]]: A group of vampires dedicated to transcending their condition and becoming more than undead.
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| − | There are also a series of smaller covenants.
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| − | === Antagonists ===
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| − | A vampire has many enemies, most from within their own clans and covenants. There are some that stand out as being opposed to Vampire society as a whole, and some of the most prominent of these are vampires themselves:
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| − | * [[:Category:Belials Brood|Belial's Brood]]
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| − | * [[:Category:VII|VII]]
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| − | == Powers and Abilities (Disciplines) ==
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| − | Vampiric powers and capabilities which have often given rise to old wives' tales of superhuman speed, strength and endurance possessed by the Damned, along with their piercing gaze, their hypnotic and seductive voices and the unholy power to vanish into shadows and shapeshift into bats, wolves and mist.
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| − | Kindred (the word vampires use for themselves) can use a variety of supernatural powers called Disciplines. These are special abilities associated with their curse which, like their undead bodies, are "fed" in a way by the living blood they take from mortals. Many of the Disciplines provide Kindred with preternatural means of ensuring their continued existence, or of easing the process of hunting and stealing blood from mortals.
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| − | Disciplines are generally recognized as ''common'' (common place among the Kindred and more than one clan has an innate knack for them), ''unique'' (the proprietary abilities of each of the five clans), ''covenant'' (possessed only by a specific covenant and never shared with outsiders), and ''bloodline'' (known only to the members of a particular bloodline within a clan).
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| − | Powers that combine aspects of two or more Disciplines are called [[Devotions]].
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| − | == References ==
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| − | [[Category:Lexicon]]
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