While
the exact effects of vampirism vary somewhat
between bloodlines and even from vampire to
vampire, there are certain issues that arise from
the curse that are inherent to every vampire...
Sensitivity
to Sunlight This manifests primarily in
two ways, depending on the bloodline. In
the Revenant, Nightingale and Lamia
lines, the vampire is severely burned by
direct exposure to sunlight and will be
burned even by indirect exposure, though
it will be far less severe.
In the Felis, Stryzga and Ancient line,
this sensitivity manifests as a weakening
of their powers by the light of day and
an inability to use certain abilities at
all. A vampire of these bloodlines is
just as strong, fast and resilient as a
human in peak condition.
In the Siren bloodline the sensitivity
manifests as a mixture of the two.
Amplification
of personality and traits. All vampires experience a
sort of amplification of their negative
traits and maladaptive coping mechanisms
-- partly due to the curse itself and
partly due to the trauma caused by The Change.
For example: A vampire who is
self-absorbed and somewhat insensitive
may become self-obsessed and cruel after
their Change; A vampire with Bipolar
Disorder may find that the frequency of
their psychotic symptoms has increased
after their Change; a vampire who has a
type-A personality and is overly-focused
on their work may find that they've
become obsessive and lose days/hours to
their work and a vampire with Borderline
Personality Disorder may find that their
fear of abandonment has intensified.
This amplification can also apply to
personality traits that aren't negative
such as empathy but this is often limited
in its sope.
An
increase in self-interest All vampires -- regardless
of how altruistic they were as mortals --
experience a massive increase in selfish
tendencies. This is often accompanied by
an increase in difficulty with exercising
compassion or sympathy. Oddly, this
aspect of the curse tends to have a worse
effect on more altruistic and
compassionate mortals, leaving them
distraught at the change in their
emotional landscape and unable to cope
with it.
An
increase pleasure-seeking behaviors, a
decrease in self-control and need for
immediate gratification. Due to the trauma of their
Change and the constant gnawing Hunger that
vampires experience, vampires will
experience an increased drive for
pleasure and need for immediate
gratification. They will find it
difficult not to act on impulse when
faced with a chance to obtain something
that may be enjoyable. Combined with the
tendency for vampires to develop
addictive personalities, this causes the
species as a whole to have a propensity
for hedonism and excess.
A general
increase in impulsivity and emotional
reactivity/intensity. All vampires have an
increased emotional intensity -- as if
their emotional dial has been turned from
a 5 to an 11. Due to this, vampires have
a tendency to act on impulse/due to
emotion far more than they did before
their Change.
Being cut
off from the "Natural Order" As an effect of the Death
of Night, vampires are severed from the
"Strings of Fate" -- which
removes their ability to use inborn
magical abilities and can even inhibit
the use of magic in their immediate
vicinity. Vampires who possessed inborn
magic as mortals (often called Witches) can
relearn magic, but it is incredibly
difficult and incredibly rare.
A growing
drive to kill their prey and spread the
curse. In addition to their hunger
driving them to kill, vampires also
experience a growing urge to
"spread" the curse as they grow
older -- whether they rationalize this as
a need to have a companion who can
"understand" their existence or
something else varies from vampire to
vampire.
However, the source of this drive is not
anything so natural as the common
human urge to reproduce or even
loneliness. Because vampirism as it is in
the modern day is heavily influenced by
the influence of the Myriad Eyes, their
urge to spread vampirism is caused by its
desire to spread its influence.
Removal
from the cycle of reincarnation. Part of being removed from
the "natural" order means that
vampires are no longer fully tethered to
the cycle of life/death/rebirth -- this
is partly because of their seemingly
endless lifespan.
However, when a vampire has fully drained
a victim (at any point in their life) and
successfully spread the curse, they
become tethered to the Myriad Eyes and if
they're killed, their soul generally is
absorbed by the Myriad. There are
exceptions to this, but they are
incredibly rare.
If a vampire hasn't done both of these
things, their soul still returns to the
cycle but it's forever marked by the
effects of the curse.
Chronic
feelings of emptiness. Due to being cut off from
the natural order, the trauma of the
Change and often losing their connection
to many of their loved ones, vampires are
prone to feelings of chronic emptiness
and frequently experience lengthy periods
of ennui and intense depression. In
addition to this, many vampires
experience a decrease in their ability to
experience positive emotions.
Forgetfulness
as the vampire ages Human minds are not meant
to live for centuries on end and while,
before the influence of the Myriad, Night
intervened to give her Chosen the ability
to maintain their memory indefinitely,
that intervention has ceased in modern
times. As such, vampires begin to
experience memory loss around the age of
250 -- this applies to memories of both
their mortal and immortal life. The
memory loss can be staved off by
obsessively keeping journals and
mementos. As such, many vampires end up
becoming hoarders.
Notably, this memory loss may appear much
sooner in vampires who had a sufficiently
traumatic mortal life or experienced a
large amount of trauma in their immortal
life, especially during their first
nights.
The
intertwining of sexual
attraction/lust/romantic attraction and
hunger. Since vampires can no
longer reproduce sexually, their
experience of sexual attraction and lust
becomes innately tied to their desire for
blood -- which can be incredibly
confusing for newer vampires.
In addition, this becomes tied to their
romantic attraction as well (though more
in a drive to Change their partner than
drain them).
This means that vampire/non-vampire
relationships tend to be incredibly
complicated and often end tragically due
to their impulsivity and lack of
self-control.
Note:
Vampires who do not experience sexual
attraction (asexuals) do not experience
Hunger as sexual attraction (though if
they're not sex-repulsed/hyposexual they
may experience it as arousal/sex drive).
The same goes for vampires who did not
have a sex drive as mortals and
experiencing hunger as arousal/sex
drive... And vampires who are on the
aromantic spectrum will generally
experience a desire to change their
closest friends with the same urgency as
an alloromantic vampire feels towads
their romantic partners.
Generally speaking, however, any sexual
interaction a vampire has will usually
include feediing on their partner.
Inability
to break cycles of behavior Vampires are, largely,
creatures of habit and it can be
incredibly difficult, if not nearly
impossible, for vampires to change from
who they were when they died in any
meaningful way. This means that vampires
tend to fall into repetitive cycles of
(often harmful) behavior that they cannot
break out of.
External interference may make it
possible for a vampire to break out of
these cycles and a vampire with
sufficient willpower is capable of
changing who they are as a person...But
generally speaking, a vampire will always
be, at their core, the person they were
when they died.
There
are some effects of the curse that are dependent
upon the age of the vampire and whether or not
they're willing to embrace their changed
existence and they are as follows:
A distinct
feeling of unbearable coldness and
intense sensitivity to cold temperatures. Newborn vampires are often
painfully aware of the change in their
core body temperature and will often be
subject to chills and feeling unable to
get warm during their first nights.
Generally speaking, the older a vampire
gets, the less they notice this
particular issue and vampires who have
intentionally distanced themselves from
their humanity generally don't notice the
cold whatsoever.
A distinct
awareness of needing to "force"
their body to function. A newborn vampire will
often feel as though they have to
"force" their heart to beat or
force themselves to draw breath... All
vampires, regardless of age do have
to "force" their body to start
functioning at the beginning of the night
and newborn vampires simply haven't
adjusted to the change.
Constant
and unbearable hunger. Newborn vampires generally
don't know how to push their hunger to
the back of their mind and thus the
constant experience of it becomes
unbearable very quickly. This is
especially true of vampires who refuse to
feed from living vessels and rely solely
on "dead blood" (aka blood from
corpses or bagged blood)
The
intensity of the curse is largely determined by
the age of the vampire and how tightly they cling
onto their humanity -- an older vampire who has
worked hard to stay as human as possible might
experience less severe effects of the curse but
will be more disturbed by them and a younger
vampire who has pushed their humanity away as
much as possible will have more intense effects
but be less disturbed by most of them.
