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Revision as of 19:49, 6 April 2014
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| Vampire | |
|---|---|
| Species information | |
| Sentience |
Sentient |
| Eye colour |
|
| Skin colour |
Varies |
| Hair colour |
Varies |
| Related to | |
| Native range |
Global |
| Distinction(s) |
|
| Status |
Possibly Endangered |
For the version of vampires found in the original BBC series, see Vampire (BBC)
Vampires are supernaturally reanimated corpses that drink blood to maintain their vitality. They are animated by their human souls, which kept trapped in their corpses by the supernatural powers of vampire blood. They are created from humans by an unknown process that involves a vampire's bite and a transfer of blood.
History
The origins of the vampire race is unclear, but they have been around since at least the time of Christ. They arrived in the New World shortly after the first European colonization. The oldest vampire shown is Mother, whose age was not stated, but was implied to be centuries older than the 1000 year old Heggeman.
Creation
The turning process has never been shown directly, but it seems to involve biting a human. Suren's turning of Cecilia indicated that the human must also drink vampire blood. It has also possible to turn a recently deceased person into a vampire.
Diet
A vampire after feeding
Vampires must drink blood to stay healthy. An absence of blood in their system will cause them to weaken and barely be able to move. Despite getting stronger from consuming blood, feeding too much will cause a vampire to act as if they were drunk or otherwise intoxicated, which can leave them vulnerable. Vampires are capable of drinking animal blood, but it provides little to no sustenance. Likewise, vampires are capable of eating normal food, though they do not gain sustenance from it, and they usually only partake in mortal food to blend in with humans. In order for vampires to get the sustenance they need, they need to feed on human blood, preferably straight from the source. Vampires are capable of surviving on the preserved human blood found in hospitals, but it is not as effective.
Post-mortem
It has been implied that when vampires die, there is no afterlife for them as there is for humans and ghosts, and in this respect they cannot be resurrected.
Powers & Abilities
Vampires possess a number of powers that make them deadly creatures. Most, if not all of the following abilities work better if the vampire has drunk human blood from a living source- if they are cut off from it a long period of time, they become weak and unable to use their power. Furthermore the older a vampire is, the stronger his or her powers are.
Abilities common to vampires are:
- Enhanced Strength: Vampires are noticeably much physically stronger than average adult human beings and stronger then werewolf in human form. While vampires get stronger with age, younger vampires can have sufficient strength to withstand their elders such as the case in which Aidan, after drinking live human blood, fought and defeated his sire, Bishop, a vampire significantly older than himself. Mother, the oldest known vampire, was able to decapitate two younger vampires with a swipe of her hand.
- Accelerated Speed: Vampires are much faster than humans and werewolf in human form possibly in wolf form and can move at amazing speeds, to the point where they appear to be blurs. Mother appeared nearly invisible when she knocked the two orphans off of Aidan.
- Healing Factor: Vampires can take a lot of punishment and will heal quite quickly, but not instantly as shown when Aidan still had a round mark after being impaled. The healing speed and effectiveness is improved if the vampire feeds on living blood from a human. Henry, for example, needed to feed from two humans to regrow his skin.
- Super Senses: Vampires possess heightened senses much greater then humans and non-purebred werewolves.
- Mind Compulsion: Vampires have the ability to influence a human's mind is called "compelling", and while it is an ability that comes naturally with vampirism, it is very difficult to use. Compulsion does not seem to work on werewolves, ghosts and other vampires.
- Super Stamina: Vampires have far more endurance and stamina than humans. They can run, fight and exert themselves much more and for longer than any human, though they can still get fatigued and even knocked out.
- Immortality: Vampires will never age another day after they are turned and will live forever unless they are killed in specific ways.
- Fangs: Vampires can extend a pair of fangs from their mouths that allow them to feed on blood.
- Clairvoyance: As supernatural beings, vampires can see and hear ghosts. They can also sense werewolves, who give off a distinct, dog-like stench that can only be detected by vampires and other werewolves. Mother was able to sense the three "Orphans" that were hiding, while Aidan couldn't.
Weaknesses
Vampires can not be killed in many ways that humans can, but there are certain methods that can be used to destroy them. When a vampire dies, they appear to burn away, reducing the body to a pile of ash along with the clothes they were wearing.
Common vampire weaknesses include:
- Wooden Stakes: Heart pierced by wooden stake can kill a vampire.
- Decapitation: Cutting a vampire's head off can kill them.
- Sunlight: While sunlight is not lethal to them like in traditional folklore, vampires strongly dislike direct sunlight, which seems to cause them pain and discomfort. Aidan states that vampires long ago were indeed incapable of going out in the sun, but they gradually adapted and are now merely 'photosensitive'.
- Invitation Deprivation: Houses owned by humans or werewolves cannot be entered by vampires without the owner's permission, unless the vampire itself lives there. Attempting to enter uninvited for more than a few seconds will cause the vampire to essentially burn and melt away. Interestingly, if the ownership of the house officially changes while a vampire is still inside it, the invitation is nullified, and the vampire will perish unless he or she escapes immediately. In one episode, a house full of vampires is massacred simply by deeding the building to a human lawyer.
- Garlic: While not lethal, garlic forces vampires to reveal their true nature, turning their eyes black and causing their fangs to show, it also seems to cause some small amount of discomfort as Aidan was seen coughing after eating some.
- Werewolf Blood: If a vampire drinks werewolf blood, they began to bleed heavily from their eyes and nose and experience violent seizures. Moreover, a vampire who has drunk werewolf blood will be unable to create other vampires, instead creating defective, vampire-like mutants. The blood only remain in their system for a few weeks.
- Unidentified Flu Strain: If a vampire feeds from a human that had the mysterious new flu strain, then they will typically die within days.
- Juniper: When vampires consume the plant juniper, they will begin to become weaken and paralyzed.
- Blood Withdrawal: When vampires don't feed after awhile, they begin to become sick and rapid.
- Blood Intoxication: When vampires feed on too much blood they will begin to become intoxicated.
- Dessication: When vampires go prolonged periods of time without feeding, their blood and skin begin to dry up and they begin to look like a mummy.
- Werewolf Bite/Scratch: A bite or scratch is capable of killing a vampire.
- Defective Vampire Mind Compulsion: A defective vampire is capable of compelling a normal vampire.
Society
Hierarchy
Before the epidemic that nearly wiped them off the face of the world, vampires were known to have their own society and set of rules that they expected all vampires to adhere to. While the ancient vampire Mother was the ruler and had a council that even The Dutch answered to.
The hierachy goes as follows:
- Royals: The royals are a group of politically powerful vampires that govern their kind. Mother, a royal, was queen of all vampires. Other royals were mentioned to exist.
- The Council: The council is a group of vampires that serve under Mother. They are likely a group of coven heads that meet and discuss pressing issues, since Heggeman, the leader of the Dutch was a member.
- The Dutch: A clan of powerful elder vampires visited the American vampire clans every 50 years to evaluate them.
- Coven Heads: They are the leaders of their vampire sect.
Most of the vampire covens and bureaucracy fell apart in the wake of the plague, and the few surviving vampires now exist mostly independently. It is unknown if any the Dutch still survive or if there are any covens left that are still operating.
Laws
Some of the laws seen among the vampires include:
- Heresy: Not feeding live and having relations with a human are considered heresy by the elders and the punishment can be death for the heretic or even the heretic's sire for not correcting his/her progeny's behavior.
- Exposing Vampires: If a vampire exposes their kind to mortals then they are usually punished by being put to ground. Suren was buried underground for 80 years for killing a woman in full view of the public.
- Creating an army: The Dutch like to ensure that no vampire coven has an advantage over another, and so they ensure that vampires that are turned without prior consent or who have a traitor for a maker are killed off.
- Turning Children: It is forbidden to turn children because they lack any form of control over themselves. If a child is found to be turned, they are usually destroyed and their maker punished.
Relationships
Werewolves
Werewolves are viewed with disgust by most vampires. Werewolves give off a distinct scent noticable to vampires and other werewolves which vampires find disgusting. Considering that vampires like to think of themselves as being organized and civilized, they see werewolves as wild, unkempt vagabonds. Some vampires have been known to strike up friendship with werewolves, but it is very rare because of the mutual animosity between the two species. Vampires also feel a certain amount of fear towards werewolves, as a transformed werewolf is one of the few beings more powerful than a vampire. Some vampires are terrified of werwolves, stated by Sally, that the vampires watching the dog fights were terrified of Josh. The Dutch member, Atlee, was frighten of the idea of facing four werewolves during a full moon.
Ghosts
Vampires can see them as a nuisance, as they are sometimes haunted by the ghosts of their human victims. Information on interactions between vampires and ghosts is limited as these interactions are not often shown on-screen.
Known vampires
| Image | Name | Age | Status | Hierarchy |
|
Mother | "Ancient" | Unknown status | Queen of all vampires |
|
Heggeman | 1,010 | Deceased | Leader of the Dutch |
| Image Not Available | Soltice | Presumably 1,000 | Deceased | Dutch elder |
|
Atlee | Presumably around 1,000 | Deceased | Leader of the Dutch/Member of the Council |
 |
The Dutch | Around 1,000 | Deceased | Group of powerful, influential vampires |
 |
Suren | 700+ | Deceased | Princess of all vampires |
 |
Carlo | 500+ | Deceased | Former leader of the Boston vampire clan |
 |
James Bishop | 528 | Deceased | Former leader of the Boston vampire clan |
 |
Marcus Damnian | 270 | Deceased | Bishop's second-in-command |
 |
Aidan Waite | 260 | Undead | Boston Vampire, formerly Suren's second-in-command |
 |
Suzanna Waite | Around 260 | Deceased | Vampire Hunter |
 |
Henry Durham | 100+ | Deceased | Former leader of the "Orphans" |
 |
Blake | 11 (vampire age) | Undead | Former De facto leader of the Boston vampire clan Kenny's second in-command |
 |
Rebecca Flynt | 20's (4 months as a vampire) | Deceased | Boston Vampire |
 |
Cecilia | 20's | Deceased | Vampire police liaison |
 |
Tommy | 30's | Deceased | One of the "Orphans" |
 |
Carlos Boyd | 30's | Deceased | Boston Vampire |
 |
Bernie | 11 | Deceased | Boston Vampire |
Defective Vampire
People who have been turned by a vampire that is contaminated from drinking werewolf blood develop grotesque physical characteristics that are very different from normal vampires. These grotesque creatures have a greater thirst for blood and their attitude is more animalistic than other vampires.
Known Defective Vampires
| Image | Name | Age | Status | Hierarchy |
|
Jeff Weston | 30's | Deceased | Boston vampire |
|
Kenny Fisher | 17 (5 months as a vampire) | Deceased | Leader of the Boston vampire clan |
Trivia
- Contrary to the BBC version of Being human, vampires do not suffer from the weakness of religious objects, and they can be seen on film and in mirrors.
- It seems that they can't be resurrected unlike their BBC counterparts.
- It's possible that the creation of defective vampires was the reason that vampires banned feeding from werewolves. Even Aidan stated that not even he knew why it was forbidden.
- While in the Syfy series it's forbidden to turn children, it's not the same in the BBC series.
- It is suggested that, due to the mass extinction of vampires in the wake of the epidemic, Aidan is possibly the oldest and strongest surviving member of the dwindling vampire species.
