Hunger

Hunger is the ultimate constant of vampires. But its intensity has a plethora of factors that affect the intensity of it. One can preserve and require smaller amounts of blood the less they do, however to move a typical veiled life, one would need consistent sustenance.

The typical factors that affect hunger:

• Use of Abilities – Both Universal and Prowess
  • i.e., Regenerating, Compulsing, or using Nightingale’s Kiss.
• Exposure to Weaknesses – Both Universal and Ineptitude
  • i.e., Exposing oneself to sunlight, burned by silver, or being repelled by a religious object.
• Moon Phases
  • i.e., Closer to the full moon increases hunger.
• General Diet
  • i.e., Schedule, satiation, and overall health.

The above stipulations are just strict ones that would drain hunger within this lode. However, there are additional story-bound things that could cause one to have more and less hunger depending on the lore your character is born from, such as: age, emotional cycles, temperature, season, etc.

Satiation, Effects, & Taste (SET)

The three components of Vitae are the above: Satiation, Effect, and Taste. They all vary between races, and preferences. Satiation is the firmest in result, then effect that can range in intensity, and taste that is simply a suggestion and can be molded as is honest to your character’s preferences. The ones that are deeply interconnected is Satiation and Effect, as the higher in satiation, the less effect it will have. The only exception to this is mundane animals, which offers less satiation and no effect.

Species SETs

Each species has natural balances between their SETs, there is not ‘right’ way to feed. It is what pushes the story, your character’s preferences, and realism within the system. These SETs are offered to enhance and tie in with our current connection with the Lode. These are in order of most satiating to least. Click on the species to read full details.

General SET Side Notes:

• The above is for blood consumed. Blood that is placed into a vampire by foreign means such as with a syringe or IV tends to have more negative and not as strong effects. It also can lead to the body rejecting the blood as foreign like contamination and the healing factor flushing it out of one’s system.
• Vampires will have no effects on if their prey is inebriated in any fashion. The drugs in the blood are unable to be processed by the vampire as they do not have the same mannerism of metabolism as their prey. Rather, the effects would come from the different SET for each species.
• Thralls do not sate as much due to their blood being imbued by vampire blood and often longer lived. Additionally, they however HORRIBLE to vampires that are not the thralling vampire. [2/5]
• Mixing blood types manually makes it muddy and unfulfilling. They naturally attack one another and cause the benefits to lessen – nullifying effects and dropping satiation. If you wish for both, drink from two different sources, do not mix them. Let thy tummy do the work. [1/5]
• Vitae Tether is severed completely at the 72 hour mark making all blood Dead Mortal’s Blood. [0/5]
• Blood Bags (and other means of preservation/storage) will naturally have less SATs than eating from the source. This is due to them getting farther from the source of vitae. As vampires feed on the vitae, not just the blood itself. Blood bags are one point less sustaining than drinking from the source (thus human blood in a bag would be 4/5, whereas a Fae would be 0/5 and have no effect). If they are not consumed within a max of 72 hours, it will now be subject to Dead Mortal Sickness. In addition, Blood Bags need to be properly preserved, else would lead to spoilage and it become wholly unusable to vampires. [0-4/5]
• Dried blood, as it is not stored to the above standards of preservation, is wholly unusable and offers no sustenance to vampires. Though one would not obtain Dead Mortal Sickness until 72 hours later, the drying process seemed to nullify the effects from the blood itself and make it a non-sustaining flake or powder. [0/5]

Vampiric Connection

Vampires more often than not rely on mortals for sustenance. However, consuming vitae does not need to simply be for sustenance when between vampires. Some could be done for connection, some for ritual, some do it to weaken – however this is not without side effects. The vampire that drinks from the other creates a natural, inherent connection. This connection solidifies the more often the act is done, and if the act is done in reverse. If both vampires are drinking from one another, they begin to cement their relationship. It also withers the same way – with time, distance, and lack of consistency, the connection rots. Even quicker than other species’ bonds due to the constant ingestion of other vitae.

Most connections hover between these as to consistently keep feeding not only on enough mortals to sustain a consistently leaking exchange paired with finding time and effort to feed on one another can become heavy and often tedious for the majority of vampires.

Vampire Connection Restrictions

Only Between Two Vampires: The connection that sharing blood brings between vampires is solely between two vampires. Thralling is the only blood connection non-vampires can have with vampires. There is no ‘higher connection’ or bond with a mortal that compares. That is not to say vampires may not have social, emotional, or familial connections with mortals, but none based on this natural magic that can connect two kindred.

Null to Sire and Progeny: This connection is fully nullified if the vampires involved are Sire and Prodegy. Please look to “Sire Bond” for further information into such a relationship. This bond, having its own personal relationship with benefits and detriments, nullifies the effects, both positive and negative, of the Vampiric Connection. In addition, if ones were once Sire and Prodegy, and the connection was severed, they cannot benefit from Vampiric Connection. There would be no effect as whatever method used to severe that connection seems withstanding to continue to not create further connections between the two.

Dead Mortal Sickness

One of the most pivotal aspects of vitae is life. It is the crux of what keeps a vampire able to live, and thus the adverse offers rather horrid side effects. Though it is called Dead Mortal Sickness, it is in actuality any dead blood from any creature, including a vampire – as they needed to take it from a mortal to live. Rather it is simply any blood that has met the end of its life. Dead Mortal Blood is blood—mortal or otherwise—that has met the end of its Vitae Tether (72 hours, whether direct from a body or a blood bag).

Drinking this blood causes Dead Mortal Sickness, which has seen the end of many vampires as due to this being both a necessity it is also most of the vampire’s only source of strength both for their powers and livelihood. Consuming Dead Mortal’s Blood causes sickness that the blood within the vampire’s body begins to corrode to match this dead mortal’s blood. As if spoiling, this causes them to start to expel, drain, or otherwise try to dig the infection out. Causing them to go closer to frenzy and need replacement blood as soon as possible. This is not a constant effect. The moment they get new blood, the blood within them ceases spoiling, but may still have side effects for days to come.

The effects vary between:

• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Body Aches
• Odd Appetites
• Dulled SATs
• Unregulated eating
• Mood Swings
• Emotional Regulation Issues
• Dulled Powers
  

This is when the blood is consumed. Taking dead mortal blood and attempting to flush it into the veins of a vampire via syringe or IV typically ends poorly as their healing tends to flush such out. It will simply discard the contaminant, much like dirt from a wound. However it is not as simple when consumed.