A vampire is a kind of Blooded. Vampires are the immortal servants of The Red Duke. What The Red Duke's origins are, what he wants, what his purpose is, is largely unknown. What is known is that he has existed since before the earliest records of civilization, and that he was the original vampire.

Vampire is a nested trait. For the purposes of trait limits, you keep track of just the one trait and consider all other vampiric or blooded traits nested within that one trait.

Vampire | This character has dreamt The Red Dream.

Becoming A Vampire

A single drop of vampiric blood is all it takes. Whether ingested or absorbed into their blood, it opens up the possibility of The Red Dream at any point in the next three days. Some people never experience the dream. Some people emerge from the dream transformed into a horrific monster. Some people emerge from the dream subtly changed on the outside, but inwardly monstrous.

Though it is dreadfully easy to become a vampire, most transformations into a true vampire are highly ritualized affairs. Such offerings of mortals in this context tend to please The Red Duke, who is empowered by such trappings in the same way all other gods are.

Each court has its own ritual for embracing someone into undeath. More than that, inividual vampires might have their own spin on those same rituals. This more formalized infection, unlike the incidental infections a single drop of blood can bring, always works.

Lineage

A vampiric lineage starts with an Ascendant. An Ascendant is a vampire who has been risen above their peers, they and all vampires who are descended from them are then granted new powers and abilities that replace those of their old lineage. Some Ascendants are granted that power by The Red Duke. Some are created by a vampire cannibalizing their own Ascendant. Such cannibalism is, of course, strictly forbidden by the elders of nigh all courts.

Each lineage has a domain it is associated with, and powers based around that domain. Their bane is generally more about the Ascendant they are related to.

For a list of all Vampiric Lineages, go there.

Generation

The more closely related a vampire is to their Ascendant, the stronger they are. The lowest generation of vampire has all of the downsides of becoming a vampire, with none of the boons.

To ascend through the generations, one must cannibalize the soul of a higher generation vampire. This can be of any lineage, not necessarily a vampire in their own heirarchy. A newly minted vampire is one generation below the vampire whose blood infected them.

The lowest possible generation of a vampire is nine. While a vampire of the ninth generation can spread their curse much like anyone else, that vampire they create will themselves be ninth generation.

Universal Traits

These are traits that all vampires have, regardless of their lineage. All vampires acquire these as they reach the appropriate generation, unlike abilities from their lineage which they have to choose.

Name	Required Generation	Description
Blooded Soul	9th	If someone attempts to cannibalize the soul of a vampire, they put themselves at risk of becoming a vampire.
Sunlight Curse	9th	Sunlight hurts vampires. At 9th generation, every hour they spend in the sunlight deals one point of Prowess damage until they die, the sun bleaching them. At 6th generation, this becomes every minute. At 3rd generation, exposure to the sun instantly turns the exposed area into salt.
Vampiric Visage	9th	Their eyes turn red. Their teeth become pointed fangs.
Vampiric Regeneration	8th	For every point of Prowess damage they inflict on another through feeding, they heal one point of Prowess damage to themselves.
The Red's Favor	7th	For every five souls they have consumed (corresponding to their Glimmer), the vampire may increase one attribute by one.

Feeding

All vampires need to sustain themselves on the blood of others. This blood must be from a living thing that possesses a soul. Soulless characters can neither provide nourishment for the vampire, or become vampires themselves. Their victim does not need to be alive, but they must have died that night. At every dawn, all blood that once could have fed them becomes totally inert for the purposes of their feeding, and once any blood has been exposed to the sun it is similarly rendered inert. The only way to eat during the day is fresh out of a person, before the blood has had a chance to be touched by the hateful sun.

Feeding on someone deals Prowess damage to them. If their victim's Prowess is reduced to below zero, their victim dies. If a vampire kills someone in this way, they absorb their soul the same way as if they had cannibalized their victim's heart. A vampire does not need to feed every night, and indeed especially powerful vampires eventually enter a state of torpor where they do not need to feed at all.

If a vampire is attempting to feed on someone in combat, they can only consume one point of Prowess per round.

Courts

Though vampires are all servants of The Red Duke, not all serve him directly. Whether vampires attempting to unite in opposition to The Red Duke, or vampires who are simply delegated to a master subservient to The Red Duke, there are many courts across a diverse range of peoples.

Courts do not have a physical effect on the vampires in their court. While some lineages are associated with specific courts, this is merely by tradition.

A court is typically led by a Count or Countess. Less formalized courts often eschew this, however.

The Red Court

Those who serve The Red Duke most directly, who generally consider themselves the masters of all the other vampires and courts. While they are the most widespread and powerful, they are also the ones who try to keep the tightest leash on other Blooded and so are often the unintentional protectors of regular mortals. The Red Court's Count is considered The Red Duke's earthly envoy, or is at least often presented that way.

The Black Court

It is a legend among the Blooded that The Eighth Hour never died. That the Hours created The Red Duke and she tried to seduce him in order to gain power over their rebelling creation. That this manipulation backfired, she herself became a vampire, and beholden to the duke. Instead of bending to his will, according to legend, she beget her own rival court in what was then the sparsely colonized hinterlands of the world.

The Black Court presents itself as a rival to The Red Court, and peaceful meetings between the two are rare. The power brokers in both factions hate the other, and reward any action taken against them handsomely.