Vampirism in The Saga of Darren Shan

[eightlegsofdestiny]

Since every series has its own idea of what a vampire is, I figured I'd put a quick-list of information here for OOC purposes. Please note this is all OOC information unless he's revealed anything ICly. These traits only apply to Larten and other vampires from The Saga of Darren Shan.

• Sunlight does not immediately incinerate a vampire. It takes four or five hours of direct sunlight - limited exposure causes sunburn, and light sensitivity, etc.


• Vampires are nocturnal and generally sleep through the day, though it isn't "mandatory". Some prefer coffins, but others prefer sleeping on the ground.


• Their hair and nails are much tougher than a human's. A vampire's nails are sharp and can't be cut with regular clippers or scissors - this enables them to straighten their fingers and use their hands as blades, or to dig their nails into solid brick and climb walls, etc.


• Full vampires can breathe out a gas that will knock out a regular human for about thirty minutes.


• A vampire's saliva has healing properties and will close wounds up much more quickly than the normal healing rate.


• Vampires do not suck their prey dry, nor do they bite or have fangs. They generally knock out the prey with their breath, make small incisions in the prey's arm or leg with their nails and suck a small amount of blood. Then they close up the incision with their saliva. They leave their prey entirely unharmed, with just a small scar to show for the trouble.


• Vampires are much faster and stronger than normal humans. They also heal faster.


• Vampires have heightened senses of smell, taste, sight and hearing.


• Vampires are capable of transportation called "flitting", wherein they cross long distances over relatively short amounts of time. It just looks like they're a blur to human eyes.


• Vampires still need to consume regular food along with small, periodic amounts of human blood. They can also drink animal blood, but not from snakes, wolves, cats, other vampires/vampaneze, etc.


• Wolves and vampires are kindred creatures. Wolves, rats, and bats are all friendly with vampires.


• Crosses and holy water don't do jack shit.


• Vampires have their own sets of gods and legends. A common expression is "Charna's guts".


• They live by very strict codes of morals and honor. A vampire cannot kill humans for no good reason, they can't interfere with the vampaneze unless the vampaneze interfere first, etc. They can't kill each other without good cause. However, honorable, fair duels and fights are considered good ways to die and no punishment is visited upon the winner in such cases.


• Vampires can take on assistants. To do so, they often make the person a half-vampire through blooding them, but not fully. The vampire who makes a half-vampire assistant is responsible for their well-being and teaching them everything they'll need to survive when they're eventually fully blooded.


• Half-vampires can move around during the day unharmed, have heightened senses and strength and speed (though not at the level of a full vampire), etc, but they cannot flit or breathe knock-out gas.