(This is going to be a complete mess because I hate/am not good at writing species info, I prefer to keep it all in my head. XD)

Although vampires originate from humans, it's important to remember that they're /not/ humans - no matter how much they look like them. The vampire virus does more than just alter their appearance and give them cool magical powers; it affects a lot of subtle things on a deeper level, and these changes become more pronounced the longer they live. They become less and less human as they age and the vampire virus becomes more firmly rooted in them, eventually making them forget what it felt like to be human. It can take up to ten years for the virus to fully 'develop'.

Vampires have a certain set of ingrained behaviours - or 'vampire instincts' - which develop as they age. They have a subtly more animalistic and impulsive way of reacting to situations, usually relying on pure instinct or 'gut feeling'. They often manage to survive against seemingly impossible odds because their instincts tell them the best way to fight back or escape the scene with minimal injury - while a human in such a situation would be more likely to hesitate, freeze, or give up. Also, a vampire's survival instincts combined with their quick reflexes allow them to react to things almost the same moment they happen, increasing the chances of them evading lethal attacks.

Along with survival instincts, vampires also have several other specific behaviours which are usually unnoticeable in newly-Turned individuals, but start to develop as the vampire virus settles in them. One of these instinctive behaviours is curling their lip back to bare their fangs, which is an attempt to warn off potential attackers. It's basically a silent way of saying, 'Back off or I'm going to have to hurt you'. It can also be a response to anger, frustration, or in some cases, fear. (Most vampires do this completely subconsciously and don't realise they're doing it.)

When two vampires are fighting, they will often attempt to bite the other's throats if they get close enough, even when fighting with weapons. The reasoning for this is:
1. Vampire bites take longer to heal than most wounds, even when inflicted on other vampires.
2. Although vampires can't die of blood loss, it can render them unconscious. (And of course, cutting important veins/arteries in the neck can cause massive blood loss.) Normally their healing ability prevents this, but since vampire bites don't heal as fast, it's possible for them to pass out from blood loss before the wounds close.
Using that knowledge, a vampire might try to bite another in order to incapacitate them. This leaves the attacker free to finish them off, escape the scene, or whatever else they want to do. To avoid this, vampires usually make a marked effort to protect their necks while fighting, such as by keeping their head lowered, or by wearing something (like a thick scarf) to shield the area.

Vampires actually have good control over their bloodthirst (despite the amount of media portraying them as having no control at all). They can see or smell blood without being 'triggered' unless they are literally on the verge of dying from starvation, in which case they probably won't be able to stop themselves. Vampires can last roughly two weeks without blood and need to drink at least once a week to maintain their normal level of power. More than two weeks, and they'll slip into a coma, only awakening if they sense blood in the vicinity. After a few days of being in this coma, they die.

Vampires /can/ eat and drink 'normal' things - though they tend to have no desire to do so. Interestingly, for unknown reasons, red wine is the only thing they can use as a 'substitute' for blood. If a vampire is starving and they only have wine, it will allow them to last a few extra days, but they'll still die eventually without blood.

Despite their magical healing abilities, can't completely regrow missing body parts. If they lose something, or a large enough part of something (like half an arm), then it's lost permanently. This also applies to things like organs, eyes and teeth - meaning complete loss of certain vital organs (brain, lungs, etc) will kill them since they can't regrow those. However, regular flesh wounds (no matter how deep) usually heal fast and with no lasting damage. The same goes for broken bones, burn injuries, and basically anything else that doesn't involve losing body parts.

Vampires can't get scars, but any scars they already had from their human life will remain.

There is no possible way for vampires to reproduce; they can't get pregnant nor can they impregnate others. If a vampire wanted to start a family, they'd have to adopt. (Certain magic users have attempted to create a spell that makes it possible, but none have succeeded.)

(*cue Ana crying in the background because she'll never be able to start a family with Sargon*)

Though vampires don't physically 'age' like humans do, certain aspects of their appearance /can/ change as they get older. Upon first being Turned, their fangs look like normal human canine teeth, albeit slightly longer and sharper. As they get older (300-400 years or thereabouts) their fangs gradually turn transparent at the ends to look like sharp glass; this transparency can spread all the way up to the fangs' roots. They also become sharper as this happens.

Extra trivia:
- Some vampires (about 5%) have exceptionally long fangs; nobody knows what causes this. (Out of my characters, #RRPyre is the only one with this trait.)
- They can easily go days without sleeping, and tend to sleep less as they get older. Young vampires usually sleep as much as a human would because it's still a habit for them.
- As they reach higher ages, their memory becomes highly selective, 'deleting' memories that are deemed less important. Vampires over 300 years old are not likely to remember much of their human life.
- People under 15 or over 50 have a slight chance of dying from a vampire bite, rather than being Turned - it's thought that weaker people' bodies are unable to handle the shock of the change. (Children under 10 have no chance at all of surviving it.) This is also why most vampires look like young adults.

(That's everything I wrote! I might make another infodump sometime but that'll be on a separate post.)

Vamps! Yes :D
Pyre is lowkey scarier now I wonder if he has fed on anyone yet?
Is animal blood fine I wonder? :0

Re: lol, well that's cool! Then ppl don't have to worry about vamps feeding on them so much pffff.

I just thought of a really dumb cursed idea for Caelum,
Althea and Den steal a bunch of blood from the market so they can mug vampires.
FgdgsS TGV FB FFG

Re: I can just imagine the chaos, and it's glorious X'D

tfw i saw & read this when it was posted but forgot to come back and like until now

i do that too much

AY cool lore, twas very fun reading it

i cant get enough of stuff like this-

also yeee smash

the franchise im hardcore into lol

i played sm4sh a ton (pff ive played every smash a ton... way too much in brawl's case) but i never played the ds version/never got it, i played the wii u version so i wouldnt wreck my ds and BecauseGamecubeController

tbh i thought i wouldnt get a switch and ultimate either (not for a long time) but managed to thanks to my mom being too good of a person lol, maybe if you stow away money every week youll be able to afford yourself a switch sometime?

id love to add you on there whenever (i wont say "if"!) you get one and ultimate! and on ultimate id make gift art stages of your chars if youd be alright with it lol. (*imagines stages of crowley, armin, burgersungod, ana & sargon*...glorious)

^ and by ana & sargon i mean something screwed up like what you and draco make in your collab playbacks

lmao i couldnt make it too bad tho cause id have to post it online for you to download it and

A: i dont want it to get flagged/i get in trouble (lol)

B: mY NEPHEWS STALK EVERYTHING I POST AND i dont want them to see a lewd s**tpost (ohmygod at the thought of it lol *dead*)

^ my nephews stalk everything i post on smash*

they dont know about this place yet

if they ever find out about here i hope it's when theyre older like atleast mid teens (oldest is I2...)