8.9 THE CONSANGUINE
The Consanguine, as many call themselves, are sentient with some faint
similarities to their mortal selves, but as different from mortals as
night from day. Neither mortal nor truly immortal, vampires exist in a
supernatural state somewhere between life and death. A race unto
themselves, Consanguine vampires may choose to join either a House or
Guild that permits undeath. Many vampires belong to one of several
great Houses, originally comprised of the bloodline of one of the four
original progeny embraced by Abhorash Nehekhara.
The Embrace is the process by which a new vampire is sired, or created.
Whether viewed as a precious gift or a terrible curse, it is never given
lightly; after all, one more predator means more competition for
resources. During the Embrace, the body reworks itself, sloughing off
the imperfections present in every mortal form and becoming more
beautiful, with the grace of a predatory animal. The new suckling
reawakens, but his heart does not beat nor do his lungs exchange air. He
is now one of the living dead. He wakes suffering a ravenous hunger for
blood, his first acquaintance with the monster that has been spawned
within him.
As a class, Vampires are born of the skill Sanguis, which allows a
skilled practitioner to channel the magical properties of Blood into
animating corpses (including her own unliving body). Vampires' enhanced
physical prowess is embodied in the skill Corpus, with which their
bodies are imbued with supernatural efficacy through the use of Blood.
The Mentis skill gives a vampire the power to influence the minds of
mortals with his awesome and terrible undead presence.
In addition, through the blood rituals of the Bloodborn, there are three
paths a vampire may choose to follow. To learn more about them see -
HELP SAPIVI, HELP PHRENESES, and HELP INSIDIAE.
See also: NIGHTSTALKERS, SAPIVI, PHRENESES, INSIDIAE, UNDEADHOUSES,
BLOODBORN
