Verdades e Lendas sobre vampiros (no WoD)

Trecho do livro da edição de 20 anos do vampiro, explicando como são os vampiros do World of Darkness.

What is a Vampire?
In Vampire, players assume the personas of vampires
— the immortal bloodsuckers of the horror genre —
and guide these characters through a world virtually
identical to our own. But these aren’t quite the vampires
you might know from Dracula or Twilight. The
vampires that exist now — or Kindred, or Cainites,
as they commonly call themselves — are both similar
to and different from what we might expect. In many
ways, vampires resemble the familiar monsters of myth, cinema, folklore, and fiction. However — as many an
intrepid vampire-hunter has learned to his sorrow —
not all of the stories about vampires are true.
• Vampires are immortal. True. While they can be
killed (a very difficult process), they do not age or die
from natural causes. They don’t need food such as humans
eat, and they don’t need to breathe.
• Vampires are living dead and must sustain themselves
with the blood of the living. True. A vampire
is clinically dead — its heart doesn’t beat, it doesn’t
breathe, its skin is cold, it doesn’t age — and yet it
thinks, and walks, and plans, and speaks… and hunts
and kills. To sustain its artificial immortality, the vampire
must periodically consume blood, preferably human
blood. Some penitent vampires eke out an existence
from animal blood, and some ancient vampires
must hunt and kill others of their kind to nourish
themselves, but most vampires consume the blood of
humanity. Our blood.
Vampires drain their prey of blood through the use
of retractable fangs, which Cainites develop as soon as
they first become undead. Each vampire can also mystically
lick closed the wounds made by their fangs, thus
concealing the evidence of their feeding.
Blood is all-important to the Kindred, for it is both
the crux of their existence and the seat of their power.
Mortal food, mortal air, mortal love — all of these
things are meaningless to a vampire. Blood is the Kindred’s
only passion, and without it, they will quickly
wither and fall dormant. Moreover, each vampire can
use its stolen blood to perform amazing feats of healing,
strength, and other supernatural abilities.
• Anyone who dies from a vampire’s bite rises to
become a vampire. False. If this were true, the world
would be overrun with vampires (and not just in our
media). Vampires do feed on human blood, and they
do sometimes kill their prey — but most humans who
die from a vampire’s attack simply perish. To return as
undead, the victim must be drained of blood and subsequently
be fed a bit of the attacking vampire’s blood.
This process, called the Embrace, causes the mystical
transformation from human to undead.
• Vampires are monsters — demonic spirits embodied
in corpses. False… and true. Vampires are not
demons per se, but a combination of tragic factors draws
them inexorably toward wicked deeds. In the beginning,
the newly-created vampire thinks and acts much
as she did while living. She doesn’t immediately turn into an evil, sadistic monster. However, the vampire soon discovers her overpowering hunger for blood, and
realizes that her existence depends on feeding on humanity.
In many ways, the vampire’s mindset changes
— she adopts a set of attitudes less suited to a communal
omnivore and more befitting a solitary predator.
At first reluctant to kill, the vampire is finally forced
into murder by circumstance or need — and killing becomes
easier as the years pass. Realizing that she herself
is untrustworthy, she ceases to trust others. Realizing
that she is different, she walls herself away from the
mortal world. Realizing that her existence depends on
secrecy and control, she becomes a manipulator. And
things only degenerate as the years turn to decades and
then centuries, and the vampire kills over and over,
watching the people she loved age and die. Human life,
so short and cheap in comparison to hers, becomes of
less and less value, until the mortal “herd” around her
means no more to her than a swarm of annoying insects.
Vampire elders are among the most jaded, unfeeling,
and paranoid — in short, monstrous — beings the
world has ever known. Maybe they are not demons exactly
— but at that point, who can tell the difference?
• Vampires are burned by sunlight. True. Vampires
must avoid the sun or die, though a few can bear sunlight’s
touch for more than a very short period of time.
Vampires are nocturnal creatures, and most find it extremely
difficult to remain awake during the day, even
within sheltered areas.
• Vampires are repulsed by garlic and running water.
False. These are myths, and only a very small fraction
of vampires are even inconvenienced by them.
• Vampires are repulsed by crosses and other holy
symbols. This is generally false. However, if the wielder
of the symbol has great faith in the power it represents,
a vampire may suffer ill effects from the brandishing of
the symbol.
• Vampires die from a stake through the heart.
False. However, a wooden stake — or arrow, crossbow
bolt, etc. — through the heart will paralyze the monster
until it is removed.
• Vampires have the strength of 10 men; they can
command wolves and bats; they can hypnotize the
living and heal even the most grievous wounds. True
and false. The power of a vampire increases with age.
Young, newly created vampires are often just a little
more powerful than humans. But as a vampire grows in
age and understanding, she learns to use her blood to
evoke secret supernatural powers, which vampires callDisciplines. Elders’ powers can often rival those of the
fictional Lestat or Dracula, and the true ancients —
the Methuselahs and Antediluvians who have stalked
the nights for thousands of years — often possess literally
godlike power.
• Vampires have sex. True. It’s a great way to feed,
but carnal pleasures don’t mean as much to the Kindred.
Feeding, which vampires call “the Kiss,” is an
incredibly intoxicating and erotic experience for Cainites
and their victims. Sex is great, but nothing truly
replaces the ecstasy of feeding for a vampire.