vampires
the virus
Vampire. The word comes with an image of a noble count wearing a black and red cape, but since the awakening people has had to rethink their views. Vampires come in all manner of shapes and sizes, and from all walks of life. Exactly what the vampire will look like, and how it will behave, is determined by three things: what metatype the infected is, which strain of HMHVV - Human Meta-Human Vampiric Virus - he or she was infected with, and lastly his or her personality before infection. Not all vampires are blood-thirsty predators - a number of them do not even drink blood - and some vampires are more animals than humans, both in appearance and mannerisms.
> Not all vampires started out as metahumans either, or rather...not all vampiric beings did, I should say. TRUE vampires come from the astral - spirits.
> Patch
To date, 5 strains of HMHVV have been discovered apart from the first one, with another two that have not yet been isolated. Each strain affects their host in very different ways. Apart from these known strains, it is also suspected that the minor variations in infected around the world is an indication of other, as yet unidentified strains of the virus. No other reasonable explanation exists at this time. I will here list what the various strains does to the various metahumans. No cure for HMHVV has been found to date.
HMHVV
Humans - Normally, humans turn into the standard vampire. However, around the world there seem to be some variation as to the exact powers and weaknesses of these vampires, but they retain the basic abilities of the vampire.
Abat, Boroka, Mangalok - These three fillipino variants are virtually identical, and they prefer to eat the internal organs of their victims. They also exhoibit a vulnerability to salt.
Ch'ing Shih - The chinese vampire, which displays the ability to breathe toxic fumes.
Hahn Saburo - From East India, these vampires can control normal dogs.
Neuntoter - Only a few have been identified, in and around germany. They seem to have an allergy to lemon; possibly all citrus fruits, and aside from the HMHVV virus, they also carry a plague similar to VITAS.
Sukuyan - The Carribean vampire variant requires salt as well as blood to live.
Upir, or Wampir - These East European vampires seem to lack the vulnerability to wood, but be very susceptible to fire. It is also unknown if they can turn to mist or not.
Elves - Although Elven officials still deny it, Elves infected with HMHVV turn into Banshees. They do not drink blood, but seem to draw energy from scaring their victims to death.
Dwarves - Long thought immune to the virus' effects, dwarves were later proved to turn into Goblins, usually becoming savage beings of very low intelligence.
Orks - Orks turn into Wendigos; flesh eating hairy brutes.
Trolls - Dzoo-No-Qua are Troll vampires, and like the dwarf Goblins, Dzoo-No-Qua's tend to be mindless beasts.
HMHVV-2
Humans - Humans infected with the 'non-vampiric' strain of HMHVV turn into Loup-Garou; cunning beasts whose strengths wax and wane during a 28-day cycle.
Trolls - Trolls turn into Fomorians; not to be confused with the Fomori metavariant. Rumors exist of some Fomori being capable of draining life force, but no evidence has surfaced to validate these reports.
Sasquatch - Though not classified as a metahuman, Sasquatch are affected by this strain of HMHVV, and turn into Bandersnatches, with adaptive coloration camouflage. As all known HMHVV-2 infected individuals, Bandersnatches do not drain life force.
Bruckner-Langer HMHVV
So far, only humans seem to be able to survive this strain, and that is perhaps fortunate. Nosferatu are the most dangerous and powerful of the vampiric beings.
Krieger HMHVV
All races are affected equally by this strain of HMHVV, and turn into Ghouls. As with HMHVV-2, Krieger strain does not cause vampirism as such, but ghouls do require metahuman flesh to survive, although not from living victims like the Wendigo. In the phillipines, a ghoul variant exists that is believed to come from an as yet unidentified strain of HMHVV - these ghouls - Busaw - are sensitive to Citirc Acid. In the far north of europe, in scandinavia and on iceland, there exists yet another ghoul variant - Draugr - These ghouls are bloated and often bluish in color, and although they are a little slower than the normal ghoul, they are much stronger.
Krieger-Laluah HMHVV
The Krieger-Laluah strain in africa causes a variant ghoul - sasabonsam, with much longer arms and legs, that can run much faster than even normal ghouls.
Tsarapatsanis HMHVV
Humans - This recently discovered strain of HMHVV seems to exist only in and around greece and surrounding areas. Humans affected by this strain turn into Vrykolakas, a vampire much more resistant to sunlight, but that cannot turn into mist. This seems to be the most prevalent form of vampire in Greece.
Elves - The only other metatype to be affected by the Tsarapatsanis strain as far as research can tell, Elves turn into Brukulaco - a vampiric being resembling both Banshees and Vampires. They are also more tolerant to the sun, and cannot turn into mist, and they can drain life through their hypnotic shouts and by drinking blood both.
As the observant may note, most of these vampires do not drink blood., and alot of them do not even live off of the life energy of others. Research of the Human Meta-Human Vampiric Virus has so far failed to explain this, and other inconsistencies.
> That's not the whole story either - really old vampires (and we're talking centuries here, if not millenia) can gain new powers; powers normally only associated with spirits. They can hide their life form in objects, fade away totally from the physical plane, possess metahumans and drain them from within, and walk on the air. Add a few hundred years of magic-study to that, and such a vampire would be a truly formidable opponent...
> Patch
the rules
Rules for most of the vampires and vampire-variants appear in 'Critters', 'Shadowrun Companion' and 'Cyberpirates', and here I will only add the new vampires mentioned above, and some new thoughts on the old ones.
Vampire-variants
These are all regional variants on the common Vampire - humans infected with the base strain of HMHVV.
| Ch'ing Shih - China | ||||||||||
| B | Q | S | C | I | W | E | R | Attack | ||
| C | C x 5 | C +E | C | C | C | 2D6 | C | Humanoid | ||
| Init: | +2D6 | |||||||||
| Powers: | Enhanced Physical Characteristics(Strength), Enhanced Senses(Hearing, Smell, Thermographic Vision), Essence Drain(permanent), Immunity(Age, Poison, Pathogens), Infection, Mist Form, Noxious Breath, Regeneration | |||||||||
| Weaknesses: | Allergy(Sunlight, Moderate), Induced Dormancy(Lack of Air), Essence Loss, Vulnerability(Wood), in some a psychologically based Allergy(Holy Objects, Severe) | |||||||||
| Hahn Saburo - East India | ||||||||||
| B | Q | S | C | I | W | E | R | Attack | ||
| C | C x 5 | C +E | C | C | C | 2D6 | C | Humanoid | ||
| Init: | +2D6 | |||||||||
| Powers: | Animal Control(Dogs), Enhanced Physical Characteristics(Strength), Enhanced Senses(Hearing, Smell, Thermographic Vision), Essence Drain(permanent), Immunity(Age, Poison, Pathogens), Infection, Mist Form, Regeneration | |||||||||
| Weaknesses: | Allergy(Sunlight, Moderate), Induced Dormancy(Lack of Air), Essence Loss, Vulnerability(Wood) | |||||||||
| Neuntoter - Germany | ||||||||||
| B | Q | S | C | I | W | E | R | Attack | ||
| C | C x 5 | C +E | C | C | C | 2D6 | C | Humanoid | ||
| Init: | +2D6 | |||||||||
| Powers: | Enhanced Physical Characteristics(Strength), Enhanced Senses(Hearing, Smell, Thermographic Vision), Essence Drain(permanent), Immunity(Age, Poison, Pathogens), Infection, Pestilence(VITAS-III), Regeneration | |||||||||
| Weaknesses: | Allergy(Sunlight, Moderate), Allergy(Citrus Fruits, Severe), Induced Dormancy(Lack of Air), Essence Loss, Vulnerability(Wood), in some a psychologically based Allergy(Holy Objects, Severe) | |||||||||
| Upir, Wampir - Eastern Europe | ||||||||||
| B | Q | S | C | I | W | E | R | Attack | ||
| C | C x 5 | C +E | C | C | C | 2D6 | C | Humanoid | ||
| Init: | +2D6 | |||||||||
| Powers: | Enhanced Physical Characteristics(Strength), Enhanced Senses(Hearing, Smell, Thermographic Vision), Essence Drain(permanent), Immunity(Age, Poison, Pathogens), Infection, Regeneration | |||||||||
| Weaknesses: | Allergy(Sunlight, Moderate), Induced Dormancy(Lack of Air), Essence Loss, Vulnerability(Fire), in some a psychologically based Allergy(Holy Objects, Severe) | |||||||||
New Vampires
Three new types of vampire have been discovered; the greek Vrykolakas and Brukulaco created by the Tsarapatsanis strain of HMHVV, and the norse ghoul-variant Draugr created by an as oif yet unidentified strain of HMHVV similar to the two Krieger-strains.
Vrykolakas
Vrykolakas look very much like the humans they once were, and they share the common Vampire's decreased bouyancy(+3 to all TNS involving swimming), and many have magical abilities. Physiologically, Vrykolakas have fangs, and their head hair often pales into a reddish color, enhancing the belief in greece that redheads become vampires after death. They drink blood to absorb the life essence of their victims. Unlike the norml vampire, Vrykolakas are not strictly nocturnal, though they prefer the evening and dusk for hunting.
| Vrykolakas | ||||||||||
| B | Q | S | C | I | W | E | R | Attack | ||
| C | C x 5 | C +E | C | C | C | 2D6 | C | Humanoid | ||
| Init: | +2D6 | |||||||||
| Powers: | Enhanced Physical Characteristics(Strength), Enhanced Senses(Hearing, Smell, Lowlight Vision), Essence Drain(permanent), Immunity(Age, Poison, Pathogens), Infection, Regeneration | |||||||||
| Weaknesses: | Allergy(Sunlight, Mild), Induced Dormancy(Lack of Air), Essence Loss, Vulnerability(Wood) | |||||||||
Brukulaco
Brukulaco look mostly like normal elves, tall and slender. Many are magicians in addition to their vampiric abilities. The Brukulaco can tolerate sunlight, but prefers the night when it can hunt without being disturbed, and they tend to shy away from highly poulated areas. Usually, the Brukulaco lures in a victim through its hypnotic wail, and then closes in and drinks the victims blood - it seems they need the emotional link created by their voice to effectivly drain the life essence from the blood of their prey.
| Brukulaco | ||||||||||
| B | Q | S | C | I | W | E | R | Attack | ||
| C | C x 5 | C | C | C | C | 2D6 | C | Humanoid | ||
| Init: | +2D6 | |||||||||
| Powers: | Enhanced Senses(Hearing, Smell, Lowlight Vision), Essence Drain(permanent), Hypnotic Wail, Immunity(Age, Poison, Pathogens), Infection, Regeneration | |||||||||
| Weaknesses: | Allergy(Sunlight, Mild), Induced Dormancy(Lack of Air), Essence Loss, Vulnerability(Wood) | |||||||||
Draugr
This norse ghoul-variant has so far only been sighted in Norway, parts of Sweden, and on Iceland. These ghouls swell up, having thick bloated bodies, and their skin is often bluegrey or black, with a few instances of a pale, ashwhite skin. Draugr are more sensitive to sunlight than other ghouls, and they seem to prefer their meat quite fresh, but they aren't vampiric in nature.
| Draugr | ||||||||||
| B | Q | S | C | I | W | E | R | Attack | ||
| 8 | 4 x 3 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 5Z | 4 | Humanoid | ||
| Init: | +1D6 | |||||||||
| Powers: | Enhanced Physical Attributes(Strength, twice per day for [Essence]D6 turns), Enhanced Senses(Hearing, Smell), Pestilence(Krieger-variant HMHVV) | |||||||||
| Weaknesses: | Allergy(Sunlight, Moderate), Reduced Senses(Blind, or nearly so) | |||||||||
Ancient Vampires
Some old vampires apparently possess unique powers, normally associated with free spirits (for instance, see the chinese vampire Su Cheng, in Mob Wars!p.50 who has the Hidden Life Power). Exactly how these vampires get new powers is undetermined - perhaps through magical studies and astral quests, unknown metamagical techniques, or as a side effect of draining the essence of magic beings for extended periods of time. Only vampires with the Immunity to Age power are suitable for these powers.
Suggested powers for ancient powerful vampires include: Fading(mainly physical plane; must perform an astral quest if they want to disappear from the astral plane too), Hidden Life(use base Essence of the being in place of Spirit Energy), Immunity to Normal Weapons(armor rating equals Essence x 1), Personal Domain(double Essence instad of Spirit Energy), Shadow Cloak, and Weather Control
Also, initiate vampires might make use of various metamagical techniques in conjunction with their powers (Possessing to create an emotional bond for draining a victim, Sacrificing to use the power of blood in more ways than one)
Note: Such ancient vampires should be rare and very powerful, possibly ultimate characters, and as such serve better as plot elements than direct opponents. However, a series of adventures leading up to a climactic battle against an ancient vampire on it's home turf could be quite colorful.
Toxic and Mutant Vampires
These could be the result of infection in a magically warped area, such as the site of the Chicago nuke, a toxic dump, or a mana warp - or they might be the result of an experimental tailored HMHVV strain (see Threats, the Vampire Conspiracy), or possibly the result of an already mutated metahuman. In either case, they can be used as part of the Vampire Conspiracy plotline, or to throw the players off when they thought they new everything there was to know about vampires (or how about a toxic vampire that's also a toxic shaman, or a mutant vampire adept that follows the twisted path?) Use normal rules for toxic critters or mutant critters, or by following the suggestion in Threats: Halve Intelligence, remove one power for each new power given, and increase any allergies by one level.
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