Nosferatu

Vampires or Nosferatu are a species of Other that flounders due to the rules of modern magic.

Reputation

Modern vampires are infamously weak, fearing even unawakened humans. The original vampires may have found ways to harvest a decent amount of nourishment, but they were crippled by the Seal of Solomon. Their bodies are atrophied, their minds deteriorated, occupying a social role in magical society akin to the most strung-out and detested addicts.<ref name=":0">“[Familiar bonds] can be a break from their standard responsibilities or the demands they have for certain foods.  A vampire, for example, would not need to drink blood.”

“Ye’d be as dumb as a tit without a curve in it if ye picked a vampire, I’ll tell you that,” Alpeana said.

“Why?” Verona asked.  “Also, I want to know everything about this.”

“Vampires?” Alpeana asked.

“Familiars!” Verona said.

“Vampires are not what they are in your media,” Miss said.  “The closest analogue would be a drug addict in your world, penniless, desperate, and ground down by reality.  Should you find one, it will likely be more scared of you than you are of it.  Even if you weren’t a practitioner, it would be so.”

“Got it,” Avery said.  “Sad.”

“The Seal of Solomon was far harsher to them than it was to most." - Excerpt from Stolen Away 2.6 </ref><ref name="R1.2" />

Innocent popular culture portrays them in a more positive light, downplaying not only their weaknesses<ref name=":0"/> but also how rare and monstrous they are.<ref name=":2" /> However many of the weaknesses it describes are accurate, forearming humans against them (without covering enough of their weaknesses to prepare a fledgeling vampire for the problems they'll face.)<ref name="R1.2" /><ref name="12.4"/>

Origins

According to an older text, Nosferatu (probably the same as vampires) are speculated to be the natural counterpart to Banes. Born through the blight of blood. Spirits of death incubate inside of them and pass on to the victim upon being bitten.<ref name="12.4">:…care must be taken, as the Bane is a thing of blight, and will blight all it touches. Many will alter their Banes to make this contact easier. Fire will serve if the Bane was carelessly wrought, but many will be coated or painted to protect their flesh. One might surmise that the Nosferatu are a natural variation of the Bane, insofar as they are natural. The Nosferatu, if this theory were correct, would incubate spirits of death within them, and depositing them within a victim, inviting them to and from the veil of death. The blight, both pre-existing and given, would be one of the blood.

As such, consider the same methods that function on the Nosferatu. A length of green wood will serve as a conduit for the living energies to vacate the dead prison that confine them. Natural energies, too, will suffice, with daylight, running water from a natural source, lightning strikes, clean fire if the Bane is not pre-treated, a spike of crystal, or a stalagmite with a history of attachment to the ground serving to provide this conduit of natural forces. Like the Nosferatu, the Bane is a wretched thing, and death should be seen as a mercy. - Excerpt from Duress 12.3</ref> On the other hand, some speculate that they are descended from life-drinking Heartless.<ref name=":2">The second answer is that monsters are practitioners. We know about

some cases. See Mara in the files for Jacob’s Bell. It’s a common theory with Faerie, and obviously the likes of vampires and werewolves, which are much rarer and more monstrous than conventional media would have us believe. - Excerpt from Gathered Pages: 10</ref>

Appearances

None have appeared directly in-story so far.

A woodcut of some vampires appeared in the book on Undead On the Threshold of Death. They resembled huddled, emaciated bat-human hybrids.<ref name="R1.2" />

Some Fae have been known to roleplay as these wretched beings. They adopt the best traits of vampires, while mixing in their own and dropping the weaknesses. A group of such, who had lost themselves in the illusion, were among the tougher enemies Andy and Eva faced.<ref>She can go toe to toe with a faerie that’s glamoured itself up as a vampire, harboring some of the best traits of both, and still cut the thing’s head from its shoulders. - Interlude 10</ref><ref>“Cold-forged iron,” he responded, a little sullen.  “Bone.  Paper.  Every other follows different rule.  What looks like a goblin could be a demon, or a wraith, or a glamour.  I mean, you remember those ‘vampires’ from out west.”

“The faerie?  Sure.”

“You’re not getting what I’m saying.  If they can fool themselves into thinking they’re vampires, and believe it to the point it becomes sort of true, sparkly skin aside, then they can fool us. This is what bothers me about all this.  You can’t make any guarantees, you can’t slap on convenient labels.  It’s why we call them others.  You can’t plot-”
“We can try.  And if we can murder self-deluding faerie, we can murder whatever this is.” - Excerpt from Bonds 1.1</ref>

Maggie Holt has or will likely meet one of them at some time.<ref>A parasitic, sad wretch of a vampire like in those bad Maggie Holt movies, finally with a willing victim? - Reference to Pactverse in Ward ch 4.4, another of Wildbow's stories</ref>

Uses

Horrible creatures to be pitied but never confronted when they can bite you.<ref name="R1.2">Vampires exist in the classic sense, but in the Pactverse, they're wretched things. They're not the kings and queens of the Pactverse, but the bottom feeders. They may have been decently strong before, but the Seal of Solomon barred their access to humanity and sustenance.

They're strung out meth addicts without a steady supply. Their bodies are long gone, their past relationships destroyed, they have next to nothing, the authorities crack down on them any time they start to figure anything out. They're stupid, ugly, smelly, and weak, and many of the things you've heard about diminish them or bar them, with many other things besides- it's to the point where many new vampires are still discovering new things that screw with them, even 20-30 years after being turned. - Comment by Wildbow on Reddit</ref>

Abilities

Seemingly similar to Banes:

• Magic Resistant: Most magic curses and hexes will simply glance off of them.
• Supernatural Strength: It is noted to have a level of above average strength.<ref name="12.4" />
• Supernatural Durability: The body is stronger than ordinary.<ref name="12.4" />
• Conversion: By biting victims it can make them into a creature like itself.

Weaknesses

Natural Energies: Natural energies can be used as a conduit to allow the life energy to escape the dead prison.<ref name="12.4" /> These include:

• Green Wood
• Fresh Bone
• Lighting Strikes
• Running Water (Natural Source)
• Fire
• Daylight
• A spike of crystal
• A stalagmite with a history of attachment to the ground

Need to Feed: Vampires need to drink living<ref name=":1">At the Threshold of Death.

[...]

In one woodcut, a pair of vampires were weedy, emaciated things with bat features and wings and other stuff all mixed in, huddled in a nook while an onlooker held a lantern, shining it into the alcove. There were ghouls, far more common, who could thrive because unlike Vampires, they could eat the dead, who were plentiful and not innocent. - Excerpt from Cutting Class 6.2</ref> human blood. With their prey protected by the Seal of Solomon, vampires are forced to either hunt for scraps; or take from innocents and accept the bad karma it generates. They are often compared to strung-out addicts.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="R1.2" />

Other weaknesses: Vampires have a lot of weaknesses, and many of the things popularized in pop culture are genuinely effective. Their weaknesses are so numerous that newborn vampires are still discovering new ones decades after being turned.<ref name="R1.2" />

Trivia

• The cinematic Nosferatu is one of the codifiers for the popular imagination of vampires. The term itself is an old Romanian one for vampire, popularised in English by Bram Stoker's novel Dracula and subsequent adaptations.
• The author has expressed a boredom with this type of creature, which is why they suck so badly.<ref name="R1.1">I think some characters make passing mention of vampires - at the time I was conceiving of the Pactverse, modern supernatural fiction was taking off. I grew sick of the mention of vampires, so I definitely wanted to downplay them in Pact. - Comment by Wildbow on Reddit</ref>

References

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