What is thirst?
The unabating call of unpolluted desire issues forward to the center of a vampire's mind. His power wanes as desire increases. The summoning invades the depths of the inhuman heart and with nearly tangible hands it grasps at and drags the creature to satisfy its craving. In human terms, it is like choosing not inhale breath or ignoring the smell of fresh bread on the fortieth day of a long and difficult fast.
The depth of the desperate urge is unfathomable to us. It would render a human absent of freewill if the emotion was coursing through his or her frame, but to a vampire it can be withstood--with great practice and even greater pain; it is a testament to the power of the creature. This demanding, nearly intelligently seeking force is known as the thirst. It is the thirst that all vampires feel—those indwelt with a human soul or an evil demon spirit.
The body, a creation of demons during the days of legend, was imperfect from its start. The commendable, yet still deficient efforts yielded the magnificent and powerful vampire species.
The new body had its ever increasing strength. Eventually it was discovered that it could heal itself from only small fragments of flesh. No natural death would ever prevail over it. Emotion and experience were heightened to sometimes excruciating new levels, and its five senses were just the beginning of what it could now experience. In all this, however, the new creation soon displayed its weaknesses. The creation was magnificent, but not without a price. Fire could destroy it, but this was manageable. The sun caused it to first burn and then become cancerous, so the vampire remained hidden away during daylight. But, above all else, beyond conscience and righteousness, there was the thirst. It was the instinct that ensured survival from its perpetual flaw.
Through trial and error much was discovered during the first days of vampirism. The blood, though it was attempted repeatedly, was too elusive to yield to the crafter's manipulation. It was God's law that ran through it, and, like gravity and the changing of the tide, this law could not be broken. The blood could not be changed like the flesh had. It degenerated over time no matter what blood was used. The only blood ever to continue eternally was that of Jesus Christ.
Because of this broken aspect of fleshly existence, the demons saw that the virus was altered. The virus was engineered so that it overwhelmed the vampire with the imprinted instinct to kill and drink. It gave them the scent of human blood as a tool for recognition. The force was as decided as the cyclic migration of the birds.
Each time a vampire would feed, the blood would last for only a while--it would then begin to die. As the blood died, the vampire would become increasingly lethargic and exponentially thirsty. The unfed vampire would drop into dormancy after too long a time--revivable by demons, but otherwise dead.
Now the vampire body took blood and adapted to it. After drinking, the strength in the body would return, and the vampire could go on for many days, but eventually, the thirst came back again. Again and again the killing and drinking would occur. The "blood cycle", it was called, began and the perpetuity of the cycle was understood and adopted as a way of life. Some called it being undead: a state in which one was caught between life and death. It was like a hell on earth to glean life again and again from the truly living so that those deserving of death could go on clinging to the imitation of life.
Oh, how this blood cycle would torment those human souls that fought against it. Animal blood would suffice, but the time it took for the body to adapt and the physical changes that inevitably occurred because of it were often too difficult to endure. The guilty conscience would lose out to the allure of human blood.
There were those damned creatures that held to life because they feared death and the unknown punishment that might follow. Because of this, they always returned to drinking. It was torturous to fear the eternal repercussions of drinking so much that it drove the fearful to drink all the more in order to stay alive and avoid the potential consequences that death might bring. Like an unending wheel of earthly guilt and punishment the thirst keeps on.
The ones that continually lived in guilt usually succumbed to the conclusion that all of their life was merely vanity. Life unending was pointless without a purpose; drinking and killing was no purpose. They began to free themselves by fire. A great many found immortality too difficult to traverse and sought the alluring fires. The animalistic madness that set in on those wishing to avoid the shedding of human blood usually led them to conclude their lives in the fires as well.
The death that the human vampires began to flock to became known as the Immortal Passing. The Library of Kamodd notes that this ritual became a venerated practice among the immortal. Once five lifetimes were reached, the vampire was given the opportunity to stop the futility of undying life in a dying world. Surprisingly, the answer was often in the affirmative and many an immortal passed into the afterworld that way. Some even wasted away four of the five lifetimes simply wishing to meet with the Immortal Passing.
The Books mention that it was often the battle against the thirst and the deaths it caused that drove vampires mad. The madness of a vampire was not a simple thing either. In a vampire mind, human reason went to war with the vampiric instinct. Division in mind actually caused pain like a real tearing in the mind. The instinct ruled so powerfully that it seemed free will did not really exist. So, most were driven to their ends, never living long enough to discover how it might have been.
It was well known, after a time, that the longer a vampire lived the stronger he or she became. This did not go unnoticed by the wise. Some chose to see the thing through to its end and found that over many centuries, the body began to keep the blood alive longer. The blood in the ancient vampire was still mortal and dying, but it was documented by the vampire Yurim that it could now last for decades at a time without replenishment. This adaptation could be analogized to the immune system as it adapts to new infections, so the vampire adapts to the preservation of its blood. Over time, a vampire body learns to heal faster, to react more quickly, and to last longer between drinking. That, of course, is only a small sampling of the power that accompanies an ancient, but that road of discovery is for another time. For now, I leave you with this basic understanding of the thirst: an unwavering, all encompassing, desire to drink human blood.
I have begun to realize a power over the call of blood. The journey marking each murder has lasted to my increasing satisfaction. Though, I long to be free of the shameful practice so that even three score is not yet enough.
-Yurim (Observations of the Kind, An Essay, 1938)
Bitterness and shame,
All is waxing,
All are aging,
Even we are ending,
Not flesh or strength,
Or our reflected face,
But our will and mind.
-Ko'shek (Epicedium, xxii)
The demon's cloak,
Is his sonathanos (vampire),
And the cloak is his door,
By blood he may enter.
-Ya'ray (Pondus, clxvi)
Further questions will be addressed.
Are there covens?
Do child vampires grow up?
What is the oldest vampire legend?
Who is the oldest vampire?
Are vampires and zombies actually the same thing?
What's the step by step biological process of going from human to vampire?
Do vampires have super strength?
Can vampires change into animals (like bats)?
Is it true that, in some cases, the Slavic language calls vampires and werewolves by the same name?
Do vampires needs sleep?
Do vampires require food?
Are vampires smarter than regular humans?
If you have your own question or a remark, please leave me a comment.
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