My system of Vampires - complete (Long, short TLDR at end.)

Transformation

For a vampire to transform a human, they have to have a blood fast for all the current blood in their system to dissipate, and then their body, in an attempt to keep them alive, fills with a purple fluid, working as a blood substitute. The problem with this is that it's very painful, similar to being extremely thirsty. The vampire's reasoning skills are lessened, usually lacking the ability to think straight and having a mild dizziness, and their veins feel dry and like they're being squeezed, or like a dry, sore throat in the entire venous system. Then, when they bite somebody, that purple fluid is expelled into their victim and, after spreading through their body, turns them into a vampire.

They don’t simply transform, however; once the venom is in their system, it starts to spread. This process tends to be painful; at first the victim will feel a numb tingling where they were bitten. Soon, this leads to feverish symptoms; in the next 8-20 hours after being bitten, they will experience shallow breath, an aching feeling in the veins, shuddering, vomiting, and tooth pain in the canines. As this happens, their red blood cells start to turn into the aforementioned venom. Many times the victim may die before their body produces enough of the venom for them to transform, especially if they are 10 and under or 70 and above, the most successful for people between 18 and 30. Once the victim has awakened as a vampire, since they won’t have any blood left, they will be extremely hungry. It’s common for the person who turned them to give them blood they already have in their system instead of having the Spawn turn someone.

Need for blood

Vampires do not naturally produce their own blood and need to take it from humans. When they don't have blood in them, their veins will have a dry and itchy feeling through the whole system. Their body, to keep them "alive," will produce a purple venom-like substance that coats their veins, relieving the dryness, though creating a new problem with a slight burning sensation, like the feeling of acid reflux. When they have blood in their system, their heart beats, and there's more of a flush to their skin, and when there's only venom in their system, they are more ashy/pale, and they have no heartbeat, making it obvious when a vampire is hungry. Though vampires don't have an innate want for blood technically, when they don't have blood, they could be considered more "animalistic," usually being dizzy and wanting to get rid of the itching feeling all throughout their body (understandably) and having less room for rationality. The venom also lets them sleep for hundreds or thousands of years without needing to eat, though when they wake their body will be in immense amounts of pain, varying depending on how long they slept.

Other abilities of vampires

Vampires have many different abilities besides drinking blood and turning others, however. Vampires are immortal unless manually killed; they cannot die of not drinking blood either. They also cannot age, though if they don’t drink blood, their skin will become rough and dry and even possibly wrinkly. Vampires have the ability to compel others; it doesn’t exactly make them want to do whatever the vampire wants, but it makes them more susceptible to it. Being in the sun won’t burn or kill you, but the blood in your system will drain faster, and one might feel weaker and heavier. You can eat food, but it doesn’t digest, and you will have to throw it up at some point. You are immune to any disease since most of your body hardly works, and even if you do get something in the blood, it will dispense out naturally. Lastly, you have sped up healing. Since your body has to do extra effort to keep blood in your system, it goes into panic mode, and if you lose a lot of blood suddenly, you’ll feel extremely weak.

Vampiric culture

Vampires have many taboos and cultural things. The first and most important is the ranks; this is determined by how long you’ve been a vampire. Spawnling is 1-20, and low-born is 20-90. Median is 90-200, Elder is 200-1,000, and Grand Master is 1,000+. Vampires didn’t appear until around 1,500 years ago, so if you're around 1,500, you don’t have an official role, but you are treated with the highest respect and are most likely a celebrity of sorts. Though despite this, it’s rude to ask one’s exact age unless you are close to one. Also, the person who turned you is called your “Dawn.”

There are a few taboos around consent, one of them being around turning humans into vampires; it’s considered very sacred. When you do this, you take a vow to protect, own, and care for them until they can go on their own, and you do this without the human’s permission and your Dawn if they still haven’t relinquished you to be your own vampire, since they don’t have to until you have been a vampire for 150 years. Along with this, it’s taboo to have romantic or sexual relations with your spawn, since you are considered to have a strong power dynamic over them, and they will be shunned from vampiric society if they leave you. Finally, vampires have the ability to compel humans, and it’s considered extremely shameful to use this ability for anything other than compelling them to let them drink your blood.

There’s extreme respect for Elder Vampires and even humans. It’s disrespectful to stand up to Elder Vampires, and it’s also considered taboo to kill/harm human elders; even if they are closer to death, it’s shameful to do so. It’s rude to bare your fangs to other vampires; it’s considered a warning or threat, and you are expected to cover your fangs, even when eating or yawning. It’s fine, though, if they only see the tip of your teeth, just not the whole thing. It’s only acceptable to do so if you are actually challenging one, feeding, or in intimate or private settings. It’s rude to bring garlic, a crucifix, or holy water into a vampire’s home or give them these things because, although they aren’t hurt by them, they were once believed to do so, so it’s considered rude. Lastly, it’s a show of power to have many Spawn; if you want to grow powerful, age isn't the only thing.

How vampirism started

Vampirism started around the year 525 CE. The exact place of origin is unsure and the details blurry, but the story roughly goes like this: It took place in a small witch settlement; a young witch was enraptured by the art of magic. She took the classes and followed advice, but she grew bored. One day, she decided to try something new on her own outside of her teachers, but through this, she accidentally discovered a fire spell and set her parent’s home ablaze, and only she made it out in the end. She was shunned for this and grew resentful, and one day created a dangerous magic, which she dispensed onto a bat, meaning to send it to the village, but the bat bit her and turned her into something else. She used these powers to attack the village, feeding off them until they were all gone. And although she has never been heard of since, she is said to still exist, haunting from the shadows.

Vampires subtly grow, but once the 1800s came around, there was a boom in vampires, possibly due to the growing communities, which is where many of the myths about vampires, like how they can’t eat garlic or they burn in the sun, came from and where they became associated with the devil.

The body

There are many other changes in the body that happen.

First, there are the changes in the senses. First, your eyesight changes; you have better sight in the dark due to the same venom that changes you into a vampire. It also tints your saliva and sclera purple. In return for the night vision, however, they can’t see quite as well in the sun. And on the topic of eyes, when a vampire is out of blood, their eyes have a purple hue to them, and when a vampire is satisfied, they have a red hue. Eyesight isn’t the only change, though; most all of them are. Your smell is heightened so you can smell blood or any irony scent, but other smells aren’t. It’s the same with taste: your other tastes are dampened besides the taste of blood, but you can still have the ability to taste. Blood tastes amazing to vampires, making food less appealing except as a hobby or comfort item. This is also because your stomach doesn’t work, so even if you do eat food, you are forced to throw it up anyways.

When a vampire has blood in their system, their circulatory system works mostly fine, but if it’s out, the heartbeats will be extremely shallow. Vampires heal quickly because they need to preserve the blood in them, so their body works overtime to keep it in; even if they lose a limb, it’s possible for it to heal without losing all their blood.

If a vampire has a child, they won’t automatically become a vampire, but they’ll have traces of the venom, so if their heart stops, the venom will kick in and the process will happen, turning them into a vampire or killing them slowly.

How can you kill a vampire? (And how to spot one)

So you might now be wondering how you’re supposed to take them down if they heal quickly and they can’t die of sunlight, garlic, crucifixes, or lack of blood. There are three ways: either cut off their head, take down the brain, or stab the heart. For most years, they only knew you needed to take out the heart, which cuts off all the blood, which is the most popular method.

TDLR: Vampires have a venom-like substance that appears most when they are out of blood in their system. This allows them to turn humans, have night vision, and all of the other symptoms of Vampirism. They need blood since they don’t naturally produce their own, and lack of blood causes them extreme pain but doesn’t kill them. Vampire culture is mostly based around hierarchy and age. The older you are and the more humans you’ve turned the more influence you’ve had.