Blood curse

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"'Divine? Your imprisonment has damaged your mind, Janos. The curse of vampirism is no mark of divinity.' - Kain" The Blood Curse, also known as The Dark Gift or Vampirism is a curse that was first introduced into Nosgoth as the Blood Curse cast on the Ancients by the Hylden. The Curse had many effects including blood-thirst, sterility, immortality and aversion to sunlight and water; Those afflicted with the curse became known as Vampires. Due to the beneficial effects of the curse, some later vampires would view it as a divine blessing rather than a curse.

History
The Ancients were said to worship a God whose primary function was to recycle souls, and it was every Ancients' honour to be spun in this The Wheel of Fate. However, the opposing faction of the Hylden rejected their God, and the Ancients ignited a war between the two species. The Hylden ultimately lost this war, but did not end their campaign quietly. They cursed the Ancients with a predatory blood-thirst, and worse still, immortality. This inability to die naturally drove many of the Ancients to despair as the act itself cut them off from their God, unable to reuse their souls. Many ancients committed suicide in order to restore the cycle, but the curse also granted sterility. The race would die out of extinction with no way to continue on, and the numbers were declining rapidly with the mass suicides.

The Pillars of Nosgoth now began to chose human guardians due to the ancients inabillty to produce children (as Pillar guardians are chosen at birth). They adopted as well as abducted the human sucessors and when they came of age they were transformed into vampires, and deemed it a necessary evil. when the Pillars of Nosgoth were erected to bind the Hylden to the demon dimension as only Vampire Guardians could adequately serve the pillars and their governing forces.

Humans inevitably rejected the curse, fighting off their Vampire oppressors (led by Moebius and Mortanius) and claiming the Pillars as their own. Unable to properly tend to them, the Pillars' power slowly dwindled and the Binding weakened, allowing Hylden to slowly infiltrate back into Nosgoth. As history became forgotten, the human's eventually simply lost sight of the point of their work, unaware of the evil the Pillars were holding back.

Natural/Born
An angelic, blue skinned, winged species; first struck by the curse in ancient times; See also Ancient Winged Vampire

Turned Vampires
A generation of vampires who were born as humans but 'turned' into a vampire through unknown means by the Ancients or their successors. Two generations of 'Turned Vampires' exist in Nosgoth; See also Vampire (post Ancient-Hylden war) and Vampire (post-Blood Omen era)

Necromantic Vampires
A generation of Vampires who were born as human and killed, before they were resurrected as Vampires by using their souls to reanimate their corpses; See also Vampire (Soul Reaver era) 

Traits
Vampirism causes the subject to become "immortal". They can still be killed, but they will not age like a mortal or die of natural causes. They need not eat, sleep or drink, though their natural human needs are replaced almost solely by a blood-lust/thirst which they were required to do in order to maintain their strength (if anything they were carnivores or plasmavores; where blood only for food; though blood was required for a vampire to be able to do anything, it was also used to heal wounds). Vampires are also sterile, though there are ways that one can create a vampire from another creature. They also have other abilities including superhuman strength, speed, agility, heightened senses, durability, resilieance, healing-factor,

Vampires become more powerful as they age. When evolving from fledglings to adults they will enter a period of hibernation and undergo a state of physical/physiological metamorphosis, receiving new abilities, new physical features, and usually becoming tougher; able to withstand more punishment before succumbing to death, or needing to consume blood.

To Kill a Vampire
"I knew my opponents' weaknesses, having suffered them myself. Physical wounds are fleeting - a vampire's immortal flesh begins to close as soon as it is cleaved. Vampires need only fear those wounds that impale, or inflame. Water scorches like acid, and fledglings are devastated by sunlight's touch."

- Raziel on a vampire's weaknesses

Despite being hardier than humans, there were a variety of ways to kill a vampire: Water burned the vampires flesh with the intensity of an incredibly strong acid and Immersion was fatal; Fire 'inflamed' and burnt Vampire flesh and Fledglings were vulnerable if exposed to direct sunlight, which would have their skin catch fire and burn them to death (it is unknown if these weaknesses would affect a naturally born Ancient Winged Vampire like Janos Audron). Otherwise, a vampire would have to be impaled through a vital organ or have their head or heart removed in order to kill them, any other damage they took would be healed almost instantly as their flesh would simply knit itself back together (an ability sustained by adequate blood supplies).

After death, a vampires soul is drawn into the Spectral Realm where, after some time, it may adapt and become a Vampire Wraith. It would contend for souls with other native species of the realm such as the Sluagh. Vampire Wraiths are very agile and quite powerful compared to most other Spectral species.

If the means through which a vampire is killed is reversed, a Vampire Wraith may be able to re-enter their body, with the added ability to cast a energy-siphoning band to their enemies and draw upon their energies from afar. For example, if a vampire was killed through impaling, the vampire could be revived by simply removing the implement with which they were impaled, allowing the skin to heal and reanimating the body. Death through immolation, beheading and other more permanent means that natural vampirism cannot adapt to were irreversible.

Reproduction
As above, vampires are sterile, though a few methods were discovered to create vampires from other (not necessarily) living beings, although many of these methods have not been entirely explored or explicitly elaborated upon in the series. It is known that one can use necromantic magic which is the only way for a human to create a vampire, as was the case when the Necromancer Mortanius turned Kain, though Mortanius also used the vampiric heart of Janos Audron to do this. It is also known that Kain found a way to divide up his soul and join it with that of a corpse, then place the fused soul back into the cadaver. Using this method, he created a small cadre of vampires who shared some of his powers. This could be done with any sized fraction of the soul, though the more was used, generally, the more powerful the vampire was when they returned to life.

The Ancients would pass their dark gift onto humans in order to prepare them for life serving the Pillars. One of the first turned vampires was Vorador, turned by Janos Audron for crafting the Reaver blade, not for guardianship.

It is safe to assume Vampires turned humans en masse into vampires in order to preserve their species, as opposed to only humans who would serve vampires. This lead to an uprising by the humans who overthrew the Vampires, rejected their gift, and took control of the pillars.

Powers
Vampires are superior to humans in many ways.


 * Super Strength: They are stronger than mortal men, able to jump higher and farther than any human that ever lived.


 * Super Speed: They are faster than mortal men. They can evade, dodge, and sidestep projectiles using their inhuman speed.


 * Tactile Telekinesis: They have some limmited degree of tactile telekinesis, allowing them to summon weapons and move objects.They can also feed in this manner by summoning or "calling" blood from either a dead or weakened victim from a distance without biting them. (though traditional neck biting can also be used).


 * Super Healing: Any injury inflicted on them regenarates in seconds. This power is limited though, as they cannot regrow or reatach limbs, and it cannot replenish the blood mass in their bodies.


 * Floating: They can land silently and carefully from any height by floating down. This is a usefull ability when hunting.


 * Whisper: They have the natural ability to keep in contact even over great distances by speaking or "whispering" into each other's mind and hearing the other in return.


 * Evolution and Absorbing Veins - Over time, Vampires evolve, growing "less human and more divine" - effectively gaining new abilities or 'Dark Gifts'. Naturally this process takes centuries and fledgling vampires usually develop some years after their master; however by killing a more experienced Vampire and drinking their blood, vampires can 'absorb the veins' of an opponent and gain their abilities. (Wraith Raziel similarly gains abilities by Soul Consumption).

Abilities
Vampires can learn 'Dark Gifts' or Abilities which mimic and in some cases exceed Sorcery and Glyphs. Vampires can develop multiple abilities on their own or they can consume and emulate the dark gifts of other vampires (a living vampire like Kain must kill and consume the blood/veins of an expired vampire in order to recieve the vampires' dark gift.)

Kain's first generation of descendants inherited most of their abilities from Kain. He would go into periods of evolution, after which he would emerge with a new 'gift'. Since Kain's progeny were made using a portion of his soul each, they would later inherit his evolutions via the same method. The vampires sired by Kain's 'sons' inherited most of the vampiric gifts from their patriarch but overall do not develop their own abilities (only slightly alter Kain's own). Unfortunately, when the corruption of Kain's soul, caused by Nupraptor, started taking effect, the abilities his lieutenants recieved (who inherited the corruption themselves) began to devolve. These 'gifts' were in turn passed on to their respective armies in a similar manner to their masters. For example, Melchiah 's inability to sustain his physical skin was past to his children who became very zombie-like. Though it can also work to an advantage, such as Rahab's ability to swim being passed to his offspring who thereafter dominated the waters of Nosgoth.

Known Vampires
Vampirism is recognised in the following individuals:
 * Kain - (The Heart of Darkness/'necromancy')
 * Raziel - (Soul replacement)
 * Fleading Razielim - (Soul replacement)
 * Adult Razielim - (Soul replacement)
 * Melchiah - (Soul replacement)
 * Fleading Melchiahim - (Soul replacement)
 * Adult Melchiahim - (Soul replacement)
 * Zephon - (Soul replacement)
 * Fleading Zephonim - (Soul replacement)
 * Adult Zephonim - (Soul replacement)
 * Rahab - (Soul Replacement)
 * Fleading Rahabim - (Soul replacement)
 * Adult Rahabim - (Soul replacement)
 * Dumah - (Soul Replacement)
 * Fleading Dumahim - (Soul replacement)
 * Adult Dumahim - (Soul replacement)
 * Turel - (Soul Replacement)
 * Morlock- (soul displacement)
 * Fleading Turelim - (Soul replacement)
 * Adult Turelim - (Soul replacement)
 * Janos Audron - (Cursed)
 * Ancient Winged Vampire - (Cursed)
 * Cabal Vampires - (The 'ancient method')
 * Vorador - (The 'ancient method')
 * Umah - (???)
 * The Beast - (???)
 * Vorador's brides - (Vorador)