From the desk of M.C. Fulmer (Head of Research at the Academy of Profane Sciences)
It is a common misconception that the creature we have come to understand as a Vampire consumes the blood of living things. However, this is seems to come from a series of mistranslations of ancient texts and purposeful misinformation by the aforementioned Vampire. In reality the answer to what a Vampire consumes is much more complicated and requires a base understanding of alchemy.
Water is the key to understanding what exactly the Vampire steals from it’s victim. In alchemy and many other similar fields of cycles of life. Where a creature will live, die, return to the earth, be nutrients for the next creature and so on and so forth. Now one of the key elements of alchemy and of life itself is water. Water is what makes up a majority of the planet and a great portion of the human body. In alchemy it is believed that nothing can be created or destroyed and to a certain extent we expect this to not only be true but foundational to the very nature of our existence.
Back to the matter of our Vampire and what exactly they are taking from us. It is simply put, the water from our bodies. Which, to be fair to previous fields of study, does have very similar signs to the lose of blood. Especially because the vampire is stealing the water from our blood and organs. For it is not the blood that is important to the cycle of life it is water. Water a integral part of any transmutation in alchemy but to the very concept of alchemy.
Now this is where my speculations begin to severely diverge from the more traditional thinking of Vampire biology. I believe that from committing a moral or alchemical atrocity, that we have yet to figure out exactly what this catalyst is, the Vampire has turned it’s body into an undead alchemical machine that must steal the life from where it is most potent in the body. The vampire is taking the water from a living creature and turning into extended life and power for themselves.
