Bloodmoon:

Every full moon, which happens every 29.5 days, the vampires experience a terrible bloodlust. For some reason the full moon makes them more powerful but also more sensitive, almost starved. A common practice for vampires is to get blood-drunk that day and isolate either alone or with their coven, far away from humans. The temptation to hunt and drink from a human is very difficult to resist during a bloodmoon. Vampire law mandates that they have to isolate, and if they violate they are left for the hunters to take care of.

Bloodlust:

When a vampire cannot control their thirst for blood. Generally happens during the bloodmoon, but can also happen when a vampire has not fed for too long of a period. Vampires are civilized, but bloodlust makes them very dangerous, where they aren’t able to be rational and are controlled by their baser impulses. Also very rarely a human is extremely alluring to a vampire, which can trigger their bloodlust simply by the way they smell. 

Blood-drunk:

A typical physical state for a vampire that has over-consumed blood, creating a sort of high. Vampires can either be increasingly dangerous when blood-drunk due to lowered inhibitions, or harmless due to the lethargy that can happen. Some vampires will immediately hibernate after getting blood-drunk, while some will instead partake in reckless violence such as fights or in the worst case, hunting. 

Hunting:

To hunt is a natural impulse for a vampire, but in modern society, has been made illegal. It is dangerous for humans, not to mention traumatising. Even consensual hunting is dangerous, as vampires enter a hunter state and are at risk for slipping into blood-lust while tapping all of their hunting instincts. To this extent, vampires will often perform hunting with each other, which is an enriching and bonding experience where no human needs to get involved and the vampire can experience the natural, exciting act of hunting for prey. It is not uncommon for these hunts to result in sexual activity or even orgies, if a coven consists of multiple individuals. 

Presenting:

A common term used when a vampire’s feeding/territorial impulses are triggered—either by hunting, bloodlust or the smell and taste of blood. It refers to the physical changes that a vampire’s body produces as a result. These include more defined muscles, red irises and black sclera, as well as pulsing, black veins spreading out from their eyes to their temples. When presenting, their teeth grow to their longest and sharpest, and they can also grow out dangerous claws. A vampire can also present as a threat response, to scare away an adversary or to scare their prey—this is often frowned upon, as hunting humans are no longer allowed and thus presenting to scare a human is not allowed.

Coven:

A coven is a group of vampires generally with a sire and their offspring, but can also be a set or single born parent and their biological and/or turned offspring. Vampires naturally want to be in a coven and generally don’t like to be alone. 

Born Vampire:

Rare, but vampires can be born. Generally from a vampire female and human male, the child will be a sort of hybrid, but will still be considered fully vampire. They’re still generally stronger than turned vampires. However, a born vampire from two born vampire parents is the strongest, purest form of vampirism. Extremely rare as well, but possible. Males only have a 1% chance of being born, the vampire population consisting of 98% females. Human males are unable to survive the turning, unless there is an exceptional circumstance—these turned males are also typically able to sire born males. 

Turned Vampire:

A vampire that was once human and turned via vampire venom. They are emotionally and biologically tethered to their sire, their brain rewired to love, desire and serve their creator. Oftentimes this does result in a romantic relationship, but some sires choose to remain platonic with their offspring. A sire does not always romantically entangle with their offspring, and after a while the offspring’s feelings will settle that way as well. Turned vampires are able to be manipulated and controlled by their sire. 

Orphaned Turned:

An orphaned turned is the event in with a sire bites a human either intentionally or by accident, and chooses to abandon/orphan that individual by not completing the turning ritual. There is always a possibility that an orphaned offspring may survive the change, and these only ever go two ways—the newly turned vampire does not have the sire bond, as they were abandoned, and they become mindless. They are often hunted and killed the moment they first hunt and kill a human. The second possibility which is possible, but generally never happens, is that the vampire will be turned and will retain their personhood—though they will suffer greatly, as the absence of the sire bond will be a psychological pain. An orphaned offspring can survive, and some have done so, but oftentimes they do not want to. The Hunters generally step in to offer a peaceful death.

Sire Bond:

The sire bond is in a sense purely biological, but also definitely spiritual. The sire’s venom changes the vampire dramatically, altering the very chemicals in their brain. The sire bond, to an extent, is kind of taboo because of how the offspring become wholly dependent on their sire. However, it can be done respectfully, especially if the human gave wholehearted consent to be turned. It is even more advised that the human already be emotionally invested in the vampire before turning, allowing the bond to be less of a manipulation. The individuals can feel each other’s emotions through the sire bond and in some cases, can even share thoughts and have conversations. The stronger the connection between them, the stronger the sire bond. As the sire adds more offspring to the coven, the bond can become strained, unless there is enough emotional connection to keep it sustained. In some cases, the addition of a new offspring can make the sire bond even more powerful.

Turning:

To turn a human into a vampire is a very intentional thing. It is a process that takes roughly 5 days. Turned vampires do not have venom glands, so only born vampires can turn humans. They generally do not release venom without thought, but can do so accidentally during the bloodmoon and bloodlust. In those moments, they are not in control. A human can be bitten and injected with the venom, but if their sire does not complete the turning ritual, that human has a high likelihood of dying. The turning process is much like an attack on the human’s body, and it is the responsibility of the sire to care for them, provide them with water and their own fresh blood, and make sure their offspring survives. Turning a human can happen for a variety of reasons, but the popular reason is often for family and love. A vampire will fall in love or grow to care for a human, and offer vampirism. Turned vampires can submit a request, and a regulated drug will be administered using their blood, allowing for the turned vampire to sire their own offspring. If a born vampire requests to turn someone, they also need to submit a request before they are allowed to turn someone. The council will review their reason for request, the background of both individuals, and decide if it should be allowed. They need to be assured the human understands what they are asking for. In the event that the council rejects a turning request, the vampire and human are both forcibly compelled to forget each other as a way to protect vampire society. It is a horrible outcome, and rarely happens, but it can. Of course it isn’t always possible for the council to regulate everyone, so there will be instances of humans being turned without permission. These will unfortunately be hunted and killed by the hunters, which is why it is so important for vampires to use the legal and protected route for turning. The newly turned also need to be registered by the council so that they may be protected from being unduly hunted.

Vampire Registration:

The vampire population as a whole is not very big, as they have a very low fertility rate—except for born males, who are the most fertile of all vampires—and so it is easier, and safest, to have all vampires registered. At the creation of the Treaty, it was agreed that the hunters would be given access to this registry as it is constantly updated. Hunters need to pass execution requests through to the vampire council, but do not need to wait for permission. There is always a small gap of time from when a hunter is dispatched and the council get word of the hunt. If the vampire has not been killed in that time and the council have reason to request their capture instead, the hunters will do so. It is illegal for a vampire not to be registered, be they born or turned. There are instances where a human is turned and orphaned, and does not know. Unfortunately a newly turned vampire hardly adheres to vampire law, and will be killed before rightly educated. This is a must, to protect the human population and vampire society.

The Treaty:

At the birth of the modern world, humans and vampires learned to co-exist by creating the Treaty. In this document, it was decided that the two kinds would work with each other by creating rules and laws to protect each other. Protecting human lives will also protect vampire lives, especially after the discovery of the Blood-Metal, an element that the hunters discovered that is able to kill vampires both turned and born. As the hunters used technology to make various different weapons to kill the vampires, the vampires realized they needed to do something to protect themselves. And so the treaty was born. Both sides have strict rules to adhere to and it’s taken many years of trial and error to come to the current, modern Treaty that serves them both. 

The Hunters (Abraxas):

A group of people who train with the specific intent to hunt down and kill vampires. At the beginning they were formed only by specific families who passed down the knowledge of the vampires, they formed the Abraxas Society. But thanks to the modern world, they now accept anyone who is willing to join and fight. Generally humans are not to be informed of vampires, but attacks happen. Victims will be visited by hunters who will offer them a place in their ranks if they want to, otherwise they will have a vampire do memory compulsion to wipe the memory of the attack. Often someone will discover the truth about the vampires and will approach the hunters to join them. They accept anyone—except vampires. If a hunter goes rogue and breaks any of the established rules, they will also be subjected to the memory compulsion. The hunters do not take any prisoners, they primarily execute. Who they don’t execute, they deliver back to the vampires to deal with. They have weapons that can kill vampires and also make their uniforms with this material to protect them, especially when going against a born vampire. The hunters have their own council, run by the heads of the families and the roles will generally be passed down to the heir, or to the most senior hunter in the organization, should that family not have an heir, lose their heir or if that individual rejects their position on the council. 

Reproduction: