ANDERS MAGE PAGE 2.0

By Frater IAM, Magister Templii of Ordo Rosae Crucis Vienna.

Currently much debate rages among our colleagues of the former house of Tremere regarding the true nature of vampirism and its causes. This may seem ironic, due to their first-hand information on the subject, but may also be seen as a sign of an unfortunate decline in scholarship and magickal knowledge among our esteemed colleagues.

Our study team has examined the traditions regarding vampirism and its effects and cross-correlated this with our own information, samples from vampiric beings and some discussions with our undead colleagues. We can now present our findings.

The most important aspect of vampiric existence is the blood, the vitae. In the following discussion, we will use the term "blood" to denote the bodily fluids of mammalian creatures, and "vitae" to denote the fluids infusing the undead bodies of the vampires. As is well known, vampires needs a steady supply of blood to survive. They can reproduce by draining the blood of a human and replacing a small part of it with vitae, which will result in the transformation of the body to an undead state. They can also strongly influence mortals by giving them small amounts of vitae over a long time, and bind mortal (and vampires) to themselves by making them dependent on their blood (so called "ghouls" and "thralls" respectively).

It's immediately clear to anyone who studies a vampire from a hermetic standpoint that they are composite creatures, consisting of a dead body animated by some animating principle. This principle seems to be the vitae. Analysis has revealed a very high Quintessence content, not unlike Tass, in a material quite similar to normal blood. In fact, vitae is not as much a substance as a parasitic being, using the undead body for protection and to influence the material world. Left on its own, vitae is rather inert although it will not decay normally and retains its unusual properties for a long time. It is quite sensitive to sunlight and fire, which destroys it (possibly due to the existence of a strong flow of radical quintessence).

When it enters a dead body, it will infuse its tissues, transform the dead flesh into a more stable form which does not decay normally (vitae seems to be a natural preserving fluid) and can animate almost as in its living state. Another, more subtle, effect is the reanimation of the nervous system, or more exactly the resident spirit (as opposed to the Anima, life force, and the Avatar, the divine aspect, which has already left the dead body). Apparently the vitae reanimates the spirit of the body, restoring it to full or near-full function. It will retain all memories, personality traits, skills and similar traits, but will lack the true Avatar, the soul, making it unable to use magick or reach salvation. In place of the Anima the vitae takes its place as animating agent.

The goals of the vitae are simple, as one can expect from such a simple spiritual organism: survival and propagation. To resupply necessary nutrients and more importantly, quintessence, the vitae has to convert blood into vitae. The process is mainly spiritual in character, and is enforced by filling the vampire with intense feelings of hunger. It seems that the consciousness of the vitae completely lack anything higher than instinctual responses, and has to rely on the rational intellect of the host for planning and practical matters. It influences the host by creating intense, primal emotions linked to itself. This also explains the extreme fear of sunlight and fire most vampires feel, as their vitae recognizes a dangerous threat. Due to the atavistic nature of the vitae, it will also activate many of the more primal layers of consciousness, causing the phenomenon known as "the Beast", an amalgam of normal human subconscious desires combined with the influence of the vitae.

Note that the quintessence of vitae gives the vampires the ability to mimic true (or hedge) magickal effects. This has been developed to a great extent by the former house of Tremere, in lieu of the ability to create true magick. Other effects seems to be quite tied to the vitae, like extreme strength or resilence, mental powers and other supernatural effects. All are tied into the magickal nature of the vitae, and can be controlled from a conscious level by the vampire with some training.

Ghouls are an interesting phenomenon. Apparently the vitae is much a kind of spiritual infection, and can be repulsed by the astral immune system of normal people. A person ingesting vitae will become influence by it, becoming slightly modified by its tissue-transforming effects and more irritable due to the Beast. The effects will not last long, as the living pattern and the protective presence of the Holy Guardian Angel will destroy the vitae in the system.

Blood bonding is the final problem in this model. Apparently, vitae is highly addictive (which is reasonable, due to its high quintessence content). An individual drinking vitae from a certain vampire (each vampire seems to have his own unique type) will become profoundly psychologically addicted to the person, perhaps through the interaction between the two types of vitae. One theory claims the normal blood-converting processes will work extremely well on the vitae, causing the Beast to search for more similar vitae. This spreads upwards through the subconscious, creating an effect not unlike falling in love.

Another result of the profound addictiveness of vitae is so-called diablerie. This consist of one vampire draining another until the other suffers final death (when all vitae is gone, the tissue and spirit animating principle ends). In this process the diablerist seems to gain power from the victim. This is of course easy to explain. Normally ingested vitae in a vampiric body is re-integrated into the vitae of the body, not unlike how a living body converts vitae to normal blood. Large amounts of vitae, especially the vitae saturated with the animating principle which result from extreme distress (it seems that in certain situations the vitae normally bound to the tissues leave them, maybe as a protective response), can overwhelm this system and cause a merging or "take-over" of vitae. In essence, the vitae of the victim replaces the vitae of the diablerist. Since the spirit of the diablerist is not influenced, individual identity is not lost.

In nomine Tetragrammaton: Ateh. Malkuth. Ve Geburah. Ve Gedulah. Le Ohlam Amen.