S. Erisi

Eris vampire
Kingdom	Infernalis
Genus	Sanguis
Subspecies	Erisi

The Eris vampire (Émile: S. Erisi) is the most common vampire subspecies in Offetstine, known for its fairly unassuming appearance and inherent conduct, making it uniquely well-suited for the Masquerade. The name derives from Eris, the Greek goddess of strife and discord, and was coined by Vivas, the creator of the Émile standard and herself an Offetstine resident, as one of the foremost taxa of her then-nascent system. Eris vampires are typically immortal and propagate by turning humans into their kind, conducting a sort of ad-hoc blood transfusion through their fangs.

Physiology

Eris vampires closely resemble humans, making it easy for them to pass as one. They feed on blood, preferably human, using retractable fangs that replace their canine teeth. Their skin appears slightly pale or gray under certain lighting conditions, while their eyes luminesce any of various colors while their fangs are bared. These colors range from warm yellow or red to less common hues like purple, blue, or green. Eris vampires commonly exhibit sectoral heterochromia while their fangs are bared.

Eris vampires' magic aggressively rejects foreign organic tissue and viral matter in their bodies, providing them with a strong immunity to human pathogens, although it may cause complications similar to transplant rejection. Fledglings may experience gastrointestinal discomfort and lose their appetite for human food as their gut flora is purged.

Eris vampires possess remarkable regenerative abilities, healing superficial wounds within minutes, except for traumatic amputations or injuries that sever the brain or heart. Eris vampires may quickly repair avulsions on their body by holding the detached body parts, or equivalents lent from human donors, to the site of the injury and letting it reattach through their magic. In addition to their resistance to physical trauma and immunity to diseases, Eris vampires are functionally immortal and do not age. Many Eris vampires in Offetstine have lived for several centuries.

Feeding

Eris vampires typically require about 400 milliliters of human blood per week, equivalent to 800–1000 mL of blood from other mammals. They can extract this amount of blood nonlethally through their retractable fangs, although many vampires choose to kill their human prey. When they bite, they secrete a hemostatic and locally anesthetic magical agent from venom sacs located above the gumline.

Some human victims experience sedation or drowsiness after being bitten, likely due to blood loss. The bite may also cause a cooling sensation, commonly attributed to the lower body temperature of Eris vampires. This effect helps manage the puncture wound, which can be quite large, and is only effective when the victim remains still. Agitation during feeding can cause intense pain.

After drawing the required amount of blood in 1–3 minutes, the wound quickly clots and heals when exposed to air. Eris vampires have sterile saliva that lacks genetic and pathogenic material, thanks to their magic's resilience to human pathogens. They often retain their palate for human food and describe the taste of blood as fresh, tart and similar to raspberries. To that extent, some culinary inclined Eris vampires use blood as an additive to chocolate, wine, or coffee.

Toxicology

Despite their resilience to most human poisons, Eris vampires find certain substances toxic which humans do not. Among these are many potions, especially those associated with holiness, but a small selection of mundane articles as well. In sufficiently high doses, garlic is poisonous to Eris vampires, although LD₅₀s are usually measured on the scale of 14 to 16 grams of raw garlic. Due to the magnitude of this dose, Eris vampires very rarely die from garlic poisoning; however, it is a common method of execution for other phylogenetically related subspecies who suffer from lower lethal doses.

Furthermore, in phylogenetically related subspecies but especially in Eris vampires, garlic has psychoactive properties in lower doses, as little as 200 mg. The effect is said to be similar to cannabis intoxication, imparting feelings of excitability and unrest onto the vampire. The responsible compound is unknown and has not been reliably isolated. While culinary preparations such as garlic bread do not significantly diminish either the ED₅₀ or LD₅₀ of garlic, preparations that reduce the pungency of garlic do reduce its potency. To that extent, the responsible compound is suspected to be a volatile.

Progeny

Eris vampires are naturally infertile and cannot conceive without magical assistance. They primarily propagate by infecting other humans with their magic, transforming them into Eris vampires. However, this process is relatively rare, as turning humans into vampires vests them with responsibility and offers limited benefit to the sire. Eris vampires may choose to turn humans they are especially intimate with to share immortality, or those who are fatally injured to preserve their life. Eris vampires may only turn humans, not other demi-humans.

While feeding, Eris vampires may inject their own blood into their victims through their fangs, which temporarily increases the vampire's heart rate and causes excess blood flow to their masticatory muscles. The transfused blood acts as a rapid anesthetic, causing the human to quickly lose consciousness and often experience nausea or lightheadedness. For a period of 1–3 hours after the transfusion, the human enters a state of clinical death, displaying no blood flow, breathing, or brain activity.

Despite appearing deceased, their bodies exhibit magical activity and do not undergo the typical stages of death beyond pallor mortis. Whether this state should be considered death or unconsciousness is widely disputed. Eventually, the human awakens as a vampire, henceforth considered undead. Fledglings often report a temporary lapse in memory, general discomfort or nausea, and hunger for blood.

Compulsion

One of the most notable magical powers of Eris vampires is their ability to bring about a state of hypnosis in humans through eye contact, commonly referred to as "compulsion" (v. "compel"). While demi-humans, especially those who have a similar magical power over the human mind themselves, are generally immune, even magically empowered humans are often left vulnerable to Eris vampires' compulsion. While under compulsion, humans remain fully conscious and behave as their former selves. Unless explicitly instructed, they often commit the moment of compulsion to memory and understand they are not acting under their own free will.

This power is most commonly used to elicit lasting servitude out of humans, although may also be used on a per-case basis to override an affected individual's will. Repeated subjection to compulsion typically brings about a state of reduced cognitive abilities similar to dementia, sometimes leading to senses of paranoia and recurrent nightmares. However, this is usually limited to fairly extreme cases and many humans who have been subject to infrequent compulsion by Eris vampires do not typically notice barring recollection of the moment of compulsion.

The specific effect of compulsion on an individual is highly subject to their personal interpretation of the instruction given to them. It is usually impossible for an Eris vampire to compel anyone without a shared spoken language. Under preexisting duress, a human may misinterpret instructions given during the process of compulsion and behave erratically as a result. It is typically understood that forms of communication aside from in-person speech, such as writing, sign language and radiotelephony, are insufficient to effect compulsion. Furthermore, it is usually impossible to compel multiple people at once.

Culture

As their species does not mutate their morality, Eris vampires typically exhibit a kinship, mercurial or holistic, towards humans, similar to how they behaved as a human. While the desire to feed on human blood does drive many Eris vampires to abandon their human sensibilities while feeding, this is usually considered improper. However, it is considered highly typical for Eris vampires to leverage their power of compulsion to elicit the servitude of an entourage of humans, deriving from their wealth and living lavishly as a result. This lifestyle, often described as reminiscent of feudal lordship, is sometimes considered the quintessence of Eris vampirism.

Real life

Eris vampires are often associated with cats in community discussions outside of roleplay, as a pertinent meme. In-universe, some Eris vampires occasionally exhibit stereotypically feline predilections, such as a proclivity to sleep, and a habit of purring while relaxed. This behavior, however, is unrelated to the nature of the fictional species.