Vampire (Folklore)

Description
Almost every culture in history has had legends about vampires or vampire-like creatures, from the blood-drinking demons of Sumerian mythology, to the Chupacabra of modern Latin American folklore. The most famous vampires, however, originate from Eastern European folklore. It was believed that especially evil people, or those who had been cursed in some way, would return from the grave as vampires, preying on the living. Only certain methods were believed to be able to destroy a vampire, the most common being thrusting a wooden stake through the heart, and beheading the corpse. Technically, 'vampire' is defined as "any parasite that drains and feeds on the blood or life of the host".

However the characteristics and personalities of vampires have greatly changed overtime. Initially vampires were portrayed mainly as evil semi-demons. Overtime the aspects of their personality, philosophy and even emotion started to appear in popular media. Now a days a vampires are often portrayed more like "rational yet corrupt upper class" rather than "evil demons". In some modern media like the Vampire Chronicles, it is said that vampires even follow religions if they want to, which is a huge contrast with the early concepts of vampires which said they died if they came in contact with holy materials like crucifix or holy water.

Ever since the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker came out in 1897 (based in part on the real-life exploits of Vlad the Impaler), the world has been entranced by vampires in fiction. Vampires first made the leap on to film in 1922 with the release of Nosferatu, and such films as Dracula, The Lost Boys, and Underworld ensure they are here to stay.

Vampires are a type of demonic undead creature that has superhuman traits and endurance. Their appearance is either humanlike, many times attractive, to being skinny, hunchback, discolored, pale, corpselike and with enlarged claws or teeth. Some vampires can switch between humanlike and demonlike at will, normally by retracting their fangs and claws, allowing them to blend in with human society while hunting. But most vampires cannot change the fact that they have no shadows or reflections. Many vampires can shapeshift, normally into a bat or bat-like creature to give them flight. Vampires also can control many types of black magic depending on the story, though a common ability is hypnotizing people with their eyesight or levitation.

Blood is a defining trait of vampires. According to the show, a Vampire's heart pumps extremely fast, giving them superhuman attributes. Vampires feed on blood, though most can eat flesh and some can eat human food, almost all drink blood. Many Vampires are more addicted to blood than actually needing it (since they normally find a steady supply that will keep them healthy and fed), and so can willingly kill humans to get the blood.

They can run 6 times faster than an Olympic athlete and are 6 times stronger than most strongmen (meaning vampires are about 10 times stronger than a normal human). They have superhuman senses (like smell and hearing), intelligence, and work in packs, similar to apex predators of the natural world. Vampires can survive mutilations as long as they don't bleed out, don't have their heart damaged or removed, are not decapitated or do not have their brain damaged. Traditional stories have a wooden stake that is needed to kill the vampire's heart. The idea was to nail the vampire to the ground or coffin so even if he did survive he would not be able to move. Some vampires are powerful enough to regenerate from major wounds after battle. Their bites are similar in strength and sharpness to alligators and can unhinge like a snake, increasing the size of their bite. The mouth of a vampire has evolved from the traditional two fangs that simply cause the victim to bleed, to the modern vampire with all their teeth sharpened and able to bite through bone. Their claws are hard as steel, making them able to instantly kill a human with their strength.

They do feel fear, but due to their predatory lifestyle and mentality they are rarely scared. They do feel pain but their superhuman strength and powerful heart makes them resistant to it. Like zombies with the zombie virus, they can turn normal people into other vampires who they would mentally control as a 'head vampire'. However modern vampires can decide if someone they killed can turn into a vampire, normally with some kind of blood ritual. Sometimes the idea of turning other people into vampires is abandoned completely, expecially since the bodies would be so mutalated that even as a vampire they couldn't survive. Although violent towards humans, they are actually very social to other vampires and would help their friends in need like normal humans would. Sometimes the 'head vampire' is choosen by the clan instead of being the superior vampire and becomes the main strategist and leader for the vampires. But against other species and their enemies, vampires will show no mercy.

The only serious weakness other than their head and heart is that Vampires are weak towards sunlight. Most modern vampires can survive a few seconds of direct exposure but can easily die in less than half a minute (some depictions will have them turn to dust or have their skin burned black). 30 days of Night claims that it is ultraviolet radiation that kills the vampire so it is possible for artificial sunlight to kill them. Because of this weakness to sunlight, all vampires would sleep during the day, normally in an abandoned building or coffin. They can still operate normally during the daytime as long as they are shaded from the sun. If away from civilization, a vampire would normally survive in shady locations like shady forests or near caves where they would sleep from the sun. But as long as they are not exposed to the sun, Vampires should survive in most environments. It is possible for vampires to live off of animals in the wild just like a predator would. Some vampires like living in depressing, gothic or 'evil' locations like graveyards and avoid holy places like churches. In 30 Days of Night, the vampires live in Alaska because of the prolonged nights caused by its location near the north pole, allowing the vampire to be fully active for 30 days without worrying about the sunrise. Other traditional vampire weaknesses (most not seen in modern vampires anymore) include holy water, garlic, crucifix and traveling over running water.

(Info from Deadliest Warrior Wiki)

Battle
TBA