A Theoretical Explanation of True Vampirism
by Shadowalker
The following is a history pieced together from anecdotal information, research, and some obscure mentions in very old books. As such, it should not be taken as face-value fact, but to this date the essentials in this story have proven to be true. The information following the history is my own research. Since I have no proof I can offer to others, it is to be considered theory and not fact. I can, however, state that I have subjective proof of the bulk of it.
A long time ago there was a Shaman, a part of a tribe whose place of origin we do not know. This Shaman was a magician of great power, and he had invoked an entity from Elsewhere to gain knowledge that might aid his tribe. When the ritual was complete, and it came time for the entity to depart, it found that it could not leave. Perhaps it was somehow trapped, or perhaps it had a physical form which had been killed--whatever the reason, it would not leave the shaman's body. In order to survive on this plane indefinitely, it exerted the full force of its power, and it changed him. The entity had to find a source of food on this plane that was similar to what it had on its home plane. The closest thing that it found was human and animal life force. With the physical interpretations of this plane, the easiest way to obtain that was through the blood. Physiological changes were made to the shaman's body--he grew fangs. The entity's energy was on such a wavelength that it was disrupted by the strong, physical energy of the sun, so he could not stand the sun. When these changes were complete, he was the first vampyr. Due to the entity's extremely powerful talents at telepathic coercing and an aura that could inspire awe or fear in others, he made his tribe great. Over time, the shaman's personality was complete eclipsed by that of the entity.
He took a wife, and in the throes of passion, he nearly killed her. When he saw what he had done, he made a desperate bid to save her life, for he truly did love her. He gave her his own blood to try to replace what she had lost. In so doing, he also transferred to her some of his spiritual essence. She fell into a deep coma, and the tribe thought that she had died. But she awoke, and when she did she had changed as well, to become just like the vampyr. They had many children. Those children did not carry as much of the entity's essence as his wife did, and so they did not change as much. The outward physical signs were small or absent, they could withstand the sun, although they did not enjoy it, and they did not NEED blood to survive. Both the entity and his wife, and their children, created others of their kind, using the method that the entity had discovered in changing his wife. They created many like themselves, and after a time there were too many. The entity saw that something had to be done, and so he killed as many as he could find. He took his wife and firstborn, and implanted a powerful telepathic coercing in them to uphold certain laws. Then he fell into a great depression, and wandered away into the wilderness never to be seen again. What those laws are, is no longer known by most, if by any at all.
To put this story into more modern and scientific terms, the thing that makes us vampyrs is essentially a symbiotic, psychic "lifeform". It has no sentience of its own--it exists to continue existing. If you feed it, it grows more powerful, and changes you more. If you do not, it grows weaker, and feeds off of you. It gives back as much as it demands of you, for empathy, telepathy, and an influential aura are its legacies, and these things also offer a gateway to other psychic disciplines. The vampiric essence can strengthen you psychically, and perhaps even physically, if you work with it. This symbiont appears as a coherent and separate bundle of energy which is located in the astral body, and is usually found in the middle of the chest, over the heart. It appears to be approximately the size of a fist from the outside, but may be much larger in reality. When you astrally project, the symbiont travels with you, remaining with the astral body.
This symbiont is comprised of two or three types of energy--life energy, Veil energy, and possibly psi energy. The Veil is a metaphysical membrane which separates this "universe" from "another place". Things on the other side of the Veil are all comprised of the same type of energy. Sometimes the Veil is breached, and entities from that place enter this one--more often than not, their interactions with life here have harmful results, not necessarily through any malice on their part, but because of their extremely alien nature. If there is any truth to the origins legend, it seems clear that the visitor was from across the Veil, and that helps explain his slightly inexplicable reactions to some situations. The Veil is best left unbreached--most entities from this reality will work together, even with traditional enemies, to repair a breach in the Veil and fight off Veil entities. This may be part of the reason why vampyrs are treated so oddly by spirit entities.
Some of the changes that the symbiont generally makes in its "partner" are, starting with the physical, a faster rate of healing, increased strength, stamina and speed, improved night vision, and improvement in other senses. Negative physical changes include allergy to sunlight, and possible glandular problems such as lupus or diabetes. The majority of the changes the symbiont makes are associated with the nervous system. Most vampyrs prefer a higher or lower room temperature than humans, by at least 10 degrees. Psychological effects are a slow restructuring of the instincts, resulting in gradual personality change (Not for the worse, merely different), and a resulting "rebuilding from the ground up" of learned moral and ethical standards. In some few individuals, a very strong symbiont can cause dementia. Psychical changes include a re-patterning of the energy bodies and the way in which the psychical and physical bodies work together in the life energy cycle. Life force energy is absorbed in the heart region, and distributed to the rest of the body from there. The symbiont's profound influence in the region of the heart energy center, which is the emotional center of the energy bodies almost invariably awakens the empathic ability, and occasionally telepathic ability. In addition, this heart center is very sensitive to damage, and most vampyrs will feel some pain or pressure in this area if they are overloaded or drained psychically. Vampyrs appear to have more instinctive control over the empathic faculty than most humans, being able to dampen the input or shut it down to avoid overload. Other psychic talents may also be awakened, including anything from improved psychic "senses" such as clairvoyance and clairaudience to more uncommon talents such as psychokinesis.
On the negative side, persons with a born-in aptitude for working with some energy types may find that the symbiont's insistence on controlling the nervous system limits their natural abilities, even as it makes using others easier.
Abstaining from feeding on life force/blood often results in memory problems, and aggravation of any detrimental physical conditions, such as the aforementioned lupus. Depressed immune system and listlessness or depression may result as well. This can continue for years, but it has generally been found that eventually the symbiont will influence a dramatic increase in hunger over a fairly short period of time--what occurs if the vampyr does not feed at that point is unknown. A vampyr, under the stimulus of extreme loss, pain or suffering, emotional trauma, or starvation, may enter into a state of psychosis in which, for a period of days or even as long as a month, they will become berserkers, hunting and killing for blood. The beginning of this state allows some self-control, but it progresses to a true berserker state in which the vampyr will attack anything for blood--vision becomes reddened, and senses become heightened, strength and other physical capabilities may increase.
The symbiont is not impossible to influence--a nudge of uncontrolled power when it is passed on, for example, can alter it. This is why "bloodlines" have the differences they have, and why some lines show negative effects and deterioration.
Known ways in which the symbiont can be passed on include the traditional exchange of blood with a vampyr, as well as working in a magickal coven or partnership with vampyr, being fed from, either astrally or physically, and possibly through a sexual encounter. Anything which involves and intimate exchange of energies between a vampyr and a human can pass the symbiont's essence on. Not all humans appear to be susceptible to this, however. Generally speaking, only those with some European genealogy have proven so far to be susceptible, and not all of them are. (This may prove wrong at a later date, but stands thus far). Exact details on how the symbiont may be picked up are missing--there are those born with it, or who acquire it without apparent contact in their early to mid teens, and the method of transference to these individuals is still unknown. In those who were born vampyrs, the symbiont appears to be more well integrated, and the individuals are, of course, not as conscious of it as those who were turned. So far I have found that roughly half of the vampyrs I have contacted were born that way. This is a puzzle that still needs to be worked out. The vast majority of born vampyrs are certain that neither of their parents is vampyr. Another question I am researching is whether born-vampyrs are capable of turning others. It has been suggested by some that all vampyrs are born that way, and that some only require a catalyst to trigger the change--however, there is a certain large city in Ohio that has upwards of 500 vampyrs...and most of these claim to have been turned. This suggests that there must be a transmission going on, because it is difficult to imagine such a strange genetic trait lying dormant in so very many people, particularly when the numbers of vampyrs in years past have been so few--this population explosion has occurred only in the past 20 to 40 years. In addition, that explanation would still leave the question of what that alien life force bundle is in the center of the chest of each vampyr, for it is a separate life-signature, and that suggests that it is not endemic to the host.
When a person acquires the vampyr symbiont, for the first year the "symptoms" or traits will fluctuate wildly, becoming very strong, then fading away to almost nothing, repeatedly over a varying length of time. After the first year, this fluctuation becomes less marked, although it does still seem to be present in older vampyrs, on a subdued level. For those born vampyrs, the traits are usually subdued by definitely present in childhood, and are kicked up to a higher level during the vampyr's teen years, resulting in a pattern similar to the first year of a vampyr who was turned, though perhaps not as traumatic. This may also be the case with vampyrs who were turned in childhood.
The symbiont can be removed from an individual who was turned with no apparent permanent ill effects, but this is not easy to accomplish. It requires considerable strength and thoroughness, and it is not comfortable. Possibly not all of the changes wrought to the system by the symbiont will return to normal, and it is logical to assume that the longer the entity was present in the person, the more likely there is to be a permanent effect, but changes will be apparent within a few days of removal of the symbiont. I have no experience with a born vampyr who has had the symbiont removed, so I cannot comment on that.
I will relate one method by which the symbiont may be removed, though keep in mind that this is only one method, which did work. First, the overall level of psi-energy in the vampyr's body is increased, via whatever method is convenient for that. (One method is to sit with the soles of the feet pressed together, and the palms of the hands pressed together, with the back straight, and eyes shut, and with the room temperature slightly too cool to be comfortable--start an energy flow through the body from one hand to another, and one foot to another--done for a period of time, this will increase the psionic energy level in the body). Mechanical elements were used in this method--I cannot endorse trying this, as it could be dangerous to those with no experience with electronics, but I will describe it in detail.
REPEAT (for those not paying attention) I CANNOT RECOMMEND THIS.
Please don't electrocute yourselves or each other. Thanks.
The first device is constructed with a 5 to 6 inch diameter speaker magnet, copper wire, copper foil, a coffee can lid (metal), duct tape, and an AC/DC adapter. The wire is wrapped around the magnet. The magnet with wire is attached to a square of copper foil larger than it with duct tape. The coffee can lid is attached to the bottom of the square of copper (which should also be slightly larger than the coffee can lid). Wire ends from the wire on the magnet should curl around the foil and be secured to the coffee can lid with duct tape. The end of the AD/DC adapter cord should be split and the two wires stripped of insulation. These should be secured to the copper foil with duct tape on either side of the magnet. (with the copper ground wires running north and south, and the adapter wires on the east and west). This is plugged into a power strip surge protector, and placed on the chest over the symbiont. (And creates a mighty peculiar sensation, but is not painful).
The second device is made from two small fan motors with the spindles removed. A metal rod is inserted into the spindle holes between them. To this is attached a strip of copper foil with two areas raised from the rod. ___n__n___ (as best I can draw it with letters...the "n" are wider than that). This is placed across the hips, with the vampyr touching one half-loop with each hand. The fan motors are plugged into the power strip. The second device creates an electro-static energy charge which flows through the body. The first device creates an electro magnetic field which pushes the body's energy field (and thus the symbiont) outward through the center of the magnet (which is donut-shaped). The electro-static energy flow increases the energy flow out of the center of the magnet and magnifies the push. Yes, the fan motors buzz and get warm. *Grin* At this point, a person with a powerful psi energy output simply reached into the area around the center of the magnet, and scooped the entity out--using psi energy to "scrape" the edges and be sure nothing was left behind, which causes a flash of pain, though not a great one. The devices in conjunction with the strong psi energy field in the vampyr caused the entity to ball up in the center of the magnet. The entity was contained in a "shield" of psi energy, and then placed in a magnetic containment field comprised of a plastic container with a strip of foil circling it latitudinally and longitudinally, secured with duct tape, and two small speaker magnets with the poles directed inward placed at the poles. No deterioration of the entity was observed in this containment field, so it is possible that the critter may be a bit hardier than first thought, and might even be able to survive for periods outside of a host.
Other types of vampirism.
Psychic Vampirism
A psychic vampire is a person who has learned, or who has a genetic inclination to using a talent for taking psychic energy from other people and using it to augment their own personal energy level. Psychic vampires usually prefer energy with a strong emotional charge, and get a "high" from taking it. A sub-category of psychic vampirism is psi-vampirism. A psi-vamp is a person with a genetic inclination to take psi energy from others for personal use. Psi-vamps share characteristics with true vampires, as do other persons with genetically linked psi talents. These include mild sunlight sensitivity, higher than average IQ, liking for temperatures between 50 and 70 degrees (usually), and sometimes even a liking for the taste of blood (though not for the same reasons). Psychic vampirism does not involve the vampire symbiont, and shows fewer physiological changes. Psi-vamps are born with their abilities, though they may be awakened at puberty.
(Comments from everyone are welcomed, particularly if you have experiences
that
contradict or reinforce any of the above. Send mail to hunterx20@hotmail.com.)
I would like to give special thank to Shadowalker and The Pathway to Darkness for this interesting article.
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