The Kindred

A vampire is a human infected with with one of five strains of a mutagenic retrovirus called the Kindred Virus. Due to an anemia causing protein-deficiency, vampires practice hematophagy on uninfected humans. Vampires are known to mainly bite a victim's neck, extracting the blood from the carotid artery. They call themselves "Kindred" and use the term Kindred and Kine to refer to all of humanity. The Kindred are also known for their enhanced physical capabilities, longevity, and lethal reaction to sunlight.

Kindred pass legally as human with the help of Kindred working within various agencies and government offices. There are Kindred in every walk of life. Still, their slowed aging process and longevity has a curse: they must move to new cities, take on new identities as the unknowing humans around them succumb to age.

Pathology
The Kindred Virus is a very old and well evolved symbiotic retrovirus which benefits it's host in many ways rather than killing it. Newer virus like the Ebola virus show their lack of adaptation in the fact that they destroy their hosts thereby running the risk of destroying themselves. A successful virus seeks symbiosis with it's host, not destruction.

The retrovirus in many ways resembles a very primitive virus called a prion. Most viri cause disease by infiltrating the host's systems then attacking specific cells and replacing the DNA of the cell with a copy of their own thus creating more viri which then attack more cells and so on. The body of the host then recognizes these infected cells as foreign matter and the immune system works to eradicate them. The Kindred Virus works in much the same way except that the virus attacks nearly all of the hosts systems and works to adapt rather than change the DNA within the cells, adding extra 'mini-chromosomes' called plasmids to the human DNA rather than replacing it completely. This has two effects. Firstly, it means that the host's immune system is partly fooled into believing that the adapted cells are still normal and are less aggressive in their removal of them, giving the virus more time to spread through out the body's systems. Secondly, with the exception of the Nosferatu Strain it means that the individual stays mostly human in appearance, the new DNA only serving to enhance the existing structure rather than change it completely.

Biology
The transition from human to vampire takes place over a period of 24 to 48 hours during which an individual undergoes neurophysical, anatomical and genetic and even mental transformations.

Blood diet
During the change from a human to a vampire, functional changes to certain genes terminates all production of red blood cells. Fortunately for vampires, physical modifications enable them to receive blood transfusions by merely ingesting blood. A modified immune system allows them to accept any blood type.

Along with the plasmids, a memory RNA is transcribed by the Kindred Virus that causes the formation of a specific engram within the area of the brain responsible for the sensation of hunger. As a result of the engram, vampires instintively know to drink human blood instead of eat food.

Due to a functionally restructured stomach, vampires absorb the blood directly into the bloodstream with a form of absorption in the inner tissues of the body via the restructured stomach lining instead of actually going thought the process of digestion that would brake the blood down. Kindred must periodically drink small amounts of human blood to replace functioning cells. Animal blood is of no use because it would be rejected by the immune system and therefore its red blood cells would be destroyed. The modifications to the stomach also include anticoagulants that stop blood from curdling, thereby preventing any emetic effects from ingesting blood.

Although they are incapable of eating food, vomiting it up almost instantly, the efficiency of all metabolic functions of vampires are altered and enhanced to such an astonishing degree that vampires require far less nutrients than uninfected humans. As a result of this, even the minimal amount of iron, carbohydrates, fats, glucose, amino acids/proteins, and vitamins contained within human blood is actually enough to easily meet the nutritional needs of a vampire. Modifications to both the circulatory system and metabolism allows the body of a vampire to use these substances without them going through the process of digestion. Therefore, vampires are able to survive solely on a diet of human blood.

Photosensitivity
One of virus's most dramatic effects is on the biochemical makeup of a vampire. Certain new enzymes are produced that protect DNA from damage, however these enzymes possess chemical properties that are extremely unfortunate for vampires. A sufficient amount of ultraviolet radiation causes a chemical reaction within the enzymes that makes them ignite and burn the vampire's cells into ashes. Momentary exposure to sunlight will cause a chain reaction that will incinerate a vampire. However, this biochemical process is inhibited by a certain volume of blood in a vampire's system. Therefore, vampires can move about in daylight for several hours if they have recently fed.

Longevity
Another profound effect of the Kindred Virus plasmids is to switch on the gene which controls the production of telomerase (an enzyme that prevents chromosome degeneration) and to boost its effectiveness with a version of its own in the packet of genetic material that fuses with the host's chromosomes. Genetic alterations also result in a biochemistry that is extremely efficient in protecting the cells from ionization damage to DNA caused mainly by natural oxidation, primarily free radicals. So as a vampire lives, cell division can continue almost indefinitely allowing cell damage to be repaired effectively leading to a lifespan that will span thousands of years.

The brain
Along with the blood drinking instinct, the introduction of the Kindred Virus in to the host makeup produces a number of other effects in the brain. Blood flow to various areas of the brain is increased and the production of certain neurotransmitters is stimulated. The areas most affected are the amygdala and the visual cortex (the areas around the brain stem and outer-back of the brain). The amygdala is the most primitive part of the brain, linked mainly with the powerful fight-or-flight reflex. A vampire will suffer increased aggression and reactions, particularly to physically threatening situations. Arousal of a combative nature will have a greater effect. There is also personality changes because of the specific neurochemical changes that each strain of the Kindred Virus causes.

The changes to the visual cortex cause vision to become more acute. Processing of images proceeds faster. Nightvision is enhanced within certain parameters. The eyes themselves undergo no change, but a large part of human low light sight deficiency is due to the time it takes the brain to process darkened images. The information collected by the eyes is unchanged, but it is processed better.

The size of the corpus callosum increases by ten percent. This enables high-speed broadband communication between hemispheres. Their motor neuron nerve axons become almost twice as thick, which gives vampires faster signal transmission and faster reflexes than humans. Kindred also have enhanced intelligence because of an increased the potency of neurotransmitters involved in memory and cognition. Neurotransmitter potency is also responsible for enhanced senses of hearing and smell in vampires. They also have double the receptor cells in their noses and ears compared to humans.

Anatomy
Along with the vastly increased lifespan, genetic changes also endow vampires with another profound capability, that of cellular de-differentiation. In layman's terms, their stem cells are capable of accessing the genetic blueprint to a greater extent than normal human adult stem cells so as to regress to the earlier stem cell stage, and then regrow into various types of cells needed to perfectly recreate missing tissue. As a result vampires not only heal without scars, but they are even able to regrow severed appendages such as limbs in a matter of days.

All vampires enjoy a more efficient metabolism than normal humans. Because of this, their bodies are able to perform more efficiently than normal humans. The abnormal strength and stamina that vampire display is a result of elevated levels of ATP (adenosine triphosphate) in their cell. ATP is the chemical battery that powers the cell. The fact that their muscles heal at an accelerated rate and therefore are able to operate more strenuously also adds to a vampire's physical strength.

Kindred are the very model of good health. They have low cholesterol and blood pressure and no heart disease. Because of the perfect cellular replication and no added damage to DNA, vampire cells are incapable of becoming cancerous.

During the vampiric transformation, the upper canine teeth experience growth. Additional enamel is also deposited on the crown of those teeth, slightly elongating and sharpening their tips into subtle fangs.

The genetic transformation process also causes the gonads of vampires to be rendered nonfunctional. As a result, vampires are universally sterile.

Due to the greater pain threshold, considerable strength, enhanced immune system and extraordinary regenerative capabilities, vampires are exceptionally difficult to kill.

Strains/Clans
The Kindred are divided into five distinct clans, which are based on the five strains of the Kindred Virus. The specific differences in the strains are the specific neurochemical balances they induce, which cause specific personality archetypes for each strain. The Nosferatu Strain causes physical differences as well.

In every region, each clan is lead by a Primogen. The Primogens meet to advise the Prince, to consult, and to present grievances. They often have their own agendas and seek to promote their own clans.

Brujah
The Brujah are outspoken, turbulent, and defiant, and in human terms, often criminal. The least civilized of the clans, they are also the most recent to come into being. Brujah are perhaps most descriptively thought of as mobsters. They are the most likely of all the clans to be led by ambition and greed for money and power.

Gangrel
The Gangrels are individualists who sneer at the contraints of society. They are ferocious fighters, proud, hot-headed, street smart, and they come from Gypsy blood. An ancient hatred between the Gangrels and the Brujah keep the rivalries churning up dissent. The Gangrels are loyal and trustworthy. They make excellent bodyguards because of their incorruptibility -- they can't be bought. Unfortunately they have deep difficulties with authority. They have a strong tendency toward rebellion, and struggle to follow even their own leaders.

Nosferatu
The Nosferatu are ancient, solitary, and possessed of talents magical and mystical. They embody the features that humans imagine as vampire. The Nosferatu are the most subtle and cunning of the clans. While other Kindred retain their human countenance, Nosferatu are distorted by the Embrace. Grotesque, they are often scorned by other Kindred, and certainly unable to move freely among humans. They prefer the dark and even the underground. Often called "Sewer Rats," they have mastered skulking and eavesdropping. They can blend into shadows. Yet, they are level-headed and practical. They are the best advisers to the Prince, being objective and dispassionate in their political judgements. They are also natural enforcers, able to remove emotions from their decision-making. The Nosferatu are neutral in many Kindred conflicts.

Toreador
The Toreador are elegant, flamboyant, creative, and most of all -- passionate. They savor their immortaility, yet are most connected to the mortal world. They use their vampiric powers to increase art and protect artistic geniuses. They are closely connected to the realms where creativity comes from -- as well as other, darker impulses. For these reasons they are subject to madness. Vincent Van Gogh, for instance, was embraced by the Kindred when he decided he couldn't live among human beings anymore. Of all the Kindred, they are the most likely to fall in love with humans. Toreador Kindred have great influence in the world of popular culture. In the past, they have also used their creative bent to promote a false mythology of vampires, leading Bram Stoker astray when he touched too close to the truth.

Ventrue
The Ventrue share a love of high society with the Toreador, not for its pleasures, however, but for the sheer challenge of running things. Ventrue are industrialists, leaders, aristocrats. They have a Blue-Blood bearing and are often found in positions of power, where they can shape destiny. They are the most like humans in their attitudes and behavior. In fact, they are the "Brahmin" caste of Kindred society. It is for these and other reasons that Princes tend to be Ventrue. They strive to keep control over the Camarilla. They are the rich, powerful and elite of vampire society.

Nosferatu Strain
The strain of anthropic hematophagia virus that causes transformation into Nosferatu has two differences to the others. It has a less effective camouflage against the immune system and is itself a more aggressive strain. This means that all through the transition period from human to vampire, the individual's body is ravaged by the war between the virus and the immune system. As a result, those who become Nosferatu Kindred are scarred by the ordeal their anatomy has gone through.

The Masquerade
For countless centuries, Kindred prospered and pursued their own schemes and desires. They were invincible, standing above humans in their understanding and awareness of the true nature of the world. They lived openly and arrogantly among mortals, relying on their power and human superstition to preserve them. Then came the Inquisition.

With the Inquisition, Kindred faced an enemy that studied both superstitious belief and scientific observation to identify Kindred, the demons of the dark. With maddening thoroughness, the Inquisition devised methods to rid the world of these creatures, along with witches, warlocks, heretics, the feeble, and the politically inconvenient. As for Kindred, the Inquisitors were diligent in their efforts to trace bloodlines and purge the creatures by the flame. Those Kindred who survived swiftly learned secrecy and stealth. They learned to band together in loose networks. Vulnerable for the first time, seven clans united to govern the rest. They called themselves the Camarilla, and this collective group existed first and foremost to enforce its first law, a law most sacred -- The Masquerade.

This law demands that the knowledge of Kindred be kept from humans. To make the law effective, Kindred set about to erase evidence of their kind, instilling doubt that they had ever existed, finally leaving behind only a myth of such creatures. It was safe to hide behind the myth. Through adherence to this law, Kindred were able to hide in plain sight within human society.

The Masquerade ensures the continuance of Kindred through secrecy, and any Kindred who breaks the Masquerade, who reveals the existence of Kindred -- that Kindred is outcast, even hunted down.

The Prince
The Prince is the Kindred who has the power to hold domain over a city, set its laws, enforce them, and maintain peace. He is the judge who settles disputes among Kindred; he grants permission for another Kindred to embrace a human. A Prince also influences human matters and uses this influence to guarantee that the Princehood is not lost. But most of all, the Prince is concerned with the Masquerade and preservation of Kindred law.

The Embrace
In human myth, the dead who succumb to the treacherous bite of a vampire rise from the grave to become yet another predatory creature of the night. On the contrary, the act of transforming a human into a vampire requires conscious effort. In order for a victim to become a vampire, their immune response would first have to be severely weakened and then they would have to be exposed to a large dose of the virus through injection or consumption of the vampire's fluids (usually blood). During the Embrace, a vampire drains a person's blood to the point when the immune response is lethally depleted and then replaces it with a small amount of Kindred blood, binding the human to the clan of that strain.

The Embrace also requires permission from the Prince. When permission is not granted yet the Embrace is fulfilled, the Prince has the right to destroy both the errant Kindred and the erstwhile human.

The reasons a Kindred embraces vary. Some do so out of spite or vengeance, forcibly embracing the human, stealing the mortal innocence. Some embrace out of love or desire, even lust. And others seek reprieve from their loneliness, wanting to share their long existence with a creature dark and beautiful, like themselves.