World Information

[werejew]

VAMPIRES

Though they like to fancy themselves immortal, vampires are most definitely not. They are, however, very long-lived: Without outside interference, they can live for centuries, with some rumored to have made it over a thousand years. Vampires can only be truly killed by the destruction or removal of the heart.

Vampire infants are completely helpless for the first week of their life: blind and deaf, their mother must feed them her own blood daily for growth to take place. After that week, the infant becomes entirely self-aware, with the average intelligence of a five year old child. It is at that point that their growth accelerates, sped on by the child’s inborn desire to become self-reliant before the parents can abandon them, as was the custom in ancient times. This usually stops when the child is physically five years old, to match their mental state. Thus, the week-old vampire is ready to enter the world, whatever world that may be.

Vampires, as a race, completely lack empathy. They’re essentially psychopaths, unable to develop true positive feelings toward someone. Their family ties are worth less than dirt, and vampires that do choose to produce heirs solely do it as a sort of narcissistic way of carrying on their legacy when they sense their ageless years may be running out. Their friends are essentially pawns, though they may treat them with a sort of superficial kindness. For them, love is based more on possessiveness and jealousy than any true affection.

The majority of vampires are extremely wealthy; living for hundreds of years can help that. Though most children inherit this wealth from their parents, it is considered customary to amass a fortune of your own. Thus, schooling is very important to vampires, and very few ever earn anything less than a Master’s degree. They flourish in business and law, where their cold minds are assets instead of liabilities, and often become involved in politics, both human and vampire.

No vampire would ever admit to answering to anyone other than themselves, but most vampires at least pretend to care about the rulings of their Senate. The Vampiric Senate is a worldwide organization made up of vampires representing segments of the population. Unlike the United States Senate, where equal representation is given to all, the actual population of vampires is taken into account here. For example, while each of New York’s Five Boroughs has a senator, the entire Midwest is represented by only two. They discuss and vote on matters of integration with human society, relations with other paranormal races, and matters between vampires on an international, national, local, and personal scale. If a fellow vampire has wronged you in a way the human authorities don’t recognize, you petition the Senate. The head of the Senate is known as the Magistrate; they are responsible for keeping the order and providing the deciding vote in case of ties. The Senate votes one of their own into the position every ten years.


WEREWOLVES

Werewolves live much longer than the average human, averaging about 140-150 years. They’re immune to most diseases, and mostly die from old age. Though they become physically mature at around the same age as humans do, they aren’t capable of reproducing until they’re around 30 years old. When they do reach estrous, they breed early and often. The average werewolf family produces eight to 12 children, mainly sons. Since clans are matrilineal (a nod to their origins) daughters are especially prized.

Werewolves are extremely pack-minded, and feel very protective of family, close friends, and lovers. They’re also monogamous as a rule; even the most lascivious werewolf will remain true to their mate. However, werewolves can seem almost callous in their treatment of everyone else: The lives of strangers mean very little to them, and they truly have difficulty understanding why killing is wrong. Only the law (para law, not human) keeps them from doing so.

(Many people believe that all werewolves are Jews, or that all vampires are Muslim. This is most certainly not the case, especially in modern times. While both species historically owe their existence to these peoples, millennia of migration and interbreeding has spread the lycanthrope and vampiric genes to almost every society on Earth. This has also lead to speciation: Vampires from areas populated by mainly light-skinned peoples, such as Northern Europe, have developed the fabled weakness to sunlight; werewolves in Mexico have less control over their transformations and change into a much more monstrous form, which lead to persecution.

Both species consume blood for nourishment, but they require different things from it. Werewolves suffer from hypocholesterolemia and need blood lipids; they often eat the flesh as well. Vampires are hypoglycemic and need blood sugar. Unfortunately, the only prey that provides these in abundance is humans, which is a big no-no in both communities. Thus, vampires often drink blood flavored with sugary substances and consume considerable amounts of sweet foods; werewolves eat fast food with almost disturbing frequency.)


WITCHES

Witches are the para race with the most direct ties to humanity. They are, essentially, humans who have developed the ability to control the magic around them.

Covens are very powerful, mostly independent organizations made up of a town’s witch population. They run most of the schools and hospitals in the Western world.

Nearly every witch is female, except for the rare exception: male witches can be born of a witch and the son of a witch. Deridingly called “witch boys,” they’re considerably weaker than full witches, often only able to do one type of magic.