I've wanted to explain some things about the world I'm writing about, cus' you know a lot of species, some of the names you know, some not.
I've decided to start with vampires because they are kind of difficult to apprehend and because of their anatomy which will... um... which you all read soon in later chapters :D They are not your typical vampires, to say the least...
In "Lore scrolls", I will explain different things and how they work in this universe I've created. But you can ask questions and give ideas for this column (Yes, the scrolls will be written in a column format, no bookish style here, he-he, more like FAQ.). I appreciate your questions contributions.
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Origin
The vampires in this universe are another species, they are NOT of human origin. They evolved from hematophagous bat-like creatures.
Anatomy in a shell
They are humanoid: two arms, two legs, etc. They have webbing between the arm and the torso - the remnant of the wings + the long thumb.
They have different skin colours, as in humans - depends on where you're leave. However, the skin is pale cus' they prefer not to be in sunny weather.
They live longer than humans and can hibernate if shit hits the fan.
Relationship with the sun
They will not burn from being exposed to the sun or any source of ultraviolet light. It IS bad for their skin, they will not get a tan, but can easily get a sunburn - sensitive skin and all that, but no death and fire.
Blood and blood diet
It is simple with the second - they only drink blood, doesn't matter whose blood, they even drink vampire blood, and if everything is very bad, like the worst outcome, they can drink their own blood.
They don't and can't eat any kind of food and drink liquids other than blood: their stomach build only for this type of food. They can dilute it with alcohol though and get drunk. But it should be clean, no wine or something alike. The best option is a drunk person ;)
I mentioned the vampire blood in a book already. If you remember our MC was poisoned with it.
Vampire blood is poisonous, you should not drink it cus' you die. Why MC didn't? Well, she bit a poor vampire and managed to get a drop of their blood in her system. Her immune system managed it. It's not a big amount. As a result her blood now isn't tasty :(
So if someone offers you a glass of fresh vampire blood, - decline politely.
Sex, gender, reproductive organs
The vampires here are simultaneous hermaphrodites, which means they have both male and female reproductive organs.
When I came up with this idea I looked up banana slugs, they are what I imagined for my vampires.
So citing the wiki page here: "Mating with a partner is more desirable biologically, as the genetic material of the resultant offspring is varied, but if mating with a partner is not possible, self-fertilization is practised."
But vampires can impregnate not only vampires, moreover, but the child can also survive even if the host body has died. Yeah, they are tough.
About mating with other species it is more desirable, cus' more different genetic material, yay! And the offspring will always be a vampire (Did you play Mass Effect? It is something like Asari reproduction, but with sexual intercourse.)
Vampire bodies are androgynous, with no secondary sexual characteristics, and no biological sex as we understand it.
I bet you've noticed that Yuka "goes by yours she/they". She points out that "yours" because their species has no difference in gender because they have only one biological sex. So you can assume that they are all non-binary by nature, and you will be right, however, vampires understand pronouns. The reason for this is a close relationship with humanity and absorbing a little bit of their culture.
Yuka is non-binary in mind and reproductive system, but she likes "she/they" when talking to humans, and only them.
Culture
As I've said vampires absorbed things from human culture, it happened because of many years of co-living.
The vampire-human relationship goes way long down the evolution tree of both species. They had children together, hunted together, had wars with each other...
And after the big bad war, the relationship was no more.
But people gained sick blood rituals and vampires get pronouns and other things.
Early vampires worshipped blood, they still have some holidays left from this religion. They also worshipped the Moon, or two moons, actually (I will explain the space thing in another scroll, or maybe in a book itself.). Someday we will talk about religions in this universe more if you like, but the only thing you need to know - there is no religion where gods exist and are worshipped, there are no gods here in this universe. No gods at all.
Vampires are secluded people. Serious about everything, not humorous, working hard. With exceptions of course, but most of them like that. You may say Yuka is not, but... We'll see.
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It is all for now! I also wanted to talk about some vampire history but I understood that it will be way too long and it is a theme for another lore scroll.
I hope you are enjoying this little book of mine and are interested in diving into the story.
Thank you for reading,
Yours sadandlonely.