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THE MONSTER OF EALING
Last night, several people reported the sighting of a "screaming red monster" in a quiet neighbourhood of Ealing. After a power shortage in the area, a building caught fire. It was then when, what was described as a "man shaped, footless creature" emerged from the flames, leaping, running, and screaming. One woman has told our reporters that the man had "teeth like a wolf, and the face of the devil". Police officers are still trying to get to the bottom of this; neither the power shortage nor the fire have still been explained. A spokesperson from Scotland Yard has stated that the "so called monster" might be a wounded person, escaping the fire.

TRAGEDY IN TOOLEY STREET
The police has found the bodies of three TFL workers in the construction site at Tooley Street. One of their colleagues raised the alarms last week, when the three workers didn't attend their shifts. The bodies of the men have been found in a deep hole, uncovered by the refurbishment works that are taking place in the area. According to the Police, the bodies were horribly mutilated, which has led to the wildest speculations. The names of the three workers are being kept anonymous, following the wishes of their families.

HOROSCOPE
MARCH 8 - PISCES
You are used to making sacrifices, to prioritising the happiness of others before yours. Even though that is a noble attitude, there are times in life where the only healthy alternative is to embrace your own selfishness and allow yourself some enjoyment. Reserve one hour per day to do something you really like. Treat yourself! Your colour for this month is blue.
Echoes from the past ring back into London. Their intensity increases until they are deafening. What once was a faded memory of a glorious time, now becomes a shocking reality. The consequences of actions taken decades ago ripple into the present, altering the lives of everybody in the City. Unguided and blind, Kindred wander around, trying to make profit out of the reigning chaos.


The appearance of four mysterious figures turned the city upside down. Mistrust and jealousy became the official currency of London. Serpents and fiends rise to power, misdirecting the blaming eyes of the Camarilla towards imaginary enemies. Only those with clear vision and the ability to trust each other strive, while the rest run towards a shallow grave.



Across The Board
Current Chronicle: Dragons and Lions; Pride and Fire
Current Season: Spring
Controlling Sect: Camarilla



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Population: 31

Camarilla
Anarchs
Other
Ventrue: 1
Toreador: 5 (6)
Brujah: 2 (3)
Malkavian: 7
Tremere: 2
Nosferatu: 3
Gangrel: 1
Ventrue: 1
Toreador: 0
Brujah: 2 (3)
Malkavian: 0
Nosferatu: 1
Gangrel: 1
Setites: 5
Sabbat: ???


THE CAMARILLA

Prince

Nobody

Sheriff
Meredith Furlong
Hounds
Robyne Sheridan
Rosella Marie Allain


Keeper of Elysium
Davvad Bisset

Grand Harpy
Catherine Wilke

Primogen
Ventrue: Marcus Antonio Russo
Brujah: Thomas Krusen
Gangrel: Alexa Mallik
Malkavian: Ellora Reese
Tremere: Hannah Sundling
Toreador: Arsenio Pozzi
Nosferatu: Dogan Khojak



ANARCHS

Baron

Khoza

Baronets
Enfield: Leslie
Haringey & Barnet: Clarice Harris
Harrow: Jelena Korolenko

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You find yourself in London on a dreary, foggy night like any other. But what lurks in the shadows is the stuff of fantasies and nightmares, far from mortal reality.

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Physiology of vampires; A little guide to RP
Topic Started: Thursday, 28. November 2013, 19:30 (1,308 Views)
Clarice Harris
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Sexually abused by a Jew
* * * * *
Every vampire is clinically dead. What does it mean? Majority of organs won't work until stimulated at expense of blood. As vampires are aging, some of these organs will deteriorate. Some remain intact, but function in different manner

What remains (partly) functional:
  • Musculoskeletal system - normal activities are covered by daily blood point, unusual physical activities will use more blood to fuel muscles. Since it's by no means a metabolic process, there's no muscle soreness or feeling of fatigue. What can still happen, is damage to muscles, tendons and bones, healed over time at expense of blood
  • Nervous system - works along with sensory organs. Coordinates the body and allows mental activities. Vampires can normally feel pain, unless their embrace went wrong and some nerves were deadened. All nervous activities leave blood management untouched unless senses are enhanced by disciplines
  • Lungs - used to speak and smell will not affect the blood pool. However constant breathing (and eventually exhaling steam) for masquerade purpose will require some blood. Vampires can't suffocate or drown because they don't need oxygen or any other atmospheric element to survive
  • Heart - although vampiric blood doesn't circulate, the heart itself will beat once a day, exactly when a blood point is spent to maintain the unlife. It is possible to hear that heartbeat, but it requires being really skilled with Auspex and even then it's very difficult to catch
  • Skin - vampiric body will always be stuck in stasis. Meaning any changes to appearance (like haircuts, tattoos etc) will revert during the daytime. Normally skin will be as cold as the enviroment but might be warmed up if enough blood will be used. Some vampires retain ability to keep their skin slighly warmer without any expense.
    It is possible to produce bloody sweat, especially under such conditions as blood sickness or extraordinary physical activities
  • Reproductive system - despite being sterile, vampires can perform some sexual activities, depending on their age and humanity. Younger vampires with fairly high humanity are able to have sex, although any fluids are replaced by blood, so the whole sexual encounter results in blood loss
  • Glands - they will produce neurotransmitters and the basic bodily fluids, but only enough to keep eyes/mouth moist. When a vampire tries to spit, he will spit blood. Same goes for tears, semen and vaginal fluids

What doesn't function anymore:
  • Digestive system - none of its primary functions are retained. Liver and intestines don't work at all, while stomach is only storing blood right after feeding and before blood will be condensed. Vampiric body won't accept food or drinks. It requires some willpower to be able to swallow anything and the vampire will vomit immediately after that. Some vampires are able to hold food/drinks for longer, but later that night it will have to be removed, puking is the only option
  • Excretory system - since there's no metabolism, there's also nothing to expel
  • Immune system - no blood cells are produced, lymph is replaced by blood over first years after embrace. Dead bodies of vampires can't be infected by bacteria, viruses or fungi. Vampires can however be carriers of mortal diseases. There's always risk of spreading HIV, hepatitis etc
  • Hormonal system - because of its lack, vampires won't feel such hunger and thirst as mortals. Sexual lust disappears completely, only pervert acts might still satisfy a vampire and it will be mental satisfaction related to derangements
  • Blood circulation - wounded vampire will act like a dead body, no blood will flow from the wound. It's still possible to get clothes dirty when it's directly touching open wounds, but blood won't seep through it

Additional notes about slumber:
  • Vampires don't need to sleep at all. Even after staying awake for the entire day, they will not feel fatigue/sleepiness after the sun goes down
  • Vampires will feel sleepy during the daytime and staying awake requires strong willpower and high humanity rating. Vampires with lower humanity will start feeling sleepy sooner before the sunrise and will wake up quite late after the sunset
  • While vampires are sleeping, they remain motionless, like dead bodies. Although they can normally dream, nightmares won't cause them to move
  • Vampires with high humanity can be awoken much more easily than vampires who lost huge part of their humanity
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Alarik
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Interesting stuff. Not sure if I agree with your assessment of the hormonal system, though. The blood bond and frenzy both seem to be supernaturally enhanced hormonal responses. And vampires are still capable of feelings that are regulated by hormones and the brain's biochemistry, such as basic affection.
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Clarice Harris
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Sexually abused by a Jew
* * * * *
Ah, that's of medical knowledge. Hormones are supposed to adjust basically every somatic process, it's a system working in addition to neural transmission. Mind hormones are transported via blood circulation, which is non-existant unless blood is spent to temporarily restore it

Such feelings as affection are regulated by neurotransmitters which remain closed in synapses. That's also the way Dementation (and possibly Presence/Domination) work, they change biochemic balance of brain
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Victoria Scott
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Unbowed. Unbent. Unbroken.
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Nice post, but wait a second.

Vamps can actually tattoo themselves after the embrace, and even pierce their skin. A tattoo by itself is not a wound or a scar, it's ink located between the 2 upper layers of the skin. The immune system is what makes the tattoo itchy and inflamed as it treats ink as an alien to the body, but being not a real wound, and vampires not having immune system, the ink will just stay there. The only different will be that the skin above the ink will heal much faster.

As for piercings, the wound won't heal if the piece is not removed, in my opinion.

Also, vampires can get scars if the wounds are made by supernatural weapons OR fire; that is to say, aggravated wounds.

Edit: just to say, love for example is regularised by both neurotransmiters and hormones, such as oxytocin. Fear and anger can be both regularised by adrenalyn. I'd say, either vamps doesn't have the same human reactions, or their glands still work or are replaced by some vampiric systems. It could actually connect with the fact that the less humane a vampire is, the less he looks and feels like one. Maybe the changes in its body switchs glands off and that's why (apart from the beast) they eventually end up being psychopaths?
Edited by Victoria Scott, Thursday, 28. November 2013, 20:38.
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Lucy Fehrer
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Art in Ink
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Every forum I've been on has treated these things differently.

In general, most have agreed that any and all alterations to the body including ink and piercings would be rejected over the course of the day while they sleep to return the vampire to the state they were in when Embraced. But again, depends on how you choose to interpret things.

White Wolf stated that all bodily fluids were replaced by blood, which suggests they don't really have that much of a clue since that would make the eyes either all bloody (if the eye fluid was replaced by blood) or shrivel up (if no fluid was present at all). And they'd all look like they have some seriously bleeding gum issues.

So I've always felt it was up to each game to decide what they thought were right. Since, as is the case with a lot of things form WW, it's up for interpretation (due to constantly contradicting itself and/or lacking references or definite rules).

And then there's the whole matter of wants/needs/instincts, which can get pretty jumbled and again is source for interpretation by each game. And again, never been in two games that completely agreed on this point either.

Usually, I've seen it all handled pretty loosely though with references to a vampire age, nature, humanity/path rating etc to justify things for each character.

Edit: in the end, vampires are supernatural and in a world were vampires, wraiths, werewolves, mages and whatnots all exists, do things really need to have a definitive explanation? Sure,t hey're walking talking corpses, but I'm not entirely sure it can all be defined medically. Since, yeah, walking talking corpses.
Edited by Lucy Fehrer, Thursday, 28. November 2013, 20:43.
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Victoria Scott
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Unbowed. Unbent. Unbroken.
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I'm ok with not taking what WW states to the letter, but I do think we should state in this forum what things we take and what not, since someone being pretty strict with his/her char vampirism can pose an advantage to someone who is not. Like, for example, the eating/drinking matter.

I'd summarize the whole thing:

Vampires are ROTTEN inside. Mummified, dry, a hollow carcass full of rotting guts. You can't drink or get drunk by directly ingesting alcohol. If you are willing to get drunk like a teenager, you need to take the processed alcohol molecules on the blood of a mortal. Same happens with drugs.
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Lucy Fehrer
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I think that's mentioned in the merit Eat Food, isn't it? That it only helps maintain the masquerade, but does nothing beyond that as it states you can ingest but not digest.
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Clarice Harris
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Sexually abused by a Jew
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I totally agree with regulation of the food/drink merit. It would be nice to have mods look into it and take as much of this thread as they need to create additional rules

Note on vampiric feelings
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Alarik
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I've always tended to see the Beast as more of a metaphor that some vampires use to externalise their inherently selfish/evil impulses. It's not an actual Beast nor is it an organ.
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Machine
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I am no one now, only agony
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Well, it kind of exists. Frenzy is triggered by it, and when your Humanity hits 1, you turn into a ravenous animal. Call it Beast, call it "instincts", I dunno. I read it was one of the punishments Caine gave to his Children when he freaked out, apart from Clan flaws.
Edited by Machine, Thursday, 28. November 2013, 22:17.
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Alarik
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First thought: OMG ITS CAIN. (Re: Machine)

Second thought: yes, it exists, but it is not something 'external' to the vampire. It is just an instinct that can be stronger or weaker depending on the circumstances.
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Toran
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The Formerly Hated
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White Wolf uses Caine & Cain interchangeably. Both are correct.

The Beast, as my reading has suggested is sort of a coalescence of that Fight/Flight instinct within the vampire. The Primal Subconscious. The fact that vampires can exert partial control over their Beast infers that it is still connected to their mentality. However, the beast is clearly far more securely attached to the body and blood of a vampire than their human mentality, which they have to fight to maintain. Thus yes, if their humanity drops too low all conscious thought is eradicated and nothing is left but the Beast.

It argues then that Beast is a semi-autonomous facet of the vampire's survival instinct.
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Machine
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http://whitewolf.wikia.com/wiki/Caine

o_o

And I agree with Toran's explanation.
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Toran
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The Formerly Hated
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One of the important things to be careful of, given White Wolf's history of contradictions, is that when you look up information to be sure you're examining Vampire the Masquerade Revised 3rd edition, not the Vampire 20th anniversary or Vampire the Requiem.

Certain things, like Beasts sensing each other and having a sort of internal fight for dominance, weren't introduced until Requiem, for instance.
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Machine
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I am no one now, only agony
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Oh, I always thought the Beast would fight for dominance over Tory's body, and so I roleplay that o_o.
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Toran
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No, in Requiem they included a drive where your beast and another vampire's beast would recognize each other and have a sort of dominance mechanic based on Generation & Blood Potence.

It meant that unless a vampire had 2 points of Obfuscate a vampire would already recognize another vampire if they were in the same room. That mechanic was never present in VtM where it was much harder to realize someone was a vampire if they were good at posing as mortal.

The beast is definitely always hungry to take control of your personality.
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Margo Moreau
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What was the source of information for the ORIGINAL post that Orissa made? Is there a reference for it?
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Toran
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That would be scattered through the entire 3rd Edition Core Book, yeah. It's all in there if you read all the story inserts, the tiny snippets, the small boxes. White Wolf is notoriously bad about organizing it's information, you have to dig to get it solid.
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Sawyer
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Friendly Neighborhood Vampire
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Bits of it may be her own understanding of it, too, which is fine, because the internal logic of the description is spot-on. The inconsistency of kindred physiology is a pet peeve of mine (ask Fred or Tia about that, I rant about it to them enough, haha). This is a wonderful, concise, and very informative overview that I totally appreciate her posting. :3

Lucy's note on fluids is another thing that's really interesting to note/ponder, because it shows how little thought WW put into the actual bodily processes of kindred and how frequently their own accounts seem to disagree. If the vitreous humor, synovial fluid, etc. were really replaced by blood, kindred bodies would be incapable of even functioning!

Sometimes canon must be ignored in favor of, well, common sense. Unless one is fond of handwaving in the form of "MAGIC!"- which I never have been, but which WW isn't always averse to. ;)
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Margo Moreau
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It would make sense that not all Vampire's are cursed exactly the same, so small differences seem reasonable. Emphasis on small differences. After all, flaws can be taken that significantly change things, so non-flaw level differences seem reasonable as well.
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