Editing Gladius et Aegis: Arcane Nature Traits (section)

===Campaign Setting Notes===

Selecting this trait means that you are a ''Vampire'' - once human, but now undead, thanks to the cursed Embrace of your vampiric sire.

Vampires also refer to themselves as ''the Blood, the Damned'' and ''the Family''. Commonly they refer to the vampiric condition as the ''Curse'', but also as the ''Dark Gift'' or the ''Endless Night''.

Vampiric powers are referred to as ''Blessings of the Blood'', or simply ''Dominions''. They are not taught, but rather occur as a natural (or more accurately, unnatural) part of the vampiric condition. Certain powers tend to run along certain bloodlines, but also new powers often emerge with age and experience, or through the copious consumption of the blood of supernaturals, be they other vampire, or any other creature with magic within them.

Vampires are not naturally gregarious, and usually view each other as competitors in the hunt. They often dislike each other intensely, but they're also savvy enough to know that the rest of the supernatural world likely hates them even more, so they cooperate for the sake of personal survival. Blood isn't just about sustenance to vampires, but also about power, and it is the pursuit of power that motivates most Vampires, coming second only to fear of mortality and the desire to survive and live forever.

Most Vampires pay lip service to ''The Circle of Night'', but will often associate with other factions too, as their loyalty goes only to the faction that best serves their needs and desires. Few Vampires serve ''Gladius et Aegis'', and those that do are almost invariably younger vampires, who are clinging to the idea that their former humanity still exists and are determined to live moral lives even if their very essence tells them that morality is redundant to them. Vampires of ''Gladius et Aegis'' are often so determined to be as human as possible that they can seem excessively moral to their allies. It is perhaps the struggle to deny their own nature that forces them to be strait-laced, and perhaps also an understanding that if they are to earn trust, they cannot show even a hint of their inner darkness.

''Vampires'' usually follow the ''Shadow Concordat'' strictly, and its rumoured that the ''Circle of Night'' metes out dire punishments to the Damned who slip up on this. In particular there is a strong emphasis on the importance of secrecy.

New Vampires are not created often, as a sire must surrender a little of his power (a permanent -1 Puissance) to turn a mortal human, and they rarely have any desire to share the world with yet another competitor. Often when sires create new progeny, they do so because they have been forced to do so by vampires with more power than them, who see it both as an opportunity to weaken the sire, and to further their own interests. The ''Circle of Night'', for example, sometimes sees the need for a strategic policy of gradually increasing vampire numbers to increase their faction's relative power in an area, and will force an expendable vampire to almost deplete his entire essence in creating new progeny. The number of vampires in the world is hard to measure, but likely lies somewhere between one and two thousand.

The nature of these sorts of arrangements mean that most Sires resent their Progeny, and many Progeny hate their Sires for cursing them with vampirism. Also, its more common for a vampire to be introduced to the long night by a proxy than by their own Sire.

Odd exceptions to this pattern do exist, but are rare. Sometimes a more humane vampire might fall in love, and seek to keep his beloved from aging. Sometimes, a benevolent vampire might give the Dark Gift out of mercy or compassion to a human who is going to die. Sadly, even these creations often end in tragedy...