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Vampires are a supernatural species of sentient reanimated corpses that drink blood to survive and maintain their powers. They were originally humans or other living beings converted into a vampire by a "maker." Being technically deceased, their primary characteristics include a lack of a heartbeat, body heat, brainwaves, electrical impulses, need to breathe, and other bodily functions. They are often referred to as "immortal," but it is frequently pointed out that all vampires meet the true death eventually, through one means or another.

On the HBO original series True Blood, due to the creation of synthetic blood (Tru Blood), vampires have revealed themselves to the global population. As vampires are able to sustain themselves on synthetic blood instead of human blood, vampire representatives have assured the human population that vampires are no longer a threat to humanity. Vampires interact peacefully with humans and have largely succeeded in integrating themselves into human society. They retain their own laws and traditions, although the two communities come closer and closer together as the series progresses.

Reactions to vampires vary greatly. In parts of the world like Latin America and Iran, they are hunted and persecuted relentlessly. This caused many of them to flee for their safety to more tolerant countries, such as the United States. They are considered legal citizens within the United States, albeit with limited rights and tolerance. The vampire community, along with their sympathizers, continues to fight for equal vampire rights. On the other hand, many anti-vampire groups fight to deny them their rights or even advocate their extermination.

Lilith, the first vampire ever

It is unknown exactly when vampires were created. According to the Vampire Bible, God created the first vampire, Lilith, followed by the creation of the first humans, Adam and Eve. They were said to have been created as sustenance for Lilith, but the truth of this statement is unknown. Members of human religious groups, such as the Fellowship of the Sun, have their own theories of the first vampire, including Jesus (who rose from the dead), Lazarus (who also rose from the dead), and Cain (the son of Adam and Eve, who committed the first murder).However, most humans from among the right-wing Christians believe that vampires were created by the Devil and that they have no souls. A common theory among vampires is that they "evolved" from humans.

Bill Compton has stated that, many centuries ago, vampires created many of the vampire myths themselves in order to protect themselves. For instance, since it was believed that vampires could not be seen in the mirror, a vampire could prove that they weren't a vampire by appearing in a mirror. Other myths include holy water, holy grounds (i.e. religious buildings and establishments), crucifixes, and photography (i.e. it is possible to take a photograph of a vampire), which have no actual effect on vampires. Vampires have fed off of other sentient beings (mainly humans), since their creation, but managed to cloak their existence, most likely through glamouring, and their secretive society.

In 1610, a powerful witch named Antonia Gaviln de Logroo cast a spell that summoned all vampires within a 20 mile radius to expose themselves to sunlight. This caused a number of vampires to die and caused vampires to be very fearful of necromancy.

In 2006, vampires revealed their existence to humans in an event referred to as "the Great Revelation", "coming out of the coffin" and "mainstreaming". During the revelation, vampires began claiming that vampirism did not indicate rising from the dead, but that it was a disease which makes vampires allergic to sunlight and alters their dietary needs.

By this time the vampire population is in the millions and still rising.

In 2008, vampire Stan Baker, along with other vampires under his command, orchestrated the murder of Reverend Theodore Newlin, his wife, and his daughter. Newlin was the head of The Fellowship of the Sun, a political anti-vampire church. He was succeeded by his son, Steve Newlin, who continued his father's work.

In 2010, vampireRussell Edgington ripped out the spine of TBBN newscaster Jerry McCafferty on live television, which increased prejudice and hate crimes towards vampires. In addition, Russell became the poster boy of the Sanguinista movement, sparking more conflict between humans and vampires.

In 2011, 400 years after the death of Antonia Gaviln de Logroo, a witch named Marnie Stonebrook summoned her spirit. Antonia used Marnie as a host to control her, and cast the same spell she cast in 1610. However, as the vampires had been warned of her intentions, only one vampire perished. Marnie mentions vampires being politically powerful throughout the centuries, writing propaganda on witches and exaggerating many of their myths.

Willa Burrell being made vampire by Eric.

In order to create a vampire, a human must be drained of their blood by a vampire and the blood lost needs to be replaced by some of the vampire's blood. The vampire and human must then sleep in the ground (this is presumably the point where they technically die) until the newborn rises as a vampire the following night. The newborn and the maker will subsequently have a maker-progeny bond, unless the maker deserts or releases their progeny.

Newborn vampires will be thirsty and will need to feed to survive. Although newborns have some control of their abilities, they are mostly controlled by their impulses and can cause serious harm and accidental deaths to humans around them. In addition, newborns cannot resist blood at all, as resistance develops with age.

A newborn's existence depends upon their abilities, which are taught to them by their maker. These abilities take time to learn and develop. As vampires age, they become more adept at controlling their abilities. According to Bill Compton, two-thirds of newborns die during their first year without the guidance of their makers.

Godric about to become the maker of Eric

A maker has a deep connection with his or her progeny, something that humans cannot fully understand or experience. During the transformation from human to vampire, the maker and soon-to-be progeny "share their essence" whilst buried in the ground, a supernatural process that not even vampires understand.

Maker-progeny relationships vary between individuals. Vampires Rosalyn Harris and Bill Compton treat their progeny like humans treat children, and have an exclusively parental relationship. On the other hand, vampires Lorena Krasiki and Russell Edgington create progeny to prolong romantic and sexual relationships, and have spousal relationships with their progeny.

Bill teach his progeny Jessica how to live the Tru Blood.

Most vampires do not take becoming a maker lightly, as evidenced by Eric Northman, who has only produced two progeny in a millennia, and Bill Compton, who has produced one in 175 years. However, Pamela Swynford de Beaufort has admitted to creating a progeny out of curiosity, and Rosalyn Harris has created 204 progeny in 211 years. Eddie's maker turned him for the asking, though he did not take his responsibilities as a maker seriously and left Eddie to fend for himself.

A progeny may turn a vampire and become a maker themselves while still under the influence of their own maker. The grandparent/grandmaker has no control over the grandchild/grandprogeny.

A maker has a certain amount of control over their progeny due to the maker-progeny bond.

Bill calling his Progeny, Jessica (click for animation)

Vampires preparing to feed on a human

Vampires are indistinguishable from humans, and appear as they did when they were turned, albeit with a paler complexion due to lack of blood flow. Also, they have fangs that usually extend and retract willingly, though they can be stimulated to unwillingly extend. Some other vampires' eyes also turn red, such as Liam McKnight, as he demonstrated that he can change his eye color into blood-red.

Vampires remain identical forever after they are turned. Due to this, vampires cannot lose or gain weight (as explained by Eddie Gauthier, who said that, due to lack of exercise and a bad diet as a human, he remained overweight as a vampire) ("I Don't Wanna Know"), or change their body in any way (for instance, Jessica Hamby was a virgin when she was turned, and, after having sex, her hymen grew back). They are supposed to "sleep" during the day, which means that they will be essentially dead until they are active again. Eric says "We're supposed to be dead during the day," and the sign on the door of Fantasia during daylight hours humorously reads "Sorry, we're dead."

Vampires can presumably grow hair, as Eric Northman cuts his hair, Lorena Krasiki's hair is shown to vary in length, and Franklin Mott states that he shaves.

Vampires are recognizable from their fangs, which are located behind the maxillary lateral incisors (as opposed to the canines, as per vampire mythology). Fangs can be extended and retracted by choice, and are controlled by the movements of certain facial muscles. However, fangs protrude automatically when vampires are feeding, angry, excited, sexually aroused (colloquially referred to as a "fang boner"), need to fight, or see blood. Fangs can also be removed, but grow back after three months. Without fangs, vampires cannot feed on live victims unless the victim is already wounded.

Due to the lack of blood flow, vampires do not have any bodily functions. Because of this, vampires do not produce waste, and are unable to become pregnant, impregnate female humans or supernatural creatures, and have lower body temperatures than humans.

Vampires have anatomically different tear ducts from humans, as they expel blood, not tears (blood is the only fluid that their bodies can produce.)

Although vampires do not need to breathe, most still do out of habit, to aid in speaking, and for a sense of smell.

Pam teaches Tara how to feed without killing

Vampires are reliant on human blood or synthetic blood, as they cannot ingest normal food or drinks, nor supernatural blood (with the exception of faeries). The blood of near-human creatures like werewolves or shifters can also sustain them.

Synthetic blood is comprised of a varied cellular content, and comes in flavors (blood types) such as O, A, B and AB, in both positive and negative varieties. Although Tru Blood can sustain a vampire nutritionally, it does not satisfy the vampire's cravings. Because of this, many vampires opt to drink human blood. Allegedly, virgin and baby blood taste the best, and faerie blood is expressly sought out by vampires, being referred to as "catnip for vampires".

Most vampires prefer certain blood types (e.g. AB positive, B negative, etc.) but any blood type can sustain them.

If a vampire abstains from drinking blood, they will experience the "bleeds", during which the vampire will begin to bleed from their ears and nose. Lack of feeding also severely weakens them. In addition, vampires experience the bleeds if they do not sleep during the day. The bleeds stop when the vampire feeds or sleeps, depending on what caused the bleeds in the first place. If a vampire experiences the bleeds long enough, they will perish.

While vampires are unable to hold in anything but blood, they can experience joy in smoking cigars and cigarettes. Since their bodies heal any damage rapidly, smoking will not have any lasting effect on a vampire.

A vampire that has been incapacitated without the ability to feed will henceforth continue living, albeit in great constant suffering due to the lack of sustenance, and will eventually perish.

Vampire blood, or "V", is the life essence of vampires.

It is illegal to hold or ingest vampire blood due to its drug qualities, and, since the Great Revelation, there has been a growing black market for vampire blood. Some vampires are kidnapped by "Drainers," people who capture vampires and farm them for their blood. When a drainer has taken all the blood he/she can from a captured vampire or has no further use for them, they often kill their victim. Vampire blood is sold for $200$600 per 1/4-ounce, and is ingested in small amounts (1-2 drops). If the blood is not fresh, it can be cut with aspirin to prevent it from coagulating, and to extend the high.

Vampire blood has the following effects on humans and supernatural creatures:

In addition, if a human ingests an excess amount of vampire blood (i.e. more than 1-2 drops), the effects may persist longer than intended. For instance, after he drank a vial of vampire blood, Jason Stackhouse experienced sweating, exhaustion, and a persistent erection (which caused priapism), resulting in Tara Thornton taking him to the hospital.

Vampires are naturally predatory creatures, and are often far more violent and savage than their human appearance suggests. Although they can control themselves in a sophisticated and human-like manner, duress reduces them to a more feral state. For instance, threats or insults are met with hissing, growling, and baring their fangs.

Vampires are capable of human emotions, such as compassion, love, and self-control. However, vampire emotions are not as intense as human emotions, perhaps because of their infinite lifespans(Pam remarked that vampires learn to let go of cumbersome emotions because they will have to carry them for so much longer than a human would). Vampires also have a tendency to slip into nihilism and discard their sense of morality, especially in their younger years. Such moral bankruptcy is exhibited by Queen Sophie-Anne, Salome Agrippa, Russel Edgington and even Godric, in his early years. However, they are able to experience more powerful and diverse sensations than humans (although they cannot feel the sensation of coldness). Despite having themselves been humans originally, some vampires believe that their advanced senses to justify their brutality towards their prey; they consider themselves higher beings, entitled to do what they please with "lesser creatures." Not all vampires endorse this philosophy. Some vampires justify their actions by arguing "It's our nature." Some, such as Russel Edgington, don't bother to justify their actions at all and do as they please because they can. Others, such as James Kent, choose to remain peaceful and nonviolent even from an early age.

Despite their vicious and bloodthirsty nature, vampires appear to become more civilized with age, exhibiting greater emotional capacity and understanding of humans and other supernatural creatures. Age is often accompanied by personal evolution and a more sophisticated demeanor. For instance, Godric, who lived for +2,000 years, evolved from a brutal and savage vampire who believed humans were inferior to a wise, repentant, peaceful vampire who, shortly before choosing to end his life, stated that he believed co-existence between humans and vampires was possible. Additionally, Roman Zimojic stated that, when he was a young vampire, he was governed by bloodlust and impulses, but later evolved into a more decent being as he grew older.

However, age does not always bring this development. When +3,000 year old vampire Russell Edgington lost his progeny/husband of 700 years, Talbot Angelis, he began a murderous rampage that eventually ended in his death. Macklyn Warlow, who is older than both Russell and Godric, when faced with the prospect of Sookie going back on her word, threw a child-like temper tantrum, endangering the lives of Sookie and her friends, and his actions ultimately led to his demise. All vampires struggle to control their darker side, but, in many cases, their decency does prevail.

Vampires do not physically age, retaining their appearance after being turned. The only noticeable effects of aging are that they become physically stronger with age, and more vulnerable to sunlight. This leads many to call them "immortal" though this is not the case; they are still susceptible to death and do not live forever.

The supernatural forces that sustain them beyond mortal death also endow them with immunity to aging, heightened senses, and superhuman abilities which make them physically superior to humans.

Sophie levitates to soon take flight.

Jessica using Glamour on Hoyt Fortenberry

Lorena displays superhuman speed

Lilith, the sirens and Bill (Billith) showed some abilities not possessed by other vampires.

Vampires have a number of weaknesses, which range from irritating to fatal (it should be noted that the death of a vampire is referred to as the "true death").

Franklin after being staked.

Vampires can achieve a temporary invulnerability to at least some of their weaknesses consuming the blood of a Faerie. These enhancements last much longer, if they ingest the blood of a faerie-vampire hybrid.

Depending on the amount of blood consumed, vampires grow immune to their weakness to sunlight after drinking fairy blood. The effects last shortly, however, and the pureness of the blood is a factor too; after drinking a hybrid's blood, Russell Edgington burned in the sun quite shortly afterwards (though the blood did prevent him from bursting into blue flames like Godric), while Eric Northman spent at least an hour in the sun after completely draining a full-blooded faerie.

Delayed true death of Russell.

Russell Edgington has been shown to be able to resist for a short time at the stakeout after drinking the blood of Fairy. At first his wounds begin to expel a bright light, because of the blood Faerie, shocking everyone including Russell, who thinks the fairy blood would allow him to survive. However, in light of the fairies expulsion from him soon wears off and proceed to decompose and implodes meeting the true death. It is further to be doubted that Faerie blood renders a vampire immune to staking when even Warlow, a vampire over 2,600 years older and Faerie-vampire was not able to resist the staking.

Also, when a vampire has drunk the blood of a fairy, become immune to the magic of the fairies including photokinesis and are able to see them when transmitting invisible.

Blood of a Faerie-vampire will allow a vampire to walk the sun indefinitely. The effect of faerie-vampire blood disappears immediately upon the death of the source, regardless of distance. It is marked both by a tremor and a visible light expulsion effect, when it occurs.

Vampires have their own governmental system.

Within vampire communities, most vampires live in harmony, and racism and homophobia are virtually non-existent.

Some humans display bigoted and racist attitudes towards vampires due to fear and/or prejudice. Others support the Vampire Rights Amendment (which campaigns for equal rights between humans and vampires).

Nan Flanagan on TBBN as a representative of AVL.

Since the Great Revelation, vampires have been trying to influence human politics through organizations such as the American Vampire League, in order to campaign for equal rights, such as vampire-human marriage.

The festival of tolerance, an event pro-vampire.

Vampires have been shown to be tolerated by the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, and the majority of MED countries. However, vampires are hunted in the majority of Islamic and South American countries, and most African countries refuse to acknowledge the existence of vampires.

Vampires maintain differing opinions concerning humans. The Authority and the American Vampire League aim for mainstreaming. While some vampires agree that humans and vampires should be equals, others believe that they are above humans. "Mainstreamers" is the name for vampires that support equality and peaceful interaction between the two races. The Sanguinista movement is opposed to mainstreaming and supports the belief that vampires should dominate humans.

Nonetheless, in many cases, vampires engage in relationships with humans, in which vampires claim a human as who wants protection, or whom they care about. The human sustains the vampire in return. The vampire identifies the human as "theirs", and this claim forbids other vampires from harming the human. A vampire can only claim one human, and a human cannot be claimed by multiple vampires at the same time. Some vampires also engage with humans in relationships that are indistinguishable from those held between humans, such as marriage or romantic relationships. This sort of relationship is a recent development, and has only come into existence after the end of the Great Revelation. Vampire groupies, or people who have sex with and are willingly fed upon by vampires, are referred to as "fang bangers", which is viewed as a derogatory term used by humans.

Since the Great Revelation, vampires have moved to take their place in human society. They hold all sorts of jobs and pay taxes. Human law does protect vampires, but they do not yet have full rights. American pro-vampire lobbyists strive to get the Vampire Rights Amendment(VRA) passed by the government. This would grant vampires full rights as American citizens. It is later mentioned that the VRA did not pass, due to the influence of Governor Truman Burrell

Vampires dislike shapeshifters and werewolves. They are accepting of practicing witches, but do not tolerate necromancy, as this is a possible threat to them. They do the best they can to stamp out necromancy whenever possible. Vampires find faeries irresistible because the smell of their blood is extremely enticing to them.

The majority of Vampires does not know about the existence of Maenads. This is shown when neither Bill nor Eric knew what Maryann Forrester was and had to seek Queen Sophie Anne`s assistance. Sophie Anne only knew about Maenads due to a book she had. It can be assumed that Vampires are not too fond of Maenads as their black blood is poisonous.

A vampire who has broken the law.

Vampires live according to the laws of the Authority. Magisters, kings and queens however, can declare edicts and create new laws. Laws among vampires include:

Vampires also have laws regarding humans. These are recognized by human systems, but are sometimes ignored due to anti-vampire prejudice. These Laws include.

Punishments, due to violations, are administered by the Authority, Magisters, kings, queens or sheriffs, depending on the seriousness of the crime. There are set punishments for crimes, but a Magister can change the punishment if they wish. For instance, when Bill Compton killed Longshadow, the set punishment was five years in a coffin encased with silver. However, as the Magister was intrigued by the case (as Bill killed in order to protect Sookie Stackhouse, a presumed human), he decided that Bill had to create another vampire, Jessica Hamby, to replace the vampire he killed.

A Faerie-vampire is a combination of a vampire and a faerie which has both traits and also have both abilities. These type of hybrid are created when a faerie is turned into a vampire. They will become a hybrid with the unified powers of both faeries and vampires, making them possibly one of the most powerful supernatural species on the show.

Infected Vampires is the term that the writers have used to describe the vampires who have survived being infected with Hepatitis V. In addition to having some physical characteristics slightly different from normal vampires, vampires infected have a greater thirst for blood and their attitude is more animalistic than other vampires.

Guide to the heir of Lilith

The only faerie-vampire in existence

Chancellor of the Authority

Lilith's Heir (Former)

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