Characters in the game are assumed to be fairly new to the evils of the world, despite their rise having began with Y2K. Therefore, it's necessary that the beginning Monster List be very vague as players will have to familiarize themselves with the creatures through game play. As creatures are introduced by the GM's, or even players occassionally, they will be added to the list. The list is NOT alphabetical.
Of the mysterious evils of the planet, the vampire exists as the strongest of demons. Common folklore of accounts in eastern Europe and other places have boiled down into a standard pop culture in today's society. But modern literature and film adaptions must not be confused with real vampires. The vampire society consists of a long list of hierarchy of sires and childes that ranges from the strongest of the vampire breed to the mindless underlings that act by their power.
Vampires were believed to be created in the beginning of time. In ancient texts, Jehova created Lilith for Adam. But her soul was tainted, and she soon joined the side of Satan. Her fervent behavior eventually led to an offspring of beings whom she had seduced, drained of life, and resurrected with dark powers. Vampires have lived through time, feeding off the great supply of humans, while at the same time keeping their existence secret. Their prowess have led them into a prestigious and noble society that have kept the world under their control for a while, while at the same time leaving the majority of their "livestock" oblivious to the fact of their harvesting for the dark creatures.
There are four major groups of vampires:
Drones - Homo pupavampirus
Also know as Revenants, the Drones are simply corpses vacated of their souls reanimated and controlled by the stronger breeds of vampires. Drones are brought back from the dead through sorcery of leader vampires, but lack any memory of their former life, along with any conscious mind to guide their own actions. They act upon the whim of their hematophogus nature, led by the commands of superior creatures.
The abilities of a Drone vampire reflect those of any traditional vampire. Their speed and strength are greater than any normal human's, and even alone, a Drone is capable of killing many before it can be stopped. Besides their enhanced physical prowess, the Drones are incapable of any powerful skills, such as sorcery. One reason may be because they haven't the mind to control these abilities.
Drones organize attacks in groups led by a superior breed. Though they pose little threat to the trained vampire killer, they are deadly in numbers. The scent of blood may lead a group of drone vampires into a frenzy, leading them to tear their victims apart in single-minded bloodlust.
Leader Vampire - Homo sophovampirus
The more common breed of vampire is the Leader Vampire, sometimes called a Sire because of their ability. But not all Leader Vampires lead groups of Drones. The intelligent vampires sometimes act on their own, seeking out prey to satiate their thirst for blood. The appearance of a Leader Vampires reflects that of any human, with the exception of a infallible physique and pale skin tone. The living vampires are sometimes described as beautiful creatures, outmatching humans in appearance and intelligence.
Leader Vampires have the ability to "sire", or create other vampires. They have the ability to reanimate corpses, or sire drone vampires into their command. Leader Vampires may also hold special abilites, such as psionic powers or telepathy. Many need these skills of the mind to create groups of Drones, and control them.
The Leaders hold a society among themselves that they keep secret from human beings. They consider themselves prestigious and noble, the true inheritors of the earth. Many families and tribes of vampires still exist today, populated by the common Leader Vampires. They are intelligent and strategic, seeing their world as a large farm, with humans as livestock, as opposed to being a wilderness full of prey.
Master Vampire - Homo protovampirus
The rarest of any vampires is the Master Vampire. Few still roam the earth, as their ancient struggles for power have led them against each other in many wars. Some have lived for a few thousand years, and hold vast powers that few can match. Families, tribes, and clans of vampires are believed to have been created by the Master Vampires, the parents of generations of a powerful race.
Over the years, the Master Vampires have gained resistance to traditional vampire weaknesses, as well as gained enhanced abilities to maintain their strong presence. Their psionic capabilites may outmatch those of Leader Vampires, perhaps even controlling stronger breeds with telepathy. It is said that the vampires have crafted human society over the centuries to their own liking, harvesting human beings as inferior and oblivious beings that exist to feed their race for many eons into the future.
Because of their tyrannical nature, Master Vampires rarely coincide together in harmony. They are visciously territorial, waging war amongst themselves to usurp their competitors' powers and lordships. Their constant battles have dwindled their numbers to a very few. Those that remain exist in some of the darkest, most uninhabitable territories, where they may not be found by other Master Vampires. The spend most of their existence in hiding, biding their time until their strength grows to a point where they may vanquish their rivals at long last.
The creation of a vampire comes from the state of death, or near death. For drone vampires, one must already be dead in order to be resurrected through necromancy. This would explain why they are inferior in intelligence. The siring of a Leader is done from either of two ways: Either through birth, or by drinking the blood by a Leader of Master vampire through its veins in a state of near death. Vampires typically choose victims of a strong disposition, perhaps those who put up a worthy fight for their life, to bring into the night life. A Master Vampire may only be called such after he or she has become powerful enough to gather a strong following of Leader Vampires to serve for him or her.
In cases of birth, a child born to one vampire parent and one human parent is referred as a Dhampire (Homo demivampirus), or Demi-Vampire. The Dhampire is unique from the common vampire in that it is half vampire and half human. Many common vampiric weakness don't serve as a threat to Dhampires, yet they may be weaker in strength compared to their noble blood. Dhampires are commonly discriminated against both humans and vampires alike, and are loners at heart.
Being bitten by a vampire does not necessarily make the victim a vampire. Vampires prey on humans mostly to quench their thirst for blood. In most cases, they drain their victims entirely of blood. Others, sometimes referring themselves "of a higher class", are less barbaric, choosing to take a small portion of their victims' blood to keep the donor alive for future purposes. This has led to many cases of stalking, where female victims are frequently visited by the same male vampire. This also leads to crossbreed love affairs, many times looked down upon by both humans and vampires.
A vampire is resistant to many mortal weapons, such as guns or bladed objects, due to its extraordinary healing prowess. It does, however, have four distinct weaknesses: Fire, water, sun, and the mortal wound. The ancient methods of disposing of vampires worked through cremation. Though they have a resistance to heat, vampires burn like any human being. Water burns the skin of a vampire like acid, keeping them strictly land-based. Daylight is particularly damaging to newly sired vampires, drones, and fledglings, though it does not take long for a strong vampire to find resistance against the sun's harmful rays. Either way, they are particularly weaker when sunlight is strong. And coinciding to popular belief, a vampire may die if its heart has been pierced by a blade or stabbing object. When the heart has been severed, the healing process stops. This is why when a vampire has been impaled, the weapon should not be removed if the vampire slayer is to keep the creature dead. Unless the body is cremated, it may be decapitated when incapacitated to ensure death.
In some cases for vampires, a vast gain of power leads to an evolution. This usually occurs within the mind, granting them psionic abilities. In other cases, physical changes occur. Some vampires gain resistance to natural weaknesses, such as water or fire. Others gain abilities to change the composition of their bodies, becoming shape shifters, or taking upon a form of mist. Even more change in physical structure, changing in size, shape, and sometimes growing wings.
Familiars are typically servants or pets to Leader and Master Vampires. They are living beings that drank the blood of a vampire in an active and healthy state, unlike the insurrection of Leaders. This does not cause them to transfer to the state of vampire, but instead they retain their normal traits, only enhanced by the blood of vampires. For humans, this means an existence of loyalty to the superior race... sometimes becoming elite soldiers under their command. For beasts, their animal instincts are heightened and physical bodies are enhanced. They are tame for their masters, and fierce against enemies or strangers. This may somewhat explain the origins of the werewolf.
Werewolves-There are three known types of werewolves, but possibly more. The three known types are the Cursed, Lupus, and Brethren. The Cursed is the werewolf of legend. A human suffering from the disease lychanthropy, who has been bitten by a werewolf and doomed to become a beast at the full moon. Although not necessarily inherently evil, these poor souls must be stopped before they spread their disease and because of the wanton slaughter performed during the stages of the full moon. A Lupus is a rare form of werewolf. Not human at all, the Lupus are a transformed wolf. The Lupus are larger stronger and much more feirce than a normal wolf and almost have human intelligence, but rely more on instinct. The Lupus is rare and has an intense hatred of humans. The Brethren are the actual werewolf race. Unlike the cursed, they can change back and forth from human to werewolf at will and can mix with human society undetected. The urge to kill however, is inherent in them. Though wise enough to keep their existance generally secret, Brethren are a great evil, and some beleive a society devoted to the eventual slavery of humans as cattle.
Zombies-Zombies are the re-animated bodies of the dead. There are many types of zombies, but they have one thing in common, they feed on the electrical impulses of the human brain which they themselves no longer have. A zombie could be the scientifically re-animated dead which is simply a shuffling corpse wanting only to feed, or the mystically re-animated through voodoo who obey their raisers commands. Both these forms have no minds of their own, and both need to feed on human brains, but because of rigormortis, their muscles have become like steel. This stiffens and slows them, but makes them incredibly strong and powerful! Rumors of an intelligent breed of zombie are wide spread among the Night Stalker community, but unsubstantiated.
Spectres-Spectres, or Ghost as they are often called, are the incorporeal undead. They generally haunt the places where they died, retaining their memory and intelligence but now hating all living things. There exceptions however, as not all Spoectres are evil. Some are merely the unfortunates trapped on the mortal plane because of unknown circumstances. The evil Spectres will do everything within their power to kill the living. The good spectres merely wish to be released from their prison to pass into the beyond.