I have two conflicting descriptions of the Nosferatu Infected. Which of these is correct:

Aside from the loss of all or most hair on the head and body, pale complexion, and slightly prominent canines, they are nearly identical to regular humans. RC, page 63.

OR

They lose all body and facial hair, their skin becomes pale and taught over the skin, they lose weight often becoming emaciated, and their incisors grow more pronounced and sharper. RC, page 80.

So, emaciated or not? Slightly prominent canines or pronounced and sharpened incisors?

I know that I prefer the description from page 63, especially for Nosferatu that blend in with metahuman society - the emaciated rat-toothed guy just seems a bit off from my idea of them.

more pronounced, sharper canines would be slightly prominent. it wouldn't likely be immediately noticeable at a casual glance, really... you might be inclined to think their teeth are a little odd, but unless you're staring at their mouth it likely wouldn't be especially noticeable.

likewise, being extremely thin is not necessarily average in appearance for a human, but neither are you likely to look at them and say "that guy isn't a human being" either.

thusly, neither description really contradicts the other. so i would say they are both true; nosferatu tend to be thin or even emaciated (but not to the point of looking inhuman), have pale skin and no hair, and their canine/incisor teeth (i would assume the second author was thinking canine and incisor are the same teeth, which is not accurate; i would assume they meant canines) are noticeably larger if you look at them closely, but not sticking out of their mouth like an orc's tusks.

OK, so the incisors were an error.

What is the specific action that a Nosferatu can use with Compulsion. The power notes that each creature is generally limited to a single command, does this apply to the Nosferatu? If not, then this power is somewhat redundant with Influence.

Also, is it correct that Nosferatu are not limited in swimming like a Vampire, nor do they have an Induced Dormancy weakness?

Compulsion and Influence are very similar, but not identical. Compulsion forces the victim to immediately perform an action, while Influence, like the spell of the same name, acts as a post-hypnotic suggestion to compel the victim to perform a future action. Influence is harder to initially resist, but the victim can make further attempts to break free of the control when confronted with the wrongness of the actions (again, similarly to the spell).

You are also correct about nosferatu not having the reduced buoyancy and induced dormancy/lack of air. They cost 50% more than vampires (150 instead of 100 points), but you sure get a lot for those extra 50 points.

I think the page 80 description is the correct one, if the name "Nosferatu" means anything at all. These aren't the sauve, sexy vampires, these are the awful nightmare monster ones. If you want to be a hawt vamp, then be a regular vampire. Nosferatu are omgwtf powerful, but they pay the price of not being able to blend in well. Of course, they make amazing mages, and should be able to camouflage themselves with Physical Mask, or even nanopaste disguises, so we're not talking about rendering them useless as a character type (insofar as anyone who is killed by sunlight within minutes can be useful at all).

I think the page 80 description is the correct one, if the name "Nosferatu" means anything at all. These aren't the sauve, sexy vampires, these are the awful nightmare monster ones. If you want to be a hawt vamp, then be a regular vampire. Nosferatu are omgwtf powerful, but they pay the price of not being able to blend in well. Of course, they make amazing mages, and should be able to camouflage themselves with Physical Mask, or even nanopaste disguises, so we're not talking about rendering them useless as a character type (insofar as anyone who is killed by sunlight within minutes can be useful at all).

They do make good mages. But youll need karma to make the "amazing" part

Acutally, with a Magic of 4 you can use Essence Drain to bump it up to a 10 for 12 hours, every 12 hours. Ta-da, super-mage.

Also, it should be noted that "nosferatu" being the "ugly monster-vamps" is only applicable in other game systems. Creatures in SR are similar but vastly different to what people thought they were. For evidence I point to the "Mermaid," or as other people know them, Merrows.

With all the transgenic alterations, the vast amount of personal body modifications to be done, SURGE, meta-genetic expressions, meta-humans, and other what-have-you, I really don't think a pale-ish, bald, "toothy" human is gunna turn heads. The reverese-jointed troll with a thagomizer, bone spikes, claws, fangs, goring horns that's bright cherry-red and taints astral space around him probably would, but Mister Pasty-Bald won't.

EDIT: It should be noted that for every 9 minutes you're out in the sun as a Nosferatu, if you spend 1 minute in the shade you're at full HP.

This is what I think a Nosferatu should look like:

http://www.psychoform.com/htmlgallery/nosferatu_002.jpg

They are monsters that should be feared but they do have the chance to blend into society if they need to (facing 100 angry villagers is hard even for one of these beasts).

While the general look conforms with SRs nosferatu, I'd argue that SR nosferatu are a bit less monstery-looking than the one in that picture.
And I agree, that in the world of SRs 2070 described in the books, being pale, hairless and having oversized teeth wouldn't rate to high on the bizarro-scale of your average inStyle nightclub...

I agree, they're not quite that hideous. They're probably normal enough to blend in with an exotic, cyber-loving crowd. But they're more than slightly different from a human, I think.

Maybe just picture them as an orc with a body of 1 with a severe pigment issue and a severe stimulant addiction.

Of course, short of all the magical and nano disguises, a nosferatu shouldn't be able to really blend into a competent Shadowrun crowd. We have to assume that such a society would be just as educated as us if not even more so. Obviously forums such as this one (which does an excellent job of identifying Nos- photos and everything) would exist in Shadowrun. And all the easier to access via commlinks. If I bump into some pasty, bony, rabbit toothed dude, all I have to do is instantly access the matrix for the applicable bestiary. Right?

People people people...

Nosferatu are simply bald, pale, slightly emaciated people. They're still human. I'd imagine they'd look a lot more like this.

Are there any variants of the Nosferatu to be found anywhere? RC gives a few variants for many of the other Infected, so I was curious if the same has been suggested - officially or unofficially - anywhere, particularly on Dumpshock? Could it be that the two different tooth developments and the emaciation (or lack of such) are cosmetic variations of expression?

Also, what do Enhanced Senses (Hearing, Smell) really do? Are they directly equivalent to any particular mods?

MONSTER! RUN AWAY!

I always liked the pic in Paranormal animals of Europe book.

There are no variants of Nosferatu; Nosferatu are a variant of Vampire.

Enhanced Senses (Hearing, Smell) give you the same hearing and scent abilities of animals, although there is no tangible, in-game effect of having them. I'd imagine giving someone maybe a +1 dicepool for audio/olfatory Perception Tests, or instead maybe lowering the Threshold for such tests by one. Or allowing them to make a test before other people.

And, of course, making them annoyed about the car alarm four city blocks over that no-one else can hear.

Sorry but Mermaids (Paranormal Animals of North America p.110) and Merrows are both present in Shaduwrun, the mermaids seem to be awakened sea lions and are royal bitches that will try to eat you; an interesting aspect is their metabolical dependence on mercury (not the drake, the metal).

I'm pretty sure the original description of nosferatu in SR was based on the old classic silent film.
Here is the Nosferatu art from Paranormal Animals of Europe.

The text in PNAE (page 74) says they appear "human with enlarged canine teeth, thin or no head and body hair, and extremely pale skin...". Note there is no mention of thin body habitus. The main differences between nosferatu and common vampires are behavioral (nosferatu being cold, methodical, inhuman and aloof). The shadowtalk also mentions that nosfertu are good at disguising themselves using cosmetic makeup and clothing.