Not so. Vampires in SR breathe just like you and I. They can be identified through a Harz-Greenbaum screen of their blood, but it does have to be analyzed. They are not "undead" in the classic sense of the word.

You would be wrong... They are the victims of a terrible disease, so they are no different than any other victim of a terrible disease. They are just as alive as the uninfected are.

I don't suppose anyone has cooked up an instant test for it, like using a specific vial, swishing it around, and if the vial turns blue he's a vampire.

You're still assuming you can get the guy's blood and that he'll stand there while you test it.

Well, it would be situationally valuable. And just the existence of such a thing would create another worry for vampires. Plus if you could do that you could easily concoct some kind of gauze swab that would do the same thing to any decently sized sample making it much easier to steal a chance for a sample. "Oh, damn, you cut yourself making dinner. Let me get the medkit and I'll clean that up for you."

Alternatively then, it might be noticable when you withdraw the syringe and the site heals on its own.

There is one fairly famous self styled 'vampire hunter' that got outed on network trideo as being a vampire himself, after being YEARS in the limelight without people noticing..

So they can blend in pretty well.



-k

+1 to you, sir!

In the World of ritual magic, people will voluntarily surrender blood samples of themselves... Yeah, right.

Ok that's one of the best points I've seen Elfenlied.

...by being shot several times and surviving. Granted, it's a slightly radical solution, but given the vamparanoia people are raising in this thread...

I always thought vampires were sterile for some reason.

If a Vampire has a kid, will their kid be a Vampire too? Or might it be a 50/50 thing like the parents of different metatypes, this is assuming that one of the parents is not a vampire.

Or is HMHVV also an STD? Can you become infected if you sleep with a vampire?

Ghouls are the only infected who can procreate naturally, AFAIK. 2nd generation ghouls usually cannot infect anyone else. 1st generation ghouls have the virus in their saliva (and ALL other body fluids), so kissing and sex are ways to catch it.

Since vampires have immunity (diseases), it is very unlikely that they are infected or become carriers of STDs. If they are very low on Essence, it just might work, though. So, most of the time, MMVV-1 infected don't have to worry about the purity of their sustenance or the threat of spreading plagues.

I disagree with this. In two quick RL examples: A previous cat I had lived with was a feline leukemia carrier for years before it succumbed to the disease itself. He was fine, but he was spreading it to other cats and I had a kitten die of it before I was told the older cat was a carrier. Second, look at the Komodo Dragon. It doesn't get sick from the completely ridiculously toxic bacterial soup floating around in it's mouth but one bite and it's just a matter of following the prey around before they keel over. Not being affected and not being a carrier are completely different things.

Of course, if you want "clean" infected, it's your game. From my earlier posts, I'm sure you can gather that "clean" isn't something I worry about a whole lot in my games.

The Vampire strain has different rules for infection than the Ghoul strain. You need to go out of your way to actually infect people with the former.

Huh. Interesting idea. I think, I will go with "immunity smashes puny diseases", because it allows infected to instantly pwn any affliction ruleswise, as long as they have enough essence. Compare this to a dwarf with exceptional body, all the bioware and nanoware and spells to boost his_her resistance to pathogens. That guy will defeat almost anything without even a discernable break-out of symptoms, although s_he will still have to go through all the steps and is a carrier as long as it is not finished. That would be similar to the cat & the dragon. The infected on the other hand has "hardened armor":

...so next to everything should just bounce of. Magic!

Nonetheless, I am very sorry about the suffering and decease of your pets.

Agreed. Poor kitty.

The issue I have with Vamp immunity versus carrier immunity is that carrier immunity is often (though not always) something the animal is simply physiologically immune to. Dogs, for instance, can be carriers of feline parvo, and never get sick with it themselves. On the other hand, a dog who has been fully vaccinated against canine parvo will not likely be a carrier, as his immune system will be actively fighting off the disease. Vamps BECOME immune to diseases, rather than simply having a physiological immunity from the start. This implies that the cause of the vamp's immunity is a revved-up immune system, rather than a new physiological structure that is impervious to the disease. If this is the case, the vamp is not likely to be a carrier of many diseases. It would be uinteresting, however, to mix the two causes in your game. For instance, the vamp might not be a carrier for HPV, but might be a carrier for HIV.

Two very different examples. The first case is a viral infection. A virus needs to infect cells to procreate, being truly immune to a virus therefore is equivalent to not offering any sustenance (so to speak) to the virus. Either because the cells say "no entry", or because the immune system destroys viral particles and infected cells before the infection takes hold. At most, an immune being could carry viral particles like a dirty syringe does, but with some basic hygiene and a functioning immune system this should not last long.

Note that apart from being immune, there also is the possibility of being infected without ill effect -- not all viruses kill their host cell and if the immune system does not attack the infected cells, nothing bad happens from an infection. But you are still infected. Given that vampires are described as incompatible with any geneware and having hyperactive regenerative capabilities, I think this is not what their immunity does. It's simply that their cells are so alien and/or their body so hostile that viruses are a big "nope".

Bacteria, on the other hand, are independent living organisms, and everybody carries around a whole zoo of them without ill effect. Being immune to them simply means that none of their excretions is harmful to you, and again, that your immune system does not go nuclear on them. So bacteria I can see surviving in a vampire's body, though their regeneration might again object.


Lastly, bear in mind that vampires don't get a blood transfusion, they drink the blood. The human stomach isn't exactly the most friendly environment, especially to bacteria which have adapted to living in the bloodstream.


TL;DR: Depends on how you define "immune", and that's before considering the fact that HMHVV-1 is magic.

I had scarlet fever once that was like that. Yes, I realize that that disease is actually a bacteria.

But yeah, in highschool I went to my mom confused, as the tips of my fingers were peeling four, five, six layers of skin at once. She immediately recognized the symptom and took me to the doctor. But I did not have:
* sore throat
* scarlet rash
* fever
* red tongue
* paranoia
* hallucinations

They made me stay home from school for 3 days and I felt normal. It was great.

Sure?

Totally sure.
Based on the fact that I had scarlet fever, that means I'd been sick with the disease for weeks (scarlet fever is untreated strep throat). And I'd been totally lucid the whole time.

Maybe you were living in a complete fantasy world and never realized it?
Just a thought.

Was? Btchplz, I still am!