Vampires Physiology (Legacy of Kain)

This page will be to talk about the different types of vampires in Legacy of Kain, as well as their abilities and weaknesses.

Introduction

Vampires were, alongside the humans and the Hylden, one of the three sapient races dominant in Nosgoth. Though the original, Ancient vampires were a species in their own right, the term "vampire" eventually came to refer to any individual afflicted with the blood curse, irrespective of birth. Vampirism comprised an extremely eclectic heritage which spanned many generations and sub-races across history, but with common traits: usually, vampires needed to consume Blood regularly to survive, were immortal and sterile, were vulnerable to water and sunlight, developed individual abilities and dark gifts, and would drastically evolve over time.

Sub-Species and Generations of Vampire

First Generation (Ancient Vampires)

Male Ancient Vampires

These were the original vampires of Nosgoth, blue-skinned beings with wings that were considered "God-like" beings, being the most powerful generation of vampires. After a thousand-year war with the Hylden, because they did not want to submit to the "god" of the Ancient Vampires, the latter created the Pillars of Nosgoth, sealing the Hylden in another dimension , however before being defeated, the Hylden put a curse on the Ancient Vampires that would affect every vampire in existence, regardless of subspecies, vampires would be cursed with immortality (they can be killed or can commit suicide, but cannot die of old age), Sterility, and would suffer from bloodlust, needing to consume blood to survive . The Ancient Vampires became extinct as they could no longer reproduce, and as they committed suicide due to their new curse, the only Ancient Vampire that remained alive was Janos Audron

Second Generation

Male and Female Second generation vampires

Although the Ancient Vampires could no longer reproduce, they could still create other vampires, passing "the dark gift" to humans by transforming them into vampires Vorador being the first human to be transformed into a vampire, and the first vampire of the second generation. These new vampires are paler-skinned and wingless. The second generation of vampires were exterminated by Moebius' mercenary army, who hunted down and exterminated all the vampies (including Vorador) but one, Kain.

Third Generation

Vorador and the Cabal

This generation of vampires did not exist originally, due to several events, Elder Kain changed the story in the past, this brought several changes, among them Vorador was revived, after some time from the end of Blood Omen 1, and created an army of vampires for a young Kain . Most of these vampires were killed in the battle against the Hylden Lord and the new Sarafan order, only surviving a few traitor vampires, who went over to the Hylden Lord's side, and the Cabal, the vampire resistance . It is not known what happened to these vampires, but it is speculated that due to Kain's desire to conquer, after defeating the Hylden Lord, he himself exterminated these vampires, leaving only himself as the only vampire.

Fourth Generation

Kain and the Lieutenants

The fourth and last generation of vampires was created by Kain, using portions of his soul, he resurrected the 6 commanders of the Sarafan Order: Raziel, Turel, Dumah, Rahab, Zephon and Melchiah (who were vampire hunters), drawing back the souls of the long dead commanders to their bodies, transforming them into his vampire sons. The lieutenants began to create vampires in the same way as Kain and within 100 years they conquered Nosgoth, and created an empire, ruling Nosgoth for 900 years . Due to the curruption in Kain's soul, after 1000 years, the lieutenants and their children began to devolve, transforming their bodies into deformed monsters . After another 500 years, the resurrected Wraith Raziel killed his vampire brothers, and then chased Kain into the past, so it is unknown what happened to the other vampires after that.

General Abilities/Traits

These are abilities that every vampire possesses, regardless of generation or subspecies

• Superhuman Physical Characteristics: Vampires are described as stronger and faster than mortal men, being able to jump higher and farther than any human that has ever lived, Umah, an average vampire, can jump great distances with ease. Vampires also have superhuman durability or "endurance".
• Claws and Fangs: All vampires possess a natural weapon, their claws, they start with small claws, but after many years, their claws evolve, their fingers join with their hand to form 3 huge, razor-sharp fingers, that are very though. They also possess fangs that allow them to drink the blood of creatures easily.
• Enhanced Senses: Vampires possess enhanced senses, a young Kain was able to smell blood and hear screams at least hundreds of meters away. It would be confirmed that they all have enhanced senses, and it is not just Kain's, as all vampires are weak to a specific sound frequency that does not affect humans, therefore they hear differently.
• Immortality (type 1): Vampires were cursed with immortality by the Hylden, making them unable to die of old age, and surely diseases.
• Regeneration (Low-Mid): Vampires can regenerate wounds virtually instantly, since "Physical wounds are fleeting - a vampire's immortal flesh begins to close as soon as it is cleaved" . However this refers only to flesh, vampires do not seem to be able to regenerate amputated limbs naturally (although they can do so by drinking blood ), decapitation and impaling the heart are methods that serve to kill the vampire. Likewise, the effectiveness of regeneration seems to vary depending on the generation, for example, the vampires sons of Kain, can be beaten as much as they want, but it is impossible to kill them with ordinary blows, since after a few seconds they have fully recovered, no matter how many blows you give them. However vampires of the third generation, like Umah for example, after receiving a lot of damage can no longer regenerate the wounds by itself, needing blood to heal , since the regeneration of the vampire depends on the blood in the body, as Umah tells Kain: "Blood is your life.  Without it, you will die.  If you are wounded, seek out blood to restore your vitality". This would apply to the first 3 generations of vampires, since the vampires sired by Kain do not seem to have this limitation.
• Limited Resurrection: Vampires are capable of resurrection, although not by themselves, needing the help or intervention of others. Vorador revived despite having been previously decapitated. Janos Audron was able to be resuscitated after 500 years by having his heart restored, and the vampires sons of Kain, if the cause of death is removed (for example removing the spear from his heart if they had been impaled), revive instantly.
• Limited Floating: Vampires have the ability to float, being able to slow down the speed at which they fall, to land silently near enemies.
• Telepathy: Vampires possess the natural ability called "Whisper", which allows them to talk at great distances between them, the older and more powerful the vampire is, with more of their kind can communicate at once, it should be clarified that they are only able to talk to each other, not to read their minds. When more older and powerful the vampire is, with more if his kind can talk at the same time.
• Limited Telekinesis: Vampires are able to move objects by sheer will alone, but only at close range. Since he was created, Kain is able to remove the blood of still enemies, It is unknown if this ability is only Kain's or something that every vampire can do, although his children also have this ability.
• Vampire Lore (Statistics Amplification) and Healing: Vampires by consuming blood not only heal their wounds, but become stronger and increase their life-energy/Health, increasing how much damage they can withstand before dying.
• Dark Gifts: All Vampires possess dark gifts, these are the supernatural abilities of the vampire, each vampire possesses uniques dark gifts/abilities , they have been seen from super-speed, read and control the mind, generate heat/explosions with the mind, etc.
• Empowerment: During the night vampires are more powerful.
• Power Absorption: Vampires upon killing another vampire, are able to absorb the dark gift or special ability of that vampire.
• Magic: Although not every vampire does it, every vampire can learn magic, this magic varies from teleportation and projecting energy, to more powerful magic, such as giving life to statues and enhance them with fire or make them more resistant, stronger, etc.
• Evolution: All vampires evolve over time, although in different ways.
  • First method: First, second and third generation vampires evolve in the same way, slowly over time. As they evolve the vampire's appearance changes, developing huge claws on both hands and feet, becoming more powerful (and likely faster, etc).
  • Second method: Due to the corruption of Kain's soul, he and his descendants evolve by entering into states of change or "Pupating", from which the vampire emerges transformed. Upon emerging from this "state of change", the vampire is stronger, faster and more resilient than before, will have acquired a new "gift" or ability, and finally the sunlight will no longer hurt him. This process was done several times over the course of a thousand years, although it is unknown exactly how many times. That same corruption, though, is what causes vampires to later devolve: In the children of Kain/Lieutenants, this caused their bodies to deform in more grotesque ways (this depending on the vampire and their environment), becoming powerful monstrosities, due to having fragments of Kain's soul and becoming much more powerful than in their normal form, the children of the lieutenants retained a more humanoid form, but losing the ability to reason, being now like animals.

Note: Although it is only specified that only Kain and his descendants increase both their Power AND speed and durability, this is probably the same for all vampires, since the only difference that is said to exist between the evolutions of Kain and his sons, due to the corruption, is that they evolve faster and later devolve, but the rest is the same, change in physical appearance, new abilities, etc.

• Vampire Creation (Resurrection {only Kain and his sons} Corruption and Power Bestowal): Although vampires cannot reproduce beacuse the Hylden curse, they are capable of creating other vampires in different ways. Other vampires create vampires in "a more traditional way", transforming living humans into vampires. Kain on the other hand, being created through necromancy, creates his children in a unique way, using fragments of his soul, he "calls the souls of corpses into their body", transforming them into vampires. The vampires that Kain creates with part of his soul receive part of Kain's power (depending on the amount of soul used the vampire is going to be more or less powerful) and abilities upon creation. His children can create vampires in the same form and with the same effects as Kain, As the children they create also receive part of the power and inherit the abilities of their creator, since like Kain, they use portions of his soul to create other vampires. It is worth mentioning that in either method, not every vampire is capable of creating another vampire, and they cannot create vampires indefinitely, not at least in a short period of time . In the traditional method, only old vampires can create vampires, since "it takes time and energy to create another vampire" , and if the vampire creates too many vampires in a row he can be greatly weakened, although the vampire is able to recover with time ,the same applies with the vampires created by Kain and his sons]. This applies to both methods of creation. In the case of Kain and his children, being created through necromancy, only Kain himself, the lieutenants and other few vampires, are able to create another vampire, and they can only create a specific amount of vampires, as they uses portions of their soul.

Note: All these abilities are universal and are obtained by being a vampire, no matter the generation or sub-species. Kain was created in a unique way, yet he has all the vampire abilities described by Umah (The ability to Float, increase strength and durability by drinking blood, Whisper, etc). Not only Umah describes them as natural vampire abilities/characteristics, but Vorador who was created by the Ancient Vampires, also has these abilities, as he uses Whisper throughout the game. Likewise the enhanced senses abilities that Kain shows in Blood Omen, are supported by the Vampiric weakness to sound, and when Kain talks about becoming more powerful at night he is talking about vampires in general, not only referring to him.

Unique Abilities/Traits.

These abilities shown are only possessed by a specific generation.

• Flight: Ancient Vampires are 1 of the 2 sub-species that possess wings, these not only allow them to fly, but they are able to use them to protect themselves from attacks, as well as powerful users, they are able to create a small tornado by flapping them. The other sub-species that possess wings is Raziel, and his children, and it is confirmed that this is a unique characteristic of them.
• Resistance to Soul Manipulation, Limited Adaptation & Soul Absorption & Statistics Amplification: Vampires created by Kain and his children have their souls "Deeply Rotted to their body", and so Wraith Raziel has to kill them in order to absorb their soul, while Wraith Raziel can absorb the souls of humans just by being near them, since "Humans' souls are not as deeply rooted as the vampires" , therefore all vampires created by Kain and his descendants have a passive resistance to having their soul absorbed and surely removed. When a vampire is killed, his soul goes to the spectral plane, where over time they adapt to that plane and become Vampires Wraith which have the ability to devour/absorb souls, the longer they are in the spectral plane, the more powerful they become, if for some reason the vampire's body is revived/healed (For example if you remove the spear from his heart that killed him, etc), the vampire will not only revive more powerful than before, but they are also able to absorb the soul of the enemy (instead of absorbing/drinking blood), by generating a small wound, they will quickly begin to absorb the soul energy of the victim, even at distance, healing if they have suffered damage (like when drinking blood).

Weaknesses

Vampires regardless of generation have 5 well defined weaknesses: Water, Fire, Sunlight, Sound and Impalement.

• Fire: Self explanatory, vampires are weak to fire, the more powerful the vampire is, the more they are able to resist fire.
• Water: Water is like acid for vampires, when it comes in contact with their skin it burns it, to kill a vampire it is necessary to submerge it in water, although the more powerful the vampire is, the longer it needs to be submerged for it to die.
• Sunlight: Depending on the age of the vampire this weakness affects them in one way or another. Newly created vampires or Fledglings are burned when in contact with sunlight. While evolved or adult vampires are only weakened by the same.
• Sound: Vampires are weak to a specific frequency of sound that does not affect humans, this because of their enhanced senses. Usually the sound only causes discomfort or pain and leave them vulnerable, but vampires especially weak to sound can be killed by it, there is also a specific frequency that serves to kill all types of vampires (not being a specific case that the vampire is resistant like Kain).
• Impalement: Vampires are especially vulnerable to being impaled, despite being able to withstand an immense amount of damage from blunt attacks such as punches and kicks, they can be easily impaled, even the vampires created by Kain who have shown themselves to be the most resistant (to the point that Wraith Raziel who is tens/hundreds of times stronger than them can't kill them with normal attacks, needing use vampiric weaknesses to kill them), can be impaled by humans. If a vampire is impaled in the heart (which is what vampire hunters always do), the vampire will die, although depending on the sub species if the spear is removed they are able to revive.