Our Vampires Are Different
Title taken from the Trope of the same name. WARNING: That is a TVTrope link and I am not to be held responsible for the 3 to 15 hours you will waste of your life browsing it. >.>
'Vampire' is the general term blood-sucking creatures, and is pretty inaccurate for the handful of classes in the Nasuverse. The SHORT of this is that the things that fall into the general descriptor 'vampire' are all very, very special cookies. I'll divy it all up in layman's terms as much as I can, since I intend to use this all one day for easy-fun and cool plotting.
Vampire
General descriptor used by the public to refer to blood-sucking people. Then again, most of the public doesn't know they exist. Damn-near every subcategory can fall under this term, so it's still legit.
True Ancestor: Shinso
Beings that are classified as high level fairies, technically Elementals just below Divine Spirits. Bonding result of Type-Moon (The designation for the ultimate being of Earth's Moon) forging a living creature with Gaea/Earth's power. The result was a deathless being that could manipulate the power of nature naturally, with one drawback: Type-Moon, aka Crimson Moon Brunestud was a blood-sucking entity, so all True Ancestors took on this trait. Any True Ancestor that succumbed to this unnecessary trait would be counted as a Fallen, or a Demon Lord, and would be marked for execution if they couldn't put themselves into their own eternal sleep. The strongest of all of them was Arcueid.
Dead Apostle: Shito
Humans that became blood-sucking creatures either through magical/supernatural means, or by having blood given to them by a True Ancestor. There are numerous ones in the world, though the most powerful and oldest are identified as the 27 Ancestors to the Dead Apostles (accurate descriptor--all other Ghouls, Dead, etc, are a result of them. Unlike True Ancestors, they need to feed to survive.
Dead: Shisha
Mobile corpses, essentially. The soul is ferreted to the body by the will of the parent Apostle, and they are sent to kill and feed, simultaneously increasing the number of Dead by viral means, and transferring life energy and genetic information of victims to the parent.
Ghoul: Shikokushi
A rare, evolved Dead. One dead that's survived long enough for their brain to dissolve completely--they think only of resting and feeding, and using their own Dead to replenish constantly-lost flesh and genetic info.
Living-Dead
With enough time, the brain will regenerate, memory and personality will return, and the Ghoul becomes a Dead Apostle in its own right. Though they will still be under the parent's influence until they're powerful enough to shirk it, or the parent is killed. Typically, Living-Dead are heirs to the Apostle's name, station, and influences (explained in a lil bit).
Difference: Shinso and the Shito process
The Shinso (True Ancestors) by nature do not need to suck blood to live. They're spirits that get energy from the Earth directly, and can't die by aging. Further, they can't be killed by conventional means because their existence is prettymuch a divine/phantasmic mystery. In Jackie Chan Adventure's speak, "magic must fight magic". In this case, a Shinso can only be killed by a more powerful Shinso.
The bloodlusting was a flawed problem, so they sought to cap the urge in a few humans. These humans became the first Dead Apostles, and eventually became powerful enough to rebel against Shinso-kind. But that was a practice in stupidity, creating more problems than it solved. In the end, most Shinso ended up putting themselves in eternal slumber to control their bloodlust, while those that didn't became Demon Lords that preyed on Shinso and human alike. Those in turn were all assassinated by one (1) Arcueid Brunestud.
Dead Apostles, on the other hand, are not high level divine fairy/spirits. Conventional things like guns and whatnot CAN harm them, with some exceptions. First, these are beings that can dodge such means. Further, their Restoration Hex ability negates all but nature-interfering damage (meaning if something's going to hurt them, it has to be an overwhelming or disruptive damage). They also need to constantly suck blood and eat corpses to survive. The information gained from that process gives them their long lives. The most powerful Dead Apostles are the ones that can't be harmed by conventional means (similar to Servants), who have been around since the age of gods (some 4,000 years).
Becoming something like a Dead Apostle is dependent on factors like magical and soul potential--the more magic, the better chance for a corpse to become a Ghoul. Yumizuka Satsuki is a prime example: instead of being a shambling dead girl, her inner and highly-abnormal Magic Circuit potential lead her to jump steps, from being Dead to a lesser Dead Apostle overnight--a unheard of feat in Nasuverse, since, despite the numbers, natural magic users among humans is a very rare thing (1 in 10,000 chance to get to the Living-Dead level, even).
True Ancestors, on the other hand, are born from the planet. And, according to canon, there hasn't been another one born since Arcueid, who was artificially conceptualized by other True Ancestors to take care of the Demon Lord problem.
To also combat the problem of being far more vulnerable than True Ancestors, most Dead Apostles will actively create a successor--one bound to their power that will one day take over for them when they're dead and gone. This is where the Living-Dead are the most important, as they're technically the 'child' of the parent vampire. Should something happen to the parent, the child will step in and take power, station, and in some cases, even memory and knowledge not taught to them. Had Satsuki actually survived (and, in this case, SHIKI as well), Satsuki could have been considered a legitimate heir to the Snake of Akasha, aka Michael Roa Valdamjong.
The real point to a Dead Apostle, to the things I've read of the source material, is the soul. The soul, body, and mind are what make a living entity in Nasuverse. Body is container for the soul, and the mind carries out the nature and, if any, destiny of the soul. A decayed body will release the soul for reincarnation or containment in the origin, or Tree of Akasha. A destroyed mind means a dead body, and a soul that will transcend. Thus, Dead Apostles are those entities whose souls are 'anchored' to constantly-decaying vessels. The genetic information and maryoku/blood of other lives are needed to sustain the soul whose nature is partly rewritten as a result of not being completely dead or released. So long as that's achieved, the body can be blown away or the mind absolutely crushed--the soul's magic (the Magic Circuits, in fact) will regenerate both. Exampled in canon, Arc rips Roa right down to his ankles with her power, but he regenerates from that damage (literally, just his ANKLES left, but he reforms not ten seconds later).
As an aside, sunlight doesn't destroy Dead Apostles as much as it speeds up the degeneration process, which...could destroy them, but it's more like a heavy-poison effect in a game. Left unchecked, could drain HP potential to 1.
Step 1: Get bit. :E
Step 2: Wake up a day to three days later in the Living-Dead or Apostle Stage (or Ghoul or Dead if you're really that heartless)
Step 3: Bite things.
Step 4: BAR FIGHT or. Something.
Step 5: Become mentally unstable (impulse to deal with bloodlust, inhibitions unleashed, morales into question, etc).
Step 6: ????
Step 7: Be killed.
Step 8: Have Mayuri expunge the soul of unnatural corruption :D
Step 9: Kill/Beat up Shiki for turning you in the first place. 8D
'Vampire' is the general term blood-sucking creatures, and is pretty inaccurate for the handful of classes in the Nasuverse. The SHORT of this is that the things that fall into the general descriptor 'vampire' are all very, very special cookies. I'll divy it all up in layman's terms as much as I can, since I intend to use this all one day for easy-fun and cool plotting.
Vampire
General descriptor used by the public to refer to blood-sucking people. Then again, most of the public doesn't know they exist. Damn-near every subcategory can fall under this term, so it's still legit.
True Ancestor: Shinso
Beings that are classified as high level fairies, technically Elementals just below Divine Spirits. Bonding result of Type-Moon (The designation for the ultimate being of Earth's Moon) forging a living creature with Gaea/Earth's power. The result was a deathless being that could manipulate the power of nature naturally, with one drawback: Type-Moon, aka Crimson Moon Brunestud was a blood-sucking entity, so all True Ancestors took on this trait. Any True Ancestor that succumbed to this unnecessary trait would be counted as a Fallen, or a Demon Lord, and would be marked for execution if they couldn't put themselves into their own eternal sleep. The strongest of all of them was Arcueid.
Dead Apostle: Shito
Humans that became blood-sucking creatures either through magical/supernatural means, or by having blood given to them by a True Ancestor. There are numerous ones in the world, though the most powerful and oldest are identified as the 27 Ancestors to the Dead Apostles (accurate descriptor--all other Ghouls, Dead, etc, are a result of them. Unlike True Ancestors, they need to feed to survive.
Dead: Shisha
Mobile corpses, essentially. The soul is ferreted to the body by the will of the parent Apostle, and they are sent to kill and feed, simultaneously increasing the number of Dead by viral means, and transferring life energy and genetic information of victims to the parent.
Ghoul: Shikokushi
A rare, evolved Dead. One dead that's survived long enough for their brain to dissolve completely--they think only of resting and feeding, and using their own Dead to replenish constantly-lost flesh and genetic info.
Living-Dead
With enough time, the brain will regenerate, memory and personality will return, and the Ghoul becomes a Dead Apostle in its own right. Though they will still be under the parent's influence until they're powerful enough to shirk it, or the parent is killed. Typically, Living-Dead are heirs to the Apostle's name, station, and influences (explained in a lil bit).
Difference: Shinso and the Shito process
The Shinso (True Ancestors) by nature do not need to suck blood to live. They're spirits that get energy from the Earth directly, and can't die by aging. Further, they can't be killed by conventional means because their existence is prettymuch a divine/phantasmic mystery. In Jackie Chan Adventure's speak, "magic must fight magic". In this case, a Shinso can only be killed by a more powerful Shinso.
The bloodlusting was a flawed problem, so they sought to cap the urge in a few humans. These humans became the first Dead Apostles, and eventually became powerful enough to rebel against Shinso-kind. But that was a practice in stupidity, creating more problems than it solved. In the end, most Shinso ended up putting themselves in eternal slumber to control their bloodlust, while those that didn't became Demon Lords that preyed on Shinso and human alike. Those in turn were all assassinated by one (1) Arcueid Brunestud.
Dead Apostles, on the other hand, are not high level divine fairy/spirits. Conventional things like guns and whatnot CAN harm them, with some exceptions. First, these are beings that can dodge such means. Further, their Restoration Hex ability negates all but nature-interfering damage (meaning if something's going to hurt them, it has to be an overwhelming or disruptive damage). They also need to constantly suck blood and eat corpses to survive. The information gained from that process gives them their long lives. The most powerful Dead Apostles are the ones that can't be harmed by conventional means (similar to Servants), who have been around since the age of gods (some 4,000 years).
Becoming something like a Dead Apostle is dependent on factors like magical and soul potential--the more magic, the better chance for a corpse to become a Ghoul. Yumizuka Satsuki is a prime example: instead of being a shambling dead girl, her inner and highly-abnormal Magic Circuit potential lead her to jump steps, from being Dead to a lesser Dead Apostle overnight--a unheard of feat in Nasuverse, since, despite the numbers, natural magic users among humans is a very rare thing (1 in 10,000 chance to get to the Living-Dead level, even).
True Ancestors, on the other hand, are born from the planet. And, according to canon, there hasn't been another one born since Arcueid, who was artificially conceptualized by other True Ancestors to take care of the Demon Lord problem.
To also combat the problem of being far more vulnerable than True Ancestors, most Dead Apostles will actively create a successor--one bound to their power that will one day take over for them when they're dead and gone. This is where the Living-Dead are the most important, as they're technically the 'child' of the parent vampire. Should something happen to the parent, the child will step in and take power, station, and in some cases, even memory and knowledge not taught to them. Had Satsuki actually survived (and, in this case, SHIKI as well), Satsuki could have been considered a legitimate heir to the Snake of Akasha, aka Michael Roa Valdamjong.
The real point to a Dead Apostle, to the things I've read of the source material, is the soul. The soul, body, and mind are what make a living entity in Nasuverse. Body is container for the soul, and the mind carries out the nature and, if any, destiny of the soul. A decayed body will release the soul for reincarnation or containment in the origin, or Tree of Akasha. A destroyed mind means a dead body, and a soul that will transcend. Thus, Dead Apostles are those entities whose souls are 'anchored' to constantly-decaying vessels. The genetic information and maryoku/blood of other lives are needed to sustain the soul whose nature is partly rewritten as a result of not being completely dead or released. So long as that's achieved, the body can be blown away or the mind absolutely crushed--the soul's magic (the Magic Circuits, in fact) will regenerate both. Exampled in canon, Arc rips Roa right down to his ankles with her power, but he regenerates from that damage (literally, just his ANKLES left, but he reforms not ten seconds later).
As an aside, sunlight doesn't destroy Dead Apostles as much as it speeds up the degeneration process, which...could destroy them, but it's more like a heavy-poison effect in a game. Left unchecked, could drain HP potential to 1.
Step 1: Get bit. :E
Step 2: Wake up a day to three days later in the Living-Dead or Apostle Stage (or Ghoul or Dead if you're really that heartless)
Step 3: Bite things.
Step 4: BAR FIGHT or. Something.
Step 5: Become mentally unstable (impulse to deal with bloodlust, inhibitions unleashed, morales into question, etc).
Step 6: ????
Step 7: Be killed.
Step 8: Have Mayuri expunge the soul of unnatural corruption :D
Step 9: Kill/Beat up Shiki for turning you in the first place. 8D