Vampire (吸血鬼, Kyūketsuki?, Blood-Sucking Demon) is the general term for those who suck the blood of humans; it includes the blood-sucking species that is the Dead Apostles as well as those that aren't Dead Apostles. While it can be synonymous with the Blood-Sucking Species, the term Vampire generally refers only to those hunted by the Church.
In the Tsukihime setting, vampires have the instinct known as the Vampiric Impulses (吸血衝動, kyuuketsu shoudou?)[1], which pushes them to suck the blood of others. But differently than the vampiric impulses of the True Ancestors, who are also considered vampires, these vampires have the physical need to suck the blood of others, in order to maintain their own bodies. However, if the vampire gives the human his own blood in the process, the human body will not completely die and the soul cannot leave the body. In most cases however, the body dies and with it the soul of the victim and the final result is an empty corpse, that the vampire can control like a puppet, called the Dead (死者, Shisha?). But sometimes, there are those whose body possess an above-average life force, which prevents the body and with it the soul from dying. After several years in the grave, the brain dissolves and the soul is freed from the cage of the body; and it becomes a Ghoul (食屍鬼, Shokushiki?, Corpse-Eating Demon). How far the newly created Bloodsucker will evolve is then decided by the magical potential of the body which is stored inside the soul.
The Ghouls and their transformed souls, can bypass the necessity of the brain to hold the soul, as their soul is now separate from the body. They have mental capacities pretty much equivalent to that of a savage beast and they must devour other corpses to reconstruct their own degenerated flesh. And those who have successfully restored their bodies and thus, their brain, can be called Living Dead (リビングデッド, Ribingu Deddo?). They are inferior to The Dead in terms of raw strength but the fact that they regained their own will, a full fledged ego and can maintain their own soul, puts them on a different standing than a mere puppet. After a few more years, the living dead can fully recover their intelligence and memories, and mature to a Dead Apostle (死徒, Shito?). The actual time, it takes, to complete this Growth Process is at least a hundred years.
Those who became Vampires can move on their own free will, but they cannot escape the rule by which they have to supply blood to their vampire parent. The new born Vampire gains the necessary knowledge to understand the changes of its body and quickly grows accustomed to living as a vampire, the vampire still follows his vampire parent but can give their own blood to a human and have their own followers. A vampire can only become a full-fledged Dead Apostle after breaking free from the control of his parent vampire. To stop that eternal cycle, the Church has built the Burial Agency, to hunt heresy and destroy the Dead Apostles who won't leave a trace behind as their bodies turn into ash. The purpose of the Burial Agency is the extermination of all vampires as well as the sealing of the founding 27 Ancestors.
This term is used more loosely with magi that obtained vampire-like properties through their magecraft, and it looks to be more of label of how much is such property considered dangerous to other people. Zouken Matou is not considered a vampire by the Church even though he is possessing and eating the bodies of other people with his Crest Worms to sustain his life and is even called a vampire on one occasion, albeit as an insult, while Nrvnqsr Chaos is considered a Dead Apostle, despite the fact that he doesn't really drink blood but merely absorbs entire human (and animal) bodies as organic material. Difference is in scale: in normal circumstances, Zouken needs one body every few decades, while Nrvnqsr on one occasion devoured all residents of a hotel (over one hundred people) in mere minutes.
Types of Vampires
- True Ancestors.
- Demon Lords.
- Dead Apostles.
Curse of Restoration
True Ancestors and Dead Apostles possess a form of limited immortality, called the Curse of Restoration (復元呪詛, Fukugen Juso?). This ability operates under normal conditions and causes the vampire's body to regress through time to its original vampiric state whenever it receives an injury. However, this ability is also tied to the phases of the moon. As the moon waxes, the degree of injury that can be repaired, as well as the speed of the regression increases dramatically. For example, Roa would not have been able to survive Arcueid Brunestuds Marble Phantasm, were it not for the full moon. Additionally, it is the night of a full moon the time when the Dead Apostles and True Ancestors reach the height of their strength.[2]
References
- ↑
[] Melty Blood Act Cadenza PS2 Manual - Dictionary: Vampiric Impulses [Term], p.057 Vampiric Impulses [Term]
The base desire possessed by both True Ancestors and Dead Apostles.
In True Ancestors it is merely a bad habit, but in Dead Apostles it is a means of staying alive.
For those Dead Apostles who used to be human, it is something not entirely dissimilar from an expression of love.吸血衝動【用語】
真祖、死徒が持つ行動原理。
真祖のそれは病であり、死徒のそれは生存手段である。人間から死徒になったものは、それが人間でいうところの愛情表現に近いのだと論じている。 - ↑
[] Tsukihime Dokuhon PlusPeriod - TSUKIHIME Dictionary: Vampire [Term], p.178 Vampire [Term]
A general term for those that suck human blood. Refers specifically to the Dead Apostles, or those that have become bloodsuckers because of them.
The vampires in Tsukihime extract human blood to maintain their own flesh. If, during this process, the vampire injects their own blood into their human prey, that human will be unable to peacefully pass away. For a normal person, death will still find them before long regardless. However, on rare occasions, if the victim has high physical potential and the capacity of their soul is excellent, they will remain in the world of the living.
Afterward, their corpse is interred, and left alone for several years. During this time their brain melts, their soul is liberated from the cage of the body, and finally they arise as a kind of living dead called a "ghoul".
As a ghoul, they feed on the corpses sleeping in the graves around them to supplement their own missing flesh, restoring their physical body little by little. After many years of this, they will eventually regain their brain and intelligence. At this stage, they can finally be called a "vampire".
However, although this new vampire can move by their own will, they cannot escape from the rule of their sire's blood. Finally, after spending decades acclimating to life in the darkness, the vampire will begin attacking humans to create servants of their very own, while remaining subservient to the vampire that made them.
In order to obstruct this infinite cycle, the Church created the Burial Agency, Inquisitors that exist to slay Dead Apostles. The Burial Agency's goal is the utter eradication of all vampires, and the sealing of the 27 Ancestors that made them.吸血鬼【用語】
| Main works |
| Tsukihime • Tsukihime anime • Tsukihime PLUS-DISC • Kagetsu Tohya • Melty Blood • Melty Blood Re-ACT • Melty Blood Act Cadenza • Melty Blood Actress Again • Hana no Miyako |
| Remake Works |
| Tsukihime -A piece of blue glass moon- • Melty Blood: Type Lumina • Tsukihime -The other side of red garden- |
| Terms |
| Advantage • Age of Gods • Ahnenerbe • Bajiquan • Church • Dead Apostle • Demons • Demon Hunter Organization • Familiar • Magecraft • Magical Girl • Marble Phantasm • Mystic Eyes of Death Perception • Reality Marble • Psychic • Tohno • True Ancestor • Vampire |