[UA] Vampires and Magic. (long)

[Michael Price]

  Magic in UA require a level of knowledge, obsession
and abnormality that only about .1% of the population
typically possess.  Vampires in UA however are not
typical people, particularly when it comes to
obsession and abnormality.  The typical vampire is
traumatised, distrustful of society, and has plenty of
time to collect knowledge of the occult just noticing
odd behaviour and results.
  Normally humans would not come across significant
numbers of occult phenomina but over 200 years
patterns emerge.  Additionally the "family" is in
effect a large secret society with memories and
journals reaching back centuries and an agenda of
indentifing threats for neutralisation.  Not a very
coherent, well-structured, adaptive or innovative
secret society but a competent one nevertheless. 
Considering Vlad the Impaler, Elisabeth Bathony and
others helped with the research we can assume many
adepts told all they knew.  
  Therefore vampires in UA are far more likely to be
adepts (although perhaps not so much Archetypes). I
base the above observations on page 164 of the UA
handbook.  Firstly Vampires can only result from two
recessive genes, one each from the parents who must
therefore BOTH be Dracul descendents.  The "family"
although old would not have expanded as much a
genetically normal family due to the reproductive
problems they have.  Therefore both parents of a
vampire are likely to be fairly close relatives from a
historically violent family. 
  Vampires in UA are not neccesarily evil.  Plenty of
kids from abusive home become fine, even noble people.
 They are however constantly aware of "The smouldering
torch", their name for the Tiger and the guilt
associated with their creation by incest, family
history and associations.  They are likely to either
embrace their notoriety or renounce it totally.  To
become either heros or villians.  To become PC's in
other words.  Intra-family disputes have plagued the
family since at least the 15th century and have been
bloody at times.  They have always however been
"discrete" enough to aviod waking the Tiger.
  Note that many vampires would suffer from
non-vampiric genetic dysfunction.  After several
centuries of inbreeding the vampire gene is not the
only one they have two copies of.

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