Guide to Vampires
This is a somewhat in-detail (but also work-in-progress) introduction to Nycean, or viral, vampirism, its many offshoots, and its status in the Manaverse.
Strains: The Isolated and Undiscovered
Strains: The Isolated and Undiscovered
Of course, we would not be writing on something as highly-transmissible and immune-evasive as viral vampirism if we assumed the number of strains was limited to just these five. No, it is indeed quite likely there are yet more out there, either undiscovered, novel, or dead, due to the reality of Ferona as a spacefaring society. It is, after all, quite easy for a virus like this to spread not only within the confines of a spacefaring vessel, but also planetside on whatever world a Type A carrier happens to land on. After all, it is not only the union government and large firms that own these vessels--many are in private hands, and as such may not be subject to the same rules on crew composition that those working with larger concerns sometimes are.
These types of private space flights (whether real or Z-Space) are a perfect environment to allow the spread of viral vampirism to begin in earnest. Even should the carrier not feed on his crewmates (which, despite being recorded, is thankfully relatively uncommon), they may find it easier to dehumanise, and thus attack, the native population of whichever world they end up landing on, leading to more or less uncontrolled spread. Whether this leads to a new strain taking hold or not is often a matter of chance, as there is still the factor of death by vampire attack to contend with, but it can--and, indeed, has--been recorded multiple times that a chance attack on a single foreign being has led to the establishment of a new strain of viral vampirism--in one specific case, two attacks from one carrier led to two new strains presenting themselves within the same day.
However, these types of events are very much still the exception rather than the norm. In the vast majority of cases, a chance attack by a carrier of Type A on a yet-uninfected world's native population ends in relative failure for viral spread, even if it may be considered a successful hunt by the carrier themselves. Often, what happens in these cases is that the victim either dies to the attack, dies shortly after should their immune system actually detect and engage in a protracted battle with the virus, or an isolated strain is established that eventually dies out on its own due to the new vampire not knowing how to control itself. Only in rare instances (usually with assistance from outside sources) do these novel strains manage to establish a proper foothold in a world's population.
"Type F"
Given the incredible mutability and alarming volatility of Type A, it has long been assumed that there may well have been a Type F strain--somewhat endemic to Feronite Shapeshifters--long before the emergence of Type E or its child strains. Though there have been hints that this may have occured, there is currently no concrete evidence to suggest such a strain ever existed, possibly relegating it to the status of an urban myth.
Despite the extreme danger inherent to acquiring and working with not only active hosts of viral vampirism, but often the virus itself, this is rather a shame, as discovery of a Type F would constitute a missing link in the chain of viral evolution, and may assist in understanding some of the rather extreme changes the virus underwent during its evolution from Type A to Type B, perhaps even beyond. Regardless, for the sake of this document, we will keep searching for evidence of this strain's existence until we discover something concrete to share with the community.
Assumed Novel Strains
There have been many instances where a civilian, usually in a state of panic, has believed they've spotted a novel strain of vampirism, and attempted to report it to the authorities for designation, only to be told that (in the majority of cases) it is merely an offshoot of Type B or Type E. This can sometimes lead to a sort of mass craze, wherein people attempt to discover the next undiscovered strain of the virus, sometimes through less-than-savory means, and end up exposing themselves or their loved ones to the extreme dangers of this line of work. We often deal directly with outfits such as vampire cults or other such underworld elements to acquire our information, and while we are well-prepared to deal with the danger that accompanies that sort of information gathering, the average citizen is not. Do not assume that you are capable of defending yourself against a predator easily able to not only subdue you, but potentially everyone around you, before you can even react, especially within a confined space.
Still, information on any potential undiscovered or novel strains is extremely valuable to us, so in the event that anyone reading this document does manage to discover evidence of one and escape alive, we would recommend immediately collating whatever information you have managed to uncover--regardless of how much or how little--and sending a copy to one of our public-facing agents. Do not attempt to try your luck at finding more--leave that to us, as we are more than prepared to follow up on these sorts of leads. It will almost certainly have been pure dumb luck that you managed to escape with your life in the first place. We would not want you risking your own fur on our behalf.
Reporting a New Strain
As mentioned, if you have information on a potentially novel strain of viral vampirism, do not attempt to gather more. Instead, distill what you have into a readable, easily searchable format--electronic or otherwise--and give it to one of our many public-facing agents. Any information you can give us constitutes a lead we can follow in unearthing the evolution of this interesting and dangerous viral lineage, and it is neither required nor recommended for anyone reporting information to us to risk their own lives following the lead in tandem.
How Strains Are Designated
As you may have noticed, all confirmed strains possess a letter designation. This section will aim to explain how we derive these designations, what they mean, and how you, too, may be able to use this information to derive your own "unofficial" strain designations from the context in which strains were first isolated and discovered.
First, the letter itself. All strains are given a letter designation that represents, chiefly, how and where the specific strain was first isolated and recorded. For example, Type E; Type E is designated this way due to the circumstances of its discovery, having been first observed in a Euthoran Shapeshifter, and fully isolated on Euthora itself. The main exceptions to this are Types A and B, with Type A being the reference strain, hence its position at the top of the alphabet, and Type B being its direct descendant. Otherwise, all strains are designated either for the species they were first isolated in, the world they were initially isolated on, or both.
Substrain designation, by contrast, it a fair bit more complicated than it would first appear. These can either be named based on context, as in the case of Type B substrains, or with minuscule parentheticals, as in the case of the currently confirmed Type E substrains. All this is to say that there is no real standard for substrain designation, which is a potential source of confusion for anyone planning to involve themselves in this pursuit.
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