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In the Blade film series and television series, Vampires (''Homines nocturnae'', Latin: 'Night Human') are an offshoot of humanity descended from Drake (also known as Dracula or Dagon), an ancient Sumerian immortal who was worshipped as a god. There are two biological groups of vampires: those that are born such and those that are turned. "Purebloods" are vampires born of vampiric parents. Vampires who are turned are merely converted from humans by contagion, and are considered a byproduct of vampirism. In the ''Blade'' movie and television universe, vampires are depicted as a social pariah; using their financial and political influence to manipulate and influence the human population to suit their needs. They are written as an allegory for drugs, organized crime, and corruption. ==Overview== Vampirism in the ''Blade'' film series is a biological condition caused by a Parvovirus, not a supernatural affliction, although the ritual to awaken the vampire blood god La Magra in the first 1998 ''Blade'' film using pureblood vampires indicates that the vampire virus does possess some supernatural elements. In ''Blade'', vampires are a species, being a branch of ''Homo sapiens'' called ''Homines nocturnae'' and they are not affected by religious symbols such as crucifixes and holy water. Other attributes traditionally associated with vampires such as turning into mist or a bat are false. Vampires are intricately involved in most aspects of modern human society. Vampires also possess their own language, which many vampires speak. This language also has its own writing system, referred to as "vampire glyphs", which are often used in graffiti to mark vampire hideouts. In the ''Blade'' films, vampirism is a virus often transferred via the saliva of a vampire into the victim's bloodstream through a bite. The incubation period is 72 hours after infection for the virus to mutate the victim to become a vampire by creating new parasitic organs; even a person who is killed shortly after becoming infected can be turned and revive as a vampire if the infected individual is not properly drained of blood. In ''Blade: The Series'', infected humans have been shown to become vampires within a few hours after infection when they are killed after becoming infected. In ''The Series'', Marcus Van Sciver reveals that transformation from bites is not a highly reliable means of transmitting the vampire virus. He turns Krista Starr simply by injecting her with his blood via hypodermic syringe and dropping her from a two story building onto a car, killing her. She rises as a vampire over one hour later. It has also been shown in ''The Series'' that when an infected person is dead while turning into a vampire, they experience an After Death Experience (or ADE); in which they have visions both of their own dreams and memories as their cognitive functions reconstruct, and of when the vampire that infected them was turned (the latter is obtained via the infector's genetic memories transferred to the infected person). The ADE also gives a permanent connection between the new vampire and the vampire that turned them, although it is usually difficult to access. A vampire cannot produce sufficient or any amounts of hemoglobin as the vampire virus burns away what is produced, which is why vampires must feed on blood (preferably human). Ordinary food is edible to vampires, but provides little to no nutritional value and is usually done only for pleasure. This need for human blood (or blood in general) is known as "The Thirst" and is considered to be a vampiric weakness. As shown in ''Blade: The Series'', Blade's serum which inhibits and satiates his own thirst, it can also be used on full vampires to inhibit the thirst and the psychological changes the transformation into a vampire causes, although it will only do so if the vampire that uses the serum has recently been turned and not yet fed much yet when they first take the serum. Vampirism endows the vampire with several improved biological functions that grant numerous superhuman physical capabilities and highly enhanced senses. These are made possible via new specialized organs created during the mutation process. Such capabilities and traits include: * Vampires are biologically immortal and age significantly slower than humans, granting them a greatly extended lifespan. Vampires can live for centuries, if not millennia. * Vampires possess superhuman strength equivalent to that of ten men. They can leap large distances and deliver powerful blows; sufficient to throw an adult male human across a room with enough force to crack solid surfaces such as concrete. * Vampires move with great agility, celerity, and flexibility. They are also able to scale sheer surfaces including walls and ceilings. Krista Starr (''Blade: The Series''), a newborn vampire, was able to jump from her window onto the roof of another building in a single bound. Deacon Frost was able to easily dodge bullets fired by Blade. * A vampire's senses are sharper than those of a human. They can see into the ultraviolet spectrum and see clearly in total darkness. Their sense of smell allows them to smell blood. * Wounds tend only to slow the vampire down temporarily, healing quickly (in some cases regenerating entire body parts). This process is accelerated by the amount of hemoglobin absorbed from blood. Vampires are immune to terrestrial illnesses and diseases. Vampires do have several weaknesses: *Blood-thirst - Because vampires have an inability to sustain enough hemoglobin (virus causes hemolysis) they develop a form of anemia. This causes them to have a craving for blood, similar to food craving and substance dependence. If a vampire does not feed on blood for a long period of time, it will develop withdrawal symptoms and become gradually weaker and eventually die. In the movie, the need for blood is referred to as 'the Thirst' and is considered the defining and driving factor of all vampires. *Ultra-violet light - Being exposed to sunlight will severely burn and ultimately kill a vampire. This is not a supernatural relationship with the sun, as any UV light source will harm a vampire due to their inability to produce defenses in the skin. Blade uses a portable UV flashlight unit in the first film, and by the second film is using smaller gun-mounted UV lights. Some vampires have discovered that by applying heavy amounts of sunblock, mascara, or other materials to their exposed skin, they can functionally move around in daylight for a limited length of time without significant harm. Others have worn full-body covering suits i.e. motorcycle helmets to move around during the day. Those that produce a natural defense in the body from UV-light, allowing them to move around in daylight are called 'day walkers' in the film. *Impaling a vampire through the head or heart will permanently kill a vampire. Otherwise, they can eventually recover from virtually any injury. *Vampires are fatally allergic to silver and garlic which causes them to go into anaphylactic shock and possibly death. For this reason vampire-hunters like Blade rely on weapons made of silver, such as hollowpoint silver bullets filled with garlic. Non-lethal wounds from silver weapons are more difficult for vampires to heal. Whistler also developed an aerosol mace composed of silver nitrate mixed with garlic, which was quite effective. *The EDTA blood-thinner used in hospitals for clearing out blood clots in arteries reacts incredibly violently with vampire blood. Injecting a vampire with a syringe filled with EDTA will cause them to literally explode into a cloud of blood in a matter of seconds. *Vampires have a lower average body temperature than humans, making them easily distinguishable when viewed with a heat vision scanner. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Vampire (Blade)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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