Vampires are frozen in the state at which they are transformed.
PHYSICAL CHANGE:
Vampires are frozen in the state at which they are transformed. They do not grow older, taller, or wider, or experience any other physical change, including unconsciousness (vampires never sleep). Their fingernails and hair do not grow. Their hair does not change color.
ABILITIES AND LIMITATIONS
A vampire's physical and mental abilities far exceed those of a human being. Vampires can run in excess of a hundred miles per hour. They are able to lift objects hundreds of times their own weight. Their senses are similarly boosted, giving them the ability to see, hear, and smell things imperceptible to humans. Their skin is harder than granite, rendering their bodies nearly indestructible. Their minds work many times faster than humans' are capable of, and all vampires have perfect recall.
IMMORTALITY:
Vampires do not age from the moment their transformation is complete. Vampires have no natural life cycle; they exist in this progressionless status indefinitely. This is a conditional form of immortality, as they can be permanently destroyed by fire. However, their speed and strength make it necessary to incapacitate them before burning them. Only another supernatural creature has the ability to incapacitate a vampire, by tearing her limbs from her body (thus vampires are in no danger from human beings). A vampire who is incapacitated but left unburned has the ability to reconstitute herself.
One facet of the absence of aging is that vampires do not develop emotionally or mentally past the age at which they are transformed. A transformed child would remain childlike forever, unable to mature in any aspect.
NUTRITION:
Vampires do not have a circulatory system. Their bodies are harder than human bodies, but their cells are selectively porous. They receive nutrition only from blood, which, once drunk, is absorbed throughout the body. Blood satiates their thirst and makes them physically stronger, but it is not necessary for life. Vampires cannot starve to death; they only get progressively weaker and thirstier as time goes on. They are not able to digest solid food. If a vampire swallows a solid as a subterfuge, that substance will sit in his stomach until he forces it back out through his mouth.
Human blood is the most appealing to vampires--and hardest to resist. However, they can receive the same nutritional strength from animal blood. Vampires do not need to feed as often as humans do; drinking the blood of one human is enough to satiate a mature vampire for a week or two.
SUPERNATURAL ABILITIES
Most vampires find their key personality characteristics intensified by the vampire transformation in the same way their physical abilities are strengthened, but relatively few have abilities that can be classified as supernatural. More common would be a human with a love of learning becoming a vampire with an insatiable scholarly curiosity, or a human with a deep value for human life becoming a vampire with the strength to avoid human blood.
But a few vampires do develop additional abilities that go beyond the natural. These extra abilities are due to psychic gifts in the original human that are intensified in the resulting vampire. For example, a human who was very sensitive to other people's moods might develop the vampire ability to read thoughts or influence emotions. A human who had some limited precognition might develop into a vampire with a strong ability to see the future. A human with a good instinct for hunting might become a powerful vampire tracker.
The proportion of supernaturally talented vampires to "normal" vampires is greater than the proportion of psychically gifted humans to "normal" humans. This is due to the same factor of temperament that results in more beautiful humans being selected to become vampires. Vampires are also drawn to gifted humans when they look to create companions. Some vampires actively seek out the gifted in the hope of utilizing that extra ability in their coven.
"I've always loved superheroes, so the vampires I created actually have a lot more in common with superheroes than with horror-genre vampires." --Stephenie
NEWBORN VAMPIRES
A newborn vampire--defined as any vampire who is less than one year from his date of transformation--is different from a more mature vampire in behavior and appearance. The newborn is plagued by an unrelenting thirst and will feed as often as possible. The thirst is so maddening in the first year that most newborns are more animalistic and wild than their older counterparts.
They are marked as physically different by their vibrantly crimson irises, though in other ways they look the same as mature vampires. Their behavior is more diverse than their appearance. As they age, their behavior generally becomes more rational and constant.
THE TRANSFORMATION PROCESS
The transformation from human to vampire begins with a vampire bite. Once the venom coating the vampire's teeth enters the bloodstream of a human, it moves through the human's body, changing each cell as it passes. The spread of the venom is swift, but the reconstruction of the cells takes time. This process is excruciatingly painful, comparable to the feeling of being burned alive. The process lasts for roughly two to three days, depending on how much venom is present in the circulatory system and how close to the heart it entered. There is no way to circumvent the burning with painkillers; the most narcotics can do is immobilize the body.
One benefit to the human is that vampire venom is capable of repairing all kinds of damage to the body. A human who had sustained a crippling injury would be made whole again as a vampire. Venom does have limits, though; it could not, for example, regrow a lost limb.
Only vampires with a great deal of self-control are able to remain focused enough to bite a human and then let him live long enough for the venom to effect the change.
The transformation is difficult from the vampire perspective as well. Even mature vampires have trouble resisting flowing human blood. The scent affects them as it does sharks; they can go into a feeding frenzy. For this reason, vampires tend to not hunt in packs. During the irrational frenzy, members of a coven are likely to turn on one another in competition for the blood. The taste of human blood makes it even harder for the vampire to resist. It is nearly impossible for a vampire to not drain the human--thus killing him or her--once the vampire has tasted blood. Only vampires with a great deal of self-control are able to remain focused enough to bite a human and then let him live long enough for the venom to effect the change.
SINGERS:
There is another factor that can complicate this process for the vampire. The smell of each human is different, and certain humans can smell more appetizing than is usual to vampires. The more appealing any human's scent (and taste) is to a vampire, the more difficult it will be for that vampire to bite the human and still leave him alive.
Infrequently, a specific human will smell nearly irresistible to a specific vampire. That human is known as a "singer" among vampires, because his or her blood "sings" for the vampire in question. Singers are individual phenomena; a person whose blood sings for one vampire will not have the same effect on all vampires. While there are some humans whose scents are more appealing to vampires in general, that appeal does not reach the level of a singer. Singers are considered by most vampires to be a great find, the drinking of whose blood is an experience to be savored.
VAMPIRE HISTORY
The oldest known vampire history is that of the Romanian coven (named for the location in which they originated, which would later be known as Romania), the most powerful coven during the time before 400 A.D. Their power resulted from their numbers; the Romanians were the first to expand their single coven beyond the normal two or three vampires. They had to cooperate in a way unusual to vampires to accomplish this (see "The Transformation Process" for information about feeding frenzies), but their self-control extended only to their fellow vampires. The Romanian coven made no secret of its existence and both preyed on and enslaved humans indiscriminately. The Romanians were overthrown by the Volturi coven between 400 and 500 A.D.
The Volturi coven originated in G
reece during the Mycenaean Era. It began with three original members--Aro, Caius, and Marcus--and then grew to a core of six as the members found romantic partners: Sulpicia, Athenodora, and Didyme. Ambition was their bonding element, much the same as with the Romanians. The Volturi actively recruited gifted humans into their coven. Eventually, using the basic argument that vampires should conform to simple laws of mutual convenience, the Volturi launched a successful war against the Romanians, who would not conform to these laws. The Volturi hunted the Romanians until there were only two survivors of the original coven, Stefan and Vladimir.
The Volturi coven is both the largest and easily the most talented group of vampires in existence.
The Volturi preserved ruling status over the years through coven strength and a policy of general noninterference. The Volturi coven is both the largest and easily the most talented group of vampires in existence, but they could still be overthrown if they gave the other vampires of the world a reason to unite against them. For this reason, the Volturi do not get involved with other vampires frequently, and act against other covens only when there is a complaint that could negatively affect other vampires. Consequently, they are commonly perceived by vampirekind as a positive force.
There are very few vampires alive who predate the Volturi. Most have been born into a world where the laws constructed by the Volturi are an accepted fact of life. This protects the Volturi from the realization that their laws are merely an excuse to exert control over the vampire world.
THE SOUTHERN WARS:
One notable event during the modern rule of the Volturi was the war that engulfed most of the southern part of North America during the early 1800s. Precipitated by a vampire known as Benito, the conflict began when Benito created a small army of newborns in order to conquer the older covens that controlled the majority of what is now Mexico and Texas. His tactic was so successful that most covens in the area created their own armies of newborns to defend against him and the other covens that were also reacting. The resulting disappearance and death toll was so alarming to the humans in the area that supernatural causes were suspected and reported (though the epidemic was later blamed on cholera). The Volturi eventually descended in force on the area and exterminated every coven that had experimented in the creation of newborn armies.
VAMPIRE LAW
The basic law of the vampire world is that all vampires must protect the secret of their existence. This affects vampire life in a variety of ways. Vampires must be circumspect enough in their hunting and behavior that humans do not become aware of them. Or, if a human were to become aware, the vampire at fault would be responsible for silencing that human. Neither of these is a particularly difficult task.
As long as a vampire's interaction with humans does not garner wide attention, there is no consequence to the vampire. Many vampires have relationships with humans to varying degrees, and as long as these stay within boundaries, the Volturi are not aware. However, if something suspicious--something that might indicate the existence of vampires--was known widely enough to appear in the human news, or even in human fiction, the Volturi would hunt the rumor to its source.
TEACHING THE LAW:
Vampire laws are not written down; to write them would in itself be an infraction. Vampire laws are passed by word of mouth from creator to newborn, and each creator is responsible for the behavior of his creation. If a newborn is abandoned by his creator (a rare occurrence, given the difficulty of creating a new vampire), the newborn, though ignorant of the law, is still punishable for any rash acts.
IMMORTAL CHILDREN:
Sometimes group behavior will bring on a stronger response from the Volturi. The Southern Wars are one example. Another example would be the outlawing of immortal children.
Immortal children were humans who had been transformed into vampires at a very early age. There was no absolute age limit set as to what constituted an immortal child; it was a subjective definition, based on the child's ability to behave himself in a way consistent with vampire law.
Like all vampires, immortal children were frozen at the mental and physical age at which they were transformed. Post-transformation, these small children continued to exhibit childish behaviors, including impulsive acts, tantrums, irresponsible activities, and a general lack of circumspection. These behaviors were incompatible with the law of secrecy, and immortal children often attracted the notice of humans.
Another aspect of immortal children was their appeal; they were both beautiful and endearing. Covens were utterly devoted to their immortal children, and would protect them at all costs.
The Volturi found themselves punishing individual covens for the behavior of their immortal children with a much greater frequency than other occurrences of lawlessness. Because of the devotion inspired by immortal children, the Volturi were forced to destroy full covens in order to destroy an immortal child. After some study into the matter, the Volturi decreed that immortal children were not capable of following the law, and therefore it was no longer legal to create an immortal child. Anyone responsible for creating such a child would be destroyed whether that child had broken the law or not.
The Volturi continued to experiment with and study immortal children for centuries, but has never reversed its decision.
"The only time I really did any research on vampires was when the character Bella did research on vampires. Because I was creating my own world, I didn't want to find out just how many rules I was breaking." --Stephenie
VAMPIRE MYTHS
There are many myths about vampires, most of them created and put into circulation by the Volturi. Their purpose is to disguise the existence of vampires behind stories that could never be proven to have a basis in truth--and to make it possible for a vampire to easily "prove" that he is not a vampire to a human who believes the myths (by touching a cross or standing in front of a mirror, for example). Additionally, these myths give humans a sense of control over the supernatural. Though vampires are never in any danger from humans, the Volturi contend that human ignorance makes hunting more convenient for all.
MYTHS CIRCULATED BY THE VOLTURI INCLUDE:
Vampires are burned by the sun.
Vampires are always unconscious during daylight hours.
Vampires have no reflection.
Vampires can be harmed by crosses, holy water, and garlic.
Vampires have visible fangs.
Vampires can assume the form of a bat.
Vampires must have permission to enter a house.
Vampires can be killed by a wooden stake stabbed into their hearts.
TRUTHS THE VOLTURI WERE ABLE TO ERADICATE OVER TIME:
Vampires have red or black eyes (gold wasn't a known option at the time).
Vampires reflect sunlight prismatically.
Vampires never sleep.
Vampires are nearly indestructible.
TRUTHS THE VOLTURI WERE NOT ABLE TO QUASH:
Vampires are flammable.
Vampires are pale.
Vampires drink blood.
Vampires are beautiful.
Vampires are immortal.
One benefit of the surviving truths is that there are humans who actually seek out vampires in an attempt to gain beauty or immortality. This benefits the Volturi when they want a human front as a facade.
VAMPIRE LIFESTYLES AND PSYCHOLOGY
Though there are a range of vampire lifestyles, the most common is nomadic. The majority of vampires move frequently, never settling permanently in one place. This pattern is partly an attempt to hide from the notice of humans. If too many humans disappear from one area, suspicion might be aroused and the Volturi might take notice. Also, if a vampire interacts regularly with humans, eventually the humans will notice that the vampire isn't aging. Another aspect is boredom. Vampire lives are so long that many keep up a continuous search for novelty.
A few covens are exceptions to this rule, and maintain semipermanent or permanent homes. Doing this requires a great deal
of subterfuge--if the coven wants to avoid suspicion and keep the Volturi from becoming involved--and most vampires don't care for the hassle.
BONDING FACTORS:
Most commonly, a coven is made up of two members. One feature of the unchanging nature of vampires is that they mate for life. Once they fall in love, that feeling never fades. As a general rule, only the bond between mates is strong enough to survive the competitive drive for blood. Larger covens are less stable, and usually end because of internal violence.
The second bonding force, and one that is--unlike romantic love--able to keep a large coven stable, is ambition. Vampires are competitive by nature, and some vampires have been able to evolve this competitive disposition into a greater cause capable of uniting many individuals into a secure whole. The pursuit of power is that bonding cause for vampires. The Romanians were the first to do this successfully for a significant length of time.