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So I want to incorporate vampires into the supernatural part of my world. I am reworking them right now to fit into mechanics of my world but I realized I don't know which are the most important/widespread/popular attributes of vampires. A vampire is a being with body of supernatural capabilities when compared to human. Other traits include need for blood (sucking it in by biting people)... aaand? Other than havings fangs to do it? I have already went to TVTropes but that's (surprisingly) unhelpful. Anybody got some good study of vampires? Anything? They're associated with night (as sunlight is supposed to be harmful). Bats - either control over them or transformation into one; they can make new vampires by biting people although whether each bite is contagious is not agreed upon. Mind control over mortals? Only to lure them (like the Call in Watch series) or something more? Casting shadow or having a reflection... those are hard to explain if your magic sort-of obeys physics... The being pale thing I got down I'm not sure what to do with the coffins. Weaknessess: decapitation... it works on everything though. Fire and holy symbols are usually useful against creatures of the Dark... but what if they're not of evil? Also, the age-old questions: would cross work on Jewish vampire? Would atheist be able to scare off a vampire? Would anything work on atheist vampire? Silver. That's pretty universal but I'm not sure how would I incorporate it. It also works against werewolves but why? Is silver universally effective against dark creatures? Running water. No idea either what to do with it or what to make of it. Stakes. I understand it's because destroying heart of a being living on blood is hard for them... but why wood? Invitation... dark forces cannot enter homes until invited, right? Garlic. It almost feels random. What is garlic doing as somebody's weakness? Et cetera, et cetera. I may be later discarding things left and right but right now I want to see what can I fit in into the system.