[center][b]We've begun, but I'll still be accepting sheets for the forseeable future :)[/b][/center]

[list][*] Tl;dr - vampires integrated into the modern world. What could go wrong?[/*]
[*] Style - best of both worlds, modern realism and campy gothic[/*]
[*] Discretions - violence, gore, sex[/*][/list]

[center][IMG]http://i62.tinypic.com/fvfi2x.png[/IMG][/center]

Though the stones had been rolling for a little while beforehand, it started on the first of January, 1980. The vampires declared themselves. Where previously they had been covert, true identities hidden from society altogether, those movers and shakers among them decided it was time to reveal themselves.

Those movers and shakers were well-placed. While some vampire dynasties are still yet to 'come out', many of those in the Western world with great power belong to the vampires' flock. While humans breed children, vampires breed those with proven power and influence to bring to the table. It was with surprise and, yes, some horror, to the average citizen that their historic rulers, financial dynasties and families of import were not of their own world.

At first there was outright global resistance, and, though it varied upon the country, Europe cracked first. With vampires in high places, it did not take long for vampires to attain legal status, and further rights until, in many European countries, vampires acheived equal status with ordinary breathers. Still, much of the world is not as progressive; while vampires enjoy safe existence from legal, religious, and vigilante persecution in South America, Japan, and most of Europe, the Americas, Africa, and the vast majority of Asia remain hotbeds of lynchings and witch-hunts, both literal and media-based. This is no doubt on account of the limited presence of vampires in the upper-echelons of those societies.

At around the turn of the Millenium, the so-called Age of the Vampire began - at least in Europe. Strict charters imposed by vampires internally and the law externally were naturally drawn up to regulate the process of feeding. It was no longer acceptable to simply slaughter one's way across a city, draining the homeless, the vulnerable, and the destitute. Though cagey at first, the vampire community was, on the whole, true to its word in the exclusive feeding from willing doners - [i]paid[/i] doners. The boom of the blood market was inevitable. Every human on the planet was eligible to blood-let, and with the vampire community as a whole having money to spend, prices were at a premium. The unemployed were no longer unemployed. Homeless hostels and suitable medical practices were bought out or established by vampires, exchanging services for the needy at the cost of excess blood. Nobody need die, and nobody need have their hand forced. Vampire and human cooperation - it was a utopia waiting to happen.

With vampires suddenly an economic and social miracle, they became, frankly, fashionable, and, where their social scene had been, in the darker days of the '80s, underground or at the very least segregated, humans were becoming more and more interested in vampire culture. Vampire bars serving, predictably, blood, suddenly had standard alcoholic drinks on the menu. The diffusion is mutual, with the top blood brands being served on draught in ever more human-oriented establishments. With the Netherlands having adopted pro-vampire legislation first, it benefitted first from the vampire integration and Amsterdam is now, without a doubt, the Vampire Capital of the world.

Needless to say, not everybody is happy. While progressives in the religious field have turned the other cheek and welcomed vampires into society, those more conservative movements, including, typically, the Roman Catholic Church, consider vampires aberrations to be eliminated from society. These movements lobby, as any religion does on those matters close tho their interests. At the same time, there are cells, like with many religious movements, that seek to take matters into their own hands and decrease the vampire population more directly - by force.

At the same time, many vampires resent the new world order, in which humans and vampires enjoy equal footing instead of vampires having a perceived superiority. In particular, vampire breeding is now regulated to prevent the total vampire population becoming unsustainable - just like having children in the traditional sense, breeding is a very emotional and heartfelt issue, and not one that many feel should require a license. At the same time, there are psychos that enjoy the hunt as much as the blood.

This RP takes place in Amsterdam, a modern-day metropolis speaking every language (conveniently, everybody speaks English!) with immigrants, human and vampire alike, from around the world, living and, usually, breathing as one. This vampire paradise, or 'vamparadise' if you will, is a fragile balance of respect, restraint, and cooperation. Wouldn't it be a shame if something upset that balance?

[hider=Lore][b]Origins:[/b] nobody is quite certain where vampires came from, though, due to the viral nature of the way vampires breed, it is believed that they originated from just one single individual. Supernatural, rather than genetic, origins are considered silly and even offensive.

[b]Blood:[/b] blood is like a bonus nutrient for vampires. Without it, their vampire-ness, and therefore, the vampire, dies. Exact reactions to blood vary: for some it's like a drug hit, for some it's a nice glass of wine, for some it's a sexual thing, and for others it's like having vegetables with a meal. Yes, vampires do eat, but very little, because the energy they gain from blood is largely sufficient.

[b]Biology:[/b] let's not ask too many questions here, because I'm not a biologist and can't possibly justify this stuff. To all intents and purposes, vampires are living beings with beating hearts. They just don't necessarily actually breathe (except to talk).

[b]Powers:[/b] yes, vampires come with powers, including bonus strength, bonus agility, speedy physical regeneration, and even a little bit of vague telepathy. None of this is crazy powerful (I didn't use the term 'super'), but a vampire will generally hands-down physically overpower the average human. The telepathy is more of a biological, pheromoney thing, and not directly controlled. In the same way animals can be 'on heat', vampires can evoke emotions in others, from fear through rage through arousal. Typically this emotive behaviour is more visceral and impulsive, rather than contempletive and mellow. Range of effects depend on the strength of the vampire and the willpower of the subject. Humans are more susceptible than vampires, though both can be effective.

[b]Siring:[/b] or, breeding. A human dying of bloodloss that drinks the blood of a vampire will become that vampire's progeny, resurrecting shortly after their death. This doesn't simply create a fully-fledged vampire instantly; the resultant vampire, called a progeny, is weak, frail, and hugely dependent on their sire, just as a human baby is. It takes a progeny usually ten to twenty years (though it can certainly be longer) to become 'fledged' and to stop being dependent on their sire. During this fledgling period, they are typically emotionally unstable, highly compulsive, and extremely susceptible to their sire's telepathy, which can be so influential as to be considered out-and-out mind control. During this fledgling period, they usually live in service to their sire to a lesser or greater degree, and this is encouraged so as to form the bedrock of vampire social structure. They will usually continue to show their sire great respect and generally obey them even once fledged. Depending on the sire in question, their relationship may be formal or not. Conservative vampire society favours formal sire-progeny relationships; progressive vampire society favours more relaxed relationships. A sire in good control of his progeny completely sets out the path that that progeny will follow for the rest of their lives.

[b]Weaknesses:[/b] On the whole, if you want to kill a vampire, do it thoroughly. Destroying the heart or the brain is the way to go, but they do have some kryptonites.
[list][*] Sunlight: not really. Vampires are typically paler than humans and so exposure to the sun is more damaging to vampire than a human, but not crippling. Fledgling vampires are even weaker.[/*]
[*] Holy relics: no[/*]
[*] Garlic: really no[/*]
[*] Running water: they can cross it[/*]
[*] Stake through the heart: anything through the heart[/*]
[*] Silver: no[/*]
[*] OCD: vampires are typically compulsive, and can be distracted by disruptive patterns. A folkloric measure against vampire attacks was to spill grain - they'd go batshit and have to count each grain while you made a getaway[/*]
[*] Entry without invitation: there's no real magic force stopping a vampire entering a dwelling without invitation, but fledgling vampires have historically had this rule drilled into them to the point that they really do have to ask for permission, on the whole, before entering a dwelling. How individual vampires interpret this may vary - you have been warned![/*]
[*] Blood deprivation: will definitely kill a vampire[/*][/list]

[b]Age:[/b] Vampires do not age physically, but they do mature. As they grow older, they tend to grow more powerful in their general vampire superhuman-ness, and so the older the vampire, the more respected and feared. They do not die of natural causation.

[b]Appearance:[/b] They look like humans, but slightly paler than their skintone would presume to the point of looking a little ill. Presumably, the blood isn't too close to the skin because it's off doing wonderful biological vampiric stuff. They're not just snow-white, though. A black vampire still has a darker skin-tone than a white human, natch. Fangs are a dead giveaway, and permanent, though they grow in during the fledgling state.

[b]Bats:[/b] No correlation, beyond folklore.

[b]Half-Vampires:[/b] Nope. Vampires are sterile. They cannot conceive. This has nothing to do with my violent and flagrant bias against half-breed characters in general and half-vampires in particular. Honest.[/hider]

[hider=The Golden Rules]While the legal jargon is obviously extensive and complex, what follows are the golden rules. These are largely new to the vampire population and are considered the key milestones to human-vampire cooperation.

[list][*] Vampires must obey the laws of the land and should expect to be protected by them.[/*]
[*] Vampires may not feed off unwilling humans. Doing so is considered the equivalent of rape in addition to whatever injuries are sustained. Clearly this is a grey area when humans are under the influence of drink, drugs, or crazy vampire mind-powers.[/*]
[*] Vampires may not sire an unwilling subject, require a means-tested license for each new progeny, who must then be registered with local authorities. Licenses are almost exclusively a means of hugely staggering the vampire population; there should apparently be no more than one vampire per five hundred humans.[/*][/list][/hider]

[hider=Amsterdam]Amsterdam has, naturally, changed a little bit since the beginning of the Age of the Vampire. Strictly speaking, many of these facilities are commonplace around Europe but these are most prevalent in Amsterdam.

[b]Population:[/b] it's a hugely popular destination for vampires and those interested in vampire culture, as the vampire capital of the world. Fewer than half of the current population is actually indiginous Dutch, and there are representatives of every nationality. English is the most widely-spoken language (not too unlike today's Amsterdam!) As a result of this boon, Amsterdam is both hugely wealthy and extremely densely populated.

With every immigrant-based population boom comes a level of competition among the lower classes for employment and work. Many humans have been forced to relocate to the suburbs and rely on the blood-letting industry to get by. Naturally, this causes tensions between some humans and the vampire society.

[b]The Red Light District:[/b] where previously Amsterdam's red light district was focused on drugs and the sex-trade, it now refers to a different area entirely; the centre of vampire services and nightlife. There are clinics where humans can literally sell their blood and get medical advice and support, naturally tailored to the vampire topics. However, the area is most famous for its night-life, with bars serving (yes) blood and the vast majority of them have rooms upstairs for when their vampire clientele and humans want to get some 'privacy'. Some bars have hugely seedy reputations; others insist on being higher-class establishments.

[b]Facilities:[/b] not actually part of the red light district, but integral to it, there are many facilities around the city designed to support (some say 'exploit') the destitute, the unemployed and the homeless. In essence, they are hostels for which the only price is the blood in your veins.

[b]Churches:[/b] a curious thing has happened to religion. You might think that religion would implode under the new revalations, but they're more popular than ever before. Some have embraced the new world; others rail against it and decry vampires as aberrations. Either way, religion has been reinvigorated by the Age of the Vampire and church attendance has never been so high.[/hider]

[hider=Locations][b]Ogthoven Manor / Tuinhuis van Ogthoven:[/b] a manor to the West of Amsterdam surrounded by countryside. It's a little bit dilapidated, but it's being renovated. This is the primary residence of Albert Ogthoven and a bit of a coincidental throwback to previous vampire mythology, where secretive nobles eat local peasants that get lost - this was actually the situation at the time. Despite being a bit creaky and rough around the edges, it's still fairly luxurious and a nice getaway from the busy urban Amsterdam. Albert entertains guests fairly often, human and vampire, as part of his policy of encouraging vampire-human cooperation, hence the recent efforts to fix the damn hovel up.

[b]The Burlesque:[/b] a falsely bohemian vampire bar in the red light district. While it tries to be all cool, edgy and dark, it's actually one of the nicer bars in the area, tastefully decorated, a little bit expensive, and generally rather pleasant. The blood it serves is usually fresh and of high quality. It has private rooms for feeding, but these are actually furnished properly in a proper hotel style, unlike dodgier establishments, and there is a very very strict understanding that they are to be hired in the event of live feeding. The staff are well-dressed and there are doormen to personally greet clients; 'Welcome' signs are considered tacky but vampires still have to be invited in. Music is typically the house band, and there is a proper stage for periodic performances of whatever sort - rarely actual burlesque. The room is decorated with lots and lots of leafy plants, and is styled after the ultimate lounge/living room, rather than a club. Owned by Albert Ogthoven, who actually uses one of the rooms for personal day-to-day use while in town.

[b]Downstairs in Red:[/b] rather a step-down from the Burlesque. Basically a strip joint and more normal bar rolled into one, in a way that would never be accepted in purely human terms. The blood is cheap trash, even serving pig's blood for the poorer/less choosy clientele. As usual, there are rooms upstairs, but it's not rare to find a vampire simply chowing down on their human friends in plain sight, though this is somewhat discouraged. The rooms are basically cells, anyway. The main body of the building is a dancefloor with a few high tables and stools, television screens displaying deals behind the bar and showing music videos that don't usually actually match the generic house and pop music of the environment. The 'other room' (ie: the one with strippers) looks just like any other strip joint - half-heartedly pretending to be classy but not really trying. Also owned by Albert Ogthoven, who basically never sets foot there.

[b]European head office of Liberal Recovery Bank:[/b] found along the outside of the city, due to a lack of building space within the city itself. It mirrors in style to the one in down town New York city. The building itself, is about twenty-three stories high, and made of glass. The lobby is large and open with a lot of security guards looming around. There is a check in centre before you would have to pass through security, which acts much like an airport. Once inside there are offices upon offices, each having their own little room rather than the cubical style. Almost all of the building is working towards the company itself, but there are some of the lower floors rented out for the right price. Miss Dune’s personal office is on the top floor and is the size of about four offices put together.

[b]Jan Bakers Architect bureau Amsterdam office:[/b] Located just outside the heart of Amsterdam, this young thriving company has recently settled in the so-called 'Clipper Building' together with three other companies. Their main office is located in Utrecht, but with the increasing demands for architects, they opened a branch in Amsterdam as well. The building is four stories high, made out of concrete and glass, lacking every characteristic appeal that seems to ooze out of the Herenhuizen (city mansions, I don't really know how to translate it) on the channels, the character that Amsterdam is known for. The reception is shared with the other companies but Bakers' hires the whole second floor. This floor breathes light and is designed by someone who lacked any colours but white. Sketches and photos of finished projects decorate the walls of the waiting room as well as the branch leader's office. It's relatively small, but for a business that opened up only twelve years ago in Utrecht, it's quite the accomplishment.

[b]Caito and Jansen Law Firm:[/b] Located just inside the border of the city. Built in the early 90's, what was once the Caito Law Firm has recently taken a new partnership becoming Caito and Jansen. The building isn't the most modern, standing only two stories high. Made of a mixture of both brown and red bricks. Plans are currently in the making so that the building can be remodeled to add in another story. On the first floor is the waiting room which is fairly large, with light wooden floors and easily fits at least thirty chairs for clients. There are at least two security guards, and three lobbyist who take in the paperwork and answers the phones. Also there are a few offices of the legal assistants. The second floor holds more legal assistant offices, the law firms records, and the office of Anthony Catio.[/hider]