Nosferatu

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The symbol of Clan Nosferatu.

"Arthur Lennig says of Nosferatu: "A kind of absract thing of evil, he has no nobility, nor does he inhabit the dark world of majestic satanic villains. Instead, he is a lower kind of evil, an obscene and loathsome creature that dwells amid decay and slime and crawling rats"

– Malcom South, Mythical and Fabulous Creatures

Nosferatu is an alternative name for vampire that has come to have some certain special meanings on /tg/. Whilst mostly associated with the World of Darkness, it also has its associations with the Dungeons & Dragons setting of Ravenloft and Red Steel, and with Pathfinder. Nosferatu is term for vampire in real life whose origins are unknown; it was actually used in Bram Stoker's orignal novel "Dracula". Most people claim that it's the Romanian word for "vampire", but that's actually not true. The prevailing theory is that it actually stems from a corrupted, garbled English translation of one of two words; the Romanian "Necuratu," meaning "unclean spirit," or Greek "Nosophoros," meaning "bringer of plague."

It sank into the vampire-fandom's consciousness with the 1922 German silent horror film "Nosferatu, A Symphony of Horror" - or, as it's more commonly called, "Nosferatu." An unlicensed Expressionist adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula, this fairly short film depicts an unwitting English real estate agent who arranges the transport of a Romanian "aristocrat," Count Orlock - actually a hideously deformed, rat-like vampire, to a quiet port town in England. There, he fatally drains multiple victims before one young woman, the agent's fiancee, sacrifices her life to lure Count Orlock into the sun's rays, where he is destroyed. The film is hugely popular amongst horror fans, you can watch it here since it's in the public domain. Its biggest influence was creating the idea that exposure to sunlight kills a vampire, rather than rendering it powerless or dormant. Orlock himself is a prime example of vampires done completely right.

World of Darkness

The Nosferatu are a Clan of Vampires in both the Old World of Darkness and the New World of Darkness (or the World of Darkness and the Chronicles of Darkness, whichever you prefer to use).

Vampire: The Masquerade

In Vampire: The Masquerade, the Nosferatu are cursed denizens of the sewers and storm drains who mutate into deformed monsters after being Embraced, usually looking just like Count Orlock.

Caine's curse manifests within the Nosferatu as physical monstrosity. Even the fairest become foul when Embraced, which some particularly spiteful Sewer Rats take advantage of to "humble" people they think are getting by on their good looks. In the Middle Ages, Nosferatu could pass themselves off as lepers or particularly filthy peasants, putting themselves beneath notice and into position to discover otherwise guarded secrets. In modern nights, the Nosferatu make lairs in disused storm drains (where the clan got its common nickname) and other abandoned places where mortals won't notice their activity.

Thankfully (for the Nosferatu, at least), they are known for their mastery of Obfuscate, a discipline that them to turn invisible, conceal their presence, or fool the viewer into believing that they are someone else. Their ability to go unnoticed, both due to repulsion and obfuscate, is one of the main reasons their fellow Kindred need them. They are the perfect spies, with their clan culture being built around the gathering and distribution of information... for a price, of course. The Camarilla in particular makes heavy use of them, granting the clan membership.

One of the clan's sources of information is their private digital network called "ShreckNet". ShreckNet means their reach is almost unlimited; if a Sewer Rat in one city needs dirt on a newcomer, he can put it to ShreckNet and see if somebody already knows something. Plus, it gives them a much-needed way to talk to others without them freaking out over appearances, further cementing the Nossies as the Neckbeards of the World of Darkness.

Aside from its common uses to keep informed about goings-on in Kindred society, ShreckNet is also a vital means for Nosferatu to track sightings of a bloodline that strikes fear into their very souls, the Nictuku. This fear stems from their murderous Antediluvian, Absillimillard, who was known for his hatred of his childer. The modern-day clan is supposedly a descendent of his first childer, Baba Yaga, whilst the Nictuku are his legitimate ones. These Nictuku have since become a boogeyman of sorts to the entire clan; their sewer warrens also double as heavily-defended fortresses should any murderous Nictuku find them, and if one is "sighted", then they will lose their shit.

Vampire: The Requiem

In Vampire: The Requiem, whilst Nosferatu are still cursed to freak people out, they are not stereotyped into looking like a bunch of Count Orlock clones like their Masquerade counterparts; their freakishness can manifest in countless different ways, and some are actually so beautiful that it's unnerving, looking more like a too-perfect mannequin than a living being.

Notable bloodlines in 1e include:

• Burakumin: Japanese necromancers selected from the Shinto untouchable caste who keep physically aging until they look like walking corpses.
• Gethsemani: A Lanceae et Sanctum bloodline that can only Embrace stigmatics and who are consequently incurable masochists.
• Morotrophians: A bloodline which suffers crippling agoraphobia and an almost autistic need for social structure, leading to its members flocking to retirement villages, hospitals, mental institutes, orphanages, rehab clinics and monasteries.
• Rakshasas: An Indian bloodline who believe themselves to be the very demons they take their name from, as evidences by their savagely violent temperaments.
• Galloi: A bloodline which must take regular ritual blood-baths, or take on the appearance of hideously decayed corpses swathed in their own putrefying flesh. But bathing makes them just as disturbing, because they become inhumanly beautiful androgyns who freak people out.
• Baddacelli: A bloodline cursed with irreversible blindness who develop the power to echolocate and mimic the voices of others to compensate.
• Noctuku: Analogues to the Niktuku of the OWoD, this bloodline must feed on human flesh as well as blood, and also craves the blood of other vampires like a drug.
• Yagnatia: A cursed Russian bloodline afflicted with sterility; only a ritual blessing that only the female members of the bloodline can perform can temporarily grant them the ability to Embrace mortals.

Dungeons & Dragons

Ironically, in D&D, Nosferatu is actually used to refer to vampires based more directly on Dracula as he appeared in Bram Stoker's novel, most notably in being unharmed physically by sunlight.

Mystara

The Mystaran Nosferatu is characterized by its immunity to sunlight and its strong resistance to clerical attacks - holy symbols, for example, don't work on them. They are all cursed to crave the blood of others, but not all of them are evil.

Ravenloft

The Nosferatu of the Demiplane of Dread is another beast entirely. These vampires are unharmed by sunlight, but it does strip them of access to their special attacks and supernatural qualities. They drink blood, and anyone they bite is subject to the nosferatu's mind control whenever the nosferatu wishes. They got a lot more powerful when the edition switched from 2nd to 3rd, such as gaining the ability to regenerate when exposed to moonlight (the moonlight biz may have been based on John Polidori's 1819 short story "The Vampyre")

5e

Nosferatu returned in Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. These versions don't resemble either of the ones seen before, and instead have been redesigned more in the vein of their World of Darkness counterpart. They are basically 5e's take on the Vrykolaka.

The 5e Nosferatu is a wretched, deformed, perpetually starving vampire-kin that is constantly hunting for blood. When sated, it gains a momentary respite from its madness and regains some level of human-like thought, but all too swiftly, the hunger takes over again and it once more becomes a beast. Though for some reason it has a pseudo-Breath Weapon in the form of vomiting necrotizing blood on its victims.

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  2e

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  3e. Nosferatu on left.

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  5e

Pathfinder

In stark contrast to their D&D counterparts, the Golarion nosferatu is intended to resemble its film namesake, with bald scalp, rat-like hands and vaguely bat-like features. Believed to be a failed precursor to the "standard" vampire (Moroi), these ancient vampires are known for their sterility, which leaves them a dwindling, dying breed that other vampires laugh at.

Deadlands

In Deadlands, nosferatu are particularly savage and bestial vampires who look just like the Count Orlok character. Introduced in Dime Novel #3: "Night Train", they were the first of many strains of vampire to be added to the Deadlands world.