Editing Vampire Broods (section)

===Unholy Metamorphosis===

Vampire hierarchy is based on the "Purity of Ichor", in other words how much they have metamorphosed from mere reanimated corpses into true xeno-monsters, as the greater the transformation the greater the Vampire's raw power and potential.  As a Vampire transforms they pass through several stages of unlife, a slow process achieved over the course of long decades.  An ambitious or crazed Vampire might seek a more rapid road to evolution, but such dark paths of wanton blood glutting and cannibalism more often than not results in failure as they spirals into insanity and loses themselves to their bestial nature.

*'''Thinblood''' is the fist stage of Vampirism, when the blood has only recently been infected with the Ichor.  The fledgling Vampire is little more than a reanimated corpse, physically much the same as before their death, and while they may still have some remnants of their humanity they are already irredeemable.  Vicious and enslaved to a hunger they cannot control, only time will tell if they survive the trials of unlife to evolve into true monsters.

*'''Halfblood''' is the second stage of Vampirism, when the blood has been completely replaced by the Ichor.  At this point the process has begun remaking the Vampire's undead flesh, granting them increased stamina, strength, and speed while slowly twisting them in body and soul.  Some internal organs have begun to meld or rearrange while others wither away, and it is at this stage where most vampiric mutations begin to appear.  A Halfblood Vampire may attempt to create Progeny but it is unlikely to succeed.

*'''Pureblood''' is the third stage of Vampirism, when the entire being has been saturated with the Ichor.  To survive to this stage the Vampire must be as cunning as they are strong-willed, a consummate predator and ruthless survivor.  Their internal physiology has completely mutated even if they still appear human, and their unliving bodies have been empowered beyond human norms, able to rip a man apart and shrug off wounds that would fell mortal creatures.  At this stage most Pureblood Vampires have also begun developing polymorphic abilities and psychic powers.  A Pureblood Vampire can reliable enact Ascension to create Progeny, although it remains a difficult and dangerous feat.

Legends say there are stages of Vampirism beyond even the Pureblood, nightmarish abominations of unspeakable evil.  It is said these elder-things are shapeshifters able to regenerate even from a pool of blood.  That they possess otherworldly strength capable of tearing apart plasteel, and that they can move quicker than the eye can follow.  That these profane creatures have great psychic power, able to whisper through the dark etheric echoes of the Ichor, manipulating their kind through planet-wide schemes from forgotten tombs.  But surely such primeval horrors are naught but legend....