#(also for those who are catalyst!techno enthusiasts like me:

[freezethebeez]

What’s the public perception of humans and vampires and half vampires? How does this vary by region? Are there any diseases specific to vampires?

The public perception that humans have of vampires tends to vary from person to person.

Vampires, both half and full, are generally more accepted in modern society, although there's still a bit of discrimination against half-vampires due to the fact that some humans don't know how to perceive them (half-vampires can survive off both fully human diets, or fully vampire diets, although it is advised to have a mix of both to maintain good health).

Back in the day (medieval times and whatnot) vampires were both hunted and attacked if exposed. A human would never win a fight one-on-one with a vampire, so small human communities were formed to take down vampires. This continued into the late 1970s until it became illegal to attack vampires without a warrant (because the government saw a profit in blood banks and knew that vampires had longer lifespans than humans so they could milk more money out of them for longer! Yay corruption!).

Conservative areas are more likely to have a distaste towards vampires, whereas more liberal/democratic areas don't really mind them.

Politics aside, vampires in Catalyst are essentially an allegory for the existence of queer people, and human beliefs on them are formed as such.

As for diseases: yes, vampires can carry disease.

The disease itself does not affect them greatly. It may make their skin peel a little bit, but other than that they don't tend to feel any serious pain or other side effects.

A corpse cannot be affected by disease, it can only carry it. Vampires are technically just a bunch of walking corpses.

This makes for an interesting experience when it's pandemic season (which is every hundred years. Crazy for humans, not so crazy for vampires). Vampires are usually put under stricter regulations by the government, being forbidden from leaving their places of residence out of fear of spreading whatever disease was affecting humans at the time.