Story Update: Further Consequences of the 'Cure'

[Mooncalf]

Further consequences of the previous chapter are still being felt, and though your character might not be aware of these events, it's important for you to know as writers of roleplay in the event your own character becomes involved.

As you know, the "cure" developed by human scientists was stolen after an assault on the military base labs. The thief went to work in creating their own treatment, based on the research and the vial stolen. Eventually, they reached testing phases with the drug, and treatment began on a single subject.

The subject (who will not be named here) began to experience many strange and unpleasant side effects over a 6 week duration of multiple treatments and supervision, and eventually found themselves 'cured' in that they no longer have any of the properties of a vampire.

However, there was a longer lasting side effect. The vampire side (or "shade") of the individual awoke in the shadow realm, not understanding what happened, and believing themselves to be the true version of the subject. Once this vampire returned to life, they found themselves with a much wilder, darker side, and they often descend into fits of berserker rage and violence.

This vampire shade will regularly lash out on grid, attacking and sometimes wounding random individuals (of all races) who are in public locations. Moreover, they are going on killing sprees of humans during this feral state, which is raising the police wanted level of the individual, and significantly worsening relations between the vampire and human races. The shade most often attacks his or her human counterpart, who they cannot abide and seem most violent towards.

If your character is attacked by this vampire, you will be unable to tell if it's the human or the vampire who has attacked you, as the vampire's aura is muddled and you'll find it impossible to discern between the two individuals in a limited space of time while being skirmish attacked. In roleplay, your character (if a vampire or paladin with the appropriate power) will be able to tell the two apart, but only by studying them for a few moments.

The player of the affected character only has grid control of the human, and not the shade. However, they can write as the vampire version of their character on the forum, using the same account as the human character, if they wish. Shades do not yet appear on grid, as they cannot be killed and are able to jump between the shadow realm and the physical world at will, so attacking them is next to pointless anyway. However, making them appear on grid in some form is something we are currently considering (but they will not be controllable by the original player).

The cure item itself will soon be available to obtain from the original thief of the cure research, if they choose to give it to you. Using this item on grid will begin an automatic on-grid transformation. Should you undergo these treatments to their finality, however, your character will find themselves in the same boat as the affected subject. Your wanted level will increase massively, you'll find yourself with wounds very often, and your character will lash out at anyone and everyone it can, while in a feral state.

Taking the cure will not cause you to lose any of your character progress. You'll retain your levels, and receive an automatic power refund.

It's important to note that the vampire shade of your character is aware of one thing that your human character is not: namely, that should your human character re-sire as a vampire, they'll merge with the shade once more, and go back under their original sire, with their original path.

Please be aware that unless your character knows the individual who was cured, or is taking the cure themselves, the only way they could know about any of this is through 3rd hand information or through the grape vine, so to speak. If they are attacked by the shade of the cured individual, they wouldn't know the difference unless they were told about it.

[Mooncalf]

Just to clarify on one matter, before the cure is available as an in-game item:

Vampire shades cannot attack random people in private buildings, BUT they can and will and very often do attack their own human sides (ie. your character, if you take the cure), even if you're in a home or a fort. You won't be safe from your vampire shade, if you take the cure, and you will sometimes end up with critical wounds.

Just a heads up.