Affinities, Imprints, and Warrior's Oaths

[ℛeesa ℒuna]

Affinities

While not every fledgling has an affinity, most do these days. It seems its may be Nyx’s way of helping her fledglings deal with the darkness that now exists, however not all use their affinity in the name of Nyx obviously. So what is an affinity? An affinity is an ability. It is not a superpower. It will not allow you to fly or anything like that. Affinities can be as subtle as allowing their fledgling to create wonderful pieces of artworks from a scene they only saw once, to as powerful as being able to read the auras and emotions of others. Affinities almost always spring from the fledgling’s personality, such as a dancer having the affinity for grace, and no two affinities are alike because no two people are alike. As such, we have a log of all affinities so that way they stay unique.

Affinities may be so subtle the fledgling may not notice they exist, but they always grow in strength after the fledgling makes the Change into a Vampyre, and as such most discover their affinity after they change.

Another important thing to note is that affinities for the five elements are extremely rare (spirit is practically non-existent) and can only be awarded from contests and such.

Imprints

Most Vampyres and Fledglings do not take from a living donor and imprints are the reason why. An Imprint is a bond between two Vamps, two Fledglings, a Vamp or Fledgling and a Human, or a Vamp and a Fledgling. They occur after one Vamp or Fledgling bites the other. Because a bite in this world is often a very sexual experience, and causes surges of sexual desire, often Vampyres and Fledglings only bite their lovers. An Imprint does not occur every time a vampyre or fledgling feeds. Many studies have been performed to try to determine exactly why some Imprint and some do not, but though there are several determining factors, such as emotional attachment, relationship between the human and the vampyre pre-Change, age, sexual orientation, and frequency of blood drinking, there is no way to predict with certainty whether an imprint will form.

If an Imprint does form, it is a bond between these two, which grows stronger each time that the one drinks blood from the other. If there is already a strong connection between the two, the bond will be fairly strong from the start, however. Emotional and physical pain, as well as emotions in general can be passed through the bond. If the imprint is strong enough, one will also get a vague sense of where the other is, to allow them to be led to where the other is if one is in pain.

Imprints are painful to break, and can sometimes wear away over time due to loss of contact, but if they aren’t broken they last till one of the imprintees are dead.

Warrior’s Oath

The Warrior’s Oath binds a Warrior with a High Priestess, and pledges service and protection to the High Priestess for life. However, a warrior can vow their oath to someone they see as their High Priestess, someone who means a lot to them. It must be taken seriously because once it is made, it cannot be taken back. It has been said that Imprinting is a cruder connection that a Warrior Oath. An imprint is ruled by basic emotions such as passion. lust, need, hunger, and pain. Whereas the Warrior Oath is a much deeper connection rooted in energy and spirit. A warrior’s oath allows the warrior to always know where his Priestess/Priest is so that way he/she can affectively protect his/her chosen one. A Warrior can absorb his Priestess’s emotions and spirit. If she has a strong affinity, he can often tap into that.

Note: The above assumes that all warriors are males, but as we have proved on this site and also in the books, females can also become warriors. They even have a Warrior Queen in Sgiach. As such, it is assumed that they can also perform the Warrior’s Oath, and most likely give it to the males they seek to protect.