Nosferatu Vampires

Although the term was clearly popularized by the film, it is unknown where the true beginnings of the word Nosferatu lie. One lead comes from the Greek word "nosophoros", meaning disease-bearing. But no matter where the word came from, it still accurately describes the oldest, least evolved, and meanest breed of vampires that are most known for their lack of interest and approval of the Lore Elders' decision to go public with their existence. All vampires, regardless of sub-species and age, are incredibly fast, and strong, and all of them have heightened senses. The older the bloodline, the more efficient their abilities and regeneration are.

Fangs and claws
Like all vampires, Nosferatu have sharpened canines. Unlike some other vampires though, their fangs do not retract. Their canines are also not the only pointed teeth they possess — they have a full mouth of sharp teeth in varying size. Like other carnivores, their molars are sharp to tear through flesh and muscle instead of flat like an omnivore's or herbivore's, whose molars are used to grind rather than shred. They also tend to have long, unkempt, but strong nails. Nosferatu were never intended to blend in with humanity it seems.

Transformation
The myth of vampires turning into bats is nothing more than just that — myth — but perhaps the Nosferatu's ability to quickly unhinge their jaws and reshape the cartilage of their noses is where the folkloric belief of vampires capable of transformation is rooted. When hunting or fighting, Nosferatu are capable of opening their jaws to impossible widths only to swiftly snap them back into place, and their noses can become more snoutlike to enhance their already delicate sense of smell.

Bloodlust
What other vampires call a swoon, Nosferatu call a frenzy. The scent of blood in large quantities while hunting drives the Nosferatu into a state where the vampire is controlled almost entirely by his or her need for sustenance. They are extremely violent and animalistic when in this mode for hunting and they cannot be reasoned with. However, they always have full awareness and complete memory of their frenzied state, even if they cannot control it.

Necromancy
Only Nosferatu are capable of raising the truly dead in great magnitude. Some have been known to raise entire cemeteries. Their dead armies are not given life again though; their corpses are simply reanimated and controlled as puppets. They do not have wills of their own and they only act on the will of the Nosferatu who raised them. However, any Nosferatu can send them back to their graves.

Hypnosis
Nosferatu are handicapped in the seduction department. While they cannot alter a mortal's memory or cause a mortal to fall in love with them, they can put one in the grips of paralysis or madness with intimidation.

Reproduction
For their other vampiric kin, a bite can be pleasant and sometimes erotic to a mortal. The bite from a Nosferatu, however, is very venomous to humans. It is excruciating and most humans today cannot survive a single bite from a Nosferatu because of the diseases they transmit. Those that do survive a bite will almost immediately suffer from necrosis that completely covers the body and is so acute that it is fatal. Nosferatu, like all vampires, cannot reproduce as humans do. To become a Nosferatu, a human must be drained to the brink of death and given a transfusion of Nosferatu blood. If the Nosfertu sire is many generations down from the first generation of Nosferatu, the fledgling will not inherit most traits that are unique to the Nosferatu.

Movement
Nosferatu are the only vampires who can easily scale walls and fly. Not all of them are capable of flight, and a Nosferatu so old that s/he can fly is so rare that this ability has almost become myth even to the Nosferatu themselves.

Sunlight
Nosferatu have a surprisingly high resistance to everyday sunlight. They do not burst into flames nor do they immediately turn to ash. Because their bloodline is so old, they can withstand a great deal of sunlight without being very badly injured. They are not immune though. They can perish from ultraviolet exposure, like all vampires, but increased exposure is required. Because UV lamps and lights produce more ultraviolet rays than actual sunlight does, they are more effective against Nosferatu.

Silver and religious icons

 * "The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times." —Psalms 12:06'

Silver and religious icons and symbols do not actually harm a Nosferatu. Indeed, they have absolutely no effect on their younger brethren. However, because most Nosferatu are so very superstitious about the evil that their existence is, these items can usually repel them.

Garlic
Garlic doesn't actually harm the Nosferatu, or any other vampire for that matter, but for the Nosferatu it is highly reminiscent of vampire hunters of old who used to wear garlic in order to ward off the putrid stench of death and decay they would acquire as a result of digging up graves. Nosferatu's aversion to garlic is a combination of blood memories so old that it's a nearly hereditary fear and the effect that particularly strong odors have on the delicate sense of smell these very old and strong vampires possess.

Decapitation
The other only sure way to kill a Nosferatu is to sever the head or otherwise do damage to the brain that is beyond repair, then burn both head and body. The head and body must be burned seperately. Blood loss alone does not kill the Nosferatu because they regenerate blood and tissue so unnaturally fast.