Vampirism

Vampirism is a viral disease spread through touch. It is curable, but the cure is very hard and expensive. It is the focus of many myths and legends, which many thought that those myths and legends were forced to be declared fake, but then Vampirism arrived after there was a chemical in a swamp which a penguin was swimming in, and transferred it onto others (penguins weren't so smart in those days) and was declared "Vampirism".

Description
Vampirism drains nearly all pigmentation from the host. It causes an irrational fear of Moderator Badges and tomatoes, as both may, in the right conditions, cure the disease. Sunlight will damage them painfully, and they avoid the sun for this. It also increases the host's strength, speed, and stamina. It is, contrary to legend, spread by touch rather than biting. If another penguin has the virus, and comes into contact with another penguin, the victim turns into a vampire.

Vampires have suction cups on their flipper-tips, with tiny retractable needles needles. When a vampire touches a penguin with their flippers, it it really ejecting the needles out and drawing blood from the host, possibly infecting the victim with vampirism. Vampires need blood to survive, and will become very weak if deprived of it for a long time.

Strains
Vampirism usually comes in three distinct strains, but recently, a much rarer fourth and a fifth was discovered.

The first, Personality Loss Parasitic Vampirism (PLPV), is a rarer version which is far easier to diagnose early on, as its symptoms are more profound and cause evil within the creature.

The second, Will Retaining Physical Vampirism (WRPV), is the most common version, and the one found in 91% of all known vampires. This version is usually unnoticed until it's too late, since the symptoms are less aggressive and purely involve physical changes.

The third, Hereditary Fifty-Fifty Vampirism (H50V), is obtained in chicks prior to hatching if a vampire and a normal penguin have chicks. It is a weaker and less potent version than either of the two full strains. Penguins who carry H50V are called half-vampires.

The fourth, X-Virus Type Vampirism (XVTV), is obtained when a vampire infected with the X-Virus spreads the virus to another penguin after feeding. A combination of X-Virus and WRPV Vampirism symptoms happen. What happens is that the host will have a X-Virus clone infected with Vampirism who will carry the XVTV strain. Anyone infected with XVTV will have one X-Virus clone and when they spread it, the same effect will happen to the target. The X-Virus clone itself is also infected with it and can spread the strain of the virus. Whether an antibody vampire is evil, good or neutral is totally random; even if a PLPV with the X-Virus infects another penguin, the penguin can still be good and act like a WRPV and make their own choice to be good, evil or neutral.

The fifth, Youkai Vampirism (YV), is the rarest strain of Vampirism, but it is only passed on to Youkai Eggs, like H50V from Gensou Island. They have nearly same strengths and weaknesses to regular Vampires, but they are significantly powerful, able to destroy pretty much anything in their way. Their feathers are not pale, but their appearance is far different to other Vampires. Examples are visible wings in penguin mode, sharp teeth and red eyes. They are more swifter and use teeth to suck blood instead of suction cups.

PLPV Phases
There are 5 different phases to PLPV Vampirism. Sometimes if the virus hasn't spread around the victims body yet, the phases go slower. The phases at first are not that dangerous, and hasn't invaded the body yet due to how the victim's body works.


 * Phase I: The starts to victim feels awkward. The penguin waddles around funnily and starts speaking gibberish. The victim doesn't know what they're doing, and lose control and start to be mean to others, usually by pinching and stepping on penguins flippers.
 * Phase II: The victim's eyes then start going red and their body gets red lines, showing some of the virus. The victim becomes very damp & wet, and begin to avoid the sun. This is where the evil stage starts.
 * Phase III: After all that, the diagnosed penguin gets fangs, showing anyone that he/she is a vampire, and their reflection vanishes.
 * Phase IV: It starts getting worse - the victim starts going around trying to give other penguins the virus, and can't control themselves.
 * Phase V: The virus has now taken over the penguin and remains forever. They are a fully-fledged vampire, now evil.

WRPV Phases

 * Phase I: Like PLPV Vampirism, the infected victim loses their balance and speaks gibberish. WPRV victims, however, begin to sleep much more than regular penguins in Phase I.
 * Phase II: The victim's eye color shifts to red. They become damp and wet, and start avoiding the sun (if it's out). However, unlike PLPV, they maintain their personalities, good or evil. This is the distinguishing characteristic that separates WPRV from PLPV.
 * Phase III: The victim grows fangs and develops the fear of moderator badges and tomatoes common in both strains. The penguin starts to panic, finally realizing they are now a Vampire.
 * Phase IV: The victim skin is able to be burned by the sun.
 * Phase V: The virus has fully set in and the victim is now a fully-fledged Vampire. Most creatures who conflict this version of the disease go back to productive lives (after therapy), living out the rest of their existence as Vampires.

Hereditary (H50V)
If a Vampire marries a normal penguin and they have chicks, these chicks will inherit H50V, which somehow passes to the chick while incubating in the egg. These penguins contract lesser symptoms of Vampirism, and both PLPV and WPRV are spread in this manner. If both parents are full Vampires, the chick will also be a full Vampire.

Penguins who have obtained the disease via one parent are referenced as half-Vampires or dhampenguins. These penguins' genes are half Vampire and thus, they obtain a few of the symptoms of Vampirism. However, they still can turn non-vampires into full vampires via touch. Half-Vampires are immune to becoming a full vampire.

XVTV Phases

 * Phase I: The symptom is much more deadlier then any other type. The host will feel the normal effects of WRPV however will also be infected by a flu, which will embed the X Virus into the immune system and into blood cells where it will identify the DNA. Due to the Vampirism, no clear effects will happen during the DNA scan.
 * Phase II: The normal WPRV phases take effect and by the time phase II is over, the infected host will be like a WPRV Vampire.
 * Phase III: The sudden change from an ordinary penguin to a Vampire will activate the X Virus. The Vampire's strong immune system won't help as the the X Virus is so integrated with the host.
 * Phase IV: A DNA scan will take place which means the X Virus will try to copy the DNA of the host. This will happen very quickly; about a week at the most.
 * Phase V: The X Virus will begin to modify it to its liking. During this time the Vampire will feel sudden changes, both physically and mentally. The WPRV effects will still remain but they may be modified for short times.
 * Phase VI: The X Virus begins to manifest a copy of the DNA. Like the X Virus, elements like appearance might be different due to trouble copying the host. All Vampire powers and side effects will retain in the antibody however it may have some extra abilities.
 * Phase VI: The Vampire will finally sneeze out the antibody. The antibody will be a XVTV vampire and so will the host. None can be infected again however when a new host is found the X antibody or the host will infect it with the XVTV strain.

An alternative way for this to happen if a Vampire is actually infected by the X Virus. The normal effects will happen however the X Virus won't fully be sneezed out; instead it will embed itself into the Vampire as it releases it can spread the X Virus through it's feeding He or she will become a XVTV Vampire along with the antibody and will be able to spread the strain of that virus instead of his or her's own.

Treatment
It is theorized that a treatment could be developed from H50V victims, AKA half-Vampires. By collecting blood samples and culturing the H50V virus, they may be able to genetically manipulate the virus to fight PLPV and WPRV in a full Vampire for dominance.

The engineered H50V injected into the Vampire would destroy the full version and take over. This would reduce the full Vampire to a half-Vampire, though not actually curing the host. It is theorized that this vaccine would be used on PLPV victims so that they could recover their personalities and eradicate the evil they never wanted.

However, this vaccination is not in production or testing, and has never been used on any creature. In fact, the treatment is so experimental that it is still on the drawing board. Another theory is to develop a treatment through the XVTV strain. Two theories has been thought of but it's extremely controversial.

The first is that the engineered XVTV strain would embed the entire Vampire virus into the XVTV virus. The theory is that when the X antibody is created, the Vampire effects will be completely transformed onto the X antibody. There is controversy over this; some believe that it would be cruel to infect a X antibody with a virus as soon as they're created, even if they're evil. Another worry is that the X antibody would have an high probability of naturally being evil, especially if the cure was used on a PLVP vampire. Finally, the more obvious issue is that despite the fact a Vampire is cured, another will take it's place.

The second is to engineer the strain attack the host and make the X Virus inside turn on the Vampire. An exploit during the XVTV strain is that the X Virus part of the hybrid virus embeds itself into the Vampire's blood cells and immune system. If the XVTV could be modified to embed itself onto a Vampire, it could remove the Vampirism through different methods. The first for the engineered XVTV strain to make the immune system identify the Vampirism as a threat and flush it out; the second is to get the engineered strain to embed itself onto the blood cells and remove all cells which makes a Vampire a Vampire; the third is to get the XVTV to get the Virus part to attack the Vampire virus. Since the XVTV contains Vampirism, the Vampirism inside the host will see it as not a threat. This allows the modified X Virus to attack the Vampirism which the host's immune system recognized as not being a threat. The immune system would also be attacked to remove the Vampire virus from it, allowing the rest of the Vampirism to be removed. Having the XVTV turning on the Vampirism would easily be the best way of getting rid of the strain however there is controversy with this too; some are concerned that the first method of getting rid of Vampirism would obviously need ways to get rid of it and this would be through sneezing, coughing, diarrhea and other similar ways. While it'll get rid of the virus, it would actually help spread it as the virus wouldn't be killed. This is, unless, the immune system actually is programed to kill it. There is also concern over the two other methods; if the X Virus goes to far, it could actually kill the host. Finally, another concern on all of them is that the X Virus would also created an antibody, which, although without the Vampirism, has a high chance of being evil.

Powers and Weaknesses

 * Super speed. They can waddle very fast.
 * Super durability. Vampires can survive many things normal penguins cannot, like extreme coldness/heat, explosions, and getting body parts hacked off (they can reattach them, and no blood is let out). Vampires can even survive being burned to ash. This is caused by the virus' out-of-control self-repair function.
 * Mild control of gravity. Vampires can do crazy things like walk on walls- and without the help of spidey-powers.
 * Strengthened immune system. The actual virus destroys all other bacteria, viruses or parasites. However the virus is extremely strong; it can defend against other diseases. This possibly makes it the strongest known immune system. Because of this, Vampires are immune to all known diseases. They can still catch them but they can be easily fought off at about stage one of the diseases and sometimes just as it gets into the body. The only exception is the X Virus.
 * Ability to turn into a special fluid that allows them to sneak into cracks, drains, etc, and immune to solid weapons.
 * They can transform into Focci, which also have the above powers.
 * Vampires appear to be ageless. It is known that they are able to live for hundreds of years, if not more. This is likely due to the self-repair effects of the virus.
 * Vampires get weakened by tomatoes, and they fear it greatly.
 * Vampires have an urge to count things, though this can be overcome with work.
 * Sunlight will burn a vampire if they are exposed too long. Thus, vampires always wear sunscreen at all times.
 * If a vampire is burned to ash, and the ashes are scattered, it can be confirmed that it is no longer alive. It is possible that they can repair themselves, but this would take hundreds, if not thousands or more years.
 * Stuffing tomatoes down a vampire's throat after decapitating it will cause it to die slowly.
 * If a vampire becomes dehydrated, the virus will respond by destroying the Vampire's blood, and the vampire will be severely weakened. Vampires always drink plenty of blood, since their bodies produce no blood whatsoever. PLPVs use the traditional method of biting (like a mosquito) normal penguins, while WRPVs drink donated blood, from local hospitals' blood banks. Some WRPVs actually prefer to have blood transferred to them intravenously instead of ingesting the blood themselves.
 * Dhampenguins have the same powers and weaknesses as normal Vampires, although not as extreme.
 * Youkai Vampires can fly without the need to transform into a focci.
 * Youkai Vampires, however, cannot turn other penguins into vampires, no matter how much blood they take away.

Pumpkins
Halloween jack-o-lanterns and pumpkins are extremely powerful Vampire repellents. They can be harmful, dangerous, allergy or sickness inducing, and even lethal, depending on the type and position, although due to the rapid healing powers of vampires the effects wear off quickly. Jack-o-lanterns only have their properties when lit, if unlit, they act like normal pumpkins. Jack-o-lanterns don't appear to have any affect on half-vampires.


 * A Vampire can not enter a building with a lit jack-o-lantern on it, and as long as a lit jack-o-lantern sits anywhere on the property. They can go inside the property's lines, and are weakened nearby. This pumpkin power can only extend one story and a vampire can enter the building if it is on the story without a Jack-O-Lantern.
 * Coming near a lit jack-o-lantern can cause severe harm to a vampire. The pumpkin's presence harms them.
 * If you were to somehow surround a Vampire with a ring of lit jack-o-lanterns, the Vampire would be unable to escape. The jack-o-lanterns would become a force field. Oddly, a ring of jack-o-lanterns doesn't hurt a vampire, it only traps them, while non-orderly jack-o-lanterns cause harm.
 * The most powerful jack-o-lanterns are carved with faces like this and this. However, any lit jack-o-lantern is powerful.
 * Vampires can't come within twenty miles of GourdZoid or Elinz Plateau, due to the obvious presence of pumpkins.
 * Jackos can just stare at a vampire and harm them, because they are living jack-o-lanterns. Making funny faces usually increases the damage.

Trivia

 * According to legend it is spread through biting. Of course, no penguin would ever bite someone else, and some penguins lack teeth.
 * Apart from Youkai Vampires.
 * However, Vampires grow fangs (but don't use them).
 * Vampirism is actually spread when a vampire uses suction cups on their flippers to drink another penguin's blood. The victim has a 75% chance of becoming a vampire, so if a vampire doesn't want another vampire in the world, they'll take blood from a puffle or a recently deceased body.
 * Also according to legend it affects the host's mind severely. This legend was confirmed to be true in PLPV victims, but false in WRPV victims.
 * WPRV victims still obtain the hatred of the sun and fear of Moderator badges and tomatoes, however.
 * It is often assumed that vampires can't go to places they haven't been invited too. This is false, they go where they wish. Vampires CAN be photographed, but they do not show up in the ultraviolet, infrared, or X-ray spectrums.
 * All Vampires appear to be able to turn into Focci
 * Vampires are also known collectively as 'the UnBanned'.
 * Conductor Hertz, of the Anti-Masters, is rumored to be a WPRV vampire. The fangs make it feasible.
 * Jasper is a WPRV vampire.
 * Twiguins like to say that they are vampires.
 * Demon Penguins use PLVP Vampires as cheap servants.
 * However, Mectrixctic mum is a PLVP Vampire. Her father really loved her...
 * Pigma55's stare can make people turn into Vampires.