The Forbidden Blood of The Children
In the ancient lore of the Bloodlines, there exists a strict and unyielding prohibition: no vampire may drink the blood of a being from the group known as The Children. Despite their name, The Children are not young in years; they are entities of immense age and power, with some living for centuries or even millennia. As psychic and energy vampires, The Children feed not on blood, but on the very life force of other beings. Their unique physiology and mystical composition make their blood inherently dangerous—deadly, even—for conventional vampires.
To drink the blood of The Children is a path paved with madness. Legends within the Bloodlines recount tales of vampires who attempted to consume their blood, each story ending in a swift descent into insanity and destruction. The psychic potency of The Children’s blood floods the mind and corrupts the spirit, overwhelming any who dare consume it. This blood is more than a substance; it carries the psychic energy and fractured memories of countless souls, an experience so intense that it shatters the sanity of those who partake.
In the entirety of the known world’s history, only one vampire has ever defied this curse and retained their mind: a vampire known as Sze. Sze is regarded with awe and wariness, the only known being to survive the mental onslaught of consuming the blood of The Children. This feat, however, left Sze forever changed. Some say she bears lingering psychic scars or possess insights far beyond other vampires—a knowledge acquired at the brink of madness itself. The blood of The Children did not merely challenge Sze’s sanity; it rewrote her very essence.
The Poisonous Nature of The Children’s Blood
Vampires refer to the blood of The Children as “poisonous” not because it is toxic in the physical sense, but due to its profound psychic and spiritual effects. Unlike other beings, whose blood might offer strength or mimicry of powers, The Children’s blood acts as a trap—a prison of fractured memories, fears, and life energy that invades the mind of the drinker. Once inside, it corrodes, amplifying insecurities, magnifying desires, and eventually splintering the vampire’s sense of self into madness.
To vampires, the blood of The Children is the ultimate forbidden fruit, a source of immense power that, paradoxically, cannot be harnessed without consequence. Those few who have dared to drink it serve as dark cautionary tales, their names often forgotten but their fates woven into the warnings passed through generations of vampires. The Children themselves are acutely aware of this danger, and they are equally forbidden from offering their blood to any vampire, a pact observed by both groups for their mutual survival.
The Legacy of Sze and the Temptation of Forbidden Power
In vampire society, Sze is both a revered and enigmatic figure, often regarded as more legend than reality. The fact that she alone survived drinking the blood of a Child has led to whispered speculations about her strength, wisdom, or even possible madness. Some view Sze as a symbol of defiance against the constraints of vampire nature, while others regard her as a cautionary figure, a reminder of the delicate balance each vampire must keep to avoid being consumed by their own power.
For some Blood Borne, Sze’s survival represents a tantalizing possibility—the hope that, under the right circumstances, the blood of The Children could be wielded as a potent weapon or transformative force. The Blood Lords, however, uphold the prohibition with an iron resolve, seeing it as an essential barrier between sanity and ruin. They enforce the taboo, warning that to even consider drinking from The Children is to risk eternal damnation.
The blood of The Children remains a temptation as alluring as it is dangerous—a source of unmatched psychic energy that, for all but one, is a path to self-destruction. Vampires continue to regard this blood as the ultimate boundary, a forbidden power that, even in their endless pursuit of strength, they dare not cross.