The Taint

As I have stated, no one really knows where the taint in the bloodline came from and by the time anyone realized it was a problem it was too late. The trouble was that this bloodline taint was different than those of the past, ones which had destroyed themselves given how damaging they were to the vampire host, something which many felt would be the case with what has become known as the White Face taint, given that it limits the vampires movements to the darkest hours of the night and quickly destroys the more human areas of the brain, creating a madness that has never before been seen in vampires, one which is primarily responsible for the horrific image most humans now associate with vampires (this isn’t to say humans weren’t afraid of us in the past, we just weren’t as ruthless as the White Faces and limited our interaction with humans). The taint also seems to create a bloodlust within the vampire host, one that can’t be quenched, making vampire feedings noticeable and thereby painting a target on us (or them since I am rarely targeted by humans - more on that in my life story section).

As far as we can tell the taint came out of what is now modern day Romania during the fall of the Roman empire, though I’m sure there were cases before this. The biggest problem with the taint isn’t the madness or the bloodlust, but the ease with which it is spread from vampire to human. For a vampire like me creating a vampire from a human isn’t an easy process, but for the White Faces all it takes is a single bite, almost as if the taint is a virus that is spread through the blood. Not every human victim becomes a vampire, but enough of them do so the madness and bloodlust that develops in the older White Faces isn’t a problem because the population is always growing.