The existence of a vampire is not as easy or as glamorous as some might think. Often we are hunted and hated, our existence constantly at peril as we are chased by our very prey from location to location across the globe. And, whereas the toil and strife of mortals ends with the snuffing of life’s flame, the struggle for a vampire never ceases. Even in the decision to end ones own existence, there is always the fear and doubt that haunts the conscience of each of the kin, are we truly damned creatures?

There are other things which hamper us as well. Our predilection for the night is born of necessity. The sun is a harsh mistress, whose beams tend to strike us down, even into our old age. Only the most powerful can survive a noon day sun, and even those are weakened in its presence. As such we are relegated to a world of darkness, which has only recently been illuminated by the creation of man made marvels of light and electricity.

Another common struggle amongst vampires is the problem of age. When one is born into an age of time, one grows up learning the sensibilities of those years. Certain acts of decorum, or sensibility, or general respect are imprinted on the minds of the youngster. When such a being reaches adulthood, and is taken into the undead embrace of immortality, they are cast free from the wheel of time, left stranded to wander the ages, trying to learn anew the sensibilities of the time with each new world that comes to light.

Those born into the Roman Empire are brought up to be comfortable with Latin, with harsh justice, with lawlessness, poverty, and class inequality. At the dawning of the middle ages, all of the stability of Rome was cast off. Those born anew into this age were able to grow up and become acclimated to the new world. But not the vampires, they are forced to adapt out of their own eternal state, recreating themselves anew with each passing year.

While modern tales have told wondrous stories of the glamour and romance of a vampiric lifestyle, the fact is that it is an eternal struggle. Nothing is free and easy, and the mere act of survival is a mission to conquer, to fight, and to battle against the constant woes of the world.