What is a Vampire?
Keywords:
VAMPIRE-DEFINITION, VAMPIRE_DEFINITION
It's a walking, intelligent corpse that is driven by such a base desire for its own continued existence, that it continues on despite its body not functioning. As is commonly known, they do require blood. Why? A few reasons - partly it helps their body continue on and not rot (always a threat as a corpse), it serves as a fuel for their powers, as they have no other source, and frankly, its just a part of standard Vampire lore and Staff is a firm believer that Vampires should be neckbiters.
Now we referenced that base drive to continue to exist, or what we term it, the Will. This is different from an individuals own willpower, the vampiric Will is the beast in the corner that causes said Vampire to rip the throat out of its best friend when it gets starved, to continue its own profane existence.
On that same note, the Will is what replaces the soul. The two are not compatible and will seek to destroy one another, basically warring for existence within the body which can have various results, up to and including horrible, violent death. Freshly turned Vampires still possess a soul, but it begins to atrophy until it is destroyed.
The specific, individual nature of Vampires differ a bit, as we prefer to allow players a level of creativity to their characters. By and large though, you're not going to have a heart beat, but also neither are Vampires "icy cold" all the time either. They're simply room temp - think of it like a piece of meat left in the kitchen. They go walking through Elzeothis, they're going to be cold. Strolling through a desert, the ambient temperature will warm them right up.
Now that isn't to say that a temperature difference cannot be felt - it's a relative thing. Most races are warm blooded and produce their own heat so the Vamp will usually feel cooler than them, but not like touching an ice cube.
For more detailed questions/answers/information, please refer to help vampire-qa, help vampire-abilities, and help vampire-rp-combat.