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   Bloodfiend= [ Overview Bloodfiends are City monsters that are visually reminiscent of humans yet fundamentally different. To become a Bloodfiend means to be infected with an illness, afflicted with an enormous thirst that can only be sated by feeding on fresh, flowing blood.[1] They are virtually immortal and immune to aging so long as they are provided with enough of it.[2] Together with their thirst for blood, Bloodfiends are also afflicted with the instinct to propagate their Family by creating further Bloodfiends.[3]

   Bloodfiends are known to originate in three ways: turned Kindred by a higher Bloodfiend, through the Distortion Phenomenon, or by receiving blood in a "certain mansion".[4] Bloodfiends have adopted an intense hierarchy based on the degree of separation from the species' original progenitor. Despite not being related in the traditional sense, they refer to each other with familial terms, and possess genuine familial bonds.[5]

   Those who were turned by the original Bloodfiend progenitor are called the "First Kindreds": there is a First Kindred in each District of the City, each of which has formed their own Family, made up of their "Children" and "descendants" separate from the others. The First Kindred serves as the Elder of their Family, which the other Kindreds of the same Family are compelled to obey. Each Family has settled into a different District (for 25 Families in total),[4] made it into their territory, and "culled their kin" until they were able to live quiet lives.[4] However, Bloodfiends who defy this expected lifestyle emerge on occasion, such as the Blood-red Night, whose excessive and attention-drawing actions eventually led her to become a Star of the City.

   Following the White Nights and Dark Days, it became common for people to turn into Bloodfiends upon distorting, as a "stereotyped form of Distortion".[6] These newborn, independent Bloodfiends lack any knowledge of the prior group's rules, and don't know how to control their powers. As Bloodfiends are widely ostracized by humans, enough for the City to have Fixers who specialize in hunting and killing them, these independent Bloodfiends have only increased the infamy of the race as a whole.[4] Though not all Bloodfiends originate from the Distortion Phenomenon, they are considered closest to Distortions overall.[1][7]

   Bloodfiends are nearly identical to ordinary people most of the time. The most obvious indicator is the black and red patterned crystalline growths that can appear during combat, usually on one half of the face. All Bloodfiends have red eyes; however, red eyes are not a surefire indicator of a Bloodfiend, as the color can be produced, and is the most common color chosen for eye augmentations.[4] Additionally, Bloodfiends and their Bloodbags appear to be constituted mostly of blood,[8][9] and possess high regenerative capabilities as long as they are able to consume blood[1][10] to reconstruct their bodies and empower themselves.[11]

   Most Bloodfiends also have an irrational fear of water, though those of an high enough generation have the ability to overcome this phobia.[12] Bloodfiends also have a tendency to keep count of things.[13]

   Occasionally, people may not even be consciously aware that they are Bloodfiends.

   Kindreds A Bloodfiend may "embrace" (bite) another human to convert them into a fellow Bloodfiend,[14] a Kindred of a generation below theirs. Aside from the first Bloodfiend (the "primogenitor"), Bloodfiends can only create a maximum of two Kindreds in their lifetime.[14]

   Ezra's chart on Bloodfiend genealogy. Kindreds behave as independent Bloodfiends while inheriting the abilities of their "Parent" to a degree. However, higher-generation Bloodfiends have a large degree of control over the actions of lower-generation Bloodfiends, due to an intense psychological barrier preventing lower Bloodfiends from revolting against the higher generations. The generation a Bloodfiend belongs to is denoted by their title: a "First Kindred" is a Bloodfiend created by the primogenitor, and serve as the Elder of their own Family in a Nest. The Elders' direct "descendants" are "Second Kindreds", their descendants "Third Kindreds", and so on.[14] Any Kindred can create their own descendants. However, due to the policies instated by the Bloodfiend Elders of each Nest, Bloodfiends may have to gain permission before they can convert any humans into their Kindred.[15]

   Upon the death of a Bloodfiend's Parent, said Bloodfiend may ascend in the hierarchy of their Family and become a higher Kindred.[16][17] However, this sudden ascension may lead to an increased pressure toward creating new Kindred should the ascended Bloodfiend lack any Children of their own.[18]

   Thirst for Blood

   One outcome of not allowing Bloodfiends access to the blood they need. Bloodfiends are highly defined by a persistent desire for blood. Although Bloodfiends only require a minimal amount of blood for survival, the combined mental state of an entire Family relies heavily on a steady source of freshly-drawn human blood.[19] For a Bloodfiend, the process of consuming blood is fundamentally different from the human process of feeding and consuming nutrients: blood is the embodiment of a Bloodfiend's emotions, their purpose of existence.[20] For this reason, in the absence of it, Bloodfiends and Bloodbags can no longer maintain their sanity and struggle to keep their physical form.[21]

   Bloodfiends do not feel a craving for the blood of animals or fellow Bloodfiends, and cannot sate themselves on it. Instead, Bloodfiends crave the blood of humans to the point of being incoherent in its presence.[22][23] They typically feed by biting into a live human subject, which is then either turned into a Kindred or into a Bloodbag, irreversibly condemning them to becoming a mindless thrall and effectively killing the subject in the process.

   When a Bloodfiend does not have any Family, they are psychologically responsible for the bloodthirst of all non-existent lower Kindreds.[24] It is only when a Bloodfiend actually extends their Family that this burden begins to wane, as the thirst imprinted into their Familial bloodline is shared amongst them.[24] This conundrum is the source of the Bloodfiend instinct to propagate their Family with Children. It is only with this shared burden that Bloodfiends earn the power to think rationally, as the weight of an entire Family's Bloodthirst on one Kindred's back causes extreme distress and auditory hallucinations, resulting in nothing but an animalistic hunger;[24] despite this, the First Kindred Don Quixote seems to go against these stated rules, as he is depicted as perfectly sane and rational on the day he made Sancho his Kindred.

   Personal willpower is a considerable—albeit imperfect—factor in how long a Bloodfiend can go without blood. Even the most strong-willed Bloodfiends become more on edge, if not outright insane over long periods of abstinence. For instance, extended time without blood was enough to make the La Manchaland Bloodfiends commit filial impiety against their Father, despite Bloodfiend loyalty to their higher Kindred being imprinted into their very being.[14] This abstinence also causes weakness and withering to both their physical appearance and bodily strength.[25] However, certain Bloodfiends such as Don Quixote and Sancho are shown to negate the mental effects of abstinence, potentially as a result of fixating on a "purpose" to live for. Dante also notes that a cure for a Bloodfiend's thirst is to forget one's nature as a Bloodfiend.[1]

   Alternatives Instead of feeding directly from a live human being, Bloodfiends may feed on human blood stored into blood packs. However, this causes the blood to lose its freshness, making it "stale" and unappealing for consumption. In La Manchaland, a system of consensual blood exchange was set up to allow the Bloodfiends to feed without hurting humans, but the blood packs ultimately proved insufficient in meeting the Family's high demand for blood. As an alternative, The Barber created hemobars, which compressed human and animal blood. Yet this diluted form of blood was not sufficient to sate the Family's thirst either, having only the benefit of remaining fresh for longer than blood packs.[22] To sate the thirst of the Second Kindred Don Quixote, the LCE plans on supplying her with artificial blood packs, made up of a substitute with a similar composition to human blood; it is currently unclear whether these might present a different result compared to the blood packs previously used in La Manchaland.[26][27]

   Abilities

   A close-up of Cassetti and his Bloodfiend features. In addition to their position in the Family hierarchy, a Bloodfiend's power is dependent on their access to blood. By drinking blood, their physical abilities are sharply enhanced, and by limiting their access to blood, their abilities are instead tanked. Bloodfiends have a large degree of control over both their own and human blood, with the ability to shape it into weapons, armor, or even architecture through crystallization. They can also draw blood directly to themselves from their Bloodbags and Kindred. Most Bloodfiends seem to use physical gestures to wield their blood-based powers, whether by necessity or as a simple flourish. There is no known limit to a Bloodfiend's gain of power beyond access to blood.

   Don Quixote is an impressive example of the sheer amount of power First Kindreds possess. In battle, he is shown to use complicated blood manipulation while barely moving a finger. Additionally, La Manchaland itself was built entirely out of human blood.[28] Another of his creations was Rocinante, a pair of running shoes with transformative abilities and a level of sentience said to have taken a very large amount of his blood to create,[29] with the inexplicable power to suppress the characteristics and powers of a Bloodfiend. Rocinante does not manage to fully suppress the desire for blood, however.[30][31]

   Different families of Bloodfiends focus on different aspects of blood manipulation. For example, the P Corp. Family focuses mostly on blood crystallization and the usage of hardblood in creating weapons. Other powers mentioned to belong to different Families include the ability to increase in size and sprout additional appendages by drinking large quantities of blood (as seen with the giantkin fought by the Manchegans during the Bloodfiend war),[32][33] or the expertise in manipulating victims through their blood vessels (as seen with Elena).

   Bloodbags Humans directly bitten by Bloodfiends are, depending on the Bloodfiend's choice, transformed into their Kindred or a Bloodbag. When converting humans into Bloodbags, Bloodfiends have the ability to decide how much time it takes for the process to complete, with higher Kindreds being able to give a longer delay. It is also possible for some Bloodfiends to form Bloodbags from fresh corpses, as seen with the Blood-red Night. Bloodfiends are also able to both puppeteer victims by manipulating the blood in their veins, and through crystalline growths of blood.

   Bloodbags share most of the abilities and bloodthirst of normal Bloodfiends, but they do not retain any sapience or personal memory. Instead, they are driven primarily by orders from the Bloodfiend who created them, or primal instincts of bloodlust. They need to "consume a minuscule amount of blood to maintain their forms."[34] However, similar to Pallidified Things, abilities acquired prior to Bloodbag conversion appears to be still extant, evidenced by Bloodbag Cleanup Agents and Prosthetic Fixers still using Charge.pngCharge-related Skills.

   Due to Bloodbags' lack of intelligence, Parent Bloodfiends have a higher degree of control over Bloodbags than their Kindred, and thus usually use them as minions or tools in collecting blood. ]

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