So why can't vampires feed without killing?

[Juanma]

From the second the game started I planned not to embrace anyone, but there's been this thought on the back of my mind: why should Jonathan, or any vampire for that matter, kill the people they feed from?
I'm at chapter 4, just going to a certain character's mansion, but so far not even our kind Main Character has wondered it. Why not bite an arm or some other place that won't cause death by blood loss? Is it because they transmit the plague by their bites? then why not do a blood transfusion or extraction? They are fresh out of the Victorian era, so blood transfusion are still this huge deal that is believed to handle most medical problems, not to mention that's literally our MC's specialty!

[asarokk]

Originally posted by Juanma:

From the second the game started I planned not to embrace anyone, but there's been this thought on the back of my mind: why should Jonathan, or any vampire for that matter, kill the people they feed from?

First of all because vampires are not human anymore. They're of a different species entirely and humans are their prey. Not to mention, not all vampires are the same. There are different types of vampires or sub-species. Unfortunate for us, the vampire lore in Vampyr is vague and rather lacking. I believe that decision was intentional, as we see the world through Jonathan's perspective. He's a new-born, who doesn't know who made him or why, not even whether it was intentional or accidental.

In the game, most vampires are part of covens, while Jonathan has to figure everything out alone. He even had a hard time coming to terms with not being human anymore, and as we see in the game, the existence of vampires is not widely known. It's not like he can walk into any library and read a book about vampires. Any literature could be shrouded with misconception, unconfirmed facts and fiction. Even sources from Vampire hunters could be incomplete and inaccurate, even mistaking one type with another.

Take Vulods for example, who are primal apex predators that act on pure animal instinct, instead of reason. So far from human appearance that they used to be mistaken for lycanthropes.

Then there are lesser vampires like Skals and depending on how impure their blood is, can range from a rather civil nature to completely feral. Skals are not known for having a whole lot of self-control either, but even if they could stop feeding, their bite is infectious. Their appearance is often sickly and some rather monstrous. They are corpse eaters and will drink the blood of any living being.

Ichors are a separate species of obscure origins. Supposedly only female vampires can turn into ichors and if I remember correctly, it was Jonathan who thought it was due to some sort of mutation in their genes, resulting in deformity, perhaps also due to a specific kind of bacterial or viral infection. I often wondered myself if a psychological trauma may have also contributed to this change, seeing as Ichors are driven by hate and by the fact that Harriet Jones was a murder victim. They have absolutely no self-control and to be honest they have no desire to even try, quite the opposite really. Besides being driven by hate, Ichors are hard-wired to spread the infection. Out of all the known vampire types, Ichors are the most contagious and are able to spread the infection not only with a bite, but also able to transmit it through air.

Originally posted by Juanma:

I'm at chapter 4, just going to a certain character's mansion, but so far not even our kind Main Character has wondered it. Why not bite an arm or some other place that won't cause death by blood loss? Is it because they transmit the plague by their bites?

It's quite ironic that a renowned blood specialist and surgeon Jonathan would be turned into a vampire, or more specifically into a Ekon. Ekons are true vampires, at the top of the hierarchy. Out of all vampire types, Ekons are the ones that resemble humans the most, which allows them to blend into society and avoid detection. Unlike other types, Ekons can exert more self-control than the others and can supposedly learn to avoid infecting their prey, but that's not a guarantee. Jonathan also unwittingly infected another. We can't know for sure though, since most Ekons do intentionally kill their prey.

Judging from what we learn about vampire types, vampirism is transmitted through bite. Even if Ekons would bite an arm or a leg, I assume they would still need to bite major arteries or veins in order to get enough blood. Which may be just as life-threatening. Like most Hematophagous species, I suspect vampires would also have anticoagulant agents and other chemicals solutions in their saliva that would prevent vasoconstriction and maybe even a local anesthesia or something to lull their prey into becoming docile.

I think I remember Jonathan coming across another Ekon who preferred to not kill her prey and purposefully sought out feeding on the already-dying. Also effectively starving herself. Surviving on very little. But in the world of Vampyr, that is actually much more dangerous than simply killing their victims. Vampires do prefer to keep their identities secret and humans in-the-know could very easily sell them out to Vampire hunters. Being known could also attract a different kind of unwanted attention, that of humans who wish to join their ranks. Not to mention, many of the Ekons we meet have some serious superiority complexes and regard humans as cattle. The older the vampire, the further they are from their once human self.

Originally posted by Juanma:

then why not do a blood transfusion or extraction? They are fresh out of the Victorian era, so blood transfusion are still this huge deal that is believed to handle most medical problems, not to mention that's literally our MC's specialty!

I think you're blowing your argument about blood transfusions out of proportion. Yes, blood transfusions were all the rage back then and considered a great scientific discovery in medicine. Many were optimistic that it could handle most medical problems, but so did they with bloodletting.

Figuratively speaking, blood transfusions were still at an early infantile stage in 1918. Medical advancements and discoveries were often isolated, and you could say that doctors only had bits and pieces of the same puzzle. One of the few benefits of World War I was that surgeons from the U.K. as well as from France, Canada and indirectly from America could come together and share their notes. Despite that, even during World War I blood transfusions were uncommon. The methods could just as well be considered barbaric to today's standards. Not all surgeons knew how, most were completely unqualified and each tried to corporate and develop their own methods, that were often less than successful, leading to blood clots and infections due to insanitary conditions. Mistakenly giving a patient the wrong blood type had serious and even life-threatening repercussions. Unsuccessful attempts were often credited to the equipment used. Most of the time however, blood transfusions were performed as preparation for surgery as a pre-emptive measure to avoid hemorrhage.

From what I've seen in Vampyr, not a lot of people had the know-how to do blood transfusions, even among hospital staff. Extraction, was a different matter. Hospital staff should know how because of their profession, but vampires? Doubtful.

Our Jonathan however was considered a renowned blood specialist, so yes, he should be qualified enough to do so successfully without risking the health and life of a person. I suspect the developers intentionally left it out or didn't think of it. In case they intentionally left it out, it may be because they only wanted to offer us two choices. Path of Jonathan embracing the nature of a vampire or as a vampire denying its nature and struggling to keep his humanity, along with his Hippocratic oath.

However, all vampires throughout all the different medias (films, novels, video games), have one thing in common and that is unrelenting thirst. They need blood to survive and drinking blood would not only quench their thirst temporarily, it would also presumably cause a spike in dopamine release, possibly serotonin, endorphins and oxytocin. Do you think vampires who as humans with genetic predisposition towards addiction could control their feeding? I think it would be near impossible for them.

[Lord Of War]

Originally posted by Juanma:

So why can't vampires feed without killing?

Tell me - can you resist eating entire crisps pack at once? Because I can't
Same here, hard to stop.
Upd. yes, I just compared humans to a potato snack 🤩