The hunger is an all-consuming need for the blood of living creatures. It can never be fully satiated. The hunger replaces almost every need, every drive known to the living, and is one hundred times more compelling. There is no comparison in the mortal world to the compulsion of the hunger, nothing remotely as powerful. It is an addition cultivated by the change that is stronger than anything caused by a mortal drug. To be Kindred is to be utterly trapped by the need. But in the acquisition of this most neccessary substance lies a pleasure beyond description. The Hunger is a physical, mental, and spiritual ecstasy which throws all the pleasures of mortal life into shadow.
Vampires acquire their sustenance in many fashions. Some cultivate "herds" of willing mortals, who cherish the ecstasy of the vampires kiss (Personal note: If only that were true
The denial of the Hunger enrages that part of us which is uncontrollable, that inescapable monster that gnaws at our stomaches and claws at our guts. We have named this force that compels us, forces us to exert the full force of our will to keep it contained. The Beast. The Beast Within. The creature inside each of us that rages continuously for release. There are times when we are powerless to stop its emergence. It rages, bringing death and terror to everything in its path until it is recaptured. There is no escape, no respite, from the Beast.
There is, in Kindred lore, a state of being equated with mortal Heaven. It is a well-known fact that Kindred are denied the rest that comes with eternal salvation, but this state - called Golconda - is the closest we will ever come to peace. It is a stasis, where an individual may balance the Man and the Beast against each other so that the striving is no longer needful. The inescapable descent into madness is halted, and although the individual is no longer recognizable as human in thought and deed, whatever remains of Humanitas is secure.
