Vampirism (Steelfang Strain)

Vampirism granted by the Steelfang family or those granted with their blood is considered a separate strain of vampirism altogether and shares little in common with other vampric strains. Those lucky enough to receive the blood of these vampires become powerful entities far above a common vampire, with all the strengths of one and none of the weaknesses, having many unique abilities. The first two vampires which possessed this strain were the vampire magus Sorin Steelfang and his wife Alyssa, which is why the strain is named after them. Most vampires of the Steelfang Strain are part of the Steelfang family.

Contracting Vampirism (Steelfang Strain)
The only way to contract the Steelfang Strain is through deliberate, direct mixing of bloods with a vampire born with the Steelfang strain via drinking from one that allows it, or the bestowing of the 'awakened' version of the strain via the unique vision that the Steelfang family line has. No other methods of transmission are possible and the blood purges all other forms of vampirism or lycanthropy. Bites or attacks from a vampire who holds this strain in their blood will not transmit it. Turning is practically immediate and there is no time to get a cure. The blood must be taken from the blood vessels of a living Steelfang vampire. Blood from a dead Steelfang Vampire will not work and a Steelfang vampire normally closes all their wounds instantly unless keeping them open for a reason.

All vampires of the Steelfang Strain retain their ability to bear children (and are in fact more fertile than normal humans). All children born from any parent afflicted with the Steelfang strain have the Steelfang Strain as part of their bloodline automatically. It gives total immunity to contracting any known disease, including other vampiric strains, lycanthropy or even daedric corruption. Steelfang vampirism can also be passed from child to mother if a woman is pregnant with a Steelfang Vampire, such as when Illyana Abyss-Walker was turned.

It is incurable by common methods. The only known way to cure it was to have it directly removed by Molag Bal himself, which is not possible anymore after Sylarys destroyed the link Molag Bal had to Steelfang vampirism. Any vampire who is part of the Steelfang family cannot cure their affliction at all, as it is part of their genetic make up, not an infection. Thus, "infection" by a Steelfang vampire can be considered permanent, especially if one has a parent with the Steelfang strain. Raydin and Siris might be able to reverse the affliction for non main line vampires, though.

The vampirism, unlike all other strains, does not affect the appearance of the individual afflicted by it, save the slight lengthening of the fangs, making them nearly impossible to tell from normal people. The vampires from the Steelfang Strain also do not show up on detect life, but will not show up on detect dead either. All members of the Steelfang family stop aging biologically when they reach 17. They are technically not considered undead.

Steelfang Family
Many people who have the Steelfang Strain are born with it from birth and descended from the Battlemage Sorin Steelfang, who was the first Steelfang Vampire. All Steelfang family members are gifted with the "awakened" strain from birth and are descended directly from Meridia, which also explains their angelic wings when they manifest their true forms. All members of the Steelfang family descended from Sorin possess light blue irises, slit pupils and white hair, which serves to differentiate them from all other bloodlines, since nobody else (no other Bretons, to be precise, despite the fact the line is descended from Altmer, Breton, Akaviri and Nordic blood, since the Steelfangs are considered Breton) possesses those traits.

These individuals can grant an "awakened" strain to a people that they love deeply without the transfer of blood. This grants the one that is turned the ability to use powers limited to the Steelfang line, such as the fear vision, access to Euphoria and the ability to summon its denizens, an innate affinity for learning magic and powers, in addition to what they already have. Individuals also receive immense boosts to all the innate powers of a normal Steelfang Vampire, as the infection reprograms their genetic structure. As they are part daedra, all members of the Steelfang family can enter Oblivion easily, while their mortal halves prevent then from getting banished by spells. All of the Steelfang family are capable of planeswalking, therefore. A few members can even journey into the void and beyond the Aurbis, such as Siris, Horus, Raydin and perhaps Lamia.

Granting the "awakened strain" was how Alyssa Steelfang, Tavion Wolfbrood and Lucina Sea-Born were turned. Virlomi was first turned by her unborn children Isis and Horus, then she was turned into a main line member via the special turning process by Raydin. This granting of the "awakened strain" is similar to an act of consummating a marriage and is irreversible, binding the destinies of the two partners together via an emotional bond, which is why it can only be passed between lovers.

Powers and Abilities
Vampires of the Steelfang Strain are significantly more powerful than the common vampires and even vampire lords. They are gifted with supernatural strength, speed and stamina far in excess of a normal human and are capable of using spells generally thought to be restricted to only transformed vampire lords, in a powerful and much more efficient manner. This includes, but is not limited to: Casting vampiric clouds, mass necromancy and mass paralysis. As shown, Raydin ripped a werewolf to shreds with his bare hands, with no difficulty.

They lack any modifications to their elemental resistance and thus do not take more damage from flames or less from frost. The sun does not affect their regeneration, which has supernaturally high speeds, especially for their magicka, which is difficult to finish. They are immune to all poisons and diseases (including plagues caused by Peryite), even to poisons and diseases that a common vampire can catch. Steelfang vampires are not affected by sun spells or silver, unlike normal undead. Some of them even use silver weaponry, like Raydin, Sorin and Siris, or photokinesis, like Annalyse and Horus. Annalyse is a special case - she actually strengthens in the sun.

Also, all vampires of the Steelfang Strain are capable of manipulation of life forces, capable of tearing it out of enemies to heal themselves or refill their magicka. They also can convert their magicka into life to heal others. With practice, a vampire afflicted with the Steelfang Strain can easily defeat multiple people or even an entire army with their life bending powers, while staying completely unhurt. Due to the amount of life energy flowing in a Steelfang vampire, they can recover from otherwise fatal injuries in mere seconds, their wounds visibly closing and knitting up, such as how Tavion recovered from multiple dismemberments from Sylarys, a stab from Arthur and other more minor wounds simply by regrowing anything he lost. This skill costs no magicka to use and in fact refills it, unless one converts magicka to life in order to heal others, making it a deadly attack ability that can be cast repeatedly.

Steelfang family members have a fear inducing vision that can drive targets insane or even kill them through paralysis of the whole body. This ability only activates upon puberty and is exclusive to Sorin's descendants. Other vampires who carry the Steelfang blood do not manifest this ability. Steelfang vampires cannot use this ability on other Steelfang vampires, or they risk blindness. The more powerful the fear vision, the more likely a Steelfang vampire will injure themself when locking eyes with another Steelfang Vampire and exerting the ability. Female members of the Steelfang family seem to have a much stronger fear vision by default. For example, Annalyse has a more powerful fear vision than her father even without training, being able to paralyse and kill in seconds, while Raydin cannot kill with his fear vision. This ability is thought to be descended from Alyssa and Sorin lacked it or never used it. The ability requires direct eye contact, but it will work on blind people.

The fear vision of a Steelfang vampire descended from Sorin, if used to stare into the eyes of someone the Steelfang vampire is interested in or loves, can create endless beauty and a sense of happiness in the target, rather than unlimited fear. It amplifies positive feelings instead of negative ones. The sensations the vision amplifies applies both to emotions and physical sensations.

All Steelfang vampires are capable of flight. They all have a pair of biotic energy wings that they can manifest at any time, even when silenced or out of magicka, to engage in flight. These wings can manifest in any shape, but normally have a fixed form chosen by the vampire. For the main Steelfang line, the wings always regress to six white, ethereal and feathered wings that glow a ghostly white in the dark, when they enter their true form, or when they decide to manifest the wings as such. Steelfang family members in true form can still use their custom wings, though.

All members of the Steelfang family have true forms that they can enter at will, to allow them to release their full powers. Steelfang vampires, in their true forms, tend to emit extreme amounts of light and wield weapons made of light. For some, it only changes the armor they wear, such as for Horus, who gains golden armor, while for others, it can change even their bodies, such as for Annalyse, who has her whole body glow with light.

All the powers improve with use and practice. A lack of practice will lead to inefficiencies in the powers. Examples of inefficiencies includes Raydin's inability to kill using his fear vision, since he never uses it on anyone, or Annalyse's seeming lack of vampiric powers, since she never uses them. However, to train the skills up does not take very long.

Also, almost all known Steelfang vampires are talented magi with a host of many other skills, including, but not limited to mastery of Destruction magic, extreme sword skills, biological manipulation, mental powers, soul magic etc. This is probably a coincidence, though, since Sorin Steelfang's ancestors were all magi with massive affinities and aptitude for magic and the like. While magical power is not directly passed down, every Steelfang has an innate ability to pick up magic at a high pace, learning and mastering spells simply through observation. Some members of the Steelfang family even exhibit reality warping and defying powers, like Sylarys, Raydin and Siris.

Steelfang vampires can read the tome known as the Voidonomicon with reduced amounts of negative effects received from reading it. It takes them far longer to go insane from reading the book, as their mind is capable of self repair and they perceive phenomena on a grander scale than mortals. The Steelfang family can read the Voidonomicon with no negative effects at all.

Known vampires with Steelfang Strain
Raydin Steelfang's ex-wife, Astrid Witchbane, is not a Steelfang vampire, even though the affliction flows in her blood, as Raydin prevents her from turning, for familial reasons related to her father. She has not turned ever since, although any children she has will probably carry the genetics of a Steelfang Vampire.
 * Sorin Steelfang (The first Steelfang vampire/the great ancestor)
 * Alyssa Steelfang.Sr (Full blooded - same powers as Steelfang family)
 * Raydin Steelfang
 * Sylarys Steelfang
 * Tavion Wolfbrood (Full blooded - same powers as Steelfang family)
 * Claude Vauban
 * Illyana Abyss-Walker
 * Virlomi (Full blooded - same powers as Steelfang family)
 * Qa'Do (formerly, cured by Molag Bal before Sylarys severed the connection.)
 * Siris Steelfang
 * Tyrael Steelfang
 * Azrael Steelfang
 * Sariel Steelfang
 * Annalyse Steelfang
 * Horus Steelfang
 * Isis Steelfang
 * Lucifer Steelfang
 * Abbadon Steelfang
 * Lamia Steelfang
 * Raphael Steelfang
 * Uriel Steelfang
 * Alyssa Steelfang.Jr
 * Gideon Steelfang
 * Sargon Steelfang
 * Fanari Nikulson
 * Lucina Sea-Born (Full Blooded - same powers as Steelfang family)
 * Lily (Possibly full blooded, via Horus.)
 * Aurilius Wolfbrood
 * Unknown daughter of Claude Vauban and Illyana Abyss-Walker

Trivia

 * The Steelfang vampires are not affected by the same buffs and weaknesses common to undead, such as silver, flames and sunlight. This is highly uncharacteristic of vampires. The vampirism confers purely benefits.
 * The Steelfang vampires also never ever need to drink blood directly. They directly absorb life forces from opponents, converting it into life, magicka and/or stamina. As a result, they never bite people. If they do drink blood, it is normally drained out of the person via telekinesis.
 * Therefore, Steelfang Vampirism might be something else totally beyond vampirism, but this is unknown.
 * Transmission of Steelfang Vampirism is similar, but not the same as transmission of sexually transmitted diseases, an unfortunate coincidence.
 * All Steelfang vampires have very smooth, fair skin, even the males. Most are generally regarded as good looking. They do not have blemishes, scars or pimples.
 * The process for turning a person into a main line Steelfang vampire causes extreme amounts of ecstasy in both the one who is doing the turning and the one receiving the power. It is equal to the consummation of a marriage.
 * Virlomi's contribution of genetics to the family means many of the third generation Steelfangs like Isis and Horus can change their hair and eye colour. (Annalyse and Siris can change their features via other powers they possess)
 * Steelfang vampires are similar to archangels in terms of how they command the Tranquil Guardians. They are colloquially known as "Void Angels" by their creator. They might also be seen as Seraphim.
 * There are no sexually deviant, mentally ill or physically disabled Steelfang Vampires. The reason for this is not known, except for the fact that their healing factor overrides all physical disability and diseases.
 * Multiple births seem common among the Steelfang lineage.
 * Steelfang Vampires will prefer normal food to blood, if given the choice.

Concept art
Below are concept arts of all of the Steelfang family members. It includes newer and older art.