(no subject)
Okay. So vampires in "Sanctuary" are pretty different from vampires in any other canon. Most importantly, they're an entirely different species: Sanguine vampiris.
~On Sanguine vampiris~
Canon refers to them as the deadliest abnormal to have ever lived, and from what little we've seen I'd be willing to believe that: they're fastermore agile, stronger, and near impossible to kill. They were the kings of ancient ages, the pharoahs of humanity. Of course, in time a force rose up against them. To be precise: Christianity. Most were exterminated, with the rest driven to the fringes of humanity, or sterilized.
The result was what we know as the Dark Ages.
In less historical veins, we don't actually know much about vampires, apart from the physical qualities Tesla displays. What we know is as follows. (In bullet points for convince)
-Silver, holy water, and crucifixes have no effect.
-They can't turn into bats or fog.
-They do drink blood. (Tesla himself is an exception to this; he gets by on... something vaguely handwaved)
-Wine has no effect on them.
-Vampirism is not by bite.
-They can interbreed with humans.
-Retractable fangs and talons for 'game face'
~On Tesla~
So, if vampirism isn't transmissible by bite, how did Tesla end up as one? The answer is a long story, but it involves science, him having vampiric ancestry and a serum of pure vampire blood. Injecting it unlocked and enhanced his natural powers and also reacted to his ancestral blood and turned him into something that could best be called a part-vampire - most people (himself included) generally simplify this into simply "vampire".
If you have any questions/want more explanation/whatever, feel free to ask here.
~On Sanguine vampiris~
Canon refers to them as the deadliest abnormal to have ever lived, and from what little we've seen I'd be willing to believe that: they're fastermore agile, stronger, and near impossible to kill. They were the kings of ancient ages, the pharoahs of humanity. Of course, in time a force rose up against them. To be precise: Christianity. Most were exterminated, with the rest driven to the fringes of humanity, or sterilized.
The result was what we know as the Dark Ages.
In less historical veins, we don't actually know much about vampires, apart from the physical qualities Tesla displays. What we know is as follows. (In bullet points for convince)
-Silver, holy water, and crucifixes have no effect.
-They can't turn into bats or fog.
-They do drink blood. (Tesla himself is an exception to this; he gets by on... something vaguely handwaved)
-Wine has no effect on them.
-Vampirism is not by bite.
-They can interbreed with humans.
-Retractable fangs and talons for 'game face'
~On Tesla~
So, if vampirism isn't transmissible by bite, how did Tesla end up as one? The answer is a long story, but it involves science, him having vampiric ancestry and a serum of pure vampire blood. Injecting it unlocked and enhanced his natural powers and also reacted to his ancestral blood and turned him into something that could best be called a part-vampire - most people (himself included) generally simplify this into simply "vampire".
If you have any questions/want more explanation/whatever, feel free to ask here.