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Okay, it works like this: I want to write a vampire novel. However, I don't feel that I can convey what I need with traditional vampires. Therefore, in order to avoid offending horror purists (like myself) I invented a new species, which I called Vrachs.

A Vrach is a traditional vampire in most senses, save for a few things. He can't shapeshift, for example. If a Vrach were to go into daylight, he wouldn't burn, because I needed the character to be day-mobile, so I altered that slightly. Instead, I augmented his sight to the degree that he would be blind in moments without proper eye protection.
I also got rid of the superhuman speed vampires are purported to have. The story is about a cross-country journey, so it didn't make sense to give him super speed. He'd be there in just a few chapters, and then I wouldn't have the back half of the book. As a whole, I augmented the race's super strength, to compensate, although my main character has let himself go a lot, only able to lift about a fourth of what his kinsmen can.
In addition, because it would be really annoying to have characters that can only be bumped off in a few ways (some Vrachs are villains, after all) I took out the species' near-immortality and replaced it with a healing factor that can almost instantly repair them from any non-mortal wound. Admittedly, it means none of them will be bleeding to death, but I can live with that. If the item that inflicted the wound was made of Silver, however, the wound will not heal fast, and in fact will heal slower than a normal human would. This is me trying to give Superman some sort of Kryptonite. Silver also burns Vrachs on contact. My lead Vrach wears a silver cross so the pain will remind him he's still alive.
Speaking of death, I also decided that my Vrachs do go on to whatever afterlife is relevant. It would just be too sad for them if the entire species were just snuffed out when they died, and it would give my lead no motivation.
So there you have it. If there are any complaints about things, let me know. I'm writing this for the world, so if the world is going to complain about it, I'd like to know in advance.