Stone Mask Vampires

Stone Mask Vampires (in Japanese 石仮面の吸血鬼) are creatures that appear in the first two arcs of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. When ordinary humans wear Stone Masks by triggering it with a touch of blood, Masks then extend sharp tendrils of stone from their edges, piercing the wearers' skulls and brains. The tendrils are meant to find and trigger certain precise points of the brain; the process is described as being similar to acupuncture. The Masks' wearers are then released from the constraints of natural limitation, gaining immense strength and other abilities. This vampirism process has been shown to work at least on humans and horses. It should be noted that unlike other popular media vampires that become vampires thropugh either magic or some bizarre diseases Stone Mask vampires in Jojoverse are beings who turned into vampires by having full potentials of their bodies realized, not some magical or supernatural beings.

Differences between other media vampires exist: Not just biting their victims, Stone Mask vampires are also able to suck bloods by inserting any of their body parts into bodies of their preys. Stone Mask vampires naturally drink bloods, and once they become vampires their former humanity and personalities are gone, turning them into ferocious predators (in case of Will A. Chappeli's father, who tried to kill and eat his own son after turning into a vampire using Stone Mask).

When Stone Mask vampires debuted in Phantom Blood arc, they are depicted as terrible creatures of the night. But starting from Battle Tendency arc due to entrance of Pillar Men, superhuman vampires who feed on Stone Mask vampires, and they are also masters of Stone Mask vampires coupled by the fact that several (hundreds) of Stone Mask vampires are personal soldiers/slaves/foods for Kars, Plus addition of powerful Ripple users and UV equipment making their debuts Stone Mask vampires lost much of impact as the series went on. And Dio Brando, by the Stardust Crusaders arc, relied much more on his newfound Stand powers rather than his original vampiric powers. With Dio's final demise in the third arc Stone Mask vampires no longer make their appearances. It is unknown if all Stone Masks are destroyed, and all vampires are extinct.

Abilities
Stone Mask vampires possess superhuman attributes: they are able to smash building walls with their bare hands, able to crawl on the walls, and when Stone Mask vampires throw a human towards another human, humans get torn apart by the sheer force and impact. According to According to Robert E. O. Speedwagon in Battle Tendency arc, Stone Mask vampires have their jumping ability increased by '5/8' meters, their punching up to 2000-4000 kg/cm2, and their leg strength tripled. Straizo who had his body shattered during his fight against Joseph Joestar, exhausted lot of his power regenerating, had 4.22m jumping power and had ground pressure of 235kg/cm2.

Stone Mask vampires also possess incredible regenerativity: they can reattach their severed body parts and are able to manipulate their own blood vessels freely. Even after vampires' bodies are torn apart, Stone Mask vampires simply manipulate and stretch their blood vessels to gather and collect the shattered pieces to repair their ravaged bodies. Even the most sensitive organs can be quickly regenerated. Vampirized Dio Brando displayed his remarkable regenerativity when he regenerated his wounds as his body was being burnt. Additionally Dio survives even after being shot in the head or impaled in the heart, wounds that would've killed any normal human being instantly.

When vampirized by Stone Mask, vampires' physical condition retains at their prime (presumed to be in their early 20s. Actual physical attribute, of course, is a lot more powerful) Old vampire can rejuvente by drinking bloods (as the drunkard rejuvenated when he drank Dio Brando's blood and Straizo regained his youth when turned into a vampire). Vampires utilize nutritions within bloods they ate to maximize and accelerate healing effect. Because of vampires' bodies are more flexible and easier to manipulate, vampires' regenerativity are much more efficient than Ripple users.

Although not to the level of Pillar Men who possess ability to manipulate their bodies to the cellular levels, Stone Mask vampires can also manipulate their body structures to a certain degree: Dio Brando displayed Space Ripper Stingy Eyes by creating two pressurized fluid jets from the eyes, Vaporization Freezing Technique which is a freezing ability enabling him to freeze opponents' body parts momentarily and transfer the loss of energy by touch (it is able to cancel out the Ripple by freezing the blood in the user's body), and finally Dio manipulated his own blood vessels to attack Jonathan Joestar. A vampire named Wired Beck manipulated his body hairs to deadly spikes. Dio in Stardust Crusaders arc utilized Flesh Buds, a parasitic organisms derived from Dio's cells used to brainwash people. Even after losing a body so long as head (brain, to be more precisely) remains alive, survival is possible and vampires can regain their body by attaching their heads to another people's bodies. However, in case of Dio, he had to eat bloods of blood relative of the owner of the body he hijacked to gain complete control, in contrast to Pillar Men such as Esidisi who utilized Loggin's arm as replacement arm of his own but suffered no problem.

Unlike vampires from other medias, Stone Mask vampires are turned by the probing of the brain so they are unaffected by stereotypical weaknesses such as crosses, not able to cross oceans, garlics, etc.

Due to these said traits, humans have no problem having blood transfusion from Stone Mask vampires. Also, Stone Mask vamires' powers are not inherited because the condition to become vampire are not bloods.

Not all Stone Mask vampires are equal in terms of their abilities: when a vampire was powerful in life, their vampiric power is that much more powerful. For example when Dio had his whole body burnt and impaled he was wheelchair bound for a few nights. But Straizo, a former Ripple user turned vampire, had his whole body other than his brain destroyed but managed to regenerate rapidly.

Although it is possible for Stone Mask vampires to use Ripple powers, that would be equivalent to suicide, as ripple powers would destroy their own bodies from within.

Weaknesses
When their brain is destroyed, Stone Mask vampires perish. However, lightly damaged brain can be regenerated so their brains must be destroyed completely: Dio, despite being cut into two by a sword, regenerated quickly and when he was stabbed in the head by Silver Chariot in the head, did not die. But Dio showed that he is weaker against striking powers (namely when Star Platina destroyed part of Dio's head and brain) rather than precise stabbing or cutting attacks. But again, only when the brain is destroyed does a Stone Mask vampire truly perish. As long as brain is alive Stone Mask vampire can survive. However, Stone Mask vampires can survive without their bodies only for so long: if their heads cannot obtain necessary energy and nutrition they need for their body/survival heads will eventually expire so the vampires do need to obtain new bodies asap.

Although their regenerativity is indeed remarkable, it is activated through bloods they consumed. So when the vampires receive continuous and consecutive heavy injuries, their regenerativity decreases due to lack of nutrition (when vampirized Straizo recovered from recreating his ravaged body, his other attributes greatly diminished).

Like Pillar Men, Stone Mask vampires' weaknesses primarily lie in sunlight. But it has to be sunlight that emits ultraviolet ray. A stand called The Sun that emits sunlight without UV ray is unable to affect Stone Mask vampires.

The Truth
Stone Mask vampires are created in order for Pillar Men to feed them. It is better to feed vampires who possess superior physical attributes and therefore consume much more nutrition than consuming normal humans (the better the more nutrition), whose physical attributes are inferior to Stone Mask vampires which means not much nutrition from normal humans. Stone Mask vampires are also slaves and minions to Pillar Men. In other words, walking slave foods.

Dio Brando

 * See Dio Brando.

Wired Beck


Wired Beck is a minor villain from the second arc of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Battle Tendency.

Wired Beck was a convict condemned for strangling his own girlfriend. He eventually escaped from prison and was turned into a vampire by Cars, hiding in their mansion disguised as a door. Joseph Joestar and Lisa Lisa stumble upon him while following a trail of blood left by Wham. Upon showing himself, Wired Beck uses his special ability to turn his own hair into needles all over his body and attacks, but Lisa Lisa easily defeats him by using her scarf to transmit Hamon, which disintegrates Wired Back shortly after.

Aztec Chief
Aztec Chief, a muscular leader of a cult hidden within the Aztec empire at the center of Mexico, during the 12-16th century BC. The tribe performed its sacrificial rituals and cannibalistic traditions. The chief sacrificed a maiden in a blood ritual so the Stone Mask could absorb her fresh blood and give him eternal life. The mask then pierced his brain and turned him into a Vampire. He asked one of the cult members if he wished to become his life force and sucked his blood after the man agreed.

The tribe vanished from history under mysterious circumstance, leaving countless unknown ruins in the process. It is possible the Chieftain decimated the tribe himself.

Vagrant Drunkard
After Jonathan Joestar discovers that Dio poisoned his father and sets off to find a cure, Dio becomes paranoid and wanders through the streets heavily inebriated. He then bumps into a tramp and his friend and picks a fight with them. Dio decides to use one of them as a live test subject for the Stone Mask he secretly stole from Jonathan, believing it to be a device of torture and murder. He then forces one of the vagrants to put on the mask and stabs his partner in the throat, killing him. The mask, now soaked in blood, turns the man into a vampire. He attacks Dio and becomes younger while absorbing Dio's blood, but disintegrates after witnessing the sunlight. Anyway, the Vagrant Drunkard aided Dio solving his problems and paved way into a new life.

Mr. Zeppeli
Mr. Zeppeli was the leader of an archaeological expedition team at his own university. Consisting of about 60 people including himself and his own son William Antonio, they traveled all over the world, including Egypt and India. The group one day set off to Mexico to excavate an underground Aztec ruin and found Stone Mask. On the Atlantic Ocean Mr. Zeppeli learned how to use the mask, wore it without realizing the Mask's dangerous secret and became a vampire. He brutally killed everyone on board, turning some of them into Undead People. As he still hungered for blood, he jumped in the water in pursuit of his own son, but dawn came and the morning light killed him before he could kill William. It was only then that William realized the Vampire was his own father. The ship with the mask drifted away somewhere until it was discovered by George Joestar.

Vampire Horses
Horses turned into vampires after wearing Stone Masks. Needlessly to say they are considerably more powerful than normal horses and much bigger in sizes. When Joseph Joestar saw these horses he mistook them for dinosaurs.