There is only one way to create a ghoul, and that is to feed a Kine but a single draught of your own blood. Just as feeding upon the Kine invigorates us, so does drinking our Vitae invigorate them. They grow stronger, gain endurance, and, perhaps most importantly, become our servants whether they wish it or not.
And before you ask, yes, you can also make ghouls of animals. The dogs of Mssr. S. that you so love are most assuredly ghouls, "hellhounds" in our parlance. The potence that they receive from our blood turns them from ordinary guards into fearsome fighters. You must be careful, however - once, my own ghouls spent weeks ridding themselves of the nigh-invulnerable insects that had infested them after a visit to a Nosferatu lair. The pesky chiggers, ticks, mites, roaches and other vermin could only be removed by the harshest of methods, and even then the hardiest pests did not go away until the effects of the Nosferatu Vitae had ended.
For the effects of our blood do fade over time, as the natural processes of those who are still living slowly replace our Vitae with their own. In my own experience, a single draught suffices to maintain a ghoul for a single moon, longer for animals. Unfortunately, the effects of the Bond that is created when a living thing drinks our blood end even faster. It only takes a fortnight for the Bond to fade away. I have heard tell that the Vitae of Methuselahs and other Elders has stronger effects than this, but I am not about to offer up any of my ghouls to find out!
Caine warns us in the Book of Nod against taking the third draught, because for Kindred the Blood Bond that is created by the third sip of another's blood is permanent. For ghouls, the Bond is not as strong, and as I have already said, it is not permanent, either. Whether to keep your ghouls fully Bound to your side or not is a question you must answer for yourself, though for your own sake I urge you to do so. I offer you some suggestions on practices to keep and mistakes to avoid later in this letter.
You can keep a ghoul at your side, Bound or not, for as long as you keep providing him or her with blood. While they have our Vitae in them, ghouls are effectively immortal. However, once they pass a normal human lifespan, they must have our Vitae, or else they will die. Indeed, this has led some to characterize ghouls as nothing but second-rate vampires, leeches and parasites who feed upon us. There are some ghouls who, led by twisted masters, have bred and created entire families of ghouls. These ghouls are known as "revenants", but I am unable to tell you much more about them, other than to avoid conflict with any Kindred who has control over them - he or she will have many more resources than you to call upon.
As living creatures, ghouls have demands that we no longer have. As their Regnant, you must provide for those demands. This tends to limit the number of ghouls a vampire may have, for as you have more ghouls, the more resources (including blood) you must have in order to support them, along with yourself. Feeding from your own ghouls, especially if you do not have a herd, can be a self-defeating process, for the damage you can cause by feeding prevents the ghoul from being useful to you.
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On to the next section, On the Three Types of Ghouls