What happens if a blood scion doesn't drink blood?

ManM

Now that the year of the vampire is coming to a close and the gameplay changes appear to be locked in, I would like some clarification.

In the gameplay, a blood scion who refrains from drinking blood retains a maximal amount of their humanity, whereas drinking blood leads to them becoming closer to a monstrous bloodfiend. Roleplay wise, I can definitely see a character not wanting to devolve into a bloodfiend, and so in my mind, there is an argument to be made for a blood scion that refuses to drink blood. However, the idea of a "vampire" who abstains from blood and suffers no ill effects is a bit odd, to say the least.

So, what happens to a blood scion if they abstain, lore wise?

Vevvev

Well.... Um.... According to what we see in game mechanics, absolutely nothing. Lamae's experimental bloodline seems to function more like the Higher Vampires of the Witcher series. They don't need blood to survive, blend in, or any of that other stuff. To them it's like a fine wine and something to "grow their power". Whether they get stronger or not is up for debate due to the incredibly harsh health regeneration debuff, but the passives can make them harder to kill.

The player character when they drink blood gets more addicted to it with every feeding. So they actually get more crazy for blood the higher their stage gets. Why the tooltips talk about vampiric corruption and the Vestige in the conversation with Verandis mentions their thirst for blood and that maybe it could be freed by drinking from the Dark Heart.

Edit 1: I also forgot about that one vampire quest in Northern Elsweyr. The Vestige straight up tells the Khajiit that their thirst doesn't control them, even though said quest happened before the Vampire rework.

Edit 2: Also should mention the vampire furnishing bundle says the fountain provides succor for your thirst, which when used reduces your stage. If you wish to read into this it further proves the Scion's getting more feral and thirsty as they feed. Some rightfully call them Bloodfiends as once they start feeding they don't want to stop.

VampireLordLover99

Nothing, we are literally stronger than vampire lords. We have no need to feed on blood.

Ratzkifal

Personally I think lore-wise it's a mess. You get to stay sane, you don't die but you are still immortal. The only downsides to it are that your vampiric powers weaken, which doesn't matter at all in the grand scheme of things. Lamae's vampirism is all perks and no moral conflict.

Fennorian and the others need blood to heal themselves, so wounds might not close naturally anymore if you don't feed, but then again House Ravenwatch isn't necessarily part of Lamae's bloodline. Not all of them anyway.
There is a lot of conflicting evidence out there. Judging by the game mechanics then your wounds do still heal somewhat normally as your health recovery is fine at stage 1.