How could low-generation vampires have survived without childer?

Question

The accepted answer to this question says that antediluvians (and perhaps other low-generation vampires) require the blood of other kin to survive. In fact, if their generation is low enough they may only survive by drinking the blood of suitably low-generation kin.

If this is true then how did low-generation vampires survive before they had childer to feed off? For example, Caine may have lived as a vampire and traveled extensively for a long period before embracing any one. Do any sources describe how Caine, antediluvians, or other low-generation vampires survived without access to childer to feed from?

Answer 1

The broad implication is that it's age as well as generation that makes the Antedeluvians and Methuselahs the way they are now — they've changed over the course of many centuries in other ways, so it's reasonable to figure characters like Brujah and Ishtar didn't thirst for immortal blood from the very second they were embraced.

This is explicit in the V5 mechanics, where Generation sets a range for Blood Potency but your actual Blood Potency, rising slowly, determines your power and your feeding needs. Other editions use Generation as a direct measure for everything, but do have text that stresses how the semi-mythic Fourth and Third generation vampires have been transformed into something "alien" by the passage of so many years.

It's certainly also implied that Cainites did feed from each other during the "Second City" era — there's tons of diablerie going around so clearly vampires know all about what it means to drink each other's blood, and part of the story is about exploitative social dynamics between the ancient generations coming to a boil. A pyramid-like structure of "you feed on mortals, I feed on you" is pretty consistent with all that.