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Read after Blood Moon 005.
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A rough draft of Angela’s personal essay on her findings as regards vampire lore.
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Title ideas?
Fangbangers – lol no
Vampires 101 – lame
The Unseen World – FUCK YEAH LETS DO A SERIES OF SUPERNATURAL SHIT
VAMPIRES
By: A.J. Mercy
INTRODUCTION
**** Write some smartass intro.
MYTHOLOGY AND LEGENDS AROUND THE WORLD
**** Put together research notes.
TRUE ORIGINS
Magical? Via curse or tampering?
Natural evolution? Genetics? Virus?
Otherworldly?
Magic has to be involved somehow with the nature of returning to life, thralling, powers, and healing blood. What the fuck even IS magic and shit?
**** Harass future husband Walter, he might know.
THE VAMPIRE AS A SPECIES
Vampires are what you could consider superhuman. They are essentially human in almost every way, (after all, they used to BE human), but are enhanced by a supernatural element that normal humans do not possess. They have sharp retractable teeth for feeding, added physical strength as well as supernatural gifts, and can live frozen at the age of their siring until they are killed by an outside force. Their “undead” status comes from the fact they need to die in order to be “reborn” as a vampire. Once they return to life, their bodies work like normal, including all functions and needs for replenishment (Eating and sleeping, for instance). If they couldn’t appear to be human, there is no way they could move through society. Everything from breathing to a heart beat; from consuming and digesting food to having sex – you could LIVE and FUCK a vampire and wouldn’t know unless you clued in to smaller details.
Appearing human is contingent on them having blood in their system. Blood is not only the sustenance that keeps them alive and strong, but it is also what allows them to still appear and function like an average human. A vampire that does not feed will become increasingly weaker. The first step would simply be less power; they would not be able to thrall or even be as physically strong as they should be. Next, they would loose mental control; become feral and animalistic, desperate for blood to the point of all other thought being drowned out. Gradually, the longer they go without blood, their body would weaken and dry up to the point of mummification and torpor. They’d likely stay that way until you squeezed a little blood back in them.
A big mystery to the existence of vampires that never seems to be answered: How does a vampire move through the world when at least half the women in it must be on their period. When you consider a freshly made vampire is already struggling with their new power, you would think bloodlust could be triggered by the swarm of women bleeding once a month. Let me throw down some uterus education. Menstruation is the shedding of the uterus lining, and where it is mostly consisting of blood, it does not have the same chemical make up as the stuff that flows through your veins and arteries. Not only is it texturally different, it consists of different compounds. From the amounts of hemoglobin to ph levels.
So yes, where a vampire is definitely going to know when a woman is on her period, it will not incite a feeding instinct. The perception would be the same way you react to a food scented perfume. The scent is recognizable, but you know it’s not dinner. You’re not going to go take a bite out of a guy wearing Chocolate Axe deodorant no matter how hungry you are, that’s fucking stupid. All the vampires in the world would be dead by now if they got triggered by periods.
Another question that is begging to be asked: Can a vampire have children? Because vampires are essentially immortal, there is no reason for them to procreate. The life of a vampire doesn’t exactly create a good environment for raising children, either. However, if their bodies work entirely like a human’s so long as they have blood in their system it would suggest that it’s possible. Unfortunately there is no way to test this theory without meeting more vampires. Until then, consider that we do not see vampire babies getting popped out anywhere. (Do YOU think vampires would be any more responsible with safe sex? I don’t.) This leads me to believe that A) Vampires are most likely sterile. or B) Vampire genetics are simply not compatible with humans or each other.
Now that we’ve broached the subject of periods and the reproductive system; Would a female vampire have a period? If a vampire still functions one hundred percent like a human and a male is capable of popping a boner to spit out that baby juice, naturally you would assume a female vampire’s body also has a working system. Yet, can you imagine a lady vampire being hormonal, cramping, and moodswinging? Scores of bitches would die. Is this why vampires in lore are always traditionally male? I have two theories. A vampire woman does indeed ovulate, but the egg continues on it’s merry way through it’s journey, but never embedding itself in to the uterus lining; The process that would’ve triggered either a pregnancy if the egg is fertilized, or rejecting the egg and starting the period cycle. We already know that vampire babies aren’t a thing in lore, so perhaps the egg just can’t stick. My second theory is that ovulation never happens at all. Once a woman is sired, her age is frozen. This could work a bit like menopause, in the sense that the body no longer feels the need to continue the reproductive cycle and it simply shuts the baby-train down. Until I meet a lady vampire, this mystery remains unsolved.
Finally, and my absolute favorite bit of knowledge, is lunar eclipses. It seems that during a lunar eclipse (most notably a full moon eclipse – also known as a Blood Moon), a vampire loses the ability to flip their off-switch and experiences what I like to call “The Three F’s”. Feeding, Fighting, and most strongly Fucking. It very well could be the Blood Moon that kicked off the whole vampire romance thing, because sexual urges are near irresistible for them during a Blood Moon. I find this especially interesting, considering this doesn’t seem to be any REASON for heightened horniness. Could this be part of the missing vampire-procreation chain?
As capabilities go, the most obvious is strength of body and senses. Physically, they are twenty times stronger than the average person. They can lift an impressive amount of weight and move at speeds faster than a human eye can catch. Their senses are also affected. Sight, smell, hearing, taste, touch – all heightened. If you’re going to eat a bitch, you need to be able to physically over take them.
What makes a vampire a vampire though is the supernatural abilities.
Thrall is the world’s favorite, and this gift is no fucking joke. Being a weird mix of hypnotism and pressing will upon others, thrall is a vampire’s most frightening weapon. With one look and a few words a vampire can control the mind of a human. They can make a human do things, even erase and alter their memories. As a “bright side” this ability is likely why a vampire does not need to kill their victims in order to feed. They can simply thrall and then erase the memory that anything ever happened at all. A thrall can be made even stronger if their victim ingests some of their blood. This is particularly useful if they wish to thrall someone who is naturally resistant to mind control. (Psychics, for instance.)
If you are bitten by a vampire, it has an interesting affect much like a soothing aphrodisiac reaction. It’s not going to hurt – at least you’re not going to be aware of the pain. It may even feel good, which makes it much easier to snack on their favorite flavor of human without them instinctively fighting it.
Most interestingly, a vampire’s blood has healing factors. Not just for themselves (which is what you would expect for a supernatural creature), but also when fed to a human. This right here is the big flashing sign that though vampires are predators, their object is not to kill their prey. Taking a drink and then healing your human snack afterwards ensures future meals and protects your secret.
**** Leo said something about other cool shit, gotta see what that is. How fast do vampires actually heal? Do they get sick? Is the foxy vampire bite because of the teeth? Venom? Or is it their SPIT? That’s kind of gross, but it’d make sense with how obsessed people are with kissing the assholes. Oh shit, that’d make going downtown so awesome – ASK JULIAN AND LEO ASAP.
PSYCHOLOGY AND PERSONALITY OF VAMPIRES
An important thing to note is that vampires do NOT have to kill in order to eat and survive. In fact, NOT killing their prey makes for longer survival and a more successful vampire. They don’t instantly become mindless predators. The blood-thirsty, murderous monsters of vampire lore would leave a noticeable trail of bodies and draw attention. It’s a fucking stupid and counter-intuitive concept.
However, because they are still a predator species by nature and with their primary source of food being humans, there are many complications that arise. Much like the way their bodies become stronger and their senses sharper, their mind is also affected. Emotions, feelings… these all seem to greater than what the average human would experience. The original personality does not just disappear and become replaced with a different person. Instead, aspects of ones core personality become amplified as controlling your honest self seems to be much harder for a creature whose experiences are now flooding in at an increased rate.
What this means for a newly sired vampire is one hell of a fucked up ride as they grapple with their new role as a predator, but also with who they are as a person as they discover things about themselves they may have been burying or simply have yet to realize.
As an added bonus (yes, that’s sarcasm), again, just like their bodies are frozen at the age of their siring, so is their brain. Human brains are not fully developed until they are twenty-five years old. If a vampire is sired at sixteen, they have that under-developed sixteen year old brain forever. While they are capable of increasing their education, knowledge, and even growing as a person, they are still always going to have that teenage brain and will consequently behave according to it’s chemical makeup and hormones. They will never truly mature past the age of their siring.
To deal with the bullshit that comes with just BEING a vampire, they come equipped with an “off switch” of sorts for empathy, conscience, and sometimes just feelings in general. This makes sense. A vampire needs to be able to feel detached enough from humanity in order to consume them as prey. They also need to be able to manage the intense, and often over-whelming surges of emotion that comes with feeling things stronger than the average human. Should they find themselves unable to feed because they have too much compassion for their human prey, flip the switch and have a bite. If they are becoming overwhelmed with anger, fear, or other emotions that could potentially cause them to react in a way that would bring attention to them and harm their chances for survival – flip the switch, shut it off, regroup and handle the problem. This ability to step back without emotion and think about a situation clearly is a contributing factor to vampires being able to move unnoticed through society. Especially for a newbie vampire who does not yet know how to fully control their abilities, and would need that edge to be able to survive.
There is one hitch. This off switch is not permanent, nor does it turn things off completely. Feeling can still slip through. It is not meant to be held down for long periods of time. Having emotion and being a mentally stable individual is just as important for vampires as it is for humans. Forced suppression will eventually lead to a mental breakdown.
**** The off-switch needs more research. Ask Julian about souls and shit. Does it damage the soul to hold down that button? Is that even just a vampire thing or is that assholes being scary fucking assholes?
TO CREATE A VAMPIRE
It’s safe to say that vampires can’t be a very common thing. Even with the use of thrall and taking care not to maim their dinner, there’s bound to be those who just don’t give a shit or who are unable to control their base instincts. The greater the numbers, the more likely the secret is to get out. To top it off, as far as I know vampires can only be created. In order to become a vampire you must die with vampire blood in your system. Considering the huge amount of physical and mental changes a person undertakes when becoming a vampire, newbie vampires are starting off with a HUGE disadvantage and risk of murder, mayhem, and being caught.
Reinforcing this theory of “creation by will only” is the sire thrall. All newly sired childer are beholden to their sire. They can be commanded and controlled through thralling just like any human. Sire thralling likely exists as a way to help control a new vampire as they adapt to their new undead life, which increases their chances for survival. Unfortunately this also means, that if a sire is a huge douchebag, they could essentially create themselves a following of mind controlled minions.
There are some situations that could produce an accidental vampire, though.
For one, because thralling is more effective for a vampire if they feed the victim their vampire blood, that person is effectively a ticking vampire-bomb waiting to happen until that blood fades from their system. Any number of potential accidents could happen for a hapless human just because life is unpredictable. Car wrecks, stabbings, what have you. Consider also that the vampire might be a crazy son of a bitch and get kill happy by mistake and end up murdering their thrall.
Secondly, a vampire’s blood can heal, so if they used it to heal a person and the person died anyway (again, life is unpredictable), BAM you get another vampire.
Third, drinking a vampire’s blood theoretically has some other more fun druggy affects. (Same as being bitten.) So if somebody was getting freaky with their vampire sex partner and then shit got rough, once again. Vampire.
**** Ask Leo what kind of kinky blood swapping shit he’s done. He’s SO done it before. Will a vampire die if they refuse to feed after they’ve returned to life? That’s unclear.
THE VAMPIRE’S WEAKNESSES
The one weakness that exists in nearly every myth is sunlight. This does seem to be the case, but with age (and strength?) this becomes less and less of a problem. A freshly new vampire may burst in to flame and burn to ash, but an older vampire may only experience one hell of a nasty sunburn. Perhaps the longer they remain in direct sunlight they would grow weaker – I have yet to see this first hand.
Staking is also a popular myth and one hundred percent true. Any solid wooden object piercing the heart is instant death for a vampire. Apparently, piercing the heart with any OTHER object can paralyze them until the object is removed. This wouldn’t be recommended, though. If that object fell out or if you just missed the heart, that angry vampire would fuck you up.
Many texts try to pass off garlic as a way to ward vampires; this is false. However roses actually do. Contact with their skin burns, and ingesting roses is poison. Consume rose oils or teas, wear rose scents, and you’d effectively be totally unappetizing for a vampire. I think it’s incredibly fascinating (and very telling) that roses became such a popular tool in romancing, when seduction and charm is a well-known vampire trait. Someone really knew how to cockblock.
The myth of seeing a vampire’s reflection in mirrors turns out to be based in truth. It’s not just ANY mirror, though. Mirrors used to be backed with silver, which is a common weapon across many supernatural myths. A vampire is not invisible in silver mirrors, but rather you see their true reflection. Having not seen it myself, I’m not sure what this actually means. I imagine you get a flash of fangs or something. It’s also possible that you can see this reflection in ANY silver object that has a reflection surface.
**** I really need more about that mirror thing. What else do I not know?
PERSONAL THOUGHTS
Until I know what the real and ACTUAL origins of vampires are and interact with more subjects, I can only make educated guesses on the purpose of their existence. Vampires have always been portrayed as monsters and murderers, and where I can definitely see that (all the vampires I’ve met so far are assholes, even the ones I like) their actual powers have other implications. I don’t believe they are a natural evolution to humans, but rather something either triggered by magic or originating from a different source. Either way, though they are definitely powerful and capable of killing, but much of their powers seemed centered on being able to capture, control, and HEAL their prey.
What this actually means, I’m not sure. A curse seems unlikely, because vampires are strong as fuck. Feeding on humans, an allergy to sunlight, and being emotionally unstable seems like a really pitiful punishment for all of the strength a vampire possesses. I have reason to believe that it’s much more likely that it started either as an individual reaching to become powerful and immortal (and got unfortunate, mostly just inconvenient drawbacks) OR they were created as a weapon and for protection. Thralling and it’s whole tier of command definitely suggests that vampires could be an excellent tool for whomever is on the top tier. They kick serious ass and are dangerous as fuck. They can detach themselves from humanity long enough to kill as needed. But then, they are also able to heal humans and are still capable of forming real and compassionate bonds with people. All through supernatural lore we see witchcraft being used to create beings and monsters, and in every case it’s either for protection against something massively frightening, or because someone is a huge fucking asshole and just wants to wreck somebody else’s shit. That’s something to think about.
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