(no subject)
Apr. 6th, 2008 07:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
farlaContinuing to try to nail down my vampires.
Fanlib's stories were an extended exercise in fail. They did serve the purpose of reminding me of the stupidity that is the vampire/werewolf hybrid, first seen in full moronic glory in that dumb vampire movie released a few years back. Corpses don't transform. They are made of dead flesh. Ergo, turning a werewolf gets you an animate corpse stuck in whatever form it had at the time.
Continuing in this vein:
Vampires can't heal easily. Possibly by bathing the injury in large amounts of fresh blood, possibly not at all. The older a vampire gets, the more wear and tear on its body accumulates. They're more durable than people, to offset this a bit, and, as animated corpses, most damage is entirely cosmetic. If they don't get blood regularly enough, they begin to rot. None of this thin doe-eyed waif bullshit. They also can't transform into different things, what with being corpses.
I'm toying with the idea that rather than having some involved process to make a vampire, it really is just the traditional biting. It's just that it only works on a narrow minority of people. Possibly it works better on werewolves than others, which could go a ways toward justifying the hackneyed vampires vs werewolf conflict beyond "I'm a dumbass who only knows just two mythological species so they're the ones I'll use".
Vampires are moon-ruled, strongest at the dark of a moon and weakest when it's full. A bright moon is reflecting the sun's rays. A dark moon, as we know now, is still there, it's just in shadow. Werewolves aren't connected to the moon at all, but are advantaged on brighter nights.
Vampires don't have enhanced senses any more than your average zombie would. They can, however, orient to food very well, and blood is the only thing they can taste.
Vampires are repelled by the symbols of godly things, because death and the dead are largely the domain of gods. Polytheists aren't going to be able to ward them off with the symbol of a harvest god, but the average monotheistic religion works. The greater the focus on the dead (burial customs, afterlife, etc, which the vampire violates by walking around) the stronger it is. Religions that accept the dead walking around or eating don't affect a vampire.
Vampires can cross running water just fine. They can't, however, touch it.
I'm not sure if I want them hurt by green wood, or go with the traditional idea that a stake is just to hold them still. Silver only reflects an extremely well-fed vampire, and mirrors/photographs that don't use the metal work fine.
Werewolves, meanwhile, get the standard lump of special normally dumped at the feet of the vampires - they're highly intelligent, supernaturally strong, and capable of transforming at will, with few/none of their traditional weaknesses. (Much like the typical vampire book spiel about how "real vampires aren't like those you hear about in stories".) I'm not entirely sure if I want them immortal or just unusually long lived. I'm also still unsure if they're going to be straight werewolves or general shapeshifters - perhaps one with the potential for the other.
Fanlib's stories were an extended exercise in fail. They did serve the purpose of reminding me of the stupidity that is the vampire/werewolf hybrid, first seen in full moronic glory in that dumb vampire movie released a few years back. Corpses don't transform. They are made of dead flesh. Ergo, turning a werewolf gets you an animate corpse stuck in whatever form it had at the time.
Continuing in this vein:
Vampires can't heal easily. Possibly by bathing the injury in large amounts of fresh blood, possibly not at all. The older a vampire gets, the more wear and tear on its body accumulates. They're more durable than people, to offset this a bit, and, as animated corpses, most damage is entirely cosmetic. If they don't get blood regularly enough, they begin to rot. None of this thin doe-eyed waif bullshit. They also can't transform into different things, what with being corpses.
I'm toying with the idea that rather than having some involved process to make a vampire, it really is just the traditional biting. It's just that it only works on a narrow minority of people. Possibly it works better on werewolves than others, which could go a ways toward justifying the hackneyed vampires vs werewolf conflict beyond "I'm a dumbass who only knows just two mythological species so they're the ones I'll use".
Vampires are moon-ruled, strongest at the dark of a moon and weakest when it's full. A bright moon is reflecting the sun's rays. A dark moon, as we know now, is still there, it's just in shadow. Werewolves aren't connected to the moon at all, but are advantaged on brighter nights.
Vampires don't have enhanced senses any more than your average zombie would. They can, however, orient to food very well, and blood is the only thing they can taste.
Vampires are repelled by the symbols of godly things, because death and the dead are largely the domain of gods. Polytheists aren't going to be able to ward them off with the symbol of a harvest god, but the average monotheistic religion works. The greater the focus on the dead (burial customs, afterlife, etc, which the vampire violates by walking around) the stronger it is. Religions that accept the dead walking around or eating don't affect a vampire.
Vampires can cross running water just fine. They can't, however, touch it.
I'm not sure if I want them hurt by green wood, or go with the traditional idea that a stake is just to hold them still. Silver only reflects an extremely well-fed vampire, and mirrors/photographs that don't use the metal work fine.
Werewolves, meanwhile, get the standard lump of special normally dumped at the feet of the vampires - they're highly intelligent, supernaturally strong, and capable of transforming at will, with few/none of their traditional weaknesses. (Much like the typical vampire book spiel about how "real vampires aren't like those you hear about in stories".) I'm not entirely sure if I want them immortal or just unusually long lived. I'm also still unsure if they're going to be straight werewolves or general shapeshifters - perhaps one with the potential for the other.
