Sunday, July 25, 2010

Vampires part 3

So, now I've established my premise. That vampires steal life from others to use in their addictive lifestyle of daily dying. Now I have to work on the rules. There is a basic checklist of vampire rules we can go down and see what does and does not apply, and here is how I'm working my gang:

  • Vampires need blood: My vampires don't need blood, but they want the life force of others. Blood is just the most convenient way of transferring that energy. Some of the more gifted (perverse?) vampires have found other ways of taking the life force.
  • Vampires don't age: Conditionally true. Vampires can use the life force of others to halt the aging process in themselves. It is a very minimal expenditure, so most do it.
  • Vampires are very strong: Again, if they wish to use the lifeforce they steal then they can become very strong. This is a greater use of the life force though, and so they avoid doing so except in life or death circumstances.
  • Vampires don't need to eat or drink. Conditionally true. Vampires can live off the life force. Most do so because if they eat or drink and then enter their death state, then that food is basically rotting inside them. The results when they return to life... isn't pretty. Most vampires teach their students to purge themselves if they eat anything before dying.
  • Vampires and the sun. Ok, here I make a rather arbitrary ruling, but I hate the idea of vampires merrily dancing in the sunlight. They are creatures of darkness, right? So, I'm going to say that the stolen life force is a bit more fragile than the native life force of a being. The sun won't kill a vampire but it will cause their stolen life force to fade quickly. So, if you spent all night sucking blood then you don't want to go out and get a tan. So vampires COULD make an errand or two during the day, but they wouldn't want to.
  • Vampires and running water: For a similar reason a vampire doesn't want to be immersed in running watter or even a heavy rain. The water "shorts" the life force away from them. On the other hand they can cross running water without a problem.
  • Vampires and stakes. Any physical damage a vampire receives can be healed via their life force. However, some damage takes a lot more life force than others to heal. A stake to the heart takes a LOT of life. So, it is probably any vampire hunter has seen a vampire tragically run out of the needed life force before fully healing. Thus the legend.
  • Beheading. Beheading on the other hand will stop all the vampire nonsense utterly. It breaks the needed alchemical link between the heart and mind that allows the life force to work. Break the chain and it is the end. Anyone see high lander?
  • Burning. Yep, ain't getting out of that.
  • Coffins. Aren't needed. But vampires do tend to put their bodies in safe places.
  • Garlic. Yes please.
  • Holy symbols. No, a vampire is not automatically repulsed by a holy symbol. Most vampires don't like them though. Being creatures very familiar with death they have a little more concrete, objective knowledge of the afterlife and there are other reasons they don't want to fully die. Finally some people can with great faith and concentration use their own life force against a vampire, that these people often use holy symbols as a focus doesn't make them any more popular.
  • Shapechanging. No, for the most part a vampire can't change their shape. Maybe some modification in how their human body looks, but that takes so much life force that it is silly.
  • Death State. The holy grail to my vampires. Mostly, they just want to lie there and enjoy the "death high." But it is here that they are also the most powerful. Firstly, they can leave their dead body and let their astral body roam around. That means they can see things without being seen at all. They can hear to but since sound is a physical medium they have to concentrate (expend life force) to hear. But, if they do all their senses in this state are at a supernatural level. Also, they can sense the thoughts and feelings of others in this state.
  • Being seen. A vampire can expend life to have their astral state seen and heard by the living. When in this state the vampire will not show up on film, or any media (they aren't physically there after all), they can also more easily change how they look in this state becoming beastial or insanely beautiful.
  • Influencing. A vampire can expend even more life and begin to influence the thoughts and feelings of the living. This is how they cultivate many of those they steal life from. It is a nasty, painful process. But with the right influence before hand a victim will willingly swoon into the vampire's arm. This is the vampire's basic hunting tool.
  • Touching. With even more use of life force a vampire can interact with the physical world of the living. In such a state they are nearly invulnerable. It is a great use of life force though, so rarely used.

So this is my basic rules for my vampires. Do they sound interesting? I would like to know!

4 comments:

  1. Yes, they sound interesting. The mind game/astral thing is their main focus when in the death state, correct? That's the goal they aspire to?
    Garlic Yes, that means it hurts, or yes they like it?
    (Highlander has the best wipes, from scene to scene!)
    So, if one of your Vampires didn't want to be 'reliving' the death state, they wouldn't have to drink blood/life force, or eat actual food? What would they do/why would they exist?
    There is a Shaman and or Buddhist practice that has you purge undigested food every morning. So good precedence is set for that.

    They essentially want to experience being ghosts, but ghosts with benefits (if they want to expend the life force to have the 'benefits'), right?

    I'm liking it, seeming pretty solid so far.

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  2. 1) Yes that is their goal is stay in that state as much as possible.
    2) They LOVE garlic if htye have to eat.
    3) that's the thing, if one wanted to they COULD quit. Stop stealing life. Stop dying every day. Get back on the mortal coil. But so few manage it.
    4) I like that "Ghost with benefits" By the way vampires are never haunted as a Ghost is just a big bunch of lifeforce without a body to worry about.

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  3. Good good!
    Are they New/Old/Offshoot/viewed as junkies or a cult amongst other Vamp types?
    Time frame? Now/future/past/off planet/Skewed time line/reality?
    So, if they didn't draw life force, they would revert to human status? What kind of process would that be?
    I get the not haunted/haunting thing, not ghosts, just ethereal energy being astrally projected so it has guidance and a bit of purpose.?

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  4. 1) well i wouldn't have other vamp types for this story they are the vampires. I mentioned other vampires as a contrast to other uses in literature and myth.
    2) I like the present day.
    3) Yes if they left the life they would revert to human but it would be a painful withdrawal at least psychologically.

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