1. Vivienne Crow

    Vivienne Crow New Member

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    The Blood Compendium - A Guide to Vampirism

    Discussion in 'Setting Development' started by Vivienne Crow, Mar 26, 2011.

    I'm developing a Vampire Handbook that is going to be used in my vampire series and thought it would be great to get a varity of view points on what needs to be in the Handbook. So I thought I'd ask all you lovely people out there to post the questions you would want answers if you were nearly turned? Or if you've just come of age as a pureblood vampire. It would be a huge help to me.

    Thanks
     
  2. OurDayBreaks

    OurDayBreaks New Member

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    Where is the first place a new vampire should go to get blood?
     
  3. leadINmyPencil

    leadINmyPencil New Member

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    1 how to fly
    2 what sunlight does to you(burn your skin, blind you, kills you, ect.)
    3 what kills you
    4 what heals you
    5 Will there be safe house's? vampire colonies or they live alone.
    6 how to seduce your victims
     
  4. Bartleby

    Bartleby New Member

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    I'm a vampire, I am immortal What is my purpose in life?
     
  5. Ellipse

    Ellipse Contributor Contributor

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    What about psychic vampires?
     
  6. MidnightPhoenix

    MidnightPhoenix New Member

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    Why am I so thirst, all the time?
    What are my limits?
    What can killed and harm me?
    Where do I hide?
    Do I have any powers?
    How do I get by?
    Is anybody hunting me?

    I don’t know if I am doing this right, so I apologize, if I am not or if it to late.
     
  7. Smoke

    Smoke New Member

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    What will happen to me if I refuse to feed on people?
    Are there any alternatives to killing my victims?

    Are all vampires alike?
    Are all vampires unique?
    (Note, it is possible to answer "no" to both those questions.)
     
  8. bekajoi

    bekajoi New Member

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    What kind of relationship can I expect to have with my maker?
    Am I on my own now or will I be part of a greater whole?
    What do I do with myself, for money?
    What about my family and how do I stand by and watch them wonder what happened to me?
    Can I contact anyone from my old life, safely?
    Are there other creatures like vampires, thought to be myth, that are real?
    Are any of those other creatures a danger to me?
    How do I defend myself?
    How do I get over my distaste for killing so I can feed and live?
    What can I do if I don't want to be a vampire anymore?
    Who is in charge?
    Are there laws I must follow?
    What happens if I don't follow those laws?
    What can hurt me and how badly?
    Sunlight affects me how?
    What about holy water?
    Crosses?
    Stakes?

    I may be over-thinking this. ;)
     
  9. Smoke

    Smoke New Member

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    Can I survive on animal blood?
    Must I keep my existence secret?
    Is there a way to walk unnoticed among mortals?
     
  10. NateSean

    NateSean Senior Member

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    I suppose the biggest thing you want to tackle are the rules. How are your vampires different from what we as a culture all ready have seen in both folklore and media?
     
  11. bumblebot

    bumblebot New Member

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    Do they have to keep their existence hidden from humans, and if so, what is the punishment for refusing to do so?
     
  12. Bartleby

    Bartleby New Member

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    older vampires were shapeshifters often turning into beast or bats Can I do this?
     
  13. Allegro Van Kiddo

    Allegro Van Kiddo New Member

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    Firstly, I think this is a clever idea for a fun book.

    Idea:

    Are there different types of vampires one should watch out for?

    1. Goulish mindless vamps.
    2. Sinister intellectual predator types.
    3. Lost average people vamps.
    4. Suicidal ones.
    5. Bored ennui filled ones that are depressing.

    There's some opportunity for vampire genre satire in this.
     
  14. Elgaisma

    Elgaisma Contributor Contributor

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    *waves*

    Looking forward to seeing this take shape.

    1) What are you strengths?
    2) What are your weaknesses?
    3) Do you have any special beauty a way to mesmerize?
    4) How do you attract people to you ?
     
  15. Vivienne Crow

    Vivienne Crow New Member

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    Everyone's been so wonderful and gotten right into this :) Most of the questions that everyone has asked I've already filtered into the book so far, but some of them I hadn't thought of and will know start to figure into the book.

    I'm getting rather excited about finishing this handbook even though it's getting much larger than I had planned lol hopefully by the time I go to print it I'll have enough paper and ink, I'm actually going to be practicing my bookbinding skills on this book.
     
  16. Lothgar

    Lothgar New Member

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    If I were a newly turned vampyre, the questions I'd have are below in bold face type, with a short paragraph to frame the context that I'd be asking these questions under (just for clarity). My questions come from many legends and myths about vampyres, so take what you like and disregard the rest.



    Darkness...

    Coldness....

    I slowly become aware of pain...just a dull ache in my neck...that quickly erupts into a blinding flash of pain that positively RIPS through my entire body, shocking me back into consciousness. My eyes flare wide open as I reflexively gasp for breath. With a violent spasm, I spring wide awake from...what...a nightmare? No...not a nightmare...I'm still right here where...it...happened.

    What the hell happened to me? I can't remember. It was all so fast, so scary...so...horrible. My memory is just isolated and dislocated flashes...me feeling paranoid, that someone, or something, was watching me. The immense feeling of dread that came from knowing something was following you...yet...not being able to see it. Flashes of sinister shadows moving across the walls with blinding speed...a brief glimpse of a cruel face, twisted by a terrifying grin...a gaping maw with long pointy fangs...a blast of pain tearing through my body...and swirling darkness, that faded to black.

    Was I attacked? It seems like something tore my throat out, yet there is no blood on me or the floor. Was it only a nightmare? Yet if it were just a nightmare, why am still here, in this dark, shadowy, subway tunnel? Was it an hallucination? Did I just black out and collapse? Did I just imagine some horrible demon coming after me? My mind races with seemingly a million questions and memories spiraling around inside my head.

    Okay, so...I wasn't attacked. Whoever...whatever...I imagined is no where to be seen. It was all in my head. I relax a little and calm down. Obviously no monstrous creature attacked me, or it would still be here. Just my mind playing tricks on me...I can breathe a little easier.

    Breathe?

    BREATHE?

    HOLY CRAP! I HAVEN'T DRAWN A BREATH SINCE I WOKE UP!!

    I can't breathe, WHY CAN'T I BREATHE? I begin gasping, trying desperately to draw breath...and oddly enough, my lungs don't ache, there is no pain...and strangely...no need? I gasp air and it freely fills my lungs. I inhale and exhale with ease. Yet, it is somehow...different...somehow it feels strange. Slowly...it dawns on me that I don't actually need to breathe.

    Oh my God, what is happening to me? Why don't I bloody well need to breathe? Am I injured? Why don't my lungs ache for air? I intentionally stop breathing. Not actually holding my breath, I just exhale and sit still...not breathing...no yearning in my lungs for air...no ache or pain to expand my lungs an inhale...no real need for me to breathe.

    Oh Crap! I don't need to breathe...am I dead? Is this what it feels like in the afterlife? I touch my chest and slide my palms along the length of my arms. I still retain my sense of touch...nerves in my hands still communicate with my brain...I'm not dead...silly me, of course I'm not dead, I'm moving around and thinking...yet...

    A shadow flows over my soul as my hand comes to a rest on my chest...no heartbeat. I'm not breathing. I don't have a heartbeat. Yet, I'm still thinking...I'm not dead...so...What in the hell is happening to me?

    Why am I so cold? No...not really cold...I press my hand against my chest...there is no warmth, yet it doesn't feel cold...I'm...I'm just...room temperature...OH GOD! Maybe I am dead? A wave of panic races through my mind as I try to sift through a lifetime of religious teachings and compare them to what I'm experiencing now. Is that what it feels like to wake up in hell?

    As my panic ebbs, I slowly become aware of my environment. I can hear the sounds of what vaguely sound like people chatting in normal conversation, yet no one is here. Are they ghosts? The spirits of the damned?

    I hear the sound of footsteps, but they are deep, thundering footsteps, crashing through the landscape...they sound as if there were coming from giants. Oh my God...are monsters coming after me?

    I instinctively flee from the subway tunnels and out into the night air. I look all around me with a frantic urgency and no one is there. Then...I see them. People...just ordinary folk...standing by the roadside, almost a half mile away. I can hear their every word. Their entire conversations sounds as if they were standing right next to me. As they walk around, I can hear the booming, thunder of their steps, crushing the grass, breaking the twigs and grinding the gravel. Why can I hear them from so far away? How is it that I can hear their footsteps? None of them look at me, can they not see me? Am I a ghost? The departed spirit spying upon the living?

    My head swoons. I have no body heat. I do not breathe. Obviously I am dead. The living do not see me, yet they cannot hide their movements or words from my hearing. I must be a ghost. This is not hell, there is no fire, no brimstone or demons. This is the same world, in which I used to live...and my spirit remains here.

    Realization sets in. I wasn't good enough to go to heaven. Hell didn't accept me either. Why...I don't know? Am I just a forsaken spirit? One of the damned? Cursed to forever live among the living, yet never to be one of them ever again?

    I'm confused, shocked and more than a little frightened. I wander out into the night, heedless of the potential dangers that may lurk there. What would robbers and murderers do to me? I'm already dead.

    < HOURS LATER >

    Sitting across the street from a looming gothic structure of a church, one that once gave me comfort and solace, I now feel neither. I do not know what it is that I feel. All of my senses tingle, yet I feel no pain...not even from that arthritic hip. But then again, of course I wouldn't feel any pain...I'm dead. There is more to it than just the tingling sensation...I feel...something more...something worse...an...emptiness...within me. Is this emptiness the void where my soul once dwelt? Why does it gnaw at me like a hunger that must be fed? I am dead, why should I need to eat? That doesn't make any sense, yet I cannot deny that I have...a craving? Is craving the right word for it? I yearn for...oddly enough...meat? I've been a vegan for these past two years, why would I crave meat? Not just meat, but I'm yearning for fresh meat....warm...raw...Bloody meat. Oh yes, that would taste so good right about now....raw...and bloody.

    I hear the sound of stomping footsteps once more. I shift my gaze to see the young man walking on the sidewalk, over on the far side of the street. He has an unusual glow about him. More than a glow, an almost...luminescence glow...I can see the warmth in his skin...the body heat...generated by the blood flowing through is veins...all that warm...salty...rich...blood. It makes him glow in the dark to my eyes. I can clearly see the heat from his arteries as they snake through his body and I find this fascinating. I just watch him as he walks down the road, and a very strange thing happens. He looks right at me and says "How's it going?".

    Out of pure reflex I nod back and say "Hello". Then I realize that he SAW me...Not only SAW me but spoke to ME. I take another look at this glowing young man. Is he dead too? Dead like me? Can one spirit see another spirit? No...he has body heat, while I have none. He lives...and yet, how did he see me?

    My mind fills with questions that are just as quickly forgotten...as my attention focuses solely on that warm, rich, blood coursing through his body. I subconsciously catch myself licking my teeth...and realize that my canines are more pointed and sharper than they ever were during my life.

    Suddenly, everything falls silent and I become more self aware than I've ever been in my entire life. My eyes widen and my mouth slowly gapes open in the stark realization. The lack of body heat, no pulse, the burning craving for raw, bloody meat...BLOODY...and my teeth.

    By Christ and all that is holy...I'm...oh my God...I"m...a...Vampyre.

    An involuntary shiver runs down my spine...oh my God. This...this can't be happening to me...can it? Vampyres aren't real...are they? This HAS to be some sort of nightmare...doesn't it?

    VAMPYRES...ARE...NOT...REAL! I say it again...and again...trying to reaffirm it, yet nothing changes. I still feel the same...it isn't getting any better. What the hell did they put in my drink last evening? Is this some kind of freaky acid trip or something? My attempts to mentally rationalize the irrational fail to reassure me.

    This friggin' well CANNOT be HAPPENING to ME! No matter how hard I try to believe that, my reality fails to change. I can feel the horror rising inside of me...horror that begins to turn into pure terror. I burst from my seated position on the edge of the fence and run into the night. Blinded by stark terror, I know not where I go or even how fast I run...and the landscape does seem to blur past me with streaking, blinding speed as I run for all I"m worth.

    Dear God, why? WHY? Why is this happening to me?


    < DAWN IS APPROACHING >


    I've ran so far, so fast, I don't even know where I am anymore. I'm lost. After all that running, my heart isn't pounding...I'm not even breathing fast.

    Silly fool...you don't breathe anymore. Your heart doesn't beat anymore.

    There is no escaping the reality of my situation. I am what I am...

    ...but I don't want to be a monster. I try to cry...and no tears flow...yet another bodily function that doesn't work.

    How does any of it work? I don't breathe. My heart doesn't beat. My tears don't flow. I have no body heat. Yet...here I am. Am I just a freak of the supernatural? Can I die? Can I be killed? Will I have to kill?

    The eastern night sky begins to glow on the horizon, turning the dark of night into a blueish hue. I sense danger...somehow, I just know that daylight will be a burning, blinding horror for me. Maybe its a natural instinct for the undead to simply know...or maybe its a lifetime of horror movies...I don't know, but i do know that I need to get into darkness and stay there for the daylight hours.

    As the day breaks and drags on, the sunlight streams down in a ceaseless cascade of bright, warm flowing rays, warming the earth and lighting the world of the living.

    Far below an interstate underpass, through a culvert, leading to a dark and damp drainage tunnel, was an intersection of the sewer system, I crouch, huddled in a dark corner. The daylight of the outside world is blindingly bright, searingly hot and burning with a purifying heat that would purge the world of any vampyre caught within its rays. Even in my dark, wet chamber, ankle deep in the runoff water from the highway above, the very few bits of sunlight that shine through the drainage pipe from the outside world are bright enough to hurt my eyes. The heat from this indirect light is hot enough for me to know I would be scorched to ash if I were caught in the direct rays of the sun. In the future, I must take better precautions to protect myself from the sun.


    < NIGHTFALL >


    That infernal sun has finally set. The emptiness that grows within me has been growing without rest the whole day. What I wouldn't give for some raw meat...how my body aches for it...aches for the blood.

    I should not have allowed that young man I encountered last night go...

    With sundown, I must go out and...do what? Feed? How exactly does a vampyre feed? Is it really like it is in the movies, or is there something more too it? Do I HAVE to kill? Can I use the blood of a cow? If I bite someone...will they turn into a monster like me? So many questions, yet all them faded quickly, replaced by the burning need for blood...a burning need that continues to rage within me. It goes behind hollowness, emptiness, yearning...goes beyond hunger...it is a NEED...like a heroine addict and his drug. My God I need it so bad...So bad I can taste it...its the only thing that will make this pain inside of me go away.

    < FORTY MINUTES LATER >

    The sun has set about an hour ago, as Susan pulls her 2004, white Toyota Camry into the parking deck. The long day working as a cashier at Walmart left her with aching feet, little patience for nonsense and a bag of oranges, a fresh onion, a jar of Ragu Spaghetti sauce and a two cans of Alpo for "Mittens", her Beagle puppy. She pulls her car into her assigned parking spot, shuts off the ignition, turns off the lights and...gets a funny feeling...that something isn't quite right.

    She suspiciously looks around the parking deck, carefully peering into the dark corners, looking for any sign of trouble makers, after all a girl can't be too sure. After a few moments of not seeing anything, she collects her purse, her bag of groceries and unlocks her car door. Stepping out, she quickly locks the car door and slams it shut. With her handbag in one hand, and her grocery bag in the other, she begins walking across the parking deck, towards the elevator that will take her up to her apartment. As Susan makes her way from her car to the elevator, she sees a flicker of moving shadows on the wall and freezes. Glancing around behind her, in every direction, she sees nothing...and yet...feels as if she is being watched.

    An involuntary shiver races down her spine. This wouldn't be the first time a girl was attacked in this parking deck. Poor Mrs Greene, from across the hallway, was knocked to the ground and had her purse stolen several months back.

    Susan's hand opens her purse to feel inside for her tiny canister of pepper spray, as she walks with determined purpose towards the elevator doors. Something inside her purse moves, causing her to gasp a quick squeak...until she realizes that it is her cell phone on vibrate. As she continues to walk, she pulls out her cell phone and the caller ID indicates its Jill, her BFF. Without breaking stride, Susan smiles to herself and flips open the cell phone to answer Jill's call.

    The illuminating light from the cell phone display screen lights up a flash of a cruel, pale face, with a gaping, fanged maw, blasting out of the shadows with inhuman speed...supernatural...speed. The wet, meaty smack of fangs smashing into flesh at hyper-velocity fills the air, along with the sound of a bag of groceries hitting the pavement and blood splattering across the side of Susan's Camry. Her cell phone tumbles and clatters to rest on the concrete, as a can of dog food rolls up next to it. The muffled sound of Jill's voice comes through the phone..."Hello, Susan?"

    It was all over in less than a single second.

    Sated from the feast, my burning internal anguish is subdued...for now. I find myself filling with loathing and self disgust, as I slowly rise away from the gory remains of the dead cashier. What have I done? OH GOD! WHAT HAVE I DONE?

    I instinctively go into denial. I didn't do this. It wasn't me, it was...the hunger. It made me do it...I didn't want to. I'm not like that. I'm basically a nice guy...I'M NOT A MONSTER!

    "Yes...you are." comes a deep, smooth voice from behind me. The kind of voice that has softened and mellowed over the course of centuries, that flows silky smooth, like honey.

    My head whips around so fast, that my hair lashes up, striking my face and spray of fresh blood from my mouth fills the air. Who the hell is this guy? Why didn't I hear him come up behind me? Why isn't he glowing with the hot blood that flows through everyone else?

    ...And more important than all of that...why does his very presence scare the hell out of me?
    His face has features that are terrifyingly familiar, yet I don't recognize him...don't want to recognize him.

    I haven't said a word...and yet this...person...just answered a question I was thinking?

    "You moved from where I left you. You shouldn't have done that." he states, again, with that silky smooth crooning voice...that could unnerve a rattlesnake.

    My mouth opens as I begin to ask something...but the question freezes in my throat.

    "You were safe in that abandoned stretch of subway tunnel. You shouldn't have left, before I had properly prepared you for the outside world." he says, stepping forward into the light of the parking deck. His movements are graceful, like a cat, without a sound. As the harsh and sometimes flickering florescent lights illuminate his facial features...I recognize him right away.

    HE...is the MONSTER that made me into what I am.

    "Are...Are you...the Devil?" I ask in a raspy, defeated tone of voice, already filling with dread, in the dark acceptance of my eternal fate.

    He chuckles to himself. Not a deep, roaring, evil laugh, like you'd expect from the Devil...it was just a chuckle.

    "I'm not the Devil. My name is Lord Neville, and I am...your new father, now that you have been reborn into our world." he explains, with a slight pause as he searches for the correct wording.

    "Lord Neville? You are British?" I asked.

    "English!" he corrected me.

    "Okay, English then. What does an English Lord want with me?" I demand.

    "Just as God created man in his image...I have come to reforge you into my image." he stated flatly.

    "So then...that's what you do...you just go around making people into monsters?" I scoffed. My life was over...ended, and now I was condemned to be a monster. I wasn't afraid to show my contempt for him...what more could he do to me?

    "I did not make you into a monster. You are the one who judges yourself thusly. What I have done is to remake you into something greater than you once were." he purred with that smooth voice of his.

    "Something greater, you've made me into a monster...a killer" I said angrily.

    "No, my son...I've made you into a higher form of life...possibly even a living god." he replies with a sinister smile.

    "A...living god? You are mad...aren't you. You're freakin' NUTS!" I stammer, not believing what I'm hearing.

    "My good man...in the 15th century, they called me 'Kingmaker'. In the 21st century, just imagine what they will call me when I'm done with you?" he politely proclaimed, as he handed me an antique, leather bound book. The tome's pages were yellowed with age and ragged edged. The lettering inside the book was hand written calligraphy, apparently penned by quill.

    (Note: In case you don't know what I'm talking about here, during England's War of the Roses of the mid 1400s, Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, was named "Kingmaker" for his efforts that put King Edward IV on the throne of England).


    < THE NEXT DAY >


    I still didn't know if I trusted this...entity. I had many questions and he seemingly has all the answers in this big, musty, old book he gave me.

    Do I have to kill when I feed?

    Could I feed on something beside people?

    Did I have to sleep during the day or did I just go all groggy and become dormant?

    Why don't I cast a reflection? Why doesn't anyone recognize the fact that the reflection in the mirror only shows an empty suit of clothes moving around and no reflection of me at all?

    Will I really live...or rather 'exist'...forever?

    Why does daylight burn us?

    Does holy water really harm us?

    Will a wooden stake really kill us?

    Are their any other ways to be killed?

    Since we're already dead...can we freeze solid in cold climates?

    Is there a real 'Dracula' out there somewhere?

    It is like the movies, where I can turn into bats and cool stuff?

    Is it like that television series...will the chicks be chasing after me?

    Where do Vampyres really come from...how did we start?

    Okay, since Vampyres are real...WHAT ELSE is real that I should know about?

    Do Vampyres have any natural...or supernatural...enemies that I need to know about?

    What does the future hold for the vampyres as a whole?
     
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  17. art

    art Contributor Contributor

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    :eek:
    A characteristic lack of effort from Lothgar there.;)
     
  18. Lothgar

    Lothgar New Member

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    Yeah...I guess I'm getting lazy in my old age. :)
     
  19. Islander

    Islander Contributor Contributor

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    Isn't it wrong to kill people for food?
    What will happen if I don't drink blood for a long time?
    Will my family and friends shun me? Will they see that I'm different? Will I have to sever all my ties to them?
    What does my religion of choice say about vampires, drinking blood, killing humans for food, etc?
    Will I be able to have children?
    What should I do if I *want* to die?
     
  20. sprirj

    sprirj Senior Member

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    I like the idea, a kind of spin on hitch hikers guide to the gallaxy....


    My questions would be:

    1) Are there other vampires out there?
    a) Are they friendly
    b) In clans or gangs?

    2) Can I drink any blood?
    a) What if its a different blood type to my own?
    b) Will I suffer symtoms if they have STD or other blood related illnesses?

    3) If I'm a vampire....
    a) Are there werewolfs and mummys too?
    b) Where do I go at sundown?

    4) If I'm immortal....
    a) What can kill me?
    b) Garlic really?
    c) How do I survive... I mean cash, actual living, do i work a night shift now?
    d) What can not kill me?


    5) Can I reverse the effects?
    a) Is there a cure?

    6) Are there vampire codes?
    a) Secret laws?
    b) What are they?

    7) What if i accidently stake myself?
    a) Can I commit suicide?
    b) Is there a heavan and hell?
    c) Does being a vampire ruin my chances of meeting God?
     

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