Vampires

Ruko

Professional Otaku
Original poster
FOLKLORE MEMBER
Invitation Status
Posting Speed
  1. 1-3 posts per day
Writing Levels
  1. Elementary
  2. Intermediate
  3. Adept
Preferred Character Gender
  1. Female
Genres
Fantasy, Magical, Horror
So, having stalked around several forums, I found a common theme - There are a hell of a lot of people who play vampires. Which I have no problem with. Vampirism can be an interesting character device. The problem I have with it is that 99% of vampire characters are just... wrong. They are all these super strong, super fast humanoids who look flawless, despite being undead, who can tolerate the sun, who only get a bit angry if they haven't drunk blood in a while, who can eat and drink normally, who can blend perfectly into society by just being careful when they open their mouth, and who can be infinitely wise and intelligent and in no way broken even after living for a thousand years. Not to mention that half the time they have magic on top of this.

Vampires, in my opinion, should be ruthless monsters of the night who view humans as play things, as utensils, not as friends. Sure, they have super strength and often super speed. But in the end Vampirism is a curse, not a blessing, and the downsides far outweight the upsides. Only being able to go outside during the hours of night. Incinerating instantaneously if exposed to full sunlight and rapidly burning in sunlight filtering through smoky glass or blinds. Being unable to eat or drink anything but blood, and having to do so on a daily basis. Being unable to step on holy ground or cross running water, becoming more and more unpredictable and insane with time, resulting in spending centuries in hibernation if they take severe damage or have been awake for a few hundred years.

Basically, what i'm trying to say is can we please reclaim the name Vampire for the true blood-suckers, and give the creatures described in the first paragraph a more suitable name... perhaps Succubus would fit.
 
  • Love
Reactions: 1 person
*Falls to knees in reverence* You... you said that perfectly. I completely agree, and humbly offer my gratitude for your being one of the few people to understand the true nature of vampires. It is a sick and twisted mind that sees such creatures as fortunate or in any way better than humans. Please, accept my heartfelt thanks for your wisdom and clarity of mind.
 
Succubus is a female demon who has sexual relations with men while they sleep. That doesn't seem fitting for a vampire, and on your topic of vampires, there's no actual "right" way of what is supposed to be a vampire. Vampires can be ruthless, but they can also be quite the opposite. There is no right or wrong way to create a vampire species. There's different kinds out there, different interpretations of what vampires are, going from Bram Stoker's classic Dracula, to Stephanie Meyer's Twilight vampires who sparkle in the sun, as well as my favorite, L.J. Smith's vampires from Vampire Diaries. Thus, everyone has their own imagination and letting their minds come up with what they perceive to be vampires is all in all a wonderful thing, be they allergic to garlic, not tolerant of the sun, or just being able to eat and drink normally. It's all a part of creation coming from deep within the human mind which is what makes every vampire out there unique in their own little ways from strengths to weaknesses, etc.
 
  • Love
  • Like
Reactions: Jorick and Minibit
I do not believe Bella and Edward qualify as vampires. The creations of Stephanie Meyer are merely her attempts to glorify immortality and create characters that are the epitome of flawlessnes. Which, in fact, makes them immensely flawed. Forgive the paradoxical statement, but referencing Twilight as a source comoletely dismantles your entire argument. If people wish to create creatures that so vastly differ from the original idea of the vampire, perhaps they should simply assign them a different name rather than majorly damage the idea of the once-feared beings that now roam the pages of literature as poorly developed characters.
 
I agree with @TheShadowedOne. While your argument made a good point, writers like Stephenie Meyer really do ruin it. They take their favourite parts and completely ignore the other parts of the package. "Oh yeah super speed, we'll have that. Oh, extended canines, that's pretty cool. Wait what's this 'burning in sunlight' oh no that won't be easy to write about. I know, let's make it so that the reason they cant go in sun is because people will find out what they are. There, now they can go to school like normal people." Like I said, I'm trying to reclaim the name Vampire for the true vampires. I'm not looking for the elimination of such creatures from writing, just the renaming of them. If you want to have a vampiric species without some of the frenzy or bloodlust sure go ahead, I'm not going to stop you unless my RP doesn't contain magical species, but give them another name, because they're not vampires.
 
Please, stop this witch hunt... *badum-tss*

No, but seriously, let people play who, or what they want, the way they want to do it. It's their lives, their RP's. I see more people complaining about how "It's not even real vampires >:I" than I see people actually play or talk about the Twilight archetype of vampires. That doesn't mean it doesn't happen, it's just that the ones who do it aren't so "in your face" about it, unlike those who relentlessly try to beat down on them, saying that their way of doing things is wrong.
 
Like I said literally seconds before seeing this post, I'm fine with people playing these kinds of creatures, but if one of them turns up in my RP under the name Vampire, they will be turned away until they change it to something else. And it's not just the twilight archetype of 'vampire'. Loads of other things do it, many of which I myself enjoy to watch, but in doing so, my mind subconsciously either renames them or bends the world to allow for them to still retain the name 'vampire'. Take for example the 'vampire' from Rosario to Vampire. She's vampiric and has super strength. On the other hand, most of the other traits aren't vampiric - she doesn't burn in sunlight, she's sane, she's not damaged by items of faith. While I still enjoyed the series very much, I couldn't help but appreciate that they don't use the term vampire very often and simply refer to her as an S-class monster.
 
I would agree with @Lady Bernkastel here

I think if people want to do that, let them go at it. I agree that vampires are overly romanticized and the need for the more brutal sort should be brought back to give a little balance to things, but if that's what people want, then that's what they're going to have.

Personally, I love the 30 Days of Night vampires. Loved the comics and the movies. They're vicious, extremely tough and durable, and relentless. Oh, and you can burn them to ash, but if those ashes touch blood they come right back. So, you know, they ain't just fucking around in some forest with dogs and tweens.
 
  • Love
  • Like
Reactions: Jorick and Minibit
Modern day vampires:

Debt collectors.

But I think everyone is entitled to their own version of things, just let your own views of vampires remain what you want them to be.
 
  • Love
Reactions: Minibit
Whenever I run an Elder Scrolls game, I make it clear from the get go if people are submitting vampire sheets, I am putting it through the ringer because I want people to understand that their character will be a monster who HAS to feed periodically and if their nature is discovered by NPCs or even player characters, they may very well become a priority target and they need to be aware the daylight will hurt them.

Of course in this setting, vampires retain much of their old personalities and can live amongst mortals if they are proactive, but many submit to their hunger and violent natures and are every bit the horrific creatures of the night as they are portrayed. It's a constant struggle between desire and humanity that humanity often loses out to. I don't accept characters that just want cool powers or bottled angst/ badassery with no drawbacks or proper portrayals of the curse. If played right, it's amazing, but I need to know somebody's intentions first.
 
  • Love
Reactions: Minibit
Oh I hate Elder Scrolls games for that. It's one thing having to feed as an RP'd vampire, but Skyrim's best feature is it's persistence. Fast travel somewhere - you need to feed. Clear a single dungeon - you need to feed. Encounter a loading screen - you need to feed. I'm eventually going to get round to creating a mod that prevents bloodthirst level from changing when you fast travel.
 
I do not believe Bella and Edward qualify as vampires. The creations of Stephanie Meyer are merely her attempts to glorify immortality and create characters that are the epitome of flawlessnes. Which, in fact, makes them immensely flawed. Forgive the paradoxical statement, but referencing Twilight as a source comoletely dismantles your entire argument. If people wish to create creatures that so vastly differ from the original idea of the vampire, perhaps they should simply assign them a different name rather than majorly damage the idea of the once-feared beings that now roam the pages of literature as poorly developed characters.
I'm not arguing with anyone. I'm just discussing my point of view on the matter. Despite me not caring much for Stephanie Meyer's version of the way she portrays vampires through Twilight, I still believe that Bella and Edward are vampires because it's really just a matter of imagination. As I've stated, there's no right or wrong way in which a vampire can be portrayed. People all have different imaginations and ways they see things, so I was just emphasizing on that.
 
  • Love
Reactions: Minibit
I'm not arguing with anyone. I'm just discussing my point of view on the matter. Despite me not caring much for Stephanie Meyer's version of the way she portrays vampires through Twilight, I still believe that Bella and Edward are vampires because it's really just a matter of imagination. As I've stated, there's no right or wrong way in which a vampire can be portrayed as the "right" way. People all have different imaginations and ways they see things, so I was just emphasizing on that.
I see your point, but I still think if people are going to change the vampire to the point where it only shares a few of the positive attributes, then the name needs to be called something else. As far as I'm aware, throughout the majority of history, vampires have been seen as ruthless monsters, and the idea has only changed recently, mostly in young adult books/movies/T.V.. To be honest, I think the only reason they were altered is to make them seem more glamorous, and I believe that many do not deserve the title of "vampire".
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ruko
I see your point, but I still think if people are going to change the vampire to the point where it only shares a few of the positive attributes, then the name needs to be called something else. As far as I'm aware, throughout the majority of history, vampires have been seen as ruthless monsters, and the idea has only changed recently, mostly in young adult books/movies/T.V.. To be honest, I think the only reason they were altered is to make them seem more glamorous, and I believe that many do not deserve the title of "vampire".
Welcome to the new age, bud. :P
 
  • Love
Reactions: Minibit
I think the problem with this lies in the audience. People don't want to see the vile, twisted beast as the villain anymore, they want their villains to be incredibly attractive young men or women, with an army of black suited henchmen and often with tech levels beyond their time period. The original 'Vampire', or at least, the things that shared a lot of common features throughout stories and legends in history, were designed to scare the superstitious and to thrill the reader, but now, people won't even think to pick up a book, they'll just open netflix and look for a film, which quite often they'll pick based on the actors anyway. I'm somewhat guilty of this myself in a way, though I rarely watch live action. I'm unlikely to watch an anime, no matter how good the plot, if the art style is incredibly old-fashioned, simply because I'm used to the sharp lines and clean, simple style that is the current norm. Other people are used to photoshop and stage makeup showing them unrealistic character designs, so if they're shown a true monstrosity, they'll turn their head in disinterest.
 
I'm also gonna take this time to point out that I used to play those cliched vampires myself, but since I started playing Vampire: The Masquerade, I realised the frenzy kind are much much more entertaining to roleplay as, and I think many people who aren't willing to try would also find it most entertaining.

@Razilin I think Alucard is more on the level of "god" than Vampire :P Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a cannon to polish. Bitches love cannons.
 
I'm also gonna take this time to point out that I used to play those cliched vampires myself, but since I started playing Vampire: The Masquerade, I realised the frenzy kind are much much more entertaining to roleplay as, and I think many people who aren't willing to try would also find it most entertaining.

@Razilin I think Alucard is more on the level of "god" than Vampire :P Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a cannon to polish. Bitches love cannons.



they do indeed


i'm at half mast! i NEED to hear this!
fiiiine. you. were. right.
ooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
jump up your own ass and DIE!
 
I wonder if TFS actually made a Crimsonfucker twitter account...