#aureumalchemist

[clonerightsagenda]

aureumalchemist I've been thinking about this and I don't think Dracula ever fed on Jonathan. He certainly had every opportunity to at the beginning of the novel, but Jonathan never exhibited any of the symptoms that Lucy nor Mina did after being fed upon. Jonathan's torture was all psychological.

It's left ambiguous! My position is that he did given Dracula's line that "tonight is mine", and Jonathan finding him full of fresh blood not much later. We know victims can fail to realize they're being fed on, and there are a lot of gaps in Jonathan's diary.

It's true that he doesn't show the symptoms Lucy and Mina did. However, a) they became symptomatic after being fed on multiple times; Jonathan probably got drained once and b) not long after the bite, he spends 2 weeks in a religious hospital getting horribly sick. My favorite interpretation of this - although it was probably not Stoker's intention - is that this functioned basically like a post-exposure rabies shot. He was so sick because the vampirism was getting burned out of him before it had fully taken root. But... he's not quite normal afterward, is he? He climbs down a 1000 foot cliff with his bare hands. He demonstrates instant hair color changes (rarely discussed Dracula power.) He's fast enough to very nearly get Dracula with a knife in London. He can lift a coffin with a man inside easily. Regular Romanians and Dracula's assistants cower from him specifically, like they know something we don't. I think perhaps he got stuck halfway.

[elsewhereuniversity]

I am both first and second born. My outlook on look would be best described as hopefully pessimistic. A resilience runs in my family that borderline stubborness, a trait I inherited from my mother. I thirst for all knowledge and perhaps dive too deeply in that quest. Society gives me little pleasure, so I seek the hidden, green places of the world. I am equally comfortable surrounded by books and stories as I am by blood and dirt. Tell me, dear Archivist, how will I fair?

You will always bite the hand that feeds: you have been vengefully transformed into an unnaturally silver-colored hawk by your spiteful ex, and now wear a golden collar set around your neck by the fae lady who found you struggling through the snow with a broken wing and took pity. She absolutely dotes on you, despite your best efforts first to communicate and then simply to take chunks out of her fingers until she lets you go. Eventually, you are certain, one of your friends will track you down and explain everything and break the spell. At that point you’ll probably thank the lady for her kindness. But until then you are determined to make it clear that this is incredibly condescending and you have no patience for any of it.

[elsewhereuniversity]

A gift for you, esteemed Archivist. One compass made of copper, affixed to a dark leather string. It points not to true north, but to the nearest coffee establishment. I offer this, freely given, for I abhor the flavor of the drink.

A must for the weary traveler first setting foot in a new city.

[elsewhereuniversity]

One for the student / Two for the friend 

Three for the changeling / Four to begin

Five for the warning / Six for the strife

Seven for the blood spilled / Eight with a knife

Nine for the hungry / Ten for the kill

Eleven in flight / Twelve Underhill

Thirteen are the lost / Fourteen round the bend

Fifteen for the cost / Sixteen for the end

x

[elsewhereuniversity]

Statler purchased a pair of magic dancing shoes from a leprechaun in the Goblin Market. On a lark, he put them on a mannequin. The bad news is that the shoes are cursed. The good news is that he has a new dancing partner.

Seems like a win-win, considered with how cursed dancing shoes usually unfold!

[elsewhereuniversity]

I have a charm to trade, should you desire it. A ring of luck, both good and bad. It is made of silver wrapped in green, rusted copper. When wearing it you earphone cords will always snag on furniture, your cups will constantly spill and the washer will claim one sock after another. But falling bricks will always just miss you, careless drivers will swerve at the last second and enemy arrows will always miss their mark.

The craftsman who enchanted this was balancing on a very fine edge as they did so. Held in my keeping; someone will need it.

[elsewhereuniversity]

One of the Gentry requested to purchase my Human Anatomy textbook, to which I made the offhanded comment that it cost me an arm and a leg. The good news is that neither arm nor leg appear to be human.

[elsewhereuniversity]

I know salt & iron are the best defense against the Gentry and that silver has it's uses, but do normal steel & stone weaponry have any effect? Do steel blades glide off their skin or will they be cut like any mortal?

They’re not immune to a good sharp edge, but it has the same effect on them it would on any human - it cuts, nothing more and nothing less. A charm of obsidian wouldn’t burn to the touch; a steel horseshoe over the door wouldn’t keep them from crossing the threshold.

In the case of steel, it’s rather the same situation as blood - it’s true both contain iron, but the reason iron and salt are effective in the first place is because of centuries of belief in salt and iron specifically. Blood tends to fill a different magical niche; steel tends to hold associations with technological progress rather than faith and folklore. Magic is, on the balance, more concerned with the idea of things than their chemical makeup.

As an aside, this is a part of the reason why the Gentry fear and loathe the Forbidden Majors. Because it’s commonly known, for example, that blood contains iron, there arises the fascinating question of how and when that knowledge becomes belief in any actionable sense. Do protective and magical qualities translate with the increased scientific understanding? If yes, what else contains iron or salt that could be used in the same way? Potentially everything. How little needs to be present, and how familiar does the knowledge need to be? Ramen flavor packets are already well-established to be as effective as pure salt, so clearly it’s possible. There are stories whispered on campus of clever students who were able to use other unconventional sources of iron and salt, in moments of ingenuity and desperation, so the boundaries must be shifting slowly. Can a personal understanding of the concept provide protection, or does it need to be fueled by a greater general faith? What can we do to expedite the process?

The Gentry find all this rather alarming, and their attempts to discourage research on the matter played a significant part in the banning of the Forbidden Major, for the safety of the students involved.