I was supposed to be making embarrassing old-timey pictures of the DeVampiros for the Vatores to make fun of, I got distracted, and now it's a whole thing. here's some lore!
operation high fang
After the end of Operation Eternal Flame, a group of Vampires came out of hiding to start the initiative. Through a successful propaganda campaign, they branded Vampires as refined and classy, boasting of what they offer through their historical knowledge and charismatic ways. At the same time, they smeared Werewolves as dirty and dangerous monsters, lacking in control. The results were catastrophic for the new Werewolf communities who were still maturing as an occult.
(i compiled all game quotes about the century conflict/surrounding events here - the high fang stuff is at the very bottom, my headcaons are below the cut. also if you don't recognize the guy, he's the vampire Elle bat- and coffin-fucked in the trailers/the guy from the painting over Vlad's fireplace)
My hc is that Elle is originally from Aria, the coven of the arts. Aria had very pointedly decided not to get involved with the Century Conflict - they were artists, not combatants, and few made it past the rank of Prime (which is largely why Elle left - she was hungry for prestige and wanted to grow her power). The result was that the overwhelming majority of the coven, including Elle's parents, were slaughtered by werewolves and spellcasters.
After the war, vampires found themselves in a weakened state and with no allies to speak of, and were terrified of the day when spellcasters and werewolves would rebuild their numbers. To secure their futures, they needed to break the alliance between spellcasters and werewolves. Vlad's conquest of Forgotten Hollow showed how easily humans could be manipulated to be used against their enemies, so they decided to utilize his old techniques to wage a propaganda campaign known as Operation High Fang.
Elle rallied the surviving members of her coven of origin to join High Fang. With their cultured upbringings and familiarity with human art, they were uniquely well-suited to promote this new, classy image of vampires. They were also pretty mad about spellcasters and werewolves slaughtering their kin, and were determined to take their revenge. Also, they were a bunch of classy snobs who did just like going to fancy parties, eating fancy foods, and talking about fancy things.
The first part of this plan required that they infiltrate mundane high society. In the beginning, they mostly played human, gathering information and forming strategies. By the time they started revealing their true natures to humans, they'd built up the social skills and relationships to ensure that they were well-received.
Once they'd rehabilitated the image of vampires in mundane society, they were able to move onto the most vital part of their plan: convincing spellcasters that they're better than werewolves, but that is a subject for another render.
As I've mentioned more than a few times, I really hate making faces in CAS. Since most of the faces in this scene were either not visible or out of focus, I got REALLY lazy about making background sims for this one, with this result:
what makes this even worse is Caleb/Lilith/Lily's moms are identical twins because I couldn't be bothered to make 2 sisters...
1920s clothes by @happylifesims
ferronnière and flower hair ornament by @the-melancholy-maiden
tfw you realize your immortal frenemy isn't getting fired after all :(
follow-up to this post. violet is a century conflict-era oc i've been playing around with. CC & ramblings about Elle and Violet beneath the cut.
Elle and Violet grew up together. Even as children, they were intensely competitive with each other. They were close enough in skill that neither could slack off without falling behind, but despite Violet's efforts Elle was generally recognized the more talented of the two. Violet hated that. Between her resentment and Elle's ego, their relationship steadily devolved into catty insults and passive aggression. It was easier for them to find work as a pair (they genuinely did play well together), so they stuck together for 20 years before they caught Vlad's attention, but by the time they reached Forgotten Hollow they absolutely despised each other, despite (or perhaps because of) their awareness that they never could've gotten so far without each other.
Elle, the obvious favorite, had a much better time working for Vlad. Violet got to play when he wanted a duet or quartet (2 violins + viola + cello) but she was expected to sit out for string trios (1 violin + viola + cello) and solos unless Elle was unavailable. When Vlad told Elle that Dillon didn't want her to perform, Violet was delighted - this, she thought, was her chance. When she realized that Dillon's intention was to seduce Elle, not get rid of her, Violet had to accept that she wouldn't have her turn in the spotlight until Elle either retired or got dumped.
(to be clear - none of this is meant to knock second violins. I played violin back in school and preferred to play second whenever my conductor would let me move out of first. there is, however, a difference in how people see 1st/2nd violins, at least at lower skill levels. 2nd violin parts are often a bit easier than 1st, but when playing pieces like bach's concerto for 2 violins, with a second violin part just as difficult as first, people would still assume I was the weaker member of the duet even when first couldn't play their part correctly. 1st violins get more prestige and I understand Violet's frustration, but Elle genuinely was the better violinist, and the best violinist gets to be first chair)
violet's dress (marianne) by @gilded-ghosts
violet's hair (viola) and ornament (flowers left) by @the-melancholy-maiden
violet's earrings by @lady-moriel
violet's stockings & shoes + elle's gloves by @dancemachinetrait
I just scaled them down rather than adjusting their rigs - that definitely isn't ideal. very tall vs very short people often have different relative proportions, esp when it comes to head size. I also haven't figured out how I want to handle height changes due to footwear. I know a lot of them are wearing heels but this is meant to represent their actual heights in bare feet. Tess should be like 6'2 in those platform boots.
6'1" - Caleb/Dillon/Ethren
5'11" - Tess
5'8" - Lilith
5'7" - Inna/Morgyn
5'4" - Elle
5'3" - Keisha
5'2" - L
I'm mostly set on these heights. I'm still considering making Caleb shorter, but I like the height difference between him and Inna/Lilith/Morgyn. I do need to see how he and Lilith look next to Lily (currently 5'5).
Still not 100% on Elle and Dillon. I like their heights on their own, but their huge height difference makes posing really annoying. Thankfully she usually wears heels - that definitely does help.
sidenote - I've been working on a script to automate the .dae import/model config process. It's not done, but I was able to import 18 fucking models and get them render-ready in 30 minutes. when it came down to render, I just had to pose the models, move them, and then hit F12. Since I already had a bunch of .dae files exported from TS4SimRipper and ready to work with, this was really fast - 18 .dae files prepared for rendering and 34 saved renders in under an hour. I'm so excited to finish and release my tool!
i do plan to eventually rebuild the trailer version of straud manor in blender so I have a set for historical nonsense, but that day is not today! just cutouts for now.
My hc is that these two got together shortly after Vlad hired Elle as the Straud coven's resident violinist, way back in Jane Austen times. Dillon made an offhand comment to Vlad about what a shame it was that he never got to dance with such a pretty lady, since she was always busy performing at social events.
Vlad, wanting to be a good bro, decided to give Elle a night off so Dillon could take her dancing. Not a horrible plan, except that he raised the subject by telling Elle that she shouldn't bother showing up for work that night because Mr. DeVampiro didn't feel like listening to her play. Vlad was exceedingly surprised that, instead of responding with gratitude for the break, Elle was furious, and immediately stormed off to give Dillon a piece of her mind.
He tried, bless him.
cc
elle's hair and ornament by @the-melancholy-maiden
elle's gloves by @dancemachinetrait
elle's necklace by @sentate
elle's dress by @happylifesims (personal recolor, currently working on recoloring some of these awesome bridgerton dresses to match the color palette from vampires, will post eventually)
dillon's outfit and shoes by happylifesims
poses 1-4, 6, 7 from dramatic dance by @samssims
pose 5 from let's waltz by @pandorassims4cc
pose 8 from love confessions by @starrysimsie
some poses have been slightly adjusted in blender to make Elle shorter
Back in ye older days before all that vampire nonsense, Flora (aided by Keisha) turned the Noxes' house into gingerbread and they NEVER forgave her.
Before he met Elle, Flora described her son as a hopeless romantic so in love with being in love that he never had a chance to fall for anyone. After being subjected to a seemingly endless parade of supposed future daughters-in-law, Flora was surprised to find that Dillon had already moved Elle into his house, proposed, and been rejected by her parents before she even knew he was seriously involved with someone. She had to hear the news from Vlad, who complained to her that Dillon was monopolizing his favorite violinist and instructed her to have a stern word with her son.
This was, she thought, a very good sign. If Dillon truly had found his soulmate, he should spend his time enjoying her company, not gossiping with his mother about how totally 100% super extra deeply in love he was this time. This wasn't his first, second, or even third engagement (it was, in fact, his eighth) but Flora was pretty sure this one was going to stick.
couldn't resist using his poses from the end of the vampires trailer. i actually really dig vaguely steampunk dillon - he's halfway between a mad scientist and the wizard of oz, and i'm into it. maybe he'll branch out a bit after malpractice.
i swear elle isn't clipping through that tombstone - her pinky is curled in and that dress just makes her ass look oddly angular.
