#vampire reference

[litsenn]

Oh by the way! If you like vampires (generally speaking) and don't know about the comics Requiem, my friend Alt236 made an amazing video a few years ago to explain the lore of the comics and present the universe.

And I'm the person behind the English subtitles (not perfect, but good enough to make the video understandable, I think?) (let me knoooow 👉👈)

Honestly, I read a few tomes of Requiem, and loved the atmosphere, the way they (re)-create Hell, the characters and the artistic direction. Mills and Ledroit created an amazing world, and Ledroit's artworks are absolutely amazing.

BUT... a few months ago Olivier Ledroit defended an abuser (on his own FB page) and I cannot forgive that. So I'll never buy new books involving Ledroit, even if Requiem will always be a part of my imaginary world.

A wonderful artist, but an misogynist.

I can't separate the artist from the man.

[veezm0]

will wood vampire aesthetic is way better than normal vampire aesthetic and you cant change my mind

[thecitythatdoesntsleep]

Vampire Master-Guide

First of all I want to start off by saying I've gathered inspiration from MANY vampire medias. Fictions, games. The biggest influences are Vampire the masquerade (primarily bloodlines) and Vampire Knight (manga). As well as honorable mentions to Vampyr (game), Queen of the Damned (movie) and Van Helsing (movie, anime). So if anything sounds familiar, chances are it is. I highly encourage you to explore them as they are a few of my favorites.

Second of all this is going to be massive, so I'll be putting it under a cut. But it will be a comprehensive guide to my personal vampire lore that I've crafted and worked with through the years. If you like it, feel free to use it! I'd absolutely love to be tagged (so I can shower the creations with praise) but it's not required. I'm just out here making one more version of vampires that hopefully inspires you. There will be a couple different categories that I will touch base on.

History (this part is super short)

Physicality - Medical Information

Physicality - Appearance/Body

Mental Effects

Society

Anything from my vampire lore will be tagged #vlor

Now follow me under the cut, lovelies. But please be Warned: We'll be discussing blood, violence, physical and mental illness. As well as regular vampire related things. If any of this could trigger you, please kindly skip this post because you're far more important to me!

'History'

The original vampire to walk the earth, cursed by the heavens was Caine. After committing the first murder, a blood-soaked punishment was to forever be banished to walk the darkness with a constant reminder of his crimes. Thirst. Craving for the same blood he shed against his own kin. The sin was carried through the years and he came upon another outcast kindred by the name of Lilith, cursed by God in a different way and hexed with powerful disciplines.

They bonded as kine and Lilith taught her chaos to Caine in hopes they'd rule together. In the end his nature stayed true and his now empowered wrath befalls Lilith, committing murder yet again and taking her life.

To feed upon and be fed, was a now animalistic instinct that spoke louder than supposed human nature ever could. And thus the curse spread. To anyone that drinks from the tainted or is bitten by a rabid, is surely to bear it at the final heartbeat. The path to redemption is sealed but survival is nearly infinite. So long as the beast is obeyed and satisfied, there is no constraint on lifespan. They will be damned to an eternity enslaved to thirst.

(Primarily from VTMB but I really like the idea of it being some sort of ancient curse from the gods so I thought I'd include this tiny historical bit. Onto the good stuff.)

Physicality - Medical Information

Vampires are anemic, let's just establish that all vampires are what modern day medicine would consider anemia. But they also have super aggressive red blood cells that function x100 that of human white blood cells. All in one combo of super cells. No illness spreads. No disease can contract, nothing can live in their system. They don't fall ill with colds or flu. STD's aren't feasible. Their systems are far too strong and combative to infections, bacteria.

Their integumentary systems regenerate about x200 - x300 times faster. Within seconds (if there is or has been fresh blood in the system recently) their skin regenerates and goes even beyond that. Mere hours and limbs grow back, bones realign.

Vampires don't have functioning organs. (If they are turned from humans they are there but they don't work and will eventually wither.) Hearts don't beat, lungs have no need for air.

Vampires can't drown. They don't breathe and even if water fills their lungs, they would be weighted down but not die. They also don't float like humans do naturally.

Vampires can go out in the sun but they have hard times with sun poisoning. Think of a sunburn but more like a rash. They can't process the vitamin D very well and almost all of them have trouble with getting severely burnt very rapidly or having a rash from the sun. Prolonged exposure can make them feverish, nauseated and give them body cramps and fatigue. Even longer can make them violently ill and can essentially melt their skin. It can be healed but takes longer.

Staking their hearts immobilizes them but does NOT kill them. They can be detained this way and it is excruciatingly painful. But it doesn't kill you.

Vampires can't eat food. Only few can consume liquids aside from blood. They have no ability to digest it and no longer make acid. They'll usually heave it up along with whatever blood content is left in their gut.

They have perfect eyesight, hearing, hyper senses of taste and smell. Touch is extremely sensitive as well. Their skin isn't fragile, in fact it's a bit thicker than average skin from how fast it regenerates and is constantly maintaining itself.

They are very resistant but not impossible to scar. Scars from human life are erased with first turning.

Vampire blood tastes like flat soda or icky, room temperature tap water. Unpleasant to other vampires but in a desperate pinch, it will sustain but nowhere near as good as foreign blood does. Even animal blood takes better care of a vampires system than another body of recycled blood. (Think of it as they've already taken the good stuff out of it for their own bodies so all that's left is the taste and a few stray nutrients.)

Vampires fangs grow back indefinite. At about x10 the rate of humans losing and replacing their first set. No matter what comes of them, their fangs will always grow back. No other teeth mutate like this.

Fangs lengthen and retract when around blood or not. It's not something that can be helped or even trained out. When blood is present, fangs will lengthen even if there is no intention to feed. Automatic reaction and a painful one at that. They get used to it but it's a sharp pain like having a human tooth extracted but it doesn't have prolonged swelling or discomfort. Only when getting longer or retracting back in.

Whenever they're in bloodlust or a state of starvation, they gain a sense of x-ray vision but instead it's vein mapping. They can see through skin to arteries and if it's severe blood lust, they can even see the smaller, tinier veins in fingers and faces. This is a sight that ever vampire possesses in order to obtain blood easier or figure out a good place to bite. Anything that is living will be seen in a structure of veins. Animals, humans, other vampires.

Severing the brain stem from the body is one of the few sure-fire way to kill a vampire. Alternatively burning them to pure ash and scattering them or holding them in separate vessels. (If ALL ashes are contained somehow and mixed with fresh blood, there is a reanimation process so beheading them is more permanent.) Silver weapons or exposure to silver prior to wound can result in death as well.

Alcohol is SUPER effective when they drink it. Think of one shot making them drunk because it hits their bloodstream almost immediately. A double would have them seeing double and acting like a hot mess. 3+ for even the beefiest of men would have them blacked out and vomiting on the sidewalks.

Drugs effect them but only in extremely high doses and for nothing really over 2 hours or so. Short, short longevity but they have the same crash that humans do. If it's hard detoxing symptoms for humans, it's the same but faster. They can do a hard drug, feel the high for maybe 1 - 2 hours and immediately go into hallucinating and shaking from the aftermath. The same goes for Pharmacia. There's really no medicine that works.

Garlic is a myth. So is wolfsbane.

Silver on the other hand is a very real, very deadly weapon that still rings true. A single pinprick of a silver sewing needle and it can render a vampire powerless. Slow them down to the speed of a human, take away their rapid healing and remove all of their heightened senses. Silver directly into the bloodstream essentially renders them as they were before they turned in physical response and structure. It's the only metal that burns vampires skin and will char it if it sits in one spot for too long. Silver is the only kind of metal that can forge chain that vampires cannot break and can successfully be restrained in. Any wounds inflicted in silver take longer to heal.

They can't reproduce after being turned. Purebloods + Purebloods are the only exception and it's still extremely rare. (Only 9 children born in over 2,500+ years.)

Physicality - Appearance/Body

Whatever color their eyes are, blood-lust accentuates the brightest color. I.e: Brown eyes turn Yellow/Gold, Blue eyes turn White/Purple exct. (Different powers can change this depending on the vampire and their history, sire.) Just think neon, glowing eyes in the dark if they're thirsty or hunting.

They stay frozen in whatever physical appearance they're turned in. Their metabolism is whack so they don't really lose or gain weight, it's down to cosmetic changes or cosmetic surgery. Which at least it heals flawlessly and doesn't ever change. But there aren't many options for personally invested physical change.

Their hair and nails grow super fast.

Vampires usually have the hair color they have when they are turned but around 15% experience graying or whitening of their hair within a few days of turning. Due to a semi-common genetic string in humans.

Vampires don't tan. They burn. No matter what their skin color is. Most are the palest/pasty tone of their natural skin color merely due to anemia and lack of blood circulation.

They don't blush or show physical signs of fever.

Vampires don't sweat or flush when exerting or exercising. They don't have to regulate their body temperatures.

They get dry skin pretty often and it's important to combat it with baths and soaks and lotions/oils whenever possible.

They are usually a lukewarm body temperature. As low as 15°C|59°F to as much as 21°C|69.8°F.

Every vampire has a certain amount of charming allure to them. In whatever form or fashion suits them the best, it's a natural attractant to their human counterparts. A glint to their eyes, a certain smile, the pitch or timbre of their voice. Endearing, seductive, mysterious, whichever shines through in their personality. They are magnetic, attractive to the human eye, no matter what they tend to look like.

They can see themselves in aluminum coated mirrors. Just not silver.

Mental Effects

There is a staggering 95% probability that 'created' vampires will have amnesia unless turned by a pureblood/noble/king/queen/high ranking blood vampire. They remember nothing of their human lives and this is extremely common. It's actually very rare to remember anything prior to your awakening. (That's why there are usually strict laws about siring without consent and proof of consent.)

It is very easy for vampires to be blinded by fits of rage when starving for blood. They can fly into blind anger and attack people they normally wouldn't or even foes they have no chance of winning against. Depending on their remaining strength when this tipping point of starvation happens; it can be extremely dangerous to be around.

Most turned vampires suffer a psychotic break in their early turning years. (Between 6mo and up to 25 years of awakening age. I.e: from the date of being bitten.) The brain is the last thing to be altered in the physical process and because of this, it's believed that their mental state has to crumble to be built better. It's unknown as to exactly why this happens but it's almost guaranteed. It's the vampire equivalent of 'adolescence'.

Over 75% of vampires experience periodic depression and random bouts of sadness. Another 39% live with bouts of mild to moderate psychosis. (This has been suspected to happen because of the physical stasis and improper circulation of chemicals/hormones/exct. Many believe it's because of the guilt of their King, Caine.)

Mental illnesses that aren't born from physical imbalances are in cases of amnesia, cured. Those that are chemically related are usually worsened by the stagnant physical changes of vampirism. It's rare that those with amnesia remember their traumas or emotional upsets after turning.

The "amnesia" of turning is the death of a human psyche. With the staggering rate of permanent amnesia, it is hard to figure out exactly how it happens but it's widely known.

Society

Humans are not fully aware of vampires. This still rings true with the fear of world war and or wiping out the human race given their species.

There is a high society "government" type of monarchy. Each clan or type of vampires has a leader "elder". This is usually the oldest vampire to date of that specific type. Sometimes it's a group or a family of elders. In most modern day they have adapted to a more "presidential" route and have to establish themselves as leader types to be considered for any kind of law making or enforcement. (I.e: Noble bloodline, diligent efforts of servitude such as public service, military or other.)

There is a strict law against turning humans. Vampires are required to have clearly given consent and the process is to be looked over by an elder or enforcer. They must show strenuous documentation of that persons preservation in the name of probable amnesia. They must have a comprehensive processing of that persons interests, personality traits, societal standing, proof of occupational termination, familial status and situational agreement. (Basically they don't want humans forgetting their lives entirely and they want to make sure that they are able to move somewhere or hide from their families until they're well trained enough to be around them again. It's a very long to legally accomplish it.

Every city handles turning differently. Some require the sire to pay the death penalty and others are strictly against killing the one person responsible of their turned kindred.

Vampires are in every day jobs, doing anything and everything that humans do. From trash collecting, to law and doctors. Fame, fortune, poor, criminal; they all live as many walks of life as humans do.

Anti-vampire establishments are alive and well. Most are run by other vampires. Some humans share their beliefs but most typically it's a resounding amount of vampire extremists. This is legal due to the fact that they try to adhere and coexist for their sanctions ordinance. Helping enforce justice for their regions and implore an opposing force for rampaging vampires or other law breaking kindred.

Most human killings are covered up, tampered with or has someone on the inside working on doing both. It's a constant job but a needed one to keep their existence safe from being proven.

There is a massive shortage on vampire doctors serving other vampires or studying from what little information there is on vampirism. The ratio looking like 1 to 300. 1 doctor for every 300 vampires.

The most vampire dominated and lucrative occupations are generally law, publishing and sex working. There are 3 vampires with these jobs to every human worker.

Here is an additional post about how vampire blood would effect humans.

So that was everything I could think of for the time being. I may continue to edit and update this as I have time or I think of something that I haven't touched base on yet. But this is just the general lore I work with when I do write about vampires or when I think about them in general. Feel free to skip certain parts or like.. adapt it however you'd like. I made this to more so inspire people not to show a list of HOW things should go. Take of it what you like and ignore what you don't! Add more if you think of something!

Some of it gets a bit random but it's still things that I've either incorporated in some unpublished fics or talked about with some friends or just fantasized about in general. There's bits and pieces in all media for vampires that I really enjoy and I think every new style spins something different and makes for wonderful content!

[wisteria-lodge]

So you want to write a character who uses THEE/THOU/THY pronouns?

Fantastic!  Love me some good vampires, time travelers, fay lords, wizards recently recovered from magical trances, weird off-the-grid societies, and mysterious immortals who start slipping into old speech patterns whenever they are emotional or intoxicated!

But if you’re going to do it, DO IT. Commit. (I’m looking at you, Christopher Paolini). Do it right, and it’ll give your character so much more depth.

I - So WHEN exactly am I supposed to use these thee/thou/thy pronouns? 

Not all the time! You look at the person you’re talking to, think about what kind of relationship you have with them, and then decide: thou, or you? 

YOU is the polite, respectful option. It’s for acquaintances and social superiors. 

THOU is the causal, friendly option. It’s for family, close friends and social inferiors.

Which leaves so much room for drama! “Thou” is either the most intimate, kindest thing you can call someone - or the most insulting. Think Jane Austen / Victorian England: when you’re calling someone “Mary,” they’re either your sister, your wife, or your scullery maid. That’s what a “thou” pronoun is. “You” is just sort of polite and neutral, like saying “Miss Jones.” 

You can insult a teacher/parent/king/commander by using “thee/thou” pronouns. You can flatter a servant or an up-and-comer by using “you.” And switching from “you” to “thou” is emotional, like calling someone by their first name when you’ve only ever called them by their last name. (and switching back from “thou” to “you” can be cold as hell.) 

And oh my god, if you’re ever reading Shakespeare and need to understand a relationship, or a power dynamic or whatever, just check if they’re saying “thou” or “you.” That tells you *everything.* 

II - THOU vs THEE

Take a look at these two sentences:

She curses the wizard.

The wizard curses her.

You’re using a different word depending on whether this lady is doing the action herself (cursing), or having the action done to her (being cursed.) 

Thou/thee works exactly the same.

Thou curses* the wizard.

The wizard curses thee.

And this is a little tricky, because “you” just doesn’t have that subject/object distinction. You use the same word both times. 

You curse the wizard.

The wizard curses you. 

Just remember: Use “thou” wherever it would make sense to say “she,” and “thee” wherever it would make sense to say “her.” 

[*I’m gonna come back to the verb thing, i promise]

III - THY vs THINE

This part easy.

THY pairs with YOUR (Is this thy castle? // Is this your castle?) 

THINE pairs with YOURS (Is this castle thine? // Is this castle yours?) 

That’s it. 

IV - THOU + VERB = ?

‘kay. Sorry to get all grammar on you, but here’s a very mini verb conjugation table:

You sing

She sings

Thou sing’st

Notice that “thou” gets it’s own very special verb ending: -’st. (the same way that he/she/it gets -s). Here are some more examples:

Thou come’st (You come) 

Thou know’st (You know)

Thou see’st (You see) 

Thou find’st (You find)

Thou pray’st (You pray)

Thou talk’st (You talk)

Thou answer’st (You answer)

And HERE is a little cheat sheet of all the ‘thou’ verbs that are NOT usually spelled with that handy apostrophe: 

Thou dost (You do)

Thou didst (You did) 

Thou art (You are)

Thou wert (You were)

Thou wilt (You will)

Thou shalt (You shall)

Thou hast (You have)

Thou canst (You can)

Thou wouldst (You would)

Thou darest (You dare)

Thou liest (You lie)

And don’t forget that you can flip the order to ask a question. For example:

Dost thou? (Do you?) 

Art thou? (Are you?)

Wilt thou? (Will you? 

Didst thou? (Did you?) 

Canst thou? (Can you? 

V - BUT WHAT ABOUT THE -TH VERBS? 

-th / -eth is the slightly older ending for he/she/it nouns. (it eventually got replaced with -s).

If you wanted to, you could re-write my mini conjugation table as

You sing

She singeth

Thou sing’st

But that’s extra credit, as far as I’m concerned. 

VI - THAT’S QUITE A LOT TO REMEMBER

If you can remember the first stanza of “Greensleeves,” then you’ve got this. It’s a perfect perfect little reminder

Alas, my love, thou dost me wrong, To treat me so discourteously, For I have loved thee well and long, Delighting in thy company.

You’ve got thou, thee, and thy all used properly. 

You have ‘thou dost’ in there, which reminds you to stick a -st on whatever verb you’re using with ‘thou.’ 

And also, it’s a love song, but also kind of a diss track. THAT is a good reminder of WHEN you are supposed to used thee/thou pronouns. 

And that’s it! I recommend grabbing yourself a nice Reader x Character fic, and switching out all the “you” pronouns as practice.  ;)

[NOTE: King James Bible  + Quakers have entirely different way of using thee/thou pronouns. DO NOT USE AS REFERENCE.) 

[But I did write an alternate, novelty version of this post that does use thee/thou pronouns. To be used as reference :) ]

[wisteria-lodge]

So thou want’st to write a character who uses thee/thou/thy pronouns?

Fantastic! Love me some good vampires, time travelers, fay lords, wizards recently recovered from magical trances, weird off-the-grid societies, and mysterious immortals who start slipping into old speech patterns whenever they are emotional/intoxicated!

But if thou art going to do it, DO IT. Commit. (I’m looking at you, Christopher Paolini). Do it right, and it will give thy character so much more depth.

[and okay, I have a version of this post where I use modern ‘you’ pronouns] 

I - So WHEN exactly am I supposed to use these thee/thou/thy pronouns?

Not all the time! Thou should’st look at the person thou art talking to, think about what kind of relationship thou hast with them, and then decide’st: thou, or you?

YOU is the polite, respectful option. It’s for acquaintances and social superiors.

THOU is the causal, friendly option. It’s for family, close friends and social inferiors.

Which leaveth so much room for drama! “Thou” is either the most intimate, kindest thing thou canst call someone - or the most insulting. Think Jane Austen / Victorian England: if thou art calling someone “Mary,” they’re either thy sister, wife, or scullery maid. That’s what a “thou” pronoun is. “You” is just sort of polite and neutral, like saying “Miss Jones.”

Thou canst insult a teacher/parent/king/commander by using “thee/thou” pronouns. Or flatter a servant or up-and-comer by using “you.” And switching from “you” to “thou” is emotional, like calling someone by their first name when thou hast only ever referred to them by their last. (and switching back from “thou” to “you” can be cold as hell.)

And oh my god, if thou art ever reading Shakespeare and need to understand a relationship or power dynamic or whatever, just check if they’re saying “thou” or “you.” That will tell thee *everything.*

II - THOU vs THEE

Take’st a look at these two sentences:

She curseth the wizard.

The wizard curseth her.

Thou art using a different word depending on whether this lady is doing the action herself (cursing), or having the action done to her (being cursed.)

Thou/thee worketh exactly the same as she/her.

Thou cursed* the wizard.

The wizard cursed thee.

And this is a little tricky, because “you” doth not have that subject/object distinction. In that cause, thou art using the same word both times.

You cursed the wizard.

The wizard cursed you.

Just remember: Use “thou” wherever it maketh sense to say “she,” and “thee” wherever it maketh sense to say “her.”

[*I’m gonna come back to the verb thing, i promise]

III - THY vs THINE

This part easy.

THY pairs with YOUR (Is this thy castle? // Is this your castle?)

THINE pairs with YOURS (Is this castle thine? // Is this castle yours?)

That’s it.

IV - THOU + VERB = ?

‘kay. Sorry to get all grammar on thee, but here’s a very mini verb conjugation table:

You sing

She sings

Thou sing’st

Notice that “thou” getteth its own very special verb ending: -’st. (the same way that he/she/it getteth -s). Here are some more examples:

Thou come’st (You come)

Thou know’st (You know)

Thou see’st (You see)

Thou find’st (You find)

Thou pray’st (You pray)

Thou talk’st (You talk)

Thou answer’st (You answer)

And HERE is a little cheat sheet of all the ‘thou’ verbs that are NOT usually spelled with that handy apostrophe:

Thou dost (You do)

Thou didst (You did)

Thou art (You are)

Thou wert (You were) 

Thou wilt (You will)

Thou shalt (You shall)

Thou hast (You have)

Thou canst (You can)

Thou wouldst (You would)

Thou darest (You dare)

Thou liest (You lie)

And don’t forget that thou canst flip the order to ask a question. For example:

Dost thou? (Do you?)

Art thou? (Are you?)

Wilt thou? (Will you?

Didst thou? (Did you?)

Canst thou? (Can you?

V - BUT WHAT ABOUT THE -TH VERBS?

-th / -eth is the slightly older ending for he/she/it nouns. (it eventually was replaced with -s).

If thou didst want, thou could’st re-write my mini conjugation table as

You sing

She singeth

Thou sing’st

But that’s extra credit, as far as I’m concerned.

VI - THAT’S QUITE A LOT TO REMEMBER

If thou canst remember the first stanza of “Greensleeves,” then thou hast this. It’s a perfect little reminder:

Alas, my love, thou dost me wrong, To treat me so discourteously, For I have loved thee well and long, Delighting in thy company.

Thou hast thou, thee, and thy all used properly.

Thou hast ‘thou dost’ in there, which will remind thee to stick a -st on whatever verb thou art using with ‘thou.’

And also, “Greensleeves” is a love song, but also kind of a diss track. THIS is a good reminder of WHEN thou art supposed to use thee/thou pronouns.

And that’s it! I recommend grabbing thyself a nice Reader x Character fic, and switching out all the “you” pronouns as practice.  ;)

[NOTE: King James Bible  + Quakers have entirely different way of using thee/thou pronouns. DO NOT USE AS REFERENCE.)

[little-pisces-dreaming]

This is the 10am class recording for the #romancingthegothic class on Vampires which was entitled 'Still Art Thou Living Wretch? Early Gothic Vampires'