Let me begin by thanking @four-poster-coffinā for writing this, because holy shit you guys, this is a fantastic and well organized analysis thatās not only focused but very nicely written and beautifully sourced!!!! AAAAAAAAAAA -
My response below talks about how the āSupernaturalā element might get involved!
The idea of presenting the actual changes as a virus to be introduced to the body and the chips as more monitoring devices is a brilliant one, no matter how well rooted in canon it is. In fact, one could argue a sufficiently tailored virus could likely provide a lot of what we see in the Artificial Vampires, whereas the remainder would rely on a series of 'Correspondence'.
Now, I'm leaning partially on my understanding of Hermetic principles (I'm sure we've all heard the phrase 'as above, so below' - this is the Hermetic principle in question), but for the 'Supernatural'/Mystical element of Mina Harker's cells to take effect on the bodies that they've been implanted in, bio-engineering or not, the simple association with Mina and by extension Dracula/Alucard is enough to push along that aforementioned Correspondence.Ā
To explain this properly, allow me to define this;
The actual text of that maxim, as translated by Dennis W. Hauck from The Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus, is: "That which is Below corresponds to that which is Above, and that which is Above corresponds to that which is Below, to accomplish the miracle of the One Thing." Thus, whatever happens on any level of reality (physical, emotional, or mental) also happens on every other level.
But you're probably wondering when I'm going to get to the point!
The point is thus; when Dracula took action and fed and fed from Mina Harker, he changed her and the men around her irrevocably, setting a series of events into motion and forever changing himself in the process. This change on Mina is said to have been 'utterly reversed', but I hardly believe this - once an action has been taken, it cannot be unactioned in Hermetic principle, and thusly while it can be suppressed, it cannot be removed or reversed.Ā
Now, when her cells are applied to the bodies of those set to become Artificial Vampires, the changes wrought Above (to Mina, extreme enough that she grew fangs, developed an aversion to the holy, could not rest at night, etc.) were brought Below to these new subjects, giving them a poorly cast shadow of the mystical might of a true vampire.
Combined with the effects of the virus as presented above and some conditioning, this gives us a much better idea of how Artificial Vampirism works!
