TYPES OF VAMPIRETHE INSANE There are mortals who are quite convinced that they are vampires and as a result of this drink blood and become nocturnal. One of the suggested explanations for the accounts of vampires in history involves the fact that in the past, (and occasionally even now), humans would be buried when they “were not quite dead yet”. They would be seemingly dead, perhaps in a cataleptic state or other condition, and would revive in the grave. When they had dug themselves out they would be in some degree of shock and if their culture had stories of vampires, they would jump to the conclusion that they had joined the ranks of the undead. Some mortals do not even have to go through all that to believe that they are vampires – the vampire is supposedly a universal archetype that some people identify with. Looks like a job for Gruffy!(?) THE CULTISTS “The blood is the life”, it says in the Bible. Those who seek mystic powers or who wish to contact certain supernatural entities may feel that the sacrifice of blood or the consumption of blood will give them powers. Some cults worship vampires, but others would more likely just use blood in mystic rituals of some kind. A blood cult is a group of evil beings seeking to perform unholy magics for foul purposes. They are no better than vampires and can possibly be regarded as vampires. These people may never kill, but they are certainly evil and that means some slaying is required…
THE CURSED One of the little known ways for a mortal to become a vampire is to live a life of evil or commit a particularly evil act. Witches, murderers, and others supposedly might become vampires upon their death, (not wanting to scare anyone!). So you see the problem? Let’s see, you have committed a horrible wrong and are an evil person, and for your punishment you will become immortal and very hard to kill…huh? Even if they have to kill people to survive, they may not ever touch the truly evil. However, as it says in the “Book of Vampyres”, an eternity of not being able to live a full and normal life might be a punishment to some. There is also another type of curse that can turn a mortal to a vampire. This is not performed on an evil person as a punishment for their sins, but rather a more or less righteous being. It can only take effect if the spell is cast by a malevolent person or unknown destructive entity, and means that the victim is forced to give up their old life and potentially kill to survive. This unfortunate person must live forever more in quite some degree of torment, thus “living” a life of misery. THE SEDUCED There’s supposedly a certain amount of appeal to vampirism. Sleep all day, stay up all night, live forever; being a vampire surely has its perks. Vampires are often perceived as sexy, and their feeding often has a sort of sexual connection. Also vampires have extra abilities; they’re stronger and tougher than mortals are usually and often they have psychic or magical powers. All this makes them perfect seducers, and this being the case, many people will willingly become vampires. Even in our more or less real world, there are many mortals who would jump at the chance of becoming a vampire, even if it did involve killing others to survive. However, they may not be fully aware of what they are getting into; after all, any recruiting vampire is going to present the opportunity in the most positive way possible. Many people become vampires in order to be with a lover or to be better equipped to carry out revenge. Don’t be fooled though, there’s a definite downside to embracing vampirism to achieve certain ends if you don’t recognise the full truth of those who drink blood. On the other hand, I suppose you’d get to be chased by Gruffy…
THE VICTIMS
In some views, those killed by a vampire are doomed to become vampires themselves. They have made no decision to do so, and they have committed no great evils; they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and became victims of someone’s blood lust. In other views, however, you do not create vampires simply by killing someone for their blood. You must give them some of your own blood, or do some sort of action to make a mortal into a vampire. The “creator” or “sire” has to have a purpose in creating a new vampire. This may just be a desire for a companion, or a need for a servant, maybe even just an act of spite. Often the new vampire is under a degree of control by the “sire”. This is a plus point for the master, but often a great negative for the servant, as the master may do what they want with their “child”. They may look out for them, but it is also possible that they might use as the lowest from of slave or even cannon fodder. THE DISEASED Vampirism resembles a disease in some ways. It is usually perceived as being transmitted by a bite or the consumption of infected blood. The diseased vampires are far from romantic ones; they have very little in the way of intelligence and no special abilities apart from being hard to kill. The major thing to keep in mind where diseased vampires are concerned is that they may well be curable by scientific or medical means, even if they have a magical origin. Also a vampire may not want to be cured; why give up the power and immortality just so you can go out in the day and have a more acceptable diet? Enter Doctor Gruffy! THE MUTANTS AND THE ALIENS Generally, it is assumed that vampires were once normal humans, but this is not necessarily the case. It is certainly possible for vampires to be a subspecies of humans though, but in most settings mutant or alien vampirism is non-transmittable. The important things to keep in mind if vampires are an altogether different species rather than altered humans are that a person killed by a vampire is generally going to remain dead. They aren’t going to be able to make any other people into vampires, and may think in an entirely different way to humans. Better leave them to the expert, ay? THE CREATED One more unusual notion is vampires created by either science or sorcery. In a magically active world some vampires may be the product of evil sorcerous attempts at immortality or reanimating the dead. In future technologically advanced societies it may be possible to create a vampire through genetic manipulation or maybe some sort of surgical alterations. These created vampires may not conform to the traditions of vampirism and their vampirism may not be contagious, particularly if they are non-magical nature. Still, they need to be destroyed, and we all know who specialises in that department….
 |
