I'm sorry, I don't have much familiarity with the Discworld novels but are vampires a frequent presence in the general scope of the world? Because this is the first time I've even heard of them existing in that world.

 

There's a whole book about them. And they make frequent appearances as side characters in other books.

 

I love the Lasombra (who doesn't love Abyss mysticism), but infiltrating easily? They can be detected by their lack of reflection.

 

The description of Vampires from QuantumBranching's "A World of Darkness Indeed" fits my idea of them best. Especially seeing how they adapt to the world being overrun with Zombies.

 

I read an interesting take on vampires in a Kindle-published book. In it, vampires were a mutation gone wrong. Aliens are in a war, and one of them was sent to earth to protect/prepare earth for what was coming. When the first human was genetically recoded through nanocytes that are enegerized by the etheric plane, he came out well. However, his descendants did not. One of the deficiencies is their inability to walk in the light (whereas Michael, the original, can). Moreover, when they transform, there's a point where they can give in to the pain and if they do, they become Forsaken (wild vampires driven by hunger). If they don't, they become Nacht.

The long and short of it is that quickly in the story, we learn the main character is taken back to the source (the ship) to be changed (they only change the willing, and only only a handful have ever been changed). She, then, leads others to be fixed properly and thus, they too can walk in the light. They become Rangers and other such entities who hunt human predators until they're ready to head off into the galactic war that awaits.

It isn't the best writing and there's several places where I face palmed. However, the take was unique enough and it was entertaining enough that I read all 21 books. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079X2HHZS?ref=series_rw_dp_labf

 

So I watched 'He Never Died' recently on Netflix, I think it was called. Which is essentially about a vampire, although it was never called that.

It's not a Stellar film but it is good and the main actor gives a really strong performance that basically carries the film.

The vampire in that is very low-key. As far removed from the twilight/Miranda flairgold interpretation as you can get. He doesn't die from injury, he's inhumanly strong but not to a superhero level, more like folklore strength or parents picking up cars, and he looks completely normal but is just fighting a thirst with all the tenacity of an opiate dependence. He has normal teeth even and when he eats it's messy and he stabs and injures to get at it. I found it a really good depiction because it reduced a lot of the (what I now think are) extraneous elements. He's got an overpowering addiction, he relapses and remits, he's charming but very strange and likeable, but when he gives in he's a monster. A very human sort of monster

There's a lot to work with in the Pratchett/stoker classic vampire, but I think less power on that spectrum is better than more power. It makes their struggles more compelling.

 

I like the vampires in Preacher. Not affected by holy stuff, but can't go out in the Sun and are nearly impossible to kill. Also damn vicious in a fight.

That may just be because Cassidy is my favourite character from that show, though.

 

Right, so I arrived here because of the new competition prompt. I love the discussion so far, there are so many ways of looking at vampiric myths. Lots of interesting ideas to incorporate. My mind's a-whirl.

In HP cannon though, JK hasn't done much on vampires (apparently she said she'd rather explore on the British myths rather than rehashing the already popular eastern european myths) other than the random mentions about far away adventures of random adventurers and blood flavoured lollypops for some reason.
But if you follow that logic of using folklore and base it directly on the sources (look at it by performing a wikiattack), diffrent myths from diffrent parts of eastearn Europe have different concepts and ideas about vampirism. The only thing really that's common is the drinking blood in the night part. There are some where it seems to be a mash between vampires and werewolves too. In other words, not really a consistent phenomenon unless you either pick one and stick with it or mix and match as you feel like, which is the usual strategy of writers (other than sparkles. I don't think there's any folklore that dumb.)

Personally, my views on the vampire thing goes like this: I don't agree with any fiction which makes vampires out as 'humane but misunderstood'. Their outlook on humans should be similar to our outlook on cattle (as if we HAD to eat them though. No vegan vampires please, thank you) They should be parasites, a scourge of humanity, no-empathy sort of bastards. Not necessarily 'evil' but no vampire would ever have sympathy towards a human. Unlike a werewolf, where the humanity and the attatchments stay (or at least, might stay) after being bitten, a person can only turn into a vampire after he/she is dead (hence the undead scourge) so there's nothing human left in them. I also prefer it when they don't have supernatural strength, at least not all the time. They are made to blend in with humans BECAUSE they need to hide in plain sight. If they could demolish a building with a punch, why would they even try to blend in? (It makes them OP from plot perspective too, anyhow)
Also, because I like the vampires vs werewolf idea, it's interesting to make them polar opposites (because duality gives plotgasms) so werewolves are social animals with packs, vampires are solo hunters. Werewolves are their strongest on full moon nights (well, duh) and vampires are strongest on moonless nights (also duh, it gives them so many advantages). werewolves are living, vampires are undead. Werewolves are pretty much beasts once transformed, vampires have their cold sanity the whole time. Werewolves don't really care about humans one way or the other, vampires need human blood to continue surviving. Stuff like that.

If you had to have vampires with different classes, I would say any sort of extra magical ability should come with a price.
So if a vampire gets super strength, it's also mindless. If they earn extra magical abilities (eg: being able to walk in the sun), they also are no longer immortal. The longest living, most experienced vampires would also be physically weaker, but much more cunning, vicious and most able to play the natural strengths.

Basically, OP vampires are for people who can't plot for shit, or just want to be ironic about the whole deal.

 

I don't know if I like the vampire concept in it (as someone before said, illogically high predator to prey ratio), but unlike others in the genre, it remains consistent with it's own world building. That's so freaking rare, that it makes it pretty good by default.

 

I see your Blade and I raise you What We Do in the Shadows

 

What do you guys think about the vampires in Witcher 3?

 

The thing about Vampires of the Witcher is that they they're more of a generalisation of different species rather than a single observable collective.

On one side you've got the higher vampires, who are for all intents and purposes gods compared to humans, virtually immortal beings that mostly just seamlessely integrate themselves into human society, some even with the intent of aiding them.

The interesting thing about higher vampires is that they don't really conform to a more traditional description of a vampire. They cannot be affected in any way by anything other than other higher vampires, who are banned from harming each other because of the relatively low birth rates. Another interesting tidbit is that they don't actually feed on blood for sustenance, but more as a drug of sorts.

Here's a passage from Time of Contempt

Spoiler

‘I ought to begin by saying,’ Regis said a moment later, ‘that all fears linked to my vampiric nature are groundless. I won’t attack anybody, nor will I creep around at night trying to sink my teeth into somebody’s neck. And this does not merely concern my comrades, to whom my relationship is no less old-fashioned than theirs is to me. I don’t touch blood. Not at all and never. I stopped drinking it when it became a problem for me. A serious problem, which I had difficulty solving.
‘In fact, the problem arose and acquired negative characteristics in true textbook style,’ he continued a moment later. ‘Even during my youth I enjoyed… er… the pleasures of good company, in which respect I was no different to the majority of my peers. You know what it’s like; you were young too. With humans, however, there exists a system of rules and restrictions: parental authority, guardians, superiors and elders–morals, ultimately. We have nothing like that. Youngsters have complete freedom and exploit it. They create their own patterns of behaviour. Stupid ones, you understand. It’s real youthful foolishness. “Don’t fancy a drink? And you call yourself a vampire?” “He doesn’t drink? Don’t invite him, he’ll spoil the party!” I didn’t want to spoil the party, and the thought of losing social approval terrified me. So I partied. Revelries and frolics, shindigs and booze-ups; every full moon we’d fly to a village and drink from anyone we found. The foulest, the worst class of… er… fluid. It made no difference to us whose it was, as long as there was… er… haemoglobin… It can’t be a party without blood, after all! And I was terribly shy with vampire girls, too, until I’d had a drop.’
Regis fell silent, lost in thought. No one responded. Geralt felt a terrible urge to have a drink himself.
‘It got rowdier and rowdier,’ the vampire continued. ‘And worse and worse as time went on. Occasionally I went on such benders that I didn’t return to the crypt for three or four nights in a row. A tiny amount of fluid and I lost control, which, of course, didn’t stop me from continuing the party. My friends? Well, you know what they’re like. Some of them tried to make me see reason, so I took offence. Others were a bad influence, and dragged me out of the crypt to revels. Why, they even set me up with… er… playthings. And they enjoyed themselves at my expense.’
Milva, still busy restoring her arrows’ flattened fletchings, murmured angrily. Cahir had finished repairing his boot and seemed to be asleep.
‘Later on,’ Regis continued, ‘more alarming symptoms appeared. Parties and company began to play an absolutely secondary role. I noticed I could manage without them. Blood was all I needed, was all that mattered, even when it was…’
‘Just you and your shadow?’ Dandelion interjected.
‘Worse than that,’ Regis answered calmly. ‘I don’t even cast one.’
He was silent for a while.
‘Then I met a special vampire girl. It might have been–I think it was–serious. I settled down. But not for long. She left me. So I began to double my intake. Despair and grief, as you know, are perfect excuses. Everyone thinks they understand. Even I thought I understood. But I was merely applying theory to practice. Am I boring you? I’ll try to make it short. I finally began to do absolutely unacceptable things, the kind of things no vampire does. I flew under the influence. One night the boys sent me to the village to fetch some blood, and I missed my target: a girl who was walking to the well. I smashed straight into the well at top speed… The villagers almost beat me to death, but fortunately they didn’t know how to go about it… They punctured me with stakes, chopped my head off, poured holy water all over me and buried me. Can you imagine how I felt when I woke up?’
‘We can,’ Milva said, examining an arrow. Everyone looked at her strangely. The archer coughed and looked away. Regis smiled faintly.
‘I won’t be long now,’ he said. ‘In the grave I had plenty of time to rethink things…’
‘Plenty?’ Geralt asked. ‘How much?’
Regis looked at him.
‘Professional curiosity? Around fifty years. After I’d regenerated I decided to pull myself together. It wasn’t easy, but I did it. And I haven’t drunk since.’

Also, it's completely bullshit in the Witcher that vampires turn humans into vampires. Here's another passage from Baptism of Fire.

Spoiler

‘After the Conjunction of the Spheres there remained approximately one thousand two hundred higher vampires in your world. The number of teetotallers–because there is a considerable number of them–balances the number who drink excessively, as I did in my day. Generally, the statistically average vampire drinks during every full moon, for the full moon is a holy day for us, which we usually… er… celebrate with a drink. Applying the matter to the human calendar and assuming there are twelve full moons a year gives us the theoretical sum of fourteen thousand four hundred humans bitten annually. Since the Conjunction–once again calculating according to your reckoning–one thousand five hundred years have passed. A simple calculation will show that at the present moment, twenty-one million six hundred thousand vampires ought to exist in the world. If that figure is augmented by exponential growth…’
‘That’ll do.’ Dandelion sighed. ‘I don’t have an abacus, but I can imagine the number. Actually I can’t imagine it, and you’re saying that infection from a bite is nonsense and a fabrication.’

On the other side of the coin, however, you have lesser vampires such as bruxae or katakans, who are more like traditional vampires: intelligent and human in appearance like higher vampires, but mortal. Not much can be said about these, they're pretty much the sterotypical vampires of legend.

Here's a somewhat relevant passage from Baptism of Fire:

Spoiler

‘Don’t scoff. You can’t be a stranger to vampire bite marks. Ever come across a case of a vampire ripping its victim to shreds?’
‘No. That never happens.’
‘In the case of higher vampires–never, I agree,’ Emiel Regis said softly. ‘From what I know alpors, katakans, moolas, bruxas and nosferats don’t mutilate their victims. On the other hand, fleders and ekimmas are pretty brutal with their victims’ remains.’

Lesser than the lesser vampires though, there are ones such as ekimmas, that aren't able to think intelligently, and are basically just really dangerous wild animals.

I hope this post was coherent enough to be understood, it's two in the morning and I'm gonna fuck off to sleep now.

 

Can higher vampires in The Witcher feed on someone without killing them? Or is it a one and done type deal?

 

They can feed on people without killing them.

 

My favorite is the ones from type-moon; an alien presence created by the moon. The low level infected are just ghouls while the higher ones are smarter and can use marble phantasm (nature magic) since they were part of a failed deal to eradicate or control the population of humans between the earth and the moon. Because of that, they are the natural predators of humans and have a thirst for their blood.

The lower level ones are animal like in nature, acting upon instincts, mindless. The higher ones have their own personalities and quirks.

We have stories of mages trying to achieve immortality or life extension by experimenting on them with failures creating zombie outbreaks.

 

Despite my burning hate for Laurel K. Hamilton for what she did to Anita Blake series, I have to admit the vampire lore in it and the worldbuilding around it were pretty dope. By that I mean the earlier books tho not the shit that was involved in Mother of All Darkness stuff.

Also despite how gay Anne Rice vampires sometimes can be. The lore involving Akasha in Queen of the Damned, Pandora, and even Lestat was pretty good.

 

I

I don't think Miranda Flairgold got to the point in the story till she could show the other side of vampirism. We might have gotten to read the more gruesome and violent side in the third fic of the trilogy
--- Post automerged ---
The

Hints are there