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Post by Blood_Debt on Apr 29, 2005 21:38:01 GMT -5
Such old legends, with so many different interpretations, so I was wondering what yours was.
Do they really exist? Are they really immortals? Are they Dracula-style, or Buffy-type creatures?
I recently came up with a theory that vampires are actually 'Vampyr', formerly Amazons during the caveman age before being wiped out. However, some survived and did some dark magic to change them into creatures of the night. However, only women can handle the pressure of being Vampyr - as men go mad (e.g. Dracula).
Here I am, babbling on when I'm supposed to be asking other people what they think. So, what's your theory?
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Post by darkraion on Apr 30, 2005 2:28:03 GMT -5
In the outline for a story I have stashed away somewhere, vampires, werewolves and other such creatures were actually just different races, in a way. So if two vampires have a child, that child is a vampire due to genes passed down from the parents. Likewise, a vampire and a werewolf would make a half-vampire half-werewolf child with mixed characteristics of both. By the same token, vampires didn't turn humans into vampires through merely sucking their blood- but if a human got any vampire blood in their system, that would alter them. Vampires didn't have to suck a significant amount of blood to live either- only mean, self-indulgent ones did that.
Of course, this was a futuristic world were vampires strayed from blood-drinking from random humans for fear or getting AIDs (they weren't immortal, either) and drank a commercially advertized synthetic blood beverage. If we had vampires in our world they would be something like that in a way.
Some people are nocturnal (I sit typing this as 2:28 in the morning, after all), and I know some people are allergic to the sun. There are also people who have a thing for blood... if you got all these characteristics into one person, perhaps the genes that help to form such characteristics, you'd have something vampire-like. Vampire by way of genetics... and of course, they would come with sex-appeal genes, too, were they to be truly vampire-like, I suppose.
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OptiMoose not logged in
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Post by OptiMoose not logged in on Apr 30, 2005 5:30:55 GMT -5
Mmm... if you go by the medical evidence, there are three medical conditions that fit very well on the description of what a vampire does: -anemic people: pale, tiredness, fainting -porphyria: sensitivity to light, open wounds, deformed teeth and abnormal hair growth (BUT check this out: www.straightdope.com/classics/a990507.html , because it pretty much points out a thing or two about literature vampries and folklore vampires) - rabies: foam (sometimes bloody) around the mouth, doesn't like reflections in the mirror, hates intense smells, water and is sensitive to sunlight, deathlike expression, agression and the desire to bite people (btw, that would also fit nicely with the story about how people become vampires after being bitten by vampires. Since rabies is an infectious disease, it would be spread like that) - check out www.mass.gov/dph/cdc/gsrman/rabies.pdfAlso, you have to take into account that drinking your enemy's (or voluntary victim's) blood often used to be part of cults and rites (even Christians drink 'the blood of Christ', may it be symbol or not). Do vampires exist? Certainly not. Do people exist who get a kick out of drinking other people's blood, and kill them off? Sure. Nice theory, btw. Unfortunately, the Amazons did really exist in the times of the old Greeks (Check out this report about archelogical excavations: www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/aegean/amazons/amazonindex.html ), so they might not quite fir the timeframe you were looking for.
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Post by D-chan on May 1, 2005 13:31:41 GMT -5
Oh, man, and this has been my topic of the past two weeks...
Okay. Going into semi-fangirl mode, I don't believe vampires are real, but my favorite take on them would have to be the Night World type. The series was written by L.J. Smith. The Night World consists of vampires, witches, shapeshifters, and werewolves. Vampires largely dominate her stories.
The Night World vampires are quite possibly the creepiest I can think of. They look human, act human, and can pass themselves off as human. They only drink blood because human blood has the oxygen vampire blood cells are incapable of carrying. They don't need to kill to feed, but if they do, they tend to go into bloodlust (aka. a rampage where they feed on any and everything with human veins).
They can walk out in the sunlight, can pass running water, are resistant to crosses, garlic, and holy water. About the only thing that can kill these vampires is a stake through the heart. Wood is their poison, and very dangerous in the modern world, since so much human construction relies on wood.
There are also two different types of vampires: the made vampires, and the lamia (lay-mee-uh). The lamia are essentially born vampires. They age like any human, but can stop the aging process if they wish. If they try aging again, then however many years they stopped at will catch up with them. (i.e. If a lamia vampire stops aging at the age of 16, and starts again 10 years later, they will look 26 years old.) Born vampires are stuck at the age they're at; they cannot age again ever. However, most humans that are turned into vampires don't make it if they're over 20. The theory is that the body can't handle it once over that age.
To turn a human into a vampire, there must be at least 3 exchanges of blood. The way this process works is actually fairly tricky. In one book, vampires and humans did a blood-tie to link trust. A little exchange like that won't do anything. The humans will acquire a few vampiric senses (such as enhanced vision) but with such a small bit of blood, the vampire blood will vanish in a few days. However, if a lot more blood is exchanged but the vampire doesn't return to finish the process, the human turns into a ghoul--a creature that's undead, but not alive, either, very akin to a zombie. But, if the human is taken to a healer (in other words, a certain kind of witch) then the vampire blood can be killed off with the human suffering only sick-like symptoms.
... but yes. ^^; If vampires were indeed real, I'd go by this legend/version. It seems most plausible to me.
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