Vampires, how should they be?

[rottenbutter]

They should either be (or at least occasionally be):

A)Suave, sophisticated, and evil
B)Total badasses
c)Savage, blood thirsty monsters
D)Any combination of A through C

They absolutely have to drink blood.

Sunlight doesn't necessarily need to kill them instantly, but it should at leastbe very uncomfortable, and their skin should burn more easily than humans (and they shouldn't fucking sparkle).

 

[WolfThomas]

I'm partial to the world of darkness vampires (after playing VTM: Bloodlines), science combined with old school lore.

They can't go into the sun, holy water and garlic doesn't affect them and a stake to the heart will paralyze them. They can be killed by conventional means, guns, knives etc, but it must a huge amount of damage, like a shotgun blast taking their head off and as they grow stronger they are harder to kill.

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

Vampires are not good guys. Simple as. The only decent thing with a "Good" vampire in is Anne Rice's 'Interview With A Vampire' but then he is not nessecarily good. This is why I greatly dislike Twilight and Darren Shan (apart from them being poorly written peices that I wouldn't even use as toilet paper)

 

[jhonka]

My thoughts of a vampire
1) NOT SPARKLING!!!!!

They are like psychopaths with tendency to the dark arts and cannibalism.

Add no. 1 and take away the rest and you got a motherf*ng emo rocker who likes raw meat.

Bram stocker got it right and since he made the original creature, i think it should be honored atleast to an extend!

They do not age, but they do learn from experience thus they are cunning and wise. Since they learn they probably do not go to school and why the f*ck would they?? It's not like they actually need to have a job or something. They have pointy teeth so that they can drink blood FROM HUMANS!!!

The original vampire was not burnt by the sun, but it did take away his inhuman strenghts and abilities. Vampires are part necromancers and as such do possess the ability to control lesser undeads and nocturnal creatures. Dracula could not enter a home unless invited and he did manage to control Mina after making her drink some of his blood. Dracula also could transform into a nocturnal beast and make himself invisible.

Vampires are soulless and lack all the emotions of a human, thus making them act more primally and viciously. Psychopaths do not care for others as rest of people do so they do not form communities since it serves no purpose. This also would most likely make baseball unappealing to them.

 

[Dorian Cornelius Jasper]

Vampires should suck.

Take that as you will.

 

[AuntyEthel]

I like them as castle-dwelling, well-spoken upper-class gentlemen. The classic version basically.

 

[Jamanticus]

I like the Anne Rice school of vampire, though they should be able to fly. and turn into bats and smoke so more really the Bram Stoker style really.

Same here.

Although the really old Anne Rice vampires (2000+ years old) have the ability to fly, so that's part of our problem solved.

 

[LewsTherin]

Vampires are debonair, shameless, bloodthirsty, murderous, cunning, and wholly corrupt and evil. Accent doesn't matter. Repulsed by crucifixes, but only if wielded by a holy man/woman (see Chaos Curse by R.A. Salvatore). Holy Water burns, but does not immediately do critical damage, unless in sufficient quantities or if immersed. Incinerated by direct sunlight, killed by a wooden stake through the heart while "sleeping" or if beheaded. Any non-fatal wound will eventually heal, excepting those caused by fire, holy water, or indirect sunlight. Can take the form of rodents, bats, fog, a giant man-bat, a bear-wolf-man, or regular, albeit handsome, human, ala Bram Stoker. They must consume blood to survive, any blood will do, but if it is not human blood it must be in larger quantities. As they go longer without feeding, they take on a more feral appearance, and begin to lose their self control in the presence of humans. Biting can either kill their victim or turn them, causing the victim to become a lesser vampire under the command of the original. Eventually the lesser vampire can become independent, through experience/time.


I think that about covers it.

EDIT: and the whole super strength/speed, improved senses, necromancy, and stealth-at-night bits.

 

[Littaly]

Whatever way the writer wants them to be... as long as they are not in high school.

 

[Graustein]

First of all, the accent is Romanian, not German

Here's my list of vampire traits, in descending order of importance:
- They suck blood. They can turn you into a vampire in this way, leaving you under their control. Slaying the master vampire will kill, free or de-vampirise his underlings.
- They are evil.
- They're incredibly charming and/or able to hypnotise.
- Very strong.
- They flinch at or are repelled by garlic or holy symbols (not just crosses, a star of David would suffice)
- They can fly, turn into mist, turn into a bat or many bats, or any combination of the above.
- They have no reflections.
- They cannot cross running water.
- They cannot enter a building unless invited.

Here are ways to kill a vampire:
- Drive a wooden stake through its heart. As long as the stake remains, the vampire remains dead. To finish the job you need to chop its head off and stuff holy wafers in its mouth.
- Exposure to sunlight will kill a vampire. It will not, under any circumstances sparkle.
- Submerging a vampire in running water can kill it.
- Holy water will hurt a vampire, sufficient quantities may kill it.

While not all of these are necessary for your vampire, vampires are more than just people who live on blood. They are monsters, plain and simple. You can take creative license with your vampires, (Terry Pratchett's vampires, for example), but you have to at least do your fucking homework.

 

[Archereus]

Silent and efficient murderers that feed on human blood to keep their immortality, and they burn when exposed to sunlight. Not fucking SPARKLE!

thank you i was waiting for that thats why i put Twilight in the post just waiting for some one to comment on that stupid vampire idea

 

[Drake the Dragonheart]

I too like the white wolf concept of a vampire. Stronger, and more agile than the average human. Sunlight if it doesn't kill them outright within the first couple of seconds severely damages them, they can heal and channel powers called disciplines through their stolen blood. Holy water and garlic don't do squat, although religious symbols brandished by one of exceptional faith can affect them. Can be killed with conventional means, but bullets only do bashing unless they target the head, then they do full lethal. Oh, and werewolves are sworn enemies of them so they avoid the wolves forests like the plague.

Bram Stoker's Dracula was very good. I actually somewhat liked the Blade Dracula, although I was dissapointed he wasn't more powerful with the way the one character hyped him up. I like the Castlevania Dracula, although he might be a supervampire on par with Alucard. In fact in a few games Dracula actually has a son named Alucard. oh and just for fun, spell Alucard backwards.

 

[Lord Beautiful]

Um, I would go with Alucard from Hellsing, but he's ridiculously powerful. Even by anime standards he is ridiculously powerful.
I think of two types of vampires. Regular ones and super powered ones like Alucard.
Regular ones can't go out in sunlight. They can't shapeshift. They need to drink blood; any kind of blood really. They just prefer human blood. Crucifixes don't hurt them unless they're made of silver. Piercing the heart can kill them. It can be pierced with a sword a bullet anything. Decapitation always kills them. Plus super senses, strength and speed.
Super vampires can go out in sunlight. Can shapeshift and hypnotize people and can regenerate from deadly injuries.

This, and the vampires from Vampire Hunter D work as well.

 

[vede]

I think vampires should be able to fill all ranks of society, from the ruffian that kidnaps virgins and rips her throat out after raping the shit out of her, or a sophisticated, chicken-blood drinking guy who is disgusted at the poor, lower-class people.

I believe that some vampires should be savage monsters with inhuman strength and speed. Like... basically... um... a really good (strong\fast) dog, except human, and that sucks blood. Pretty much that exactly, actually. But they should exist in the same world as normal vampires, but remain a minority.

Vampires are hurt very much by the sun, but it won't instantly kill them (one could run a hundred meters or so and survive, albeit be in lots of pain and maybe become unconscious at the end). Looking at the sky during the day will cause temporary blindness, while looking at the sun will disintegrate their eyes and cause severe brain damage. Sparkling is off-limits. In fact, if a vampire even looks at something sparkly, it hurts.

Vampires should have to be invited into a room before they can enter. The savage, monster vampires are exempt from this.

If I were to create something involving vampires, that's what they would be.

 

[Knonsense]

I'm not really into vampire lore that much, but the absolute necessity to drink blood is an absolute necessity. It defines vampirism, and any attempt by a vampire to resist this urge out of ethics, etc. should result in their deaths. As such, any surviving vampire must be evil to the extent that they accept cannibalism, and generally murder (I suppose it IS possible to obtain blood by stealing it or finding a donor, and "vampires" with quotes emphasized in real life are known to find people who are willing to (EDIT)offer their blood.)

As far as the issue of turning goes, no scientific explanation could account for being "turned" by being bitten by a vampire. Of course, we're talking about vampires as mythical creatures so science is way, way, WAY out the window. Much more importantly, I can't think of any *pseudo*scientific explanation for being bitten causing a turn. It just doesn't make sense to me but I welcome any suggestion as to how it would make some common sense. It also kind of diminishes the horror involved. If something a vampire would routinely be expected to do caused turning, then vampires would be renowned for granting eternal life to the common people, which doesn't sound very scary to me.

Drinking a vampire's blood sounds like it could "turn" somebody, the pseudoscientific explanation being that you're ingesting their bad karma or viruses, etc.

I guess if a vampire could inject a venom like substance into someone with their teeth like a poisonous snake then I guess that could explain it, but that's a big stretch in my opinion.

The mere presence of a mundane substance like garlic shouldn't result in a vampire's death or incapacitation. In the old days, garlic might have not been considered mundane, but I don't really know. If someone can fill in that blank I may be willing to reverse that.

Holy water doesn't sound very good to me. I've established that vampires should be basically evil, but they are still in some capacity human. I wouldn't expect throwing blessed precipitation on Hitler to make his head explode.

Vampires would have to be not only evil, but unholy, to be really affected by holy water.

Holy: God, Angels, Saints, Bruce Campbell
Holiness-Neutral: Labor Unions, Crocodiles, Ghosts, Hitler, Will Smith
Unholy: Demons, Hell, Uwe Boll

I would personally place vampires into the Holiness-Neutral category, although I could see this being debatable. I haven't offered any explanation as to from where vampires originally derived their power, and I'm not really sure what I would say about that.

 

[Jamanticus]

Vampires are debonair, shameless, bloodthirsty, murderous, cunning, and wholly corrupt and evil. Accent doesn't matter. Repulsed by crucifixes, but only if wielded by a holy man/woman (see Chaos Curse by R.A. Salvatore).

I very much liked that touch in 'Chaos Curse'.

That whole novel, really, was a very nice little vampire story....

 

[vid20]

Me and one of my best mates had a nice long discussion about this after finishing up trivia one night. And come up with the following concept about vampires.

Vampires herald from Europe. So this is where the highest concentration of "real" Vampires would be. These vampires are completely arrogant and self absorbed by nature, not because they think they are better then people, but because they know they are better then people. They are quite literally the top of the food chain.

Vampires interact almost solely with other Vampires, everything else is below them. As vampires live for ever, all vampires are masters of pretty much every single language imaginable (after all, what else are you going to do with your spare time but learn new things) They also dedicate themselves to all forms of creative art, painting, writing, music.

Vampires live in small communities located in houses that would hold something of a "Heritage" status. (The buildings that are immensely old, or have amazing historical significance) But these small communities of Vampires keep in constant communication with each other, always by written letter (they are just sticklers for tradition)

Vampires are beautiful, but in all sorts of different ways. Some, in a raw, overpowering manner. Others, in a refined control way. No two vampires look the same, but each and everyone of them is a figure of lust too humans. Even if their appearance isn't what you would normally go for, if you were too see one on the street you would still turn your head to look a second time. To aid there amazing beauty vampires are impeccably dressed, all the time. Always wearing the most expensive of hand tailored suits and dresses.

Although Vampires know humans are below them. They are also aware of the usefulness of said humans. And so Vampires are not above utilizing human services to further there own means, or make their own lives easier, thus leaving more time to keep studying and refining there own arts.

Vampires feed on humans. They have too. Its there only for of sustenance. But they are very selective about how they do this. After all, no one wants to go back to the days when humans tried to hunt and kill them. That was such an inconvenience. So they are careful about how, where, and when they feed. Making sure to pick victims that wont be missed, or easily traced back to them. When they feed it is normally done as delicately as possible, ensuring that no blood is spilled on there immaculate outfits. However some Vampires have been known to give themselves over to the blood lust as they feed, and subsequently turn the feeding into a blood orgy. Generally these Vampires will punish themselves with some form of repentance for a few hundred years, after all. No one wants to be seen in such a primitive state.

Vampires VERY rarely turn humans. Its just unheard off. Humans are so.. common. However occasionally a human will capture a Vampires eye, maybe because of a position of power they hold. Maybe they have shown particular traits that are desirable. If a Vampire believes that a human is worth turning, he will meet with the other Vampires from its place of residence and they will watch the human. All of them. If a majority of the Vampires in the residence agree that the human is worth turning, then the human shall be turned. This period of assessment can last a humans entire lifespan. After all, for the ageless vampires its just the blink of an eye. No human below the age of 30 will EVER be turned. They just don't have the maturity to deal with it.

Vampires take human lovers, but only on small fancies. It is unheard of for a Vampire to actually desire a human.. they are so common. But taking human lovers is completely acceptable. Feeding of a love after taking them is quite commonplace. After all, no human is worth having more then once.. there are just so many more out there to chose from.

The Vampires are incredibly powerful. Super strength, super agility, complete nocturnal vision, quick healing capabilities (relatively) and never die of old age (they are undead) They are almost immune to all virus' bacteria, and germ's (again, undead) But its a common misconception that vampires can only be killed by steaks, garlic, and decapitation. Any amount of serious trauma will end a Vampires life. But it does need to be serious trauma.

Vampires regulate there own ranks, as they know no other force in the world is capable of doing it. Any Vampire that breaks the Vampire code (such as turning some one without a residences consent. Or turning some one below the age threshold. Or worse of all, falling in love with a human) Will be hunted down, and killed by his fellow peers. Generally such a task will only be given to one or two of the strongest Vampires in a residency, but its a task they will take on with complete and utter efficiency. A Vampire sent out on a hunt cannot return until his query is killed. Fights between Vampires are displays of amazing martial prowess. Every single vampire is a master in at least one form of weapon. So when they fight battles are displays of skill and finesse. Only one Vampire will ever walk away from a fight like this. No quarter is given. Ever.

There is more.. but that's the gist of it.. Man, we put way too much thought into that.. but to be fair.. it was while we were coming up with an idea for a T.V show.

 

[Xaryn Mar]

I would say whatever the myth about vampires are wherever they are supposed to be from. I.e. Classical (Dracula) Vampire if from eastern europe, a head with intenstines trailing after it if from the Philipines (I think. It is called a Pennangallan), jumpig stiff corpses if from mainland China etc.

There are litterally hundreds of different vampire myths from around the globe so why limit them to one kind? When it is much more fun to see the diversity (and much more difficult for the vampire hunters)

 

[Graustein]

Vampires are debonair, shameless, bloodthirsty, murderous, cunning, and wholly corrupt and evil. Accent doesn't matter. Repulsed by crucifixes, but only if wielded by a holy man/woman (see Chaos Curse by R.A. Salvatore).

I very much liked that touch in 'Chaos Curse'.

That whole novel, really, was a very nice little vampire story....

Should be noted though that the vampires in Chaos Curse were being turned by those priests (as it is set in a D&D-esque universe), and Turn Undead is specifically stated as requiring faith and confidence to work
That, and it was hardly a crucifix, it was the Eye of Deneir and the Scroll of Oghma (as well as the respective holy symbols of any visiting priests).
Just a few nitpicks
Chaos Curse was indeed excellent though.