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online-case-study-analysis · 2 years

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Adaptation and fandom through the worlds of vampires

1. Introduction

When someone says the word vampire, the image conjured by our thoughts due to popular folklore is of a pale, cold & charming creature whose longevity is infinite and whose purpose is to survive through the consummation of human blood.

This is the Vampire of folklore of which we all know and are used to, it is what immediately comes to mind when we hear or read the word but throughout the years, many adaptions of the vampire have emerged by one writer more creative than the other.

Vampires are naturally charming creatures, which is very well represented by their actors in movies, which has sparked heated debates among fans of the more classic vampire against those of the vampire with modern twists. This case study analysis explores the adaption and fandom of vampires since they were first introduced to the big screen.

2. Context

The vampire is a creature of legend and folklore that in recent decades has held the fascination of many cinemagoers. They first emerged in the 18th century as Vampyres (later renamed to Vampires) and evolved through the years and cultures, eventually being adapted around the world’s folklore.

Through each part of the globe, the characteristics of a Vampire have varied, even their name, as South American folklore has adapted the myth of Vampires to the Chupacabra but one characteristic of these creatures that does not change is the unnatural hunger for these creatures to consume human blood.

Vampires, much like ghouls, zombies and other undead, have always been connected to death. Zombies for example are connected to hunger and frailness, whereas vampires conjure a concoction of reverence and fear; they represent immortality but only through unnatural existence. They possess the gift of living forever, but always as monsters, being cast to the shadows.

Many representations of the Vampire have been adapted since it first appeared on-screen in 1922 as Count Olek in Nosferatu, which throughout cinematic history has been by far the most folklore-like vampire we’ve seen, the movie presents our antagonist not as an appealing seducer but rather a monster; a creature with ghost-like skin, with a bulb-like head, bat ears and talons for fingers. He walks and moves in an unnatural manner, stammering over his feet and precise and calculate movements with his talons.

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3. Adaptation

After the success of Nosferatu, the most Popular cinematic vampire that ever existed came to light, Dracula. The Dracula presented in this movie is a well-groomed, suave man with long fangs and the iconic cape, this version of the vampire was completely different from Nosferatu, as Dracula is presented as a handsome lover, the compelling immortal. This Dracula can shape-sift, hypnotise with a gaze and turn others into vampires and possesses the usual vampire weaknesses, such as the sun, an absent mirror reflection and is killed by wooden stakes.

Through the 1900s up until 1987’s The Lost Boys, the vampire, Dracula had become a household name, the image of the Vampire had been of that of a sexually deviant gentlemen or gentlewoman, based on the actor playing. The vampire had gone from monster to seducer, now taking the role of an immortal lover struggling to find a bride that could match his longevity.

The Lost Boys introduced the teenage vampire and completely twisted the narrative on the monster. Gone are the castles and servants, the lovers and failures. Joel Schumacher replaced those with beach parties and gangs. His story was one of rebellion, the disseverance of sexuality and fear, all within the reasonable terms of adolescence. Joel kept the usual vampire features however, such as the thirst for blood, sensitivity to sunlight, holy water, no reflection and wooden stakes.

The film did a great job at demystifying vampires by bringing them to a school or city, instead of having Dracula scheming up in his castle, it spoke the message that they could be walking among us.

Interview with a Vampire was released in 1994, and the movie takes a much more human route by focusing on a vampire’s struggle with the loneliness of immortality. Much of the focus is deviated from the lust of blood that vampires were famous for, and instead on the torture that is to live in the shadows for all of eternity.

In 2003 and 2008 respectively, Underworld and Twilight hit the cinema screens, with Underworld focusing on a Vampire vs Werewolf world, where both races have been at war for thousands of years throughout history, all hidden from the human eye. This sort of opened the gates for what would become by far one of the most profitable and watched Vampire franchises, Twilight.

Twilight took a complete twist to the vampire stereotype, with their weaknesses being mostly removed as instead of dying in sunlight, they would instead shine. Vampires in this universe are beautiful and irresistibly charming creatures with supernatural strength, agility, intelligence and resilience. Twilight introduces vampires that do not live on human blood and instead train themselves to resist their monster-like urges, now living purely on animal blood.

Twilight in many aspects almost mirrors underworld, as it later introduces werewolves as the counterpart to vampires. These human creatures can transform into huge wolves and are hinted at being the enemies to vampires for centuries in the movie and books.

4. Fandom

This section will mostly focus on the classic view of the Vampire against the modern, mostly Twilight.

Twilight was a massive commercial success with the first movie pulling in over $400 million dollars, and the last pulling on over a billion dollars. Although it raked in billions of dollars of profit, the Twilight series is often viewed as a bad movie by many due to its “stupid” representation of vampires and werewolves.

Vampires that shine in the sun was an extreme twist on the original folklore of the vampire, and many were not okay with it. Vampires in Twilight are mesmerizingly beautiful creatures with leviathan capabilities, they can jump as high as trees and break boulders with their bare hands.

Superpowered vampires weren’t something new to cinema, but this kind of power scaling was. The werewolves were also very much under scrutiny as they were simply humans that could shapeshift, whereas the traditional werewolf is an out of control monster, losing their sense of self upon seeing the full moon.

Within the Twilight fandom itself, a debate sparked, Team Edward or Team Jacob? These were the two main love interests of our main character Bella, Edward being the shiny vampire and Jacob being the werewolf.

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This debate first came about when Bella was torn between which to choose, with fans primarily siding with Edward as their preferred choice of lover. There is a third choice, which is seen as more of a joke, that being Team Switzerland, where a fan chooses neither.

This lead to the Twilight fandom, which often referred to themselves as Twilighters or Fanpires, to write numerous chapters of fanfiction match how they thought the story should’ve been told or ended.

5. Analysis

There is little doubt that the classic concept of the weak, pale, fanged and scrawny vampire has been changed by Hollywood. The concept of vampires set off in the big screen with a blast, and has only gained more popularity since Nosferatu, which was then overshadowed by Todd Browning’s charming and beautiful Dracula, whose character would set the tone for vampire movies for years to come.

From Browning’s mind emerged a concept that keeps us engaged to this day; creatures of the night, who are beautiful and attractive, yet monsters. Vampires in movies remained relatively the same throughout their journey up until the eighties, where most vampires seemed to be beautiful and mysterious, with a simple hunger for blood. This all changed In the eighties as Hollywood began exploring the Rock n’ Roll era.

The vampires of the eighties became gothic and dressed like rock n ‘roll stars, they were dangerous, deadly, wild, and most of all, cool. The eighties sparked a continuous revolution in the vampire movie genre, as just a few years later, Interview with a Vampire would hit the screen, which would once again revolutionize the way we looked at vampires.

No longer did they live like rockstars, but instead were far more romanticized and humanized than before, as Interview with a Vampire allowed audiences to see what it is like for a vampire to attempt to integrate with society and the world, they saw and experienced the hurdles of immortality, and what its like to live with your regrets forever.

Although Interview with a Vampire touched on the concept of vampire love, audiences didn’t seem to pay much mind to it, as the movie was heavily focused on the aspect of immortality. Twilight’s story on the other hand, completely revolves around it.

In the 2000s, Twilight emerged as an immediate hit on the big screen as it had dared to go where no other vampire movie had gone. Twilight’s vampires are entirely romanticized and humanized as these superman-like loving machines. Its entire story revolves around the romantic relationship between vampire and human, which is why it became so popular with the female teenager demographic.

The story revolves around the dramas of one’s teenager years and the actors also seeming like such in appearance also greatly helped. These vampires were made to be extremely charismatic and human in nature, so human in fact that they attracted a massive following by the fanbase which would later label themselves as Team Edward, named after the movie’s main vampire character.

A huge percentage of the Twilight fanbase was comprised of female teenagers, which seemed to deeply connect with the story of the movie which added to the massive fandom accumulated behind it with each passing entry in the series. Although Twilight was huge in terms of popularity and profit, it was also met with a monstrous amount of backlash.

Many people hated the concept of humanized teenage vampires that shine in the sun, often pointing back to the classical vampires such as Dracula and Nosferatu for the reasoning behind as to why they disliked the movie, which completely revolutionized one of the main aspects of the vampire. It’s an interesting thing as many of the people who hated the series of movies seemed to think of Dracula’s vampire features as a set of rules that every fictional vampire must abide to.

To finalize, it’s also important to look at the role of the vampire In cinematic historic. Nosferatu may have been the main character of his motion picture, but was he hero? In vampire movies, it’s often the vampire character themselves that is the centre-piece of the movie but they are not always portrayed as good, which is yet another aspect of the cinematic vampire that has been flipped on its head as of late.

Movies such as Blade, Underworld, and Twilight feature vampire protagonists that don’t behave as others, their vampire protagonists either become the “good guy” after a few lore revelations or start off as the “good guy” in their respective movies.

Interview with a Vampire was the only that dared challenge that perspective and leaves that us to answer that question, as our protagonist explains his choices and life. Was he good? Was he bad? That is up for us to answer.

6. Conclusion

For a hundred years vampires have horrified or mystified our cinema screens, managing to hypnotize audiences all around the globe. Earlier works drew their inspiration from Stoker’s Dracula but creators later on decided that wasn’t enough and drew upon their own imagination and perspectives of what vampires are as we’ve seen radical revolutions of the cinematic vampire throughout the eighties and onwards in Hollywood.

With each passing decade, we saw the cinematic vampire go from an ugly, blood-thirsty monster to a beautiful and mystifying creature which audiences are quite literally be able to fall in love with, further expanding the following and fandom behind these mystical creatures.

With the passage of time, vampires went from mysterious and powerful creatures to becoming vulnerable and human all the whilst remaining unnatural and a sign of danger to all of those who would seek immortality, as time and time again audiences have been warned of its danger.

Even now in 2022, we continue to see the vampire genre be interpreted in a myriad of different manners with interpretations such as What We Do In The Shadows (2014 Movie), and Witcher: The Vampire Hunter (video game).

It’s no doubt that these charming creatures will only continue to captive audiences as folklore has warned us of their charismatic nature, and Hollywood writers continue to craft characters as such.

7. Reference

Renee, V., 2017. Vampires in Film: The Cinematic Evolution of the World's Favorite Blood-Sucker. [online] No Film School. Available at: <https://nofilmschool.com/2017/10/vampires-film-evolution-worlds-favorite-blood-sucker> [Accessed 19 May 2022].

Encyclopedia Britannica. n.d. vampire (legendary creature). [online] Available at: <https://www.britannica.com/topic/vampire/images-videos> [Accessed 19 May 2022].

Vampires. 2009. Vampire Timeline. [online] Available at: <https://www.vampires.com/vampire-timeline/> [Accessed 19 May 2022].

How Is “Nosferatu” Different From Later Vampire Films? | Watch | The Take. n.d. How Is “Nosferatu” Different From Later Vampire Films? | Watch | The Take. [online] Available at: <https://the-take.com/watch/how-is-nosferatu-different-from-later-vampire-films> [Accessed 19 May 2022].

Nast, C., 2014. The Wild Evolution of Vampires, From Bram Stoker to Dracula Untold. [online] Wired. Available at: <https://www.wired.com/2014/10/vampire-evolution/> [Accessed 19 May 2022].

gamesradar. 2017. How The Lost Boys made vampires sexy. [online] Available at: <https://www.gamesradar.com/uk/lost-boys-sexy-vampires-buffy-twilight/> [Accessed 19 May 2022].

Nast, C., 2014. How Vampires Got Cool Again: A Pop Culture Timeline. [online] Teen Vogue. Available at: <https://www.teenvogue.com/story/coolest-vampires-in-pop-culture> [Accessed 19 May 2022].

SDG. (n.d.). Twilight appeal: The cult of Edward Cullen and vampire love in Stephenie Meyer’s novels and the new film (2008). Decent Films. Retrieved from http://decentfilms.com/articles/twilight ↩

Greydanus, S., n.d. Twilight Appeal: The cult of Edward Cullen and vampire love in Stephenie Meyer’s novels and the new film (2008) | Decent Films - SDG Reviews. [online] Decent Films. Available at: <http://decentfilms.com/articles/twilight> [Accessed 19 May 2022].

8. Images/Video/Audio Reference

Den of Geek. 2018. The amazing versatility of vampires. [online] Available at: [Accessed 19 May 2022].

Crow, D., 2019. Robert Eggers on Status of Nosferatu, Prepping Next Film. [online] Den of Geek. Available at: [Accessed 19 May 2022].

Agarwal, S., 2021. Dracula Is the King of Racist & Homophobic Media. [online] Medium. Available at: [Accessed 19 May 2022].

Cruz, A., 2017. 'The Lost Boys' Cast: Where Are They Now?. [online] Biography. Available at: [Accessed 19 May 2022].

Whatsnewonnetflix.com. n.d. Is Interview with the Vampire (1994) on Netflix United Kingdom?. [online] Available at: [Accessed 19 May 2022].

Ruszin, R., 2022. 'Underworld' Movies Ranked From Worst to Best. [online] Collider. Available at: [Accessed 19 May 2022].

Youtube.com. 2017. How Does Vampire Folklore Differ Around The World? | Vampire Island | Timeline. [online] Available at: [Accessed 19 May 2022].

Youtube.com. 2013. 'Breaking Dawn' Cast Finally Spills...Team Edward or Team Jacob?. [online] Available at: [Accessed 19 May 2022].

Healy, M., 2020. What the Hell Happened: ‘Twilight' Is A Thing Again? | Arts | The Harvard Crimson. [online] Thecrimson.com. Available at: [Accessed 19 May 2022].

Spotify. 2008. Supermassive Black Hole - Twilight Soundtrack Version. [online] Available at: [Accessed 19 May 2022].

#Spotify #Youtube #vampire #twlight #nosferatu #the lost boys #count dracula #interview with the vampire #underworld #fandom #adaptation

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dmsden · 3 years

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Monster of the Month - the Wight

Hullo, Gentle Readers; it’s time for another Monster of the Month! This month’s creepy creature is a bit of undead awfulness - the Wight. As always, a big thanks goes to Scott Fabianek for the amazing original art. I really feel like he outdid himself this time...but I always think that.

Wights have been a part of D&D from the very beginning...literally! They are one of the fantasy units that appear in the Chainmail rules, where they are effectively the master unit that ghouls and zombies also take their stats from. They paralyze rather than energy drain, but they already have their sensitivity to sunlight. By the time they arrive in the original D&D boxed set, they’ve picked up their ability to drain life force (in the form of levels) and their vulnerability to silver. It’s not surprising that they’re one of the first undead monsters associated with the game, since (no matter what Mr. Gygax says) there was so much Lord of the Rings influence in D&D’s origins. How much? Well, I’ll tell you the story of the TSR/Tolkien lawsuit sometime. And given the popularity of Game of Thrones with its own form of wights, I think they’ll be around for some time.

At it’s core, a wight is an undead warrior. A wight’s challenge rating of 3 makes it a very versatile monster. At low levels, a wight could be the commander of a whole undead legion made up of skeletons and zombies. At higher levels, the army itself could be made of wights, and the commander could be a vampire. Actually, given their life drain effect, the idea of an army of wights is pretty terrifying. Gotta make note of that for the future...

Wight despise sunlight, to the point where they have the sunlight sensitivity trait. A wight will avoid sunlight, remaining in dark dungeons or in places where they can avoid the sun’s weakening rays. They can deal with sunlight, but they’re much less effective. Perhaps an army of wights would march only at night, then find places to hide during the day...dungeons, sewers, caves, and the like...to make sure they’re always at maximum efficiency. Wights don’t take extra damage from silver, but silvered weapons bypass their resistance to non-magical weapons. So if you hear that an army of wights is on the way, raid the treasury for silver and get some weapons ready.

Wights are capable fighters, usually wearing studded leather and armed with a longsword and longbow with multiattack. This gives them a decent armor class as well as excellent damage output, including a strong ranged attack. If you want to customize wights in order to make them a bit more challenging, give them a shield or better armor. A heavily armored wight could do a lot of damage to a group of adventurers at low level. If you really want to make a wight scary, give it some levels of fighter.

Despite all this, what makes a wight really scary is its life drain attack. Wights no longer steal your levels (thank goodness...who thought that was fun? Looking at you, Gygax), but they have the potential to lower your hit point maximum. You could describe this as the wight drinking the life energy of its victim, or a necrotic draining, or a feeling of age or withering. In any case, it should be terrifying. And if they successfully lower someone’s hit point maximum to 0, that person dies and may become a zombie under the wight’s control a day later. This transformation seems to happen even if the wight is killed; the only way to prevent it is to destroy the body of the slain or get them returned to life. That would be demoralizing...your companion is slain, and you’re taking them to be raised, but they rise as a zombie and you have to kill them.

I could see a wight using guerilla like tactics to attack a caravan or small settlement. It could return night after night, each time claiming zombies until it had twelve under its control. Assuming 5 characters, a wight and 12 zombies would be a deadly encounter for a group of level 4 characters or a hard encounter for level 5 characters. I might be tempted to make this a “Seven Samurai” sort of adventure, where the PCs find the town demoralized after multiple attacks. I mean...as in the example above, it would be awful for a town to have to defend itself against its own undead citizens.

As to where the wight comes from in the first place, perhaps the town is near some burial mounds, and a couple of locals tried to dig for treasure, only to awaken something terrible and become its first loyal zombie servants. Or maybe a vampire or a lich is awakening that undead army I mentioned above, and they’re calling wights up from their barrows to gather zombies. Once the wight has 12 zombies, they leave a town alone, taking the forces they’ve gathered to a remote and barren location to join with others, ultimately becoming an undead army large enough to conquer a kingdom. If we add access to the control weather spell, either from the lich or from a loyal necromancer, clouds could be used to block out the sun, allowing the army to move and attack during the day.

Obviously, another great place to put a wight is in its actual barrow or burial mound or tomb or what have you. I default to barrow, because of Tolkien, but a wight could be buried anywhere. A wight could also make for a very interesting roleplaying encounter, since they could be a veteran or long ago wars. Yes, they’re evil and want to destroy life, but they might also be a useful source of information. Maybe your group needs a piece of historical information, and they need to find a way to speak to a wight who was alive at the time.

I hope this article has made you think about how you’re using wights or some possible adventures that could include them. Next month, we’re delving into a nasty, spiky bit of Persian mythology. Until then, don’t let the wights bite!

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amadwomanrambles · 4 years

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Vampire Headcanons

A/N: I know I’ve been putting off the headcanons for a few days, but I feel it was important to get this done so you can get a better grasp of the Vampires in this story. This is a blend of different Vampire tropes, so please be nice to me if I get one aspect incorrect! Also adding a bit more of Kylo backstory in this post since I may not be able to fit it in the fic. This will be updated as I continue writing.

Kylo is the leader of his coven, having been turned in mid-14th century. He was sick with the Black Death when his maker took pity on him.

He doesn’t like to talk about his maker, it’s a sensitive subject that he would rather leave alone.

Some of the older Vampires in his coven were others that were turned by his maker as well (Hux, etc.), but was chosen as the leader shortly after his maker disappeared.

Kylo moved to the Americas to start in the tobacco trade, starting a plantation in Virginia.

The staff he hired to take care of the plantation were well aware of his condition, most if not all of them Ghouls to other members of the coven.

A Ghoul is a human that has been blood-bound to a Vampire. One becomes a Ghoul by drinking the blood of a Vampire and continues to drink from said Vampire once a month.

They have similar heightened senses and characteristics with their Vampire counterparts; they are fast, strong, and can heal quickly. They also cannot age due to the Vampire blood.

Turning vs Ghoul: being turned means that the maker has to drain the human of their blood almost to the brink of death, then have them drink their blood. A Ghoul just has to drink the Vampire’s blood only.

Vampires are unable to step into sunlight, but Ghouls can.

Human food tastes different to Vampires. They are able to taste it, however, it will not be filling. This makes it easier for them to blend in with the rest of society.

To keep the plantation alive while also fooling the other neighbors, Kylo brought up the persona of Ben Solo.

Before neighbors get suspicious, Kylo takes the Coven up North to New York or Boston to feed for a little and then move elsewhere before returning to the Plantation.

#vampire au #victorian au #kylo ren #kylo ren x reader #kylo ren x you #kylo x reader #kylo x you #headcanon #headcanons #reader insert #star wars insert #star wars reader insert #star wars #star wars imagines #star wars fic #star wars fics #star wars fanfiction #star wars fanfic

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baphomet-rph · 6 years

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Vampires are fascinating monsters with their own history and characteristics. Here's a guide to writing these charming creatures

Origins

It is unclear how people of all cultures came to believe in the existence of vampires. Some advance the rare cases of live burials, others the effects of diseases such as rabies, tuberculosis or porphyria (discoloration of the skin, sensitivity to the sun, gum curl bringing out the teeth, intolerance to garlic...). Others think more of the hemophagic frenzy of some serial killers.

Characteristics

The vampire is viewed as an undead, just like the zombie or the ghoul. Invulnerable to aging, it feeds on blood using its elongated canines to survive. According to some older legends, it also feeds on human flesh and excrement, sometimes its own, and the rags of its shroud. It is indeed in his coffin that the vampire spends most of his time, too sensitive to sunlight to go out during the day.

How do you unmask a vampire?

This can vary: in the Slavic legends from which he originally came, the vampire has a dark, reddish or purplish complexion because of the blood he consumes, and he is dressed in the shroud in which he was buried. It is at the cinema that he wears his immaculate complexion and his gentleman's clothes.

It also has other characteristics, evoked less often:

red eyes,

hairy palms,

pointed ears,

hooked nails

Some other superstitions claim that a vampire spends his time counting objects and can enter his guests' only if explicitly invited.

On the other hand, all kinds of epidemics have almost systematically been attributed to vampiric activity, due to deaths that occurred close together locally and over time in similar circumstances. As explained above, vampirism is attributed to the symptoms of certain diseases, so it is traditionally accepted that vampirism is contagious. And for good reason: when the vampire feeds on his victim's neck, the latter starts a transformation into a vampire, more or less slow and painful according to the versions of the myth

Moreover, an abnormally healthy, limp corpse with open eyes and a reddish complexion is considered to have the potential to become a vampire. We can therefore (among others) :

behead him,

bury it face down to avoid potential transformation,

accompany the body with sharp objects

accompany it with poppy seeds so that it spends the night counting them,

cut off his knee tendons to keep him from moving,

nail him to his coffin so he doesn't have to get up.

Powers and faculties

In Bram Stoker's novel, his powers are described as these: necromancy, control of the elements and animals (owl, fox, moth, bat...), metamorphosis and disappearance at will. But interpreted by Bela Lugosi, the vampire has above all gifts for hypnosis and seduction, being able to extract what he wants from his often incredulous victims.

Weaknesses

He has few. They include :

garlic repulsion,

vulnerability to holy water and religious objects/places,

fear of mirrors (in which they cannot see themselves),

vulnerability to objects made of silver, a metal considered divine,

Getting rid of a vampire

The vampire is already technically dead. We must therefore find a way to bring him to eternal peace, among other things by :

beheading him,

by driving a pole into his heart

or by burning him.

#rph #writing guide #horror rp #fantastic rp #vampire

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mz-elysium · 5 years

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A Primer.... On Ghouls

Ghouls of The Bay By Night, as based on Vampire the Masquerade

Content warnings: fantasy addiction, fantasy slavery, abuse, non-consent

Tag list (let me know if you want to be added or removed): @thewritertiffany

Some are promised riches, or glory, or eternal life and beauty. Others are promised power or the Embrace once they’ve proved themselves. Most follow happily, led into hell by the chains of blood.

In the end, they all end up the same.

Slaves.

Blood bonds

While Monroe had never been a ghoul, he could still remember what his sire’s blood tasted like. If drinking human blood was the closest to a religious experience kindred got, then drinking a kindred’s was akin to an audience with God.

Vampire blood. Kindred vitae. Red stuff from the veins of the undead has numerous supernatural powers, the most feared of which is the blood bond. Not all thralls of the blood bond are ghouls, but all ghouls are fully enthralled.

The bond is initiated when any drinks from a vampire, after three consecutive drinks it can only be broken by the regent’s death, a year dry, Embracing the thrall into a vampire, or drinking three times from a new vampire (which replaces the bond with a new one).

Ghouls, as they have to drink monthly to keep their benefits, have their bonds topped up regularly. The result is a brutal cycle of addiction and withdrawal, with the dealer set up on an impeccable pedestal.

If the potential thrall is afraid or attempts to fight the drink, the effect only becomes stronger. This terrible consequence of non-consensual bonds (applied as punishment by a prince on another vampire, or through simple cruelty) calls back to the archaic name “blood chains”.

> > First drink. A strange fixation on the regent; might be mistaken for a crush or casual friend. Thinks of them regularly and fondly, but goes on with their day.

> > Second drink. A near-constant preoccupation with the regent; likened to a best friend, but a degree of inequality enters the relationship. The thrall has a deep desire to serve and looks up to the regent with adoration and admiration.

> > Third drink. A complete emotional slave to the regent; unlike any consensual mortal relationship, but quickly can become likened to an abusive romantic relationship. In antiquity, enthralled humans worshiped their regents as blood gods and the sentiment still exists. Thoughts of the regent dominate the thrall’s mind. The regent is absolute and does no wrong.

Effects of the Blood

So long as they are fed monthly, a ghoul receives a few fringe benefits from their regular intake of vampire blood.

> > Eternal youth. Theoretically immortal, immune to illness, and able to heal from physical injuries with their stored blood. If ghouls are deprived of blood for thirty days, their years catch up with them at a rate of one year a week. Ghouls over a century will turn to dust.

> > Disciplines. The physical Disciplines of vampire blood (Potence/super strength, Celerity/super speed, and Fortitude/physical resistance) come naturally to a ghoul, while cerebral or magical Disciplines may be taught if a regent requires it.

> > Sunlight. The sun doesn’t burn even the eldest ghoul and they still have earthly needs and feel desires for sleep, food, water, and sex.

Mostly, though, ghouls are tortured by the blood they crave and the regent they are bound to serve.

> > Mental health. While not a direct side effect of vampire blood, living in a constant state of peril and absolute mercy to a centuries old monster does tend to affect a ghoul’s stability. Many develop PTSD, obsessive tendencies, paranoia, depression, or psychosis after prolonged ghouling.

> > Isolation. While new ghouls might keep contact with a family, nothing will ever compare to the taste of vampire blood or the devotion they feel for the regent. Nothing comes between it. As years go on, ghouls become a unique supernatural creature. Neither human nor vampire, able to keep with the times but never become a part of them.

> > The Beast. The quasi-sentient voice of the blood, the animalistic instinct that desires to hunt and survive is often more a liability than anything. For a ghoul, whose Beast is very weak, it’s doubly dangerous. Their Beast is utterly devoted to their regent and likely to lash out at disobedience. Ghouls can also frenzy, a mental state where the Beast takes over completely, often in a violent manner at the target of the frenzy.

> > Humanity. Unlike vampires, whose humanity is burned or quieted by their full Beast, ghouls have to contest with their human morality. If your vampire god says, “Butcher your human family or I will punish you and make you watch while I do it,” what do you do?

> > Addiction. Physical addiction is immediate, from the first taste. Psychological addiction comes later, as the ghoul realises they will literally die without it. Withdrawal symptoms may include chills, sweats, sensitivity to light, aches and pains, hallucinations, and frenzy. Most turn to further substances in an attempt to calm the agony of withdrawal: alcohol, drugs, caffeine, sex, or drinking human blood (ineffective and dangerous).

Life cycle of a ghoul

> > New ghouls (0-30 years). Often disposable, may be ghouled for a specific purpose or skill in a modern field the regent wants access to. May not be aware they’ve been ghouled and will be abandoned at some point, returning to their mortal lives with a gaping emotional wound and inexplicably much older.

> > Summer ghouls (30-60 years). Head over heels in a “summer love” with their regent, whether it’s romantic love, admiration, worship, or another twisted relationship, it’s brand new and fresh. These ghouls have been brought into the night world. They know a lot about vampires and know bits of court. The world is thrilling and dangerous, but their regent will protect them. Even if they are harsh.

> > Elder ghouls (60-100 years). The “terrible twos” of ghouls, according to vampires. As ghouls age out of mortal lifespans, they hit a mid-life crisis where they realise there is absolutely no going back. They’ve likely murdered or committed terrible crimes by this point, and traded regents. The world they were born into no longer exists. Their family and everyone they knew is dead. Without the blood, they will crumble.

> > Heirloom ghouls (beyond 100 years). Especially old ones (beyond 200) are sometimes called “winter ghouls”, to contrast the summer ghouls. Heirloom ghouls have lived among vampires so long they cease to be anything resembling humans. They take on vampiric characteristics, like an alien stillness, aloofness, abject cruelty, and a cold distance. Their sole will is to serve. Not necessarily out of devotion, but out of an emotionless drive to survive. At this point, they know the game and have accepted their role as a pawn.

Ghouls in the sects

Camarilla

Most have one, the Ventrue and Tremere often have several. Heirloom ghouls are a mark of a long unlife of prosperity and power, or a very valuable investment.

Ghouls are often traded to settle boons or debts, or simply given as a gift. They serve many needs -- ranging from providing a human herd, to disposing of bodies, to picking up dry cleaning, to running a corporation, to teaching a wary elder what an “aeroplane” is.

Because the average age of the Camarilla in power is quite old, their views on slavery trickle down through the hierarchy. As such, ghouls become less than second class citizens, barred from society, often horribly abused or mistreated, and regularly written off.

Even so, “play dates” are scheduled for an elder or heirloom ghoul’s mental health by those regents who care about their investment. It also provides an opportunity for the ghouls to spy or interrogate each other over the pretense of coffee.

While ghouls exist as a slave class, the numerous ghouls of the Ventrue and the Tremere come from places of privilege. They’re captains of industry or hold political office. On the other hand, Toreador ghouls are flights of fancy and hot new artists, traded like fashion accessories and discarded like last season’s Chanel.

Anarchs

Ask ten Anarchs any question about philosophy or sect politics and you’ll get twenty different answers. For Everett and his Reds, including Tony, the creation of a ghoul and binding a mortal in a blood bond is monstrous. How can Anarchs fight for freedom while they hold humans in chains? Many Anarchs agree. They’re young and don’t come from a day world where slavery or indentured servitude is acceptable.

Others take the thought of the Camarilla and declare ghouls a necessary part of vampire existence. After all, who would protect their havens in the daytime? Who would keep them rooted in the modern times? With issues of vampire inequality, they say, there’s not possibly enough time to worry about ghouls.

What ghouls who are made by Anarchs often end up as daytime spies, infiltrating Camarilla domains, or are made by casual and thoughtless neonates who want their drinking buddy to join them in unlife.

Sabbat

The Sabbat consider all mortals below them, to an extent even most ancient Camarilla would not. Ghouls, therefore, are both abominations of Caine’s Blessing and dead useful.

Clan Tzimisce took matters into their own hand sometime in the Dark Ages and forced their ghouls to breed. As the blood stunts aging, most unions resulted in miscarriages. Careful application of sorcery saw the first revenants enter the world. Lineages of born ghouls, these revenant families exclusively serve the eldest members of the Sabbat. Many still worship their vampire masters like the blood gods of antiquity -- a model most Sabbat wish the world could return to.

Even so, this doesn’t spare the revenants from the idle tortures of the inhuman and Bestial Sabbat. It is rare to see a revenant without the mark of Tzimisce flesh-crafting or the abject terror the Lasombra shadow masters inflict.

Independent

Some ghouls exert a supreme force of will and leave their regents. Breaking the bond and refusing the compulsion to return to the regent will be the hardest thing a ghoul can do. Younger ghouls return to mortality a bit older, more fearful, but largely unscathed if they can hide. Others are simply bound by another regent into service, but some manage to survive.

Loathed by vampires, there are a handful of operating independent ghouls, who trade discreet services for blood. Most are escaped elder ghouls, who rely on the blood to survive and have few qualms about performing favours for vampires. Even so, they remain almost mythical among vampires and there’s no more than a handful world wide.

Rarer, even, are those ghouls who break free from the chains of blood and hunt their former masters, slaying and bottling the undead. Their advantages as a ghoul make them exceptional hunters, but not many other hunters want to associate with them.

James shook his head, as though to clear the thought away. “All the shit I’ve done for him over the years,” he said, half to himself. The words tumbled out in a rush, as though clamouring to be free after his century of service. “Yes, my father’s debts were cleared and my brothers were taken care of. It was a hard life and they got out. I got… I… I don’t even know what I am anymore. Yeah, I run messages to vampires who don’t know email’s a thing. I organize day to day operations of a multi-billion international corporation but… damn… I’ve killed for him — happily. I’ve blood bound politicians and media moguls. It’s ruined their lives. And then I’ve bound their successors. I’ve — God forgive me, I’ve kept his herd. And he’s still…” His sigh shuddered and he buried his head in his hands. “Everything.”

“It’ll never get more difficult than this moment,” said Annabelle. She put an awkward hand on his shoulder. There was no point lying. “You aren’t human. There’s no need to act like it.”

#writeblr #vampire the masquerade #vtm #original writing #the bay by night #tbbn #my oc: annabelle

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