#vampire physiology

[gisellelx]

Seriously though. Can you imagine how much it irks Carlisle that you can't perform autopsy and dissection on vampires? That if you don't incinerate all the parts right away, they just start reassembling? Like, there are so many things the dude wants to know about vampire physiology—exactly why do they glitter? How much of a digestive system is actually in there? What on earth is going on in their gonads?—and he can't cut anybody up to find out.

I always like to think this is part of the chaotic relationship that he has with Emmett; that Emmett is the one person in the family to whom Carlisle can go, "Can I rip off your leg at the femur? For an hour" and Emmett is like, "Sure, if you let me look."

#carlisle cullen #vampire physiology #I do suspect he took semen samples from all three boys though #and there was a small ruckus when Esme found them in the fridge

[etoilehistoire]

Thinking about how mammals, including humans (and presumably elves and whatnot) are endothermic. We make our own heat, via the processes that keep us alive, and move that heat through our bodies via blood pumped by a beating heart. Blankets and other insulators work, not because they're inherently warm, hut because they trap our own warmth and don't let it dissipate.

Thinking about how vampires, as - essentially - walking corpses, are exothermic. They don't have any internal processes that create heat, they don't have a beating heart to distribute it. Blankets and clothing might feel nice against the skin, but they don't keep them warm because there's no heat to trap. Any warmth has to come from something outside themselves - drinking living blood (and oh, that adds yet another layer of nastiness to the idea of Cazador giving his spawn already-dead animals to drink), or a source of warmth like a fire. But unlike real-life exothermic animals, because they're animated by magic and not biology a lack of warmth won’t kill them or make them sluggish. They don't need warmth to survive. So a vampire could conceivably just be cold, with no respite, for years or decades or centuries. It wouldn’t feel good, it might even hurt, but in a survival situation the comfort of warmth is a frivolous luxury that can be done without.

Thinking about Astarion finally being able to rediscover that luxury, to indulge in it.

First, of course: sunlight. Imagine him basking in the light and heat like a lizard, like a snake on a desert rock, drinking it into his skin until he's warm to the touch. (The Floridian in me almost said 'like a gator on a log' but I doubt he'd like that comparison!)

And then: blood. Whether taken in the heat of battle or offered in the night, imagine him finally experiencing the feeling, the novelty, of warmth spreading through his body from the inside.

Cuddling! Feeling the heat of another body flush against his, curling up into it. A thick blanket over them, catching and keeping his lover's warmth and wrapping him in it, waking up on a chilly morning to find himself unaccustomedly warm and comfortable for the first time in 200 years.

Hot baths. You cannot tell me this man does not pay extra for a bath at every inn, and then spend far too long in the tub. He claims it's because of vanity and that's not UNtrue, but also just. Hot water covering every inch of him, ah gods, it's bliss.

I truly believe we'll find this man a way to walk in the sun again after the game ends but until we do, my god can we get him a sauna? Find a natural hot spring? Something? Let him be warm, dammit!

(I'm working on a new fic that features some cuddling, and the idea of warmth came up and then my brain started working overtime on the concept)

#baldur's gate 3 #astarion #baldurs gate astarion #etoilewritesmeta #vampire physiology #warm that boy up

[jessicanjpa]

I wonder if veggie vampires can feel the change in their eyes when they have an accident?

I think they can definitely *see* better right away: perfect vision at a farther distance, the world suddenly has more vibrant colors, etc. All their senses are sharpened like that immediately. They feel a rush of power and well-being in their bodies in general.

But I also love the idea that they can feel their eyes burning, sort of sizzling as the blood-red color bleeds over their golden irises like corroding acid. Or maybe it's a good feeling, like their eyes are being washed clean.

#Eyes #Accident #Blood #Still trying to think of a good Watsonian headcanon for why their eyes are red on human blood and not on animal blood #It's been years and I'm coming up blank #Vampire physiology #I'm a little fixated on blood today apparently #That's Edward's fault

[askcarlislecullen]

Do you need to shave hair because it grows or does it stop growing as you're a vampire?

Our hair does not grow. I am grateful to have been relatively recently shaven when I was turned, but to vampire eyes, it is evident that I have a slight five o'clock shadow. My wife says it makes me look roguish.

#carlisle cullen #vampire physiology

[vampyr-game]

Do you think Myrddin had an "oh shit" moment when he saw his new freshly turned champion, Jonathan, was about to kill himself when he just became a vampire? I just replayed the game for the 6th time, and I just realised that his not-so-average maker probably was watching Jonathan. And Jonathan probably should had died there, so maybe Myrddin just dragged him back with some godly-vampire-magic. Still I'd love to see the panic in Myrddin's eyes at the beginning.

First of all I would like to commend you on being so thoroughly invested in this game that you've played it 6 times! That's a level of not-normal-about-media I can vibe with. 💞

But what an amusing question! Myrddin is such a smug bastard about the whole affair that I'd certainly enjoy seeing him taken aback by the sheer suicidal audacity of his new Progeny. I think being a newborn vampire comes with plenty of perks (I have many theories about the biological and supernatural process of turning), not least of which include heightened resiliency to mortal wounds--but the change also seems to be something that not everyone survives (Charlotte's friend Emily, Reid's alibi upon killing Aloysius Dawson)... 🤔

So, is Jonathan already out of the woods, just because he's already woken up? Does waking up (and feeding on his sister, when we know how well you KNOW a person effects how much power you can get from drinking their blood...) imbue him with insane temporary strength? Or is it still uncertain whether he'll survive? Would Myrddin have bothered reaching out with psychic poetry if Jonathan weren't a sure thing? Is that poetry a kind of "blessing" or magical invocation to wish his Progeny luck in the coming travails? Is predestination involved in Myrddin's seeming certainty?

I believe we're meant to understand that Myrddin is largely implacable in the face of mortal affairs, and he's made plenty of Progeny. That makes my knee-jerk assumption that he'd watch Jonathan attempt suicide impassively, which is actually so messed up? Sure, if him surviving is guaranteed then I guess there's no need to worry, but jeez. Have a heart, Myrddin. 😰

Having said that, we know Myrddin expresses (arguably contradictory) sympathy for Jonathan in the darker epilogues. Does that care only come after the events of the game, or is it there from the outset? Jonathan is naturally unconscious in the immediate aftermath of his suicide attempt--so if Myrddin, say, called out to him in concern, he wouldn't hear it, and we certainly wouldn't be privy to it. And the idea that Myrddin might PANIC and "drag him back with some godly-vampire-magic" is so compelling?? Surprise, Myrddin, your new son doesn't think you're God, he just thinks he's going insane (or dreaming)! Maybe you should have counted on the skepticism of the modern era, idiot! (Or did his other Progeny also make attempts on their life?) (This does seem like the most narratively expedient way to demonstrate someone has achieved immortality) (munch to consider...)

I know many of us tend to dispense with the supernatural nonsense (namely Blood Daddy and Plague Mommy) for more grounded narratives (I've certainly made no secret of preferring Vampyr's more human-focused original story concept to the JRPG-reminiscent "Let's Kill God" finale we ended up with); but Myrddin is still a crucial linchpin in Jonathan's development as a character, given he provides the inciting incident, is the root cause of most of Jonathan's problems, and the source of all his powers. I'd certainly like to see more of, and try my own hand at, fan explorations of their relationship.

Thank you so much for your wonderful question! 🥰 As preoccupied as I am by the contradiction of Sean being a(n alleged) sole exception to vampires being hurt by the cross, I had almost forgotten that Myrddin's cryptic bullshit and impenetrable poetry was one of the main reasons I became obsessed with this game and wanted to do literary analysis at it. So thank you for the reminder! 🫀💓

#what a lovely question! #please feel free to always send me these #myrddin wyllt #jonathan reid #vampyr 2018 #vampyr game #dontnod #dontnod's vampyr #my meta #vampire physiology

[panlight]

Okay. I HAVE to know. Do male vampires walk around with permanent erections or not? If their skin is hard as stone, then logically speaking, there is no room for elasticity. So, technically, they can't bend their elbows and knees and fingers. And their d!cks are permanently erect. SM I need answers.

The tl;dr is no they have a human-like situational arousal response, and ~*vEnOmOuS fLuIdS*~ make it all possible.

The longer answer is from SM's Breaking Dawn FAQ.

To the question about how they can even move if their skin is so hard, she has, uh, an answer:

the cells that make up their skin are not pliant like our cells, they are hard and reflective like crystal. A fluid similar to the venom in their mouths works as a lubricant between the cells, which makes movement possible (note: this fluid is very flammable). A fluid similar to the same venom lubricates their eyes so that their eyes can move easily in their sockets. (However, they don’t produce tears because tears exist to protect the eye from damage, and nothing is going to be able to scratch a vampire’s eye.) The lubricant-venom in the eyes and skin is not able to infect a human the way saliva-venom can. Similarly, throughout the vampire’s body are many versions of venom-based fluids that retain a marked resemblance to the fluid that was replaced, and function in much the same way and toward the same purpose.

So, I guess, the skin cells are hard but the venomous fluid between the cells makes them able to move because sure.

As to whether male vampires are have permanent erections, apparently also no, at least as far as you can infer from this comment from the same page:

The normal reactions of arousal are still present in vampires, made possible by venom-related fluids that cause tissues to react similarly as they do to an influx of blood.

It seems like what she is saying that instead of blood rushing to the area, it's yet another magical venomous fluid doing the job. Which implies it's not a permanent condition.

But, I mean . . . this is all pretty weird. Every fluid in the body is replaced with some type of 'venom' but what exactly that is is never made super clear, and even the term is strange because she says that only saliva-venom can turn someone else into a vampire so why is everything else even called venom if it can't do that?

Anyway, the Breaking Dawn FAQ is always an adventure. You can find it here.

#asks #vampire physiology #venom did it

[needahugfromesme]

Ok, I am thinking about the weird height of the Cullens again. Why couldn't Smeyer include growing taller in the vampire transformation process than say they had unusual heights than their contemporaries when they were human? Just like other physical traits acquired during the transformation turn them into human hunters, such as invulnerable skin and sharp teeth, they also become 10 to 20 cm taller.

to hunt humans with physical features like indestructible skin, sharp teeth, their bodies also became 10 to 20 cm taller than they were when they were human.

#twilight #vampire physiology #the cullens

[i-want-my-iwtv]

Re: this post:

Yeah, I wonder about that! You’re right, it looks like they’re not always out. If that’s the case, it will make it a lot easier for them to speak!

Retractable fangs on Pam from True Blood, looking somewhat realistic but I feel like the fangs “click out” a little too much like a ballpoint pen release:

There were retractable fangs in Van Helsing (2004), too, which included an eye color change. And I think that works for that film, which I think was leaning more towards comedy than horror:

It looks like AMC’s vampires might have retractable fangs, too, bc it looks like Lestat has regular canines in this shot. I hope the fang extension doesn’t have a silly sound effect, too 😅

Bc he does have fangs here:

I like that it looks like Claudia might have lower fangs, too! Gives her more of a kittenish look.

In What We Do in the Shadows the vampires wear large fangs all the time, which I really like, but I think it makes it hard for them to talk 😅 

#mymillenniumpuzzle #fangs #iwtv amc #gif #comparison #what we do in the shadows #wwdits #nadja cravensworth #van helsing #marishka #vampire physiology #true blood #pam

[immortalconclusions]

ok hear me out the VC books in-universe are just Lestat’s descent into madness:

The original trilogy (IWTV, TVL, QOTD): unreliable narration but fairly reliable baseline mental status, mostly linear thought processes, cognition intact

TOTBT: Lestat deals with yet another suicide attempt by deciding he’s irredeemably evil again except for realsies this time. growing slightly mad and dangerous to know.

MTD: Lestat has a full on psychotic break...

Merrick: ...and never fully recovers

Blackwood Farm, Blood Canticle: Lestat tries to run away from his problems in increasingly incoherent and insane ways

PL trilogy: Lestat has a dissociative figure and is probably holed away in isolation making up this elaborate fantasy about how he’s the prince of vampires or whatever

the end :)

(and it kinda makes sense bc the human brain kept alive for so long would have way too much hyperconnectivity and entropy and probably be way too prone to psychosis)

#vc #sorry Anne your hero isn’t much of a hero in the end #lestat #off the proverbial deep end #he didn’t need hormone injections just some IV thorazine... #vampire physiology

[whatareyou-acop]

I want whoever made the "remove abs" mod for Astarion and Gale to know that you are objectively correct, and I thank you for your service.

#baldur's gate 3 #Astarion maybe gets a pass because of weird vampire physiology #But I'm confiscating Gale's abs forthwith

[gisellelx]

Carlisle searching high and low for a vampire with X-ray vision so they can explain what the heck is going on inside vamps, then handing them a diagram of a human body and a red pen so they can play "spot-the-difference" and tell him anything that looks funky.

They learn pretty quickly that if "one of these things is not like the other" its probably ANOTHER venom gland.

When X-ray vamp joins the family, its called an adoption of convenience.

See but my terribly serious brain doesn't help me here because X-ray vision, at least as conceived by most comics (particularly DC Superman, which I believe is where it started) is about seeing through objects, not taking x-rays.

But if he could? He would. And he would absolutely recruit any vampire that had a gift which was useful in knowing more about vampire bodies. I have zero doubts that he keeps doing every possible thing he can to find out everything he can—every time a new imaging technology is invented, the first thing he does is figure out what happens if it is used on a vampire. It's why my theory about why he didn't warn Edward and Bella doesn't rely on him not knowing that Edward had viable sperm. He knew; it was literally the first thing he checked on when the microscope was invented. (If I ever finish my epic WIP, there's a scene in it where Bella confronts him about exactly this, and I think it's hilarious and hope my readers do, too.) It is that he thought that vampires and humans were too genetically dissimilar to interbreed.

I do want to know what he saw the first time he stuck Emmett through an MRI, though...

#I have a friend who is a radiologist #she's seen a lot of weird stuff come through an MRI #perhaps I'll ask #carlisle cullen #vampire physiology

[autumnmobile12]

About the Infant Skull in the Belmont Hold

Trigger Warning: Sensitive topics below.

In a post I made last year, I pointed out the small skull in this display is case belongs to a baby.

The 'crack' down the center of the forehead is a frontal suture which closes between the ages of three to nine months, and to showcase the fact it's not just a cracked bone, the animators included a fontanelle between the bony plates of the skull, which closes before the age of two.

There is the skull of an infant in the Belmont Hold.

So what's the story here?

Theory 1: The Skull is a Vampire

This could have been a human baby that was turned by a vampire for whatever reason. Maybe this was some vampire's twisted idea of a pet. Maybe it was a horrifying, psychological trauma where a human woman lost her baby and after becoming a vampire, turned an infant into a vampire so as to never experience that pain again whilst tragically blind to the fact an immortal infant would never grow up.

If either of these were the case, whichever Belmont found this child could have viewed his or her death as a mercy. Since the baby would be immortal, it would be impractical to keep it alive forever, not to mention almost cruel because what kind of life is that? And it would be equally inhumane to leave the vampire to starve to death, so the options are limited.

The skull was brought home not as a trophy but as a specimen to study and serve as a grim reminder of a harsh reality.

...

Theory 2: The Skull is a Dhampir

Carmilla's above comment gives me the vague impression that it's not unheard of for a vampire to have a child with a human and then turn the human into a vampire, creating a family unit. (Just the way she says it. Like the unspoken line was, "You married a human, you succeeded in getting a child off her, so she was free to become a vampire after, no?" Turning Lisa after Adrian was born was the next natural step in her mind, so it baffles Carmilla why Dracula's wife remained human.) So maybe dhampirs are uncommon, but Alucard is far from the first one to ever exist.

So if the skull belonged to a dhampir like Alucard, this opens up another set of possibilities, but before I go into those, I want to address the Belmont Clan's potential view towards vampires and human-vampire hybrids. It's not clear if Alucard needs human blood to survive. He eats human food, but so do the vampires. Lenore comments they get their essential nutrients from blood, but whether or not this also pertains to dhampirs is up for debate. In the Gresit Underground Keep scene, it does look like he had some form of blood transfusion system possibly sustaining him, but this could arguably be a life and death situation. As in, he doesn't need blood to survive, but it can also save his life if need be.

There's also the possibility the blood-drinking is not the same across the board. (Say Alucard doesn't need blood to survive, but another dhampir was saddled with the shitty genetics that make blood a requirement.)

For the Belmonts, I can see dhampirs being a controversial subject. From Leon to Trevor's time, there are four centuries and countless individuals with their own set of similar but unique values and opinions, so it would be understandable for various Belmonts to have points of contention as well as shifts in viewpoint down the generations as new information about the enemy comes to light. Some members might have the stance of, "Dhampirs do not need blood to survive, are not a threat to humanity, and therefore it is unnecessary to hunt and kill them," while others may have taken the more extreme stance of, "Dhampirs are unnatural creatures that do not belong in this world any more than vampires do." Without the precedent of Alucard and Trevor having a common enemy, there would be nothing to sway the entire family one way or the other.

So if this is the case, the skull could have come from a vampire family similar to Dracula, Lisa, and Alucard's, and that family could have been discovered by a Belmont who made the decision to eradicate the them, including the dhampir for whichever reason:

The existence of dhampirs hadn't been discovered/confirmed yet, so the infant was assumed to be a vampire and it was viewed as a mercy killing out of ignorance. (Remember, Trevor thought Alucard was a vampire when they first met, so there is no visual difference between the two species.)

Dhampirs are assumed by the Belmonts to need blood to survive and are therefore a predator to humans that needs to be put down, again out of ignorance or just plain malice.

This particular Belmont was a heartless psychopath who had no qualms killing an innocent baby just for existing.

...

Theory 3: It's a Dhampir and the Belmonts Have a Really Fucked Up History With Dhampirs

There is also the possibility the mother of the dhampir child was a human woman that was raped and impregnated by a vampire. (Surviving somehow...?) In this scenario, there is a woman terrified by the idea she is about to birth a monster and goes to the local vampire experts for help. The Belmonts take her in until she delivers this unwanted child and the fate of the baby dhampir is entirely in their hands, which brings us back to the mentioned controversy among the family members.

If the mother abandons her 'monster' child, the Belmonts are left which the choice, "Do we kill it before it grows up to kill someone or do we give it a chance and let it live?"

Another possibility is the dhampir was brought up within the household for the purposes of 'studying' or 'rehabilitating' its nature. Say the family discovers dhampirs don't need to subsist on human blood and are relieved. "Wonderful. Dhampirs can live as humans and there is no need to kill them." The dhampir grows up happily among his or her adopted human family.

But then there is a tragic accident where he or she doesn't know their own strength and fatally harms a family member. The Belmonts then make the decision: Lock them up or execute them as a monster.

Based on this precedent, the family then closes off the idea that dhampirs can live as normal humans forever and they subsequently commit infanticide against any future dhampir children that cross their path, a blanket decision based entirely on a one-time misfortune.

Theory 4: The Belmonts Were Not the Cause

This again calls into question how dhampir physiology works, but maybe the infant died of an illness of failure to thrive. Alucard is strong and healthy, but that may not be same for other dhampirs, especially ones that may have been rejected as a 'freak' by both humans and vampires. He had the advantage of having a loving family and a safe environment in which to grow up. Other dhampirs might not have had the same good fortune and their health suffered for it. (Or they got dealt a bad hand in the gene pool.)

As for how the skull wound up in the Hold, it could have been one of the 'weird stuff' the Belmonts found and brought back home with them.

This could also apply to a situation where a vampire killed a rival family and kept their skulls as trophies, and the collection simply wound up in the Belmonts' treasury after destroying said vampire.

"It's like a museum dedicated to the extermination of my people, so no. Not thrilled."

Whatever the truth of the skull, I'm inclined to believe Theories 2 or 3 because this scene struck me as a very subtle nod to how no side in a war is completely innocent. On the one hand, vampires like Carmilla, Cho, Godbrand, etc. hunt and toy with humans for sport and view them as lesser beings, and so the Belmonts seeking to eliminate them would be an understandable measure to protect humanity.

On the other hand, the presence of the infant skull indicates a tragic and bloody history of poor choices, old prejudices, potential atrocities committed by the 'heroes,’ and generational trauma. A past history even Trevor isn't particularly proud of for all the pride he has in his lineage. It really showcases the line between man and monster and aligns with the recurrent theme of 'we can be better than this' that occurs throughout the series.

But let me know if you've got any theories/headcanons different from what I have listed above. I'd love to hear it. Crediting Theory 4 to @thetvpenigma. Thanks for your help!

#castlevania #alucard tepes #trevor belmont #vampire skulls #belmont hold #dhampir #questionable history #medieval prejudices #belmont family #castlevania netflix #vampire hunters #skull anatomy #dhampir physiology #speculation #castlevania headcanons #httyd

[jessicanjpa]

Seriously considering a headcanon in which Marcus still has one of Didyme's hands after all these years.

Does that work worldbuiding-wise? I can't think of anything in canon to contradict it.* We've just never seen a dead vampire who wasn't 100% ash. Is there any reason a hand couldn't just...be a hand still, just immobile? Would the structure be fragile** or...?

* The only sort-of-contradiction I can think of is that line in Midnight Sun, "Vampre cadavers were not available for study," but I think that just refers to the fact that there's no such thing as a dead whole vampire.

**He has Didyme's hand but he can't touch it or it'll crumble into dust. The angst!

#Vampire physiology #Marcus #Didyme #So yeah I THINK this works unless someone can think of a reason why it can't

[askcarlislecullen]

Can vampires whistle?

We can. Whistling is a function of passing airflow through the vocal tract and lips in a particular configuration; there is nothing about The Change which alters those fundamental aspects of our physiology. In fact if anything, we whistle with better acuity than do humans because we have more fine-grained control of the musculature in question.

#carlisle cullen #vampire physiology

[thefugitivesaint]

'Circulation of the Blood', ''The Home and School Reference Work'', Vol. 2, 1923 Source

#The Home and School Reference Work #Circulation of the Blood #physiology #medical diagrams #pov a vampire looking at a potential meal

[prahacat]

sith aesthetic: fancy coats and fluffy bats

#star wars fanart #obi-wan kenobi #just wanted to paint sith obi-wan in a suman-style coat bc they look pretty #obsessed with coats #also currently reading dark banquet and vampire bats are the most adorable creatures ever #so intelligent and compassionate #they slowly build trust and deep friendships by grooming each other #they don't care if their bestie is too dumb to find a blood meal #if they're hungry they will just feed them #so cute #and their physiology is so fascinating like why would you survive on blood alone? so much liquid and iron and almost no nutrients? #such a stupid concept really #yeah i love these little freaks #my art #prahacat draws