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| Thread: Vamps |  This thread is pages long: 1 2 3 4 · «PREV |
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IYY
Responsible
Supreme Hero
REDACTED
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posted December 06, 2004 01:52 AM |
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Don't know, I'm at 500 as of today. Hope I'll have an answer for you by Christmas.
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Shirastro
Famous Hero
Happy happy joy joy
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posted December 06, 2004 02:15 AM |
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The only way to kill Santa is to smash a Coca Cola botle on his head.
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And now to the next post.
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Svarog
Honorable
Supreme Hero
statue-loving necrophiliac
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posted December 06, 2004 02:21 AM |
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So, I should stop reciting this mantra then?
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The meek shall inherit the earth, but NOT its mineral rights.
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Leo_Lion
Honorable
Supreme Hero
The 5th Element & 6th Sense!
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posted December 06, 2004 06:26 AM |
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Morbid, but funny as hell, Terje!
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We Europeans are a stupid, superstitious bunch, who wouldn't have flinched if we had to dig up the grave of old aunt Sally to beat a stake through her rotting corpse...
I must give props where props are due. Terje, that was pure gold, buddy! I laughed so loud my wife looked over at me with this questioning stare that seemed to reinforce her idea that I am crazy... I don't know if that sort of morbid humour is considered Sarcastic or "Noir", but I loved it either way! 
Now, of all the vampire stories out there, I prefer those that make allusion to the Noble existence of Vampires. For example, stories that show Vampires living in an organized community, with a Hierarchy that resembles Royalty, are some of my favorite. In stories that possess these elements, you will often find that there exists a Code of Conduct between the vampires that keeps them from killing normal humans. The reason for this, is that often the vampires cherish their "condition" and do not wish to dilute the "bloodlines" or they do not wish to grow their numbers so large that their "secret existence" is revealed to the world. Consequently, you will often see the Noble vampires using their accumulated wealth & power of influence to acquire blood from "banks" instead of feeding off of random humans.
I find that when all of these elements are put together properly by a good writer, Vampire stories can possess a certain Romantic or Regal quality! A good writer can make Vampirism appear dangerous & horrific, yet interesting & attractive at the same time. It's sort of like you want to know more, but are afraid to find out. Or, you want to become a vampire, but fear never coming back.
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*The end to no beginning...
*Take care, Leo
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terje_the_ma...
Responsible
Supreme Hero
Disciple of Herodotus
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posted December 06, 2004 02:59 PM |
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Thanks, Leo!
Quote:
Who is Vlad Tepes?^^
reg
Daddy
I guess you didn't bother to read that thing RD copy/pasted (I know I didn't), so I'll write down what I remember from books I've read.
Vlad Tepes, also known as the Impaler, was a Romanian nobleman in the 15th century or so. He lived during the worst onslaught of the Turks against Europe, at a time when the Ottoman empire was on the rise, and entering Europe through the old Byzantian empire.
Now, Vlad's father was for some reason known among his serfs as "The Devil". I guess he, like most nobles at the time (and all times), was a bloodthirsty (in a non-vampire way) and arrogant man, who cared little for his people as long as they did as he told them. If not, well, I guess it's here the "bloodthirsty" part comes from.
Dracula means "son of the Devil". Lots of people with colourful imaginations have interpreted this to mening that it was something satanic about the Tepes family. Not so.
As I said, they fought the Turks who were unvading Europe at the time, not only cos the Turks represented a threat to their power, but also cos the Turks were "heathens".
So, when Vlad Tepes were fighting the Turks, he usually won. He would then have his soldiers gather up any surviving Turks, and impale them. In large fields of impaled men, Vlad would then have breakfast.
Now, imagine that you are a poor Irish writer in the 19th centuery, and you hear this story about a bloodthirsty Romanian noble, who "loved the sight and smell of blood". You knew about the vampire myths of this part of Europe, and thinks to yourself: "Hey, I could make a pretty good story out of this, if I combined these two things." So you do, and your story becomes the most famous vampire story of all times, setting the standard of all other vampire stories in the future, at the smae time dragging the name of a proud nobleman down.
In Romania, I've heard, Vlad Tepes is a national hero; a symbol of the proud Romania that withstood an owerwhelming enemy at a time of peril. Some Romanians actually get pissed off when they see Vlad Tepes and Bram Stoker's Dracula being presented as the same guy (just see the thread "Ignorant Americans" in the Other Side...)
Now, the way I see it, it's merely a coincidence that Stoker's Dracula became a man. In the dark ages (and this might sound familiar to all those who've played Diablo II), it lived a countess somewhere in Eastern Europe. She was obsessed with immortality, and occasionally bathed in the blood of her virgin maids.
Imo, this is a much better basis from which to grow a vampire story, but sadly, Stoker heard about Vald instead of this countess.
Phew. I don't think that was very consistent, and it's probably very faulty, since I read the books I took this from when I was 12, but what the heck. It'll do.
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"Sometimes I think everyone's just pretending to be brave, and none of us really are. Maybe pretending to be brave is how you get brave, I don't know."
- Grenn, A Storm of Swords.
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TheRealDeal
Promising
Supreme Hero
Foobum* of Justice!
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posted December 06, 2004 03:08 PM |
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I just wanted to give the full story on this Dracula thing. And to everyone who REALLY believes in this stuff, there is only one vampire. And that is Dracula.
People have just made some stuff up since then!
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*We all know the that Foobum is the class of all that is Cake.
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terje_the_ma...
Responsible
Supreme Hero
Disciple of Herodotus
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posted December 06, 2004 03:15 PM |
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The vampire within...
Ah, people always makes things up. It's in our nature.
Speaking of the human nature:
I believe that every person has a vampire in them. People who don't care about others, who prey on the work of the community, people who do evil things: Those are the real vampires.
And we all have a potential to becoming such a person, if we don't take care.
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"Sometimes I think everyone's just pretending to be brave, and none of us really are. Maybe pretending to be brave is how you get brave, I don't know."
- Grenn, A Storm of Swords.
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Shirastro
Famous Hero
Happy happy joy joy
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posted December 07, 2004 03:34 AM |
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Quote:
I just wanted to give the full story on this Dracula thing. And to everyone who REALLY believes in this stuff, there is only one vampire. And that is Dracula.
People have just made some stuff up since then!
Have you not read svarogs post about this?
The legends of vapres is something like a bazilion years older than the Drakula story.
Those miths havent even originated in Romania so......Zacepi!
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And now to the next post.
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Leo_Lion
Honorable
Supreme Hero
The 5th Element & 6th Sense!
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posted December 07, 2004 07:14 AM |
bonus applied. |
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I hope you enjoy this...
I would like to share with you all an idea for a Vampire story that I have and see what you think about it. Down the road, I would like to write a book about this, so be honest…but not brutal …and please do not steal my material as that would be pointless due to International Copyright laws & Protection of Intellectual Property legislation! 
*The year is 2020, and the world as we know it, is populated strictly by Vampires.
With all of the storms & other Natural Disasters that we are experiencing nowadays (caused by Global Warming through pollution, strip-mining, clear-cutting, etc.), eventually, the world will lose its ability to keep supplies in "blood banks" at current levels. In response to this increasing shortage, vampires (who exist in secrecy) will have to begin feeding on normal humans once again, in order to survive. Now, considering that Nature would only get more turbulent as humans continued to pollute the planet, there would be less and less "blood bank" supplies available to the increasing number of vampires. So, over a few years, the majority of them would begin feeding on live humans, at random. And once drained of blood, these humans would then be converted into vampires themselves, continuing the vicious cycle.
Eventually, things would get to the point where vampires would have converted every last human on earth! So, with nothing left to feed on, the situation would get really interesting... Some vampires would turn on their own, only to find that their blood was poisonous. Others would try feeding off of animals, just to discover that their blood was unable to sustain their lives. Eventually, billions of vampires would begin to die of starvation, pushing some to throw themselves into sunlight in search of a quick death. Well, soon after this would happen, stories would begin to circulate (using existing media technology) of vampires who would go into the sunlight, but live?! Moreover, these same vampires would start losing their thirst for blood and would feel healthier, the more time they spent in the sun.
My story would go on to explain how throughout the thousands of years that vampires had existed in secrecy and avoided sunlight, some of them had evolved! The new breed of vampires had retained many of their beneficial abilities (strength, no aging, heightened senses, etc.), but had traded their physical indestructibility for an invulnerability to sunlight! They had just never noticed this change before, due to their fear of the "deadly" sun. The story would continue to elaborate how with this ability to convert sunlight into "life-force", the new vampires would have no need for farming or agriculture and wouldn't need to strip the earth of all of its resources, either. In essence, the new breed of vampires, which were scattered all across the world in small communities of a few hundred members, could live in harmony with Nature.
This is where I would take the story on a philosophical tangent to better explain exactly what had happened. Basically, I would clarify how the entire process of Vampire Domination had occurred in a way so violent & tumultuous, that it could only be characterized as a "Natural Phenomenon". In order to balance the different eco-systems and weather patterns, Nature had forced a dominant species, vampires, to eliminate the weaker species, humans, thus stopping them from destroying the earth with pollution and what-have-you. Just like your own body will naturally protect itself using white blood cells to kill an intruding bacteria or virus.
So at the end of my story, I would fast forward to the year 2070 and go on to show how the new breed of vampires had flourished by subjecting themselves to increased amounts of sunlight, to the point where they had shed many other of their typical vulnerabilities. For example; the thought of drinking blood, which had been impulsive to them before, now made them feel physically ill. More importantly, the new female vampires (who had been converted at the appropriate age) found that they were able to conceive and give birth to one child every hundred years! Over time, as their small population slowly increased and their modest global civilization took shape, the new vampires were finding themselves filled with joy and hope. So, to honour the sacrifices of those in the past and to move forward towards their own future, the new vampires finally shed their last remaining "trademark" and started calling themselves HUMANS…
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*The end to no beginning...
*Take care, Leo
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terje_the_ma...
Responsible
Supreme Hero
Disciple of Herodotus
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posted December 08, 2004 02:46 PM |
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I would read that. Sounds like a hell of a story, Leo!
Imaginative, philosophical, etc, etc, etc.
The only thing I kinda missed was a conflict, cos you need to be an amazing author to make a story work without a conflict. It has been done, but rarely successful.
Just one small contradiction I noticed: You said that the feamle vampires in 2070 discovered that they could give birth to one child every 100 years. How could they know about the 100 years thing, when it had only been 50 since they exterminated humans?
Aside from that, I just loved it
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"Sometimes I think everyone's just pretending to be brave, and none of us really are. Maybe pretending to be brave is how you get brave, I don't know."
- Grenn, A Storm of Swords.
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Ruby
Promising
Known Hero
crazed swede
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posted December 08, 2004 10:50 PM |
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I was bored one day so I decided to dress up as a vampire, u know the black victorian dress, white make up, black lipstick, thick black eyeliner, a little bit of fake blood curling out of the corner of my mouth. Yeah....
My mom walked in....
She thought I was going Satanist...
I started writing a book about vampires, about 25 pages long, but then my mom found it and thought of it as occult (because it kind of was) and she had me wrip it up to pieces, put it in a plastic bag, and throw it in the fire.
yay...
Too bad its still saved on my computer 
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The Darker the Sky--
The Brighter the Stars-
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Flint_Firefo...
Tavern Dweller
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posted December 09, 2004 08:57 PM |
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Quote:
I was bored one day so I decided to dress up as a vampire, u know the black victorian dress, white make up, black lipstick, thick black eyeliner, a little bit of fake blood curling out of the corner of my mouth. Yeah....
My mom walked in....
She thought I was going Satanist...
I started writing a book about vampires, about 25 pages long, but then my mom found it and thought of it as occult (because it kind of was) and she had me wrip it up to pieces, put it in a plastic bag, and throw it in the fire.
yay...
Too bad its still saved on my computer
LMAO
so are u part of an occult or are u just trying to piss ur mom off.
PS: Are u still going to try to finish that book?
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LIFE IS SHORT SO LIVE WITH IT
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Leo_Lion
Honorable
Supreme Hero
The 5th Element & 6th Sense!
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posted December 10, 2004 12:20 AM |
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Thanks for the feedback!
Quote:
The only thing I kinda missed was a conflict, cos you need to be an amazing author to make a story work without a conflict.
The story would probably be told from a 1st person perspective; specifically from a recent initiate into the secret world of vampires. This character would take us through each conflict, first hand, as he/she would still have ties to their human life, while starting to commit to their new existence as a vampire. So, the character could possibly begin by having an internal conflict between their humanity and their vampirism.
Through this character, we would also see & feel the devastation caused by the increasingly powerful Natural Disasters, we could glimpse into the inner workings of the vampires' secret society & the power struggles that affect the character, we could also get a sense of the frenzy for survival pulsating through both Human & Vampire populations. Furthermore, we could experience the pain, suffering, & desperation felt by the vampires as they die by the billions, while making reference to the recent end of the Human race, as well.
I would also consider introducing either a close friend or a mentor to the character, who later becomes an enemy, or I would have an arch-enemy involved in the character's life from early-on in the story (i.e. One of the head Vampires, who is jealous of the character, or a human, who is hunting the character and continues to do so even after they are converted into a vampire themselves).
In addition to all of these internal, global, & personal conflicts, I would obviously include a love-interest for the character. From here, I could work the story towards a bittersweet ending or towards a fairy-tale "finale".
Quote:
Just one small contradiction I noticed: You said that the feamle vampires in 2070 discovered that they could give birth to one child every 100 years. How could they know about the 100 years thing, when it had only been 50 since they exterminated humans?
The new vampires would determine that their females (who still had ovules at the time of conversion) were able to conceive every 100 hundred years through the use of science. Once a few vampires would start showing signs of pregnancy, they would obviously start looking into why this happened & how regularly it could occur. Since some of these new vampires were doctors, scientists, or researchers before the end of Humanity; they would inevitably use their skills to solve these puzzles. And, as we can already “somewhat accurately” determine certain lifecycles in Nature or a woman’s menstrual cycle using today’s science & technology, just imagine what these new vampires would be able to do by 2070!
So, basically, the new Vampires would discover that they were no longer sterile and that their women were able to conceive every 100 years, because that would roughly be their ovulation cycle, as determined by the period's advanced medicine and capable doctors. This would also spark many medical breakthroughs in the study of these people's unique anatomy (This would only be a minor sidenote, of course, and not a major point in the story).
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*The end to no beginning...
*Take care, Leo
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Ruby
Promising
Known Hero
crazed swede
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posted December 11, 2004 03:52 AM |
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quote]LMAO
so are u part of an occult or are u just trying to piss ur mom off.
PS: Are u still going to try to finish that book?
No I am not going occult. Some little children in my school thought I was practicing witchcraft in the bathroom. I was thinking of drawing five lines on the wall with black marker and call it witchcraft, just to see their little frightened faces.
I am an evil little child....but I can be sweet....sometimes. Some of the oldies here know that.
I dont know if I will finish my book, not only because my parents are always looking over my shoulder, but also because the story line is fading away behind all the gore.
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The Darker the Sky--
The Brighter the Stars-
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terje_the_ma...
Responsible
Supreme Hero
Disciple of Herodotus
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posted December 11, 2004 04:27 PM |
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Seems like you've got the story all planned, eh Leo? Looks more and more promising!
@Ruby: What kinds of people are your parents? Forcing you to ripping the thing to shreds, and, as it seems to me, surveiling you? Scary...
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"Sometimes I think everyone's just pretending to be brave, and none of us really are. Maybe pretending to be brave is how you get brave, I don't know."
- Grenn, A Storm of Swords.
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DeathShadow
Adventuring Hero
Old Soul young body
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posted December 11, 2004 04:29 PM |
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hmm, are you in elementary ruby?
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DeathShadow
Adventuring Hero
Old Soul young body
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posted December 11, 2004 04:32 PM |
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If so, you are the smartest elementary kid I know. If not, what do you mean by little kids??!!
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terje_the_ma...
Responsible
Supreme Hero
Disciple of Herodotus
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posted December 11, 2004 04:33 PM |
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She's a teacher
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"Sometimes I think everyone's just pretending to be brave, and none of us really are. Maybe pretending to be brave is how you get brave, I don't know."
- Grenn, A Storm of Swords.
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DeathShadow
Adventuring Hero
Old Soul young body
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posted December 11, 2004 04:41 PM |
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A teacher trying to scare little kids? Thats a scary thought...
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Ruby
Promising
Known Hero
crazed swede
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posted December 12, 2004 07:35 PM |
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Elementary?
What are you guys smoking?!?!?!
I’m in highschool!
I was planning on going to the middle school right down the road, the one I went to last year. I’ve tried to sneak in a lot of times, but when the teachers find me and kick me out. They don’t trust me for some odd reason.
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The Darker the Sky--
The Brighter the Stars-
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