Vampirism: Moved to new thread, see 1st post.

[Reinforest]

Infi-chan

iKayako

I'm not a vampire so I can't answer your questions, but I wanted to say that you're the first therian I've seen around Gaia in awhile. It's like they all disappeared. confused

Of course, I've never met a therian that didn't know about vampirism, either. (But that's probably my fault, I've been sticking to only my favorite sites lately.)

I know more about vampirism now, because of this thread - but I'm still cynical, based on a point made on the front page - vampires are widely seen as being the living dead, generally incapable of breathing. If you have a beating heart, you can't be a vampire.. though you can be vampiric.

Do people understand the difference, or..?

Most do. There are some crazy hoodlums out there, of course, but the majority understand the difference. Most people using the 'vampire' label mean it in the way of 'vampire bat'. A vampire bat isn't a real vampire, but it has traits that make it similar. This is why I like to use 'human vampire' or sanguinarian/psivamp whenever possible.

[Vox_Draconis]

Infi-chan

If I may ask.. When was it that you 'vampires' realized you were such? What was it that made you believe you were an actual vampire, as opposed to a normal living person with vampiric tendencies?

I am a cynic, but I'm trying to widen my horizons and accept your beliefs. I feel I owe it to you, as I consider myself to be a therian.

I can answer that one, but the answer I give applies to what I believe and not necessarily to the rest of the community. Personally I try to use the term sanguine to describe myself self due to the connotations attatched to the word vampire.

What makes me believe I am a vampire and not just a normal person with vampiric tendancies. To be perfectly honest I'm not sure how to explain it (I ain't good at explaining things at the best of times) but I will have a go.

I see each and every person existing on three different levels. The physical self, the mental/emotional self and the spiritual self. I would term vampiric tendancies as something somone would do for self gratification. I comsume blood to make up for a dwyfr/prana/chi energy deficit within myself. For a person to be wholly healthy I believe that each of the three selfs has to be in a healthy condition. For me to remain healthy I need to do something about that deficit and the only way thus far I have found I can do that is through the consuption of tiny amounts of human blood on a regular basis.

On a side note, welcome to the thread and its nice to see a therian on Gaia, not seen many since one of the major guilds in the therian community was hacked

[Reinforest]

Just a notice, I updated the first post slightly. I'm still working on the Feeding & Safety section we talked about, I'm not quite sure what to say there.

Thoughts?

[Vox_Draconis]

iKayako

Just a notice, I updated the first post slightly. I'm still working on the Feeding & Safety section we talked about, I'm not quite sure what to say there.

Thoughts?

Hmmm, I'm not sure what to say on feeding either, I think its probably for the best that for feeding safety and such that people are directed to a specific web page rather than posting here. That is just my opinion though.

[Reinforest]

Vox_Draconis

iKayako

Just a notice, I updated the first post slightly. I'm still working on the Feeding & Safety section we talked about, I'm not quite sure what to say there.

Thoughts?

Hmmm, I'm not sure what to say on feeding either, I think its probably for the best that for feeding safety and such that people are directed to a specific web page rather than posting here. That is just my opinion though.

Yeah, I think Sanguinarius has a decent page somewhere on that. But, I also wanted to mention common safe feeding techniques, especially for sangs. Could you help me out there?

[Vox_Draconis]

iKayako

Vox_Draconis

iKayako

Just a notice, I updated the first post slightly. I'm still working on the Feeding & Safety section we talked about, I'm not quite sure what to say there.

Thoughts?

Hmmm, I'm not sure what to say on feeding either, I think its probably for the best that for feeding safety and such that people are directed to a specific web page rather than posting here. That is just my opinion though.

Yeah, I think Sanguinarius has a decent page somewhere on that. But, I also wanted to mention common safe feeding techniques, especially for sangs. Could you help me out there?

Aye, I can do. I'll PM you details. I'll leave you to put my words into coherant speech as I'm not always the best at explaining things. Hope you don't mind doing that.

[Vox_Draconis]

Catch you later, I've got stuff I need to do around the house.

[RuneOfRedWings]

Sybil Unrest

RuneOfRedWings

actually, no. there are charted remains and paintings of Aboriginal tribes of night- walking blood drinkers. waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay before myths.

They were not vampires.

Online Etymology Dictionary

vampire
1734, from Fr. vampire or Ger. Vampir (1732, in an account of Hungarian vampires), from Hung. vampir, from O.C.S. opiri (cf. Serb. vampir, Bulg. vapir, Ukrainian uper), said by Slavic linguist Franc Miklošič to be ult. from Kazan Tatar ubyr "witch." An Eastern European creature popularized in Eng. by late 19c. gothic novels, however there are scattered Eng. accounts of night-walking, blood-gorged, plague-spreading undead corpses from as far back as 1196.

The vampire, as we know it today, is an amalgamation of mostly Eastern European myths - somewhat different from other blood-drinking monsters of antiquity. For instance, the yara-ma-yha-who drained blood through the suction cups on its fingers and lived in fig trees. Which hardly sounds like our European vampire, who is a bloated corpse who seeks out prey in the night. It is cultural imperialism to transfer our myths on top of native ones with which they have little connection.

Quote:

what it comes down to is the exact same thing as superheroes- being a vampire is boring and mildly unfulfilling. like being a normal human. humans made up superheroes because they give you something to look up to and think is cool. Legends of vampires came about the same way. the real thing starts the legends, not the other way round.

Not necessarily, unless we are to believe that other mythological creatures such as the bishop-fish, manticore, ghoul and djinn came about from such creatures existing in a more mundane form. I think you will find that hard to prove.

The modern day vampire movement cannot, as far as I know, trace itself back very far and certainly cannot account for there being no mention of vampire-like creatures in, say, England, for a period of half a thousand years.

Quote:

and why do you assume i like cemeteries? seems kinda presumptuous.

I was using an example, I did not mean you.

can you prove they were not vampires?

and if you believe in ghosts, ghouls and djinns are easily explained.

many other mythical creatures were modern identified animals mistaken by sailors for something more powerful and mystical. kind of how i see the vampire.

there was no mention of vampires until recently because we would have been prosecuted. i mean, look at what happened to pagans. if you ask anyone who's been in the subculture long enough though, and they will tell you we've been around for a while, teachings and whatnot passed down the line- we just feared for our lives and the lives of our families.
[********]

[Charon Eris]

I really don't believe it because I've had friends who've claimed to be 'vampires' in the past, only to turn around three years later and admit they were delusional about it. Most had bad home lives or mental/emotional problems, so there could be a connection.
Anyways, I'm not going to scream WAKE AND YOU'RE NOT VAMPIRES.
As long as it doesn't harm/involve me I'm not too bothered with people existing in fantasyland.

[RuneOfRedWings]

i will say this-

i have a good homelife and i feel good about my sanity. my vampirism has nothing to do with it.


and man, i wish i was living in fantasy land.... the most exciting things to ever happen to me are the occasional rave and sometimes a concert.
[********]

[Kill Our Angels]

Boo! x3
Sorry about disappearing yesterday...
I tend to be tugged by the teeth into something else.~

Silly me! Anyways, I'm glad you're putting up a safety/feeding section.
Might I suggest making the Safety centered around the donor, since they usually have the most at stake?
Because after that, safety for the 'vampire' would be a lot easier. And there are a lot of directories by researching via Google (yes, I use google for everything), Ask.com, Yahoo, ect. =D

[Vox_Draconis]

Kill Our Angels

Boo! x3
Sorry about disappearing yesterday...
I tend to be tugged by the teeth into something else.~

Silly me! Anyways, I'm glad you're putting up a safety/feeding section.
Might I suggest making the Safety centered around the donor, since they usually have the most at stake?
Because after that, safety for the 'vampire' would be a lot easier. And there are a lot of directories by researching via Google (yes, I use google for everything), Ask.com, Yahoo, ect. =D

That's what we're intending to do, well iKayako and myself anyway....just trying to find where I felt my online copy of the Donor's Bill of Rights.

[Lord Roose Bolton]

For the third time.

PROVE IT.

God, had to make it this big to have a chance of people seeing it and responding...

[Technicolored Cows]

or maybe vampires are fictional characters that Bram Stoker made up!!! eek
rolleyes

[Safe Seth]

Wait a few years. I bet you won't think you're a vampire.