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The Writers Guide To The Unholy
A collection of information on Vampires and other creatures of legend




So, just a little while ago I was in a thread about how this whole... "vampire angst" trend is running around the writing world. It seems nowadays people have very little knowledge for what vampires used to be.... for what they are.

This thread isn't really meant to be a place where I shoot down ideas and give you the correction. Even Bram Stoker's Dracula is very different from the original idea of the unholy demon! A bit of adding and editing is always a cool thing. The problem is, people don't seem to want to do it in a new, interesting way.

So what do I plan to do to help correct this problem? I intend to do is simply share my knowledge with you. I'll give you all my knowledge on EVERY kind of vampire. Every piece of information I've ever read or heard of will get placed, all i nthe hopes that someone will write a decent story lacking those pathetic, teenage atrocities. And while I'm at it, perhaps I'll give some information on some other victims of bad-writing: Demons, witches, and werewolves. Really, anything that's brought up or that I can think of. I won't add it to the main paragraphs, but I will be morethen happy to discuss.

'Course, I can't do it all alone. I may know a lot, but I don't know everything.
So if anyone here has good information that has not yet been added, tell me so I can put it up!

I'll do my best to get the facts right.

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In my opinion the best portrayal of vampires is by Vampire: The Masquerade.
The common vampire crap is nauseating, but I could give a crap really, it's just a trend.

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Our Favorite Bloodsucking Fiends

Tales of vampires vary widely amoung cultures. Their weaknesses, apparance, and exactly WHAT they are changes depending upon which kind of vampire we're speaking of.

There is, however, a few common ties all vampires share (Keep in mind, I'm talking about older vampires. Not the modern, novel kind):

- They are hurt by sunlight.
- Religious items, when wielded bythe faithful, can kill/harm them.
- They need to feed on humans.
- Victims of vampires appear sickly, gaunt, and may eventually become bedridden.
- Victims of Vampires usually become monsters themselves.

Western vampires were the reanimated corpses of the dead, cursed to wander the world tormenting the living. Whether this is because they were weak-willed and possessed by evil spirits in death, or because they were so evil that they were able to rise from the grave as monsters, I do not know. All I know is, they were evil, rotting monsters. Trust me, you wouldn't want this one to kiss you.

Stories of exactly what these Vampires do varies. Some of them suck blood, some of them don't. Whatever it is they do, they do it for the same purpose: They want your soul. Blood was the ultimate symbol of life, and by sucking it from your body, a vampire could eventually steal your life force. A vampire drinks blood not because it can't make it's own, but because it's trying to devour your soul to power it's own unholy corpse.

Victims of vampires often become beridden. They appear gaunt, sickly... corpse-like. If the Vampire is not stopped, the victim becomes one themselves.

How to stop a Vampire? Dig up the corpse, open the casket. You can cut open their head and stuff it with garlic, put a wooden stake throught the heart (the type of wood most effective varies by culture), leave it out in the sunlight to burn.... Or, you can turn the corpse upsdie-down in the coffin! By lying the mosnter on it's belly, it can never rise: It only travels further itno the earth, eventually falling into hell (Or into the Earth's core, whatever).

Things like "vampires don't have reflections" didn't exist until Stoker made it up. They cannot cross rivers, and they cannot enter your home unless you invite them.

Metals like silver and iron were thought to be a very powerful metal. A lodestone (magnesium) is also a great tool in warding away all kinds of evil, not just vampires!

Roses, a symbol of love and purity, were also a good way to keep away the nasty beasts! Hawthorn was also suppsoedly a good way to keep them away, and if you're REALLY screwed, try offering it milk.


.....Yes, milk. No, I'm not joking.

Eastern Vampires share some traits of the Western vampires, but otherwise it's a whole different ball game. Jiang Shi, the chinese vampire, does not drink blood but kills it's victims to attain their qi, or life energy.

I beleive in certain aspects, some of the Eastern Vampires are more like demons, and were never human at all. But seeing as I can't find my source of info at the moment, I have no idea if that's a vampire or a demon with vampiric traits I'm taking about!

Just like Western Vampires could be taken out with Christian objects, so could the Eastern vampire with Taoist or Buddist items. Fun fact about Eastern Vampires: They're Obsessive Compulsive. Pop down a pile of sand, rice, or anything else with tiny grains and the vampire has to count every single grain before it enters! Often, this would end up with the vampire taking too long and getting burned inthe sunlight.

Sadly, I don't know much about Eastern Vampires... so I won't give any more information until I learn more.

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Powers of the Undead

Vampire powers are even more diverse then the stories surrounding them.

Vampires almost always have a seductive quality to them. Whether it's sexual or not, vampires seem to have an upperhand on getting humans to do the exact thing that always makes you wanna scream, "FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DON'T GO IN THERE!"

Vampires of the past have similiar powers to that of the modern day. For the most part, they were cunning, effective killers. Some had the power to shapeshift into or control wolves, snakes, ravens and of course, bats. Basically anything considered or affiliated with evil. The ability to turn into fog may or may not be an invention of Brom Stoker.

Now, here's something that i learned a long time ago. I have NO IDEA how accurate or old this peice of information is, but it's pretty cool and it's a shame it gets left out of vampire stories so often.

Ghouls.

Whether they're the daylight guardians, the humble servant, or the mindless zombie minion, they were there. And they were KICKASS. I believe Reinfield was Dracula's ghoul.

And, unless you killed them, vampires were capable of living forever.

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Scientific Reasoning

Now, there are some of you that prefer not to use the whole, "religious affiliation" thing in your vampire lore. For whatever reason, "BECAUSE GOD SAID SO" isn't good enough. So, we have the scientific explainations! (This also ties into the modern vampire, so pay attention!)

1. Sunlight

The most commonly repelled vampire attribute, besides holy objects, is sunlight. For most people, it doesn't make sense: Sunlight is not holy. It is not the light of god. And even if it is, who's to say darkness is evil? There NEEDS to be a night to every day. If there wasn't, it would get unbearbly hot, all water would evaporate, and in general it would SUCK.

So, either you remove it all together, or you claim it's basically an horrible case of sunburn-- the photosensitive vamp. Ultraviolet rays are the reason for burnage, not God.

2. Religion

Again, like sunlight, religion is usually left off ofthe weakness list. Scientifically, it doesn't make sense. And I guess that another reason it's so unpopular, even more so then sunlight, is because it implies something. If a cross can repel a vampire, then that object is holy. If that object is holy, then that god is real. It's almost like saying, "HEY! The cross worked. I guess the Christians are right." Which isn't necessarily true. They say that a god only has power if people believe in it enough, and if there is many people that worship it. And a cross only works if a person has faith in that diety. By this reasoning, ANY object, with enough faith in ANY god, can become a holy weapon.

Tell me that isn't an interesting train of thought.

3. Spring Fever

Almost all plant or metal objects that hurt vampires are explained via allergy. Or left out. Garlic? Allergy. Roses? Allergy. Silver? Allergy. I'm sure you get the picture.

4. It's A Disease!

By far the largest alteration to the vampire myth is that Vampirism is a disease, not a curse. Usually a disease of the blood or one which alters genetic structure, it gives the host the ability to do all of the things it does.

Yay.

5. ...Or Better Yet, A PARASITE!

For the Sci-Fi vamp, it's a PARASITE!

This is actually a really interesting route to go with a vampire story. If any of you are familiar with Resident Evil 4, you'll know about the Las Plagas. That's pretty much what the parasite vampire will be. (Research it, I'm getting lazy.)

6. Mmmm, Blood.

Blood is ALWAYS a necessity. Whether it's because of a strange sort of anemia that forcesyouto devour the blood of others or if you leave this to good ol' fashioned life-energy, your vamp will still probably drink blood. I've never really seen anything that leaves this out, thoghu I'm sure it exists.

7. Immortality

Ahhh, immortality. For the msot part, this is left alone. Other times, they aren't immortal but they age very, very slowly. Even though Cirque Du Freak sucked, it brings up a pretty good idea: Vampires DO age, just a 10th the rate a human does.

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The Modern Vampire

Ahh, the modern vampire. There are things to both love and hate about the modern vamp.

Modern vampires are usually the result of a curse or virus. It's not they're fault, so we're more likely to sympathize with them...especially since they're sexy, sexy bastards, and not aniamted corpses anymore.

On the downside, there is an OVERWHELMING amount of angst. All vampires are gothic, misunderstood, 'I don't want to kill humans but I have to' hormonally ENRAGED teenagers.

Now, I don't know about you... but if I was born a vampire, unless my family specifically taught me not to, I would not feel sorry killing humans. perhaps I would try to kill only out of necessity, or kill only the bad ones if I could.

I honestly want to know why, if a vampire has so many amazing powers, they can't sneak into a jail house and kill some rapist, or maybe go down into the projects and kill a few drug dealers.

And of course, there's that whole "fall in love with a human" bullshit. Male vampires are usually either wimpy, artistic emo kids looking for a human girl's acceptance or the sadistic, amazingly good-looking killer who attempts to rape the female prontagonist.

Female vampires are either cold-hearted and stoic to the point of unrealism or they're the hateful, resentful b***h that hates the female human for stealing away her betrothed. Just once, I'd like to see a cool female vampire.

--Will add more as seen fit, too lazy right now--

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WHOO, done!

Post to your leisure, folks.

i know a bit about things other then vampires, if you're curious~

I can also help with plot problems if you're having trouble with your vampires.

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I read somewhere that it was once believed that redheads would come back as vampires once they died. I'd love to see a story that had a vampire who became one because of that instead of being bitten.

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Jhesy
I read somewhere that it was once believed that redheads would come back as vampires once they died. I'd love to see a story that had a vampire who became one because of that instead of being bitten.


XD And all of ireland would rise in anger and sue the hell out of whoever wrote that.

LOL, but that is pretty interesting.

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I read somewhere that the garlic thing originated from a plague of some disease I don't remember in some village plenty of centuries ago, way before proper medical care.

They were looking for something to blame the plague on, so they picked vampires. Apparently, there was this shop that had lots and lots of garlic at their hands, and they didn't get sick. Apparently garlic was the cure for this disease, or something like that. People decided that garlic repelled vampires.

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[~ Intricate Detail ~]
I read somewhere that the garlic thing originated from a plague of some disease I don't remember in some village plenty of centuries ago, way before proper medical care.

They were looking for something to blame the plague on, so they picked vampires. Apparently, there was this shop that had lots and lots of garlic at their hands, and they didn't get sick. Apparently garlic was the cure for this disease, or something like that. People decided that garlic repelled vampires.


I think garlic actually DOES help boost your immune system. XD

Yes, part of where vampires came from was disease. When an entire family suddenly dies, and people are all getting sick and dying, that's what happens. Probably also why people say vampires are more likely to attack family members and other people they're clsoe to.

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Also, if there was a rash of sudden deaths in the area, they might dig up a corpse to see if it was a vampire killing everybody. Ways to tell would be if they were bloated, had rosy cheeks, and their hair/nails had "grown".

Of course, those are all common signs of decomposition, so tons of corpses were decapitated and staked for nothing. xd

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Yep, gotta love stupidity.

Well, I hope some people find this useful. Took me long enough to write out..

EDIT: ********, I forgot to mention psychic vampires. Oh well.

Vampire Lifestyle

Damn, those people are creepy. Though I can't deny, there are people that when you hang around, they emotionally drain you. XD

Timid Gaian

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Wow, that is alot of information on vampires I find it hard to believe that someone else on the writers forum would even care to chat about vampires and yeah Garlic is a healer.
But I also heard somewhere else that it's supposed to irritate the vampire? I think I read that from reading my old Classic of Bram Stoker's Dracula.
And plus it does depend on the writer with what information on the vampire they go with.

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Jhesy
Also, if there was a rash of sudden deaths in the area, they might dig up a corpse to see if it was a vampire killing everybody. Ways to tell would be if they were bloated, had rosy cheeks, and their hair/nails had "grown".

Of course, those are all common signs of decomposition, so tons of corpses were decapitated and staked for nothing. xd
I've also read that zombies came from when they would bury a near dead but unconscious person before their actual death, and when that person woke up, they would freak out and attack the sides of the coffin and flail around until they died of suffocation or blood loss. If someone heard the person screaming, they would have dug back down to the coffin and think that person had come back to life.

Something like that. I don't really remember.
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