You're very own made up Vampire/Werewolf Origins

[DemonSlayerMau]

I'm putting this in here because it has to do with something you made up, and I think it can be refereced to literature since it's your very own vampire/werewolf origin stories.

I have two different vampire origins. My most recent origin is that vampires came from another planet. Originally a peaceful race, their people were overrun and their planet was destroyed by these monsters. They searched for a new home, but were pretty much kicked out by every other planet...until they found earth.
Earth seemed to be a promising candidate...but the problem was...their skin was vulnerable to the ultra violet rays which caused them to die in similar fashions to that of the Japanese when we dropped the big ol' atomic bombs on them. They lacked the pigments in their skin that protected them from the sun...and they were also vulnerable to disease. But...they discovered that if they drank blood....not only would they attain immunity to disease....but they could walk around at night though still vulnerable to daylight. Blood also gave them super powers, including speed and strength, and an increased lifespan.
But the thing was, this caused them to be split into two factions...those who were fed up with being bullied by other races and decided it was their turn to be the dominate race over humanity....and those who still retained their original peaceful laws and avoided taking of the blood of sentient...turning to drinking animal blood and cloning human blood.
The older version of my story is where "God" actually created vampires to punish the unrighteous, and were instructed only to drink the blood of such, unless given permission to do so. Vampires could be passed on and changed through a virus, which was produced in glands just above their fangs. One man however, took it upon himself to kill a vampire and feast upon her blood, turning himself into one by taking in the virus that was in her blood. (small amounts of the virus won’t turn you, it takes a great amount because a normal immune system can fight it off easily…so you have to inject a LOT of the virus to turn you). He started slaughtering the righteous, and because of that God cursed vampires making them vulnerable to sunlight/ultraviolet rays. There are still good vampires that will only drink the blood of an unrighteous person unless a righteous person gives them permission. Bloodlust, the evil vampire that caused the vampire race to be cursed, as a cultish following and his followers are at war with the “good vampires.”
My were creatures were originally descendents of vampires, and aren’t limited to werewolves…but also werecats, weredogs, werebears, wereboars, and any other kind of were creature you can think of, though the werewolf is the most common of the weres.
A vampire evidently grew a close connection to his totem animal, a connection that became so strong, that the totem animal and the vampire became one beneath the full moon. Since then, the vampire was no longer a vampire. Other vampires soon learned of this, and also became the first were creatures, forever separated from their vampire ancesters. If a new werecreature was sired from a human, or other being, (assuming furries, elves and such are existent in your imaginary worlds) they would take upon the animal form of their sire. I would imagine that after the vampire curse, weres would no longer be able to become weres by bonding with their totem animal. Depending on how in touch you were with your animal side, depended on whether you could transform at will, and how much you could control your animal transformation.

[Pumpkin_Man]

Vampire lor actualy originated in Romania long before Bram Stoker was even a thought on the mind of God. There are a lot of stories that people like to tell about the origin of vampires, but I am pretty much a traditionalist, and I enjoy toe old stories better. In fact, I am discovering a lot of the old stories that come righ from Romanian lor, and the vampire is not this suave, sophisticated handsome guy or pretty girl that you see in the "Dracula" stories or on "Dark Shadows." A vampire is a walking rotting corpse with horrid breath, and a truely ugly walking dead creature that repulses people.

Those are the kinds of stories that I would like to see more of.

Mike

[Rising Dead Man]

Please do tell me more!

Vampire lor actualy originated in Romania long before Bram Stoker was even a thought on the mind of God. There are a lot of stories that people like to tell about the origin of vampires, but I am pretty much a traditionalist, and I enjoy toe old stories better. In fact, I am discovering a lot of the old stories that come righ from Romanian lor, and the vampire is not this suave, sophisticated handsome guy or pretty girl that you see in the "Dracula" stories or on "Dark Shadows." A vampire is a walking rotting corpse with horrid breath, and a truely ugly walking dead creature that repulses people.

Those are the kinds of stories that I would like to see more of.

Mike

[DemonSlayerMau]

Well...I do know that in the White Wolf Roleplays there are different types of vampires...and one of which being the "nosferatou" describes the more horrific and nasty looking vampires.
I suppose I'm more into the new age version of vampires who aren't undead, but actually a biological phenomenon that depends on blood to live and happens to have an ageless lifespan.
You bring interesting points though...here's a couple questions however...
according to that logic...what would differentiate a vampire versus a zombie? If both are simply walking corpses, I don't see much of a difference other than one eats brains and the other drinks blood.
Two...would the vampire have super strength or be bogged down by riggermortis?
I doubt anyone would want to actually be a vampire if it wasn't for the media's appeal to attraction and such. :p
I personally, would rather be a werecat...and werecats aren't even heard of nearly as much as werewolves...at least not in our culture. Now asia and africa on the other hand...

[Pumpkin_Man]

RisingDeadMan, according to traditional Romanian vampire lor, it's very easy for sone one to become a vampire. Criminals who were hung were believed to be vampires. People who lived lives of depravity were believed to become vampires. People who met with any kind of a sudden or violent death were also considered to be prime candidates for becoming vampires.

In addition to that, there were actual medical conditions that would make a person comatose. There was no enbalming back in those days, so very often people would come out of their comas to find that they were burried alive. In a few rare cases, they cam out of their comas while in the coffin before the dirt was placed on top of them.

And a lot of dead bodies were "staked" in order to keep them in the grave.

Once a dead person became a vampire, that did not stop decomposition from happening according to traditional lor. Vampires did have to live on the blood of the living, but they were horible, corpse like creatures, reanimated through satanic powers, only to walk about at night time, feeding on the blood of the living. The more innocent the victim, the more powerful the blood.

As for the various ways of destroying a vampire, the stake was not necessarly what destroyed him, but was used to keep hin in his grave. Running water drowned him, the cross of Jesus burned him, as dis sun light, and the only way to completely destroy a vampire and keep himm from ever rising from the dead again was to decapitate him then burn the head and body and scatter tha ashes.

Mike

[adrian]

this went around a long time ago and actually is backed by a ton of old litterature. Lycanthropy was a disiese caused by curses... the ones who caught the spells were victims to its terrible plague like symptoms. witches used lycanthropy to punish those who hunted them down... they would use the wolves to hunt down the mobs and protect them during the night and on the moons where the witches were most active. Vampires were believed to be that of the same curse but more evolved.. caused by carless witches.. the victims skin became more irratable to sun light.. their shapes wouldn't entirely change (hints the fangs, claws, ect.) not only that but they still kept their blood thirst and thrived on it. so the curse of the vampire was believed to be the evolved curse of a careless witch.. anyway... that's what i heard

[Pumpkin_Man]

I think it's very dificult to track down what the "true" origin of vampire and wearwolf lor is. From what I learned, vampire lor, or the "nosferatu," originated mainly in Romania, but there were references to "those who partake of bloow" in the Old Testament. Every culture has their own version of vampire lor. Even the ancient greeks had mythology about the bockeye, which were vampires. The ancient Isrialites believed in the story of Lillith, one of the first wives of Adam, who wanted to "be on top," and when adam refused, she was guilty of disobediance, and became the very first vampire.

There have aslo been vampire legends in China, India, Egypt and a whole hose of others.

In regards to lycanthrophy, or wearwolfism, that too can be traced to many cultures, but the main source of modern day wearwolf lor is France. The "lookguru" as it was known, could be brought about by a witches curse, a life of crime and debochery, and a whole host of other conditions.

Mike

[adrian]

what books have you read on this kinda thing? i'd like to read some.. let me try and find some titles i have read as well (its been a while) and i'll swap them with you

[Pumpkin_Man]

I didn't read it in any books. I saw a few documenteries on the History Channel, and I also did some research on line, and found a lot of interesting web sites. Just put "Vampire Folklor" or "Wearwolf Folklor" into the google search engine, and you should come up with a lot of interesting reading.

Also, you can go to Historychnnel.com and get your own DVD copies of the documenteries that I saw.

Mike

[adrian]

i might actually do that.. i love some of the History Channel's stuff yea i'll just start googling it i used to be OBSSESSED with this stuff lol

[DemonSlayerMau]

I never really cared for the story of Lilith; as I felt that it was too sexist toward women. I'm one who likes to promote equality of the sexes, and to me the story really seems to degrade women in society, lowering them to a status of little more than bearing children, and doing anything the man says. So evidently, it's wrong for a woman to be in charge once in a while. I think that the head of the household should be a shared responsibility.
Plus there's no mention of Lilith in the Bible either.

In any case, it's all very fascinating. I've come up with even more vampire origin stories.
I thought about having it where vampires aren't really undead...but if they go without blood for a long time they do start to have a decayed appearance; sort of like leprosy.

I thought up some new werecat stories too, there's folklore based on werecats, but not a whole lot. So I think werecat mythology might be more flexable in that respect. I've also thought of some origins specifically for werecats.

The other thing one has to keep in mind is that these creatures, vampires, werewolves, werecats, zombies, etc don't actually exist. So if you're writing a story about them, does it really matter if you use your own origin story, or if you go back to old school mythology?
Not really. Although I would hardly recommend Stephanie Meyer for a resource on vampires. XP

[Ciuin]

thought about having it where vampires aren't really undead...but if they go without blood for a long time they do start to have a decayed appearance; sort of like leprosy.

Have you seen Daybreakers?

[DemonSlayerMau]

No I havn't. Is it good?

[Ciuin]

It's interesting. In their world, all of society is vampiric and they farm the few humans they have for blood. The blood starts to run out and those who can't afford to buy any start to mutate and become very violent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayYiMygqlfo

[DemonSlayerMau]

Actually it sounds quite fascinating. Perhaps I'll rent it sometime.
I once had a similiar idea to that, but that was a long time ago.