I thought I’d start posting some background information about the urban fantasy serial I’m working on in hopes that it might start building some interest for when I start publishing.
There are various factions running around in the world, competing and co-operating. These are my takes on the mythical creatures that will be appearing in my stories. They may not be like what has been established in lore and fiction. Hey, if Stephenie Meyer can make vampires sparkly, I can get away with making a few changes to the lore.
So, first up is, you guessed it, the Fangs, or the vampires in my world.
Vampires, those children of the night. Arrogant, thinking they are better than their human cattle, destined to rule from the shadows, being the power behind the throne. (Sort of like cats.) Even though they are superior to lesser mortals the vampires realize that if the human populace comes to know too much of their existence the vampire community could be wiped out from sheer overpowering numbers. Converting everyone to vampires doesn’t work either as there would be no one left to feed on. They figure remaining in the shadows as ‘terrifying monsters’ is the best course of action. They follow Machiavelli’s guideline that a Prince should makes sure the people love him, because then they will willingly do anything for him. But if they don’t love him, he should make sure they fear him.
Vampires do indeed drink blood to survive. Human blood is preferred but they can drink blood from other animals if needed. They don’t need to drain a person completely to be sated, but it does make for a good way to kill someone. If you need to assassinate someone, hire a vampire. Several vampires can feed off one person before that person dies.
They are twice as strong as humans, and twice as fast. Even so, they can be killed if they take enough damage. Pumping a lot lead from a gun into them will do it, but you’ll probably have to unload the entire clip, maybe two. Beheading them, or setting them on fire works pretty well, too. If you don’t kill them, and they can crawl away from the fight, they will heal fairly quickly, even faster if they can feed on blood. They are effectively immortal, but they do age, if not much more slowly than their human counterparts.
No one seems to be able to find an ancient vampire. The oldest recorded one is several hundred years old. The theory is that living that long eventually wears down the psyche and they can’t go on living, eventually committing suicide. Or it could be the ancient vampires have just kept themselves really well hidden. No one knows for sure.
Vampires do not burst into flames and die when exposed to direct sunlight. They do burn, slowly. They get a bad sunburn within about half an hour. Another hour after that and they have first degree burns, another hour after that second degree burns, and a hour after that third degree burns. Burns like this take a lot longer for the vampire to heal and they will be in pain the entire time. Leaving a vampire staked out naked in the sun is an effective means of torture within the vampire community.
Vampires do not fly, unless they are in a plane or helicopter, or glider.
They do not change into wolves or bats. They do have mastery over all manner of beasts, and if the animal is reasonably intelligent, the vampire is likely to be able to command it, within reason. They probably won’t be able to get a dog to run into a fire but they are likely to get it to attack someone nearby.
They can turn others into vampires, in the usual manner. They drain blood from their progeny, then feed their blood to the progeny. The progeny has a few days to go through their transformation into a vampire, but they don’t ‘die and rise from the grave three days later’. (So, Jesus was a vampire?) Also, the progeny doesn’t need to feed on a human before they become a vampire. Once they are ‘infected’ they are essentially a vampire. As yet, no one has figured out a way to stop the progression. Oftentimes, turning someone is a matter of companionship. Living forever can be a lonely existence. Unfortunately ‘true love’ doesn’t usually happen and eventually the pairing will split over irreconcilable differences. Many vampires end up resigning themselves to being alone.
So, that’s the first faction. What do you think, my Hordeling? Have I at least avoided an egregious error on the same level as making them sparkly? Leave a comment and let me know.
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