# Interracial romance reasoning issue



## Dragoncat (Dec 17, 2013)

Okay, I've pointed out that one of my characters is a vampire/elf hybrid...I've become fond of him and think he will be a great addition to my epic. But I need to make his existence believable, his parents aren't just going to hook up out of the blue, especially if they know there's a possibility that they'll produce a sterile hybrid, and then there's the distrust that tends to be there between their races.

Been throwing around an idea: she just went through a breakup and was at a bar trying to drink her pain away, he was separated from his pack in an enemy attack, wandered into town...he has a thing for elves, but you'd have to get him drunk to make him actually act on it. Maybe the human/elf alcoholic beverages are too strong for him, so he's hammered after only a couple drinks? Could work since the vampire packs are isolated and don't get much food or drink that they don't hunt or gather themselves.

BUT that makes a problem later on. She has to know who the father is before the kid grows fangs, and I don't think people involved in drunken one night stands remember much. Also, I'm planning on having the kid actually meet his father. She would have to remember quite a bit for that to happen.

So...advice please.


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## Ireth (Dec 17, 2013)

Couple questions about your vampires: you mention them having food and drink, as well as drinking alcohol. Why do they need or want to consume things other than blood? Is it a "dessert" or "snack" kind of thing that doesn't add much to their diet but still tastes good to them, or do they actually need the nutrients?

About the hybrid... maybe the elf doesn't realize her lover is a vampire? Or does she know it and just not care? She could be the adventurous type, but maybe hybrids are so rare they don't really know their offspring will be sterile. Or maybe she has to disguise herself as a vampire for some reason, and the one-night-stand is the result?


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## JRFLynn (Dec 17, 2013)

Well, I know you said that the two races hate each other, but once in a while there's a couple that may actually look past their differences and fall in "love" (queue violin). Meh, it's probably cliche...a one night stand is fine, but there's other ways hybrids can come about besides a drunken accident. Maybe this elf lady saved his life, and so the vamp felt drawn to her or vice versa. Maybe they were both stuck in a dire situation, holed up together for some fateful reason, and learned more about each other's perspective...that would also be a great way to voice each side's differences, yet have them find similarities as well. 

Those are the type of situations that squeeze my bleeding heart, hehe, not sure if you want to explore romance but there's some ideas.


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## Dragoncat (Dec 17, 2013)

Ireth said:


> Couple questions about your vampires: you mention them having food and drink, as well as drinking alcohol. Why do they need or want to consume things other than blood? Is it a "dessert" or "snack" kind of thing that doesn't add much to their diet but still tastes good to them, or do they actually need the nutrients?


Because they don't drink blood. There was a psychopath who would go around on killing sprees, rumor has it that he would, but normally they don't.

After some thinking, I decided that she went to a fortune teller, not remembering anything about the whole ordeal, and all she had to connect her to the man was some sort of unnecessary article of clothing like a scarf or something. The fortune teller is able to link it to him, right down to his pack affiliation. 

Now all I need: is it realistic for someone whos never drank liquor to get drunk that easily?



JRFLynn said:


> Well, I know you said that the two races hate each other, but once in a while there's a couple that may actually look past their differences and fall in "love" (queue violin). Meh, it's probably cliche...a one night stand is fine, but there's other ways hybrids can come about besides a drunken accident. Maybe this elf lady saved his life, and so the vamp felt drawn to her or vice versa. Maybe they were both stuck in a dire situation, holed up together for some fateful reason, and learned more about each other's perspective...that would also be a great way to voice each side's differences, yet have them find similarities as well.
> 
> Those are the kind of situations that squeezes my bleeding heart, hehe, not sure if you want to explore romance but there's some ideas.


That's what I had a long time ago lol...was too cliche for me.


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## Ireth (Dec 17, 2013)

Dragoncat said:


> Because they don't drink blood. There was a psychopath who would go around on killing sprees, rumor has it that he would, but normally they don't.
> 
> After some thinking, I decided that she went to a fortune teller, not remembering anything about the whole ordeal, and all she had to connect her to the man was some sort of unnecessary article of clothing like a scarf or something. The fortune teller is able to link it to him, right down to his pack affiliation.
> 
> Now all I need: is it realistic for someone whos never drank liquor to get drunk that easily?



1) If your vampires don't drink blood, why are they called vampires? Seems a bit of a misnomer. Do they drain other things, like life-force?

2) Yes, I'd say it's realistic for someone who doesn't normally get drunk to have that sort of reaction. No drinking = low tolerance for strong stuff.


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## JRFLynn (Dec 17, 2013)

> That's what I had a long time ago lol...was too cliche for me.



I agree, we don't need another Bella and Edward, however, it doesn't have to be the cliche "love at first sight" with the star-crossed lovers versus the world type thing. Dangerous situations tend to draw people together, which is a theme I often use myself lol. I suppose something like that would be an arc all its own, and I don't know how deeply you wish to go into this particular scene; regardless, find something that works and make it your own


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## AnneL (Dec 17, 2013)

MAybe they were really young and attracted to each other because it was forbidden and assumed they wouldn't make a baby. (I mean, that never happens in real life.) Now they're still stuck with each other to some extent b/c of the kid. Or maybe they knew they would reproduce and decided they didn't care if the offspring was sterile, and now your character resents them for that.


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## Dragoncat (Dec 17, 2013)

AnneL said:


> MAybe they were really young and attracted to each other because it was forbidden and assumed they wouldn't make a baby. (I mean, that never happens in real life.)


OMG lol...that happens TOO much in real life.

@ Ireth: They're vamps because they have fangs, are nocturnal, and have night vision. They do have some venom that thins blood, but they dont drain anything, that seems too evil to me. And okay, drunk as a skunk it is lol.

@ Flynn: Twilight actually inspired me...I figured there needed to be a story with vamps that was different than the norm


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## Ireth (Dec 17, 2013)

Dragoncat said:


> @ Ireth: They're vamps because they have fangs, are nocturnal, and have night vision. They do have some venom that thins blood, but they dont drain anything, that seems too evil to me.



I'm still of the opinion that such a creature isn't really a vampire. Real-life vampires, i.e. vampire bats, drink blood, thus earning the name. If they didn't do that, they'd be called something else. The blood-drinking, or otherwise draining of life-force (since there are other kinds of vamps, sometimes called psi-vamps, that feed on psychic energy or life force) is a fundamental part of their very being. Unless you intend to portray them as something like the equivalent of the platypus or echidna -- technically mammals, but they lay eggs, thus an exception to the "rule" that mammals have live births.


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## JRFLynn (Dec 17, 2013)

> Twilight actually inspired me...I figured there needed to be a story with vamps that was different than the norm



Indeed, Twilight was out of the norm, so I can't begrudge the author on that. I was referring to the "love at first sight"...or in this case, "_love at first smell_." er, or first mind block. Idk 

In my opinion, being sparkly just makes vamps more evil lol.


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## A. E. Lowan (Dec 17, 2013)

Now, to be honest, who says baby-making has to be romantic?  There are ALL sorts of situations that can arise that will result in pregnancy where neither parent considers whether or not their child may be a sterile hybrid - or where a child is even considered at all.  Often children are by-products of very unromantic incidents, rather than violin-music fueled one-night stands, drunken or otherwise.  

Extra conflict to add fuel to the fire.


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## JRFLynn (Dec 17, 2013)

True, true, there's also the scenario where the parents actually want to make a superior hybrid, no strings attached. They could be struggling for power, where their child could be trained as some kind of vampy-halfling assassin, or maybe they simply wish to upset the balance between their conformist societies. Anarchists would do that in a heartbeat, regardless if they child was unhappy, sterile, and ostracized by everyone


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## Shockley (Dec 18, 2013)

For whatever it is worth, I do think Ireth is on to something with the nomenclature - if you use the term vampire you will ultimately have to address the differences with the normal conception, for good or I'll to your story - if you use a different term, you get to add the fangs and all of that without worrying about what is missing.

As to your broader question, if this is pre-story action I don't know if you need to provide motivation. What is important is that ot happened and the consequences.


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## Dragoncat (Dec 18, 2013)

> I'm still of the opinion that such a creature isn't really a vampire. Real-life vampires, i.e. vampire bats, drink blood, thus earning the name. If they didn't do that, they'd be called something else. The blood-drinking, or otherwise draining of life-force (since there are other kinds of vamps, sometimes called psi-vamps, that feed on psychic energy or life force) is a fundamental part of their very being. Unless you intend to portray them as something like the equivalent of the platypus or echidna -- technically mammals, but they lay eggs, thus an exception to the "rule" that mammals have live births.


Well...it's enough for me. In my world, there's the old wives tale that they drain blood, kind of like a legend that turns out to be false, you know?



> Indeed, Twilight was out of the norm, so I can't begrudge the author on that. I was referring to the "love at first sight"...or in this case, "love at first smell." er, or first mind block. Idk
> 
> In my opinion, being sparkly just makes vamps more evil lol.


I was refering to all the vampire stories out there being horrors or cheesy romances, not medieval fantasies.


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## Noma Galway (Dec 18, 2013)

Dragoncat said:


> In my world, there's the old wives tale that they drain blood, kind of like a legend that turns out to be false, you know?


I think that's actually a really good idea. What would be the background for that myth?


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## A. E. Lowan (Dec 18, 2013)

Not trying to further derail the thread, but I'm also going to have to agree with Ireth.  To actually be a vampire, the creature in question must be parasitic in nature.  Sherrilyn Kenyon also has characters who have fangs, are nocturnal, blah blah blah, but who don't need to drink blood.  They get called "vampires" a lot, but they're actually vampire hunters - the real vampires look similar, but are soul-sucking parasites.

It's your world, you can call them whatever you want, but be warned - unless you can come up with some seriously good reasons for your vampires to not be vampiric, your readers are going to call BS on you and close the book.  There is a difference between suspending disbelief and taking it bungee jumping, and this is perilously close to snapping that cable.


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## psychotick (Dec 18, 2013)

Hi,

It occurs to me that while sailing down towards the abyss with an elastic band strapped around my ankles, that there is a middle line to be drawn here. I agree vampires have to be parasites but not that they have to kill their host.

To explain there is a tribe - the Masai - who drink the blood of their cattle. They aren't what we would call vampires and their cattle don't necessarily suffer too much. So what say these successful vampires do something similar. Have a small snack here and there but really don't need much blood to sustain them (and in point of fact I remember reading somewhere that the nutritional content of blood is very small anyway. You'd need to drink an awful lot of it to get a full meal.)

Perhaps the blood simply contains an ingrediant - vitamin, clotting factor, drug etc that the old vamp can't get anywhere else and without it they'll die. But they need very little. And since neck biting is often such an intimate activity, they often end up drinking and boinking!

So she's in her cups, he's in need, and one thing leads to another. Of course he never left her his name not expecting anything to come of the affair. And to add to mummy's confusion what say daddy - not wanting to be accused of a crime or having women running away screaming on sight, has a nice little spell / drug that makes women complaint for the boinking and perhaps leaves them confused as well - not knowing what happened in the morning.

Oh well - end of cord approaching and hoping it won't snap!

Cheers, Greg.


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## A. E. Lowan (Dec 18, 2013)

psychotick said:


> Hi,
> 
> It occurs to me that while sailing down towards the abyss with an elastic band strapped around my ankles, that there is a middle line to be drawn here. I agree vampires have to be parasites but not that they have to kill their host.
> 
> ...



I'm in absolute agreement with this - and in point of fact, in our own _Books of Binding_ universe, that's pretty much how things go, as I am delighted to point out with this link - The Denizens of The Books of Binding (Part 2) The Vampires | This Blog is Terribad

Just to quote briefly - 





> Vampires kill for politics, for survival, sometimes for pleasure, but generally they do not kill to eat.  While it is possible to kill by other means during a feed, a single, regular vampire cannot drink enough blood to drain a human body to the point of death.  The stomach is only so big.  A powerful vampire can get close – this is part of how vampires are made – but does not need to do so.  Vampires are above all things stealth hunters.  When they feed among the flock, they erase their tracks.  So the vampire who leaves a trail of bodies will soon be hunted themselves.



And as to the sensuality of feeding - 





> The second weapon is the [erotic] nature of the adult vampire’s bite.  Nearly painless and highly erotic, an unsuspecting victim is usually unaware they have been bitten at all, lost in the waves of pleasure as the vampire feeds from them.  Again, the more powerful the vampire, the greater the effect they have.  For the vampire, the bite is a two-way street, and they receive just as much pleasure from biting as does their victim.  It is for this reason that even though vampires cannot gain from feeding on each other, they still bite during sex.


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