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Which Vampire Lore should I go with?

So I'm back after a long break from writing and I have two concepts for my Vampires. My fiction is by no means vampire fiction, but Vampires are a somewhat important staple of my Verse. As for what I have figured out, Vampires are Divine Spirits created when a mortal being is attacked by another Vampire and survives. The Vampire bite imprints the divine genetics of the attacker onto the attacked, in a process typically referred to as "turning". Vampires almost always make sure to kill whoever they feed on in order to control their own population, which is they've evolved to have a massive appetite. Eating small animals like in other series won't satisfy a Whiterose Vampire for long. Furthermore, whenever they feed a vampire gets two bonus perks. First off, Souls in my Verse are located near the heart so when Vampires feed they can receive trace memories and emotions of their victims through the blood. These "Soul Pieces" can build up over time and begin to influence a Vampire's own Soul. Second, Vampire abilities are rather basic in base. The fancy stuff is locked behind Magic, an exclusive discipline of Magic called Bloodcraft. Bloodcraft is how I"m able to have my Vampires have access to all the fancy abilities that folklore Vamps do. The cost is Cursed Blood. Cursed Blood is blood that has been tainted by a Vampire's body. Cursed Blood is the source of a Vampire's power. Feeding is the process of sucking fresh blood from a living person and turning it into Cursed Blood that a Vampire can use to power their body and Spells.

Now for the stuff I can't decide on. Mostly this is Lore, where Vampires comes from. In my Verse, Vampires can trace their imprinted lineages through Progenitors, powerful Vampires who hold massive patriarchal influence over other Vampires. The Progenitors are numbered as the family tree goes down, with lower numbers being associated with lower rank, lesser power, and younger Vampires. Technically every Vampire is a Progenitor, or at least has the potential to become a Progenitor, but the qualifications to be assigned a number are beyond most Vampires. Every planet with Vampires on it has a "set" of Progenitors that trace their lineage back to the 1st Progenitor, the first Vampire on that planet. My problem is deciding which God to give the title of 0th Progenitor. When you trace the lineage beyond the 1st Progenitors and go all the way back to the Gods, that's where I get iffy. I have two gods I have in mind for candidates, the King of Hearts and Anima Hemo. The King of Hearts is one of the Royals of High Cosmos. If the Vampires come from him, it would mean that Vampirekind was a failed super soldier project in a proxy war that goes back all the way to the beginning of time itself. Anima Hemo is the Elemental Embodiment of the False Hell. If Vampires come from him, they're just another Demon Species which, I guess I can make work? Which do I go for, Alice in Wonderland-themed super-soldiers or weird blood demons? Both? How would I make both work?
 

A. E. Lowan

Forum Mom
Leadership
Funny thing, and something we haven't addressed in our books, yet, is that our vampires *whispers* are also god-kin, though the manipulations of a mage and a powerful Demon Lord. Your world, your rules. And now as I'm looking at your options, I'm playing the What If game. What if you went with both, and have two warring vampire factions? Each sees their Progenitor as the rightful rulers, and that they have each been chosen by the gods themselves.

I think you've got two good working models. Either or both will make for strong conflict, and conflict = story. ;)
 
Funny thing, and something we haven't addressed in our books, yet, is that our vampires *whispers* are also god-kin, though the manipulations of a mage and a powerful Demon Lord. Your world, your rules. And now as I'm looking at your options, I'm playing the What If game. What if you went with both, and have two warring vampire factions? Each sees their Progenitor as the rightful rulers, and that they have each been chosen by the gods themselves.

I think you've got two good working models. Either or both will make for strong conflict, and conflict = story. ;)
You're a genius, my friend! The Hearts Vampires could be called White Vampires because the Suite of Hearts in playing cards is white and red while the Demon Vampires could be called Black Vampires because Demons and Hell and Negative energy are associated with the color Black. So you have the White Faction and the Black Faction, which could also create Chess Motifs! And by separating them, the White Faction can go deeper into the Suite of Hearts theme!
 

A. E. Lowan

Forum Mom
Leadership
You're a genius, my friend! The Hearts Vampires could be called White Vampires because the Suite of Hearts in playing cards is white and red while the Demon Vampires could be called Black Vampires because Demons and Hell and Negative energy are associated with the color Black. So you have the White Faction and the Black Faction, which could also create Chess Motifs! And by separating them, the White Faction can go deeper into the Suite of Hearts theme!
Yay! So glad I could be of help. :D
 

Eduardo Ficaria

Troubadour
... Every planet with Vampires on it has a "set" of Progenitors that trace their lineage back to the 1st Progenitor, the first Vampire on that planet...
Since you're working with a multiplanetary setup, OberonLordofSylva , it made me think of the following questions, listed in no particular order:
  • How many advanced species do you have in your setting? Or, in other words, you'll only have humans in your stories?
  • If there are many species:
    • Do all of them have vampires?
    • Can a vampire of one species feed on a member of a different species? What would happen if the vampire tried to do such a thing?
    • Fun fact: you could have some predator species that find vampires game worth hunting!
  • To determine those first progenitors, the lineages and so on, I think you'll need to make at least a draft of the history of the vampiric species: how they ended up venturing into space?, how and why (or not) they rule the non-vampiric part of their species?
  • I don't know how much time your vampiric races have been venturing into space, but if they've been out for millenia, you must seriously consider the divergences in their genetic makeup. On each planet, differences in atmosphere, gravity, etc, will force mutations on the settlers, either natural or through genetic engineering. This can give you interesting characteristics like making blood from certain people of particular planets particularly tasty or disgusting, or even poisonous, to vampires from different planets.
  • Just two factions in a multiplanetary setting feels rather simplistic, just think about the variety of religious and political beliefs in our planet, for example. I don't know if you're considering more factions (or subfactions), and I understand the complexity of trying to develop a setting with that many elements, but at least you should reserve room in your worldbuilding for that.
 
Since you're working with a multiplanetary setup, OberonLordofSylva , it made me think of the following questions, listed in no particular order:
  • How many advanced species do you have in your setting? Or, in other words, you'll only have humans in your stories?
  • If there are many species:
    • Do all of them have vampires?
    • Can a vampire of one species feed on a member of a different species? What would happen if the vampire tried to do such a thing?
    • Fun fact: you could have some predator species that find vampires game worth hunting!
  • To determine those first progenitors, the lineages and so on, I think you'll need to make at least a draft of the history of the vampiric species: how they ended up venturing into space?, how and why (or not) they rule the non-vampiric part of their species?
  • I don't know how much time your vampiric races have been venturing into space, but if they've been out for millenia, you must seriously consider the divergences in their genetic makeup. On each planet, differences in atmosphere, gravity, etc, will force mutations on the settlers, either natural or through genetic engineering. This can give you interesting characteristics like making blood from certain people of particular planets particularly tasty or disgusting, or even poisonous, to vampires from different planets.
  • Just two factions in a multiplanetary setting feels rather simplistic, just think about the variety of religious and political beliefs in our planet, for example. I don't know if you're considering more factions (or subfactions), and I understand the complexity of trying to develop a setting with that many elements, but at least you should reserve room in your worldbuilding for that.
Thanks for the brain food! To answer each question in turn: I have about 20ish races in total and quite a few subraces. Each of these races and subraces is grouped into a complex taxonomy that aligns with the timeline of the lore. Yes every single one of those races, minus the Divine Spirits and the Floranoids, is capable of manifesting Vampirism. Race has no adverse effects on feeding besides taste. Vampire predators is an interesting idea that I'm going to have to play with. Vampires didn't necessarily "venture" into space. The 1st Progenitors were created by the 0th Progenitors of each Faction, receiving Cursed Blood from the King of Hearts will turn you into a White Faction 1st Progenitor while receiving Cursed Blood from Anima Hemo will turn you into a Black Faction 1st Progenitor. The Factions themselves are just umbrellas for Vampirekind to gather under, most Vampires are only loyal to themselves and their direct Progenitors. Many lower numbered Progenitors will build a cult of influence around themselves to increase their power. Some will worship their planets 1st Progenitor, but fewer still take zealous pride in their Faction. The two Factions don't associate with each other, but they won't openly fight unless it's over food or territory.
 

Eduardo Ficaria

Troubadour
Regarding the question of having two (or more!) gods, I think you could go with that perfectly fine since each of them comes from one concrete realm or parallel reality/universe. With this detail in mind, I would be careful about making vampirism work somewhat different under each god/0th progenitor, and to put some sort of incompatibilities between them.

On the other hand, I would play harder with the matter of "interplanetary" feeding: I mean, species are evolved under certain conditions on their original planet and won't have it easy to eat anything from other parts of the universe. You could play with toxicity levels that could go from lethally poisonous to just disgusting, and that could also condition how some societies are organized depending on how they're viewed by the vampires that rule them.

And about the interestellar vampire hunters/predators, to spice them up a bit, you could give them the tastiest blood and some of the most powerful souls any vampire of any kind would love to bite. That could explain why they are so good at hunting the bloodsuckers, they don't want to be turned into enslaved bloodbags so they aim to exterminate vampires completely.
 

ShadeZ

Maester
So I'm back after a long break from writing and I have two concepts for my Vampires. My fiction is by no means vampire fiction, but Vampires are a somewhat important staple of my Verse. As for what I have figured out, Vampires are Divine Spirits created when a mortal being is attacked by another Vampire and survives. The Vampire bite imprints the divine genetics of the attacker onto the attacked, in a process typically referred to as "turning". Vampires almost always make sure to kill whoever they feed on in order to control their own population, which is they've evolved to have a massive appetite. Eating small animals like in other series won't satisfy a Whiterose Vampire for long. Furthermore, whenever they feed a vampire gets two bonus perks. First off, Souls in my Verse are located near the heart so when Vampires feed they can receive trace memories and emotions of their victims through the blood. These "Soul Pieces" can build up over time and begin to influence a Vampire's own Soul. Second, Vampire abilities are rather basic in base. The fancy stuff is locked behind Magic, an exclusive discipline of Magic called Bloodcraft. Bloodcraft is how I"m able to have my Vampires have access to all the fancy abilities that folklore Vamps do. The cost is Cursed Blood. Cursed Blood is blood that has been tainted by a Vampire's body. Cursed Blood is the source of a Vampire's power. Feeding is the process of sucking fresh blood from a living person and turning it into Cursed Blood that a Vampire can use to power their body and Spells.

Now for the stuff I can't decide on. Mostly this is Lore, where Vampires comes from. In my Verse, Vampires can trace their imprinted lineages through Progenitors, powerful Vampires who hold massive patriarchal influence over other Vampires. The Progenitors are numbered as the family tree goes down, with lower numbers being associated with lower rank, lesser power, and younger Vampires. Technically every Vampire is a Progenitor, or at least has the potential to become a Progenitor, but the qualifications to be assigned a number are beyond most Vampires. Every planet with Vampires on it has a "set" of Progenitors that trace their lineage back to the 1st Progenitor, the first Vampire on that planet. My problem is deciding which God to give the title of 0th Progenitor. When you trace the lineage beyond the 1st Progenitors and go all the way back to the Gods, that's where I get iffy. I have two gods I have in mind for candidates, the King of Hearts and Anima Hemo. The King of Hearts is one of the Royals of High Cosmos. If the Vampires come from him, it would mean that Vampirekind was a failed super soldier project in a proxy war that goes back all the way to the beginning of time itself. Anima Hemo is the Elemental Embodiment of the False Hell. If Vampires come from him, they're just another Demon Species which, I guess I can make work? Which do I go for, Alice in Wonderland-themed super-soldiers or weird blood demons? Both? How would I make both work?
I would honestly think a god of bloodshed/bloodlust/warfare perhaps even would be more like them. Maybe the 0th progenitor is an unknown "god" or one that keeps quiet enough that he/she is largely unknown. Maybe they are a mortal cursed by or affected by an interaction with a God? Maybe they are a demigod? The supersoldier is interesting because it's different. However making them demonic seems a bit predictable. However at the same time if their supposed to be super soldiers why would they be deemed "cursed"?
 
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