Burfordus’ Blog

Hominis nocturna, the Burford Version

December 28, 2008 at 8:18 pm (Uncategorized)

Righty, hope you had a Merry Christmas and all that, not long now til New Years. Oh joy. Oh I’ve paused work o the doujinshi, but that should resume soon.

Anyways, I thought I’d commit to writing my own version of a well known mythological race: the Vampires.
This was inspired by a pair of sources, the awesome movie that is Interview with a Vampire, and the artwork above (courtesy of Games Workshop).

Origins: When Christ was nailed upon the timber, naturally he bled greatly. When the life left him at last, his blood was lapped upon by a bat. As divine blood it was, God punished the animal for feeding upon his earthly son. Agonies ripped through its body as it grew in size and its appetite for destructionand blood increased to almost demonic proportions. It had become immortal.
As further punishment, God ‘blessed’ the resulting creature with emotion and self awareness. This was perhaps the most bizarre of punishments, as the beast recognised its great sin when Christ rose again and met it in secret, before his return to the world of men. It wept in front of him, but had not the tongue to beg forgiveness. This frustrated it, for if the son of God could not see its despair through its tears, how could he claim that his father was all seeing and all merciful? Thus, during the next two hundred years this frustration grew to hatred, and hatred to madness.
The first true Vampire was born, damned in soul and hungry for the life of men.

When it finally accepted the beast within, God’s damned son, Lucifer, granted it the power to reap many men, for it was more akin to a man-sized bat and just as delicate as his smaller kin. After seven hundred and seventy seven days in hibernation, it awoke to a new body, with great girth and strength most unholy. Its claws were like those of a bear (as was its new, terrible height), and his teeth grew to extend forward of its head.
As part of his bargain with the Devil (who better to speak to a beast than a fallen Angel?) it could make companions from man, but their souls would be set loose for Lucifer’s servants to occupy the resulting host body. L’echange du Sang would not be perfect, and each generation would be more human than the last, but the strength and the hunger always remained.

Boring Factual Bit:
- The whole garlic/herbal allergy thing is just Dark Age rubbish, a relatively cheap alternative to beweaponing the population.
- The inherant shame in feeding on Christ and the dealing with the Devil makes Crosses a useful deterrant to the body of a Vampire, as a cross on the door or windows would make the beast look for a meal that did not remind it of its own damnation. However, this can easily be overcome by the more human Vampires whos possession by demonic spirits is minimal, but still there.
- The bodies of Vampires can take alot of punishment, and more so as they get older…but I’d love to find any organism (or Christian Mythological creature) that can survive its heart being pierced and decapitation….
- Silver works well against them, just as in werewolves who share a similar past. It is a pure element, frequently used to imprison and/or banish demons. Same principle applies to the Vampires.
- Water saturates the fur of the flight capable Vampires, and inhibits such movements until it dries off.
- Daylight has no effect whatsoever. But Vampires are descended from bats, which are nocturnal and dislike to venture out in the day. They can, and have, hunted in daylight hours.

Well, here endeth the essay. Hope you enjoyed my take on a well known tale.
-roar-
AB