Dᴀᴍᴏɴ Sᴀʟᴠᴀᴛᴏʀᴇ (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
untilmydarknessgoes) wrote2012-09-25 09:10 am
untilmydarknessgoes) wrote2012-09-25 09:10 am
So, You Want To Be a Vampire
Congratulations!
You're about to embark on an incredible and sometimes awful journey! In case the vampire who turned you is an asshole and doesn't explain any of this stuff to you, here's an OOC guide of losses/weaknesses, strengths/abilities, and what to expect when you...! This guide should answer any questions you have about becoming and being a vampire from The Vampire Diaries canon. This guide is specific to Distant Skies (
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distantskies), but could also be used as a general guide. You can also expect pictures/video where appropriate but it's entirely optional to watch. Let's get started, shall we?Lᴏssᴇs. There are two major losses you can expect with your character. The first, and perhaps most important one, is that your character will lose their daemon. In order to transition into becoming a vampire, your character will have to die. That means their daemon will disappear. Don't worry though. Your character will not lose their moral compasses, emotions, or ability to function. (Note: Emotions/morality will be discussed in what to expect when you're transitioning.)
The second loss is any and all magical abilities. This means if your character has abilities that are described in their canon as being magic-based, they go away. Spells will just be your character saying funny words and potions/poultices will just be really nasty kitchen disasters. If you're trying to move stuff with your mind, you're just going to look silly. Superhuman strength/abilities not explained by magic, is up to player discretion. You can have that all taken away if you so choose or you can have it altered somehow by their newfound vampirism.
Wᴇᴀᴋɴᴇssᴇs. Despite having a lot of new power, you're not going to be totally invulnerable. So there's a few things to watch out for as a vampire. Not all of it will kill you, but even your high pain threshold won't make it impossible for this to be a really sucky experience.
First, there's two obvious ones. Sunlight and fire can really hurt a vampire. Sunlight will cause intense burning, but it's possible for a vampire to have a little exposure and not completely burn up. (Note: For day walking see strengths/abilities.) It's the same thing for fire. A little won't kill you, but prolonged exposure or consuming fire will definitely leave you a crispy little mess for someone else. Another fairly obvious weakness is wood. Staking a vampire through the heart will kill a vampire; they won't turn to ash, but they will dessicate. A warning for spoilers, but if you want to see what a vampire dying would look like check out this video.
A vampire doesn't have to be staked through the heart to have wood hurt though. If your vampire is stabbed in the gut with a tree branch, that will hurt a lot more than if it had been a knife or sword. If your character is shot with wooden bullets after become a vampire, expect to possibly need someone else to get it out of you.
Other standard ways of killing vampires also include: decapitation, heart removal, and a bite from a werewolf. (Note: Werewolf bites will be explained more in-depth in what to expect when you...) The last standard way of weakening a vampire is starving them of blood. Starved vampires will eventually begin to dessicate/mummify if they do not go without blood. (Note: Discussion of the effects of blood/hunger for blood will be discussed in what to expect when you are transitioning.) Remember how you lost your magical powers? Well, now you're also susceptible to magic for better or for worse.
The last weakness that's a little unique to The Vampire Diaries is vervain. If a human is wearing or ingesting vervain, they can resist compulsion. (Note: More on compulsion in strengths/abilities. I will also talk minor benefits of vervain use for vampires in the same section.) If your vampire feeds off a human who has been ingesting vervain, they will eventually black out. Same goes with if they're injected. Touching it will also burn the vampire. For an example of both burning and incapacitation via vervain, watch this video though be cautioned for minor spoilers!
A weakness of a vampire that doesn't really hurt them but still kinda sucks is they need invitation to enter a private residence. What counts as a private residence? Apartments and houses. What doesn't count? Public residential places such as hotels/suites or dormitory type locations. On the upside though, once someone's given you an invitation, you can enter at any time you please so long as the residence does not change hands. There is also a work around the invitation where if the owner is dead or a vampire then you do not need to be invited in. (Note: That doesn't mean other characters in-game can't find a way of keeping you out.)
Baby, I know.
STRENGTHS/ABILITIES
Sᴛʀᴇɴɢᴛʜs. Alright first, we'll hit the highlights of your possibly newfound physical capabilities. This is kinda like puberty but a hundred times better and way fewer pimples. To list it pretty much all off, you get super senses, super agility, super strength, accelerated healing, and immortality. All of these are pretty much self-explanatory, but I'll still go over them just in case there's any confusion. First, the super senses. Vampires are able to smell, hear, see, and taste above what a normal human being could. It does have its limitations however. For example, if there's a lot of background noise (or a lot of loud noise in general), it's going to be pretty damn hard to eavesdrop on that conversation happening a few yards away. You might get bits and pieces, but you aren't going to be able to hear the whole thing.
As far as super agility and strength are concerned, those are both pretty self-explanatory. Vampires move faster and are generally stronger than humans. We're talking things like opening stuff normal people wouldn't be able to and jumping to the top of buildings with a single bound. But rather than Kryptonite, superman/woman, you're abilities are tied into the type of and how much blood you've been ingesting lately. Human blood is the strongest, hands down. It also depends vastly on your age. The older you are, the stronger and faster you are. Oh and if you're wondering? I know you might be stronger than that werewolf, but I suggest running rather than picking a fight with it while it's shifted.
Accelerated healing and immortality work about as you'd expect. Unless it's something with wood and/or vervain in it which would severely hurt or otherwise hinder your strengths and abilities, you're probably going to be just fine. If some dick decides to snap your neck, they'll only be getting a headstart. Once you regain consciousness, you can show them how to properly remove a head from a pair of shoulders. And it goes without saying, part of the bonus of immortality is staying frozen at whatever age you were turned.
Lastly, something important to know is when you're feeding, your face is going to do weird things. You'll get some fangs, sure, but the veins around and in your eyes will become severely pronounced until the whites of your eyes are pretty blood red. Sometimes you can just use your fangs, but if you're feeling a really strong temptation to feed or you're about to, your face is always going to that.
For an example of all these traits, check out this video that doesn't really have anything I'd label as spoilers. You even get a bonus of seeing some compulsion at work which segues nicely into our next section.
Aʙɪʟɪᴛɪᴇs. As a vampire, you also get some sweet abilities to go along with all those strengths. Namely, you have compulsion, dream walking, & day walking.
Compulsion is a vampire's ability to control a human through eye contact. I emphasized human because a vampire cannot compel other creatures. But even with that limitation, vampires can get humans to do a number of things ranging from as small as going into the kitchen to do the dishes to something more extreme like forgetting important events or even engaging in violence they wouldn't otherwise normally. Compulsion relies on a vampire's age and diet as well as their experience. Basically, practice will actually make perfect with compulsion. Another important note is that only the vampire who did the compulsion can remove it and that compulsions are permanent until death. So, that means if your character was ever compelled while human? Congratulations, you have those memories again!
So, now we get into the caveats. First of all, anyone ingesting or wearing vervain can't be compelled, including vampires. I know what you're saying. "But you just said vampires can only compel humans!" Well, as it turns out, these lovely bastards?
The most dysfunctional family you will ever meet. Y'all got issues.
They're called Originals and as their name implies, they're the first vampires. They can actually compel vampires. Now I know what your saying next, "But ingesting vervain would be like swallowing battery acid!" Sorta. But if a vampire mixes a little in their drinks, they build up an immunity. This doesn't mean they can suddenly start compelling vervain users or that vervain has no effect on them, but they're able to consume just enough so that an Original can't compel them.
Another neat little trick to getting out of compulsions for humans is mental fortitude. It takes years and years of training, but a human can eventually become immune to compulsion without the need for vervain. Compulsions also can be broken due to strong emotional responses. But it's gotta be one pretty big damn emotional response like part of their very fiber sorta big.
Lastly and most importantly, you will need an OOC post for using compulsion and you need to talk to players before using it. You are taking away someone's control over their character. It shouldn't come as a surprise that you need to talk about it before doing anything, but I'm still making a point of saying it. So, I'll even say it again: you will need an OOC post for using compulsion and you need to talk to players before using it.
Moving on from that, let's talk dream walking. Dream walking/manipulation is something you can do to humans and vampires though is limited by all the other things everything else is limited by. Bonus points though, you can enter the dream of even some vampires. For an example, see this very spoiler heavy video.
Last but not least, you're probably most curious about day walking, amirite? Well, you're going to need to know a witch and have a bit of bling.
Comes in his & hers!
A witch will cast a spell on the ring and from that, you'll have the ability to walk in sunlight without frying. However, be warned! Magic can also screw with these rings and make them null and void. So, be nice to magic-users, guys.
Alternatively, if there's someone in-game who can come up with something equivalent to this, I say go for it! This is just the canon's way of dealing with the issue of walking during the daylight hours. And it's also entirely optional as not all vampires have access to witches to get these day walking rings. Let the creativity flow with some tildes all over the place. (That's this thing, by the way: ~)
Bring a snack. You're gonna be starving.
WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU'RE TRANSITIONING
Psʏᴄʜᴏʟᴏɢʏ. If you'll try to remember way back at the start of this little how-to guide, I mentioned that becoming a vampire means losing your daemon, but not your moral compass/personality. But it's gotta have some effect, right? Right!
As far as your emotions/personality are concerned, you can expect them to be extremely heightened. This means if your character enjoys killing, you can expect the hunt and kill is now going to be better than sex to them. (Note: All characters will feel some pleasure out of the hunt even if they feel guilty for feeling so afterwards.) If your character was hyperactive and cheerful, expect Pinky Pie to think you need to take a chill pill. But it's not just core personality traits like that, it also includes the fleeting ones. So, if your character gets angry, expect them to fly off the handle. Jealous? You might get a little yandere on some bitches. Now if this is making you edge back, don't worry. Your character can control this. Although there are some strong emotions that your character might never get a full handle of (kinda just like humans, amirite?), they will likely gain the ability to calm their butts down and keep cool, calm, and collected (even flippant!) in all situations. A lot of vampires refer to it as flipping a switch. And flipping that switch also has a reverse effect as well. If your character decides to shut off all their emotions, they can be a downright sociopath if they so choose.
Iɴ sᴜᴍᴍᴀʀʏ...
Transition: Your emotions are going to be running on high. It may be difficult for your character to think rationally and not act in the extreme and purely on emotional impulse.
transition: Your character will still have heightened emotions, but they'll have a better handle on stifling their impulses and urges over time if they choose to get a handle on it. If they do not, expect them to still behave as though they're freshly in Transition. Remember that getting a handle on your emotions will not be an overnight thing. You may need help and patience from the characters around you!
Bɪᴏʟᴏɢʏ. This is probably the most important part about your transition, so look at these pretty bold letters! Your character must feed from a human within 24 hours of starting the transition or your character will die forever. Once your character has died with vampire blood in their system, the clock starts ticking. Your character has a choice (or a make-believe one since I'd assume you'd rather not let them die for good), but understand they will have a very strong urge/need for human blood. Your character will not have control initially and may accidentally kill a human being if they feed directly from the vein. (Because that's the best stuff! Forget that bagged crap.) But over time, your character can learn to control the urge to bleed a human dry.
And this also brings us to the relationship of different types of blood that I mentioned earlier! To make a long story short, human blood is the best and animal blood is not. Think of it as human blood being a smoothie with some protein powder in it and animal blood is just the smoothie. Human blood will always maximize your character's abilities while animal blood will leave it still above human, but nowhere near to what it could be. Also understand that if your character chooses to abstain from human blood, the temptation will always be there just under the surface.
So what else has changed about you biologically? Well, your blood can now be used to heal or turn other characters! (Note: It's probably a good idea to feed a little of your blood to humans you feed from to patch them up if your character is the sort to not drain them dry.) Your body will also still function 100% normal. Heartbeat, breathing, sleep, etc. it's not really necessary, but your body will still do it. Others might notice that your skin's a little colder to the touch, but drink some caffeine and that'll help warm you up. Caffeine's also a good way to curb blood cravings if your character's struggling a little with that. And lastly, yes, you can still have oodles of sex if you want.
Iɴ sᴜᴍᴍᴀʀʏ...
Transition: You are going to be extremely hungry for some human blood. If your character doesn't feed, dead for good. Transitioning vampires are going to lack the control older vampires have and will likely not be able to stop themselves from killing the human they're snacking on. Your body's going to be just the same as it was when it was alive.
transition: Your character will get a much better handle on the urge to feed. There's a choice between abstaining from human blood and sucking on animals or continuing to feed on humans (either from the vein or a bag). Human blood gives the best in terms of your character's strengths/abilities. Body's still functioning just fine.
"Hey, he's not in this show. Why are you linking a gif of him?" Because fuck you, that's why.
WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU'VE BEEN BITTEN BY A WEREWOLF/HYBRID
Sʏᴍᴘᴛᴏᴍs. The first thing to note is the bite itself. These might be a little gory, so I will put them behind links for the faint of heart. But your bite will basically start like this and grow to be something like this. The poison in a werewolf's bite spreads through the vampire's body because a vampire's heart is still beating. As the poison spreads, the vampire will experience a fever, sweating, slipping in and out of consciousness, insatiable hunger, vomiting any blood consumed, and hallucinations. Hallucinations are usually memories and it can be difficult for other characters to bring you back to reality while you're experiencing them. Your character will be in extreme amounts of pain and likely attack innocent bystanders with little to no control over what they're doing.
Cᴜʀᴇ. You're going to need to drink some of Klaus' blood. Don't know who Klaus is? He'd be one of those aforementioned Originals. It's either that or die.
Good luck with that, btw.
MISC QUESTIONS
1. Wɪʟʟ [ɪɴsᴇʀᴛ ʀᴇʟɪɢɪᴏᴜs ᴘᴀʀᴀᴘʜᴇʀɴᴀʟɪᴀ] ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴀɴ ᴇғғᴇᴄᴛ?
No. Some might think your character's kinda an abomination because you're defying death, but your character will not be affected by things like holy water, religious symbols, blessed objects (unless it's a magical sort) etc.
2. Is ᴍʏ ᴄʜᴀʀᴀᴄᴛᴇʀ ɢᴏɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ғᴇᴇʟ ᴀɴʏ sᴏʀᴛ ᴏғ ʟᴏʏᴀʟᴛʏ ᴛᴏᴡᴀʀᴅs ᴛʜᴇ ᴏɴᴇ ᴡʜᴏ ᴛᴜʀɴᴇᴅ ᴛʜᴇᴍ?
Not unless there was pre-existing loyalty, not usually. That phenomenon is known as "siring" and is very rare in this canon.
3. Yᴏᴜ'ᴠᴇ ᴍᴇɴᴛɪᴏɴᴇᴅ Oʀɪɢɪɴᴀʟs ᴛᴡɪᴄᴇ. Wʜᴀᴛ's ᴜᴘ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴛʜᴇᴍ?
Spoilers. If you want to know, Google-fu your way to the knowledge or watch the show! They're important, but not entirely relevant. So, you could say they're somewhat outside the scope of this guide.
4. Wᴇʟʟ, ɪғ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴏɴ'ᴛ ᴇxᴘʟᴀɪɴ ᴛʜᴀᴛ, ᴛʜᴇɴ ᴡʜᴀᴛ's ᴀ ʜʏʙʀɪᴅ?
Hybrids are half-vampire, half-werewolf creatures. No, you cannot become one. You must be a werewolf before you can become a hybrid and spoilers as to how you transition from werewolf to vampire. If it's really burning you, Google-fu again or watch the show for the answers.
5. I ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴀ ǫᴜᴇsᴛɪᴏɴ ᴛʜᴀᴛ's ɴᴏᴛ ᴀɴsᴡᴇʀᴇᴅ ᴀɴʏᴡʜᴇʀᴇ ᴏɴ ᴛʜɪs ɢᴜɪᴅᴇ.
Comment below! I'll be happy to answer questions that Damon probably will not.