[split] Vampires and Vampirism

['thul]

hmm... looks like there's more than a couple of roleplays on that site 'thul was directed to that focuses on or around vampires. and they vary quite a bit in not only what traits their vampires have, but how well-defined they are...

Some appear just to use "vampire" and let people decide somewhat for themselves, while others have lengthy texts on what vampires are and what traits they have / do not have...

Even if you don't have any interest in taking part yourself, 'thul would recommend reading this roleplay story... It is one of the latter category, one which 'thul enjoyed reading immensely, yet not one of the 50+ page long threads... (yes, there are threads there with more than 500 posts)

The story:
http://www.roleplayerguild.com/showthread.php?t=143933
Characters, background & such:
http://www.roleplayerguild.com/showthread.php?t=143527

Not all the characters are listed in the first post, even if most of them are...

[fool-ish]

I'll get back to reading all that stuff when it's not 11.50 pm and my braincell is working a little better

['thul]

thats perfectly fair and reasonable...

[fool-ish]

I'm trying to get my head round someone being born a vampire rather than made. It's awfully strange to read that they grow and age like humans, but can stop ageing when and if they please. Not that I can imagine a wrinkly, old prune of a vampire, as anyone with any sense would stop the process long before that!

['thul]

in what fantasy world do they choose their end age? It does not really make much sense...

[fool-ish]

It makes sense to me. If they're living within 'normal' society, then it's much better to age as a human would, that way they can fit in and keep their secret selves, well, secret. If I remember correctly, the Twilight Cullens moved around quite regularly to avoid suspicion..ageing would prevent having to do this, though if one chose to remain at a certain age, they'd have to think about flitting at some point.

['thul]

True. constant age = regular movement required. But many incarnations of the vampire mythos do not have such conveniences as choice about age. a far more convenient form would be cyclical age. aging normally, then regressing to say, late childhood around age 80 or so. This however, is not common. Most versions of born (near-)immortals age to full maturity, then stop.
in the cases of those who are only nearly immortal, the aging process might start a few years before death, or even shorter time before, giving them countless years in their "prime".

for turned immortals (classic vampire bite system), the typical age would be whatever age they were at being turned. like the eternal child vampires.

[fool-ish]

In this particular instance (current book) the 'made' vampire will forever be the age she was at the time of the change. So, now I'm intrigued as to whether the 'natural born' vampire will stop his ageing process in order to be with the girl he's just made vampire. That's assuming they are going to be together, which they will of course, because it's YA fiction and there's always gonna be a relationship between the human and the vamp

The cyclical idea is quite way out there for me! Growing old, then reverting right back to youth..disorientating to say the least!

['thul]

which book is it?

If the natural-born one can choose to end aging whenever, or end up aging till reaching the "ancient" state, then it is not unlikely that he will stop.
At the same time, there are those who look upon vampires caring about humans as anything but food as unnatural. Their type of view might have him choose for himself, rather than choosing to fit with his mate.

[fool-ish]

It's the first story of three, in a book called Night World by L J Smith of Vampire Diaries fame.