Reconstructing Friendly Vampires (And Dhampyrs).

I'm aware that everyone is tired of gentle, nice vampires. The thing is I have a story about two dhampyrs being raised by their mother's coven, and they aren't homicidal, in fact they're rather decent, I reallly don't won't them to come of as being the Cullens. I want to make friendly vampires interesting again. Anyone have any thoughts? And also any old vampire tropes that aren't used enough?

edited 9th Jul '11 11:51:59 PM by Zolnier

I'm not too familiar with vampire tropes, but I like the idea of making friendly vampire/dhampyrs, but allow them to keep their dignity. The problem with the modern vampire (Twilight, True Blood, etc.) is that they've gone from being horrifying, unnatural creatures of the night to sultry sex symbols who are essentially above the law. They're no longer something to fear - they're something to envy. (And I'm sure Its Just Some Random Guy would agree https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2ENznSexo8&feature=channel_video_title)

So I guess I have a couple of ideas.

1. Maybe you can make the vampires unattractive, or at least not teenage heartthrobs. Like Orlok from Nosferatu! 2. Let there be some kind of downside to being a vampire, something to tell the audience that these people are not better than you and should be given some sympathy. You can delve into the classic weaknesses of sunlight and holy water, or invent some weaknesses of your own.

Plus, it's pretty easy to avoid Twilight mistakes. You can make your characters well-rounded, and not flat, bland pieces of wish-fulfilling fantasies. If you want them to be friendly to humans, that's fine, but you have to strike a balance between their love of humanity and their necessity to feed off of them. Hey, maybe you can make that into a plot point! And try not to make them "vegetarian" vampires - that's just cheating.

My vampires tend to find someone, drug them, siphon some blood and dump them infront of a hospital, they feel a bit ashamed of acting like date rapists. And any ways sunlight could affect them other than exploding? Also Undead Child is averted, a turned child will grow up but will do it slowly. Also the crushes end up turned. I'm aware of most of all the bitter parts of this Bittersweet Ending, any elements that could be kind of happy?

edited 10th Jul '11 12:46:37 AM by Zolnier

As for the sunlight, using the old method of having it just make them unable to use some of their powers sounds good to me.

So does this seem silly. Dhampyrs gestate in a month, age rapidly to about five looking in a few months, but take a century to fully grow up.

It doesn't sound silly, but it's certainly very strange.

Any vampiric traits that could be cute on a child? And turning, anyone have any opinion on turning methods?

Turning methods would affect very much your setting. What's the situation of your world right now? Is there a Masquarade, and if there is, in what level?

Modern day, masqurade enforced by Witch Species organization.

Cute vampire traits:

• Obsessive-compulsive disorder: Well not that cute, but would not look too out of place with a kid...
• Mind controll: (They ALLWAYS get the candy they whine about in the store...)
• Animal control: All kids love animals, and they get an easy axess to snack.
• Hating Garlic: Not because tey are vapires, but because they are little kids that think it taste icky...

One thing I've thought about this: to be tolerable, friendly vampires should be examples of Dark Is Not Evil. That means that they have to actually be dark, not cheap wish-fulfillment vehicles. I suggest making your vampire traits be actually unpleasant (for instance, Looks Like Orlok).

So would it be funny if the twins were sunny, cheerful children?

edited 10th Jul '11 7:00:34 PM by Zolnier

You know I think friendly vampires become lame when they don't have enough weakneses.

Happy Dhampire kids, why not? Unexpected, and it seems promising if done well.

99.99999% of the other Dhampires out there seems to be Wangsty brats who hate daddy, so i would be more than happy with you providing some variation...

I agree the vampires should have weaknesses, well others than BisheSparkles that is... Some like running waterdoesn't make sense, but Obsessive-compulsive disorder does (at least a bit more).

By the way, have you decided on how they look yet?

edited 11th Jul '11 2:21:10 AM by TheBorderPrince

They have very ruddy skin, solid silver eyes, fangs, sharp finger nails, and sort of shiny hair.

And they go to a normal kindergarten. Right...

Dhampyrs look more human.

Was it the kids or the vampires you described? (It was the kids apperance I asked about.)

(If it was the vampires and not the kids you described, how on earth did their parents get togther? (It must have been either rape, glamour or mind control, since no sane human would date anything looking like that volounterily...)

The kid's have sort of a rosy complexion, less pronounced fangs, normal eyes and hair. And the full vampires aren't as ulgy as they sound, and it was dark.

Make them more like Japanese Vampires. They usually aren't undead, instead they usually have to drink blood more for some magical reason (not that it wasn't a magical reason before but...they don't like super-crave it usually, they just need it to live). And be more like Elves, they have a great deal of dignity and pride. Not evil just...aloof and mysterious. And maybe a bit creepy.

And where people go wrong with "friendly vampires" isn't the fact they are friendly. It's the fact that they Wangst about their lot in life despite being Cursed with Awesome, and fall in love with the protagonist at the drop of a hat. That or the vampires are hyped as completely evil but all the evidence is to the contrary (NOT killing the heroine and pretty much giving her whatever help she needs for no other reason than respect or a promise or "there's something about her").

It's not friendly vampires that are getting old, it's wangsty ones. They just happen to be friendly because if they weren't they'd just eat the heroine before they had a chance to fall in love with her (not that it usually takes very long).

edited 11th Jul '11 2:57:27 AM by NoirGrimoir

Well my vampires do breath, and their hearts beat just not much...

Okay, let's roll with the silver eyes. They're that way because they're dark-adapted. Unfortunately, that means vampire eyesight is horrible in sunlight, requiring the darkest of sunglasses to function. The older vampires constantly gripe about the omnipresence of street lighting these days. This means it's nearly impossible for a full vampire to hold down a day job or even most night shifts.

And while their unusual metabolism reduces many expenses, they still do need money for various things. They might rely on dhampyrs for getting steady jobs, and perhaps one of the vampires is the real person behind four or five supposedly different hack writers over the years.

Oh, friendly stuff they can do, keep crime down in their neighborhood. Not by physically fighting it, that would draw too much attention, but they do make a lot of anonymous phone calls to the police (one of whom is probably in on the existence of vampires and covers for them.)

I like those. Any ways the dhampyrs being nine months old and having their mum's memories could affect things? They look five. Also their "parents" own a nightclub but having two five year olds running around hampers buisness.

edited 11th Jul '11 5:06:20 AM by Zolnier

They will know a lot of things, but it is not sure that they will understand them.

They could possibly be good at outsmart people...

Well, snacking on the guests would be one problem, they would think the music are too loud...

edited 11th Jul '11 12:11:12 PM by TheBorderPrince

So any thoughts on vampire powers? They would be stronger, faster and tougher being mean't to prey on humans. And here's a sum up of vampire appearence, they loook life people with weird teeth who's haven't dried their hair after a shower and are constantly flushed, like they've been out in the hot sun all day, and are wearing silver contacts.