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Post by DeadpanDoubter on Aug 6, 2009 0:02:19 GMT -5
Fucking awesome idea-- human weapons against the "monster menace" (once the idiots realize that they've been living in their midst all this time). D'ya suppose it's possible to induce this condition on purpose? I see that it says "many exposures"...so silver workers deal with it? Damn you, now I won't get to sleep. *clicks on the link* EDIT: "Reports of cases of argyria and a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency statement suggest that 1 to 4 grams of silver or a silver compound taken in medication in small doses over several months may cause argyria in some humans." It seems they've already begun testing. Hmmm.
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Post by kristine on Aug 6, 2009 0:07:41 GMT -5
Fucking awesome idea-- human weapons against the "monster menace" (once the idiots realize that they've been living in their midst all this time). D'ya suppose it's possible to induce this condition on purpose? I see that it says "many exposures"...so silver workers deal with it? Damn you, now I won't get to sleep. *clicks on the link* EDIT: "Reports of cases of argyria and a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency statement suggest that 1 to 4 grams of silver or a silver compound taken in medication in small doses over several months may cause argyria in some humans." It seems they've already begun testing. Hmmm. google colloidal silver here's one to look at www.boingboing.net/2007/12/20/another-person-turns.htmledited to add this too www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/PhonyAds/silverad.html
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Post by skyfire on Aug 6, 2009 0:08:03 GMT -5
Fucking awesome idea-- human weapons against the "monster menace" (once the idiots realize that they've been living in their midst all this time). D'ya suppose it's possible to induce this condition on purpose? I see that it says "many exposures"...so silver workers deal with it? If you really want to have fun, do a scene in which a vampire gets taken down by someone with some hairspray and a Zippo.
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Post by lunarxero on Aug 6, 2009 0:09:27 GMT -5
An older child killed by its mother’s neglect would turn into a Pijawika, which could only be killed by cutting off its head and sticking it between its legs" that's vaguely ... sexual and disturbing. Why would putting it's head between it's legs kill it, where just beheading it wont? OH, OH! Fun Fact you may want to incorporate - if you are looking for something kinda twisted to throw in you could use this....What if, in a world where Vampires didn't like silver, people started to get this condition on purpose. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argyriathere are people in the US today who have had this problem due to the use of colloidal silver. If this leaves a small deposit of silver in the skin touching these people would be dangerous to any supernatural beasty that has a silver allergy. That is a very awesome idea.
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Post by kristine on Aug 6, 2009 0:13:55 GMT -5
Fucking awesome idea-- human weapons against the "monster menace" (once the idiots realize that they've been living in their midst all this time). D'ya suppose it's possible to induce this condition on purpose? I see that it says "many exposures"...so silver workers deal with it? If you really want to have fun, do a scene in which a vampire gets taken down by someone with some hairspray and a Zippo. The original Buffy the Vampire Slayer already did it.
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Post by DeadpanDoubter on Aug 6, 2009 0:18:30 GMT -5
If you really want to have fun, do a scene in which a vampire gets taken down by someone with some hairspray and a Zippo. The original Buffy the Vampire Slayer already did it. Fucking Buffy, she's like the MacGuyver of Hunters...or so I hear. *pouts* But yes, thank you SO much for the information about Argyria and colloidal silver! I doubt I would've stumbled across that idea on my own, and it's so fucking kickass.
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Post by schizophonic on Aug 6, 2009 14:24:59 GMT -5
Fucking Buffy, she's like the MacGuyver of Hunters...or so I hear. *pouts* I dunno. that original movie may have had the "hairspray" moment, but she was clueless.
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Post by wmdkitty on Aug 6, 2009 21:58:19 GMT -5
RE: Twilight
Most of the vampire lore in Twilight sucks.
But the idea of vampirism being transmitted by venom does make sense.
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Post by peanutfan on Aug 7, 2009 14:27:17 GMT -5
Another source of awesome ideas is Brian Lumley's "Necroscope" series.
Also, if vampirism is transmitted by venom, why not expand that to make it a retroviral disease that lives in all bodily fluids, thus creating the possiblity of an AIDS-like epidemic of sexually-transmitted vampirism?
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Post by wmdkitty on Aug 7, 2009 15:15:33 GMT -5
Another source of awesome ideas is Brian Lumley's "Necroscope" series. Also, if vampirism is transmitted by venom, why not expand that to make it a retroviral disease that lives in all bodily fluids, thus creating the possiblity of an AIDS-like epidemic of sexually-transmitted vampirism? Now that's a damn good idea!
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Post by Damen on Aug 7, 2009 19:44:48 GMT -5
I'm actually really fond of how Jim Butcher handled the three main different types of vampire lore in The Dresden Files. I liked how he dealt with the various bits of vampire lore without resorting to the cliché line used by writers unable to give a decent explanation of why their vampires are different; "That's only in the movies/books/comics/tea leaves/etc."
The three types of vampires in the Dresden Universe each have different characteristics, two being the most well known types of vampires and the third being referred to coequally as "Vampires" and "Succubi/Incubi." They're divided up into different Courts, two of the courts are ruled in the fashion of a monarchy while the third isn't really specified as having a leadership.
White Court: These are vampires which feed on emotions and in doing so, drain the life of their victims. The three main houses of the Court feed on different emotions and are the House Raith, which feeds on Lust; House Malvora, which feeds on fear; and House Skavis, which feeds on despair and the Court is ruled by King Raith. What makes the White Court dangerous is that aside from being supernaturally beautiful (as well as supernatural levels of strength, speed, agility, eye-hand coordination, healing, and resilience) they are also the most difficult to identify as vampires. They are able to blend in with the general population and so you get no warning about what they are until they do something overt. When they're getting hungry or seducing a victim, their eyes will often change color, taking on a silvery sheen until they're totally white. When they're using their supernatural abilities, their skin will start to glow. However, they don't give two licks about garlic, stakes, holy water or hallowed ground. Their blood is a strong aphrodisiac and can quickly override common sense. However, when dealing with an enemy, outright fighting weakens a vampire's standing within the Court, so they try to set it up so their enemies are dealt with in a way that can't be connected to the White Court.
Red Court: These are the most commonly mentioned vampires and taken as a whole, they're the largest of all the courts and the most dangerous. They're able to hide their nature behind what Harry Dresden and others call a "Flesh Mask." That is, their human skin. Below their skin is a bat-like creature, complete with wings and fangs and rotting fruit smells. They hold the usual supernatural abilities but their biggest advantage is how quickly they can increase their numbers. However, sunlight will burn away their skin and basically set them in fire and they also cringe at the sight of holy symbols. Their saliva is a type of very powerful narcotic which can be rapidly absorbed through the skin and creates a sense of euphoria, which is useful when you want a victim to come back. They're ruled by the Red King, but his name was never mentioned.
Black Court: Think Dracula, without the purple prose. Garlic, holy water, sunlight, coffins, stakes, the whole nine yards. In the Dresden Universe, it was the White Court who urged Bram Stoker to publish Dracula as a how-to manual for hunting Black Court vampires. The results there being that only the strongest, smartest, and most ruthless of the Black Court has survived the hunts of the old times. As a Court, they're the smallest in numbers and weakest in political power in the world of the supernatural, but in one-on-one combat they're the most deadly of any vampire that you'll face. Even the newest and weakest of the Black Court is more than a match for the average member of the other Vampire Courts. What makes them so easy to spot is that they are, essentially, walking corpses. Even as vampires they're still decomposing. It seems the only limit to their decay is that they stop short of becoming skeletons.
Like I said, I think he dealt with the different vampire lores quite well when he came up with the Dresden Files.
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Post by kristine on Aug 8, 2009 1:26:03 GMT -5
Another source of awesome ideas is Brian Lumley's "Necroscope" series. Also, if vampirism is transmitted by venom, why not expand that to make it a retroviral disease that lives in all bodily fluids, thus creating the possiblity of an AIDS-like epidemic of sexually-transmitted vampirism? Now that's a damn good idea! In Hambly's Those who Hunt the Night vampires are able to screw with human perception which makes them seem faster, or prettier, or change shape, but they actually can't. They also can read surface thoughts and can screw with the human subconscious. When a vampire is born the human body 'dies' and the master/creator vampire holds part of the fledglings personality in himself and then gives it back to the fledgling when they rise (if they feel generous - if they don't they give only pieces back little by little to keep the fledgling tied to them) and the master knows deeply intimate personal things about the fledgling that they never would have told someone else. That also creates a kind of control. I'm actually really fond of how Jim Butcher handled the three main different types of vampire lore in The Dresden Files. Yeah, I like his version too, I just don't like that they can't be separated from the whole 'your-soul-is-damned-so-you-will-do-evil' religious crap - but hey, nothing's perfect.
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Post by Admiral Lithp on Aug 8, 2009 9:25:43 GMT -5
According to my friend, the books made it wound more like some kind of badass aura thing. I usually just say that if it's true, it's an example of a communication breakdown, as Meyers went to great lengths to get the movie made as she envisioned it. NO, the books did NOT imply "aural", at least not every which way I and many other anti-Twitards have read it (just look up "twilight sucks" and you'll see I'm justified in making such a broad claim). "Sparkled like thousands of tiny diamonds" does NOT imply "I'm such a badass vampie nom nom"...at least, it doesn't to me. It more implies "yo bitch check it all the 5-year-olds are attracted to my shinies" I was rather skeptical of the claim, myself. Selective memory, perhaps? In any case, he claims the book "isn't that bad," but is "still pretty bad."
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Post by peanutfan on Aug 8, 2009 10:59:14 GMT -5
I'm actually really fond of how Jim Butcher handled the three main different types of vampire lore in The Dresden Files. Yeah, I like his version too, I just don't like that they can't be separated from the whole 'your-soul-is-damned-so-you-will-do-evil' religious crap - but hey, nothing's perfect. I don't really get that vibe from them...I can see where you're coming from, but Butcher emphasizes that vampires are predators first and foremost. The reason many of their actions strike humans as "evil" is because they're done in pursuit of food or the ability to gain food easier. There's no denying that Bianca (the first vampire character introduced in the series) is evil, or at least becomes so between the first and third books, but most of the other vampire characters act from pragmatism above all else. Even when Mavra is screwing with Dresden, it's because she sees it as the quickest and most efficient way to achieve some goal, even if it isn't immediately apparent. They also tend to operate by old school codes of honor and hospitality, at least the letter of such things. On top of all that, there's the fact that there's an organization of Red Court victims that have banded together to resist the call of burgeoning vampirism, and it wouldn't surprise me if Butcher eventually came out with something similar for the Black Court. Since White Court vampires can only be born, not made, they aren't as big an issue on that front, but Thomas is shown to resist his hunger and remain as "human" as possible right up until "Turn Coat". I just got a hilarious mental image...since Red and Black Court vampires are vulnerable to symbols of faith and science is often referred to in the Dresden universe as just another religion, I'd like to see a physicist hold off a vampire attack with an equation, or a biologist with a copy of "Origin of Species."
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Post by RavynousHunter on Aug 8, 2009 11:23:56 GMT -5
Personally, in Reign, I've deviated somewhat from your standard bite-transmitted-disease, night-walking monstrosity that feasts on human blood.
My vampires are half-daemons created when an ice daemon and mortal mate. They suffer from a congenital disease called "Heat Sickness;" if they've been in broad daylight or near lava or other such hot conditions for over three hours, they become sickened. If they don't find a place to cool off within another two hours, they become delirious and suffer from extreme nausea. After seven consecutive hours of exposure, they fall to the ground in a coma and must be resuscitated in a cool place within an hour or they will die.
Also, while they do drink blood, they don't drink it for any mystical reasons, it is simply the most satiating food for them. Most civilized vampires have rudimentary schooling in alchemy (as it is mandatory in their school system) which allows them to create blood out of a special powder and a bit of water. They can also eat "normal" food, and while high-protein foods like beef, pork, or chicken are satisfying for them, grains and the like do next to nothing for them. You see, its a dietary thing. The vampires evolved in an area called "the Southern Wastes," a desolate region in the south of Gideon which is brutally cold all year round (much like the Antarctic). Very few creatures live in this frozen hell other than the Vampires, and even fewer forms of plant life, so killing the animals that live there would quickly deplete an already scarce food supply. So, the Vampire ancestors decided to instead drain the creatures of a portion of their blood and consume it as their primary source of protein.
Through the millennia, they evolved to such a state that they survive primarily on protein and iron, while they do require carbs and other such nutrients (just like everyone else), they require far less. Their brains have even adapted to be able to use protein in the place of glucose if no glucose is available. Of course, this isn't as good as glucose, and they suffer from some deleterious mental affectations should this occur.
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