#goejlrm

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Get Familiar! - Ancient Vampires

Welcome to get familiar, a segment where I explain some important things you should know when immersing yourself in the daily lives of the supernatural!

This first installment is about ancient vampires. After all, it's important that we understand them and treat them with respect (unless they're dicks).

Ancient vampires are as mysterious as they are old, and can be a real pain to care for in public. There are only so many times you can convince people that they're just elaborate cosplayers. Ancient vampires are MUCH harder to hide in plain sight than most vampires.

What exactly IS an ancient vampire? How old do they have to be to be considered ancient?

That's a difficult question to answer. When is a human old? Some would say 60, some would say 70, some would say when their back and joints start hurting (and if that's the case then I'm an ancient human). Its all a matter of who you ask, really.

I tend to consider an ancient vampire to be a vampire who is at least 1 of 2 things:

1. Over around 1000 years old (give or take a few hundred years)

2. Physically different than a regular vampire

That second one is a little less straightforward. Vampires, obviously, do not age like humans do. They are immortal, they stay as they were when they were turned.

But as the centuries go by, they often start to change, bit by bit.

Imagine being a shapeshifter. You have the gift of transformation. Now, imagine being a shapeshifter who cannot look in a mirror, able to change forms at will but not having a reflection to remind yourself who you are.

This is the main reason why vampires change over time. I think they just... forget what they're supposed to look like. Typically this manifests in subtle changes, small adjustments but otherwise still mostly recognizable.

Here is a visual diagram thing I made to show some examples:

This guide shows the 3 more common changes, ears, eyes, and teeth. You can see these things manifesting in vampires as young as 500 (even earlier for the ears), though it's rarer to happen to anyone who isn't VERY old and "going through it".

The older the vampire, the more intense the changes. Some are shriveled or wrinkled, like something you'd find in a Skyrim crypt. An example of one that has still kept his basic human shape but still looks definitely ancient and definitely not human, famous in the vampire community, is the Baron. You've probably heard of him if you've been around vampires for at least a few years.

Some who are so ancient that it's honestly insane, like THE Sire, Göjlrm himself, look more beast than man. He is over 8000 years old (you don't look a day over 300, sir!) and as the oldest vampire alive, it's no surprise that he has lost so much of himself over the centuries. Still weirdly cute, though, like a winged vampire dog!

Ancient vampires may have a harder time adjusting to the modern age, especially if they speak a dead language. Be patient with them, they've been through more than you can comprehend.

They might suffer from intense loneliness, common to vampires after they hit a certain age. Hang out with your ancient masters if you have them, they might disrespect you as all others do, but they've seen so many eras and yet belong to none of them, they're out of place and everyone they knew is probably gone. A little kindness goes a long way, y'all.

I've talked your ears off enough, I hope you found this informative, now that you're familiar with changes in ancient vampires!

- Sair

P.S. Irving, if you're reading this, it's your turn to clean the blood thermoses.