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fox-guardian · 1 year ago

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okay one person said yes so here's the vampires and werewolves ramblings from my little original story with lila and redd that i still don't have a name for

THE BIG VAMPIRES AND WEREWOLVES RAMBLE LET'S GO

the vampires and werewolves are mostly typical in their appearance, methods, and weaknesses, just to slightly different degrees. the sun won't immediately incinerate a vampire, but it will give severe burns much faster than usual that could definitely kill one, just much slower than being incinerated. werewolves develop an allergy to silver but are about as easily murdered with a silver bullet as with a regular one so in that regard, not much of a difference.

the whole faith-based weaknesses thing is much. blurrier. i hesitate to explain it away but let's call it varying on a case-by-case basis.

also humans at large do not know that werewolves and vampires are real, they're more-or-less secret/hiding in plain sight

VAMPIRES:

i feel compelled to start with the social/cultural aspects that are focused on in the story.

vampirism is treated less as a disease or curse and more as a lifestyle choice by most vampires. due to the turning process involving drinking each other's blood and not solely being bitten, there's usually more consent involved in the process, so most vamps are turned by choice. we see this in the "support group" that turns out to be more of a fun club of vampires that redd attends, in which he is surprised to find that he's the only one that was turned unwillingly.

vampires who chose the lifestyle tend to come in a few different varieties: the people who are 100% down with all the vampire shit one way or another and are handling things well, the people who are mostly down but have hang-ups about certain things, and the people who Thought they were down and ended up unprepared for basically everything.

the amount of Discourse in the vamp lifestyle community is insane.

there's different ways that vamps go about obtaining blood. usually it's either via an underground blood bag market (ideally obtained from willing donors, but ofc sometimes not) or by finding live donors or "thralls" as some say. many vamps have strong opinions on other vamps' drinking preferences.

the most hardcore of vampires are either living with houses full of willing thralls, or scouring the streets for unsuspecting victims (which is deeply frowned upon in the vampire community because Come On Now Let's Not Put Up Neon Signs Saying VAMPIRES ARE HERE we're trying to be Subtle)

in any case, in order to not Die Of Thirst as a vampire, you need to be able to maintain regular connections of some kind. either with someone selling blood in bagged form (and then you need to verify the source of the blood if ethics is an issue for you) or you need to keep good relationships with any live donors (and ideally you'd have multiple to rotate through so that blood loss isn't an issue for their health) (this is difficult for redd because he can barely stand going grocery shopping much less going into a dark alley to ask someone for a blood bag or *shudders* maintaining long-terms pleasant relations with live donors he has to see regularly)

onto biology

[ID: A sketchy digital drawing of a upper set of human teeth with larger, sharper front incisors and longer, sharper canines. end ID]

the teeth resemble that of an actual vampire bat, and the proportions of the incisors and canines vary from individual to individual, though some vamps get dental surgery to shave the incisors down and/or wear additional fang caps to achieve the classic fanged look if they aren't lucky when they turn. this tooth formation is very convenient for multiple biting styles, depending on tooth size. either the "carving" method using the front incisors to make a single angled cut, or the classic fangs puncturing two holes. either way, the blood is then licked/sucked up via usual mouth methods (no tooth straws here sorry) the wounds caused by bites must be cared for via usual means (no magic healing saliva sorry). also the teeth usually grow into their final shape within 30 days of being turned

vampires can only subsist on Human blood. animal blood will tide their hunger and fill their stomachs, but will not nourish them as they need. if a vampire goes too long without feeding on human blood, they will enter into a Feeding Frenzy

the time it takes to enter a feeding frenzy varies, but the longest most go from their last human sip to the frenzy is around 1.5 months. and that is the absolute longest with animal blood as a substitute. without anything it takes Far less time.

symptoms of a feeding frenzy start soon. extra strong cravings for blood ofc, decreased body temperature, lack of energy, shaky hands, etc. the closer you get to the frenzy the more intense the symptoms become, and more start to appear, such as decreased blood flow to the extremities (mostly fingers and toes), various aches and pains increasing in intensity, seemingly random bursts of energy, and also the irises will turn red when the subject is exposed to blood or when the frenzy is around the corner as a sort of final warning. increased sensory sensitivity and abnormal behavior such as suddenly chomping on people and/or animals is also a thing.

the frenzy isn't officially entered until the vampire transforms into a giant bat monster. it is more giant bat than it is human, in appearance. it loses almost all conscious thought, relying only on instinct to survive, and will drink the blood of any person it can get its weird little wing-hands on until satiated (which will take. a very long time. historically they never found out the limit because they were usually mobbed and killed by then) there is no known cure for a feeding frenzy, only prevention. the prevention is just drinking blood regularly like you're supposed to.

vampires are also extra sensitive to light and have an increased sense of smell, but their hearing doesn't change much unless they have entered a feeding frenzy. also garlic won't kill them but they are allergic (to the flower also) and also regular food can be consumed but gives them the shits like you would not Believe.

WEREWOLVES:

once again starting with the social aspects, lycanthropy is treated more like a sickness or curse by most werewolves within the story. lycanthropy only requires either a bite or drinking the water from a pawprint to turn, so unwilling werewolves are more common (usually via the bite method obvs) (lila is an exception to this rule)

the group lila attends is a legitimate support group for people suffering with lycanthropy, and they treat it as a safe space to discuss all aspects of the disease. including the part where upon first turning, people usually turn violent in some capacity, usually due to fear and confusion, but occasionally due to rage experienced prior to turning having a fresh outlet alongside the fear and confusion (generally the story doesn't treat the killing of various victims as very serious, i'm taking more of a comedy route with that, so the support group is like "oh you killed and ate three people? i completely understand you are so valid for that")

there are also a few werewolf-made support apps to assist people throughout the lunar cycle. there's a big focus on self care and promoting Peace and Serenity around the full moon to ensure a safe transformation and minimal collateral damage. (yes it is basically a period tracking app. yes it is very gender euphoric for lila to have)

there isn't a lot that can be done to mitigate symptoms of lycanthropy, but there Are both scientist werewolves and werewolf allies working towards a cure

now for the biology

this is the part that i have less of. mostly because werewolf diets aren't that crazy i feel like. there is definitely an increased demand of meat, especially red meat, and raw meat is also now more easily/safely digestible due to a change in the makeup of the stomach acid!

werewolves transform based on the lunar cycle, but "mini" transformations can be triggered in high-stress situations as well. these include things like sudden fur growth, changes from hands/feet to more paw-like structure, and even facial changes and tail growth. however, these changes (even a full-body change) will not be as severe as when they occur under the full moon.

first transformations occur on the nearest or second-nearest full moon. like. if you get bitten the night before the full moon, you get turned the next cycle, there hasn't been enough time for it to set in yet. you have to wait at least a week. initial symptoms include increased body hair growth, extra cravings for red meat, increased aggression and territoriality, and an increased sense of smell. the first transformation is always the most painful, and usually pain decreases to what will become typical levels between the third and twelfth cycle. (there are werewolf meds/methods/life hacks/etc to help with the pain)

after the first transformation, certain permanent physical changes occur. the canines all become larger and sharper (you get four fangs) and the ears become longer and pointier, and the eyes typically experience a permanent color change as well, depending on the original shade. usually lighter eye colors like blue or gray will turn icy blue or white, while lighter browns might become more golden. darker browns and black usually remain the same. tapetum lucidum also. the whites of the eyes also turn black during transformation, but this is usually not permanent.

the big transformation itself involves a full-body change into a giant wolf-human hybrid, which can go from quadrupedal to bipedal fairly easily. speech in this form is difficult, but not impossible, mostly the voice just gets deeper and rougher. due to the energy expense of transforming, a great feast is recommended before, during, and after a full moon transformation (the biggest one during). obtaining large amounts of red meat every month gets costly and welp there's only so much the werewolves can do about that since they tend to keep things secret between them and humans. you're on your own there with obtaining it. hope you're friends with a butcher (or an experienced hunter who no longer has a need for the Large Amounts Of Meat he keeps from the deer he hunts for leather these days) (cough cough that's redd cough cough)

also, werewolf blood counts as human enough to sustain a vampire.

i thiiiink that's everything i have so far?? if anyone has questions/suggestions lemme know i'd love to brainstorm <3

#ramblings with major #how true that tag is today #lila and redd #cursing #hopefully this is coherent. ask me all the things if you'd like uwu <3

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