#innistrad vampires

[nightmarist]

Ohh since @argyleheir's been reblogging vampire lores:

One of my absolute favorite pieces of vampire lore comes from Magic: the Gathering's Innistrad vampires:

When vampires feed, they will sink their teeth into any exposed flesh. Usually the neck is most convenient, but an arm or even a cheek will do. But the siring bite is special. Vampires want to avoid marring the appearance of their future peers, so often a siring bite is made in some out-of-view location, such as on the upper thigh, the torso under the arm, or the bottom of a foot (although in this last case the victim must be special indeed to be worth the vampire's self-humiliation). — A Planeswalker's guide to Innistrad: Stensia and Vampires

I love the idea that the location of The Bite has special meaning!

I also think it can add to the hierarchy of vampire spawns and bride-grooms. A vampire can cultivate a coven/bloodline/what-have-you of sired spawn, but I think a hierarchy can exist between "lower status" vampires bitten on the neck versus a sired vampire without any visible markings (and thus can "pass" as original vampires since Innistrad's first vampires were changed via ritual, but sired vampires thereafter were bitten), or perhaps they would want to flaunt their special marking by wearing, purposely, low or odd-cut blouses and bodices, or above-ankle trousers and skirts.

The cultural implications of hiding them in non-vampire society vs flaunting them (with jewelry? bespoke clothing? makeup?) in vampire society are interesting!

The thigh bite has more overt sexual implications, being so close to the genitals. Under the arm can have fetishistic implications (breast related or armpit related, especially for queer vampires), but it is also very near the ribs and thus heart. The actual torso near the heart can be romantic, and seductive, without being overtly sexually implied. The foot or ankle I think imply something special for two reasons: the obvious one being that the foot in western culture (as these particular vampires are based in the classic Victorian Gothic sense), the foot is seen as dirty for touching the ground.

But I also think there's an additional submissiveness involved, prostrating oneself Below the person you are siring, essentially on your hands and knees (I'm sure there are more comfortable positions but that I find is the intuitive assumption, like kissing the ground or the feet in reverence). Plus, it's one of hardest bites to see when you're wearing long trousers or gowns, boots, or tall socks + garters where the neck is almost always exposed save for chokers, the under arm can be exposed in working garments or simple shirtlessness, and revealing/low cut or open blouses can reveal chest bites. The other unnoticeable options would be the upper legs or lower abdomen, which again have more sexual and seductive implications compared to the reverence of the foot or ankle bite.

I'd like to add that an additional bite location, the Wrist, could be seen as very romantic and perhaps even chaste, more special than the neck but not as special as the ankle given its visibility.

[goldstarknight]

MtG Crimson Vow x Octopath Traveler (2021)

This was the first time I experimented with blender and did a larger pixelart project. It took me an entire week to make, but the effort was worth it. I learned a ton and gained a lot of confidence in my skills.

[balis77]

Jace: "With the Omenpaths, the tyrants of the multiverse will conquer entire planes for fun. Look at how much damage Bolas did with one portal, with all of these... the damage is too great."

The Tyrants of the Multiverse: "Holy shit this cowboy hat is cool. I love this plane."

[voxbelicosa]

Olivia Voldaren - sketchbook

[mtg-cards-hourly]

Slaughter Specialist

From every kill, a gruesome trophy.

Artist: Kari Christensen TCG Player Link Scryfall Link EDHREC Link

[reuxben]

Here’s our MTGinktober for “Beast,” starring Amalia Benavides Aguirre and Affectionate Indrik! ¡Uy! Smitten by a vampire, ¿eh?

Click this post’s Source link for this piece’s Making-Of.

More MTGinktober here.

Daily art updates on Instagram and Twitter.

Reuxben

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

Voldaren Thrillseeker by Viko Menezes

[suitetarts]

to all who are buying astarion's magic the gathering card as a collectible: the art is aight but i'm sorry. he's terrible. a 4/4 with deathtouch lifelink and a mid end of turn effect for 6 fucking mana? flop

[bryanfrosadoart]

Olivia Voldaren fan art, from 2021. Olivia © WotC

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YOUTUBE

[mwittaker]

Me after a sexy vampire girl cast shatter on an elk in D&D: "Would vampires treat bone marrow like we treat pulp in OJ?"

[art-of-mtg]

Vampiric Fury (Innistrad) - Matt Stewart

[nightmarist]

Sorin, Nahiri, Avacyn, & Innistrad Stories

It's difficult to make Just a post about Just Innistrad when Sorin is so heavily tied to it and likwise Avacyn and Nahiri are tied to him among others, but I did my best to filter out what I could.

Planeswalker's Guide to Innistrad

PLANESWALKERS GUIDE (Split Up in Sections) Introduction | Gavony | Humans Kessig | Werewolves Nephalia | Undead Stensia | Vampires

Planeswalker's Guied to Avacyn Restored Part 1 Planeswalker's Guide to Avacyn Restored Part 2

GENERAL

The Lunarch's Journal

The Lithomancer

Stirring from Slumber

Sorin's Revelation

Sorin's Homecoming

SHADOWS OVER INNISTRAD & ELDRITCH MOON

Under the Silver Moon

A Gaze Blank And Pitiless

Unwelcome

Sacrifice

The Mystery of Markov Manor

The Drownyard Temple

Promises Old and New

Liliana's Indignation

Games

The Lunarch Inquisition

Stories and Endings

I Am Avacyn

The Archmage of Goldnight

Stone and Blood

Emrakul Rises

Innistrad's Last Hope

Campaign of Vengeance

Saint Traft and the Flight of Nightmares

Battle of Thraben

The Promised End

MIDNIGHT HUNT

Witch of the Woods

Motives of the Wolf

The Fall of House Betzold

Harvesttide

Night Closes 'Round

CRIMSON VOW

Tithes and invitations

The Dolorous Weight of Pleasantries

Forever Hold Your Peace

The Wedding Crashers

Til Death Do Us Part

CARDS & ARTWORKS Innistrad | Dark Ascension | Avacyn Restored Shadows Over innistrad | Eldritch Moon Midnight Hunt | Crimson Vow

Note: The cards often have flavor text (story) regarding the scenes depicted on the cards.

[oops-prow-did-it-again]

so in the vein of innistrad cards that make me go feral

THE IMPLICATIONS OF THIS ONE.

this is like if the pope had hired mercenaries that personally gifted him the severed wings of an actual breathing angel

[mask131]

Magic the Gathering: Innistrad (Innistrad block)

My favorite Red cards

The Vampires of Innistrad are split between Black and Red. Black vampires are those that appear in their noble, aristocratic, elegant self, as dark, creepy, seducing clans and families ruling over their domains... Red vampires are the vampires that give in to their bloodlust and base desires: violent brute, human-shaped beasts, hedonists of pure debauchery...

The "Planeswalker's Guide to Innistrad" gives numerous information about vampires in Innistrad:

Vampirism is not a virus or a curse. Vampires themselves call it a "condition of the blood": it is an "anointing" that is entirely and purely magic, and that very few among those that receive it consider as a curse. Vampires like to call it poetically "an ablution" or "a washing of the self in blood".

Vampires are not undead, though they have traits that can make one believe so (vampires do not age, their skin is cold to the touch...)

The vampire traits include: A skin pale and cool to the touch. Dark hair - usually it is black, but colors such as deep purple, dark magenta, burgundy and dark blue-green were also seen. (Some vampires like to wear wigs, either for fashion, either to disguise themselves among humans). Vampire's eyes have a black sclera, and irises of various colors, but usually gold or silver. The canines of a vampire are always more developed than the rest of their teeth, and when they bite someone they extend "about a quarter inch". They also have long and slightly curved fingernails.

Innistrad is a place of superstitions and folklore - as a result there are many tall tales and frightening stories about everything vampires can do. But in truth, Innistrad vampires only have THREE powers in total. One, they do not age and stay young forever. Two, their strength is the double of a normal human's (but not greater). Three, a "two-foot-wide aura of silence" emanates from them at will, meaning they can muffle all noises around them (including their victim's screams)...

However, beyond those three abilities, vampires can learn a form of magic unique to vampires. Called the "glamer" (a quasi-illusion magic, and thus a deformation of the "glamor"), it is a series of "mind-affecting spells" that only touch humans. A true illusion magic will change the subject's appearance as a whole and for all eyes - but the vampires' imperfect "glamer" can only affect the perception of humans and make them think they see something else. Any strong-willed human can easily break a vampire's glamer. However, beware! The older a vampire grows, the more powerful they get, and the "elders" have learned all sorts of other magic and spells - including the ability to fly into the sky, the ability to hypnotize people with their eyes, and the ability to turn into a bat or mist.

Innistrad vampires have numerous vulnerabilities: they are harmed or killed by any weapons of "living wood" (dead wood won't affect a vampire more than stone or steel) ; they cannot cross running water in which the moon is reflected ; water enchanted by Avacyn herself will burn them like acid ; Avacynian holy symbols paralyze vampires or make them flee... An interesting note about silver: I said before it harmed vampires. My bad, I made a mistake. Silver blades are not particularly more harmful to vampires (even though the blessing of Avacyn makes them a powerful weapon against them). Silver truly is the bane of werewolves. BUT vampires are still disturbed and unsettled by the presence of silver: silver makes vampires perceive, realize and consider what their life would have been as regular mortal beings. They cannot fight it, the silver forces this vision upon them - and this is why vampires flee mirrors (which are coated in silver). They have a reflection in them... but it is the reflection of the person they could have been, rather than the monster they are now.

A vampire, to survive, must drink a human's full contenance of blood by moon cycle (so roughly five liters of blood across one moon's cycle). But vampires rarely stick to the "bare minimum": vampires always drink more than just the obliged five liters. Vampires treat blood like wine, and even have a full blood commerce among each other (though a blood can only stay potent for three days or so, roughly the same time a plant stays alive once cut). The only way to preserve blood is to have a mage or wiard preserve it by magic - freezing the blood won't work. Vampires cannot drink the blood of a dead human (if the blood of a living human is like wine, "dead blood" is like vinegar) ; and they cannot drink the blood of animals (vampire-alchemists tried to convert animal blood into human blood, but all transmutations failed). Without human blood, the vampires will literaly "dry up" across a few days until their bodies turn to dust. Usually a vampire, when starting to "feed" off a victim, will "empty" the whole body ; only a vampire interrupted during their meal will leave a victim alive.

Merely being bitten by a vampire isn't enough to become one. To become a vampire, one must be emptied of their human blood AND receive the vampire's own blood. To do so, a vampire will cut their cheek or tongue so that, while they bite, their blood mingles with the human's. Across the three days that follow this exchange, the human will disdain food and crave blood - but not just any blood. Their "sire" blood, the blood of the vampire that began the transformation. If a human doesn't drink the sire's blood in those three days, they'll die ; if they do, they'll become vampires. Due to the vampires' hedonism, decadence and hubris (they believe themselves the "saviors" of humanity), they only select the "best" humans to become vampires: the most intelligent, the most talented, the most beautiful... And given vampires are very vain, a bite meant to create a new vampire will always be done in a very careful and hidden place. Unlike normal victims which are bitten in obvious organs (the neck, the arms, the cheeks), transformation bites will occur at the top of the thigh, on the torso right under the arm, or on the sole of the feet (though the Guide notes that the latter case only happens if the person is SPECIAL, because a vampire's ego is deeply humiliated by having to "kiss the feet" of a vulgar human).

[saltineofswing]

Embroiled in a lore revamp for Innistrad to remove as many of the problems with the worldbuilding as possible. Wanna see?

[I turn over my whiteboard to show a single post-it note that says ‘PLANESWALKERS RUIN EVERYTHING]

[mtg-cards-hourly]

Wedding Security

In lieu of payment, he was granted permission to devour any unauthorized visitors.

Artist: Francisco Miyara TCG Player Link Scryfall Link EDHREC Link