As I am not familiar with any vampire lore besides that of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the like, I had a few, probably very silly-sounding, questions to ask. While I realize that quite a few of these questions have probably been asked before, I thought it better to sound like an idiot now and ask them here rather than seem like a snotch later by screwing people. If any of these questions were answered in the rules, I apologize. I'm looking for a bit of clarification is all.

1) On this site, do vampires always have their fangs visible? Or would it be okay to do something like what they do on a certain TV show and have the face change between human mask and demon face?

2) Do these vampires have any sort of special strengths, so long as they are balanced? Meaning: Can I have my vampire be a complete weakling that can't lift a fifty-pound bag of dog food, but be fast enough to dodge bullets? Or can he/she be strong enough to lift a Ford Expedition if they move with all the speed of a continental drift?

3) Can non-human blood sustain a vampire? Suppose I had a vampire that didn't like eating people, could he drink dogs instead?

4) Do crosses, stakes, garlic, holy water, and such injure vampires?

5) Is there any certain way a vampire should die? (No, I'm not planning on having them explode into dust...) I was thinking that if I killed a vamp character, maybe their body would decompose to whatever state it would be in if they had been killed rather than turned. (If they were turned a day ago, they'd look like they'd been killed a day ago. If they were turned three months ago, they'd putrify. If they were turned 1000 years ago, dust.)

6) Does the daytime make them go to sleep? (That sounds stupid, allow me to clarify) In some book, the vampires basically went into a coma when the sun rose, does that happen here?

7) Can vampires smoke, drink, get high, or otherwise indulge in such vices?

8) Is it mandatory to put links to your character's bio in your signature? (Excuse my patheticness, but I'm computer impaired and don't know how to do that.)

Okay, like I said before, I realize that some of that has been addressed in the rules. I just wanted to be absolutely sure about things. Thank-you!

Okay, I'm not really the authority on this, but I assume others will come and answer your questions later. There are a few answers I do know, though not all of them.

Numbers 1,2,4,6 can possibly be answered by the coven outlines thingys. Umm...if you don't know what I am talking about check the "Things to know before joining" section. There is a link in there that will tell you all about the different coven poweres and such. That's not to say that you have to choose a coven or that you are restricted to those certain powers, because I don't think you are...but they might help answer those questions. I might be answering these slightly out of order.

4.For instance, if you want your character to lean more towards the Ishak, or be more "evil" per-say, then yes, you're vampire would recoil from crosses and the like.

2. Strength-wise, most vampires, if not all are stronger than the average human. (Right?) My character, Amara, has both strength and speed. I don't think you have to choose between one or the other, but powers with them have to be fairly reasonable. You can't make them all-powerful in other words. They cannot have every single power, but I don't believe you have to balance them in the way you are thinking. Perhaps you can make your character have weak telepathy but strong mesmorizing powers or something of the sort. Every vampire has different powers. Traits like speed do tend to belong to certain covens as well as other powers, so if you are thinking about joining a coven it would be best to see which powers and personality best suit your character by looking in the covens link. Otherwise, you can choose to be Independent. Still though, as I've already said, powers have to be reasonable. If you aren't sure what is reasonable, but you have an idea, you can always ask a mod who can help you out.

1. That trait also depends on the coven and what sort of powers your vampire has...as well as personality. Tarepha have that ability, and I'm sure others do as well, but I'm not I don't know which. Not saying you have to choose Tarepha to do that, though maybe your characters abilities lie in that area. I think it could also depend on your sire and what coven or what abilities the sire had.

As for number six, that can also be answered in the covens link. Not all vampires have to fall asleep when the sun comes up. Some can actually walk in diffused sunlight. Most of these answers depend on what you want really...

3. As far as this goes, I'm pretty sure that would be okay, though I'm not sure a animal's blood would satiate a vampire as well as a humans, though they could probably live off of it. Someone correct me if I am wrong.

Not sure about 7 really. I've been wondering the same thing. Though I know that Skirr's character Colton has been drunk and I also know that Vix's character, Leo cannot get drunk. I don't think there is a definant answer for this one. Again, it's possibly based on preference.

5. Not that I know of. People on this site have come up with all sorts of ways a vampire can die or should die. Think of what is realistic (I know sounds silly) in that situation. What do you think makes most sense kind of thing?

8. No, you don't have to have the link in your signature. Many of us do, that way when we go to start an rp thread with someone we haven't rped with before they know some background about our characters without having to search for it. But if you would like to, all you have to do is go to your signature. Make sure you have copied the link for your bio (it's the web url at the top of the page). Then all you have to do is click the http:// button at the top and put it in there. Hope that made sense.

Anyway, I hope I've helped you some, at least enough to get started and what not. A mod will probably come along after me and clarify much better. Lol. Anyway, I'm just telling you what I know through experience.

Sheesh. That whole Coven-explaining thread was the only one I missed when I read through the rules.

Anyway.

So, can I have, say, a mix of powers that aren't set to any particular Coven, but still be in one? (Was that confusing?) If I chose strengths for my character that are not set to any one Coven, but something of a mixture, would I still be allowed to be in a certain Coven?

Also, can my character be a part of a Coven without being sired by one of the Coven?

Powers don't decide the coven, personality does. The powers are just those your character might lean towards with that coven. So no, if you have certain powers said coven won't reject you for them.

For your first question I'd just like to tell you, vampires here never really have a demon face. Just fangs, they maintain a human face otherwise. Enashe coven members have the retractable fangs and the rest are perminate.

Powers arn't balanced that way, though dodging bullets...I don't know if the mods allow that. Never seen someone do it on the boards so I hardly look. I would assume with enough distance it might be possible but, even for a vampire, that's insanely fast and more reflexes then speed.

For number seven I would say yes. Vampires can drink, smoke, and indugle in other vices. However, I'm not a mod so I can't be sure on this, I doubt the same effects would apply. Vampires don't have organs on this site so alchohol wouldn't be able to do much....nor would weed, but injecting things would since they do still have blood veins and a brain (Heart and possibly lungs too I think.) so it would sorta depend on the vice they are indulging in.

Just to be safe you may want to wait for a mod to answer some of these but, I think I covered it reasonably well. Any other questions I missed just ask and I'll do my best to answer them.

Yeah, what he said. It's not required that you have those powers or what-not. I was just trying to state that if you want to lean towards a certain coven, those powers might be something you have or whatnot...it might help you decide which coven you like.

As for alcohol. I always thought yes. Alcohol runs through the blood, which is what intoxicates you, so for me...I always thought that a drunk vampire was a possibility. Drugs though, I don't know...I expect if vampires can think they can get high, because it's all in the head. Yeah, I was just thinking about this.

That was just sort of an example. I'm not intending for any of my characters to be able to dodge bullets or anything.

Sorry for all the questions. I just want to do it, you know, right.

1) On this site, do vampires always have their fangs visible? Or would it be okay to do something like what they do on a certain TV show and have the face change between human mask and demon face?

A. What Gabriel said.

2) Do these vampires have any sort of special strengths, so long as they are balanced? Meaning: Can I have my vampire be a complete weakling that can't lift a fifty-pound bag of dog food, but be fast enough to dodge bullets? Or can he/she be strong enough to lift a Ford Expedition if they move with all the speed of a continental drift?

A. What Aspen said.

3) Can non-human blood sustain a vampire? Suppose I had a vampire that didn't like eating people, could he drink dogs instead?

A. Yes.

4) Do crosses, stakes, garlic, holy water, and such injure vampires?

A. In the coven descriptions (as you've likely already read).

5) Is there any certain way a vampire should die? (No, I'm not planning on having them explode into dust...) I was thinking that if I killed a vamp character, maybe their body would decompose to whatever state it would be in if they had been killed rather than turned. (If they were turned a day ago, they'd look like they'd been killed a day ago. If they were turned three months ago, they'd putrify. If they were turned 1000 years ago, dust.)

A. Personal preference.

6) Does the daytime make them go to sleep? (That sounds stupid, allow me to clarify) In some book, the vampires basically went into a coma when the sun rose, does that happen here?

A. Coven descriptions...

7) Can vampires smoke, drink, get high, or otherwise indulge in such vices?

A. After consulting with Skirr (our resident vampire biologist, among other things :P ), I guess this is a yes.

8) Is it mandatory to put links to your character's bio in your signature? (Excuse my patheticness, but I'm computer impaired and don't know how to do that.)

A. What Aspen said. Although if you do choose to do so, the code is simple to do up, and if you send me a PM I'll send you instructions.

Also, welcome to Vital. :)

Elaborating on number seven. (Alcohol, drugs, and the like.)

Your character doesn't have to be affected by drugs and alcohol. I know a few site members who don't have their characters become tipsy and swervy after a few shots of hard alcohol, but as a personal preference, I always enjoy a thread of Drunk Colton confessing personal and embarrassing, plot affecting information.

It's a complete personal preference in that regard.

As for why we allow vampires to drink alcohol, but not milk, is somewhat of a stretch, but, for pure fun purposes, this is the logic and research I have behind that.

Thank you, Wikipedia.

If alcohol (the specific type of alcohol being ethanol) is absorbed into the blood stream, then it causes no harm there. The stretch part is that alcoholic drinks are not pure ethanol, thus, there is a load of stuff being added to the blood that shouldn't be there. BUT. It's a stretch for the enjoyment of you, the role player. Take full advantage of the bars and nightclubs.

As for drugs. I say that anything inhaled smoke wise or powder wise (marijuana, crack/cocaine, opium, etc.) and anything injected directly into the blood stream (morphine, etc.) are a-ok by biological standards. Anything pill or plant wise (mushrooms, ecstacy, etc.) would not float, because they'd need to be digested in the stomach.

Also, I think I should mention that I do not support the use of these drugs in any way, shape, or form, before I sound like a complete drug-addict-alcoholic mix. Long live the clean blooded, and such.

Skirr, we all know your a druggie. :heh: Just kidding.

I love it when you talk science Skirr!

^^

Hey, Tsuka, I'll talk you some science any time you want. :shifty:

Why does that sound so incredibly kinky?

And, Gabriel, that is the LAST time I tell you any secrets... And I am never sleeping with you again. I am so done with your abuse!

*siiiiigh*

Skirrrr. Do we need to have an intervention for you /again/?

*takes out handcuffs* This might call for drastic measures...

Annnnd!

That's right Skirr. You're MY mistress, remember? >:D

No Skirr please! Please don't leave me! *Attacks in a sobbing clingy hug.*

*Shakes Head*

*Grumbling*

See it happens everytime...I always miss out...on the really funny bits.

^ I love those guys and gals! ^ _^

Uhh...For number 7, cause thats the only one I felt like reading, no they can't get high and stuff...

The vampire's body is dead, which means they aren't supposed to think, see, breathe, anything, however, the soul is inside the body, which uses the body to go about it's needs, and the only way to sustain inside the body is to drink life, or blood.

So, think of it as an insect, the exoskeleton protects the vulnerable muscle underneth, and gives it strength to lift stuff. The exoskeleton can't do anything on it's own.

The spirit is the vulnerable muscle underneth, and the body is the exoskeleton. If it weren't for the soul still inhabiting the body, they it couldn't move at all. However, if it weren't for the body, the soul wouldn't be able to move.

Basically, the body is dead, and is only animated by the fact that the soul is possessing it. That means that the brain is dead, the lungs are dead, the heart is no longer pumping blood, so on, and so forth.

That is the way I see it, correct me if I am wrong.

Not saying you are wrong, because that is a good way to look at it. Creative, to say the least. Technically, though, to drink blood and crave it, you'd think they'd have to be more than soul. Blood has to go somewhere, but the soul thing could explain how their brain could be dead and they could still think. *thinks* Very interesting...

I'm not sure, but anyway, this question has already been answered very clearly by Skirr and a few others, including myself. It's based on preference, so if you want to look at it that way...okay! But sometimes those are the things that can make a plot more exciting, or a vampire more human-like. But anyway, just to make it clear. Getting drunk and high is okay, as long as it is injected into the blood stream some how. Like Skirr said, you can't eat shrooms, because a vampire doesn't have a digestive system or the like, but inhaling something like crack is a-okay...haha. Alcohol is absorbed into the bloodstream and such. Yeppers, so since all these questions have been answered...I think we can stop answering them! Lol...^.^

Naffie Skirr can't be your mistress!!! Skirr belongs to everyone... :fangy: :rolleyes:

First off, let me just say this:

Marcus = Admin.
Me = Admin.

You = Member that hasn't been on in two months.

But, as an elaboration for the entire site on the matter, read on:

Vampires are not just exoskeletons of people. They see, they think, they heal, some need to breathe, and they feel. On this site, it has been established multiple times that vampires inhabit real bodies.

I'll explain my logic and, just to make myself clear, the only people allowed to disagree are Marcus, Vanessa, Nafretiri, Tsuka, Gabriel, and Istar, as they are the admins/mods/old-timers of this site, thus, are helping establish the rules of this site. My logic isn't "universally" correct. This is just the theory I have worked out for THIS site, not every vampire site around the world.

MY THEORY:
There are three internal organs working in all vampires here: the brain, the heart, and the lungs. The only other organ I consider necessary to this topic is the skin, which I'll also elaborate on.

THE BASICS:
When a human is turned, most of the internal organs disintegrate and are absorbed by the muscles and blood of the vampire-to-be's body. The oesophagus is rerouted to the aorta, meaning everything swallowed goes straight to the heart. The lungs are left intact in all vampires, due to some being required to breathe. It's an evolutionary relic, of sorts. Lastly, the brain is still left intact to process information for all parts of the body.

THE BRAIN:
I'd assume this to be self-explanatory. The brain has to function in order to have a sentient human, so why would it be any different for a vampire? Biologically, it shouldn't.

THE HEART:
The heart still pumps and circulates blood throughout the body, though the speed and strength of this beating varies in vampires, from what feels like a stand still heartbeat to a normal heartbeat. At the time of feeding, the heartbeat in all vampires quickens to get the new blood to all parts of the body, brain first, which creates the euphoric high that occurs during a feeding. Then, it either remains normal or is slows down as the rest of the body gets its new blood.

THE LUNGS:
Though the lungs are not necessary in all vampires, they all still have a trachea connected to the lungs. This allows vampires to take in air for talking, sighing, gasping, screaming, etc. If they had no lungs, and, thus, no ability to take in air, then they would be mutes. Veins still pass through the alveoli of the lungs, meaning molecules and substances can still cross the air-blood barrier, be it oxygen or carbon dioxide or tetrahydrocannabinol, the active “ingredient” in marijuana.

THE SKIN:
The skin is essential for holding everything in. That's obvious. Why I thought I'd mention it is the fact that the skin is required to perform a few special tasks, such as increased healing abilities. Did you know that, on a cellular level, humans should never get older? We should never age, wear down, and die, because the cells are always exactly the same. They are exact replicas of the cells you had when you were born. That being said, in a vampire, aging has been solved. The cells work like they should for some reason or another and the vampiric body never ages. The skin of a vampire heals faster as well, presumably due to this never-aging phenomenon.

Now, Leo. I don't know if you actually read all the replies to this thread and saw that that question was already answered, or if you read any of the threads addressing questions about vampire anatomy, but, if you didn't, my advice is to read before you open your mouth.

To everyone else: The help board is typically left for the new members to ask questions that the old timers answer. Due to the old timers being around for a long time, they generally know how to best answer all the questions asked here. When it comes to a question that has never been asked before, then think of the board like the Supreme Court. Marcus, Vanessa, Nafretiri, Tsuka, and I review the topic, run everything past out Supreme Court Justice, Marcus, and make a final verdict that is subject to change only by Marcus's discretion.

If you KNOW the answer, due to it being in the rules or a previous help topic, then you may answer the question and refer them to the rules page or the previous help topic thread. If you are UNSURE of the answer, then DO NOT ANSWER THE QUESTION and leave it for one of the old timers.

Have I made myself clear?

Marcus, feel free to smack me if I am too far out of line.

You're not out of line at all Skirr. In fact once we're finished with this topic, I'll likely duplicate your post (with some alterations so that it's not quite so direct to the reader) and make it into a pinned topic to avoid situations like this in the future.

*bows down to Skirr*

Your science-talked turned me on. :innocent:

Ok....new question.

Should I be concerned that I have not gotten an approved reply on my character write-up? I was wondering why almost every posted character has reply from one of the organizers, took a look and saw that at least Nef was approving and making notes for approval. Paranoid or observant?

Thanks again......

Since it's late, and I'm grumpy...

That's what that BIG large writing at the top is for. You know, the red writing that clearly expresses that we'll get to it when we're able, and not to make too much of a fuss about it?

Yeah. That one.

Your character is 1000 years older than almost every other character that's joined lately. The means I get to sit around, go through my books and site collections, and verify a lot of it. After two weeks of exams and labs, and coming home to be completely exhausted by 7PM, it's not really my main priority to approve you.

Vee's had exams.

Nikki's been sick.

Kira's had assignments.

Etc.

It's that funky thing called life. Be patient.

All I can say of the above is wow...

I think I just learned a lot and have been both bettered and enriched for the experience.

I *heart* Istar.

And I double *heart* Naf. You should really relax a bit as well, hun. Dun kill yourself.

Also, Diaemus. Personally, I do not consider myself qualified to read over lengthy histories. I am the biology nut. I handle everything biological. If your character is older than 200 years, I know I don't read past the name, which means it is up to Naf, Vanessa, and Marcus to look it over.

As a general assumption, I believe everyone leaves Naf with the obscure, long histories and characters with in depth pasts. She's the resident expert, and since she can generally get through a lengthy history faster than the rest of us (1-2 hours, instead of the 3-5 I usually need to spend on a 1000-plus-year-old vampire), she's usually left doing them.

So, really, Naf is working as hard as she can. She'll get to it when she has time.

I do appologize, I seem to have come across the wrong way.

I did read all the nice red writing. (Mmmmm reeedd......) and know to be patient, I only asked because I thought I remembered reading something about it not being necessary. I could have read it wrong. That is why the curiousity. It doesn't really matter to me how long it takes. Take your time Nef, I know how life gets in the way of the fun stuff :heh: I look forward to your comments and suggestions. :D

Thanks for the info all.......

Kinky is good! ^^