I'm trying to decide what type of character to create, and I wanted to ask someone about character creation. I know that we're not allowed to rip off any characters from books related to vampires, but what about other books? I've got a character concept in mind that would be a slightly modified version of the main character from the Black Jewels trilogy. Name and personality would be preserved, but I'd make him a bit older and a vampire (obviously).

So basically, my question is are we allowed to rip characters from a book as long as sed character isn't a vampire?

Edit: Another question. If I'm creating an Amman character, do I need to be "born" with my telekinetic abilities, or can I learn them on my own by way of meditation/concentration/whatever?

Edit again: Two more questions. Around what year was our fair city founded? And exactly how long can a vampire last in the sunlight, direct or otherwise, before they are completely destroyed?

I believe that will still be ripping off.

And from what I have known so far, your character can be of a coven but not have all their strengths/weaknesses.

History of Demaitre

As for the sunlight, it depends on you I think.

As far as i know that would still be ripping it off and I believe that that author in particular doesn't like people using her characters and worlds for any other purpose that is not related to her books. (She's the only one that can use them.)

Anne Bishop FAQ Click on the link and check under fanfiction. Hope that helps.

As for powers, many characters as they age, get powers that are developed. Very few are born with powers though it does happen. Also be aware that if ever you fight older characters there is a chance that your powers will be almost useless against them. Hope that this helps.

Ah, well I suppose that makes sense.

The reason I was asking about the whole sunlight thing was because I wanted a good reason for having white hair. I think at some point, I could get into a fight with another more powerful vampire, he throws me into the sunlight. I could either stagger away or be rescued by a passing mortal or something. But in either case, the light would damage him enough that some of his features would be altered, in this case, hair, eyes and skin. I still have to think on it some, but I wanted to run it past those who know more about these things than I.

Most vampires can't stand direct sunlight, some will burn in a flash, while others will burn slowly. For the white hair, you could always say that he was born with that color hair. Besides that there isn't much else. I doubt that the admins would approve of a change of hair color because he went in the sun. Just thought that I would let you know.

He could be an albino.

I've already read the prereqs to be an albino... not really my thing. I was thinking the whole sunlight bit could have an adverse effect on his coloring. Some kind of bio-chemical reaction. Of course, with as old as I'm going to make him, it could be that his tribe just figured that he was some sort of "chosen one" and fed him to a vampire. Like I said, still trying to figure things out.

But you don't think the admins would go for the "got thrown into the sunlight, burned for a bit, came back with white hair"?

I definitely don't think that they would go for that. you would have to most likely explain in detail why it happened and why the sun turned his hair white. It could lead to complicated scientific jargon if you tried. Only one of my characters has an unnatural hair color, yet she was born with it and seen as a physical representation of the moon.

In your case, if you simply what to change his hair white, simply because it would be cool, I would suggest that you rethink, if him having white hair is really that important. If it is, find some other way for his hair to be white. Hope that this helps and if you have any questions you can most likely PM me directly or continue on this thread.

Good point. I'm not that much of a science nut anymore...

Another random question. What would happen if a Vampire tried to drink straight acid? Like the chemical kind, not the drug kind.

I think it would have to depend on how strong the acid was and how much he drank, but I'm pretty sure that it would probably burn all the way down his throat like a mortal. The upside though would be that the vampire would most likely heal, after a long time. He would still feel the pain and everything. I'm sure that for your vampire it wouldn't be a pleasant feeling. I hope that that answers your question.

Yes, that does. There's a series of books called the Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind. In that series, it's revealed that one of the characters was forced to swallow some acid, and as a result, it tore up her vocal chords pretty badly, so now she speaks with a kind of raspy voice. I was thinking that maybe I could have this done early in my vampiric life, or perhaps at the end of my mortal one (which might work out better). But mainly, I was wondering if this would have any lasting effect on vampires.

It probably wouldn't have since vampires have regenerative powers. It may or may not take a long time to heal the injury, but eventually the effect will be gone.

You would probably want to do it in your character's mortal life, cause even if it would take time for your character to heal as a vampire, they eventually would. As a mortal, your character would heal with a lot more time, but if this person is turned before the vocal cords are completely healed, they won't heal after he/she becomes a vampire. therefore you character will be able to keep that raspy voice.

You could also consider having your vampire be one that is susceptible to holy water, and have that be poured down his throat instead. The damage from that would likely be permanent.

Also, side-note…while it isn’t as bad as stealing the characters themselves (which Pandora and Lilitv made the right call on; that is not allowed here), stealing ideas from published authors for your character is still frowned upon. Try and keep it to an absolute minimum.

Ah, Marcus, excellent idea. That would probably work a little bit better. Are you sure that the Holy Water wouldn't completely destroy him though?

Now, a touchier subject. I'm going to be making my character to be well over a thousand. I wish to join the Amman once I finish creating my character. I just came up with a strange character concept, and I wanted to know how it would work out.

What if I had done something really boneheaded and attracted the attention of the Amman as a much younger vampire? I would temporarily ally myself with a group such as the Ishak and make a huge mess of things. The Amman track me down and decide that punishment is in order. Can you think of anything that would cause the Amman to get pissed enough to pour Holy Water down my throat, but not pissed enough to actually kill me outright? And would the Amman allow me to join their ranks after several centuries?

That would be up to you, and just how susceptible you decide to make the character. If his torturers were bent on making sure he just suffered, they could always just drip the Holy Water down his throat Chinese water torture style to make sure he didn't ingest enough of it for things to turn fatal.

As for your questions referring to the Amman...if your character is well over a thousand, the covens didn't exist as such when he was young. They didn't start coming together until the early 1500s. With that in mind, you could just as easily say that he was captured by a group of elder vampires that didn't approve of whatever it was that he did, and wanted to teach him a lesson. If you go that route, there shouldn't be any problem with him joining the Amman now, provided that whatever he did wasn't too awful.

Those are both great ideas. I wasn't aware that the Amman didn't exist until a short time ago (relatively). Do you know about when the Amman was starting to form?

Check out the history of Vital vampires, under other readings. There is a part that refers to the creation of the covens. That should answers all questions relating the how and when the covens came into existence.