Grrl Power #451 – Vampire 201
Sydney’s a real social butterfly isn’t she? As I mentioned earlier she’s not going to meet with everyone in the room before we get on with it. In fact these are the last two before we segue into something resembling a plot. :)
Vamp “level” depends more on the frequency and quality of feeding than time served. It could be between 85 and 120 years, and those are at the extremes. I like the White Wolf system of generations, and even started writing something similar on this page, but combining it with the idea that every 100 years of feeding effectively moves a vamp up a generation to the next power level. A vamp could effectively become lower than gen 1 in this method, but of course, the earliest gen vamps would have had that many more centuries to feed so it would be impossible to catch up, unless vamps do that long sleep thing like you see in Underworld or White Wolf. But while I was writing all this I realized it doesn’t quite jive with how vamps work in my world, so I dropped the generation thing. I don’t want to bog the comic down right now with a vampire players handbook right now, so I’ll parcel out relevant information as needed.
Crimson is definitely simplifying it for Sydney’s sake. Very few vampires think of their age in terms of level, but most are quick to tell you how many centuries they’ve been around, especially the older they get. Well, up to a point. The ones that know they’ve got a few centuries on everyone in the room are just as likely to be circumspect. By the way as far as the affairs of the council goes, Ingsol’s 7 centuries is pretty respectable. There are older ones knocking around, but either they’re not as political or as charismatic as him.
I didn’t plan for Sydney to be sitting under the banner with the halo on it, I had just cropped a background from a previous page and it worked out that way. Double halo, man.
Scarlett’s corset was inspired by… well, no I just copied this design since I thought it was pretty cool looking. Actually most of the corsets on that site are pretty cool. I’m glad that guys’ clothes are mostly designed for function and comfort – well, not dress shirts in my experience – but occasionally I do get a little jealous that women have about a million more fashion options than guys. You know when you walk in to a department store and there’s two whole stories of women’s kit, and then one quarter of one floor next to the kitchen gear is all the men’s stuff. And like half of that is shoes and underwear. It’s especially bad when I see stuff like this. I’m not sure if I was a girl if I’d walk around in something like that, but I’m sure it’d be nice to have the option. That is if I was a size two, cause those look really small. BTW I have no affiliation with that site, I was just googling corsets for ideas and stumbled across them, and honestly $30 – $60 bucks seems really cheap for a corset. Not that I’m an expert on corset economics, but I know a girl can easily spend $60 on a bra, so I’d expect a well made corset to clock in at or even start around $200, but who knows. (I’m sure plenty of people know and will share their corset stories in the comments. :)
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon as soon as I get up. $1 and up, but feel free to contribute as much as you like :)
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Let’s see them bite Maxima.
They’d break their teeth on her skin, surely?
Either that, or Maxima’s actually solar powered or something and they just chugged down the equivalent of lit napalm.
Didn’t that happen with Superman and Dracula once?
it happened with hulk and dracula too in the marvel universe. gamma radiation aparently dosent agree wif vampires :P
https://ifanboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Superman-Vol.-1-344-1980-Cover.jpg
Wow, this an old comic, I have it in my collection and I actually remember buying it in high school.
…Makes you feel pretty old, doesn’t it?
Yeah, me too.
Is that made out of paper? I didn’t realise they made comics that way. Cool.
Do you really think someone like Maxima could be a Solar Battery like Superman, when she’s soooo highly reflective? Wouldn’t it be difficult to absorb sunlight when your skin reflects it?
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/366
Max’s skin also reflects artificial light just as much.
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/1782
Speaking of that last link, I’d like to see if the photographer ever got Maxima’s photos to turn out.
If she had her durability up, at her base levels she’s barely better than a normal human so they should be just fine.
Assuming they don’t have special durability ignoring teeth or anything anyway.
She can catch bullets at base durability.
Catching bullets does not actually require high durability. If she matches the speed of the bullet, then she can reduce said speed over a longer duration causing the applied force to be be spread out over the same period. Kinda like the difference between landing on cement or an air bag. Technically anyone who is quick enough can catch a bullet without damage.
But not if you want to stand in its path and pinch it between finger and thumb, without recoiling.
Iirc when Max actually did it, we saw her with a bent elbow after the catch. She could have caught it at arms length and absorbed the recoil over that distance. A small caliber bullet does not need to be slowed all that much to become non-leathal, most handguns don’t even break the sound barrier. A .50cal would be another story, much more mass and much higher speed.
Reasonably argued, and certainly for Maxima. I have … reservations if a squishy human could do that though. Because you have the force of a bullet being applied to the tiny area between thumb and forefinger. What you are suggesting does spread that out, but only so much.
It is not a matter of how fast the individual can move, because they have to keep applying an opposing force, to the bullet, to slow it down. Which means that you are limited to the speed of the bullet.
If you fail to comply with that and move at, say, 3 x the speed of sound against it, you are increasing the force applied, making the situation worse. Whereas moving away from it, faster than it is travelling, means you are no longer in contact with it, so are accomplishing nothing.
Therefore it is the amount of energy in the bullet that counts. The upper limit, on how much the force is dispersed, is how far the arm reached out, to intercept the bullet. Further you still have the problem of squishy flesh trying to slow down metal travelling at approximately the speed of sound.
Even though it is spreading that process out over the distance of a yard, all of that energy is still being transferred into the small area, of the thumb and forefinger, where they are in contact with the bullet. Nothing in your description is allowing for that energy to be dispersed, away from the point of impact.
The initial impact would be creating a flesh shock-wave. This is not having time to disperse very far. As you say, with a high velocity bullet, this would not work at all. However, I do grant that with a low velocity one, the shock waves are able to propagate slightly faster than the incoming bullet. But the bullet is still coming. So the next wave front is forming, immediately behind the fist. And so on.
With all of those shock-waves ripping through the same bit of flesh, each before it has had the time to move back into a relaxed position, from the previous. Resulting in the speeder being aware of the bullet slowly ripping through their flesh!
Of course, if the rationale is that the speeder can heal that damage faster than it is being inflicted, then you have a mechanism. But healing a bullet wound takes months. Yet you only have a fraction of a second. So this is requiring a speed increase of many magnitudes above normal. Not just being able to move faster than a speeding bullet.
* Maxima’s force fields can probably handle this no problem though, even on a minimal setting, as they operate at an atomic level, so even with these time scales, could be dispersing/ absorbing the energy, however she normally does it. Maxima ‘metabolised’ the energy reaching her, from the mini-nuke, so the same thing would be happening here, on a small scale.
I actually completely missed a sentence, I meant to add that not being at durable as Max would stop you from doing the short distance stop but leave you with the ability to catch or deflect. Would still come with risks, as you articulated so eloquently. Don’t move too fast or too slow and make sure you don’t put your face behind your catch (assuming the shot must not make it past you,otherwise just dodge).
This is basically a major skill check for any speedster. Can you catch or deflect a bullet without needing a doctor visit.
It’s actually quite nice to be able to discuss real life fantasy physics without someone just responding “it’s Oerth not Earth, there is magic and you can’t explain that.”
Yea, this community is wonderful for such discussions. Ultimately made possible because of the setting being ‘the real world + super powers’. And nice because it can have feedback to understanding real world issues.
Being a sci-fi fan meant that I had understood all the ethical, moral and economic implications of cloning years before Dolly the Sheep bleated for the first time. And the super-hero genre borrows liberally from all others. Thus broadening out the scope of discussion, and understanding, even more.
It is good for keeping the little grey cells healthy.
Maxima’s durability aside, a speedster would need a lot more room to stop a bullet than just an arm’s length. Most handgun bullets penetrate 30cm (12 inches) or so into ballistics gel or flesh before stopping. That is, a bullet fully immersed and expanded (most people are shooting hollowpoints) in fleshy material takes a third of a meter to stop.
So I think it is safe to assume that stopping a bullet with only two points of contact, and decelerating it “slowly” enough to avoid damage to your fingers, would take much longer than 30cm. I seriously doubt you could do it in an arm’s length; you might require something more like several meters. It’s doable for a speedster, but I would argue that it is a lot more involved than just snatching it out of the air.
She increased her speed to Ridiculous, went and got some metal tools, moved the bullet just enough to not hit its target and then followed it across the room and out a window (barely got that open enough without breaking it), took it down a few blocks while simultaneously using the metal tools to slow it and direct it around squishies,(she paid for the kids new icecream later) then when it stopped she brought it back just in time to strike a pose triumphantly holding it.
Right?
Right.
indeed, during WW2, among kids that weren’t evacuated, it was apparently a favourite game to catch the numerous bullets fired by the various fighters that had missed and fallen to the ground. even if the bullets hit said kids, because they were only about .303 calibre (and usually not on a ballistic trajectory either) they were barely floating down, so it was basically risk-free. (and you could probably sent the collected bullets to the government for scrap value, I imagine, possibly a little more. They were perennially short of material for making weapons, so getting a percentage of fired bullets back would be a major help to them. (particularly since if they hadn’t hit something, they could probably just be reloaded, not recycled)
Also remember that the bullets spin as they fly. That might make it slightly harder to catch what though injury.
Bullet burn? A new take on rope burn.
Yup, was just thinking how ‘bullet burn’ would be the biggest factor
You have any evidence of such a claim? She can change her stats at a whim, even changed them mid punch once, it would’ve been only sensible for her to have increased her stats above resting level in the bank scene which was the only time she’s caught a bullet so far.
Of course why her base level includes some of her power in reserve is unknown, but even evenly distributed power is above her base level.
She wasn’t expecting anything in the bank though, at least not until the Idiot Duo showed up
Or maybe if Maxi flexes they will ‘plump’ up like when that vamp bit the Cyclopes blacksmith in YAFGC :D
they would break their teeth.
THat’s a good question, actually.
Vampires traditionally feed on blood taken from the neck of their victim, presumably because there are some pretty major blood vessels that pass through the neck. The traditional means is via a bite to said neck…but there’s a slight logic problem that crops up when this is examined.
Namely, that vampires who bite humans don’t automatically kill them if they bite wrong. Which is what you’d expect to happen if somebody’s jugular got bit.
Since my assumption is that there would be some kind of power involved, it does beg the question of how Max interacts with other substances.
I also have to admit to being interested in another question–some works I’ve seen have vampires able to basically accelerate their growth by means of feeding upon some form of supernatural creature, like a succubus or a werewolf. I have to admit to being curious…is this the case here? And if so, how strongly enforced are the protocols that prevent a vampire from doing so?
It’s hard to say with supernatural creatures, but in nature, predators specialize on a particular kind of prey. Their digestive systems and metabolism adapt to more efficiently digest their prey, which makes it harder for them to digest anything that isn’t their traditional prey.
I’ve always viewed vampires and werewolves as an atavistic expression of the fear of predation that only a species that has eliminated all of its natural predators would have. As such, I’d imagine they’d have problems digesting any creature the strayed too far from baseline humans.
Of course, why would they? There are PLENTY of humans around, and they’re much easier prey.
Dunno about non-human species. But, per Dave’s blog, on the previous comic, succubi find super-humans to taste extra yummy and nutritious. So the same thing might very well be true for vampires.
Then again, supers are, in universe, all sexually well endowed. They do not necessarily have extra blood or extra nutrition therein.
The implication is not a physical one, for succubi feeding on tantric energy. Although it is associated with physical acts, they are feeding on the lust, rather than anything organic. So if succubi find supers better it is something less tangible about supers or their powers, than just how well endowed they might be. Otherwise they would have realised that any human with similar physique would have the same result.
Super blood might have similar properties, for whatever underlying reason causes that for succubi.
When the creator of the Were-Hare was trying to infect a blood bank, was it one used by Vamps?
If so, would they end up as a bunny with fangs or does the Vamp side prevent infection by the Were virus?
Which reminds me, since they don’t know for certain if he was a ware-hare himself, does that mean they didn’t catch him?
In most settings, being one prevents the other. So no vampires with lycanthropy, or lycanthropes becoming vampires.
Unless DaveB decides otherwise for the Grrl-Verse. I don’t think the subject has been addressed yet in the comic or in his comments yet.
What about “Underworld”, they had hybrids, and “Blade” had vampire Pomeranians…
Just because Kat doesn’t know for certain doesn’t mean it isn’t known by others.
I think it depends on how “ethical” you want the vampire to be, as well as how “gritty” the work is. I suspect a more optimistic work would allow vampires to heal their victims of any damage they accidentally cause. (and a more ethical vampire- particularly in a work where vampires don’t need to hide- would probably drink blood that a blood bank has to throw out- either because it’s from someone diseased, or possibly because it’s expired, although that depends on why a vampire actually needs to drink blood.(is it that they cannot produce their own? if so, expired blood will not help, since storing blood reduces it’s efficiency in transporting oxygen (“expired” blood merely has been stored long enough for it to be considered of sufficiently low benefit to no longer be worth the risk of transfusing it into a patient)) while a… particularly dark… work would probably make the bite automatically fatal regardless of where you were bitten unless you were sired
Actually, I’ve always wondered if a vampire continues to be dangerous if its fangs are broken. I guess the fangs can be regenerated or simply get a blade to get the job done.
Vamps don’t need their teeth to feed, for one thing, their teeth aren’t hollow
Read a story in a vampire anthology where a vampire fed on their victim, in broad daylight, walking calmly down the street, by inserting a straw in the victims neck and drinking them dry, if anyone enquires why they are carrying the ‘victim’ they can simply pass it off as their friend is too drunk to walk, which wouldn’t be too far from the truth :p
Immortals (or at least those who make it past the normal lifespan) need to have a different perspective on risk. Something which has an average daily risk, such that you are only likely to die if you keep doing it every day, for one hundred years, is not a bad risk for a human. It is, however, a very bad one for an immortal.
Feeding on someone, with potential witnesses, behind every window, and carrying a non-responsive body, in broad daylight, are both huge risks, even on the human time-scales. The latter might have a 50/50 chance of somebody calling the cops. Unless you happen to be in an area where people routinely drink themselves insenseless before the sun has even set. And, even then, there are always some interfering sorts, who are likely to call them anyhow.
As such, unless it was a one-off, driven by necessity, I would say that vampire was either young and stupid or suicidal. Or not very insightfully written.
Ah, so these are more like Ravenloft vampires in terms of age equals power. On the down side, the generation Gap is a pain, on the plus side, no antideluvians.
This does raise the question, if he is seven hundred years old, why suddenly make two spawn within a hundred years of each Other? Or does he have a host of fledglings running around. Hehe, clan ingsol.
And at the same time, who’s his sire?
Maybe he has a specific type (e.g. artisitic, artificial redheads with a specific body-shape, and in a specific age-range, possibly of a specific blood type or ear shape or fingernail-bed depth or shoe size) and these two happened to meet those requirements in a fairly short timeframe…
One of the advantages for corset-wearing vampires is that being undead means you probably don’t have to worry too much about being able to breathe.
really, you can breathe fine in a corset.
the main thing is that you have to use the upper part of your lungs when wearing a tight corset.
that mean using different muscles which is not normally as trained, so at first the if can be a bit harder.
so don’t go running in it at first.
Also, they can — especially if they’re the steel-ribbed type — double as armour. There’s a true story from the Wild West about an incident me when several tribesmen shot arrows at a settler’s wife and were astounded when she showed no signs of being harmed…
There was an adventuress who swore by the Victorian petticoat/skirt combo: it was amazingly good at both hiding a pistol* and giving protection from poison spike traps.
*Which, according to her, one would not need generally; but when one needed one, one would need one very, very badly.
Mary Kingsley?
Pistol. Shotgun. Cannon. Gatling Gun. Whatever
“Lot of space in this skirt..”
Even with four legs and hooves?
Surprisingly, yes…
::attempts to strike a pose and falls over in a shower of ruffles and ribs and rifles::
But less room than I’d hoped…
Sounds like somebody need some Mass displacement technology. I know how to make that…..I just don’t have access to the parts needed, sorry…
An ape on a box with legs? :-D
I recall there actually being an example a few years ago of the same applying to an underwire bra, so I believe it!
For clarification: the woman looked out her window, witnessed a crime taking place, the criminal saw her and shot at her, only because he was firing upwards to a (second or third story I think?) window, it just hit the underwire of the brassiere, which acted to stop the (presumably low-caliber) bullet from piercing her flesh.
I THINK this happened in Detroit, but that could be me remembering it wrong and inserting a logical-sounding place. It’s been a few years and I think I only read it on Reuters (the Oddly Enough News section, I believe). Not sure what year, but it would have been sometime in the 2000s but nonetheless several years ago.
Heard a similar report about a silicon implant stopping a bullet
Normally I would call the underwire bra story implausible at best, but apparently it’s happened more than once. Detroit (April 2009), Brazil (February 2015, stray bullet), Germany (August 2015, hunting accident). In all three cases, the gun was either being fired at extreme range or at a very steep angle, so the bullet was probably about to run out of momentum anyway.
The silicone implant thing has allegedly happened at least twice, once in January 2006, and once in July 2010. However, both cases are questionable. The one in 2006 was a side shot, so it grazed her right forearm, went through one implant, ricocheted off her sternum (I assume that’s what the article means by “chest plate”), went through the other implant, and embedded in her left arm. Since I don’t have any diagrams of the angle the bullet entered her chest at, I don’t know whether or not it might’ve pierced her heart had she not had the implants.
As far as the case in 2010, “The emergency physician who treated the patient was not aware of the breast implant having any impact or whether or not it saved her life” according to the news article, so that one may also have been a non-fatal shot, even without the implants.
However, there have been confirmed cases where breast implants have saved women from other hazards. During the 2006 Lebanon war, an Israeli woman was struck in the chest by shrapnel from a rocket, and her implants did in fact stop the shrapnel from penetrating any more deeply. In 2012, a Florida woman survived a knife attack when her ex-fiance’s new girlfriend tried to stab her.
So while underwire bras and breast implants have saved lives before, remember that neither one is a good substitute for a Kevlar vest.
Oh, and there’s the halo mark on the wall, so we do have an angelic voice on the council. Good to know.
Yup. And not much doubt about it, if you look at the representative sitting above that banner. We have seen him before, but not with the glowing halo.
It would be quite ironic if the angels turn out to not be as friendly, as the demon representative. Having a tough job, where you are required to rain down fire and brimstone,* might not make you the most outgoing of individuals, in social situations.
* Even if that is done via orbital bombardment.
Is it just me, or did that glowing halo in panel one disappear by the time we got to panel two?
I think they vanish, if there are any impure thoughts. Clearly that angel has similar tastes to me.
“YOU ARE ALL UNWORTHY SCUM, FAR BENEATH ONE AS PURE SUCH AS i!!! PREPARE FOR YOUR DOOOM!!!!”
*gunshot*
“Death Star fires at Screwball”
You needed to call that shot before taking it; “Screwball in the corner pocket.”
LOL!
Honestly, I would expect angels to be much like a burned-out cop–nice enough to people who appear to live within the rules, but absolute assholes to anybody who even MIGHT cross the line. They’ve had six thousand plus years to see the worst that could be done, after all, and I can’t believe they wouldn’t be pissed that they couldn’t prevent it.
Really? wow, um, I’ll just be….over here…….
*Sprints off top speed…*
“Activates “DR.REVENGE S Instant Wall” (patent pending) in front of Screwball.
*Crashes into wall, looks around slightly stunned for a minute, then transforms & flies away…*
Activates anti-aircraft batteries 1-20.
Roll to see how may hit.
*Calls Acme Corp. to file a complaint* A rep. will be there shortly to assist with your claim. His name is ‘Mugsy’.
Would that be Mugsy Balone? I guess he does handle “this and that” and he could be anything that he wanted to be. Even if he did need to disguise his name a bit.
Surprised that that movie hasn’t been remade (yet), but, at the same time, glad it hasn’t, would hate to see what modern ‘standards’ would do to it, least of all, if someone like Baysplosion got hold of it, or Rogen or his ilk
I thought this was Mugsy, seen here with his little friend Rocky.
That’s him. He’s been ‘rehabilitated’. I think it means you are made to sign a waiver before he breaks your thumbs.
Those underlings of the desert god don’t have free will, do they? They are just following orders and have no feelings about it.
whats the saying “your only as pure as the horns holding up your halo”
Scarlet kinda reminds me of Lilith from Borderlands.
For a bunch of monsters, misfits and horrors, everybody is awfully friendly..
Probably because they still vastly outnumbered by us ‘vanilla mortals’. Devils and Angels might decide to be chummy in the face of seven billion or so people who’d irrationally decide to ‘kill the freaks’ on sight.
Also, the ‘vanilla mortals’ have and had some folks to protect them. Pretty sure someone like Gilgamesh would have been a super. He was not nice, people prayed to the gods to tame him, but he did protect his folks.
For some reason two things went through my head when you said Gilgamesh.
This…
and this.
Well known myths tend to get reused in popular culture. Even completely out of context.
Especially completely out of context.
This I know. Look how many adaptations of Journey to the West have been done. Or Romeo and Juliet. Or even just the various stories of the Bible. I’m a firm believer that there are no original stories, just new takes on old ideas.
If you take the idea broad enough that may be right. The story »boy meet girl -> they are having trouble getting to each other -> happy or sad ending« is as old as mankind. Shakespeare was far not the first with this one.
When I see some guys meeting in battle and one says “I am your father”, I think “O, that old Hildebrand/Hadubrand situation”. Most people today think of an about a eleven hundred years younger story. I am sure that motive is even older and could possibly found somewhere in Sumerian or Egyptian hero stories. I am just not aware of it having been found there.
I thought this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGKAEaXQoEQ
Fate/stay night definitely.
Alexander is the best though
i was thing of this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAMRTGv82Zo
Marvel decided that in their main universe (‘Earth-616’, isn’t it?) he’d actually been a member of the race known as ‘Eternals’, and had had other heroic adventures under other names after that “life”: He even joined the Avengers for a while.
That actually disappoints me, because when I read the actual Epic of Gilgamesh the ending was only really relevant BECAUSE he realized that someday even he would die and that the best he could do would be to make a lasting impression on the world and hope for the best – a moral even non “super” people can relate to.
Making him immortal completely undermines the original myth. :\ The major story of which was entirely related to him being built up for an existential crisis. And which involved him coming within a hair’s breadth of achieving immortality, only for it to slip from his grasp.
Final Fantasy (and RPGs in general I guess) has always been crammed packed with historical\mythical references.
I’ve learned more about Hindi, Islamic, Judeo-Christian, Greco-Roman, Shinto, Mayan, Aztec, Inuit, Celtic, Ottoman, etc, cultures from learning the backgrounds of the bosses and summons in that series then anywhere else.
Tangential Learning is an awesome thing.
Right?? I learned so much about Astronomy and Greek Myth from being a Sailor Moon fan as a tween, and I am not even kidding about that (though it probably dates me, considering I’m talking about the Classic anime adaptation, heh)
I have only ever head of it because of Sailor Moon cos-play, cropping up a few times, when dealing with fairly unrelated things.
Hoping this link works… but this was second (Yorp’s reference was my first thought too)
https://www.google.com/shopping/product/12855816200093956885?q=gilgamesh+%2B+anime&hl=en&biw=1436&bih=803&site=webhp&bav=on.2,or.&bvm=bv.129759880,d.eWE&tch=1&ech=1&psi=pRS7V-DmIIGbmQGNwYmwBQ.1471878309733.5&prds=paur:ClkAsKraX9k0wjk8VtxRO_sRzcaMCha6X5wI9Nid1Lp_rHyVvKiHU-3dOguLdkGLW7W7qDVAtb5ZzG9KOga1HDFYo-s6W3dj5QAFJfDzYTJWHwH6hZI6tOiXbhIZAFPVH72PTGo3QpMldaLPrUrawoT4s-G1dQ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwimrbiLptXOAhUFySYKHXXmBXsQ8gIIqQIwAQ
Bunch of weirdos. ;-)
Any true geek would think of the Gilgamesh entry, from here.
See, that is exactly what i think of when i hear gilgamesh, although the second edition was published about 10 ish years before i was born…
Fortunately the link includes all pertinent editions. :-)
What about the impertinent issues?
*squirts Random Guy with water spray*
Hah, the tables have been turned!
*points paw to dice result, having a successful turn attempt*
*laughs and reaches for muzzle and rolled up newspaper*
I know how to deal with those impertinent issues! …my paper has been replaced with a squeak toy? *hands to Yorp*
*eagerly pounces on toy, before the prey escapes*
*tail wagging ferociously*
In later editions, TSR had to leave out the Cthulu Mythos entries…Which is why I’m glad that I got the 1st edition. Which is a shame, because the book was basically an AD&D-version overview of the Literary History of myths & legends of which H.P. Lovecraft was a large part.
I own a copy of the one with Cthulhu Mythos, actually. Think it also has the Abrahamic ones.
Nope first printing had cthulhu and melnibonian mythos that were removed from later editions.
Yeah. I inherited a copy with the Cthulhu and Melnibone stuff, it was in pretty bad state when I got it and last saw it. But also remember a hubbub about the Christian God being statted.
Was not in Deities and Demigods.
Might have been in Dragon magazine, cause I remember them doing Satan.
The Epic of Gilgamesh dates to more than 4,000 years ago. When you consider how long mankind has been on this world 1,600, even 4,000 years isn’t that much, in immortal terms.
I imagine the first vamp feeding on the last of the neanderthals.
Or perhaps the first vamp was a Neanderthal? Either way though, at 40,000 years ago, if he is still around, that would make him a 400th level vampire! Even his vamplings would be over an epic 100!
Older than that, I would think. It would make sense that there would still be vampires around from pre-neanderthal times, which may extend as far back as 200,000, or even 3,000,000 years, depending on when the vampires emerged. I mean, they don’t exactly die of old age, after all.
Still, if not, that may explain why everybody is relatively nice to each other–simple attrition may have convinced the survivors to play nice, or be prepared for mutual extermination.
That right there is probably the single biggest reason why this Council formed in the first place…Ya’ think?
;)
Neanderthals coexisted with modern man, even interbred with us. In fact every human population has varying amount of Neanderthal DNA. The he most successful human species, at least time wise, was Homo Erectus. They were around for a couple of million years, used fire and basic stone tools and likely had rudimentary language. There were even a few of them still hanging around in isolated places up until a couple of thousand years ago.
Except African populations.
And maybe Hobbits. None of that cavorting off to distant cold climates, to have nookie with red-haired giants. Eat, drink, smoke and explore no further than the most distant hobbit hole.
Yeah, forgot the sub Saharan African populations. And Hobbits apparently died out 18,000 years ago. https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/10/1027_041027_homo_floresiensis.html
Interestingly, Neanderthals actually had a larger brain case than modern Homo Sapiens. They well may have been smarter, but apparently lacked the language skills of Homos Sapiens Sapien.
They’re also still trying to figure out how to process the concept of superheroes. Heck, if this works out some of them can maybe function in public. “What? A WEREWOLF? Nonsense! Sure, I can transform into a wolf or a ‘wolf-man’ to fight crime as the Lupine Avenger, but that’s just how my powers manifested. Too many Hammer films, I guess. Nothing to worry about, citizen.”
Well, we’ve got nuclear weapons. Lots of them. In Metro 2033, the nuclear war destroyed (or at least sealed the entrances to) heaven, hell, AND limbo, so souls had literally nowhere to go.
Now, obviously, we don’t know if that’s true in THIS ‘verse, but if nukes could potentially close the entrance to heaven and hell, so any angels and demons would be stuck here on Earth… that might be a good incentive to ‘play nice’.
That will be addressed briefly in a page coming up I think. Not sure how much detail I’ll go into about them in the comic and how much I’ll leave to speculation, but the short version is, these are the ‘monsters’ that are willing and capable of working together, the ‘rampage the countryside’ ones are internally policed and obviously not invited to what is essentially Monster UN.
Could you send a draft of your Monster UN to our UN? If it works so well…
The monsters, misfits and horrors are not obligated to conform to YOUR ideas of how they should behave.
Very true, most people manage to compose themselves when waiting for the dinner bell :p
It’s worth considering that they all know Maxima and what she can do. They’ve also likely seen footage of Sydney, both at the press conference and at the restaurant brawl. Couple that with the casually informal and friendly way she’s treated both Ingsol and Gregor, and the members of the Council likely regard her as a peer of equal power. She has blown up tanks, displayed flight and invulnerability and remains largely unflappable in the face of things that would have mere mortals running away in panic. Being nice is free, and pissing her off is a bad idea for multiple reasons.
Halo is an apex super-heroine, in training, after all.
She is not ASHIT!!!! Can’t believe you would even think such a thing!
Her language sure can stink at times though.
That might be partially depend on what she eats for lunch…
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/241
“We sting your eyes!”
Fun fact: Several things we consider women’s clothing today were originally created for men. But when they lost their practical use, because the environment changed, women adopted them for the looks.
Example: High heels made it easier for heavy loaded riders to get on the horse.
I can attest to this being a historical fact, they were also worn by butchers to keep their feet out of all the blood that inevitably ended up on the floor.
Also, men’s corsets were and are totally a thing!
Just ask Captain Kirk, or that idiot captain from Futurama
I swear. If Sydney doesn’t ask about Angel or Spike of B:TVS fame, I’m going to revoke her geek card.
…And if Sydney asks about Twilight series, she would deserve getting slapped for insulting the real vamps in the room.
;)
she tried the reference
https://www.grrlpowercomic.com/archives/2190
got annoyed stare and “we used that word before it was cool” in return.
Yeah, and she got a gentle rebuke for it. So if she pressed the Twilight book reference any further, she would deserve getting slapped for it, right?
:P
I was thinking more Count Chocula – Original, not the DC hollywoodized version with plastic surgery and too much makeup. At least he doesn’t sparkle …. yet.
How come no one ever mentions Count Homogenized? :(
Interestingly, I note Crimson’s use of levelling in her explanation, suggesting that she may have been (or is) a gamer.
Possible. She would’ve been changed like between 78-81
I just took it to be the fact that she watches TV and therefore heard about Halo’s levelling HUD.
TV viewers will not have seen it, per Dabbler’s comment, at the Steak House. But all those reporters will have described it (albeit probably not being close enough to give any details). Sydney’s reaction though will have been picked up on camera. So any informed TV commentator would have been able to put two-and-two together.
True, but it amuses me to think that the Shadow Council thinks of RPGs as being quite entertainingly wrong, yet simultaneously quite often capable of providing insights into their various conditions. After all, how much research into vampirism is done by people who don’t believe in it, yet take the concept seriously anyway?
…Of course, that suggests that the ‘reward’ for being a particularly successful game designer is that a shadowy figure comes to you on your deathbed and offers you a stark choice, fraught with blood and the night…
Actually, the funny thing is that modern RPGs stem from war games played back in the medieval ages and even before. In order to be a great leader of an army, you had to be able to get into your opponents head to predict their movements. Many commanders hired a person to literally be that person, and they would study their movements, formations, and tactics along with everything else about their life and would advise the commander on what the opponent would do. Eventually, this was played outside of war times until it wound up being a game played in basements with elaborate sets and rules that were extremely detailed and realistic. Then, this guy some of you may know, Gary Gygax, and this other guy, Dave Arneson, thought about making it a little more fun by adding story and magic and fantastic creatures, and even make it so there wasn’t a need for massive set pieces taking up garages and basements, but just small maps that could grow or shrink based on need. This became a little known game called Dungeons and Dragons…I know most of you have never heard of it, it’s kind of obscure and no one who goes on the internet on a regular basis has ever played it.
Anyways…there were a lot of variations, modifications, and differentiations released over time (my favorites are Big Eyes Small Mouth and Warhammer) with different rules, figures, stories and ways to play.
Eventually, we entered into the age where video games were a thing, and games such as Ultima and Wizardry were the stepping stones that led to much bigger RPGs such as Final Fantasy and Diablo, and eventually leading to the big games we know now such as World of Warcraft and The Elder Scrolls.
So it’s not like RPGs are wrong per se, it’s that they have become grandiose and fantastic compared to what they used to be. And even if there is no research going into vampirism, think about how a chain of events could coalesce into a singular myth that just happens to have some truth to it. Human beings love to exaggerate stories. What once was “Some guy just bit me in the alley.” could easily become “Some pale guy just leap at me from the roof and tried to bite me with these huge fangs so he could suck my blood.” for no other reason than the person who is telling it loves the attention and is indulging in it.
I hate you.
I just got back from vacationing at Gen-Con 2 weeks ago.
“I know most of you have never heard of it, it’s kind of obscure and no one who goes on the internet on a regular basis has ever played it.”
You’re kidding, right?
:P
I did detect a slight hint of irony, in Waldo‘s tone of voice.
Or spanked. Spanking would be good…
Dabbler, Sidney needs a good spanking, could you…
::wanders off in the direction of Dabbler::
*prepares a special spanking room complete with hidden cameras*
Taking bets on what supernatural group Sydney is going to end up as a part of.
Also including any not yet disclosed groups!
Hm, is there a supernatural billiards club?
I don’t think anyone would have enough guts to try racking Sydney’s balls…
Yeah, she’d fleece them every time.
Someone like these guys? https://mspaintadventures.wikia.com/wiki/The_Felt
I’m certain that there would be at least one “None Of The Above” type grouping there – something for all those beings who don’t comfortably fit into standard categories.
It was mentioned at the start of this little magical gathering.
Yup, Chorius of the ERM* Miscellaneous Faction.
* Eeek, Really Monsterous
I can see Sydney rubbing carrot juice all over herself and trying to get Kat to nibble on her.
That is a pleasant thing to imagine.
Is “Possessors of Ancient Artifacts of Power” a group represented in this council?
She is already a member of a group.
ARCHON!
Also, i mean, Syd’s a loveable goofball, trope savvy and potentially LETHAL when irked, but is it just me, or does she look EXTRA nerdy when compared to these two beauty’s?
Somewhat yea. Which is totally in character. Sydney does get intimidated, at being surrounded by classically beautiful girls. And it will tend to show, in her expression.
Even if she is just, mentally, comparing hair-styles, given that her mind will likely still be playing with that, from the preceding scene.
Dirty minded puppy…. Good dog.
I guess this reply was intended to be to my “carrot juice” comment, above?
*slightly bemused puppy look*
Ingsol seems to have thing for busty women.
Unless it works the other way around. Any vampire woman get super bodies.
I know some women who would line up for this.
Or it could be one of those universes where vampires inflate and deflate based on time since feeding.
Being undead is quite a drawback though.
Depends on the type of undead. Before Polidori and Stoker they were pretty rotten. With the help of Hollywood and modern authors vampires are much better defined and can be quite sparkly.
Of course, the only reason vampires were sparkly in Twilight was to keep the rating PG-13. (And yes, that is Word of God, as TV Tropes would say.)
Soooo…. in the novels they had something else that happened in sunlight? That would make them stand out? In some kind of kinky way? I wonder what that girl saw, when the pasty vampire rescued her from the car crash?
No, actually, unless it was a kinky girl vampire, not interested.
From my sister’s desciptions, it sounded as though the sparkling was more or less the same but somehow human women were generally quite turned on by it (in universe).
I’ve never seen or read the series so take this with a pinch of sparkle salt.
It seems to me that if the sparkling was meant to be an attention-getter, I submit that bursting into flames would garner even more attention…
O.o
So vampires are players? Or are players vampires? Should i stake every flashy douchbag i see in the clubs? Something i thought about vampires charm if you disregard the whole mindcontroll and hypnogaze mumbojumbo would be pheromons that make them seem more attractive to humans. That sure would work better than looking like an 80s discoball.
Would you not agree that most vampires would fall into house slytherin of the harry potter universe? In my experience, the one thing that most sets apart real world people sorted into slytherin from those in other houses is their magpie like love of all things shiny. Perhap this is no coincidence but a mechanism developed over centuries to attract only those who are cunning enough to keep vampirism secret and already inclined towards staying out of the sun?
Just a weird thought on the matter.
Mmm, interesting dilemma. Just how many disadvantage points do you get for a HUD which pesters you to spend your skill point? It certainly isn’t quirk level, if it can go off during a battle, or other crisis! But post-battle, like we saw before, would not be such an issue. Although it could give away secret info to any observers physically present.
Somewhere between 2 and 5 points, I recon, for the latter case, in GURPs terms. 5 is there is no active control, beyond it not popping up in a crisis.
Ask Sydney the next time she levels up. I don’t know if her display disappears if she wants to “reserve” her point, but judging by the level-up comic, I guess not.
Do they get paler as they age? Or is Scarlet an albino to begin with?
Vampires tend to get more pale once turned. They also get even more pale if they put off feeding for too long. Also, once turned, vamps (pretty much all corporeal undead) will tend to shrink a bit…As their bodies die, useless internal organs tend to shrivel. They also lose “muscle tone,” if they had 6-pack abs before then they would tend to flatten out for example, even though most undead will gain strength.
Noting that not all Vampires are necessarily created equal.
Given that “Vampires” of varying descriptions and capabilities are to be found in a number of different mythologies and superstitions, it seems more than plausible that there could be a large number of variances from the standards set by various and sundry movies and novels in the West.
Or she might just be pale from avoiding sunlight? She may also be a natural redhead. They have a tendency to be pale. Crimson seems to be naturally darker skinned and may never get pale.
I vote this. Mostly because that whole “Redhead with Pale Skin” thing is such a thing for me.
Tanned redheads are hotter.
Dunno a pile of vampire dust doesn’t do it for me.
“Tanned” is not the same as “sunburned.” You can’t get much more sunburned than a pile of ash.
;)
death by sun is mostly a Hollywood thing, actually.
To quote Yukon Cornelius:
“You eat what you like, I’ll eat what I like.”
In my experience, most redheads burn easily when others are tanning.
Yup, there is a close genetic association between red hair and low tolerance to sunburn. Redheads, of my acquaintance, choose to avoid the beach, as a result. Which is a shame.
Fiery-red hair matches lobster-red sunburnt skin, after all. ;-)
But it genuinely is a shame to loose out on the pleasure, that others can take for granted. Not to mention our loss, at not having them on the beach (or not as often, for those who do not avoid it all together).
Xander: Well, some friends of Buffy played a funny joke and they took her stuff and now she wants us to help get it back from her friends who sleep all day and have no tans.
Willow: Oh…THOSE friends.
Oz: Funny guys.
I LOVE Xander’s way of describing vampires in front of Buffy’s roommate!
Triple halo. There is also that distinctly glowing one, above the angel representative.
Or the halo hat-trick, for the sporting fans.
Not a pure hattrick because there is another person in between the halos. Sporting fans … nerds
Dave scored another hat-trick. At the table we have a Crimson, a Scarlet, and a ‘Vermilion’. ;)
“Lord Ingsol wasn’t going for a theme when he sired us.”
…
Are you sure? Because that would be (excuse my phrasing) one hell of a coincidence.
Let me guess- have you got any sire-siblings named… Akane, Hazel, Kamala, Ruby, Xiao-Hong, Adam, Broderick, Clancy, Flannery, Flynn, Radcliff, Raleigh, Reed/Reid, Roderick, Rory, Rowan, Roy, Rufus, Russell…?
It’s YANG (yellow) Xiao-Long (sun dragon) actually. B-)
They are two separate things, both being a red name. Xiao-Hong is a name approximately meaning “little red” in chinese (and apparently wild swan?). Besides, why would a yellow person name be in a list of red people?
I would say that he has a thing for redheads. Someone who had a baby with hair like Scarlet’s would be very tempted to pick a red-themed name.*
Although, 100 years ago “Scarlet” would have been strongly associated with a “scarlet woman”, in some areas. So perhaps hers too was a ‘stage name’ like Crimson’s? Not something that either would rush to point out.
Crimson’s though, as pointed out in the comic, is no co-incidence at all. If Ingsol was drawn to the hair, the look and name were just part of her band image. She is from an era where red-out-of-a-bottle was possible. And she may keep it red, because Ingsol likes it that way.
* Another explanation, if Scarlet was originally blonde, is that she just decided to dye her hair, in recent times, to match her name. Perhaps inspired by Crimson.
She’s and too old to have been named Scarlett O’Hara, unless in that version of reality that person was a real one rather than just fictional, and too young to have been the original unless becoming a vampire reduced her apparent age (which happens in some fiction about vampires)… but her name could come from the same source: It was a surname (the maiden name of S. O’H’s mother?) turned into a forename.
As a surname it seems originally to have indicated a dyer who knew the secret of scarlet dye, which was a rarity back when English surnames were getting adopted.
Oops! That post should start “She’s too young to have been named after Scarlett O’Hara”…
Yea, nowhere near the American Civil War, and well before the novel was written.
Scarlet would have been born in the very late Victorian era. Or, in American terms, in ‘ye olde days’.
Or once bitten they gain the appearance Ingsol expected of/wanted of them and no more need to dye hair.
I’ve been reading the Anita Blake books and the power levels on the vampires in that. Newly Dead Vampires actually drain their master and require energy to make their hearts beat and to raise at night. After 100 – 150 years they become Young Vampires, they no longer drain their masters and might make a Newly Dead Vampire of their own. After 200 – 500 years they become Master Vampires, at this point they actually feed their power back into their master. They can also make a human servant to empower and feed through. A Master of the City is empowered by all vampire whom take oath to him, which is a prerequisite for living there. A Fountain of Blood is the highest level a vampire can get, they draw in energy from every vampire descended from them. Of course even the Newly Dead can turn someone into a vampire but they go crazy. Running in packs like animals barely able to think past the blood lust and forced to drink people dry night after night until they are controlled by a Master Vampire or killed.
Oh great, vampirism is just another pyramid scheme. Personally, I thought that tactic would be more likely to apply to MUMMIES rather than vampires. :)
“Excuse me, but could I interest you in the possibilities of social marketing and personal entrepreneurship as a Vamway representative?”
Wow, they managed to explain that much between all the sex scenes?
It is no use. No matter how much you promote it, I would not be able to afford to buy any!
It was meant as a dig. The first couple books was interesting, but it seemed to quickly go into porn territory when the author got divorced.
I said it before, I’ll say it again. After the first five or six books, Anita started getting stabbed with more “wood” than any of the vampires ever did. (“Micah”, for example, had no less than 22 sex scenes. One of which filled most of two entire chapters.)
and that’s why the project to make the books into Trade paperbacks by Marvel kinda ended nowhere. There was nothing left after the sex scenes
There was something left. Just not enough to be turned into a single 23-page comic book, much less a trade paperback. Kind of sad… I liked the first few Anita Blake books, until it jumped the rails and turned into softcore furry porn.
FLY (sitting on the wall): Bzz bzzzz bzzz
AMAZON EXECUTIVE: So, have you traced that spike in sales?
ANALYST (examining data trends): Yea, most of the hits came from a single website, grrlpowercomic.com. Plus all of the others showed the same response curve, over the same period. So were probably users who did not realise that the site had an Amazon link, but went in stand-alone.
AMAZON EXECUTIVE: Any particular reason for it?
ANALYST: The only thing I could find was a series of seemingly detrimental comments. They seem to have had a reverse-psychology boost to the sales.
AMAZON EXECUTIVE: Check to see if you can get those commentators on the payroll. Actually, first have a look, see if they are on commission already.
FLY: Bzz (flies off):
Hopefully Sydney will mention the Twilight books and films, Crimson and Scarlett would cringe at the very mention of both….!
Scarlet is wearing more of a bustier with a bit of mild corsetry to smoothe out the curve of her waist and hips, than a full corset.
And, yeah, most corsets in that price range are lingerie that look like corsets: the stays/boning are minimal, if they exist at all, and the stitching is only strong enough to control a small muffin-top and boost the decolletage. They would pull apart under any real attempt at tight lacing. Not that a vampire would need much in the way of control, I imagine.
Really, though, if you’re serious about your corsetry, what you want is a good, individually fit, handmade corset, with proper stays, and several striking tailored corset covers. It cuts the expense down considerably.
Again, I reiterate, redundantly…
This is SUCH a smart group. Tips on a garment that is now mainly associated as a bedroom accessory rather than main-street fashion. Totally awesome.
So you’re saying that would qualify a rippable bodice. Most bodices I see look like they could save you from a maniac wielding scissors. A lusty dark haired stable boy would have no chance against the thing.
Politics and the long lived rarely get along. People with political leanings tend to die off or throw themselves in front of a stake in the name of a cause of some kind.
That is why Vamps and other super long lived folks tend to be hermits or blend in with mortals. Those that do otherwise rarely live long enough to be long lived.
why is Sydney not interested in becoming a vampire?
Who says she’s not? Maybe that’s why she’s crusin’ the room and talking to everyone. Maybe she’s just trying to get some more information before she decides whether she wants to be a werewolf, a vampire or whatever.
Personally, I hope she stays as she is, though.
Same reason why Sidney (presumably) doesn’t want to become a werewolf, probably: she’s a vegetarian.
A Vegan Vampire? Ethically speaking, Sydney would likely have a problem with beef-broth, wouldn’t she?
Sydney could feed off of ugly people’s blood.
“Excuse me, was the donor, of this packet of blood, cute?”
She is not that shallow. But there are blood substitutes she could feed of unless that is cheating.
In any case I prefer her living as I’m not a necrophile.
Even more important, we need to have Sydney Scoville the 3rd.
So, that rules out, categorically, Sydney and Peggy hooking up? :(
Our technology has progressed beyond that problem, in principle, so no.
Dead tissue though, that is not something we have perfected bringing back to life… yet. But woolly mammoth-elephant hybrids are probably not very far away.
Perhaps the orbs only work with the living.
I find myself wondering if the ladies had a choice in the matter or if Ingsol just decided to turn them.
Meanwhile, Sydney looks a little odd to me here without her bangs. It may take me a few pages to get used to this new look.
And don’t even get me started on the word, “Vamplings . . .” ❤
Hmm. Maxima’s in the room, Ingsol still has his head attached to his body… yeah, with this level of organization and lack of obvious weaponry I’m guessing that involuntary turning is kind of frowned on.
Considering they were all turned before Maxi became the GEoD, and who’s to say that Ingie volunteered to be turned himself
am sorry but i am starting to wonder if the comic is going into the “busty babe gone bad” category
meanwhile i STILL love it lol
Just looked at the source–that one is a full corset (smoothes the breast as well as waist and hips), but It looks like scarlet’s version is is in a lighter fabric and in a bustier cut.
The source also looks to be sewn as a bodice, with stays slipped into boning-pockets afterward, rather than being constructed around the stays, which, in addition to the Chinese manufacture, would account for the price.
Shoulda looked before my previous post…
Thing about that corset “store,” it’s just a big scam (in my experience). Corset itself looks to be from CorsetStory, which sells decent stuff at reasonable prices. If you’re looking for a corset proper (double-sided with American spring steel boning) the only option I even consider is Generations of Art. They are a bit expensive but it’s completely worth it. They also have a lot of different styles!!
Just wanted to keep the cinched dream alive.
I have a friend who used to do extras work part-time. Precisely because she could have the fun of dressing up in period costume, from time-to-time. Her favourite being the era when corsets and petticoats prevailed.
Again, personally would have gone with Crimson panel four and Scarlett panel two for their mugshots
All this age/power stuff is cool and all, but personally I’d be more focused on the “feast on the blood of the living to survive” part. I presume that they don’t actually have to leave a trail of dead bodies to survive, or ARCHON wouldn’t be working with them… or at least they wouldn’t tell Maxima about it.
Also, if I interpret Crimson’s comment directly, they’re here to talk about a new vampire being made? “Yes and no.” Vampire reproduction must be pretty tightly controlled if they have to assemble the full supernatural council for it.
It is the other way around. The “yes” was regarding really old vamps being able to make new vampires more powerful than Ingsol. Whereas the “no” was to indicate that is not what this meeting is about.
Actually, I read it as,
Yes to ‘Super-old vamp makes a new vamp that’s more powerful than anyone else on the council’.
No to ‘And he’s gone mad with power’. Maybe he’s being quite reasonable with his new power. They still need to discuss him, though.
Wait, just how old does Crimson believe Sydney to be? Or, more importantly, how old was she before Ingie vamped her?
She has been a vamp for only 35 years, and her band was 20 years before Sydney was born…
Crimson was probably clueless about Sydney’s ‘real’ age. Sure, she might LOOK early 20s, but in that particular place? Think about all the general weirdness packed into that room – and I’d bet that a great many of the attendees do NOT “look their age”, one way or another.
it was discussed at some point that Sydney acknowledges looking like a teenager
20 years before Sydney was born, and Sydney is, what, around 24? That makes it about 44 years ago.
Crimson looks to be in her early to mid twenties, assuming her aging stopped after she was Vampired.
Crimson said she’d been a vampire for around 35 years. Which is 10 years after her band broke up.
So, she’d have to have been a teenager at the height of her band, unless a Vampire gets to look younger once changed.
Oh, her bio says that Sydney is 21. Which makes it even more confusing.
Crimson might be like me. Extremely vague when it comes to estimating dates. My “last year” might turn out to be four years ago, for example.
You just keep counting in dog years, Yorp.
Some people age more gracefully than others. I know a guy who’s in his 70s, and he still has to show his AARP card at restaurants to get the senior citizens’ discount, because he looks like he’s in his late 50s. (Professional golfer all his life, never smokes, never drinks… just a healthy lifestyle in general.)
I myself am older than I look. Just the other day, someone in the supermarket guessed my age at “early 30s”. Actually, I’m 46. For the most part, I blame my apparent youth on being a computer geek. I spend most of my time in an air-conditioned office, and not under the sun soaking up all that lovely skin damage.
Was mostly trying to think what sort of music was around at that time for the band to named “Crimson and the Bloodletters”, but then again, you did have a band named The Zombies in the 60’s
Oh, and to me, ‘Bloodletters’ does not mean ‘letter written in blood’ but someone who let’s out blood, like a surgeon or a… vampire? Maybe Crimson was already a vampire when she formed the group? o_O
When are we going to meet the Indiana Jones group?
We have already met Zephan. Our retired adventurer, turned sleuth.
That new Pixel girl DID travel with them…
Alas, the insignia that originally looked like a hat and scarf is actually a hat and whip. So no trips in the Tardis for Sydney. It is probably for the best. She would most likely not make a good ‘companion’. There are way too many jolly candy-like buttons in the control room for her to accidentally push.
Sydney would also be likely to seriously deplete the supply of jelly babies…After dousing them with with her nuclear-grade sauce.
Can a Succubi and a Vampire feed on each other?
Yes. In different ways. And not perpetually. The succubus would need to eat real food, both in order to replace the lost blood and to gain some real nourishment. Succubi need both tantric energy and food, not just the former.
Presumably, as stated in a thread above, these vamps do not have to kill, in order to feed. Otherwise I do agree that Archon would not likely be on friendly terms with them. Unless they presently only kill cattle or the like.
Funny enough, it used to be the men that got all dressed up in complicated fashion. That didn’t change until the 1800s.
Yeah, that’s because you don’t tend to need many ‘fancy’ clothes (or clothes at all) when chained to the kitchen sink or milking the family goat
What? I don’t need fancy clothes to milk the goat?
::glances at his top hat with five different feathers, alarm clock, silver chains and emblems, silk bands in three clashing colors, and the holes cut out to allow his long silky ears to poke through the brim::
Why did I buy this then?
::takes a second look::
Nope, keeping it – Fancy Goat Milking will be a thing again someday.
Didn’t say you couldn’t wear fancy hats now, just there wasn’t much of a need 200 hundred years ago, back when women were considered property owned by men
Well somebody played Vampire:the Requiem.
Yup. If you check out the author’s blog, above, you will see about the inspiration and the direction Dave chose to take it.
White Wolf being the publishers of Vampire the Requiem, for those not in the know.
Not sure how old DaveB is, he may be more of a Masquerade fan, than Requiem.
He clearly mentioned a power evolution system he kind of extrapolated from Masquerade’s generation, but also from his commentary i would dare say he’s not familiar with Requiem’s remake of the concept in the form of Blood Potency. At least not yet, so far…
You know, it seems strange just how open everyone has been so far about who they are, what they can do, and how everything works. Especially for a group most likely dedicated to remaining unknown to the general public. I mean yeah, sydney being here means she is allowed to know about them, but even so, “Hey everyone I just met. Please tell me all about your particular species and how they work!” “Sure! No prob.”
Archon is their absolute worst (potential) nightmare: a group of people who know about the supernatural, powers that let them slug it out with the average member of the Shadow Council – and the FULL ability to draw upon the military of the most powerful nation in the history of the world. I’m not saying that Maxima can call in a nuke at need – but she probably has both the President and the Secretary of Defense on speed dial, and when she calls somebody will pick up the phone on the first ring. So… “Smile! Smile! NO TEETH. We want our guests to feel welcome.” Everybody plays nice, and everybody’s blood, ichor, and/or compact mass of hive-mind bugs stays off of the carpet.
Besides, a lot of this is for Sidney: she has a power that cuts through illusions and glamours like they were tissue paper. Best to have her go “Oh, it’s a werewolf. Can they even digest chocolate ice cream? Guess so” instead of “OH DEAR GOD WHY IS THERE A WEREWOLF STALKING PREY AT THE COUNTY FAIR :ZAM POW BAMF: Oh, sorry, I didn’t realize that you were just in line for an ice cream cone.”
The council has a few secrets of their own to use in case of an attack. Remember, they are located in New York. One faction of the council is the mechanical beings. You know that big statue in the harbor of the lady holding a torch? That is not actually a statue.
Well it was just a statue until these four guys doused it in hate goop a few decades back.
She really didn’t care for being covered in Graffiti by those transforming humanoid aircraft, twice.
Transforming humanoid aircraft? Did some of my fellow Cybertronians pay her a visit?
Yes.
And they are now paperweights scattered across the country.
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/54IAAOSwKtlWqkSe/s-l1600.jpg
And don’t forget about her big sister who is also a spaceship
https://i1341.photobucket.com/albums/o745/yamjerky/mega-maid_zpsl4gyx1mo.jpg
You will start to find out more about this, after one more set of introductions. I am fairly sure that Archon will have found out about the Council (or the Council will have approached Archon, as it was being formed) and negotiated an outline deal. Perhaps something like this:
“Provided you give us full disclosure, of your various factions needs and capabilities, we will work to keeping your secret/integrating you into society*”
I would be very surprised if a group like the Council did not have at least one member who could detect if a lie was being told. That fellow with a halo, above, being a likely suspect. Once the Council was convinced that Archon both had the resources and political backing, to go along with that, then they could start making good on the deal. So would not nee to be cagey, at this stage of the diplomatic game.
* Delete as appropriate. I think the latter is the more likely, in the long term. But clearly the former is in effect at the moment.
If their senses are half as good as their canine counterparts, the werewolves could probably smell a lie, or hear it in your voice. There are certain physiological changes that happen when someone tells a lie, that even the most experienced chronic liars (like politicians) can’t hide.
How do you know when a politician is lieing?
Their lips are moving.
Well, they’re all still waiting for the Mages to report to the Council, and considering the number of immortals here, I’d say that talking to Sydney is a good way to “kill some time.”
;)
The alien contingent is also waiting on the Daleks. They sent the old kind and they are stuck at the bottom of the stairwell repeating “My progress is impaired! I can not proceed!”
Panel 2, Scarlet in that pose. Very much yum.
Way to push my “Redhead with Pale Skin” lust-button, DaveB.
::trots around the edge of the comic panel, trying to find way in so he can sit between Sidney and Scarlet and dither::
*scoops up Sydney, and dashes off, whilst the dithering is going on*
[Thinking: Mind you, I totally agree about Scarlet’s look there. But unknown personality, versus perfect all-round geek personified? No contest.]
What about a geeky redhead? Love her already, but if Sydney went strawberry I’d down in a puddle of my own drool.
(Felicia Day is my imaginary Internet waifu.)
I would like two, please…
I have a great weakness for redheads. Willow being my #1. But Felicia Day would top my list, if limited to real-world celebrities.
If going sci-fi though, Lelu Lekatariba Lamina-Tchaï Ekbat De Sebat wins.
Leluminaï had very fake orange hair that, IIRC, wasn’t considered “red” even in cannon. Which makes sense, honestly, as she contained the DNA of all life and basically every other hair colour gene dominates.
Strawberry blonde isn’t a great look IMO. Intense gingerness looks great but anything inbetween the more common hair colours and very ginger doesn’t.
:: glances at the retreating Yorp with Sidney riding on his back and screaming, “Faster, Doggy, Faster!” ::
Hmmmm…. well, guess that solves the dithering portion of this joke
::trots up to Scarlet::
Hello…
:: glances at the retreating Yorp with Sidney riding on his back and screaming, “Faster, Doggy, Faster!” ::
Hmmmm…. well, guess that solves the dithering portion of this joke
::trots up to Scarlet::
Hello…
“Scarlett’s corset was inspired by… well, no I just copied this design”
So are are you saying that drawing this corset was a ‘cinch’?
(insert rim-shot or wah..wah.. sound effect of your choice)
How about a mildly disgusted grunt and an eye roll?
having bought a custom made corset (it was well over 300$ from a non-big name maker) I can assure you an decent off the rack corset will set you back around what you were thinking if not more, depending on the style. However those are real waist training corsets, most of the corsets you find today are faux-corsets (usually found for under 100$ and you can tell, they are quite floppy) in that the corset doesn’t change your shape but requires you to have the shape (or close to it) already. An more if you made it part of an outfit, you could spend easily more then double what I did for my custom one.
About floppy, most real corsets these days use steel boning (spiral steel being the best, as it conforms to the shape of the body better then a straight flat piece of steel). and it effects movement, as you can’t bend at the waist so your movements become more restricted and in some cases more feminine. Like lowering your whole body to pick up something you dropped instead of just bending over to get it.
Why do i get the feeling that vampires play rpg on theire free time?.
Just imagine a table full of bloodsuckers with Dracula as the gamemaster. At the side isa six pack of tied up jocks and cheeleaders foor snacks
“Aww, come on, why do you always pick Van Helsing? Can’t you play a good-guy for once?”
Hellsing. O i get it they are playing a horror game
:-D
Either that, or they were early-adopters of roleplaying training.
“It’s a non-harmful psychologically therapeutic catharsis treatment for the psyche to play the villain occasionally.”
“Thank you, Dr. Adler.” (turns to the player next to him, whispering) “This guy should never have been vamped.”
That would have been the perfect time for Sidney to try pulling out her skill tree.
Sadly Halo does not know ‘what muscles to flex’ to do that.
You saying you wouldn’t be fixated while Sydney contorts in an attempt to find out? o_O
DaveB, just so you know, someone has been fooling around with your link to the comment highlighter! Instead of GreaseMonkey, it now almost seems to be saying “Grease ’em!” ☺
Upvote if you want Sydney and the vamplings greased up!
:-D
I’ll bet on Sydney for the win.
Shorts out keyboard thinking about it…
That’s what you get for trying to think.
You know you don’t have the hardware for it.
He’d have to upgrade from floppy disk to hard drive for that…
I admit that my mind is usually in the gutter – it’s attached to the rest of me, after all ☺ – but that’s not the place I went to at the phrase, “Grease ’em.” I thought more about what Jimmy Cagney and Humphrey Bogart would have meant when they said it in a movie.
In the meantime though, why are you limiting us to just Sydney and the vamplings, Yorp?
Because they are the only ones who appear on the appropriately captioned page.
But . . . but . . . but there are succubuses in there! And only DaveB knows what else!
I’ve always found the Age=Power vampire trope a bit suspect. As far as I know, the trope is a “modern” one, spawned by Anne Rice among other sources. Going that route allows writers to create “ancient monsters” and allows gamers to explain why new-fledged vampires are at the bottom of the pecking order.
But if I ever wrote a vampire story, I would be more comfortable with Age=Time and Time=Opportunity to Learn and Practice. Why? Because it’s closer to Real Life; practice and experience breed competence and eventual mastery.
Vampires are immune to the degeneration of aging, which begins to grind down our peak physical stamina and athleticism starting in our thirties. The same applies intellectually; everyone loses “mental plasticity” over time once full maturity is reached (almost all creative geniuses peak fairly early in their careers), we but continue to gain experience and hopefully knowledge and wisdom until senility takes it away.
Thinking about it this way opens up some interesting options. You could have two vampires, both centuries old. One of them goes with the flow; he’s already an apex-predator, so after mastering the basic competencies needed for survival, he’s done. He mostly just exists, kind of like a majority of adults who are well into their careers or even retirement. Sure he’ll learn a little more as time goes on, but not much compared to the first 20-25 years of his life when he was mastering a skill-set.
But the second vampire looks at the prospect of living for centuries and sees the golden opportunity; he can master EVERYTHING. He can become a master martial artist, a master marksman, a master musician, a master scholar, etc., constantly learning more and without age taking it away. He could hone his social skills to achieve a level of charismatic genius. He could also become an increasingly jaded monster, less and less human and more and more sociopathic in his psychology as time went by.
And of course if you are granting vampires some level of magic, the vampire’s level of skill may rise through hard study and practice; if the magic is partially analogous to physical strength, then training may also increase its potency (although I would apply a hard-ceiling there, just as even the strongest Olympian has physical limits to how much he can press).
One advantage to this approach would be wildly different vampires; you could have a vampire who continually trains to keep in peak condition as a killing machine–a vampire Navy Seal–and a vampire who has become the ultimate Machiavellian. You could meet a vampire who has become utterly amoral and jaded, and a vampire aesthetic who has spent centuries gaining spiritual mastery and enlightenment. Given centuries to become themselves more thoroughly, they could become incredible instantiations of humanity’s potential for achievement as well as for refined and distilled good and evil.
The progeny of such Ancient Masters would not start out more powerful than the progeny of younger vampires, but they’d begin with a heck of an advantage; a master-teacher to train them up faster.
Of course this reflects a purely literary approach to vampires; the Anne Rice/ Laurell K. Hamilton approach works just fine, too.
Very well thought through.
One addendum though, as regards skills, is the ability to retain all those memories. The human, and presumably vampire, brain can only hold so much information. And the less-used stuff gradually gets forgotten.
I am a good example of that. I used to be fluent in Afrikaans and various African languages. But could barely say six words in any of them now! There are also documented examples of individuals completely loosing their native tongue too. For instance a Russian, who got left behind, when they pulled out of Afghanistan. A few decades later he only spoke the local tribal language and could not remember any Russian.
So it is not just age degeneration, which causes memory skills to fade. He would have been in his late teens or early twenties, to be serving in the army. And I was only a nine year old pup, when we left South Africa.
It would really suck to be 3,000 years old, and when folks asked you “what was it like leading that army during WW3?” to have to reply “Can’t remember a bloody thing about it, actually, that was 2,800 years ago, and I have done a lot more since. But, yea, checking out the history, that was me.”
So, unless the vampire package also provided steadily upgraded memory capacity, the vampire who just concentrates on his core skills should keep the important ones fresh. Whereas the dabbler will only be good at whatever has most recently taken his fancy. But will be rusty, to incompetent, at anything he has neglected refresher training in.
Which is reflected in various key professions, such as pilots or doctors. If you cannot show that your skills have been kept in practice, you can literally lose you licence.
Mind you, your post is much more appropriate, for exploring the interesting side of vampirism. Mine, the glass is not just half-empty, it has been drained of all blood, and you have forgotten why!
“…And the less-used stuff gradually gets forgotten.”
But the eternal vampire has plenty of time to continue practicing and occasionally updating with new knowledge to keep skills fresh. Of course, this all depends on which skills the vampire wants to keep fresh…Who really needs to keep their skill in translating Sanskrit fresh in mind anyway?
;)
They had all the coolest spells!
When it comes to going back to school for refresher courses, vamps have to matriculate with night classes, of course.
Don’t forget the refresher course: “Masticate for Dummies” :p
Vampire Mastication 101.
In short, “Don’t. You need to suck now.”
My dad used to claim the knowledge decay rate was 10% per year for unused knowledge/skills. A personal example for me would be horses. I’m in my late 40’s and grew up loving everything cowboy. Old TV shows, movies and toys, I was obsessed. Part of that was knowing everything about horses. I still like them, but as I got older, my interest shifted to sci-fi and fantasy, and now I’ve pretty much forgotten all the minutia about horses. It got replaced by stats on the starship Enterprise, among other things. I still love a good western, though. Watching the Steve McQueen series Wanted Dead or Alive, I realize that if you replaced the horses with spaceships and if the little towns were all outer rim planets, you’d basically have Firefly.
That was the premise Firefly was written using. Others use similar ploys from other periods in history. A couple of particularly good ones used the Napoleonic era age of sail, and created a similar science fiction setting.
The idea is clever really. If you have star travel which takes months, or a year or two, to complete a round-trip voyage, the journey times are similar in both eras. Especially if you reinforce that by ensuring communications cannot travel faster than a ship.
Throw in colonies struggling to survive in frontier settings, and rival nations competing over the same resources and you end up with closely analogous military, economic and political needs. Despite the vast gulf in technology and actual distances involved.
Which means that similar solutions might be called upon as to how to organise social, military and command structures. Plus the parallels which would come in tactics and strategies.
Joss Whedon just made sure that, for his one, all the calls he made reinforced the wild-west feel. Barring a few elements, which explored likely changes coming from the sci fi side. Such as having a strong Chinese influence over the culture and language.
Well, even if a vamp achieves mastery in the basic skill-sets for survival, there’s still plenty of time to take up hobbies & master them as well. With the potential of infinite time also comes the potential for infinite boredom.
Do you think Dracula would play around with Van Helsing (in the novel) instead of just killing him outright if survival was so much of a concern? No, Dracula saw Van Helsing as a challenge of wits & resourcefulness. Dracula found some measure of excitement in testing Van Helsing. If Dracula had merely killed him when he first saw the threat, then Dracula would have nothing to stave off boredom.
So your’e saying Dracula liked a high-stake game? That sounds flaming dangerous to me! Polite guest one minute, then getting all holy. Water down the rules of etiquette, wafer about ‘never decapitate thy host’. I am not sure modern vamps will be considering those rules worth dusting off.
It is etablished in the late great Sir Terry Pratchett’s books that ‘Discworld’ Vampires are ‘almost’ immortal. Douse them in Holy Water or stake them or expose them to sunlight, all these will turn them to piles of ash. But, a drop or two of blood (not necessarily human) into said ashes, and back they come, good as new. If the ashes are scattered, well, it will take longer (probably a LOT longer) but the principle still applies.
Noting that a lot of Discworld Vampires are now ‘Black Ribboners’. They have foresworn any drinking of blood, and cope with cravings by channelling their considerable energies in other directions (eg. one Vampire character is a hardcore coffee addict, another is a top-flight photographer OBSESSED with the interplay of light and shadow and colour, and so on). Having a tiny vial of blood on oneself, for revival in case of ‘accidents’ is a thing.
On the other side of the coin, there is at least one Vampire who embraces the “traditional” lifeestyle. He owns a large castle, competently staffed by an Igor, overlooking a village. He does all the usual things, nips villagers when appropriate and, every now and again, the viillagers gang up on him. His castle is well-stocked with Holy Water and objects that can be turned into holy symbols or wooden stakes at short notice, all for use by by Castle visitors.or ‘guests’. As one character describes this Vampire, he is a sportsman – everybody involved gets some excitement, entertainment and proper exercise; AND, when the inevitable happens, he gets a decade ot so of downtime before he gets revived again. The villagers know all this, they like having the guy around, and everybody is happy.
There’s a movie called The Man From Earth about a guy who is immortal who has been bumping around since at least the the Upper Paleolithic, about 43,000 years ago. The movie is framed as a discussion with friends and colleagues where he reveals he’s immortal. They doubt him, of course, and ask questions. One of them is what he remembers of his life. There’s a scene where they ask what he remembers and he tells them “flashes, like flotsam on the ocean.”
Yea. And his immortality, combined with living through a couple of important points in history, meant it could explore an interesting twist. The worst aspect being having to continuously conceal his immortality, from the xenophobic public.
Yeah, that’s why
wethey tend to move on every couple decades, when your grandchild dies of old age and you haven’t aged a dayI really hope she meets maybe an angelic being at the meeting who’s amused by her name being Halo. :)
Now that would be interesting; a “transcendental” being of some sort who’s there strictly as an observer/advisor.
Maybe the angelic seat is vacant. The demons insist they exist but they just don’t interact with this reality much anymore. Therefore thier seat is symbolic at best.
I suggest you have another look at panel 1.
0 :-)
Dave may have been attending Detailed Background-aholics Anonymous, recently, but he still manages to sneak in some significant stuff.
Thanks, Dave! As if you’ve read my mind (or my comment pages ago).