Vampire Worlds

[Nuristas]

Greetings all,

I am looking for some feedback regarding this topic.

I will first post what I have found:

We get a reference to those kinda worlds in the novel "hammer of the forge" but I have never seen them in an official publishing with: nightmare world, don't go there.
Does anybody know if there are any references to those worlds and how they are?

Up till now, the only thing we have is the different vampire kingdoms and how they are run (which goes from tyranny to full vampiric overlord and everything in between).
Those worlds also would need a human population since otherwise, there would be no vampires left or am I missing something?

How do you see those worlds being run. Maximum horror would be welcome since I might take some ideas for a campaign.

[taalismn]

I imagine that vampire worlds would have as a prevailing constant either very little exposure to sunlight, or easily controlled sunlight(the habitable zone being under deep cover or underground, easy magic weather control, etc.).
That might complicate things for human populations, since(despite the jokes about nerds/RPGers and their pale indoor complexions), humans(as we know them) need sunlight to survive, if not periodic exposure, then indirectly in the form of food grown under sunlight.
So vampire worlds either have interesting alternative sources of food(fungus farms), are importing foodstuffs to feed their human populations, have powerful daylight minder minions to watch over the humans while they grow food, or else are dependent on constantly shipping in new supplies of humans as the older populations are weakened by malnutrition.

I imagine that on some of the older vampire worlds with human populations, you might get distinctive human variants; albinos with high blood regeneration, but the vampires might regard these as rather plain-tasting, and thus they go looking for daylight-fed wild stock to dine on.

[Sambot]

Maximum Horror? Humans are kept as livestock and playthings. The few who aren't are loyal to the vampires and are probably evil in their own way.

[taalismn]

Maximum Horror? Humans are kept as livestock and playthings. The few who aren't are loyal to the vampires and are probably evil in their own way.

I take that as a given.
Plus you have those who have mentally completely justified their actions and regard themselves as 'doing good' through their treatment of other humans.
"Better that we suffer a little than die."
"Better that a few are sacrificed so the majority can live(in abject misery)."
"For my efforts in keeping the vampire lords from destroying us all, why shouldn't I be compensated for my pain?"
"I suffer too, all the time, agonizing over the decisions I must make...I'm entitled to a little pleasure...if only to be social with our overlords, who might be offended otherwise if I didn't show proper appreciation."
"We simply have no margin for error, no surplus to take care of the weak and useless. They must be sacrificed so the rest must live."
"Usefulness includes utility to myself."

[glitterboy2098]

given that PB uses the "vampire" descriptor to refer to any sorts of race that lives off PPE, it could also be living entities that disguise themselves as planets in order to lure spacecraft to themselves in order to drain the crews of their PPE. or even which allow colonies to be built on itself so it can drain tens of thousands of people all at once.

in short, a literal vampiric planet.


as far as vampire dominated planets go, i would suggest perusing the Vampire Hunter D light novel series for ideas. while those are set nominally after the vampire Nobility is overthrown, much of the setting and many of the narratives hinge on the ways that the Vampires ruled their human livestock.

[BookWyrm]

This thread sparked a thought, did a search, remembered this;
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=137159&hilit=vampire

[taalismn]

This thread sparked a thought, did a search, remembered this;
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=137159&hilit=vampire

Wow...my thought processes, for all that that's happened to me in those 7 years, haven't changed much, have they?

[glitterboy2098]

i vaguely remember that thread.

one thought i had skimming it.. tidally locked worlds would make great Vampire hideouts. you'd have a perpetually dark side which vampires could dominate entirely due to conditions that prevent non-vampires from being able to live there, a perpetually lit side that vampires avoid but which is similarly uninhabitable to living beings, and then a ring shaped twilight zone between them where their human livestock can live. Vampires might have some issues with the parts closer to the lit side (where you'd expect the farms and such to be) but if they have EBA or loyal human servants they could still police it.

this type of world would also have some world building opportunities, such as the idea of a society of people who fled into the brightside to escape the vamps (whether just for safety or to try and fight them) who then live a hardscrabble life in the blazing hot and dry deserts on the edge of the brightside.
and the possibility that the Vampire society might be stratified geographically, with the more powerful levels of their 'nobility' living farther inside the darkside, where they are safer from human attack but also more reliant on the lesser vampire nobility under them to get access to their food.

[Sambot]

Maximum Horror? Humans are kept as livestock and playthings. The few who aren't are loyal to the vampires and are probably evil in their own way.

I take that as a given.
Plus you have those who have mentally completely justified their actions and regard themselves as 'doing good' through their treatment of other humans.
"Better that we suffer a little than die."
"Better that a few are sacrificed so the majority can live(in abject misery)."
"For my efforts in keeping the vampire lords from destroying us all, why shouldn't I be compensated for my pain?"
"I suffer too, all the time, agonizing over the decisions I must make...I'm entitled to a little pleasure...if only to be social with our overlords, who might be offended otherwise if I didn't show proper appreciation."
"We simply have no margin for error, no surplus to take care of the weak and useless. They must be sacrificed so the rest must live."
"Usefulness includes utility to myself."

Not a place I'd want to visit

[Nuristas]

Maximum Horror? Humans are kept as livestock and playthings. The few who aren't are loyal to the vampires and are probably evil in their own way.

I take that as a given.
Plus you have those who have mentally completely justified their actions and regard themselves as 'doing good' through their treatment of other humans.
"Better that we suffer a little than die."
"Better that a few are sacrificed so the majority can live(in abject misery)."
"For my efforts in keeping the vampire lords from destroying us all, why shouldn't I be compensated for my pain?"
"I suffer too, all the time, agonizing over the decisions I must make...I'm entitled to a little pleasure...if only to be social with our overlords, who might be offended otherwise if I didn't show proper appreciation."
"We simply have no margin for error, no surplus to take care of the weak and useless. They must be sacrificed so the rest must live."
"Usefulness includes utility to myself."

Not a place I'd want to visit

I do not think that anybody wants to visit a place where vampires have crushed the human psyche and some people have willingly joined the "dark side" to edge out a better life for themselves and/or their loved ones. There are a ton of movies based on this concept and more examples than we would like in real life history.

But yes, all the vampire worlds I have been reading about sound really "dark" as they should be.

[Sambot]

Yeah, They'd be pretty bleak.

Not that I agree with that. I think there can be "vampires" without being evil soul suckers or without them being all sparkly.

[taalismn]

Yeah, They'd be pretty bleak.

Not that I agree with that. I think there can be "vampires" without being evil soul suckers or without them being all sparkly.

'Vampire' can be regarded as a general term, but there can be varying species/subsets/organisms that answer to the description. I've played this card to surprise PCs who hear 'vampire' and haul out the squirt guns only to discover they're useless.

Then there's the canon Dhampir or the odd particu;arly-strong=willed individuals who manage to hang on to some degree of their humanity.

Then for some real contrast, look at Discworld's vampires*, where it's more like they're living memes or addicts, some of who find other things to assuage their hungers(like playing power politics)

( From one of the DiscWorld Books, the following incident:
*Wtachman(to jar of ashes): " Your coworkers say you had an accident."
Ashified vampire in jar){ " It was assault! They ere laying for me!"
Coworker: "...you work on an assembly line in a PENCIL FACTORY." )

[Sambot]

'Vampire' can be regarded as a general term, but there can be varying species/subsets/organisms that answer to the description. I've played this card to surprise PCs who hear 'vampire' and haul out the squirt guns only to discover they're useless.

Then there's the canon Dhampir or the odd particu;arly-strong=willed individuals who manage to hang on to some degree of their humanity.

Then for some real contrast, look at Discworld's vampires*, where it's more like they're living memes or addicts, some of who find other things to assuage their hungers(like playing power politics)

( From one of the DiscWorld Books, the following incident:
*Wtachman(to jar of ashes): " Your coworkers say you had an accident."
Ashified vampire in jar){ " It was assault! They ere laying for me!"
Coworker: "...you work on an assembly line in a PENCIL FACTORY." )

It is a big surprise when a vampire isn't what they thought it was. Or other creature .

Haven't seen the Discworlds vampires. They sound fun though.

[taalismn]

[

Haven't seen the Discworlds vampires. They sound fun though.

They are. They're driven by Dramatic Narrative. And their ability to regenerate from dust makes for some amazingly funny slapstick(the photographer for Discworld's first newspaper has some bad experiences with his flashbulb-equivalents until he figures out a creative solution to the problem...he keeps a vial of blood around his neck. When he gets (fl)ashified by his own camera equipment, the glass vial drops and shatters in his dust...POOF! Instant resurrection).

[Sambot]

[

Haven't seen the Discworlds vampires. They sound fun though.

They are. They're driven by Dramatic Narrative. And their ability to regenerate from dust makes for some amazingly funny slapstick(the photographer for Discworld's first newspaper has some bad experiences with his flashbulb-equivalents until he figures out a creative solution to the problem...he keeps a vial of blood around his neck. When he gets (fl)ashified by his own camera equipment, the glass vial drops and shatters in his dust...POOF! Instant resurrection).

That must be a pain in the neck.

[Axelmania]

Maximum Horror? Humans are kept as livestock and playthings. The few who aren't are loyal to the vampires and are probably evil in their own way.

I dunno, sometimes if you go too far into the apocalyptic setting, it's not really as horrific as making an almost-normal setting with horror sprinkled within it.

Zombies are a lot scarier when the outbreak first happens (guard let down) than when everyone has adapted years later and is wielding shotguns.

In the case of vampires for example, what about in a mostly ordinary (say BTS-ish) world, a baby who is turned into a secondary vampire (elevating IQ) who poses as an abandoned infant at hospitals/churches and when a wetnurse is employed to feed it, it uses the suckling to slow-kill the wet nurses and turn them into servants? It only takes the first bite to make them pliable...

[Warshield73]

Maximum Horror? Humans are kept as livestock and playthings. The few who aren't are loyal to the vampires and are probably evil in their own way.

ni
I dunno, sometimes if you go too far into the apocalyptic setting, it's not really as horrific as making an almost-normal setting with horror sprinkled within it.

Zombies are a lot scarier when the outbreak first happens (guard let down) than when everyone has adapted years later and is wielding shotguns.

In the case of vampires for example, what about in a mostly ordinary (say BTS-ish) world, a baby who is turned into a secondary vampire (elevating IQ) who poses as an abandoned infant at hospitals/churches and when a wetnurse is employed to feed it, it uses the suckling to slow-kill the wet nurses and turn them into servants? It only takes the first bite to make them pliable...

I have to largely agree with this. Give an a nice, maybe even ideal community with nice homes and farms, maybe a little shop. Who doesn't love a little shop? Then after you party has eaten and drank tucked in nice and comfy in their nice clean room out comes the vamps and wackiness ensues.

The only vamp planet I created was largely modeled on a mix of one of Mexican Kingdoms and a Splugorth planet.
- One Intelligence and it's vamps ran the entire planet
- In addition to all the anti-vamp crusaders from people like True Atlanteans there were vamps from other intelligences and splugorth agents - A single large city with Dwarves running everything, underclass of Wulfen laborers. Cities were a mix of high tech and rustic.
- City had a space port for smugglers and privates. Those pirates bring slaves/food from ships they capture.
- The planet was a standard earth type, little dryer with a band of deserts around the world in the tropical zone.

I don't remember where it was or if it was known as a vamp world but it was pretty horrible place to visit.

[Sambot]

Maximum Horror? Humans are kept as livestock and playthings. The few who aren't are loyal to the vampires and are probably evil in their own way.

I dunno, sometimes if you go too far into the apocalyptic setting, it's not really as horrific as making an almost-normal setting with horror sprinkled within it.

Zombies are a lot scarier when the outbreak first happens (guard let down) than when everyone has adapted years later and is wielding shotguns.

In the case of vampires for example, what about in a mostly ordinary (say BTS-ish) world, a baby who is turned into a secondary vampire (elevating IQ) who poses as an abandoned infant at hospitals/churches and when a wetnurse is employed to feed it, it uses the suckling to slow-kill the wet nurses and turn them into servants? It only takes the first bite to make them pliable...

True and by the time you get to a "Vampire World" the horror would be normal. Unless you're just got there. Then it's terrifying.

I'm not sure. It could be you're so used to it that your guard falls and then you're lunch.

Now that is terrifying.

[taalismn]

[
True and by the time you get to a "Vampire World" the horror would be normal. Unless you're just got there. Then it's terrifying.

I'm not sure. It could be you're so used to it that your guard falls and then you're lunch.

Now that is terrifying.

Yeah, getting through Customs is a hoot.

If you don't cringe in terror just looking past the check-in...

"Do you have any silver, holy symbols, blessed water, herbs, mirrors, or wooden stakes to declare?"

[Sambot]

[
True and by the time you get to a "Vampire World" the horror would be normal. Unless you're just got there. Then it's terrifying.

I'm not sure. It could be you're so used to it that your guard falls and then you're lunch.

Now that is terrifying.

Yeah, getting through Customs is a hoot.

If you don't cringe in terror just looking past the check-in...

"Do you have any silver, holy symbols, blessed water, herbs, mirrors, or wooden stakes to declare?"

[Nekira Sudacne]

[
True and by the time you get to a "Vampire World" the horror would be normal. Unless you're just got there. Then it's terrifying.

I'm not sure. It could be you're so used to it that your guard falls and then you're lunch.

Now that is terrifying.

Yeah, getting through Customs is a hoot.

If you don't cringe in terror just looking past the check-in...

"Do you have any silver, holy symbols, blessed water, herbs, mirrors, or wooden stakes to declare?"

"But I'm an Italian Chef!"

[taalismn]

"But I'm an Italian Chef!"

French chef vampire-hunter promptly stabs the vampire guard with the wooden stake concealed within his bread loaf.

[SolCannibal]

[

Haven't seen the Discworlds vampires. They sound fun though.

They are. They're driven by Dramatic Narrative. And their ability to regenerate from dust makes for some amazingly funny slapstick(the photographer for Discworld's first newspaper has some bad experiences with his flashbulb-equivalents until he figures out a creative solution to the problem...he keeps a vial of blood around his neck. When he gets (fl)ashified by his own camera equipment, the glass vial drops and shatters in his dust...POOF! Instant resurrection).

That must be a pain in the neck.

Bloody better than the alternative, you bet.


As an aside, i semi-regularly use Dar'ota or Dybbuk in place of actual vampires to sidetrack my players a little. In fact the Dar'ota might be in some ways worse than the average vampire, on account their powers of seduction AND natural sadism/bloodlust.

And now i'm thinking of how diferent a Demon Planet that fell in the hands of a large population of Dar'Ota (Phoenix Empire has a million of them, so large numbers are definitely possible) might or not look like. Demon ships should be curious, considering they can go from reptilian beast to seductive humanoid in a blink of the eye. Have to give that part of Dimensional Outbreak a good read one of those days....

[Giant2005]

Would a Vamp planet even have that many Vamps on it? If there are no threats, there isn't much point in making too many Secondary Vampires. Doing so just ruins a meal and creates another mouth to feed. It doesn't seem like a winning proposition.

[SolCannibal]

Would a Vamp planet even have that many Vamps on it? If there are no threats, there isn't much point in making too many Secondary Vampires. Doing so just ruins a meal and creates another mouth to feed. It doesn't seem like a winning proposition.

Depends on how one such things works out mechanically, i guess. How much in common does it have with a demon planet or with vampire intelligences? Does it have immunities & weaknesses like a vampire, if so, which ones? Among other things. Much for a GM to cook up and define first, imho.

[taalismn]

Would a Vamp planet even have that many Vamps on it? If there are no threats, there isn't much point in making too many Secondary Vampires. Doing so just ruins a meal and creates another mouth to feed. It doesn't seem like a winning proposition.

I think vamps thinking long term of logistics are a fairly recent thing. So vamp planets may have, if you pardon the expression, a lifespan......The vamps need a reliable food source, but also need reliable minions to manage it. Secondary Vamps are the best at this, but make too many, and the minion supply overwhelms the benefits...so it probably begins to resemble a cutthroat corporate office, with secondaries jockeying for the favor of their Masters through being super-efficient, loyal suck-ups, and making their rivals look bad. Said rivals, of course, get staked if they fall behind.

Then again, some vamp-worlds might keep only a few ACTIVE vamps, and vast armies staked and dormant. Some invader comes with enough numbers to deal with the population of vamps they can observe....and the vamps under invasion literally pull up stakes and a whole army to wipe out the visitors. Break for celebratory blood drink, then back in the graves again!

[SolCannibal]

Little aside, it's perfectly possible for a "vampire world" to actually be just a demon planet under another guise, like the previously cited Dybbuk & Dar'ota (Incubbi/Succubi) from CB1 or Dark Conversions and the Ch'iang Shih from WB24.