Vampirony

While variations have been recorded within the types (see Chapter 1: I am Vampire), there are standard ways vampires effect a human’s behavior.  The ability to influence humans toward the vampire’s wishes can often mark the difference between a long preternatural life and a quick death by stake or burning.  Considering the complex world in which vampire- human relationships exist (prey, partner or predator), vampires often use whatever influence abilities they possess without conscious thought or practice.  Although these abilities can be honed and skillfully applied, vampires lack the tutelage in most respects to excel past the limitations of their own necessitated experiences. 

Overall, influence can be measured by the degree of control over the human and the effort involved which can work to either attract or repel depending on the aims of the vampire.

• Cloud – Clouding is the simplest and weakest of influences, allowing the vampire to mask his presence and guide the human toward or away from the vampire without the human’s awareness.  Vampires have an inherent polarity that as they mature, they need to gain more control over to meet their needs.  Negative vampires tend to cause general discomfort in surrounding humans, a feeling of ill ease that most humans will move away from.  This serves as a defensive mechanism, especially for younger vampires who are still learning to control their needs and abilities.  Positive vampires tend to attract human attention wherever they go.  Fewer positive vampires survive to maturity because of this but have been observed to develop stronger powers of influencing humans because of this underlying attraction. 
• Charm – Charm, while mostly associated with attracting humans, can be used either way, however the influence is actively asserted.  Charm can be used to change the attitudes of a human to be more amenable to the vampire. #Charm includes very simple enforcement of the vampire’s will upon the human and, in measured doses, has no lasting effect on the individual human.  It is often used in conjunction with Clouding to influence a human to forget the encounter in which the charm occurred.  For example,  a vampire might charm prey to leave a public place to walk home alone and cloud them to not remember the conversation at all.  Charm almost always involves vocal engagement to activate, unlike Clouding which is an inherent state of the vampire’s being.
• Persuasion – Persuasion, while more active than charm, greatly depends on the human’s pliability to the request or suggestion.  It often involves influencing the human to some action that might at first seem unpleasant but upon further consideration, seems agreeable as it might make some favorable end.  It’s analogous to changing a person’s opinion on a subject by convincing them they’d always thought that way or that it was their idea.  #Because persuasion involves knowledge of the human’s attitudes, it typically involves more of the vampire’s sensory abilities (see Chapter 2: Nature of the Beast) however still leaves no lasting mark beyond the encounter.
• Entrance – Entrancing begins a quickly accelerating process of binding a human to a particular vampire.  Entrancing first involves creating a state of deep connection whether mental, emotional, or physical with the human in order to elicit their behavior in exchange for pleasing the vampire.  In other words, the vampire enraptures (syn) the human by making them a willing servant and then giving them some task to do for reinforcement, usually in the form of physical or emotional closeness with the vampire if positive and escape from bodily harm or mental torture if negative.  This two step process is exactly the same as with Spellbinding however, in this case, leaves a transient tie in the human.  Depending on the pliability of the human and the strength at which they have been entranced, this state can last for weeks or months but usually no more than a season.
• Spellbind – Unlike Entrancing, the effects of Spellbinding a human are permanent unless released by the vampire* but unlike first thought, spellbinding does not produce a completely compliant human.  The increased awareness of most humans under spellbinding can lead to erratic behaviors and agitation as the human tries to show the vampire their devotion.  Vampires have often had human cohorts (see Chapter 3: Favor of the Beast) slain by spellbound followers in fits of jealous rage.  Spellbinding requires vigilance on the part of the vampire to protect both vampire and human from the worst possible fallout of spellbinding, wrecking.  However, a properly managed spellbound companion can prove a highly effective daytime steward for the vampire.  Most adult vampires have a single spellbound companion (aka devotee) while elder vampires and ancients, because of their abilities, can easily manage many devotees.
• Wreck – Wrecking involves the vampire exerting so much force of will on the human that the human either emotionally or mentally breaks.  This can also happen from circumstances on a devotee when the stress of trying to please escalates into overwhelming need and jealousy.  Wrecked individuals can very rarely be rehabilitated as the tie to the vampire remains intact while their will and/or mind, both necessary for any release, has been broken.   Contrary to popular myth, wrecking humans happens more out of inexperience than intention but some vampires have been observed to prefer this method of trapping humans before feeding, gaining satisfaction from the process.  Whether a learned or inherited,  it is preferred by the most dangerous vampires, the Carpathanians, but occasionally practiced by other types.  Jiang Shi have also been known to prefer wrecking when the life essence of a human prey could not be successfully absorbed.

It is not quite understood whether or not vampires can also be effected by these influences.  Vampires are often born with an existing tie to another vampire, their maker.  Further, the blood tie may in fact usurp any other influence as it shares the vampire’s powers with its offspring.  This may offer continual protection against any other influence being exerted on them by other vampires.  Because vampires tend to live isolated with no organization (unlike werewolves), studying vampire interactions becomes difficult.  It is hard to know how much of the interplay between random vampire encounters evolves from vampire-human influencing versus their own complicated human-into-vampire emotional journeys.

*note: One alleged case of vampire “exorcism” is known but the details are as of yet undocumented as the human died shortly afterwards in childbirth.

This entry was posted on July 11, 2009 at 5:39 pm and is filed under Fiction, Vampirony with tags blood, Fiction, jiang shi, preternatural, psychology, reincarnation, seattle, spellbind, supernatural, vampire, writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.