The Unsorted BBS Collection/thegreatunsorted.tar/thegreatunsorted/texts/txtfiles_misc/vamp08.faq

Text File | 1995-03-26 | 5KB | 104 lines

Anne Rice's Vampires



== 1) Method of creation of fledglings ==

In almost all cases, fledglings are created when a master vampire
chooses a successor or 'child' and drains him or her almost to the
point of death.  The victim then, if possible, drinks some of the old
one's blood in return.  This is necessarily an act of will and trust
as well as a physical exchange.  One unusual characteristic is that
after the transformation, the fledgling and the master can no longer
psychically hear one another.  (See Gabrielle and Lestat, in 'The
Vampire Lestat'.)

In one unusual circumstance, Magnus, a mortal, discovers a vampire's
sleeping place and steals blood from the helpless sleeper during
daylight hours.  After drinking this blood he is transformed into a
true vampire, without having undergone either the near-death
experience between master and fledgling, or the death & burial
sequence by which the vampires of Les Innocents are made.  (See 'The
Vampire Lestat'.)

In the death and burial sequence, we are told (it is never shown) that
the chosen, who apparently must commit various crimes and misdeeds in
life to be chosen for vampiric life, do appear to die before their
families and are given only a small amount of vampiric blood before
burial.  They must survive the burial and break out of their coffins
or else die of starvation if they are not strong enough.  (See Armand
and the coven under Les Innocents, 'The Vampire Lestat'.)

== 2) The Vampire's Nature ==

Firstly, Rice's vampires nearly always kill when they drink.  There
are instances when the drink alone is not sufficient to cause death,
and in these situations the vampire may kill the victim by some other
means.  Gabrielle angers Lestat in one such instance by breaking a
victim's neck 'when the little drink she took was not enough to
kill...'  ('The Vampire Lestat').  These vampires enjoy the psychic
aspects of mortal death as much as the actual blood.  They ingest the
memories of those they kill, although those memories do not survive in
their minds as such.

heir appearance is no longer a mortal one.  Their skin becomes quite
pale, and may look iridized when the vampire is hungry.  Likewise,
their eyes tend to reflect many colors.  Lestat uses makeup at one
point in his rock-star career, and points out that in order to pass as
a mortal at all, he must feed immediately beforehand.

Their physical abilities are greatly enhanced from what they were as
mortals.  Physical strength is much greater.  Gabrielle, as noted
above, easily breaks a man's neck.  Armand and Lestat climb up a
vertical tower and on occasion fight with one another in a cathedral;
during this battle they grapple and throw one another many feet across
the room.  They do not need or want mortal food.  Alcohol in the blood
affects them, as well as drugs.  (Claudia poisons Lestat by bringing
him child-victims who have drunk absinthe, which is a poison to
mortals in large enough quantities as well).  Upon becoming a vampire,
these individuals lose their mortal sexual abilities, which are
superseded by the intimacy and lust of the hunt and the kill.

Rice's vampires may not actually be capable of flying, but they seem
to be able to levitate, and/or ride air currents to some extent.
Magnus appears to fly with Lestat when he kidnaps Lestat; Akasha also
appears to be able to fly to some degree.  In terms of simple physical
feats, the power and control is greatly enhanced.  Lestat, in  his
first nights, discovers he can speak or sing so loudly that it not
only hurts mortal ears but arouses great suspicion of his true nature.
When he attempts acrobatic maneuvers he finds he can literally leap to
the ceiling.

Their mental abilities are greatly altered as well.  Armand reads
books as if they were brief treatises, at great speed; he also can
project his mental voice in a 'calling' that profoundly affects both
vampires and mortals.  They can 'hear' voices from all over the world,
though most of them learn to filter out this 'noise'.

== 3) Methods of Destroying Ricean Vampires ==

These vampires can be destroyed in the following ways: fire, exposure
to sunlight with subsequent scattering of the ashes, beheading,
probably staking if it breaks the spine or destroys the central
nervous system.  Fire alone will not kill them (see Lestat after
Claudia's attempt to kill him).

All Ricean vampires are related through their blood to Those Who Must
Be Kept. These are their original 'parents,' Enkil and Akasha of
Egypt, who were attacked by traitors who unwittingly gave a demon
entrance into their victims' bodies.  This turned these mortals into
creatures who could no longer procreate, nor tolerate daylight, and
who must take mortal blood to survive.  In the course of the Vampire
Chronicles, it becomes plain that all vampires are thus interrelated,
because when Those Who Must Be Kept are left out in the sunlight by an
elder weary of caring for them, all other vampires are burned or
destroyed by the transmitted effects of the sunlight upon their
parents.  And at the end of 'Queen of the Damned' only a cannibalistic
ritual act performed by Maharet and Mekare, an echo of the loving
ritual they had once set out to perform upon their mother's body, can
save the entire population of vampires from death as Akasha herself
dies.

Firefly
AOZXAYC@UICVMC