Vampires: why does your character drink blood? Options

[Lady Saga]

I am having trouble with this one, and need some ideas. Why does your character drink blood? Why do they feed?

In Oblivion, becoming a Stage 4 vampire caused the majority of NPCs to be repulsed by our characters. They technically did not have to feed, but at least once the feeding was done, the NPCs stopped recognizing that our chars were vampires. This essentially gave our characters a reason to feed, at least.

But in Skyrim, this is no longer so (assuming Dawngurd is installed). The NPCs treat our characters with mild suspicion at best, but going from Stage 1 to Stage 4 does not actually cause any wanton sorts of behavior from the world.

So why does your character need to feed? What RP ideas have you all come up with?

[Destri Melarg]

My take is that Nocturnal is the patron of Thieves, so she wants her stuff stolen. It has to be by the right kind of thieves, though, so she needs an appropriate level of guard to test the ones who attempt it. The Cowl, the Skeleton Key, the Bow of Shadows and the Eye have all had their characteristics altered over the ages to suit the thief she's trying to lure in. Sometimes they've been given away as rewards, sometimes they've had to be stolen directly, and the case of the cowl and the curse in Oblivion, and the Skeleton Key in Skyrim, Nocturnal's plans haven't always worked, at least initially.

An elegant solution. I have heard it described in this way before. The problem arises when you remember that the Nightingales are only indigenous to Skyrim. Weebum-Na and Bejeen encountered no such sentries when they liberated the Eye in Oblivion. And there is mention of witches but there are no Nightingales present in Purloined Shadows, which is the only documented case we have of the theft of an artifact from Nocturnal. I concede that Shadows is probably a work of fiction, and one could argue that the theft of the Eye was an elaborate plan on Nocturnal's part to, as you say, lure the right kind of thief in. It still seems like Bethesda doesn't have a clear sense of what they want to do with the Daedric Princes.

I’ve always thought that a vampire is bound to the daedric prince regardless of how they got infected, so their afterlife will be in that prince’s realm. The Skyrim ritual to cure vampirism requires a filled black soul gem. I take that to be an exchange for their own soul which is marked for Coldharbor.

I love this! I wonder what will happen should the mortal come to realize that he/she is bartering with currency they don't own. You 'soul' ostensibly 'belongs' to your creator. In effect, you're spending daddy's coin!

That is why lycanthropy and vampirism are curses.

I humbly disagree. Lycanthropy/Sanies Lupinus and Sanguinare Vampiris/Porphyric Hemophilia are diseases, and both are treatable within three days (except for in Skyrim where you are forced to simply accept your lycanthropy).


Sorry again, Renee. Your thread seems to have gone off the rails a bit!