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?

[BretonBlood]

With my vampire characters I always tend to play them as Cyrodiilic vampires so they want to feed to remain hidden from society. I personally find the Cyrodiilic vampires the most interesting because of their deception and the way they hide in plain sight like the Count of Skingrad.

[Destri Melarg]

With my vampire characters I always tend to play them as Cyrodiilic vampires so they want to feed to remain hidden from society. I personally find the Cyrodiilic vampires the most interesting because of their deception and the way they hide in plain sight like the Count of Skingrad.

Here's another welcome to the forums, BretonBlood.

The thing I like about Hassildor is that, while fooling the populace of Skingrad, he's got his feral wife living wild in the catacombs under the palace. Makes for quite the juggling act and gives his character some real depth.

My personal pet peeve concerning Elder Scrolls vampires (actually all the vampires presented in fiction) has to do with how messy they are. You know… body parts strewn around, half eaten bones littering the dinner table, and blood everywhere, It's on the floor, it's on the furniture, it's on the walls, it's even on the ceiling! This is their food we're talking about here! Why is it that immortality makes you such an unrepentant slob? I enjoy a good pizza as much as anyone, but you'll never see a time when a visit to my house yields half-eaten pizza crust on the floors, or pizza sauce all over the walls!

[BretonBlood]

With my vampire characters I always tend to play them as Cyrodiilic vampires so they want to feed to remain hidden from society. I personally find the Cyrodiilic vampires the most interesting because of their deception and the way they hide in plain sight like the Count of Skingrad.

Here's another welcome to the forums, BretonBlood.

The thing I like about Hassildor is that, while fooling the populace of Skingrad, he's got his feral wife living wild in the catacombs under the palace. Makes for quite the juggling act and gives his character some real depth.

My personal pet peeve concerning Elder Scrolls vampires (actually all the vampires presented in fiction) has to do with how messy they are. You know… body parts strewn around, half eaten bones littering the dinner table, and blood everywhere, It's on the floor, it's on the furniture, it's on the walls, it's even on the ceiling! This is their food we're talking about here! Why is it that immortality makes you such an unrepentant slob? I enjoy a good pizza as much as anyone, but you'll never see a time when a visit to my house yields half-eaten pizza crust on the floors, or pizza sauce all over the walls!

Thank you!

I think you are confusing his wife with the Pale Lady in Skingrad. Hassildor's wife is in a coma from lack of drinking blood and that is why he wants to cure her because she refuses to drink blood and thus went into a comma. The Pale Lady is the one who takes prisoners and feeds off of them and then takes some of the blood and gives it to Hassildor's wife to keep her alive. Nonetheless, it made Hassildor that much deeper a character.

I kind of agree with you here, but I think all the instances of vampires living like this are supposed to be ones who have given into their more feral side and just kill to feed with no regard for anything else. That's how I look at it anyway.

[mALX]

With my vampire characters I always tend to play them as Cyrodiilic vampires so they want to feed to remain hidden from society. I personally find the Cyrodiilic vampires the most interesting because of their deception and the way they hide in plain sight like the Count of Skingrad.

Here's another welcome to the forums, BretonBlood.

The thing I like about Hassildor is that, while fooling the populace of Skingrad, he's got his feral wife living wild in the catacombs under the palace. Makes for quite the juggling act and gives his character some real depth.

My personal pet peeve concerning Elder Scrolls vampires (actually all the vampires presented in fiction) has to do with how messy they are. You know… body parts strewn around, half eaten bones littering the dinner table, and blood everywhere, It's on the floor, it's on the furniture, it's on the walls, it's even on the ceiling! This is their food we're talking about here! Why is it that immortality makes you such an unrepentant slob? I enjoy a good pizza as much as anyone, but you'll never see a time when a visit to my house yields half-eaten pizza crust on the floors, or pizza sauce all over the walls!

Thank you!

I think you are confusing his wife with the Pale Lady in Skingrad. Hassildor's wife is in a coma from lack of drinking blood and that is why he wants to cure her because she refuses to drink blood and thus went into a comma. The Pale Lady is the one who takes prisoners and feeds off of them and then takes some of the blood and gives it to Hassildor's wife to keep her alive. Nonetheless, it made Hassildor that much deeper a character.

I kind of agree with you here, but I think all the instances of vampires living like this are supposed to be ones who have given into their more feral side and just kill to feed with no regard for anything else. That's how I look at it anyway.

Like the bloodlust is so strong that they kind of go into a frenzy?

If you read Jakben Imbel's journal it says almost the same thing; that for the first 80 years he couldn't control his bloodlust; but through the centuries he had gained control of it.

Well, the game was surprisingly consistent in sticking with that journal in that all the ancient vampires in Cyrodiil (Hassildor; Vicente; Imbel; and Seridor) lived in clean places and had a social life with mortals instead of just a feral vampire clan living together in a cave or old fort.

And it works for roleplay; because the player has to socialize too; so they can either have been a vampire a long time - or the way I see it is that there is a difference between the feral vampires in caves and that ancient vampires are a lineage they can share with a person who accepts their dark gift (like Vicente offers the player); but combat with them would only pass on the disease, not the lineage (because they consider it a "gift" they wouldn't give it without their will to give it).

Anyway, that is just how I look at it. And I agree with Destri - Welcome to Chorrol!

[BretonBlood]

With my vampire characters I always tend to play them as Cyrodiilic vampires so they want to feed to remain hidden from society. I personally find the Cyrodiilic vampires the most interesting because of their deception and the way they hide in plain sight like the Count of Skingrad.

Here's another welcome to the forums, BretonBlood.

The thing I like about Hassildor is that, while fooling the populace of Skingrad, he's got his feral wife living wild in the catacombs under the palace. Makes for quite the juggling act and gives his character some real depth.

My personal pet peeve concerning Elder Scrolls vampires (actually all the vampires presented in fiction) has to do with how messy they are. You know… body parts strewn around, half eaten bones littering the dinner table, and blood everywhere, It's on the floor, it's on the furniture, it's on the walls, it's even on the ceiling! This is their food we're talking about here! Why is it that immortality makes you such an unrepentant slob? I enjoy a good pizza as much as anyone, but you'll never see a time when a visit to my house yields half-eaten pizza crust on the floors, or pizza sauce all over the walls!

Thank you!

I think you are confusing his wife with the Pale Lady in Skingrad. Hassildor's wife is in a coma from lack of drinking blood and that is why he wants to cure her because she refuses to drink blood and thus went into a comma. The Pale Lady is the one who takes prisoners and feeds off of them and then takes some of the blood and gives it to Hassildor's wife to keep her alive. Nonetheless, it made Hassildor that much deeper a character.

I kind of agree with you here, but I think all the instances of vampires living like this are supposed to be ones who have given into their more feral side and just kill to feed with no regard for anything else. That's how I look at it anyway.

Like the bloodlust is so strong that they kind of go into a frenzy?

If you read Jakben Imbel's journal it says almost the same thing; that for the first 80 years he couldn't control his bloodlust; but through the centuries he had gained control of it.

Well, the game was surprisingly consistent in sticking with that journal in that all the ancient vampires in Cyrodiil (Hassildor; Vicente; Imbel; and Seridor) lived in clean places and had a social life with mortals instead of just a feral vampire clan living together in a cave or old fort.

And it works for roleplay; because the player has to socialize too; so they can either have been a vampire a long time - or the way I see it is that there is a difference between the feral vampires in caves and that ancient vampires are a lineage they can share with a person who accepts their dark gift (like Vicente offers the player); but combat with them would only pass on the disease, not the lineage (because they consider it a "gift" they wouldn't give it without their will to give it).

Anyway, that is just how I look at it. And I agree with Destri - Welcome to Chorrol!

Yep, that's how I see it, the vampires basically go into a frenzy because of their bloodlust and that's why they have no control over who they kill and what they do with the parts, which is why we see the bones and blood everywhere.

I loved readinf Jakben's journal I found it very interesting in regards to vampire lore, although I think it varies from each individual. I say this because Count Hassildor says he and his wife were infected 50 years ago and that he was able to live with the change but his wife could not. So he hasn't been a vampire that long, relatively, and yet he seems to have control over his bloodlust. Although, being the Count he basically has a steady access to blood versus most other vampires, so it may be a problem he never really had to encounter.

And thank you.