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FAQs about vampires

The Town of Willow Springs

General Information about 1880's Arizona and the world beyond it
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This post will be cleaned up and better organized later today. I just wanted to post the basics now before I go into work.

"Blood and Guns" (A Vampire Tale from the Wild Wild West)

The year is 1880.

The town will be called Willow Springs. It will be in south central Arizona. It sits atop a generous underground aquifer into which ranchers and the town have sunk enough wells to ensure they never lack for fresh water. Prior to the railroad, ranching was the primary industry, and herds were annually driven north to the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad line for transport to markets to the east and west.

Copper had been discovered years earlier in the mountains two miles to the north, but the cost of transporting it was prohibitive so the mine was only worked by a half dozen members of the Rogers Family who struggled to sell it to local manufacturers across Arizona. (If you want your character to have any sort of connection to them, that's perfectly fine.)

The Southern Pacific Railroad was under construction and -- passing east and west just a quarter mile north of the town -- was due to be completed in 1876.

Even before the railroad got close to Willow Springs, a mining consortium from back east (that knew all about the impending railroad construction years earlier) had secretly bought the mine and all of the land located on either side of the future track's route.

Even before the first train passed over its tracks, the land was selling for 20 times what the consortium had paid for it. Structures were being planned or already built on both sides of the track.

A spur line from the mine to the SPR was built, and by 1877 -- what with the railroad shipping ore and locally raised cattle to markets to the east and west both -- Willow Springs had jumped in population from 66 to 1,066.

So, that's the background. There will be saloons and hotels and a photographer and a mortician and more saloons and whore houses and opium dens and tent cities, one near town and one near the mine, and anything else that you can imagine from a booming old west town.
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This page reserved for future use.
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This page also reserved for future use.
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And guess what? Yeah, you guessed it: reserved for future use.
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FAQs about vampires


Will daylight kill a vampire?

No. But keep reading.


Can a vampire be out and about while the sun is up?

Yes, but it isn't good for them.

During the daylight hours, a vampire loses its beyond-human abilities and protections (which I will explain more further below).

Additionally, a vampire's energy is drained dramatically by extended periods of daylight activity.

While a vampire can typically survive and even thrive by simply feeding (with non-fatal effects on a "donor"), a full day out and about in the light will almost always require the rapid, complete, and life-ending draining of a human being.


Does a vampire have to feed regularly?

Yes. "A pint a day keeps the aging at bay."

To fully and entirely halt the aging process and maintain the beyond-human abilities and protections, a vampire must ingest a pint of blood every night.

Missing a night will add a day of mortal life to the vampire's age, as well as defeat the beyond-human abilities and protections until a proper feeding occurs.


Can a vampire feed on other animals beside humans?

No. That's it. Just ... no.


Is killing a human required?

No! A vampire can live a long and fruitful life without ever taking a human life.


What beyond-human abilities and protections does a vampire have?

Length of life: a vampire who feeds regularly can dramatically slow the aging process and become almost immortal. (Killing is not necessary, but it, too, will dramatically slow the aging process.)

Physical abilities: a vampire who feeds regularly (or has killed recently) can increase its strength, speed, endurance, senses, etc., to as much as 10 times that of a typical human.

Mental control (aka charisma): a vampire has a sort of charisma-driven mind control over human beings. It doesn't work all the time: a vampire had to will it into use. And it doesn't work on everyone: it works better on the less intelligent or the intoxicated; it works pretty good on those who are physically attracted to the vampire (regardless of gender similarity or difference); and it is very affective on other such vulnerable people.

"Amnesia": as a function of the mind control (above), a vampire can make vulnerable people forget recent events. They use this mostly to make "donors" forget the details of having been fed upon. Oh sure, the fang wounds are still there, but how they got there can be rather fuzzy.

Invincibility: well, that's a longer subject, so read below.


Are vampires invincible, as in they cannot be killed by conventional means?

No. But, keep reading.

If they have fed regularly (or killed recently), a vampire does not suffer many of the ills and pains that a human does.

For example, during a fight or accident, they do not feel pain. Therefore, they are not overwhelmed with such pain and don't go into shock, allowing them to continue to battle on or endure hardship.

Also, a vampire's body heals at 100 times the rate of a humans. If, for example, a vampire is shot, the wounds will heal so rapidly that only a small amount of blood will be lost (typically just enough to let others know that the bullet struck but not nearly enough to cause the vampire to bleed out); and the part of the body struck will often heal up so quickly that there is little if any loss of use of that body part. (There are exceptions, however: keep reading.)

However, an injury that would be instantaneously fatal to a human will typically be so to a vampire as well. For example, a bullet to the lung might heal so rapidly that a vampire will survive with little effect, but a bullet to the heart or brain could cease its operation permanently, meaning death.


Do vampires turn humans into vampires?

They can, but they don't do it often.

Some vampires wish they themselves had never been turned, and as such they aren't about to turn someone else.

Other vampires, however, enjoy the vampire life because of the beyond-human abilities and protections afforded by it. However, once again, these vampires don't typically turn a lot of humans into vampires. Why share in these great advantages?


How does a vampire turn a human?

Wouldn't you like to know? (In other words, I haven't decided yet.)


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