Beach Burrito

Toothless - Vanishing Hearts

Think of it like all those commercials for different medications they have on TV, where listing the potentially fatal side effects takes nearly three minutes. Potions are like that, except now you're using bits of mystical flora as well as modern chemistry. Drinking them will always kill you--the difference between a good potion maker and a bad one is getting them to do it softly.

For young vamps death isn't much of a deterrent, so they oftentimes get hooked early and have to deal with the increasingly torturous wraithburn of their decision.

Toothless - Vanishing Hearts

As far as mundane society goes I'm working on a pessimistic take on many of FutureTimeline.net's predictions, with the main focus being that:
Humanity has not curbed its appetites in the face of radical climate change and ecological damage
Humanity refuses to enter into a more enlightened age, with individual lives being valued less than ever before
Humanity's reach has exceeded its grasp as a technological bloat fans the flames of consumerism

*Designer babies for the wealthy meaning that the division between rich and poor has never been as great as it is now. It's full blown Gattica in this regard, with naturals feeling the crunch of a glass ceiling that drops a few inches every year.

*While there's no 'silver-bullet' for aging the key factors at work have been identified. With major advances in the use of stem cells, gene therapy, nanotechnology and other techniques a so-called actuarial escape velocity has been reached where the wealthy can extend their live by more than twelve months every year. (For all intents and purposes getting younger each year.) This means that the highest paying, most desirable positions in society never become available for the newer generation outside of accidental death or injury, as one can imagine this had made the business world all the more cut-throat.

*The US has collapsed under the weight of its national deficit and a 'death by a thousand cuts' brand of cyberterrorism. During this period of depression Canada stepped in to provide international aid. The growing concern is that Canada seems unwilling to 'step-out', policing the former super-power by way of naturalized refugees the U.S. had been unwilling to open their borders to years prior.

Toothless - Vanishing Hearts

Thanks, I really want to hammer home the notion that being a vampire is just about the worst thing that could happen to you. A close second to dying for good as one.

As a side note you have no idea how giddy it makes me to know that this thread is being so closely watched--even if it's one of those slow to mature ideas. It barely edged out my two other ideas for a roleplay (Everyone being the same private eye with multiple personality disorder or the WW1 era-esque fantasy world occupation of a conquered 'evil' country)

Toothless - Vanishing Hearts

Alright then, I've been mulling over how best to balance being an older vamp and I think I've come to something agreeable.

The Long Death: As to make even a temporary death as jarring as possible we will be relying on the whole 'life flashes before your eyes" trope so far as these brief departures are concerned. While being older means you've had more time to accrue primacies it will also ensure you've a longer return trip to be making, should fate be unkind.

A newly blooded vamp of one hundred years or less gives just enough time to say six Mississippis before they re-raise. In lieu of the carefully honed skills and hard won knowledge of their elder peers it is this relentless pace they substitute which makes them a danger. Capitalizing on the six second span of vulnerability each death offers can prove a daunting task, especially when encountered en masse.

The older one gets the longer these periods grow, but never by overmuch. (I'm aware how little one would enjoy roleplaying as a mute/deaf/motionless dead guy/gal for extended periods of time) Instead they will carry the penalty of growing deeper and more troubling. If you poke a few holes in a vamp that's just come into his own he takes a dirt nap, do the same to him in a few hundred years and it's closer to REM. A surviving proverb sums it up nicely.

"The young remember. The old relive. We ancients remorse."

The older one gets the deeper they go and the more disorienting it is to be thrust back to life. Affectionately known as wraithburn this lasting sickness disorients the re-risen vamp, leaving him weakened and unable to summon his crafts. These fleeting sojourns down memory lane will be your only opportunities to fit flashbacks into the story, so long as they're brief and the transition back to life is jarring. (Imagine reliving your wedding night as a sensation of dreadful self-awareness fills you. In a terrible instant you find yourself no longer twined around your lover, clothes heavy with your own blood. Or holding your infant son only for his weight to be replaced with that of some thrashing monster.)

Here's the rule of thumb:

At 100 years or less you're down for six Mississippis and shake off the wraithburn in a minute, give or take.

More or less every hundred years (Read: Every Primacy you choose) adds the previous count to downtime but tacks another zero on your wraithburn. Here's a handy chart.

100 years or less: 6 Mississippi and 1 minute of wraithburn
100+ to 200: 12 Mississippi and 10 minutes of wraithburn
200+ to 300: 24 Mississippi and 100 minutes of wraithburn (1.6 hours)
300+ to 400: 48 Mississippi and 1000 minutes of wraithburn (16 hours)
400+ to 500: 96 Mississippi and 10000 minutes of wraithburn (160 hours or 6.66 days)

Five centuries is the upper limit on how old you'll be able to make your characters, meaning the were born during the later half of the 1500's.

You'll also notice from the above that potions are more useful as a leg up for younger vamps than they are for older ones (Since they kill you) At 500 years and up a vamp's going to need a damn good reason to quaff one. That said they are powerfully addictive and those that rely on them as a crutch soon find eternity has a way of catching up to you.

Penumbra - Sigil of the Damned

No use beating a dead horse Whoami. Safe to say I'll be dropping out too.

Toothless - Vanishing Hearts

Truth be told I want to be sure I've got it all squared away before I throw up an OOC, people tend to get antzy when those take their time. Magic is going to be a big part of it so I want to make sure I give it a good thinking over--ideally the magic system should let you all outsmart me, and use it in ways I hadn't planned on. A little tired right now but let me knock something out for the sake of not letting the thread gather dust.

Another Idea I've been playing with is magic potions--mostly revolving around how vampires regenerate from harm. Essentially Vamps can be killed by almost any means that would do the same to a human being. Poison? They die. Drown? Death. Car accident? Coroner's report. The catch is that short of destroying the heart, head, burning them or exposing them to sunlight that vampire is going to get better (Excluding Dhampir). There's no regeneration or 'healing factor' involved--one moment they're broken and the next their not--all thanks to the curse.

So why would this matter? Simple. Magic potions kill you. Always and without fail. Some slower than others of course, but I'll be posting in more detail when I'm happy with it.

I'm also toying with the notion of primacies (Read: The utter master of a subject or set of skills) based on how long your character has been afflicted. There will be an upper limit on this of course, not to mention the trend of an inherent danger/downside. In a nutshell you could use these to make a very capable combatant...but just fighting battles won't get anyone any closer to their heart. Meanwhile holding primacy over certain bodies of lore might pay off in unexpected ways. One of the big themes at work here being that knowledge is power.

Don't be shy to fill the thread with questions either--I'll do my level best to answer them.

@Obscene Symphony: Glad I got you excited for the Draug. Hopefully it won't all that much longer before you're tearing out of your skin as one.

Penumbra - Sigil of the Damned

Alright, I'll hold off then. Was just going to write my way deeper into safety at any rate.

Toothless - Vanishing Hearts

It's evolving alright, a bit slower than I'd like but that's the way it goes sometimes (A bit more on my plate than I planned on lately). That said I'll leave a little snippet on how I'm designing the magic system.

The curse is old magic, and although it cannot be broken it may be bent to purpose. This act is known as the Craft and much like yourself it exists today as a pale imitation of its heritage. To ply the Craft is to become both sculptor and clay, to reach through oneself and crudely skew the last vestiges of what was.

*** That's just a bit of lore for flavor. Functionally the craft requires a reflective surface (The bigger the better) and allot of concentration. It's powerful ritual magic--the old kind--or at least what meager secrets survived your ancestors. During this rite a vampire will twist and mutilate their reflection (Their true self) in an attempt to alter how this world, the next or what's in between receives them. Whatever supernatural powers manifest themselves as a result must be taken with the caveat that this is an imperfect, often traumatizing act born from greed and desperation; no practitioner comes away from it whole.

Essentially this means that you may all add as many magical abilities to your vampires as you wish, with the trade off being that you receive a non-universal vulnerability in return for each power granted. CAUTION: Though you may freely select your powers these weaknesses will be decided AFTER a CS is accepted. With no guarantee that your character will be aware of them all.

I plan to include a reference list of common Crafts (The sort you're likely to encounter in other vampires), though I stress characters are in no way limited to these alone. Trust however that the curse does not deal fairly, and that powerful or uncommon Crafts are a realm best reserved for risk takers.

Penumbra - Sigil of the Damned

Well heck, if there's nothing new up by tomorrow night I'll just post again--really don't want this to start mothballing

Penumbra - Sigil of the Damned

Drat. Sorry to see him go.