Modern Mythology 2019 Build Your Own Vampire Project

Build Your Own Vampire Project

Objective: The goal of this project is for your team to create the rules and attributes of your own vampire universe. While creativity is necessary, research is actually the focal point. The caveat is that your vampire universe must be based on research your team completes about stories associated with vampires from any point in time, history, folklore, or fiction.

Team Members: Anne Zats, Sherry Fung, Sean Vayser, Winni Chen, Mason Ma, Gordon Yu

Team Name: Deadicated

Vampire’s Ethnicity: Russian

Justification: Russian vampires possess traits that would greatly help them survive. Since vampires live off blood, it would benefit them to have more time to kill.  In Russian culture, the upyr species is not affected by sunlight.  This allows the vampires to kill during the day as well as at night.  This is crucial since Russian vampires crave blood and kill often. Another advantage that upyr vampires have is that they are difficult to kill if found.  If they are attacked in the heart once, they will die, but being struck a second time will give them back their life.

Amanda. “The Real History Behind Hemlock Grove's Upir.” Vampires, 9 May 2013, www.vampires.com/the-real-history-behind-hemlock-groves-upir/.

Vampire’s Abilities: Invisibility

Justification: A vampire must be able to hide in plain sight in order to prevent themselves from being identified by humans, which can put their safety in jeopardy. Our vampire will have the ability to turn invisible, allowing them to easily walk amongst humans without raising any suspicion. This ability exists for vampires within The Elder Scrolls video game series as vampires from the Lyrezi Clan, located in the province of High Rock, have the ability to turn invisible.

Citation: The Elder Scrolls V. Skyrim. Rockville, MD

:Bethesda Softworks, 2013. Print.

Vampire’s Weakness(es): sparkles in sunlight

Justification: Since our vampire does not have the usual vampiric weakness of not being able to exist in sunlight, we have added that, based on the Twilight Saga, the vampire has to sparkle in sunlight if they choose to remain visible.

Citation: Meyer, Stephenie. Twilight. Atom, 2009.

Vampire’s Reproduction: women can be turned into vampires by being bitten in usual vampire fashion, men die when bitten and sucked dry of their blood.

Justification: In season 2 episode 4 of the 90’s TV show “Xena: Warrior Princess”, the titular character and her companion Gabrielle investigate Bacchus, the Roman god of grapes, wine, and madness, who is creating bacchae: innocent girls turned into vampires that go into a feeding frenzy at night.

Citation: “Xena: Warrior Princess/ Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.” Scott, T J, director. Season 2, episode 4.

Hamilton, Edith. Mythology. Back Bay Books/Little, Brown and Company, 2013.

Vampire’s Camouflage: uses years of experience with humans to blend in.

Justification: A vampire is born human and is then turned into a monster. They lose a part of their humanity but they can retain a part of it. This makes them especially deadly as along with countless years of human interaction, they are still individuals who are capable of thinking like humans. Because of this, they are inherently able to prey on humans with little suspicion. Our vampire is like Lestat in the way she uses her experience and charm to manipulate humans into thinking she’s one of them when in reality she’s their predator.

Source: Rice, Anne.“Interview with the Vampire.” Ballantine Books Trade Paperbacks, 2014.

Vampire’s Home: In a castle secluded from society

Justification: Vampires represent those higher up and the elite in society. Our vampire lives in a castle, very much like Count Dracula. In Bram Stoker’s Gothic horror novel starring Count Dracula, Dracula lived in a castle on the Carpathian Mountains in Eastern Europe. With our vampire living in a castle, it is indicative of her aristocratic status on the social hierarchy. Furthermore, because she lives in a castle secluded from society, it adds to the mystery surrounding her that encourages the nearby townspeople in the Old World to come up with myths and legends that would ward off her feeding.

Citation: Lewis, Robert. “Bran Castle.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 13 Sept. 2017, www.britannica.com/topic/Bran-Castle

Vampire’s Preferences:Luxury

Justification: Vampires are capable of indulging in physical experiences that humans typically enjoy. Our vampire follows this idea of luxury similar to what Claudia in “Interview with the Vampire” enjoys herself. From top designer clothing to extravagant methods of transportation, our vampire desires to put the world around her in a trance as she feasts on her human victims.

Source: Rice, Anne. “Interview with the Vampire.” Ballantine Books Trade Paperbacks, 2014.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/19a2wU5lONY0h8wy33iGI_heyR8sgE1hQvxDV5YC5TtI/edit