Should vampires be repelled by crosses, and if so, should they be repelled by all religious symbols? Should it be the holiness of the symbol that repels them, or something else?
Should vampires be repelled by crosses, and if so, should they be repelled by all religious symbols?
Be honest with me, did you just watch a RLM video? If not, disregard this post.
OP here. Yes.
Mike's take was pretty dumb.
Was it the most recent one? I need background noise for work and want context.
Yes
I think it should be the conviction of the symbol's wielder.
Yes.
To lean in on it, holy (and unholy) symbols should keep them at bay but free to act with symbols of faith in the god (or gods) of humanity, light, life and death should outright stunlocking them in place/make them flee away as if they felt the touch of the sun.
No. High wis low int of you being a homosexual will just make the vampire kill you. And if you are a D&D 5e newbie, no paladins charisma/ego is their ego in thinking they are superior for keeping their promise to the gods that give them the power, not the source of the power itself. Only "my grandfather was a dragonslayer" and undead get the ego fueled powers (vampires included, both in WoD and D&D).
>I think it should be the conviction of the symbol's wielder
So Chris-chan could repel a vampire using a Sonichu symbol?
Yes, but simply because Chris-chan repels everyone even without any symbols.
I too am repulsed by homosexuals.
He has completed his love quest, don't you know? He's got an autistic e-girl at the group home.
>Zis is not vot I vanted vhen I asked for a virgin to drink from
I think it should be the conviction of the monster
Only crosses because Christianity is true and correct.
>Christianity
Interesting way you got of spelling Catholicism, proddie.
Go back to watching your wojak videos LARPer.
> He's going to allow his eternal soul to be damned so some moron king could divorce his wife a few centuries ago.
That's some dedication, for sure.
Gay
Christianity is a lie.
Stay mad.
gay atheist spotted, return to Reddit at once neckbeard
>REEEEEEEE!!!!! HE KNOWS CRISTIANITY IS A GAY LARP!!!!! REEEEEEEEE!!!!! HE MUST BE AN ATHIEST homosexual!!!!!! REEEEEEE!!!!!!!
Nice cope, midwit. I'm neither gay, nor an athiest. Not that there's anything wrong with athiests. I just find their blind arrogance as repulsive as your blind ignorance.
Let me guess...mommy and daddy told you all about bearded cloud gay when you were just a little nutstain and you've stupidly believed whatever you were shilled by the cult they joined ever since.
Christcucks are worse than athiests, because at least athiests admit they used to be brainwashed.
You're so brainwashed you can't even see just how far gone you are.
You'll just keep on believing whatever derpy preacherman derps at you.
Probably never even read the bible, studied its assfricked, bigoted, genocidal history, or comprehended anything written in it.
This is why Christcucks are pure cope and trash.
>But I have faith.
In lies you never bothered to research.
The Easter Bunny has more validity than your skyhomosexual.
pls don't blaspheme the easter bunny, i need something to believe in you monster
>tips fedora
Based. Atheoids mad at Christianity because mommy made them go to sunday school are on suicide watch.
>fictional creature is afraid of fictional God
Are Catholics Christian? Are Mormons? Are Jehovah's Witnesses? JWs believe Jesus was crucified on an upright stake without a crosspiece, does a straight line work too? Can a JW with a baseball bat turn undead?
>Are Catholics Christian?
Catholics are the ONLY Christians. Any other denomination is pure heresy.
Looks like we have a disagreement between the "Christians", I guess crosses don't work at all.
Eat dicks Black folk, btw
Vampires are a folklore thing from Christian cultures and that’s why they have an aversion to crosses so it’s dependant on what spiritual power other religions have in the setting, if they have similar spiritual power to Christianity then yes their symbols would work to repel vampires. It should definitely be the holiness or “positive spiritual power” that repels them
There are lots of fantasy settings with vampires that don’t have Christianity specifically religious symbols should probably still repel vampires in those settings
If the setting has a specific religion that’s right and only that religion should have it symbols repel vampires if Jesus actually is God in the setting then that means Christianity is the only right one and only crosses should work in that setting
Whether or not Christianity is the only truth (I wouldn’t rule out the possibility), vampires definitely aren’t real so this discussion should pertain only to fictionalised versions of real settings, not be a religious flamewar for autistics to further confuse their already poor relationship with God in by acting like shitposting is a crusade
>vampires definitely aren’t real
They quite are. You just can't just name them without getting screeches about politics.
Vampires being analogous for a certain group with a lot of wealth and power does not mean that this supernatural creature that only appeared in its modern form in literature a few hundred years ago is real, they aren’t. Though if they are meant to be israeli they should be repelled by Islamic symbols too
No. israelites used to be far more comfortable in Islamic states than in Christian.
Until modern times where israelites gained some of sort of "legitimacy", it was easier to just take over them and they complied.
But if we're talking symbols, I think it's entertaining to make Islamic symbol cast Charm on vampires.
Only Mormonism though
Yes they should, because it's a sign that they will get ranted on by a religious lunatic.
>should they be repelled by all religious symbols?
Of course not. Don't be stupid. They're repelled by crosses because Christianity is the only legitimate and true religion. Vampires respect that power. False religions like Islam or science don't have a God who actually exists backing them up, so there's no actual power there to scare the vampires away.
Depends, is the crafter, wielder, or material religious in anyway? If yes to any of this. It will work. If yes too all this, the vampire better be praying to gods.
Just as long as you don't do the "actually it's the right angles that give them an epileptic fit" thing people try. Genuinely some of the worst monster modernization I've ever seen, and there's some serious contenders for vampires in that field.
>"actually it's the right angles that give them an epileptic fit"
Kek, I was going to mention the blindsight thing. Holy symbol + sincere faith is probably the best option, but you can definitely tell the the original vampire folklore and fiction worked under the assumption that Christianity is literally true and that can make it hard to work them into modern fantasy setting. Another example of that is the fact that a lot of modern vampire fiction has to work hard to justify why being a vampire is supposed to be an undesirable curse, when originally being a vampire was bad because it damned your soul to hell
So swastika would truly be the most powerful holy symbol against vampires?
no, because it has relatively little significance outside of its place as an identifier for a few dharmic religions, and maybe some implicit symbolism (e.g. the arrangement in the jain emblem). it's not particularly profound
the cross, on the other hand, directly represents the sacrifice that defines the christian death cult.
that's an interesting take, it isn't that the cross is a religious symbol but that it's a symbol of martyrdom, and sacrificing yourself for others is an anathematic concept to a creature that sacrifices others to prolong its own life
so a wallet or a hammer and sickle wouldn't work, but a kamikaze headband or an indestructible Saudi passport would
the nazi symbol isnt actually a swastika but a variation on the christian cross, so it's the same thing
This is wrong.
Study more before speaking.
It makes you look gay.
>the nazi symbol isnt actually a swastika
the iron cross isn't the nazi symbol and isn't banned in germany
Iron Cross was a nazi symbol. Just not a popular one. Sorry you got one as a homosexual tattoo.
Iron Cross existed 1000 years before the nazis and pretty much always existed in Germany in some form related to the army. That's like saying gold is a nazi symbol because nazis had gold
>defends his gay nazi tattoo
Sorry about your nazi tattoo, israelite.
Damn, someone should inform NATO, Germans have nazi symbols on their equipment nowadays
>Putin was right when he said EU still had nazis
wtf? is this real?
>iron cross isn't a nazi symbol
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!
Holy frick, bro. That's the most moronic thing I've read all year. kek
The Iron Cross itself isn't. It was the basically the German Medal of Honor well before the Nazi's took power. The Nazi's had their own version, seen here.
The one I have is from 1914. Just like the acquila, the Nazis went, yep, we like that, and slapped a swastika on it. Honestly, if you found a US flag with all the stars swapped for swastikas, and told me it came from Nazi Germany, I'd believe it. Nazi's weren't great at making symbols, damn fine oven manufacturers though.
>So swastika would truly be the most powerful holy symbol against vampires?
Yes, like on the TV show.
Always has been
What a dumb picture. Specially the punchline, people are just ignorant or moronic.
>The medallion was an addition to Dracula’s look made by the film, so he appeared more aristocratic. The exact design of the medallion is unknown because the originals have been lost. It is thought that prop-makers at Universal used medals from the Ottoman Empire or the Kingdom of Afghanistan to create the one we see on screen. The starburst design is very similar to military medals from those countries. While it only appears in a few early scenes, it is now an integral part of Dracula’s look.
For comparison this is the actual medallion reproduction.
Yes, but only crosses, since the other symbols are fake.
God raped Mary. He didn't ask for consent before fricking her hole.
Stay mad.
I've been reading Dracula lately and my favorite weird detail is that the main characters are all protestants, but it's specifically Catholic stuff that works on Dracula. A bunch of 1890s English people are relying on crucifixes and communion wafers to repel him.
Also, Johnathan Harker tries to kill Dracula by going after him with a crucifix in one hand and a kukri in the other, which is the sort of action movie bullshit I'd expect from a modern adaptation rather than the original.
Because of that, I think the symbols work based solely on the beliefs the Vampire in question had in life. Vlad Tepes was Catholic, so he's affected by Catholic stuff (and Renfield's madlad energy for some reason).
Assuming this is the case, if Richard Dawkins got bit he could stroll around a church like it was nothing, but would fall back if faced with, I dunno a Periodic table of Elements or a Nobel Peace Prize. This also means Count Dawkula could never ever enter a Science Lab or University; which is kind of tragic.
I want to play a Stephen Hawking vampire. Complete with wheelchair and loose assistant.
>You run up some staris thinking you've bought some time
>He levitates up them, somehow cackling maniacally through his monotone speaker
>specifically Catholic stuff
Lutherans, Anglicans and Catholics all use holy water, crucifixes and the same type of unleavened communion wafer. In modern USA most of those churches get their bread from the same single factory that only makes one product. Any difference would be in that Lutherans and Catholics believe in transubstantiation and Anglicans in cosubstantiation but that's a matter of doctrine and if the consecration is valid it doesn't matter what the person believes about the consecrated host, it matters what the host has actually become.
However, in the novel van Helsing is Catholic which is odd considering he's Dutch, but that's not enough to establish that things have to be specifically Catholic. Especially as you have omitted a lot of things used in the novel which are not specifically Catholic. van Helsing also uses wild rose and mountain ash and garlic. Harker is to use a wooden stake, of unspecified tree iirc, and hammer to kill Dracula, the brides, and at her own request Mina too if she turns. In fact, Harker is likened to Thor:
>He looked like a figure of Thor as his untrembling arm rose and fell, driving deeper and deeper the mercy-bearing stake, whilst the blood from the pierced heart welled and spurted up around it.
In the end Harker uses a kukri to decapitate and Morris a bowie knife to stab through the heart and Dracula is killed by knives not by stake.
>But, on the instant, came the sweep and flash of Jonathan's great knife. I shrieked as I saw it shear through the throat. Whilst at the same moment Mr. Morris's bowie knife plunged into the heart.
>
>It was like a miracle, but before our very eyes, and almost in the drawing of a breath, the whole body crumbled into dust and passed from our sight.
>However, in the novel van Helsing is Catholic which is odd considering he's Dutch
The Dutch have always had a large Catholic minority; when Dracula was written, it would have been about 1/3.
As a member of the educated elite, and with a noble background, van Helsing is less likely to be Catholic, but it's not all that weird.
>van Helsing is Catholic which is odd considering he's Dutch
You uh... you do know the southern Netherlands is Catholic, right?
Yeah, and when that represents the absolute majority of the population or close to it won't be odd, but as a minority even today, it's odd. Then you need to remember that this book was written around 1897 by an Irishman who was a member of the Church of Ireland which was and is in the Anglican communion, with English sensibilities and as far as English people of the day were concerned Dutch people were friendly Calvanist protestants, not despicable papists. As
alluded to far more elegantly than you, van Helsing is an educated man in a time when Roman Catholics in the Netherlands were, despite official repression having being lifted with the Reestablishment some decades prior, almost all illiterate peasants rather than men of letters.
Aren't they demons from a Christian mythology or culture? Why wouldn't Christian holy symbols repel Christian demons?
Could always go with the Netflix Castlevania answer.
>Should it be the holiness of the symbol that repels them, or something else?
It's more to do with belief in the symbol and its righteousness that deters a vampire.
For example- I knew a friend of mine who was playing a game (can't remember which) set in WWII on the eastern front.
He was playing a soviet and fighting Nazi vampires. Considering that state aetheism was a thing, he didn't have much time for faith in God, but he did have faith in the USSR and socialism.
In an encounter, he's out of ammunition and he's on the ropes, Nazi vampires are closing in farmhouse that he's in.
Vampires are close and on him- so he grabs the closest things to him.
A hammer and sickle.
Because of his belief and his faith in the revolution he's able to repell the vampire back.
This was actually a gag in an episode of doctor who, a communist repelling vamps with hammer and sickle
>It's more to do with belief in the symbol and its righteousness that deters a vampire.
Why though, there's nothing in the legends surrounding vampires that implies they are repelled by belief and righteousness? In fact most of the time they're preying on innocent virgin lovers, people who should be full of both of those things. In my opinion Hellboy does it best by caring around symbols of just about every religion under the sun and a few that no longer exist, because those are what the monsters he fights respect and fear themselves. Making the hunter's belief matter and not the symbol itself cheapens it in my opinion. There's no underlying principle, a cross, stake and garlic works against vampires because it's an innate part of their essence.
That story is stolen from Dr Who.
I literally came into this thread to see if someone had posted the gif
Depends on the setting. Generally I discard that kind of shit because it's gay. "omg le epin israelite kebab symbol so spooky". But if I'm playing in a more religiously themed setting then yeah usually. But if I'm placing it in modern times then I generally throw it out and just keep the general stake, cutting off the head, sun, stuff like that.
Yes crosses, but not because of religion. Go Blindsight style and say it's because they can't handle perpendicular line intersections.
This is really dumb, square corners are fricking everywhere.
That's why vampires went extinct
>Blindsight
Any symbol of the Abrahamic faiths, but the Cross in particular, because that one specifically reflects God's sacrifice to save Man.
Jesus was a horny mortal simp who fricked a diseased roastie prostitute.
Stay mad.
he had monk levels, he was immune to diseases. Also she looked like Monica Bellucci so he's based
>monk levels
Every Jesus was kung fu fightin'!!!!!
>Monica
Eh. No. She was known for being very plain. Almost a 3 bagger.
Mary Magdalene wasn’t a prostitute, that’s a conflation between her, Mary of Bethany, and an unnamed sinful woman.
The two Mary’s might be the same person but Mary’s positions as a benefactor of Jesus suggests that she was probably a woman from a rich family, not a prostitute
>Should vampires be repelled by crosses
only if they are baali or the cross is used by someone with true faith
>should they be repelled by all religious symbols
yes
>Should it be the holiness of the symbol that repels them, or something else?
see above
No, large geometric shapes confuse and frighten vampires. I'm smart and religion is stupid
I hate netflix with all my soul
The default answer is true faith.
>original vampire myths were stupid to begin with as you could distract one by throwing grains on the ground and their autistic minds would force them to count those until the sun rose up.
In Blindsight, it was treated as the most crippling weakness possible. They were extinct way before the events of the story started.
>anyway in the case of the castelvania series
It was never consistent. The writer just hates Christianity.
The problem with this (dumb) idea is that it ignores a fairly basic concept: the religion symbol in question has to be genuine.
Let's say I used a symbol from Scientology. Just as an example. It didn't work. Does that imply that Vampires are resistant to scientology, that it needs to be a scientologist vampire, or that scientology is illegitimate? Obviously the third one. Vampires being repeled by crosses implies Christianity and Christian symbols are legitimate.
So, the ultimate point is "how many religious symbols/religions do you want to legitimize in a particular setting?" If your answer is "all of them" because you're a moron, then I hope you're ready to provide people with a similarly universalist theology. Good luck with that, btw.
Theology doesn't have to come into it. It could just be magical, no need to invoke a god.
I always like VtM approach. Its not the symbol that has power. Its the beliefs of the man that count, but maybe 0.1% of population have faith strong enough to do it. Probably less
But the problem with this is that you end up with stupid shit like people believing strongly in various mass media symbols, like Superman and Batman logos.
>kid makes the spider-man webshooter handsign
>Vampire implodes
There's something here about the fng movie webshooter being a hole in Toby's wrist, and vampires doing blood magic stuff, but I can;t be bothered to make it good.
So instead I will posit a seven year old Spanish Catholic vampire that shoots burning blood gouts from his crucifixion-exorcism wrist wolds like spodormon..
That's an apotropaic sign in real-world traditions so yeah, it would work at least a little.
True faith is not just strong belief in whatever. Its total unshakeable conviction in belief system. It could be secular ideology, but superhero fans shouldnt perform miracles
If it's the belief that matters and not the symbol itself then there's absolute no difference between someone who believes in the immortal science of dialectical materialism and Chris-chan flashing his Sonichu medallion. Both are i intellectual (and I use that word loosely) constructs witu no spiritual weight to them.
My only issue with True Faith is how it secularizes the system. Also, interfaith exorcism is cringe so making it work only holy things is a problem too. I would fix it by limiting it to only certain creeds. The idea is aspects of that belief system is true. Believing makes it real is stupid because most people believe in stupid shit and a lot of problems in the world is a result of people believing something that isn't true.
I'll add another twist to it with the crucifix paradox. Vampires who still have faith maybe mildly hurt by seeing a crucifix on its own but can get used to it. It is the first step to "redemption".
I might be mixing WoD with some other trashy urban fantasy thing but I vividly recall a israelite using his wallet to repel vampires.
sufficiently zealous feminist should be able to do the same with sheer power of her vegana
Money and God both have actual power
womb has the power to brew a new life
You have to live under a rock not to be aware of how unwise pussy got people acting not just in modern day but in all of history.
Viking sagas are like 90% women starting shit and guys who were otherwise chill with one another getting into generational blood feuds because of pussy.
The Trojan War was fought for pussy. I mean, if it actually happened.
Yes, this would definitely work.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anasyrma
To put that picture in better context since anon hasn't. The poem goes that an imp having said he would take the part of the crop in the ground is fooled by a farmer who plants wheat. The second time the imp says he will take the part above ground and the farmer plants carrots and turnips. The third time the imp says he will return with vengeance for the farmer and take the better part. Afraid, the farmer hides in a vat of holy water while his wife enacts her plan and speaks to the imp:
Said she, "The wretch has used me very ill;
Of cruelty he has obtained his fill.
For God's sake try, my lord, to get away:
Just now I heard the savage fellow say
He'd with his claws your lordship tear and slash:
See, only see, my lord, he made this gash."
On which she showed what you will guess, no doubt,
And put the demon presently to rout,
To be fair, if I hadn't seen the picture, I don't think I would have guessed what La Fontaine was on about even if "gash" is slang I have heard.
I think there's something incredibly narcissistic and power-wanky about reducing faith-based power systems to be a function of faith itself. The entire point is to put yourself forward as a tool for a greater power that you have faith in. The effect comes from an external source rewarding the dedication of the pious; just willing something to be out of sheer force of concept is psionics, not faith.
I can't stand the 'Clerics and Paladins can be dedicated to anything, even themselves!' bullshit. It completely guts the concept. It always feels like an atheist's wish to play around with divine trappings but not wanting to consider something being so infinitely greater that you're willing to commit your soul to it, to the point of not even being able to empathize with someone who would. Might as well say Warlocks can be their own patron and Druids can be their own planet.
If belief alone could change reality, schizophrenics would be deific and psychedelic experiences with drugs would briefly turn you into a real god.
I ended up having an idea for why crosses repel vampires besides holiness, faith, and geometry. The idea is that they repel vampires because the crucifix was once a widely used execution tool, and as a result the cross is a symbol of the inevitability of death. Which means that the holy symbols of other religions won't work, but something like a noose would.
>What about weapons? Those kill things.
Execution tools tend to be used then the condemned is already helpless. While normal weapons have the possibility of avoiding them, and thus lack the inevitability part. However weapons used as execution tools should work with this idea.
>What about Christianity? Is it true?
No clue. Maybe it's just a coincidence, or maybe Jesus set up some master plan to ensure mini replicas of execution tools were carried around by a lot of people to screw over vampires.
I always saw cause/philosophy clerics as more Taoism and or animism type stuff. A.k.a. they believe there is something external worth dedicating themselves too, but aren't bothering with details like if it's actually aware or how much power it has. Merely that it is worth following.
In other words the cleric had better be actually dedicated to whatever it is.
>Even themselves
Meaning that unless 'dedicated to themselves' Actually means 'devoted to a spiritual journey of self discovery as they attempt to gain a better understanding of their nature and/or place in the world' this is bullshit. Even if it could work the idea of it actually working is complete nonsense. Since first they would have to genuinely believe they should dedicate themselves to following themselves. Then they would have the issue that someone that egotistical should consider failing a betrayal of the 'holy me', and unless their the luckiest person possible their going to fail.
To be fair with you anon, at this point you've almost completed full circle.
The original reason that Vampires so hate crosses is based in the idea that they represent death (Jesus) and then eternal life (Heaven). Vampires on the otherhand represent (almost) eternal life (doomed Earth) without death (no Jesus). The entire notion of a Vampire is antithetical to Jesus story. You've come so far around that might as well just use the original reasoning.
I don't like your take at all. It makes no sense. Jesus does not represent death. Nothing about the whole Jesus myth is death apart from a temporary death on the cross. Everything he says or which is said about him about is like "I am the way, the truth and the life", "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly", "I am the living bread ... if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever", "God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son". You're fundamentally reinterpreting the myth in a manner that is itself antithetical to its content and meaning.
Empty crosses were used long before crucifixes and they represented the living Christ. It was only after some centuries that they moved from empty crosses, crosses with lambs, crosses with the risen Christ to crosses bearing the dead or dying corpus.
Usually for me, vampires are repelled by anything they strongly believed/stood for in life, because it's a powerful reminder of what they lost. Religious symbols are easy for anyone who had a strong faith, but in theory it could be just about anything, though it's hard to say what unless you know who the vampire was in life.
If vampires are the children of Cain, then I assume that the symbol of the god that cursed him in the first place would hold power over them.
They should be empowered when they see the star of David
Vampires are repelled by belief in higher powers because they can taste it in the blood. So holding up a cross doesn't actually repel them, it's the fact that they know the person holding it tastes like dogshit and grosses them out. It's like a leper holding up a spoon to someone who then backs away; it's not the spoon, it's the rotting disease-bag holding it.
>Should vampires be repelled by crosses
No
I'd either have vampires be repelled by various holy symbols or none of them. If the former, I'd have the implication be that there is something genuine behind all these religions. This wouldn't require any kind of a kitchen sink theology where all religions are true, it'd just require several religions to be imperfect glimpses of some greater divine truth. If I chose the latter way, I'd have stories about vampires being repelled by crosses be just that, stories.
In castlevania games is explicitly said that:
1. Sypha is christian sent by the churt
2. Trevor is devout christian sent by the churt
3. The Christ crucifix and Christianity is what hurts them "not weird shapes"
Netlix changed all of that because Christians bad, Atheism good and that's why now Sypha hates christians and is also atheist, Trevor hates the church and is also atheist, and the cross does nothing is just weird shapes
So is more about fricking up the source material and less "well it didn't make sense before why would should make sense now?"
I like what WoD does, where it’s the faith behind the symbol rather than the symbol itself that does the damage.
That aside a lot of religions have folklore for dealing with the undead. While the old Crucifix + Holy Water is a standby for Catholics, Buddhism places a heavy emphasis on repelling spirits (some monastic orders have Monks swear they aren’t a spirit in disguise when taking their vows), traditional Judaism uses salt from the Dead Sea. I believe Islam uses readings from the Qur’an. Though the minutiae behind each religions opposition to the undead could be fun to play with.
Buddhists would likely see Vampirism as a kind of Anti-Dharma; Buddhism is pretty big on escaping the cycle of reincarnation and so an eternity staying as the same person, selfishly feeding on the blood of innocents to stay alive, that’s probably as close as you get to pure evil in Buddhist cosmology. Islam meanwhile sees the root of sin being man’s disobedience to God, which might give it a more nuanced approach to Vampirism (there’s folklore of Imam’s getting evil spirits to convert to Islam and thus “redeeming” them)
Funny enough IRL there’s a real historical event where a Catholic Priest and a Creole Witch Doctor supposedly hunted a Vampire in Louisiana. So interfaith team ups are possible.
>Funny enough IRL there’s a real historical event where a Catholic Priest and a Creole Witch Doctor supposedly hunted a Vampire in Louisiana. So interfaith team ups are possible.
Elaborate.
>Elaborate
Alright so it’s been a while since I heard the story, but I suppose a little artistic license won’t hurt. From what I remember there was an issue in New Orleans sometime in the 1800s, I think before the civil war. There was work being done on the railroads just outside the city, when workers started being killed. People began to panic, and it was claimed that there was a Vampire haunting New Orleans, draining the rail workers of their blood and leaving their carcasses for people to find.
The terror got so bad that the local Catholic Priest was called to hunt the Vampire down. He enlisted the aid of a practitioner of Voodoo and together they supposedly stalked the cemeteries at night to find the Vampire’s lair and put it down with a mixture of Voodoo ritual and the classic stake to heart.
Supposedly they succeeded.
Did a quick bit of research into the story.
Supposedly the Vampire's name was Auguste Delagrange. He was killed by having a stake driven through his heart. Supposedly he would chop people to bits with an axe, yet there'd be little blood at the scene of his crimes. A Priest and Voodoo practitioner tracked him down and killed him. This was supposedly in 1912 and not the 1800s.
Would make for a decent Horror campaign I think. No idea if it's real or not.
vampires should be repelled by what is holy, for they are cursed by Satan to walk the night forever. vtm's biggest mistake was not leaning into this harder, frick true faith and its wishy washy shit
>Should vampires be repelled by crosses,
yes
>and if so, should they be repelled by all religious symbols?
no because Christ is King
If it's the wielder's faith that does it, a /misc/ack could disintegrate vampires by waving a swastika flag at them and shouting HEIL HITLER.
Jajajajacinto
>Racist and atheist
>Claims to be smart
Many such cases
>thinks knowing Christcuckery is a lie is somehow atheism and gayness
Why are you such a low intellect pavement ape?
Racism doesn't exist. Only racial awareness. Now give me back my bike.
Also...BEEP!!!!!
Sure. I personally think they should be repelled by symbols from major religions that represent instruments of god's holy power. Other things like the vajdharana in buddhism and the AK-47 from Islam.
>vajdharana
I didn't know that was a word.
Dharana is "concentration" and vajra, the word spelt in the file name, is the thunder/lightning bolt diamond at the front of picture. If you were planning on typing Vajrayana, that's not an object, that's an abstract noun for the Vajra-way.
The vajra is not a universal symbol in Buddhism. It isn't even a huge thing for the laity in Tibetan Buddhism. The monks and lamas use them but other than that they're only seen on statues, not often in the shrines or hands of laity. You'd be better off with a dharma wheel, a Buddha footprint, an icon of a deity or teacher, a lotus or an endless knot, three of which are part of the Eight Buddhist Treasures. Westerners might use the bell and dorje (vajra) but like meditation, it's not something the commonfolk do in Asia
The Christian God specifically dislikes vampires.
>make generalized claim about israelites
>site source
>source says nothing about israelites
sasuga
If you don't have the balls to have them specifically repelled by crosses, make them immune to religious symbols.
No. Vampires aren't repelled by le faith, but by the true divine power that lies within the artifact.
Therefore, the only two symbols that can repel vampires are:
>crosses
>swastikas
Depends on the setting.
No, seriously, settings where god(s) are a real concept and faith has real power? Yes.
For more sci-fi style settings or grounded ones with a focus on speculative biology, you can either bullshit a reason or eschew it completely. For example, I am Legend has vampires fear crosses and mirrors as a psychosomatic response.
I read a scifi book once...maybe called Blindsight. and they basically said that it wasn't the religious connotation about the cross, it was that vampires brains couldn't comprehend a perfect right angle because they don't exist in nature (or something close to this). I thought that was a great middle ground
>couldn't comprehend a perfect right angle because they don't exist in nature
But that's wrong, nature has tons of 90º angles, specially on rock and crystal formations. Whoever wrote that book is stupid or smelled his own farts too much
Kek lets hope vampires don't live in places like pic related with tons of rocks stacked perpendicular with one another with 90º joints forming its structure
The cross hurts Vampires because Vampires are just old stereotypes of israelites. Fear being revealed, drink human blood, hate Christ, all checked. I'm sure the "throw coins at them and they have to count them" thing was a reference to Eastern European israelites often being employed as tax collectors.
Presumably if you had some other diabolical race of subversives who held some cultural bitterness towards baby harp seals, a vampire of that descent would be repelled by them too.
Are they repelled by the symbol itself, or the faith/belief of the person carrying the symbol?
the answer is yes, regardless if you're atheist or religious
>if you are atheist fedora tipper
vampires are fictional therefore them being repelled by a fictional thing (faith) makes sense
>if you are religious simp
vampire are evil therefore them being repelled by holy symbols makes sense.
>where is that even from?
My brain. I know, it's unheard of on this board now.
Vampires should be repelled by crosses blessed by a priest and only crosses because Catholicism is the One True Religion and Jesus has saved us from eternal damnation by giving us life after death, of which vampires are a perversion
Anyone else trying to use the power of their "god" in a similar fashion should be summarily exsanguinated or enthralled in your setting
None of these vampire lore threads ever have good pictures of vampires in them.
Here, have some slop.
When I was a kid, I read a vampire guide written by a famous children's horror author from my country. The guide claimed that only vampires that aren't Christian are repelled by crosses. That always rubbed me the wrong way, because it just made me wonder why all vampires don't just convert. Imagine if there was a religion that made you immune to getting shot, wouldn't you at least consider signing up?
No one here holds any actual faith. They just say they do to piss off their perceived enemies
Holy man defeating enemies of humanity is still a timeless concept.
vampires should be repelled by homosexualry.
That would be overtly suicidal.
There is a 1920s vaudeville joke about crosses not working on a Yiddish speaking vampire.
You are so unimaginative to recycle a 100 or so year old joke as a post for a game you certainly do not play.
I suddenly want to play Hans-Ulrich Rudel as a vampire hunter whose faith in National Socialism and hatred for the israelite are so strong that he can stun vampires by brandishing his supreme complete Knight's Cross at them and shouting "Heil Hitler!".
Anyone want to play with an unrepentant kraut cleric (or blackguard paladin, kek)?
It depends on the setting. If the Christian God is THE God of the setting then nothing else is going to do it. However if you make up some rule about some other method for your universe then you can do whatever you want.