I have some Skyrim Lore Questions

[Dheuster]

I am making a mod that lets players marry Serana (almost done actually). It is good quality, but it is also not very deep or involved. A few conditions, about a dozen new conversations and a wedding ceremony.

Well, as I am splicing audio together, a cool idea has occurred to me, but there is a question of whether the idea is Lore Friendly.

 

Idea: So the dragonborn has unusual blood (used to open the doors of the blades sanctuary for example). So... if a vampire gets a high when they feed, and it is somehow tied to the quality of the victims blood, what would happen if a vampire drank from someone with special blood like the Dragonborn? If I were to guess, I would say it would give the vampire an extreme high. In the Whitewolf Universe, humans that drink vampire blood get a heroin like high that leads to obsessive, irriversable addiction and subjugation after about three feedings. These humans are called Ghouls. So I am thinking something similar, only with the tables turned.

 

My idea is this... make the dragonborn's blood very addictive to vampires. Some event (dragon attack?) will cause Serana to enter a bleed out and tell the Dragonborn she needs blood to recover. Whether the Dragonborn is human or vampire, they feed Serana their own blood which is like the first dose. This will start a quest and a line of commentary which will ultimately lead to Serana's salvation or subjugation. Either way, she will be willing to marry the dragonborn when it is over thanks to this event.

 

SO here are the questsions/potential lore snags:

 

1) Is there any existing skyrim lore that supports or contradicts the idea of Vampires getting a high from the dragonborn's blood? I am mostly worried about contradictions, but if this has actually been explored in other text, it would be awesome.

 

2) Both Serana and Harkon may embrace the Dragonborn. Which puts a possible snag in the idea as it begs the question, why no one noticed before? In some story's, the process of embrace is spelled out (like in HBO True Blood series), but I don't think this has been addressed in Skyrim lore. If anything, I would assume an embrace would be biting and pushing the vampires own blood into the victim. It wouldn't necessarily involve drinking the victims blood... though it could.

 

3) If the player is a vampire, does it make sense to let Serana feed on the player? Can vampires feed on other vampires and does it quench the same thirst/need. Is it simply taboo, like cannibalism, or will only fresh blood do? The way I see it, Dawnguard introduced blood in a bottle so what is the difference between that and stealing another vampires blood from their veins? This isn't a deal breaker, but I am much less likely to bother with the additional work if it is only applicable to human players playing the Dawnguard line.

 

Any responses are appreciated.

Edited January 15, 2013 by Dheuster

[K00L]

Hmm... Interesting.

1)As far as the first question goes I don't think there is anything that says they do. It doesn't say they don't either. I believe the only thing it does is reduce the stage of vampirism they have. Not 100% on that because I rarely play as vampires but that's all I remember.

2)Same goes for this. I don't think in any of The Elder Scrolls games it specifically states what embracing involves. Could be either of those.

3)I don't see why not. Again I never heard anything that goes against your idea.

 

So pretty much to me it feels like there isn't really any firmly established lore about your questions. Maybe there is, I just don't know it.

Anyway I think your idea sounds cool. Even if it isn't lore friendly I would say to go for it. I'm sure there are a lot of people who would like that storyline.

[Dheuster]

Thanks for the response. So it sounds like the idea of a victim's blood affecting the vampire is more or less unexplored in skyrim lore. (Which is fine by me). I realize the universe includes Morrowind, Oblivion... there are a lot of games and I assume books based in the universe. I am not versed in the Universe and its lore and history, but if there are no well known examples that would contradict the idea, I am cool with that.

[K00L]

Well I've played Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim and haven't heard anything of it. However I wouldn't be surprised if someone else here would happen to know more. Like I said I haven't been a very big vampire player in Elder Scrolls games so its possible I missed something about this.

[screendrop]

The thing with the embrace thing, i may have gotten the wrong end of the stick here, but Vampirism is bought about by Sanguinare Vampiris rather than blood being injected. According to Bram Stoke and Romanian lore, Vampirism may be bought about only by the Iinection of ones teeth, provided they are vampire, into a healthy victims major arterial line, indicating that blood must be transfered (this was generally the neck) Also, in Skyrim, the disease can be brought about by being attack with a Vampiric Drain spell which suggests the actual transfer is magic based, rather than physical( upon saying this, it is also transferable by physical attack, the chance for infection via VD is only 10%)

 

HOWEVER in the Dawngaurd DLC, it is contracable by drinking from the Bloodspring in the Red Water den. This counter suggests the magical vampire notion.

 

Also, there seems to be no evidence supporting Vampires acheiving a high upon feeding from any person. I don't know, I may have looked wrong

 

!SD

 

EDIT: There are several things wrong with this Vampire notion Skyrim has come up with. Molag Bal made the first vampire when he raped a virgin and she a drop of blood onto her forehead. She died then re rose as a pure blood vampire, however, Lord Harkon slaughtered thousands are was granted vampirism and power over lesser vampires

Edited January 15, 2013 by screendrop

[dragonchris152]

@screendrop

I always felt that molag bal got around. Harkon pretty much was granted vampirism after molag bal raped his wife and daughter, and then I remember something about morrowind vampires coming from vivec and molag bal. This would explain how vampires have different breeds and differing attributes to one another. Of course can't say I'm the biggest lore buff, so my theory could be flawed. As for the whole disease itself, it's probably magical in nature as it's daedric in origin.

[screendrop]

Neither, all I know is, I hate them... Oh god, twilight :(

[Dheuster]

In the Whitewolf Universe, vampires are tied to biblical stories and thus the condition is not treated as a disease, rather it is sort of a sacrificial curse. That is why people can drink Vampire Blood in that universe and not become vampires. I suspect the True Blood Universe uses a similar lore as Suki can drink Bills blood and not become a vampire. Rather vampire blood has healing powers and yes... gives humans a high. In that universe, Vampires also do not appear to get a "high" from normal humans, but Suki's blood is different because she is not actually a human.

 

This is the idea I am trying to bring to Skyrim. The Dragonborn may look like a Nord or an Argonian or a Khajiit, but they have the blood of a dragon. They are not a normal human. So whether vampires normally get a high when feeding or not doesn't really matter. The question is, what happens when a vampire drinks Dragon Blood.... it is not even clear if Dragons were around when the first Vampires were around, so it may simply be an unanswered question.

 

As for the embrace, for some reason I saw it more like lyncanthropy. When you become a werewolf in Skyrim, you quite literally drink Aela's blood. Which implies it is the presence of werewolf blood in YOUR body that transfers the disease. Not simple physical contact or even the swapping of saliva (if it was that simple, why not just kiss Aela/Serana). And if the condition was simply magical, then why make the embrace required at all? Why not have a touch based "Make Vampire" spell?

 

So in my mind, it is the presence of Vampire Blood in YOUR body that transfers the condition. And that makes sense to me except the fact that vampires can give you the disease with the drain health spell. But I think that is a result of game mechanics and not so much actual lore. That is, it was much easier to take an existing spell, make it red and be done with it, rather than spend money and time making proper vampire attack animations.

 

Thanks for the responses, I will sit on this till the weekend and then make up my mind. And yes, I hate the Twilight Universe as well.

[jack013]

vampires don't get high when they feed, do they.. i thought you fed so that the clean blood could stop the virus, so drinking more vampire blood would just push your stage along further.