The Bloody Countess- Steampunk Vampire

[weirdlet]

"My father murdered- rather a lot of people, rather than see me die," the countess murmured.  "I was kept alive- barely- hooked into machines that hurt me terribly, that ran my blood out from my veins and through other living persons, who had never been asked nor volunteered their aid or their lives, either to mine or to medical research.  When he chose poorly, or guessed incorrectly, I would be in terrible pain and fear for my life- and I could never go outside, never see the sunshine.  I could hardly even leave my bed to visit the library, and that on rare occasion.  And always, always- I existed knowing that somewhere else in the house, bodies that had once been men and women, regardless of station, were being cavalierly disposed of- and that with every day I lived, more would join them.

"It's not that I regret living, mind you- I am glad to be alive, and to have lived beyond what was.  But, shall we say- I find noblesse oblige to run rather deeper in me than the average young gaddabout."

......

Steampunk vampirism- a young lady with porphyria is kept alive by her mad doctor father.  Years later, she's made improvements to his methods, such that- with a large troop of very careful baggage-handlers- she's able to travel on her own personal airship, throwing lavish parties with a peculiar, mirror-based game as a method of finding new blood-donors to volunteer a pint or two for her infernal machine, full of glass tubing and filters.

Comments

[jade-mushroom.livejournal.com]

intriiiiiguing...[steeples fingers]

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

I rather like her. I see her going off and having Adventures! now that she's reached her majority and is mobile, and probably being someone's Crazy Awesome Aunt who enables Adventures! to be had. And glider-flying. Possibly her noblesse oblige takes the form of a passel of former urchins growing up under her patronage as the Countess's Irregulars.

[jade-mushroom.livejournal.com]

what sort of issues has she had with the fact that she once basically had to cannibalize others to survive, albeit against her will? What happens if she encounters reminders of this [missing posters, relatives of the missing?]

what happened to her father? is he still alive? if so, what is her current relationship to him?

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

When her father died, there was an accounting as best she could perform for the people he’d taken. Since then she’s moved away from the area, after as much weregild as possible could be given to the relatives of those who had any, and there is a small memorial garden in the place where the old family mansion once stood and has since been razed to the ground. At least the public parts.

She’s very pragmatic about her survival- but is determined to do it ethically, to give her the time needed to pay back a very large debt to society-at-large, rather than society-as-law. When it comes down to it, there is a good little bit of crazy under the rigid good manners and cheer, but she regards the fact that her condition can still give her great pain as suitable penance- there’s kind of this iron curtain that comes down when someone starts questioning her fitness to exist, but she refrains from lashing out unless someone is really determined to remove her, at which point he moves from Righteous Complainant to Threat. And Threats are to be quietly eliminated.

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

So, there’s guilt, but also a little warping. “I’ve lived this way for so long- it’s just a fact of my existence. I am somewhat of a parasite. But I don’t have to do it so- vulgarly.” This is her habit of speaking lightly over deep, gaping issues, but it’s the plain truth- and why she tries to give back under the table so much, doing good deeds to make up for the simple fact of the butcher’s bill she’s run up.

[jade-mushroom.livejournal.com]

that is very interesting... "I have to do this to survive, there's a limit to how much I can do for what's been done, but I can control what will be done." I seem to envision a person who demands to be in control of everything

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

Not so much demands as politely insists, if it's relevant that she meddle.

[jade-mushroom.livejournal.com]

I meant as in, control of her life. Either she sets her schedule and follows it very closely, or she is deeply disturbed when plans go awry

[gamiel.livejournal.com]

Look interesting

Just wondering, what level of steampunk is her world in? Space 1889? Girl Genius? Parasol Protectorate? Howl's Moving Castle? League of Extraordinary Gentlemen? Whitechapel Gods?

Oh, and if you have not read GURPS: Steam-Tech do it. It is full of useful gadgets

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

Not sure- I know there will be airships and gliders at least offered *on* the airships, but beyond that her world is a bit of a mystery to me yet. One of my gamer buddies is always on about Unhallowed Metropolis, which has kind of a surgery/medical-punk thing going on- the zombie apocalypse happened a hundred years ago, and things are just now getting back to where they were. Gasmasks are the norm because the crematoria are running all the time, and there are guilds of well-armed Mourners that stay up with the wealthy dead to cut down those that rise. This isn't quite what I'm thinking of, though.

[gamiel.livejournal.com]

Have you read any books in the Parasol Protectorate series? It is light steampunk in a world were the acceptance of werewolves and vampires in to society is the reason for the rise of the British Empire. May be it could be an inspiration.

On the bit more dystopic line of books I can recommend 'Unnatural History' by Jonathan Green, with shows some of the shady sides of a steam-/dieselpunk London where queen Victoria is kept alive (or is she?) by cybernetics and role a British Empire that never fell

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

I have not, I may have to check those out.

[gamiel.livejournal.com]

Have you though about how many the secondary characters are going to be? The air ship crew (b.t.w. is it a blimp or a zeppelin or something else?) (of which, at least, the maid, butler, captain, first mate, and the cook should be named) should at least be 20 hands big and that not counting the doctor and/or nurses that is helping the countess.

Also from have you decided from which country your Byronic heroine comes from?

[weirdlet.livejournal.com]

Not a clue. She's mostly waiting for some interesting situation or other to step into and meddle with, at which point I can probably fill in a lot of those details.

I shall have to look up the differences in airships and see what's interesting to use, and whether I'll be using real countries or making up the universe as I go.

[gamiel.livejournal.com]

I suggest that you also look up luxury yachts from the later 1900-centery, early 2000-centery for an idea what people with money expected to have near them when they were travelling

Have you read 'Airborn' by Kenneth Oppel? It takes place onboard a luxury air liner. The ship itself is probably a bit bigger than the Countess's but it gives you an idea how something like that work.