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

[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.