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HunnieBugg
a clump of mushrooms pretending to be a person
- Joined
- Jun 27, 2022
(Posting to field for interest. If you'd like to write in Accordia, either in a group situation or one on one, please feel free to reach out to me!)
We exist in an uneasy peace. We live in a house of cards.
About a decade ago, America's vampire population revealed itself to humankind via a public television broadcast. Representatives addressed the country, and the world, and declared their intention to develop a new way of life. The message was this: "The secretive existence of vampiric peoples is no longer sustainable. We must make a change. We seek symbiosis with humanity." The response from humans was mixed, to say the least. But in a show of optimistic diplomacy and trust, a new city was founded in the American northeast, called Accordia, which would serve as a kind of trial for a society in which vampires and humans could live peacefully alongside one another.
Accordia is divided into two zones. There is no policy of segregation between humans and vampires in the city. Everyone is free to live and work where they please. However, citizens tend to naturally divide themselves.
The Day Zone:
This is the eastern (coastal) side of the city. Here, businesses are open during the day, and life operates more or less normally, by human standards. There are some vampires who live here, but not many. At the farthest edge of the Day Zone, by the docks and shipping warehouses, are the people who want to be as far away as possible from their vampire neighbors. There are rumors circulating that somewhere around the shipyards is an organized group of humans who believe that integration with vampires will be the downfall of humanity, and have taken it upon themselves to set things right again. Of course, this rumor has not been reliably proven.
The Night Zone:
This is the western (inland) side of the city, and it's been designed with vampires in mind. Businesses are open at night, most of life begins at sundown, and many of the newer buildings have heavy shutters that close over their windows during the day. Humans are allowed to live here if they want to, and some do. However, most of the Night Zone population is immortal. Because vampires don't eat human food, there are fewer restaurants and grocery stores here, which can be inconvenient for human residents. Allegedly, there is a group of vampires at the westernmost edge of the city who disagree with the decision to reveal vampires' existence to humans, and who seek to restore vampiric kind to their former seat of power over "lesser" creatures.
Between the two halves of the city is a neighborhood called The Dusk Strip. This is where the two zones overlap, and humans and vampires rub elbows. It's considered a seedy and dangerous place to live. This is where most of the city's blood banks are located - places where humans can get paid to donate their blood, and vampires can pick up bags of the stuff to live on. There are bars and clubs here where vampires and humans socialize together. This is legal, but socially taboo, and potentially dangerous. Many of these establishments also operate as "red bars" - where humans work offering their blood to vampires directly from the source. Red work is closely associated with sex work, and they often go hand in hand. The operation of red bars is illegal, but common.
Accordia's Vampires:
In this version of events, Vampires have some of the classic abilities and limitations.
What They Can Do...
-Drink blood, obviously
-Turn humans into vampires by consuming most of their blood, and then feeding the human their own blood
-Use vampiric compulsion to influence humans or younger, less powerful vampires
-Run faster than most humans, and experience greater strength
-Get drunk/high (consuming intoxicating substances has no effect, but drinking the blood of an intoxicated person does the trick)
-Conceal themselves (they can't exactly make themselves invisible, but they can use their compulsion abilities to sort of make people not notice them)
-See, hear, and smell beyond normal human capabilities
-Heal themselves and others
-Appear in modern mirrors and photographs (old silver-backed mirrors, or old film photographs are another story)
What They Can't Do...
-Transmute into animals, mist, etc.
-Eat human food
-Get people pregnant or carry a child
-Fly
-Be exposed to sunlight
-Enter places of worship or interact with religious iconography/sacred objects (the specifics depend on what mode of faith the vampire held while they were alive. For example, a Jewish vampire would be able to enter a church or mosque, but not a shul)
-Feed from animals (they technically can, but it's much less satisfying and can make them feel ill)
-Touch silver (it burns their skin)
The longer a vampire is immortal, the stronger their abilities become. However, they also become more vulnerable to the above vampiric weaknesses. It's rare, but on occasion a very old or very powerful vampire may also develop additional abilities, such as seeing the future or hearing the thoughts of others. This is not a universal experience.
A vampire can be killed by exposure to sunlight, by fire, by decapitation and dismemberment, and by the destruction of the heart. Blood starvation can cause a vampire to become dormant, but cannot kill them.
Accordia's Laws:
(Not everyone likes these...)
-It is illegal for a vampire to feed from a human without their consent, and consent under vampiric compulsion does not count as consent.
-It is illegal for a vampire to feed from a child.
-It is illegal to turn a human into a vampire under any circumstances (this one is hotly contested).
-It is illegal to operate a "red bar."
-It is illegal to kill a vampire except in self defense. Doing so is legally equivalent to murder.
-It is illegal for a vampire to create a human "thrall" via compulsion.
-Vampires and humans cannot legally marry.
-Vampires cannot adopt human children.
-All vampires must be registered with Accordia's Security and Monitoring Department. Unregistered vampires many be incarcerated.
Characters:
If you want to write in Accordia, your options are widely varied.
If you want to be a human, you could be someone who is skeptical of vampire integration, someone who believes in peace between the two peoples, or maybe someone who is fascinated with vampires and wants to become one. For vampire characters, you could be a vampire of any age, who lives among humans or among their own kind, one who believes in the goals of Accordia, or one who is resistant to change and longs for the old ways. There are lots of variables to play with.
We exist in an uneasy peace. We live in a house of cards.
About a decade ago, America's vampire population revealed itself to humankind via a public television broadcast. Representatives addressed the country, and the world, and declared their intention to develop a new way of life. The message was this: "The secretive existence of vampiric peoples is no longer sustainable. We must make a change. We seek symbiosis with humanity." The response from humans was mixed, to say the least. But in a show of optimistic diplomacy and trust, a new city was founded in the American northeast, called Accordia, which would serve as a kind of trial for a society in which vampires and humans could live peacefully alongside one another.
Accordia is divided into two zones. There is no policy of segregation between humans and vampires in the city. Everyone is free to live and work where they please. However, citizens tend to naturally divide themselves.
The Day Zone:
This is the eastern (coastal) side of the city. Here, businesses are open during the day, and life operates more or less normally, by human standards. There are some vampires who live here, but not many. At the farthest edge of the Day Zone, by the docks and shipping warehouses, are the people who want to be as far away as possible from their vampire neighbors. There are rumors circulating that somewhere around the shipyards is an organized group of humans who believe that integration with vampires will be the downfall of humanity, and have taken it upon themselves to set things right again. Of course, this rumor has not been reliably proven.
The Night Zone:
This is the western (inland) side of the city, and it's been designed with vampires in mind. Businesses are open at night, most of life begins at sundown, and many of the newer buildings have heavy shutters that close over their windows during the day. Humans are allowed to live here if they want to, and some do. However, most of the Night Zone population is immortal. Because vampires don't eat human food, there are fewer restaurants and grocery stores here, which can be inconvenient for human residents. Allegedly, there is a group of vampires at the westernmost edge of the city who disagree with the decision to reveal vampires' existence to humans, and who seek to restore vampiric kind to their former seat of power over "lesser" creatures.
Between the two halves of the city is a neighborhood called The Dusk Strip. This is where the two zones overlap, and humans and vampires rub elbows. It's considered a seedy and dangerous place to live. This is where most of the city's blood banks are located - places where humans can get paid to donate their blood, and vampires can pick up bags of the stuff to live on. There are bars and clubs here where vampires and humans socialize together. This is legal, but socially taboo, and potentially dangerous. Many of these establishments also operate as "red bars" - where humans work offering their blood to vampires directly from the source. Red work is closely associated with sex work, and they often go hand in hand. The operation of red bars is illegal, but common.
Accordia's Vampires:
In this version of events, Vampires have some of the classic abilities and limitations.
What They Can Do...
-Drink blood, obviously
-Turn humans into vampires by consuming most of their blood, and then feeding the human their own blood
-Use vampiric compulsion to influence humans or younger, less powerful vampires
-Run faster than most humans, and experience greater strength
-Get drunk/high (consuming intoxicating substances has no effect, but drinking the blood of an intoxicated person does the trick)
-Conceal themselves (they can't exactly make themselves invisible, but they can use their compulsion abilities to sort of make people not notice them)
-See, hear, and smell beyond normal human capabilities
-Heal themselves and others
-Appear in modern mirrors and photographs (old silver-backed mirrors, or old film photographs are another story)
What They Can't Do...
-Transmute into animals, mist, etc.
-Eat human food
-Get people pregnant or carry a child
-Fly
-Be exposed to sunlight
-Enter places of worship or interact with religious iconography/sacred objects (the specifics depend on what mode of faith the vampire held while they were alive. For example, a Jewish vampire would be able to enter a church or mosque, but not a shul)
-Feed from animals (they technically can, but it's much less satisfying and can make them feel ill)
-Touch silver (it burns their skin)
The longer a vampire is immortal, the stronger their abilities become. However, they also become more vulnerable to the above vampiric weaknesses. It's rare, but on occasion a very old or very powerful vampire may also develop additional abilities, such as seeing the future or hearing the thoughts of others. This is not a universal experience.
A vampire can be killed by exposure to sunlight, by fire, by decapitation and dismemberment, and by the destruction of the heart. Blood starvation can cause a vampire to become dormant, but cannot kill them.
Accordia's Laws:
(Not everyone likes these...)
-It is illegal for a vampire to feed from a human without their consent, and consent under vampiric compulsion does not count as consent.
-It is illegal for a vampire to feed from a child.
-It is illegal to turn a human into a vampire under any circumstances (this one is hotly contested).
-It is illegal to operate a "red bar."
-It is illegal to kill a vampire except in self defense. Doing so is legally equivalent to murder.
-It is illegal for a vampire to create a human "thrall" via compulsion.
-Vampires and humans cannot legally marry.
-Vampires cannot adopt human children.
-All vampires must be registered with Accordia's Security and Monitoring Department. Unregistered vampires many be incarcerated.
Characters:
If you want to write in Accordia, your options are widely varied.
If you want to be a human, you could be someone who is skeptical of vampire integration, someone who believes in peace between the two peoples, or maybe someone who is fascinated with vampires and wants to become one. For vampire characters, you could be a vampire of any age, who lives among humans or among their own kind, one who believes in the goals of Accordia, or one who is resistant to change and longs for the old ways. There are lots of variables to play with.