How should space vampires work in terms of the whole sunlight rule, given that suns can only really set within a planet. Would it be proximity based on a star, as in vampires could not come too close to a star before being turned to dust, rendering the deep space the domain ruled by space vampires?

Picture semi related given that Dark Eldar are sort of space vampires within 40k.

>>95825821 (OP)
Since we're doing space vampires, I think its safe to imply you're not going for a hard-science explanation why your blood suckers vaporize only from forms of star light.
So for a couple of fantastical explanations:
1. The sunlight only counts if its from the vampire's home system. While this means they can be way more active outside their home system, it also leads to risks due to more complex tracking of the relative position of a distant star versus a simple time of day check.

2. Sunlight only counts from the nearest stellar body. Essentially standardizes vampires, but might feel like a cop-out from a writing perspective.

3. Sunlight only counts when it is of sufficient potency and filtered through an atmospheric medium. Similar to 2, save it might let vampires occasionally get vaporized by powerful but distant stellar phenomena, and it gives the whole sunburn thing a veneer of being scientific.

>>95825899
Obviously with space vampires, we are going far more towards space fantasy angle of scifi rather than hard scifi.

Explnanation 1 could be tied to some sort of fantastic curse that causes vampirism, where they can "never bask in the light of their home star" again but if that rule would allow them to operate freely in the light of other stars there is no real reason to even call them vampires, if they are only functionally vampires in their home system.
Thus explanation 3, where it is more about the intensity of the starlight than anything else would probably work the best as a general curse of space vampirism.

>>95825899
>>95825930
If we go weird with it:

There is no individual "stars", all stars in space are the eyes of a vengeful Sun God. Vampires are descendants of people who angered the Sun God, so now once he sees one he makes them suffer long, agonizing vaporization.

>>95825971
Hell yeah, that sounds metal as fuck. Ties with the whole mythos of vampires being cursed by god well.

>>95825821 (OP)
I'm sure Blindsight has a good answer

>>95826869
Aren't the vampires in that novel just some turbo autists genetically engineered beings rather than the more mythical vampires that actually get harmed by sunlight?

>>95825821 (OP)
They get their powers from a parasite/symbiote like the Plagas from RE 4.

Strong lights and UV exposure hurts them because it hurts their parasite/symbiote so they have to wear armored environmental/space suits to protect themselves.

>>95825821 (OP)
If space vampires rule the deep space, how do other races/non vampires defend their ships against the predations of space vampires while traversing from a system to system?

>>95827118
Bribes with tribute or strobe lights and flash bangs and flamethrowers.

>>95827139
>pay the bloodtoll or pimp your space ship up with lights that can pump out stellar levels of lumens in order to deal with the bloodsuckers provling the deep void.

I dig it.

What game are you planning to use space vampires for?

>>95827232
None of your business wannabe janny.

>>95825821 (OP)
Just have UV light or other light wavelenght allergy that could kill them.
Price for getting off the planet is fact that sun is almost always on.

>>95827203
Just on the ship? Nah, they're coming to bored and take you and your shit.

Better square up and get that shoulder mounted strobe light and get your extendable spears, boarding axes and shotguns ready and prepare for the cyber ghouls to blob their way through the ship's corridors while their masters are decked out in armored space suits.

>>95827372
My body is ready

>>95825821 (OP)>>95825899

What's stopping someone tuning their lasers to be at the exact frequency of sunlight the vampires dont like and just shooting them with them?

>>95829464
Presumably nothing if it is the intensity and wavelenght of light that causes the harm to vampires rather than something more mystic/divine in light itself.

>>95825821 (OP)
Space vampires dwell within the void. They cannot enter the heliopause of any star. Instead, they set up gravity wells in interstellar space that will disrupt faster-than-light travel forcing ships to drop out of speed where they will be prey to the vampires. It's rumored that, somewhere in the vast dark, the space vampires have entire rogue planets where they raise mortals as livestock, on those forsaken worlds cast from the gravity of a star and rocketed into the eternal black void.

Not too satisfied with the answers given in this thread. Solar light is solar light. Things like negligible distance (remember humans have to be there too) or types of suns shouldn't really matter. Especially not from a gameplay perspective.

Instead of making the universe work around the vampire, have the vampire work around the universe. There are a thousand ways to keep a ship, or a moonbase, or even planetary terrain dark enough for vampires to operate in.
>caves
>Buildings in urban areas
>When taking over ships they hang out in the dark engine rooms or carbo holds then close all the windows when they gain control.
>Derelict ships, send out a distress call every now and then.
>Asteroid fields


If all they need is blood and darkness it shouldn't be hard if you think about it. Sunguns are fine so long as they're reasonably hard to get. Maybe even an anti sun dark gun could be employed since vampires are at least as smart as humans

remember when Underworld made UV guns and everyone thought that was stupid?

Should vampires survive within the vacuum of space, assuming that they do not get hit by too intense starlight. They are undead and do not need to breathe so it's not like the lack of oxygen is going to harm them.

>>95831019
>remember when Underworld made UV guns and everyone thought that was stupid?
No. I remember when everyone those feature-length music videos were awesome.

>>95825821 (OP)
maybe it's the light from the currently closet star that kills them?

>>95831268
No but if they start falling through the atmosphere and turn into a ball of fire that should definitely kill them

You're all wrong. Sunlight kills vampires due to its intensity. Get a vampire far enough from the sun and he could look at it without issue. So vampires in space would just keep away from areas of intense light from stars. Maybe instead they live around brown dwarves (no effect on them) and red dwarves (only mild irritation in direct exposure).

>>95827028
Kind of sort of. They are a Jurassic Park'd race of ancient predators from our prehistory. I don't think they had any flaws regarding the sun, but, then again, vampires being turned into ash by the sun is a relatively recent addition to the bloodsucker mythos, so Watts might've not felt the need to include it.

>>95825821 (OP)
I'm just assuming space vampires would forfeit panorama windows in their space crafts, and making a space suit light proof isn't such an outlandish concept either.

>>95827118
Photon torpedo goes boom.

>>95829464
Nothing. The vampires might shoot back, though.

>>95831268
Yep, as long as they don't get too close to a star. Might be terribly uncomfortable, and while they might not die their bodily functions would likely be compromised.

UV roasts vampires and all stars emit UV. In fact UV is much more intense in space since there is no atmosphere to block it. Going outside unprotected inside of a star system would be suicide for them, probably even in a brown dwarf system. So their ships probably wouldn't have windows and they would have anti-UV space suits.

In theory, they could probably go outside just fine in interstellar space after they get significant clearance from nearby stars. Each start would probably have a danger zone around it that goes beyond the system depending on how bright it is. Some highly active phenomenon like Quasars would be given a very wide berth.

>>95825821 (OP)
>Picture semi related given that Dark Eldar are sort of space vampires within 40k.
Don't Deldar start to drain faster in Real Space? I vaguely recall that being a contributing reason as to why they do limited, high speed raids.

>>95833446
I also recall something like that being stated in a codex at some point.

>>95830323
Rogue planets floating in deep space, trapped in permanent darkness serving as the hideouts & lairs of space vampires is an extremely kino concept.

>>95827028
They're evolutionary siblings of humans who get epileptic seizures whenever they see right angles. They went extinct after Homo sapiens became sufficiently civilized to build rectangular buildings. Then scientists used genetic engineering to revive them, and gave them special AR glasses to automatically filter right angles out of their vision.

>>95834077
Wait really? So their entire existence in prehistory was dependent on them not looking at salt too closely? Or pyrite? Or god forbid, bismuth?

>>95827028
The way the sunlight thing is worked in is that, because they evolved to hunt human herds individually, they were nocturnal and their nervous systems are on overdrive the same way a mammal's is in comparison to simpler creatures. They don't need the dark, but they're like certain autistic people that prefer it for the relative sensory deprivation.

I would do radically inhuman vampires that have such limited tolerance for most ranges of radiation that they must absorb all energy through gastrosynthesis. They're basically walking, hunting, killing stomachs. I don't exactly know how that would effect everything else. They probably most comfortably function in the radiowave spectrum, so they mostly rely on sound and kinetic vibration au naturale. They probably require complex suits to go into space, and the suits provide them a modest ability to see infrared. They're extreme omnivores that, when forced to live among intrasolar planets, survive off of extreme, cannibalistic piracy.

>>95834484
So, in order to hunt on the large scale, they've got some way to make suns burn out. Thankfully, being so dependent on food to live, they can go into a hibernation phase for decades or centuries while they do the slow work. As the sun expands to consume or irradiate most of the planets in its orbit, the vampires swoop in on the cold, dark planets on the edge to harvest the life therein before it dies. After capturing what is left of these biospheres, they are selectively bred and engineered to survive in vampire habitats as livestock. Over time, vampire-colonized planets become dead rocks of shambling mutants ruled over by vampire gods.

Nosferatu and its consequences have been a disaster for vampire kind

>>95825821 (OP)
you don't need to be a vampire to be harmed by starlight in space. use shielding, like everyone else. I guess in the shadows of planets or whatever they would be fine.

>>95825821 (OP)
I'd just make up a whole new curse for space vampires that's only similar to the traditional ones.

Maybe make it so that vampires in a space setting are bound to space. They can't return planetside due their curse being "the soil itself will be anathema beneath your feet" or something like that. This means the majority of humans planetside have nothing to fear from vampires and the only stories they know about them are what half-mad travelers of the void relay to them. This also gives a reason why no one would suspect "that guy's a vampire, he's going to drain our blood!" when they're aboard a spacecraft.

The need for blood is a simple extension of their existing curse, being relegated to a parasite on human life. They can't go down to planets and drink their fill, but any who stray from the sanctity of planetary life are at risk.

Maybe vampires come in two forms, the type that blends in with society on space platforms and stations, stalking victims throughout their domain, and vampires who captain their own spacecraft like a petty kingdom, raiding traveling ships for slaves. The former is an immortal serial killer stuck on a space station, stalking its unused halls and maintenance shafts, trying to stay out of visibility of cameras and scanners that would track them. They're aided by the fact their biology allows them to function in oxygenless environments and they don't show on typical biological scanners.

Vampire captains are the true terrors of space lanes, their ships are like 3% vampires, 65% human slaves, and the rest of the crew are undead or biological horrors that serve them. They capture ships and drain the crew to stay alive.

This is like the third "vampire in space" thread this month and they keep being catapulted to page 10
Take a hint

>>95825821 (OP)
They travel in cryo coffins that send out distress calls silly.

>>95836147
I've only seen this one

>>95825821 (OP)
Why should it work any different?

>>95835740
I feel that the whole light being harmful to vampires is such a core part of the mythos at this point that ditching it would lead to losing a lot of the charm of the whole "space vampire" concept.

>>95825821 (OP)
Vampire ships are large and windowless, and composed of many nested layers like a matrioshka doll, and the Vampire's Bridge-Lair is housed within the deepest, most protected part of the ship, closed off from any starlight. The inner layers surrounding this are populated by lesser vampires, spawn and ghouls, and other undead that are vulnerable to starlight, whole the outer layers have zombies, undead and living minions/cattle that don't suffer from this. The intensity of the light corresponds to the damage done to the undead, and may also depend on the home planet of the vampire, if they have one. In general, light intensity equivalent to normal sunlight on their world will destroy a vampire in seconds, though differences in light emitted by different kinds of stars may have other, sometimes unexpected effects. As the intensity decreases, the light becomes less lethal and harmful, and if the vampire is only exposed to weak light from distant twinkling stars, it merely weakens and sickens them. Vampires sired in deep space and not on a planet, do take damage from any level of starlight, and any vampire in space will likely have void cloaks or protective aether armor that can at least negate some of the effects if not eliminate them.

>>95825930
not necessarily, since tgs favorite space vampire book Blindsight is pretty far to the hard side of the spectrum. but to the other anon's point,
>>95826869
they're not killed by sunlight, just nocturnal.

>>95834077
I think the glasses were just sunglasses. there was something about them having drugs that suppress the response. I think the one in the first book wears a pump that maintains a regular dosage.

>>95839660
Space combat with Vampire ships is difficult, as their ships are usually very sturdy and enhanced by dark magics. Blessed weaponry and holy miracles can counteract this. Generally, one of 3 strategies is used to fight a space vampire.
-Total Obliteration: use of high powered, magic and/or holy weaponry to destroy the ship utterly and use of strike craft, aether golems, and voidwalker parties armed with anti undead weaponry to ensure nothing survives in the wreckage.
-Use a Star: Most Vampires will attempt to avoid combat within dangerous distance of a star whenever possible, but if they can be forced or lured into proximity to one, it may be possible to use high powered over penetrative weaponry to blast holes in the ship and expose the Bridge-Lair or at least the inner sanctum layers to purifying starlight. If one can force a vampiric ship into a star's gravity well such that it cannot escape and is consumed by the star itself, this is universally effective.
-Boarding Action: Depending on the strength of the vampire and their ship, and other protective gear they may have, the other methods may prove ineffective, necessitating a boarding action to fight through the vampire's minions, enter the Bridge-Lair, and slay the vampire in personal combat. Obviously, the most risky option, and one that is served by softening up the vessel with bombardment and or exposure to natural or artificial starlight (produced by divine artifact constructs) to make the final raid easier.

It was a long time since I watched Trinity Blood anime, but I remember that sun proximity was an important plot point for the whole vampire vs NeoVatican space war there because nanomachines mutated Mars colonists into being able to survive on Mars but when they got to Earth which was closer to the Sun, those nanomachines would destroy their bodies if it's under direct sunlight.

>>95825821 (OP)
Look back to Dracula. Sunlight has no effect on him, but his shapeshifting abilities are suppressed while *the sun is in the sky* (except for a short time at noon), even if he's inside. He loses this weakness while close to his grave.

So forget sunlight and make it about how the celestial bodies are aligned around them. In a tactical game, spaceships piloted by vampires could have a mechanic which buffs them for flanking enemies or moving into specific positions around the map.

I'm more curious how the "cannot cross running water" curse would translate into space travel, since in the novel Dracula couldn't even enter/exit a ship without assistance.

The coffin stuff lines up well with cryostasis though.

>>95839866
Kino as fuck ship design.

>"Be wary of those who offer you aid with a smile and words of encouragement. They are false. Those that give life so that they may live are more reliable and true in their motives. Eternity beckons for the Sabik but travelers on that road must be clothed in the blood of the weak and refreshed by the blood of the powerful and pure. Only give succor to a true fellow traveler, that they may aid you on your journey along that road."

the best space vampires aren't even vampires

>>95839729
Pretty much all long-term psychoactive drugs were distributed by brain pump by that point in the setting. Another way it's clear that vampires and AI inherit the earth after Echoproxy.

>>95839980
>cannot cross running water
if they're native to space, you could translate that as not being able to endure planetary gravity.

>>95839540
Maybe, but I don't think it really works in the concept of space. I do think, however, you can create a new type of vampire-like creature that's thematically similar and has banes that prevent their operation in ways humans would be able to. Having a parasitic creature with certain flaws that prevents it from operating in places where normal humans thrive keeps the same feel.

>>95840850
Blood Raiders are basically space cult-vampires and probably a "good enough" solution. I still enjoy flying my Cruor and Ashimmu even if they're wildly too expensive for what they do, watching an enemy ship become defenseless because they had their capacitor sucked dry and can't do anything is oddly satisfying.

Peter Watts has a very interesting take on scifi vampires in . He explains them as a hominid relative of humanity that preyed on homo sapiens for most of our species existence. They drink our blood for a vital amino acid that they dont produce. they are stronger, sharper senses, and they had way more advanced brains than ours.Like you know those isual illusions where it looks like cubes either pointing out at you or pointing inward, and how you can see it one way but switch perspectives if you try? the vampires can hold both in their mind at once. But if they see 2 straight lines intersecting at 90 degrees something goes haywire and they go into grand mal seizures.
We hunted them to extinction through sheer numbers, then brought them back in the far future through cloning to run our corps and governments with their big predator brains.

>>95839980
>In a tactical game, spaceships piloted by vampires could have a mechanic which buffs them for flanking enemies or moving into specific positions around the map.

You could represent their obsession with counting by giving them weird number-based mechanics, like dealing bonus damage equal to the last digit of their HP

>>95825821 (OP)
Space vampires can't board your ship unless you invite them in

>>95842357
based?
based

>>95839866
What an overdesigned mess

>>95844880
And that's a good thing!

>>95844938
Fantastic artwork

>>95844938
Now that's some good aesthetic
I need more

This thread needs more sexy space vampire women.

>>95848250
There is very little if any art of space vampires in general. I was unable to find any at all when I made the thread hence I had to resort to using dark eldar artwork.

>>95825899
UV allergy also works. Maybe they are underground or artificial species.

>>95842331
>Maybe, but I don't think it really works in the concept of space.
Why?
If anything, with high tech involved it's even easier for vampires to avoid direct exposure to sunlight.

>>95840850
What is this from?

>>95854007
EVE Online, these guys are called Blood Raiders. They love to disable spaceships and drain the crew of any blood

can't believe nobody has brought up the Vodyani yet.

>>95833430
If UV was the issue, the vamps would stand zero chance against humans. Just put lights on everything lmao. They wouldn't be a threat in the same way vamps usually are, they'd just farm whatever captives they manage to take as an irrelevant but spooky minor power.

>>95825821 (OP)
In Vampire Hunter D vampires are only affected by sunlight while on Earth, as it a curse bound to the planet rather than an effect of the Sun. In space, sunlight does nothing to them.

>>95869561
Vampire hunter D is top tier kino
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OX3KE6Vb7w

>>95848250
>>95848258
Besides the aforementioned Blood Raiders, Eve Online has the Drifters who have maybe the kind of space vampire aesthetic you're looking for.

>>95869848
I feel most of these old anime have the coolest visuals but the blandest plots and characters.
Anyway I'll give it a chance because it just looks too cool.

>>95825821 (OP)
The idea of space vampires is retarded. Unless you are shielded by a planet (ie stood on it's dark side) a vampire will always be in direct sunlight of a system's sun. They would have to either have to have tinted windows on their space ships and space suits, or some asspull space magic rule to negate the sunlight that is everywhere, like ;it only counts when filtered through air of your homeworld to be deadly, or some other bollocks like that.

Lurking patiently for good writing ideas. /tg/ is a goldmine for budding authors unironically.

>>95882479
post some of your own ideas, they don't even have to be good.

>>95881381
Why would you have windows on a space ship in the first place?
Like with submarines, they're an unnecessary weak point that you'd only add if they're necessary for the vessel's purpose, e.g. a luxury "see exotic sights" cruise, or a scientific vessel loaded with scientists to study certain phenomena in real time, so being able to actually see things is the whole point.
Otherwise you just have the hull be the same material all around and put sensors and scanners and whatnot to "see" what's going on around you. Then the vampire can sit at the bridge in the center of the ship where no natural light can reach without the ship suffering catastrophic hull damage, so everyone would be fucked at that point anyway.

Maybe vampires should just get burns easier instead of disintegrating from a single ray of light?

>>95883124
>Why would you have windows on a space ship in the first place?
aesthetics.

>>95825899
Let's assume that amount of damage dealt by a sunlight decreases with inverse square of the distance (measured in AU) from the star.
So vampire on Mars will receive approx. 0.5 damage from sunlight, he would get on the Earth. A Vampire somewhere near Jupiter would take 0.04 base damage which would be totally negligible.

>>95825821 (OP)
I've had a couple ideas involving this concept, including a vtm game set in a sealed o'niell cylinder. But a big question I always had was the interaction if you were somewhere like Pluto, where you can see the Sun but it's just another spec in the sky