[E. Albright]

Originally posted by Cohen:
I'd remove Immortality first of all. Vampires can be killed.

Um. This depends a lot on just what mythology one uses as one's point of reference. I've ran into some (Middle Eastern? It's been a while and I'm not sure) tales speaking of a critter which wasn't frightfully powerful whilst alive (and not REALLY dead, and also capable of seeing daylight, an' some other "non-standard" stuff), but to kill it (and keep it dead) one would have to decapitate it, burn the head and body seprately, and scatter the respective ashes in such a way that ne'er the twain would meet. Or go with (Russian?) ones that posit a more lichy vampire, who would be physically strong, and when killed (in whatever unexceptional manner one chose), would need to be burnt... but when ya tried to burn it, a host of vermin (rats, newts, snakes, worms, etc.) would issue forth from the body with no goal but escape. And if one solitary lil' critter got away, well, all that hard work killin' an' burnin' yer vamp would go up in smoke...

[Edit: oh, and the bit about seperating heads and bodies (lest death not be fatal) pops up in some of the European vampire myths, too.]

[ April 20, 2004, 16:50: Message edited by: E. Albright ]