[Dragaera] *slaps head about Tukko* *AGYAR SPOILERS*

[Erzsébet of Catspirit Wood]

Philip Hart wrote:

> Sure, that's correct.  But it does introduce the extra
> complexity of explaining what a vampire is and why blood
> drinking is significant.  Michael Swanwick does so in
> _In The Drift_ but in a scientific context; Ann Rice fails
> to in _The Vampire Lestat_; the Buffyverse has a consistent
> take but not one that bears too much thought ("Blood is life").
> Then one needs to find out why Sethra is a vampire and not
> just run-of-the-mill undead.  Then one needs to determine
> what the implications are for whatever's special about blood
> and whatever's special about vampirism for Sethra.

One of the best explorations of the mechanics of vampirism that I know 
of is in C.S. Friedman's _The Madness Season_. Vampirism (though almost 
never described as such) is not contagious or something that happens 
after normal life, but rather, a sub-species in that story. But the 
mechanics proposed are still interesting. Peter Watts also seems to be 
going with the separate species explanation in _Blindsight_.

I went with a symbiotic infection in my own (as-yet unpublished) short 
story "The Turning of the Year."

Sethra is described as being "undead" as well as being a "vampire." 
We're told that she eats very little, but consumes a small amount of 
blood. Presumably this is related to her vampirism. We are not told what 
being "undead" constitutes, but "necromancy" seems to involve treating 
states like life and death via something akin to engineering. We know 
that there is a "soul" in Dragaera, and that both Dragaerans and 
Easterners (though possibly not original stock humans) possess one that 
reincarnates, i.e. it continues to exist after "death" and its movements 
may, in some circumstances, be tracked. Sethra's soul seems to be 
inhabiting Sethra's body (or a simulacrum), but she is not "alive." 
Aliera's soul is in her body (or reasonable simulacrum), but she *is* 
"alive."

What's the difference between being "alive" and "undead"? It appears to 
be something to do with how the soul is held in the body in the "normal 
world." The state of "life" will hold a soul there, and this seems to be 
the most usual way, but there are other ways.

I wonder if the Necromancer could turn an undead back into a living being?

-- 
Erzsébet of Catspirit Wood
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