Is Vampirism hereditary?

Post » Mon May 21, 2012 11:41 pm

I was wondering if Vampirism can be passed onto the offspring(or if Vampires can even procreate at all).

Any ideas or speculation?
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TRIsha FEnnesse
 
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Post » Tue May 22, 2012 5:19 am

If I'm remembering Oblivion correctly, and the Grey Prince is anything to go by, it appears Vampires can indeed produce offspring, albeit it seems to be a rare event, or one that no one in their right mind would go tell the world to. As for the acutally producing a new born vampire...I don't think so, as vampires do not seem to age at all. Look at Babette. That is not to say that offspring of a vampire and a mortal do not have unique qualites...or at least I think it was mentioned that the grey prince was a bit tougher then your average orc for that reason.
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CxvIII
 
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Post » Tue May 22, 2012 12:21 am

I believe the mother side rule applies. Mother is a vampire, the baby is one too. Father is a vampire, we get a really strong dude like the Grey Prince.
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Sophh
 
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Post » Tue May 22, 2012 2:40 am

Not sure about that because vampirism isn't a racial trait, it's a disease. Since a vampire is undead and unaging, a vampire offspring would never develop. Babette shows also that vampirism can affect the very young.

Personally I'd say vampirism isn't hereditary and the Grey Prince was a one-off fluke, maybe a practical joke by the gods (even the vampire father couldn't believe it happened). A vampire is undead, and it strains believability that one is functional enough to have kids.
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Mrs Pooh
 
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Post » Tue May 22, 2012 10:40 am

If we understand the mother to have the primary role in the transmission of morphic and biological traits, I would theorize that if a female vampire coupled with a male mortal, there would be no offspring as the stunted development common to most strains would prohibit any embryonic growth from the very start. However, if a male vampire were to impregnate a female mortal, there could conceivably (as it were) be a child, although for reasons of vitality (or rather lack thereof), the functionality and performance of the virile agent might be inadequate to successfully penetrate the ovum.
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Ana
 
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Post » Tue May 22, 2012 3:59 am

Maybe the Gray Prince's mother wasn't entirely truthful? Perhaps there was a third donor who actually impregnated her, while her vampiric lover provided some additional transformative agent.
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Fam Mughal
 
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Post » Tue May 22, 2012 1:35 am

If we understand the mother to have the primary role in the transmission of morphic and biological traits
Given lycanthropy as a similar "morphic or biological trait", its transmission to offspring isn't dependent on the mother. In Daggerfall, there's a quest where you need to deal with a child who inherited the disease from their father.
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maria Dwyer
 
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Post » Mon May 21, 2012 9:15 pm

Maybe the children can be born with the disease pory-something, not actual vampirism?
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Javaun Thompson
 
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Post » Tue May 22, 2012 8:10 am

They certainly don't go at it much, otherwise the world would be teeming with the immortal bastards.
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Philip Rua
 
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Post » Mon May 21, 2012 11:12 pm

I think it just produces the http://www.fightingmaster.com/actors/snipes/photos/snipes.jpg http://images.wikia.com/castlevania/images/2/27/Alucard_002.jpg http://images.wikia.com/buffy/images/f/fb/Connorsword.jpg
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brandon frier
 
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Post » Tue May 22, 2012 1:27 am

Given lycanthropy as a similar "morphic or biological trait", its transmission to offspring isn't dependent on the mother. In Daggerfall, there's a quest where you need to deal with a child who inherited the disease from their father.

Werewolves aren't vampires. Lycanthropy doesn't stunt physiological development.
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Siidney
 
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Post » Tue May 22, 2012 5:21 am

Werewolves aren't vampires. Lycanthropy doesn't stunt physiological development.
But it does affect physiological development, heightening senses and possibly prolonging life (Tharsten Heart-Fang ruled the Skaal for "generations" because of his lycanthropy), along with forced (and willed) physical changes. Lycanthropy is a hereditary disease but isn't dependent on the mother, so it would make sense that if vampirism is a hereditary disease, it also wouldn't be dependent on the mother.

Though it is a bit of an academic point, since I don't think vampirism can be a hereditary disease and there's no cases of it happening.
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Andrew Lang
 
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Post » Tue May 22, 2012 8:15 am

They certainly don't go at it much, otherwise the world would be teeming with the immortal bastards.

Vampires generally don't feel or express love. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that feeling love for anybody gets cemented when someone turns into a vampire (see: The Count Skingrad), and it is very rare for a Vampire to overcome their lust for feeding enough to feel love for a non-vampire.
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Ross
 
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