Why no female vampire DLs?

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Also worth noting, there was a female vampire demilord for a period of time: Beryl Silvertress

And in FoS netbook canon, Tavelia is now a demilord of Liffe.

[brilliantlight]

Also worth noting, there was a female vampire demilord for a period of time: Beryl Silvertress

And in FoS netbook canon, Tavelia is now a demilord of Liffe.

Yeah, I liked that one. It seems fitting for her. She went from being a top member of the Kargat to being a trophy wife of a minor noble. Her brilliant mind counts for nothing as she becomes an airheaded bimbo whenever she is with her husband or anyone who doesn't know her real identity. So she come up with a clever plan to escape her predicament but can't really do much about it due to her curse. She can't even strangle him in his sleep because the moment she gets near him she becomes an airheaded bimbo who can't even think of hurting her husband.

[Leliel]

Rock has the right plan, given how Carmilla's defining personality trait is her obsessive desires. A curse presents itself right there; the things and especially people she wants are right there, but she inevitably ends up destroying or driving them away. The self-inflicted part of the curse is that it plays on her possessive nature; it's easy to twist the ambiguity of how much is Carmilla's hunger for a meal and how much is her desire for a lover into something our darklord herself has trouble distinguishing between, she hungers for love and affection without wanting to give any in return. An emotional leech as well as a physical one.

This isn't really tempting, though; she's a lot like a more politically minded Strahd, in that she wants the love of the people she rules as well.

EDIT: Also, I am trying to avoid vanity here. I'm advocating what Japan calls a yandere, who never struck me as either vain or temptresses-they're defined by their jealousy of everyone who might take their beloved away from them, and the sense of betrayal that comes from their beloved trying to break free. I'm also advocating that actually applies to everything she does; on the political stage, she's an isolationist because she's paranoid of other darklords taking her beloved people away from her, it's a lot harder to emigrate than immigrate, she regularly showers her followers with gifts and yet has a thorough secret police force...

[IrvyneWolfe]

If you want a female vampire dark lord, remember Lyssa. She's one trip into the mists away from her own domain.

Her domain is an island that's a dark, dead reflection of Barovia... decades after someone else killed Strahd (maybe another terg invasion). She gets her wish, she gets her uncle's power, but at the same time she rules over a broken land that can barely support life and she has to live with the knowledge that someone else got Strahd and she was asleep while it happened.

[Boris Drakov]

I was always fascinated by the motivations of the Queen of the Damned and have thought of modelling a female vampire lord on her.

My idea was for a woman growing up in a heavily misogynist society succumbing to the assault of a male but not so bright vampire. She tricks him into a trap and destroys him but her lingering hatred of males has her hunting them exclusively.

As the nearby villages suffer from their depletion of males some of the local women see that they can manage pretty much without them and seek out the vampiress to worship her as a goddess.

A mother goddess cult is set up and a society riddled with female informants keeps the fearful men in check.

However, the Dark Powers take an interest in her and send a charming male vampire her way. Despite her powers and her followers she's unable to destroy him and she falls for his charms instead. The Dark Powers comply and gifts her with pregnancy.

In a petty squabble she has her followers destroy her lover but they all rejoice together at the prospect of her divine child.

And it's a boy.

Overcome with mother's love she dotes on it but her followers who have been indoctrinated over many years see it as a test of their faith and kills the baby during daylight hours.

The vampiress goes into a fury from grief and slaughters her priesthood and is given a domain.

The domain is a peasant society where everyone fears the ruined temple of the Mother Goddess up in the mountains.

Her curse is that she has to feed on at least 1 male per month but while doing so she sees only her newborn baby in his dying features.

Though overcome with grief she still polices her realm for male misogyny but also hunts the persistent but elusive cult in her honour which now has gone underground.

[IrvyneWolfe]

I think the real trouble is that in making a female darklord like that by having her fight sexism professionally she becomes less about herself as a character and more a cartoon of a strong female darklord. That's not to say you can't have female dark lords who have struggles against sexism, there are plenty. However, in fighting the entire structure of instituionalized sexism they're doing a great great good for society. That's not really the speed of a darklord.

The DL would be concerned first and foremost with themselves. How does the sexism impact them? How can they get past it? Most vampires are chaotic evil remember. Once they've broken the glass ceiling they're not going to be interested in dropping the rope for anyone else. Hell they may even adopt an attitude of "if I did it so can you if you try hard enough."

[Boris Drakov]

Well.

I imagine her like a New Age-ish character in flowing robes and sandals with lots of bangles and necklaces and unruly hair.

She still looks down upon men and try hard to discern who the worst misogynist is for her monthly meal. ( A role a PC or maybe more fairly a companion of a PC could easily fill )

She would attract free thinking women from other domains to her sanctuary funded by donations to her shrines where they could get access to education and training elsewhere unavailable to females.

Her secret would be closely guarded and only the most trusted ( brainwashed ) would be allowed into her inner circle where they would share their essence ( blood ) with her to achieve Enlightenment ( mental domination of their vampiress lord ).

Like many deeply ideological persons up through the ages she holds everyone but herself to high standards and punishes severely anyone of her Enlightened Sisterhood for cavorting with men.

However she employs them as agents to keep her informed of the other domains and sometimes to thwart the male power structures of neighbours.

Only her most trusted acolytes go out to seek what she really yearns for, a male vampire to spawn a new child, in hopes of easing her heart-ache. This always proves unsuccessful and the captured vampire gentlemen are disposed of for failing to fulfill their duty of course.

[The Lesser Evil]

Rock has the right plan, given how Carmilla's defining personality trait is her obsessive desires. A curse presents itself right there; the things and especially people she wants are right there, but she inevitably ends up destroying or driving them away. The self-inflicted part of the curse is that it plays on her possessive nature; it's easy to twist the ambiguity of how much is Carmilla's hunger for a meal and how much is her desire for a lover into something our darklord herself has trouble distinguishing between, she hungers for love and affection without wanting to give any in return. An emotional leech as well as a physical one.

This isn't really tempting, though; she's a lot like a more politically minded Strahd, in that she wants the love of the people she rules as well.

EDIT: Also, I am trying to avoid vanity here. I'm advocating what Japan calls a yandere, who never struck me as either vain or temptresses-they're defined by their jealousy of everyone who might take their beloved away from them, and the sense of betrayal that comes from their beloved trying to break free. I'm also advocating that actually applies to everything she does; on the political stage, she's an isolationist because she's paranoid of other darklords taking her beloved people away from her, it's a lot harder to emigrate than immigrate, she regularly showers her followers with gifts and yet has a thorough secret police force...

Thakok An could be an interesting example of this trope in that she would likely be very subtle or even muted in her behavior most of the time (even when she enters into her scariest modes- a nonchalant and collected tone at emotional dissonance with what is around can be disturbing in and of itself.

I kind of see Thakok An as the darklord of (cognitive) dissonance. On the one hand, she wants Kalid Ma to herself, but if he remains so, then he can't give her affection. I think this would be an interesting dilemma in determining the fate of ruling the land and the people as well. If we extend her desire for Kalid-Ma to her desire for control over her people and state, then Kalid Ma's reawakening might also threaten her political control over the domain.

[Manofevil]

This guy here with his review of the novel Dracula https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Juu-7H0Z2RU may have presented another possibility. Maybe for a Darkord or just another recurring character. As our reviewer points out (in his own unique way ), the character of Lucy was very disturbing to the victorian audience. Not only was she a romantically (if not sexually) liberated woman with three suiters in pursuit of her, but she is receiving fluids from four different men, (Five including Dracula) in a direct allegory for sex. Then when she changes into a vampire, her chosen target to feed upon are babies and small children. This is a direct metphor of antipathy toward the proper victorian mother (Represented by Mina in the book) whose only ambition in life had to be finding a husband and raising a family. This is merely ONE more possibility besides your feministic version. Another might be a Calamity Jane type character bound and determined to prove herself as tough as any man in life and as fearsome as any male vampire in death.

[ewancummins]

Another approach is to not to assign sex or gender until after one has developed the other core features of the character.
Thus you may avoid all the female-characters-defined-by-feminist-themes stuff.

[ewancummins]

I think the real trouble is that in making a female darklord like that by having her fight sexism professionally she becomes less about herself as a character and more a cartoon of a strong female darklord. That's not to say you can't have female dark lords who have struggles against sexism, there are plenty. However, in fighting the entire structure of instituionalized sexism they're doing a great great good for society. That's not really the speed of a darklord.

The DL would be concerned first and foremost with themselves. How does the sexism impact them? How can they get past it? Most vampires are chaotic evil remember. Once they've broken the glass ceiling they're not going to be interested in dropping the rope for anyone else. Hell they may even adopt an attitude of "if I did it so can you if you try hard enough."

I'd ignore all that stuff about 'sexism.' Do not make that part of the character, her story, or her domain.
Give her a strong desire, a motivation that drives her.

Then--- do not make being female part of the obstacle or an aid towards the goal in any major, character defining way.

All IMHO and YMMV

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Give her a strong desire, a motivation that drives her.

Then--- do not make being female part of the obstacle or an aid towards the goal in any major, character defining way.

All IMHO and YMMV

This! If I've learned anything from Demise, this!

[jamesfirecat]

I'd ignore all that stuff about 'sexism.' Do not make that part of the character, her story, or her domain.
Give her a strong desire, a motivation that drives her.

Then--- do not make being female part of the obstacle or an aid towards the goal in any major, character defining way.

All IMHO and YMMV

A child of some minor nobles is forced into an arranged marriage they have no desire for.

They've lived a life of privilege but can't escape the worry that their entire life was already all planned out for them from the moment they were born.

Their death though... their death hasn't been written in the slightest, their death and what comes after it offers a plethora of uncharted freedom.

Forsaking their family's wealth and political power, forsaking their humanity, forsaking life itself, undeath offers a chance to experience true power unrestrained by either unwritten rules or even enforced laws.

Becoming a vampire was the perfect escape from the responsibilities of life, and now an endless series of nights beckons them onward, and countless different unwary throats from which to draw sustenance.

Male or female character?

I'll admit the above background is slightly more female leaning but Howls in the Night proved that arranged marriages can just as frequently be no walk in the park for the groom either.

[IrvyneWolfe]

I think the real trouble is that in making a female darklord like that by having her fight sexism professionally she becomes less about herself as a character and more a cartoon of a strong female darklord. That's not to say you can't have female dark lords who have struggles against sexism, there are plenty. However, in fighting the entire structure of instituionalized sexism they're doing a great great good for society. That's not really the speed of a darklord.

The DL would be concerned first and foremost with themselves. How does the sexism impact them? How can they get past it? Most vampires are chaotic evil remember. Once they've broken the glass ceiling they're not going to be interested in dropping the rope for anyone else. Hell they may even adopt an attitude of "if I did it so can you if you try hard enough."

I'd ignore all that stuff about 'sexism.' Do not make that part of the character, her story, or her domain.
Give her a strong desire, a motivation that drives her.

Then--- do not make being female part of the obstacle or an aid towards the goal in any major, character defining way.

All IMHO and YMMV

Amen to that.

[Nevermorrow]

If you want a female vampire dark lord, remember Lyssa. She's one trip into the mists away from her own domain.

What novel is she from again?