FORKNI-L
Digest - 20 Sep 2015 to 21 Sep 2015 (#2015-79)
Mon, 21 Sep 2015
There are 2 messages totaling 183 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. vampires with PTSD
2. Nope, no bible
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sun, 20 Sep 2015 23:59:27 -0500
From: Kilted Swine BBQ <kiltedswinebbq@g.......>
Subject: Re: vampires with PTSD
To weigh in as possible dissent 8)
I'm not so sure that PTSD would be the appropriate term here. Perhaps
remorse of withdrawal between hits of unbridled need may be more apropos.
Overwhelming remorse of knowing addiction rather than that of PTSD.
His conversion to the lust for blood through LaCroix's blood line may have
likely rewired his synapses causing considerable change to his psyche which
probably wreaked havoc with his moral compass accordingly given the source.
Something to keep in mind, the hunger of a vampire turns them into a
predator which while similar is subtly different than what someone like
Nick may have been during his mortal days as a knight, warrior or protector
with plate, sword and shield under orders from king or country.
Moving on from one form of organized combat under orders to one more subtly
driven by need would perhaps lessen the pull of his conscience over time
much like eating steak doesn't make you uncomfortable as you think of cows
you've seen in the fields or pork from those cute little pigs noticed as
you pass.
In the end you simply eat or you die.
Carouche behavior is probably a mild comparison to how meat eaters view
vegetarians with not so subtle distaste in how they choose to eat something
both kinds eventually need in desperation, Disgust in even subtle form can
be a powerful weapon amongst your peers no matter how much you try to
dissuade yourself, however when push comes to shove you can survive on
vegetation no matter what your usual choice for diet may be, while blood is
blood.
I fully understand combat is combat and shock is shock and how those who
are part of it or suffer from it are affected during or after, however with
vampires they would essentially be removed psychologically from
participation to that of observation knowing they had far less to fear than
mortals worried about death or worse around them.
In Nick's case the world he was mortal in is staggeringly different than
what he lives in now. I hate to use the comparison but it would be like
someone from the inner city moving to a farm on the plains or visa versa.
Living an extended lifetime would most certainly get a vampire used to
losing people they became close with and chose not to convert or witnessed
how conversion changed had they chosen to do so and realized the error of
their ways in doing so.
Crack like vampirism undoubtedly affect everyone differently and not always
for the good.
Consider how people react who become addicted to crack and what lengths
addicts will go to get a hit. The longer between the more driven they
become and the less likely they are to worry about their mortality when
they suffer withdrawal.
Their brains have simply become rewired to need it above everything and
anything else at any cost much like blood lust would for vampires.
Just a thought or three on the subject 8)
No offense intended for vegetarians who may have found the comparison above
in annoyingly bad taste (pun entirely intended 8)).
*Thanks!*
*Bob Sellers*
*Chief Cook -- Pit Master **-- KCBS Certified Judge*
*KCBS: Kilted Swine BBQ*
*twitter: @sellersjr*
*http://fiction.kiltedswinebbq.com <http://kiltedswinebbq.com/>*
*Anyone can put the heat to meat but few can bar-b-cue...*
On Sun, Sep 20, 2015 at 3:54 PM, Greer Watson <gwatson2@r.......> wrote:
> On Fri, 18 Sep 2015, Bonnie Pardoe wrote:
>
> > most likely, as mortals, they were raised to believe that murder
> > was a sin/wrong; but then as a vampire, they have to do that
> > very thing in order to survive
>
> Murder and killing aren't the same thing, though. Nick would have been
> trained from childhood in the arts of war, with its presumption that he
> would kill in battle as an adult.
>
> On the other hand, war in theory is not the same as in practice. Killing
> faceless enemies *might* be something he could get used to, especially after
> lifelong training. However, nearly being killed himself (which must have
> happened sometimes) would be hard to process--at least afterwards, even if
> he was filled with adrenaline during the actual battle. Also, he would
> surely have made friends among his fellow knights on crusade, only to then
> see some of them hacked to death in battle. That would be very hard to
> take, I should think: there'd be a measure of survival guilt.
>
> > the most vivid memories they have are about death, murder,
> > betrayal, revulsion, fear,
>
> Oh, yes! The the final emotions of the victim! As vampires apparently
> drink the feelings with the blood, that would be reinforced over and over.
>
> (Of course, there's the possibility that *some* vampires get off on the
> terror of their victims. However, we've never seen that with Nick, nor
> several of the others, unless it's someone they hate.)
>
> In this context, one might wonder if this is one reason for Nick to romance
> and kill women. Of course, there's the fact that it's a way to lure a
> victim; and also there the sexual component. However, the way the scenes
> are staged suggests that they are entranced into *enjoying* being drained.
> I'm thinking here particularly of Amalia in "Near Death", who clearly wanted
> to repeat the experience of being bitten by Nick. Up till the last time
> (when he loses control and kills her), he's *not* getting feelings of fear
> and revulsion from her blood.
>
> Of course, once she dies in ecstacy, the fact that he actually had a
> relationship with her just exacerbates his guilt. In fact, Nick generally
> seems more upset by killing women. It betrays his honour. (And he does it
> over and over and over again.)
>
> > So, Nick isn't morally bad, he just has PTSD!
>
> Certainly, Nick's flashbacks tend to be negative ones; and a high proportion
> of them dwell on the circumstances leading up to his killing people.
> Furthermore, he gets lost in reliving the past--sufficiently so that people
> like Schanke and Tracy *notice* that he's mentally absent, even in
> situations (such as at a crime scene) when he ought to be intensely involved
> in the investigation. That's very much consistent with PTSD.
>
>
> Greer
>
> gwatson2@r.......
> http://www.foreverknight.org/FK4/
>
>
>
>
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 21 Sep 2015 15:22:46 -0400
From: L McDavid <mclisa1014@g.......>
Subject: Nope, no bible
FK never had a bible -- hence the lack of consistency over vampires. I've
heard that eventually some of the cast, or at least Ger, got together to
produce a list of dos and don't for vampires, but I don't know anyone who's
seen it. I once had a chance to ask Nigel and he said he hadn't.
The Hastings gaffe attracted a lot of attention at the time. Since John
Kapelos later told a con audience that he wasn't allowed to wake up a
writer over the line about Myra's amazing resurrecting Mother, it's
possible that no one was allowed to do so over the date of Hastings. (Note:
the show actually filmed at night even when in the studio.)
McLisa
mclisa1014@g.......
------------------------------
End of FORKNI-L Digest - 20 Sep 2015 to 21 Sep 2015 (#2015-79)
**************************************************************
Knight graphics and parchment background created by Melissa Snell and may be found at http://historymedren.about.com/
