[Arbitran]

I'm not sure how I should best respond to that... so I shan't.

[Angelus]

I'm not gonna cry out fake or anything. I will respect your beliefs as you respect mine. Could you please fully describe your belief as to your type of vampirism?

[Redfan45x]

Don't get me wrong, I do respect your beliefs. Just please understand, I've met a lot of fakes in my life, so I am usually at first skeptical but don't at all think I don't believe it is possible because I do.

[Arbitran]

As I have said, I wouldn't know where to begin with a full description of my 'type' of vampirism. Ask any questions you have, and I will answer. Keeping in mind however, of course, that I have already made clear my necessity for blood, the danger I face in sunlight, etc. I can of course elaborate on these if you so desire, but I can think of little more to say unless you have specific queries.

[Angelus]

Ok. Lets do this in list form.
1. How old are you?
2. Is your age due to a single existence or some type of reincarnation? Elaborate.
3. What actual damage is caused by sunlight? Physical, mental or spiritual?
4. Can this be eased in some way? Sunblock? Sun glasses?
5. Do you have a pulse and heart beat?
6. How does your family (if any) feel about this?
7. Your physical age? Not your "real" age but how old you appear if you are immortal.
8. Death. How do you achieve it? Standard human way or must you be staked or decapitated?
9. Do you believe yourself to be demonic, a variety of human or a separate entity entirely?
10. Do you consume other foods and liquids other than blood? And why?

[Arbitran]

Very well, I shall therefore respond in list form:
1 ~ I am 989 years and 52 days old, to be extremely precise.
2 ~ Yes, I have only existed once, to my knowledge; if there is such a thing as reincarnation, it is unlikely I would have the privilege of experiencing it.
3 ~ The damage which I face in sunlight is both physical and mental; physical damage comes in the form of burning, smouldering, and under very harsh exposure, combustion; mental damage involves an essential haziness, I suppose is the best way to describe it: a mental fogginess, confusion; etc., etc. I can think of no more fitting analog.
4 ~ Sunblock is useless as protection, however shade, whether from a tree, a cloud, clothing, etc., can serve as a meager defense; I generally prefer not to risk moving about during the day, though, if it is necessary, I would be sure to keep in the shadows and to cover myself entirely.
5 ~ No, I have no pulse or heart beat.
6 ~ My biological family lived and died in Constantinople nearly a millennium ago; their opinions of my whilst they lived, however, were generally negative. I prefer not to elaborate terribly far beyond that.
7 ~ My physical appearance is, in most respects, identical to the way it was when I was alive, in the sense you understand it; considering that aspect of my self died biologically when I was 31 years of age, that is the closest approximation I could make.
8 ~ I have already died once, in the human way, biologically; as I understand it, it is the vampiric blood which currently permits me to persist. I know of no way for a vampire to die apart from the extraction of the vampiric blood entirely from their body; decapitation, however, can indeed prompt the vampiric blood to evacuate its host. Apart from that, only sunlight and fire are known to me as effective means of 'killing' a vampire. (I should make note of the fact that a vampire which fails to consume blood and sustain the vampiric blood will enter a state of dormancy reminiscent of catatonia; they cannot die of merely this, however it is far more probable that they would be destroyed by fire, sunlight, buried, etc., than the alternative: they are somehow given blood. I can think of no instance in which a vampire had entered this state and managed to survive, be fed, and be restored.)
9 ~ My views on this matter have been in extreme flux for centuries. I can honestly say that I have no idea. I thought myself a demon or pawn of the devil for a long time in the infancy of my vampiric existence, and for many centuries thence, though during the Enlightenment my views were radically altered. It was then that I first began to systematically study my own condition. Today I am of the view that I am a biological human body, inhabited, and whose mind has been preserved by, the vampiric blood: a relic of high science from an age long past, about which I have been able to learn little. I cannot say whether the mind and the personality which speaks to you is genuinely my own, the one which shared my human body all those years ago, or merely a copy engineered by the vampire blood in me; in any case, I am not a believer in gods, demons, or any of that. Not anymore; I see little reason.
10 ~ No, I consume only blood; no other substance is capable of sating the vampiric blood. Nothing which is not blood can so much as enter my stomach before my body rejects it.

[Redfan45x]

A millennium ago in the Byzantine empire?
Then if what you are saying is true, bet they knew some of the Varangian Norse Guard that the Byzantine empire hired. In other words, Norse/Germanic Berserkers.
Well even if what you said isn't true but you still have ancestry from the Byzantine Empire they probably knew some.

[Arbitran]

A millennium ago in the Byzantine empire?
Then if what you are saying is true, bet they knew some of the Varangian Norse Guard that the Byzantine empire hired. In other words, Norse/Germanic Berserkers.
Well even if what you said isn't true but you still have ancestry from the Byzantine Empire they probably knew some.

I'm not sure how that's relevant... apart perhaps from your avatar image.

[Arbitran]

Cool story bro.

Needs more dragons.

As I've said before: I'm not sure how to respond to that... and thus, I shan't.

[Redfan45x]

A millennium ago in the Byzantine empire?
Then if what you are saying is true, bet they knew some of the Varangian Norse Guard that the Byzantine empire hired. In other words, Norse/Germanic Berserkers.
Well even if what you said isn't true but you still have ancestry from the Byzantine Empire they probably knew some.

I'm not sure how that's relevant... apart perhaps from your avatar image.

Really? So you claim to be 900+ years old and having family from Constantinople (a city of the Byzantine empire in case you may have forgotten in your many years of life) yet see no relevance a people that contributed greatly to Constantinople's military success during the time you were born and your family was there?
Well in case you may have forgotten, the Byzantine empire hired mercenaries from Northern Europe and Germania starting in 911 AD they were called the "Varangians" by the Byzantine empire. Many were of course (being Norse and German) Berserks.
And played a huge role in your family's country as a very powerful elite mercenary force. Come on you should known that? Don't you remember watching strange foreign Teutonic dances sending Germanic men into wolf like trances?
It's relevant because you said you are 989 years old so you were born in the 1020s? (still Varangian guard then) and your family being from Constantinople (A Byzantine city) I figured perhaps you knew some of my ancestors then or your family did so I thought I'd just mention it is all.
Oh well.

[Arbitran]

A millennium ago in the Byzantine empire?
Then if what you are saying is true, bet they knew some of the Varangian Norse Guard that the Byzantine empire hired. In other words, Norse/Germanic Berserkers.
Well even if what you said isn't true but you still have ancestry from the Byzantine Empire they probably knew some.

I'm not sure how that's relevant... apart perhaps from your avatar image.

Really? So you claim to be 900+ years old and having family from Constantinople (a city of the Byzantine empire in case you may have forgotten in your many years of life) yet see no relevance a people that contributed greatly to Constantinople's military success during the time you were born and your family was there?
Well in case you may have forgotten, the Byzantine empire hired mercenaries from Northern Europe and Germania starting in 911 AD they were called the "Varangians" by the Byzantine empire. Many were of course (being Norse and German) Berserks.
And played a huge role in your family's country as a very powerful elite mercenary force. Come on you should known that? Don't you remember watching strange foreign Teutonic dances sending Germanic men into wolf like trances?
It's relevant because you said you are 989 years old so you were born in the 1020s? (still Varangian guard then) and your family being from Constantinople (A Byzantine city) I figured perhaps you knew some of my ancestors then or your family did so I thought I'd just mention it is all.
Oh well.

I'm frankly surprised that you know that much. In any case, yes, I do recall those things, though they were far from preoccupying. I was a scholarly man, not one of arms. In any case, the relevance of all this still appears rather tenuous; you seem more interested in flaunting your (again) unanticipated appreciation of history than in asking questions relevant to this topic. I of course am quite familiar with the Varangian guard and all that, and yes, of course Constantinople was a Byzantine (Roman) city at the time. But how any of that is relevant to anything which has hitherto been discussed here is genuinely perplexing to me.

[Arbitran]

I use the name Arbitran because it has personal significance to me; if it has been used before by another, elsewhere, I assure you it is entirely coincidental. In any case, can we return to the conversation? You have made it clear that you are skeptical of me, which is to be expected; but to label me with derogations for only that is a bit hasty, don't you think?

[Arbitran]

I can certainly see why you would reach that conclusion. The name however, is merely a name. I happen to have a personal reason for using it, and whoever else uses it will have their own reason. Whoever it is at the 'Awakening Vampires' forum you have noted is clearly, I must say, using my identity from this forum. In any case, his story, while amusing, certainly would not make him a vampire in my book. I am not looking for any sort of 'attention'; on the contrary. I came here in the first place purely out of a sense of interest in this forum's subject matter. How this all wound up being what can be described as nothing else than a witch hunt is a bit odd, but, I suppose, understandable. You do not believe what I tell you, and I cannot, via the Internet, give you any evidence which would assuage your desire for proof; eh? I understand these things. Can we not simply agree to let your disbelieve remain cordial and genuinely reasonable, rather than allow things to boil over into the realm of distraction? I have agreed to answer any question you might have to the best of my abilities; what more do you require of me?

[Arbitran]

Then it was likely another forum, simple. And yes, I fully understand all of what you say; you really needn't have gone to the trouble of writing it all out, though your dedication is admirable, I suppose. I understand that what I say must be difficult for you to believe, but that is of little concern to me. And incidentally, my recounting of my own past was not wholly unsolicited; it was in the form of an answer to a question which was posed to me. And you are all free to ask whatever you wish of me; I shall answer truthfully, with whatever knowledge I possess.

[thealchemist]

Basically we all agree that @Jake has a lot of ambition of writing... a lot. lol "tldr"

Then it was likely another forum, simple. And yes, I fully understand all of what you say; you really needn't have gone to the trouble of writing it all out, though your dedication is admirable, I suppose. I understand that what I say must be difficult for you to believe, but that is of little concern to me. And incidentally, my recounting of my own past was not wholly unsolicited; it was in the form of an answer to a question which was posed to me. And you are all free to ask whatever you wish of me; I shall answer truthfully, with whatever knowledge I possess.

Hey Arbitran, i have a question. Since you said i can ask whatever i wish of you. I am asking :" Are you aware of our social reality, or live in a own perceived mindset of whatever you call it?"