Naughty vampire question

[mollyringwraith]

Here's an R-rated question I'm sure has been much discussed in the Buffy fandom, but which only occurred to me the other day: since vampires have no heartbeat, their blood must not circulate; therefore, how do male vampires, you know, perform? I gather that they do, what with Angel's angst over his physical relationship with Buffy; not to mention

Comments

[babydracky]

Well, you know that's a good question!^^
But you know, if you really think about it, they (the vampires) even shouldn't be able to walk because blood doesn't pulsate in their body XD So logicaly they can't move!:p

[mollyringwraith]

Good point. I suppose it's the same mechanism as their miraculous face-changing, so I won't worry.

[babydracky]

Indeed. Don't worry. *giggles*
What will be interesting in Fantastic if we could explain everything, hum?^^

[elfmagic15]

1. curse of god to walk the earth... blame the walking/talking bit on god

2. im sure with a little bit of effort they can get things moving again.. (but im a vtm player- rip a will and off you go)

[cleito]

Huh. My Storyteller made us spend a willpoint and a bloodpoint. Hee.

[elfmagic15]

doh.. forgot that part :)

[aziraphale]

Weird, I thought it was just the blood point. I guess our Storyteller was a little more...umm...encouraging.

found this...

[mongo]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire_(Buffyverse)#Vampire_Physiology

Re: found this...

[mollyringwraith]

Ah, of course. Should have known Wikipedia would have the answer! Or at least an examination.

[aziraphale]

I think it depends on which mythos you choose to subscribe to. I don't know if your specific question was ever addressed in the Buffyverse, either directly or indirectly, but I think we've seen examples of vampires bleeding, which would lend some credence to the idea that their blood does flow through their body somehow. This, coupled with the arguments set forth in the above-referenced Wikipedia entry (specifically: "...vampires can be rendered unconscious if blood flow to the brain is interrupted (Spike did this to Drusilla in 'Becoming, Part Two')..."), would seem to answer the question (sorta).

In the White Wolf Vampire: the Masquerade universe, it's a little more cleanly defined. The vampire body is an inert object animated through metaphysical means. Blood doesn't (normally) flow, but they're able to move regardless (aside: I kinda liked the argument set forth above by babydracky, namely that vampires shouldn't be able to walk without the flow of blood through their muscle tissue; if you don't come up with a creative physiological

[threerings]

In Anne Rice books, vampires cannot have sex. Leading to much homoerotic stroking and angst.

[mollyringwraith]

I think playing the supernatural card is perfectly fair. I mean, look at the face-morphing they do!

Rice's vampires are impotent, if I recall; they've replaced sex with blood-sucking as the big thrill. And Bram Stoker (to go back to more a final authority) doesn't really talk about it, but his Dracula is too icky-looking to have sex with anyway. ;)

[aziraphale]

Oh, I'm in full agreement that the supernatural card is fair to play. I was just trying to convey that I thought applying the rules of science to vampires and demanding the supernatural card was a particularly astute argument.

And I guess you're right about Anne Rice...I could have sworn I recalled actual sex taking place during the movie version of Queen of the Damned, but then I was pretty drunk at the time I saw it (I couldn't be expected to see it sober, right?), so my memory's not perfect.

And yes, Dracula. Ew. But just wait until you move further along in Buffy...

[starfishchick]

The only vampires I'm close to - fictionally, that is - do have a heartbeat, but it's very very very slow.

Henry Fitzroy of the Tanya Huff 'Blood' novels is who I'm thinking of, by the way.