Title: “What is a Vampire? The Truth”
Published 21 Aug 2018, 13:26 EST ©I·H·D/Sanguine Generations Collective
Many people think very negatively of me and my worldview, of how vulgar and crass it is for me to toss around the term, “gaja,” as though it were the most vicious of ethnic slurs. Who am I to decide who is and who is not a “vampire?” Who am I, indeed, who has only been within the broader vampire subculture for less than five years? But I say, without hubris, that I feel my experience and my education speaks for itself.
The vampire subculture is a disgusting mess, with either end of the spectrum dominated by totalitarian White Wolf roleplay cults and delusional blood fetishists and etheric parasites preying upon the weak and the unenlightened. Somewhere in between was some shameful excuse of a “community,” though where the actual cohesive element of this community lies, I do not pretend to know.
Long before cocaine-addicted party promoters formed imperialist matriarchal personality cults around washed-up dominatrices and True Blood roleplayers married vain cam girls on MTV, long before obnoxious Australian internet trolls sent entire pockets of the online community to the lunatic asylum, long before “vampires” sparkled in celluloid or performed melodramatic rituals for Discovery Channel—tucked away in the corners of seedy Goth clubs and living in the shadow of Michael Alig’s Party Monster era—there was a happy little tribe called the Sabretooth Clan.
It was started by a man who has changed his name almost as many times as I have, but we all know him as Sebastiaan. Seeking to escape the droll life of the illiterati, he came to New York from his native suburbia with a dream, and that dream became an empire.
But before that, there was obviously an execution, and a problem with that execution—just what the hell is a “vampire?” Up until that point, the vampire was either a hideous monster or a depraved fetish, a fiend of the silver screen or a mentally disturbed blood fetishist to gawk at on Ricki Lake.
Basing his idea upon preconceived notions of Byronic cinematic vampires of fiction and film, creative anachronisms and a brief experience with a Vampire Temple clutch based in New Jersey, he built upon and eventually surpassed cliche stereotypes of grease paint and puffy shirts, effectively ushering in an epoch within Vampire culture that… I mean, let’s face it—he invented the concept of a “Vampire culture.”
These ideas were further refined over the years, culminating in the historically little-known dissolution of the first interpretation of the Sabretooth Clan and the founding of Sebastiaan’s personal House Sahjaza. Seeking to reach a wider audience, a national audience, Sebastiaan and some contemporaries of his came together and created the organization that so deeply permeated and influenced the broader vampire lifestyle subculture that even those whose very hearts beat to hate Sebastiaan and all he has done still continue to use his teachings, his lexicon and his philosophies.
This organization was called the Sanguinarium, the guild of the Sanguinary. Clutches and Hives originally attached to the Sabretooth Clan were now given the designation of Houses. House Elders were given the task of designing personal House sigils and drafting manifestos. Codices were published frequently, distributed freely with the goal of consolidating all the beliefs, teachings, history, rituals, goals, practices and culture of the Sanguinarium and its esoteric sect, Ordo Strigoi Vii (Order of the Living Vampire). This movement—for it could no longer be considered a mere organization—ushered in the Golden Age of the Vampire Culture. No longer were undesirables like roleplayers and blood fetishists considered to be of Our Blood; these human “vampiroids” were given the designation of “Black Swans,” a sort of human “pet” or lackey to be kept by the true Vampires, who were now called “Sanguines.” And the Vampires themselves now had everything an independent civilization needed to flourish: a community (the Sanguinarium); a territory (New York City/“Gotham Halo” and soon other areas) and an ethnonym (“Sanguines”); a caste system (Priests/Warriors/Concubines, Adra (Mentor)/Nadja (Apprentice), etc.); a philo-religious institution (the Ordo Strigoi Vii) and a unique culture to distinguish themselves (the Legacy).
The culture promoted chivalry, courtesy, respect and professionalism based upon modernized Victorian concepts; the spirituality was uniquely Vampiric without being parasitic or barbaric as the Old Guard were (Temple of the Vampire being a prime example). There was a place for everything and everything in its place (Sanguines on the top according to rank, with humans on the lower tiers and the Canis Lupus (“Therian”) tribes occupying appropriate positions in the middle). It instilled a sense of pride, unity and family within a marginalized, misunderstood fringe group who might not have found such elsewhere. Ah, to be a Sanguine! Such pride! Such grace! Such harmony!
But this passage was not meant to be a history lesson. The question still remains, “What is a Vampire?” Seeing now how obviously superior the Sanguinary era was compared to the shameful modern era—where imitators such as Byron Scalzi’s Unity Project abound—we can take a look at how the term Vampire was defined during the Sanguine epoch in which the philosophies and practices of the Ordo Strigoi Vii dominated the nation and perhaps the world.
As discussed within contemporary publications, a Vampire—always written with a capital V, sometimes with a Y replacing the I—is a spiritually awakened, intuitive and empathic individual who, while outwardly appearing “human”, possesses an astral body which operates on a higher “metabolism” than humans and is required to feed upon large quantities of the bio-electrical “life-force” energies produced by living beings—preferably humans—as a result.
That being said, the true Vampire truly exists at the highest perch upon the food chain that is physically possible; it was not some New Age etheric parasite with leaking energy centers (“chakras”) who are not Vampires at all but merely human pseudo-vampires (“Asarai,” older spelling “Arasi”). It was not some cringey Goth club kid in caked-on makeup and Tripp pants wearing Scarecrow fangs—a tribe given the designation “Gaja.” It was not a deluded blood fetishist who glutted themselves like leeches to satisfy their perverted pathology.
No, these were the true Vampires!
A true Vampire did not argue over which feeding method “worked better” or “is or is not real,” because the true Vampire can feed from any source, any time without any limitations. A true Vampire did not need a fictitious backstory about ancient Egyptian priests, Midian civil wars, Merovingian kings, perverted sea monsters or Crusade-era Carpathian princes to legitimize themselves, because the true Vampire knew who he was and What he was and his legitimacy lied within his Blood.
But more than that, what truly defined such an individual as a “Sanguine” was that they were cultured, they were educated, they were humble, they were conservative. Every person enjoys a good party here and there, but a true Vampire would forfeit a night at the dancehall for a small family banquet or Salon Noir amongst his fellow Bloods, or a solitary night alone performing Communion with the Strigoi Morte (the Undead Gods). While the gaja entertained themselves with their grandiose delusions of being “Mothers” and “Regents” and “Kings,” the true Vampire paid them and their cults no mind, except for the rare occasion where he or she might deign to attend one of their silly fetish clubs and feast upon the euphoric energy raised by the constant in-fighting and gossip.
The true Vampire knows that he is a predator, that all other life is prey, yet he possesses honor and respect for life and would not abuse his position on the food chain and thus lower himself to the state of a parasite. The true Vampire is one that the Klavasi and Ardetha of the world can look up to, and later aspire to be. The true Vampire seeks to live up to his fullest potential—he is a transhumanist without the need of silly, imperfect machines.
The true Vampire is a witch, a shaman, a priest, a scholar, a mystic, and an autodidact. The true Vampire is a studious, rational and level-headed role model. The true Vampire is an inspirator, a warrior, a weaver, being regal in his or her own right. The true Vampire would not lower him or herself to making fools of themselves in garish costumes, basing their persona and lifestyle from fiction and film, pretending to be rulers over non-existent territories, and certainly would not be caught dead flogging themselves with their breasts exposed on film.
This is what a true Vampire—a “Sanguine”—truly is. This is what was being taught once upon a time when the world was still good and there was still hope for a “community.” This culture is what we had before money and drugs and sex and ego tore down our Greater Vampire Nation. This is who we are.
Now, the broader vampire subculture has become a veritable lunatic asylum, run by the inmates themselves. Now any Goth, alternative or fetish trash can be a “vampire” just by wearing fangs and claiming to be something their tiny minds will never comprehend. Now, we have entire Houses and Orders named after roleplay and fiction elements—lest we forget Little Rod Ferrell who excuses his crimes by pretending to be a vampire from that abominable Masquerade series. Now we have bands of terrorists, cultists and computer hackers pretending to be vampires as they appropriate Our Culture—sometimes quite obviously—while disparaging us and attacking us as the fakes. The so-called “Vampire World” as it exists today is overrun by gaja, parasites, pseudo-vampiroids and the mentally ill. We have indeed fallen far from grace, from the pinnacle of Vampire history that was the Sanguinarium.
So now we have the truth of what a Vampire is, or should be. Now we take a look around and see who fits the bill, and who’s simply playing the part. Always remember—It’s in the Blood.
