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Vampire Rave
ESTABLISHED 2004
Vampire Rave is the social networking website for vampires and goths. We are a home for real vampires around the globe. If you're looking for a darker gothic or vampire social network, you've found it.

Vampire Rave was designed as an online resource for the vampire community. Our goal is to catalog everything there is to be cataloged about vampires. This is an immense task and we have a long way to go. With your help we will become the largest vampire database, resource, and community on the Internet.

As a member you can add to our database and help us grow. Membership is easy and free. Sign up today!

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Real Vampires

Vampires have held the fascination of the public for hundreds of years. Many point to Bram Stoker's Dracula as the source of this fascination, but vampire obsession has existed for much longer.

Like all legends, the vampire has evolved throughout history. Vampires exist in many different cultures under many different names. In ancient times, the word vampire did not exist. Gods, demons, and evil spirits were often associated with drinking blood or eating human flesh.

Ancient Times (Pre 500 AD)

The Egyptian goddess Sekhmet is one of the earliest known accounts of vampirism. When Ra became angry because mankind was not following his laws he sent Sekhmet as punishment. She was called the Lady of the Bloodbath. She would slaughter humans, rip their bodies apart, and drink their blood. Sekhmet can be traced to at least 3000 BCE. She is one of the earliest known versions of the modern day vampire. The Feast of Sekhmet was held each year in Egypt. Ancient Egyptians would drink beer mixed with pomegranate juice. Beer turned red, beer that symbolized blood.

Around the same time in nearby Mesopotamia, there were numerous blood-drinking demons. The Persians may have been the first to tell tales of these demons. Excavated Persian pottery shards contain images of demons attempting to drink human blood. Estries was a female demon who was a shape shifter. She appeared to men as a beautiful woman. She would seduce them and then drink their blood. In Babylon, Lilitu was the Temptation Demon. She appeared as a seductive woman who drank the blood of men.

Lilitu led to the Hebrew myth of Lilith. There are numerous contradictory stories of Lilith. In some, Lilith is Adam's first wife. In others Lilith is a demon of the night that lives by drinking the blood of babies.

In Ancient Greece there was Empusa. She was a blood-drinking demon who transformed into a young woman and seduced men. Lamia, daughter of Poseidon, was one of Zeus's many human lovers. When Hera found out, she killed all of Lamia's children. Lamia swore vengeance and began preying upon young children in their beds at night, drinking their blood.

The most common theme in ancient times was a demon that shape shifted into a beautiful woman. The demon seduced and preyed upon men, drinking their blood.

In 130 BCE the Silk Road opened and connected the Egyptian port of Alexandria to southern Europe and eastern Asia. The Silk Road is credited with intermixing cultural beliefs throughout Africa, Europe, and Asia. Egyptian mythology was particularly inspiring as it introduced the concepts of eternal life after death, reincarnation, and numerous deities. Legends, folklore, and tales spread across the continents.

Medieval Times (500 AD to 1500 AD)

In Hungary, belief in vampires has persisted since at least 800 AD. The demon Izcacus was a blood-drinking demon. The word has roots in ancient Turkish. The Hungarians and Turks made contact along the Silk Road in the late 8th century. The Turks introduced the Hungarians to these early vampires, who were in turn most likely descendents of the Mesopotamian vampires. Later, in the 12th century, a pagan shaman was on trial in the city of Saeospatak. The shaman again tells of Izcacus and issues a warning. Izcacus would be called upon to destroy the Hungarians (who were now Christian).

The upir (upyr, upior, upier, upyri, upor, and numerous other variants) has Russian, Ukrainian, and Slavic origins. In 1047 AD a manuscript of the Book of Psalms is transcribed by a priest from Glagolitic into Cyrillic for the Russian Prince Vladmiri Yaroslavovich. In a colophon, the priest writes his name as is Upir' Likhyi, which means Wicked Vampire.

Across Slavic culture, the upir is traditionally an unclean spirit that possesses a dead body. This undead creature requires the blood of the living to survive. The upir is jealous and vengeful toward the living. To kill an upir you must stake it in its heart, burn it by fire, drown it in holy water, or decapitate it.

Vlad III Dracula, ruler of Walachia (modern-day Romania) lived 1431 - 1476. He was the son of Vlad II Dracul. Locally he was considered a hero. He was charged with protecting Christianity in Eastern Europe. He led raids against the invading Ottomans and protected the Romanians and the Bulgarians. He gained additional notoriety for the unusually cruel and brutal punishment of his Ottoman enemies. Although there are no convincing historical accounts of Vlad drinking blood, he would later become the inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula.

Modern Times (1500 AD to Today)

Elizabeth Bathory (Hungarian, 1560 - 1614) was born in Transylvania. She was a countess and a serial killer. She tortured and killed hundreds of young women between 1585 and 1609. Her victim count may have been as high as 650. To retain her youth, she bathed in the blood of her victims, young virgin girls. She would later become known as the Blood Countess.

Greek folklore tells of the vrykolakas. A person became a vrykolakas when they led a sacrilegious way of life, suffered excommunication, or were buried in unconsecrated ground. After death they would rise from their grave and their bodies did not decay. They would roam the village at night and cause all kinds of havoc. Then, each night before dawn, they would return to their grave to rest. In 1645 Leo Allatios, a Greek catholic, wrote a letter to his friend about the vrykolakas. It was titled De quorundam Graecorum Opinationibus.

In 1656 in the region of Istria (modern-day Croatia), Jure Grando died. For at least 16 years after his death, each night Jure rose from his grave. He terrorized the village, his former family, and drank human blood. Eventually the town revolted and went to his grave and performed an exorcism. Jure was decapitated and the town never saw him again.

In 1748 the word vampyre appears in the poem, Der Vampir by Heinrich August Ossenfelder. This is considered to be the first introduction of the word vampire into the English language.

In 1897 Bram Stoker publishes Dracula.

Fictional and real vampires have appeared in mythology, folklore, and our writings for thousands of years.

The Vampire in Literature

Numerous vampire stories were written prior to the popularization of the vampire myth in pop culture.

The Vampyre; a Tale by John Polidori (1819)
A short story that exploited the gothic horror predilections of the public of the period. It was originally mis-published under the authorship of Lord Byron (Polidori was Lord Byron's personal physician). The tale accounts the exploits of Lord Ruthven, a British nobleman and vampire. Lord Ruthven bore more than a passing resemblance to Lord Byron and became a highly influential model for the Byronic vampires of literature.
Varney The Vampire by James Malcolm Rymer (1845-47)
A Victorian-era gothic horror story which first appeared in a series of pamphlets between 1845 and 1847. Inexpensive and gruesome, the collective work was published in book form in 1847. The tale runs 868 pages and is divided into 220 chapters. The story revolves around the persecution of the Bannerworth family by Sir Francis Varney, a vampire who in the early chapters enters the bedroom of the daughter of the house (Flora) and sucks her blood.
Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu (1872)
A compelling gothic novel of a lesbian vampire, set in darkest central Europe. It tells the story of a young woman's susceptibility to the attentions of a female vampire named Carmilla. The story was to greatly influence Bram Stoker in the writing of Dracula. It also served as the basis for several films, including Hammer's The Vampire Lovers (1970), Roger Vadim's Blood and Roses (1960), and Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer's Vampyr (1932).
Dracula by Bram Stoker (1897)
The most well known vampire story, the novel is mainly composed of journal entries, letters, and newspaper clippings. It has been suggested that the story was based on Vlad Tepes, a medieval figure of extraordinary bloodthirst. History records that Vlad Tepes impaled his enemies and cut off their heads. He ruled Walachia as Vlad III during the 15th century (modern day Romania) and signed his letters as Vlad Dracula. Dracula translates into "son of the devil".

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Featured Game

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel In SACRED 2 - FALLEN ANGEL you assume the role of a character and delve into a thrilling story full of side quests and secrets that you will have to unravel. Breathtaking combat arts and sophisticated spells are waiting to be learned. A multitude of weapons and items will be available, and you will choose which of your character's attributes you will enhance with these items in order to create a unique and distinct hero.

Campaigns
There are two campaign path choices: Light and Shadow. The player will select the path they want to follow at the beginning of the game, and this choice determines the ultimate goal of their character. Throughout the game, the paths intersect at different points. In one path you may be asked to help defend a town, while in the other you may be the person attacking the town.

World
Sacred 2: Fallen Angel features minimal loading times between regions. The surface map is 22 square miles (57 km2). The world also contains dungeons and caves going as far as 2 levels deep, and surface dwellings of up to four stories. Most of the action takes place in the open world above ground.

There are a variety of different regions, from arid desert to tropical rain forest. Every region differs in its climate, terrain, architecture, inhabitants, flora, fauna and lighting.

In addition to playable characters and enemies, there are different neutral creatures who inhabit the various regions, as well as enemies and NPCs (non-player characters).

NPCs are constructed to behave realistically within the Day/Night cycle. For example, merchants will be at home at night.

Classes
There are 7 playable fixed-gender classes, each of which has different class-specific equipment and animations that are dependent on the weapons being wielded. Maximum character level will be at least 200.

Seraphim: The Seraphim is the only class from Sacred that appears in Sacred 2: Fallen Angel. She embodies all that is good, and therefore she can only play the Light path.
Shadow Warrior: An elite warrior, returned to life against his will after his death on the battlefield.
High Elf: A student of magic, freshly emerged from the academy ready to explore the world and expand her knowledge.
Dryad: Adept at ranged combat, nature magic and voodoo.
Temple Guardian: Cyborg canine creature - adept at the mechanical and technological arts.
Inquisitor: He embodies all that is evil, and therefore can only play the Shadow path.

Mounts
Players are able to use horses as they could in Sacred, for transportation as well as in combat. Though players can engage in combat while riding a horse, they cannot execute Combat Arts, Sacred's version of special moves. Mounts do, however, add to character stats - acting as an additional equipment slot. Each class also has access to a special unique mount type via a quest, that allows the use of Combat Arts whilst mounted, and even improves some of them.

Quests
Ancaria is full of a variety of quest types. Current figures indicate that there will be 100 core campaign quests as well as 600 of side quests. The side quests will include character specific quests, as well as quest related to the specific deity you choose when creating your character.

Customization
Character customization is accomplished in a variety of ways. In addition the choice of using a mount or not, and if so which, there is a wide variety of equipment and weapon types; the game features an RPG-standard set of equipment options.

Equipment can be generated with dozens of modifiers as well as sockets and both dropped and bought equipment is predominantly class-specific.

Players can modify their characters further by allocating stat points, choosing from a range of overarching skills which improve their special powers (combat arts), allow them to barter with NPCs or use different types of weapons. Players can also increase the level of their individual combat arts, pick and choose combat arts to execute together in "combos" and even further customize individual combat arts with additional effects.

Multiplayer
Sacred 2's multiplayer mode features "hot-swapping" capabilities, which allow players to leave their single player campaign, join a friend's game in multiplayer, then return to their single player campaign at the point they left off while retaining any levels and items that they received while in their friend's multiplayer game.

All platforms allow a variety of game modes, with five distinct multiplayer modes, with the maximum number of players varying based on the platform and game type:

Microsoft Windows: Maximum of 16 players per game for PvP or free play, and 5 players (PvE - player(s) versus environment) for the campaign co-op mode.
PlayStation 3: Maximum of 4 players via PlayStation Network, or 2 offline.
Xbox 360: Maximum of 4 players via Xbox Live, or 2 offline.


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