Is mayonnaise a race?

Edit: Serious answer: what @Majeure said.

My characters see it as a "power" to be gained. It is like saying I am a templar, I am a nightblade, I am an assassin, I am a thief, I am a rogue, I am a guard, I am a citizen, I am a vampire, I am a werewolf. It identifies your place; your level of don't f* with me I'm dangerous. In an alternate reality like TESO having magical/supernatural power is important to survival. TESO lore is pretty unk to me. I'm my own lorist. I take a combination of every book, film, and game I've been exposed to and form a basis for a lore I carry with me. Vampires being a "power" is pretty right on for my lore. "Curse" is such a fartn strange word. It reeks of early age story telling. Modern story telling has bent curse into blessing.

Btw, I hate the movie "Brave" for reasons. I will give it credit that it was a quick peek at the old meaning of the word "curse." You saw it in the werebear. Anything cursed is suppose to loose it's humanity, either instantly or over time. Humanity being your willingness to sympathize.

The best example of curse is portrayed in the anime/manga Berserk where Griffith, the one cursed, becomes a demon in the end. It showed how his curse reached out and pulled others in. Also showed the true profanity of a curse. He was just a child buying a trinket in a store with no understanding of what he was being lured into.

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Majeure wrote: »

No, vampirism is a curse from a Daedric Prince, it's not a race.

Well, so is being a Dunmer or an Orc, frankly.

Faulgor wrote: »

Majeure wrote: »

No, vampirism is a curse from a Daedric Prince, it's not a race.

Well, so is being a Dunmer or an Orc, frankly.

Technically speaking, I would be more inclined to give the "cursed" moniker to the Dunmer and Orsimier, and a call vampirism a " biological contagion "

Faulgor wrote: »

Majeure wrote: »

No, vampirism is a curse from a Daedric Prince, it's not a race.

Well, so is being a Dunmer or an Orc, frankly.

Origin myths are a bit different from a known curse. We have no way to actually proven origin myths

Molag bal gave them the curse yes, but the curse was daedric blood and attributes of the most powerful gods in all of oblivion and mundus.

They are a race because they cease to have mortal blood (and hence man or mer inside them), and much like the soul shriven have a form, but are devoid of a soul. All undead are, and therefore the infusion of the blood of cold harbors daughter made a soul shriven with its own unique heritage (vamp lords), different subspecies (black marsh vamp not like skyrims), and uniquely become undead that are not daedra, have no soul but have the blood of molag bal, and propagate the species by biting others if they choose.

Just like the khajiit who nocturnal (I think) was allowed to shape into the physiology of her choice created khajiit with the blood of alkosh, so does molag bal's cursed blood support the notion that the vampires differ enough in micro-phylogeny among themselves and have the soul of a daedra and are not truly undead or soul shriven, meaning they are a race. If they were not a race but simply cursed undead, they could not communicate with meridia like the dragon born, be blessed by kynareth as the dragon born was, they could not be soul trapped by a black soul (you get trapped in azuras star in skyrim), and you would not be allowed to perpetuate a species that only can reproduce by the blood of molag bal. like an altmer cannot have a nord parent and still be called an altmer, a vampire's prenatal are molag bal and molag grunda, and your children are those who you give royal blood to.

Werewolves may be as well since hircine claims their souls

Tldr;
Meridia talks to you, so you have a black soul, but molag bal owns it. Your blood is his and you reproduce by cursing others. You are not a man or mer because the aedra did not create you, so you aren't a dark elf vampire, you are just a vampire.

Lastly, the magical and physical changes indicate that your vampiric blood dictates the nature of your being rather than your born race. A high elf can be invisible and Bretons weak to fire. Argonians can cast illusion skills and khajiit drink blood not skooma. Molag bal is your God, and like Lorkhan created men, so molag made vampires a race. Nocturnal created khajiit and hircine the wolf. These races are magical in origin but distinct from auri-el or lorkhans creations, making them a race.

I consider this many pointless vampire threads spam.

I concur on all points, darthsithis, except Molag Bal is not the god of the vampires.

Nor is Lamae Bal our god; just our matron. And a poor matron at that as she cannot keep tabs on us all even tho each new child is suppose to be bringing her more power. Maybe she needs to turn something bigger than little mortals. Molag Bal cursed Lamae Bal. Just for kicks and giggles and to spice things up. If you haven't noticed Molag gets bored easy and likes combat a lot. He's like an immortal retired football coach whose ex introduced to reading. But he doesn't have control over Lamae or us so it's a spell. He might have used his own body fluids in the casting but our vampirism is just a spell.

The explanation of how we are all now a new race thru god's blood is nice. I like it. Makes me feel warm and cozy and all family like.

But a dark elf never stops being a dark elf no matter how much blood and magic twist him. High elves arrogance out smacks that of any gods. Wood elves are used to too much magic they'll just bleed off the excess control into some plant somewhere and continue to be spazmatic hyper little tree monkeys, just with fangs this time. Argonians have the hist to ground them. Khajiit are cats... which ensures eternal obedience to one's self. Nords are to stupid to know when they're possessed. The humans make the best vampire "victims" to an obsessive controlling god; go boo and they're acquiescent. The orcs look like an accident of lab breeding and I know little about them other than they have nice furniture. What I'm saying is, if vampirism was an attempt by Molag Bal to gain loyal subjects it was a FAIL. Except for a few humans we grabbed the power and ran. I'm not saying we are not vampires. I am saying we are not controlled by any god.


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Any vampire that dies a vampire goes to molag bal. NOT to sovengarde or aetherius or azuras realm or alkosh' kitty playground where respective races go after death. Since he claims your soul, he claims who you were in life, and therefore your imposed (and admittedly reversible) race determined your future in coldharbor.

Last thing. Lord Harkon was NOT human. He would have lived forever if it weren't for the dragonborn, he stemmed from a lineage of pure blood, and saw other vampires as diseased. The true curse of vampire lord is the race, much like the curse of Azura IS why dark elves are a race, while chimer exist with them.

darthsithis wrote: »

Last thing. Lord Harkon was NOT human. He would have lived forever if it weren't for the dragonborn, he stemmed from a lineage of pure blood, and saw other vampires as diseased. The true curse of vampire lord is the race, much like the curse of Azura IS why dark elves are a race, while chimer exist with them.

Harkon was either a Nord or Nede before becoming a vampire. He also an narcissistic psychopath, who views himself as superior to other vampires because he has access to the Lord transformation, which is incredibly rare and powerful, but it doesn't mean he's actually a different race.

Vampires in The Elder Scrolls don't reproduce on their own. Mortals are born, and transformed into vampires, but no one, not Harkon, not Serana, no one on Nirn is born a vampire.

darthsithis wrote: »

And ty jemcrystal, I assumed lamae and by extension molag meant creator, which to me meant god.

Who is the vampire God? Themselves? Maybe namira since they eat people lol

It's Molag Bal. This one's pretty well documented. He had non-consentual relations with Lamae (who was Nedic), which killed her, then she rose from the dead as the first vampire.

notimetocare wrote: »

Faulgor wrote: »

Majeure wrote: »

No, vampirism is a curse from a Daedric Prince, it's not a race.

Well, so is being a Dunmer or an Orc, frankly.

Origin myths are a bit different from a known curse. We have no way to actually proven origin myths

Probably worth remembering, at the time ESO takes place, the Dunmer have been cursed for less than 600 years. That's in living memory for some elves. The transformation of the Dunmer isn't an "origin myth" so much as "stuff that happened a bit ago."

I say no because either you are blessed with the gift or cursed with the infection it is a person's choice to become the or not just like werewolves. And plus you have an option to cure your vampirism or werewolf bite.

Fishoscandi wrote: »

Faulgor wrote: »

Majeure wrote: »

No, vampirism is a curse from a Daedric Prince, it's not a race.

Well, so is being a Dunmer or an Orc, frankly.

Uh oh, @Ghettokid

@Faulgor remember that if I ever meet you in cyrodiil, I will see being orc as a curse, a curse I can't handle.
You've been warned.

starkerealm wrote: »

Probably worth remembering, at the time ESO takes place, the Dunmer have been cursed for less than 600 years. That's in living memory for some elves. The transformation of the Dunmer isn't an "origin myth" so much as "stuff that happened a bit ago."

The Battle of Red Mountain was around 1E700, which was about 2802 years before ESO in 2E582.
Which is still in living memory for some elves, but still, a bit more than 600 years.

Ghettokid wrote: »

Fishoscandi wrote: »

Faulgor wrote: »

Majeure wrote: »

No, vampirism is a curse from a Daedric Prince, it's not a race.

Well, so is being a Dunmer or an Orc, frankly.

Uh oh, @Ghettokid

@Faulgor remember that if I ever meet you in cyrodiil, I will see being orc as a curse, a curse I can't handle.
You've been warned.

Sorry, I don't speak Orc.