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[Lord Shonus]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I have a different angle. Vampires in OOtS seem to be spiritual beings that are shaped by the void of hatred and evil that even good people have some amount of. But Belkar...is already Chaotic Evil.

For reference:

Vampires in OOtS involve whatever god of (un)death has jurisdiction creating an evil spirit and shoving it it, with the original soul being bound inside. That's how it worked for Malack, that's how it worked for Durkon, and that is how it would hypothetically work for Belkar.

There is absolutely zero difference between Malack and Durkon's vampirizations, with the sole exception that Hel made the spirit sitting in Durkon's head while Nergal made the one that was sitting in Malack's. Hel is able to put that spirit into Durkon's body because of the physical vampirization process that Malack enacts on Durkon's corpse, which opens a door to Negative Energy and traps Durkon's spirit inside it. Which would also be true of any other vampire created from a person who fell under the Northern Pantheon's domain, though she wouldn't take a personal interest in just any person because they wouldn't be a powerful cleric.

Hel does not have rightful dominion over Durkon's soul as part of her normal assignment of dishonored souls, however, because Durkon did in fact die in battle. She got involved because she is also, separately, the Northern deity of undeath, and one of her "duties" is making the evil spirits for all Northern vampires. The vampirization process basically jammed up the normal disposition of Durkon's soul by trapping it inside the undead body. Where Durkon's actual soul ends up will not be determined until/unless it is freed. It's a like a naturally occurring Trap the Soul spell.

Nothing that happens with vampires in this comic can be extrapolated to work similarly with other undead. All types of undead work differently, that's why they are different types in the first place. Xykon is still Xykon.

All of Malack's dialogue regarding who he is/was should be viewed through the lens of me not wanting to spoil the scene from #946. Some of what he says is metaphorical and all of it is deliberately ambiguous, because I was consciously trying to make you think one thing while another thing was actually true. As a rule of thumb, it is not in my interest to lock down the metaphysics of things if I don't have to, so don't expect that I will have characters exposition How Things Work just to clear up your confusion.

Likewise, any assumptions that characters in the comic know or understand the details of how this process occurs on a detailed internal level should be thrown out the window. They don't. Being a vampire is super-rare; being returned to life after being a vampire so you can share the logistics of how it worked from your point of view in such a way that it entered a general body of knowledge that people would have learned about in the course of their education is simply not something that has ever occurred.

I'm sure there are more byzantine arguments going around that I'm missing, but really, this isn't as complicated as most of you are making it. There is only one way that vampirization works, and it overrides the natural order of things, including where souls go. That's why everyone says things like, "That's against the natural order of things!" about it. However, Hel is not breaking the rules of vampirization itself at all.

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?339912-Vampire-question-settled/page8&p=17327934#post17327934

[Bauglir]

New one is up. Here's hoping something to do with Belkar saving the day.

Well, he does still have that Protection from Evil amulet, which among other things grants a bonus on saves against any effects created by evil creatures.

Antilife Shell doesn't allow a save. You're pretty much fucked if you're alive and never thought to get a ranged weapon or other attack method, and your opponent doesn't need to move toward you to win.

[My Name is Immaterial]

I wonder if he could buy magic weapons off the representatives. Or would that count as helping?

[Sergius]

I always keep reading that spell as "Ant-life spell" and think everyone is going to start digging tunnels and filling them with bread crumbs.

[scriver]

New one is up. Here's hoping something to do with Belkar saving the day.

Well, he does still have that Protection from Evil amulet, which among other things grants a bonus on saves against any effects created by evil creatures.

Antilife Shell doesn't allow a save. You're pretty much fucked if you're alive and never thought to get a ranged weapon or other attack method, and your opponent doesn't need to move toward you to win.

Unless there's a wall behind you they can squash you up against.

[Akura]

Not even that, if they just walk towards you, bringing you within range of the shell, it breaks.

Roy's best bet is pretty much to throw his sword. Or grab the the HPoO's spear again and try to nail Durkon through the heart with it.

[RedWarrior0]

New one is up

[Akura]

Oh, a contigency plan, in case the whole plan of democratic apocalypse didn't pan out.


Guess that staff has a few more charges left after all.

[Culise]

...well, then.

ah! just found an interesting tidbit on reddit

Banjo's high priest is Elan

is Elan around? banjo could be the demigod deus ex machina needed to tip the demigod vote at the last second


...if Elan could cast proxy. actually not needed since the proxy is the toy itself. probably.

[LoSboccacc]

...well, then.

ah! just found an interesting tidbit on reddit

Banjo's high priest is Elan

is Elan around? banjo could be the demigod deus ex machina needed to tip the demigod vote at the last second


...if Elan could cast proxy. actually not needed since the proxy is the toy itself. probably.

actually I later discoverfed that banjo refused to be part of the pantheon

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0137.html

[smjjames]

I thought Hermod was a fully fledged god, but Burlew can do whatever he wants with his in-comic pantheon I guess.

[heydude6]

Who do you think is that guy?

[RedWarrior0]

The vampire on the airship? He's the guy who escorted Durkon.

[Xantalos]

Oh, the guy who he lured into being alone and then killed?

[Loud Whispers]

The vampire on the airship? He's the guy who escorted Durkon.

Oooooooooohhh. Right. Forgot about him, thought he was gonna come back eventually.