here you can find a few notes regarding my portrayal of 𝙲𝙾𝚄𝙽𝚃 𝙳𝚁𝙰𝙲𝚄𝙻𝙰 that i consider to be especially important. these may be what are most overlooked or forgotten in threads, or just things that i personally think are important to differentiate him from the canon that currently exists.
my portrayal is not vl*d the impaler. this decision came after months of speaking to romanian and hungarian writers in and outside of the rp community who expressed incredibly displeasure toward the books, movies and other media that consistently portray a folk hero as an evil and malevolent vampire. while my count does still take the titular name, he is not at all related to the historic figure. he is not a prince, he was never voivode, and is originally from (and rules) in transylvania, was adopted, etc. his crown/throne as boyar is illegitimate and was won through despotism. at most, he would have been a lord or very possibly a vicomte before his parent’s death.
my portrayal does not like being called ‘’vlad’’. this dimunitive is his least favorite, despite it being used by comrades and friends for well over a decade. he has always been fond of his full name, vladislav (rather than the hungarian form, vladislaus), and what few dimunitives were used by members of his immediate family; vladik, volodya (volodislava) and the most common: vadya.
while bram stoker decided to ignore the russian, ruthenian, croatian and greek folklore that involved vampires being unable to go into sunlight, i have adopted it. i’m very fond of the idea of them being averse to light and photosensitive. he will be burned if he steps into sunlight, especially during the summer months - this can be negated if he wears protective coverings, but he will lose most of his powers during the daytime as book canon decrees.
his castle is located directly on the border between transylvania and bucovina, hidden in the mountainous forests to the southeast of the borgo pass. this was not the castle he grew up in, but rather the place of his exile when his vampiric resurrection came to light. hence why it received the name castle dracula rather than the castle where his parents raised him near alba iulia. before modern day, it appears that everyone in and around bistritz knows that he is a vampire. it’s not a secret until around the 1920s and beyond.
this character is both intensely manipulative and seductive. he will come off as flirtatious if only to charm his way into your character’s good graces. his intentions are always bad. usually to get a willing blood donor, or to kill the character in question - do not forget that he is a villain. that said, i am not averse to him gaining actual friendships and/or romantic relationships. i greatly enjoy when two characters click despite his atrocious personality.
my portrayal of the count is a cold, malevolent and irredeemable villain. you will never, ever find me writing a redemption arc on this blog. despite me liking him as a character, i will always recognize the awful shit he’s done. from human extinction as a primary goal to his aggressive spread of vampirism, these are and will always be frequent topics concerning his behavior. i recognize that he has had a terrible life, but i also recognize that he is taking that fact out on the literal whole population of humanity.
he is incredibly strong. he also possesses the ‘usual’ vampiric powers. increased speed (though not to s. meyer’s extent), prodigious strength, panther-like reflexes (book-canon) and the ability to turn into a bat at will. this portrayal will also acknowledge his lycanthropy, which allows him to transform at will into a hulking black wolf- and his ability to turn to mist to travel through small spaces. that said, his weaknesses are also greatly acknowledged here. roses, silver of any kind, religious items (they do not hurt him, but calm him, see below…) wooden stakes, sunlight, etc.
my portrayal is not hurt by symbols of christianity, nor is the count a catholic. he was originally raised in the know of the secret solomonari beliefs, worshipping zalmoxis as the dacians once did. it wasn’t until he entered his early teen years that his family converted to eastern orthodoxy. specifically hungarian eastern orthodoxy whilst continuing to practice their pagan beliefs and traditions in secret. that said, he has a very strained relationship with God and Christ, being that he has actually been to hell.
the count has been alive for nearly 1,600 years. his ‘physical’ birth date is 1432, but whilst in hell (mentioned above) time did not progress. he spent a little over one thousand years in the pits of hell being tortured for the sins he committed in the many battles across eastern europe. he was assassinated after being pardoned for heresy on orthodox easter day of 1466.
my portrayal created vampires through this means. of course, when i say ‘vampire’ i mean the eastern european variety we see portrayed in a lot of media- moroi, strigoi, stryzga, verdilak, the ones clearly inspired by dracula. he drank the blood of the devil when he sold his soul, thus creating what he is- and the beginning of ‘bloodletting’ that can turn one into a vampire. while trapped in stasis-hell enduring torture for a thousand years, the demons who fed off of him transferred this blood from their other victims, creating and spreading these vampires as far back as 3000 years prior to the common era. in this way, he is sort of like the adam to (slavonic) vampire kind. he has ever been a mythological figure. and most people - and possibly even vampires - likely believe he is just a book figure or a media joke that does not exist. but they know of him. he is just as much a legendary figure as baba yaga, dimna juda or koschei the deathless.
mina is not his reincarnated wife. he was married to the duchess yelizaveta of volhynia. i will never go that route. not only is it disrespectful to both women, it’s a notorious cop out of the wrongs committed by the count in the book, as well as his psychic link to mina murray- i do believe this could be written out in very interesting and thought-provoking ways, and i am not against shipping the two with extreme care and plotting beforehand. along with this, my portrayal does not link vampirism and sex and never will, especially given that one of the adjacent female characters exclusively feeds on children throughout the book. while he and his partners may enjoy vampirism during sex, it is still just a means to feed and occasionally to infect.
lastly - the count is a solomonari. he was trained for seven years to utilize sorcerery and perform great feats of magick using king solomon’s knowledge. he also has ties to dragons known as balauri or zmei- each that have three fire-breathing heads.