[UA] Demons, vampires and Clockworks (was: The Metal Eaters (was Steampunk)

[James O'Rance]

Royal Minister of Stuff <yokeltania at yahoo.com> said:

 >>>I've got my own theories, but I wonder why is that? Why would some 
people rather die than be a machine or a monster?<<<

Some people recognise that there is the potential for monstrousness inside 
any person. Those who most fear the monster inside of them, those who must 
fight most strongly to resist it, may ironically be considered noble and 
good by others.

I've always wondered what monsters Vam Helsing feared inside his own soul. 
These are very Victorian thoughts, I suppose, but the vampire has always 
been a Victorian monster to me; maybe that's why Vampire: Dark Ages doesn't 
appeal to me as much as it should.

Additionally, there is always the question of whether the vampire/clockwork 
person truly retains the original soul and identity, or simply a semblance 
of the person that she once was. This clockwork person might easily be 
haunted by the demon of the person that she once was.

I'm thinking of a vampire story by Karl Edward Wagner, called "Beyond Any 
Measure." I had to search by bookshelves a bit to find it, but found it in 
The Mammoth Book of Vampires (ed. Stephen Jones); I think it may have been 
reprinted as The Giant Book of Vampires at some point. Translate the vampire 
in that story into a clockwork, and you'd have a somewhat UAable scenario 
(might have to fudge the cosmology of UA a little, though).


Cheers,

James O’Rance
“Divine being creates petting zoo. It gets out of hand.”
- The Bible (summarised by John W. Mangrum)

http://www.dragonlance.com/taladas
http://www.geocities.com/dragon-dreamer/





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