SkyPigeon123
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Aug 3, 2025 12:08 PM
SkyPigeon123
31870
774
10
qcernie
Astronaut
1PoorThor
Problem, a lot of vampire lore has vampires weak to open water. It's a more obscure weakness.
nomadengineer
Max Gladstone's Craft Sequence has an underwater vampire civilization
ToasterDent
🎵 Who lives in a coffin, under the sea? Sponge Bob Vam-pire! 🎵
GoneSolo
They have raves down there with the bioluminescent marine life. Lucky scuba vampires.
CelestialSea
I mean... not to be pedantic, but they wouldn't be SCUBA divers then, the SCUBA is the self-contained underwater berating apparatus. They'd just be divers.
DrunkArchitect
Didn't they do that in one of the twilight movies lol
SoberToast
How do we know they didn't all just pack up and go down there?
jacky2734
... Vampires can't cross moving water.
And before anyone says it, between waves, tides, and currents, all large bodies of water are constantly in motion.
PotFox
How much of a hard rule is this? Because plumbing could also render vampires immobile. They wouldn't be able to cross the street for the water mains beneath the road, nor move through a house if someone is running a tap for the water in the pipes
Macmacfire
They can't *Go through* moving water. This comes from the fact that moving water kills most bacteria hence why still water is dangerous. Thus, moving water, like silver, kills vampires.
PotFox
So Vampires are like the Wicked Witch of the West: don't get wet
bitemark
That was a premise in an episode of Angel, they needed to reach an uncontrolled submarine, so they just drop him several hundred feet into the ocean
Escheron
They also had someone (pretty sure Angel's son) lock him in a box and drop him in the ocean. He couldn't drown so it was just like, the most extreme solitary confinement
SteveD31415
This is what happens in World War Z, since the zombies can live underwater.
anonymous
Rotting flesh wouldn't survive one week underwater. Just look up pics of bathtub suicides (don't do this). Flesh turns to soup.
NPaine
https://media4.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTY1YjkxZmJlc2FrODA2cTR2cmJ6eGRseHZkbGp1amFsc2VqdXI1cWNkczQwNTUybCZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/v5uNj1F1t6hnKV1w1g/giphy.mp4
Imapseudonym
Not needing to breathe doesn't mean it wouldn't be uncomfortable. Water filling your body and lungs would be incredibly painful, and you can't die for it to end. When you come back up you'd spend an inordinate amount if time just puking up the water so you could use your lungs to speak again.
BloodLoveRhetoric
Swamp Thing, Vol 2, #38, 'Still Waters.'
ThatQuietlySmirking
What about space? Could there be space vampires?
cryborg
"It's just us vampires and Jedi with their little underwater breathing gadgets down here.
Shadowkrieger
I sense a dm is making a harbor city infested with vampires under it. Like a giant underwater city that is inverse of above land city
LtKernelPopcorn
I love all the pedantic comments abut the scuba acronym. Like, this is a genuinely good idea, and these people are, "Excuse me, um, actually, if I may, not to correct you, but..."
Tjitso
Why do you think we don't see any vampires?
XaoJet
I ran a Mascarade TTRPG where one of the big bads lived in the lower level of a flooded dam. Same idea.
phobosorbust
"Bela Lugosi's dead and so am I" has got to be one of the best opening lines ever.
iamlamp2
Sounds cool. WoD?
XaoJet
Yup. We were doing whole "Hunter: The Vigil:" campaigns before the source books to support it even came out. Good times.
ElusiveThing
Enjoy getting crushed by the pressure, I guess.
Misteree8
If that's the case. What is the range of a holy cross santifying the Pacific?
ccpreCookieGamer
Stoner. Takes one to know one. Train of thought is solid.
johnxbear
Self contained underwater breathing apparatus vampires: the musical.
ThatDudeInTheMitten
Self.
Contained.
Underwater.
Breathing.
Apparatus.
gIoblobbIobgob
Sanguinious
Cryptids
Uncare
Breathing
About
WellWhatTheHeck
Supercillious
Canines
Undulating
Beneath
Airplanes
BanCannon
Self
Contained
Underwater
Bleeder
Apparatus
FiftyShadesOfBroccoli
Um... SCUBA stands for Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus. IOW, it refers to the very device that vampires don't need.
DadjokeDad
Um….fill the tank with blood as a food source and you have Self Contained Underwater Bleeding Apparatus. 🤷♂️
AnimusRex
Tuba stands for terrible underwater breathing apparatus
JimmyWalkerTexasRanger
https://media0.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1cTE0ZG93OHkxMjJkZmxmbGNoY3VneW90cXp2cXd5bzExdmp2dGJhciZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/3oKIPrXWhUYjqOanhS/200w.gif
JimmyWalkerTexasRanger
https://media0.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1c2M2bGM4bXRsZXRrb2pjZnYzdHk1czFqN3o0eGYxNmsxdW9iMmx5dCZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/wMY3LjQQMqo5W/200w.gif
barbarian818
Obligatory nerd nitpicking. If he's not using Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus then he's free diving not scuba diving.
Fawin
Depends on the vampire, I know in Dracula he couldn't pass running water without being in a box full of defiled dirt from his homeland. He seemed to be okay enough to murder everyone on the ship that brought him to London though. And even then that's over the water. Not sure about under it. Sharks may have a field day ripping them apart.
NoNameFred
... Now I'm wondering if there are any stories out there where the whole "Vampires can't cross Running Water" idea is a huge misunderstanding, and it turns out that Running Water was actually just a specific Native American Vampire Mob-Boss. "Any Vampire who tries to cross Running Water is gonna end up dust, capisce?"
Snooj
So pack your suit full of defiled rocks from you homeland. Also, running water referred to streams and rivers; I don't think oceans and ponds counted.
UprootedGrunt
Oceans and lakes are *generally* not considered to be running water is most vampire mythos', which would mean it probably wouldn't apply to the OP.
ZiggyMundo
But we could also have vampire-sharks!
tachyx
So about this defiled dirt...
Fawin
Spiritually defiled by the vampire, can be cleansed with holy water. Not poopy pee pee dirt.
ExTechOp
What exactly did the vampire do to spiritually defile the dirt, think bad thoughts?
Also, you'll remember that by established lore, a single drop of hot dog water can defile any amount of holy water.
Fawin
Use evil vampire magic/vampire curse. https://media3.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1bGJlbTYwZGd4MGpudnh2ZnJnMDJxN3E5Y3g4d2k1cHo2a2ZlaWFzeCZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/ujUdrdpX7Ok5W/200w.webp
ElDiabloNuncaEspera
Drac entered via Whitby... neat seaside village if ya'll get a chance to visit
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/whitby-abbey/history-and-stories/dracula/
[deleted]
[deleted]
TheMostKink
Enbaby
vDorothyv
In the world of darkness lore, only one type of vampire has that issue. I'd be more curious how they'd be impacted by extreme pressure given however their blood system actually works. Since it's fiction, I suppose it would be up to the writers
Treiskaideka
Depending on the depth, most pressure only affects the lungs and if they don't breathe air, nitrogen poisioning shouldnt be an issue either.
And they could still wear scuba Suits, they just don't need the air Supplies. So no bloating?
5m4llP0X
I think one of the lore books mentioned vampires absorbing water and becoming bloated (like a corpse does) and it dilutes the blood. However, Tremere creations shouldn't have this issue since many are magical creations and not flesh warpings like the Szlachta.
Someshithead241
He brought his coffin with him on the ship, that allowed uom to cross the water. He doesnt have to be in a box, as far as I remember, just have his coffin (which is presumably filled with the defiled dirt)
Fawin
You may be right, I'm no vampire lawyer, so the jury is still out. I just remembered him being in the box when traveling with the caravan when trying to get back to his castle. But that may have been his strategy so that Mina couldn't track him since she had that psychic connection with him.
Isthe4thtimethecharm
I thought the dirt was for sleeping, but I may be thinking of what we do in the shadows.
starwingcorona
If we assume the coffin containing the dirt was inside the ship and we define coffin as an enclosed (assumedly wooden) vessel of indeterminate shape and size, then the boat may have technically qualified as just a really big coffin with defiled Transylvanian dirt in it.
Someshithead241
Walachian*
Spaz125
He surfed his coffin across the ocean when he stood on deck.
Unclescam
I'm definitely remembering right and Twilight vampires hang out underwater but fish are afraid of them.
jimmythehat1
Does rain count as running water? It's running vertically
Fawin
Nah that's just falling water. I think they mean streams or brooks. Ponds and still water they can float over it as mist. I think the idea is running water is clean and still water is putrid, like the vampire's soul. I suppose rain may count, but this can be remedied with a rain jacket and umbrella.
mksu
Honestly, that's not a bad worldbuilding idea.
comacomacomacomachameleon
i guess but scuba diving vampires would only work in a comedy
LegosBearsAndSex
And great movie idea
Putitinyomama
And after living in the deep sea for a long time they start to look weird
SageOfDepth
That's just Nosferatu
abtei
Underworld: under water
UnBobaLievable
Its why world of darkness has were-sharks.
CoyotesOwn
They also have Mariner Gangrel.
Mokole71
Swamp Thing did it in the Comics
camn333
Until you realize that the only reason people need weights to dive is because of the air in their lungs/breathing tanks. A vampire would just sink like a rock once their lungs fill with water. It's gonna take them a while to come back up unassisted. Probably gonna have to walk their way back to the nearest shoreline.
And that's if we ignore the fact that water pressure would still squish them like a pancake if they sink too deep.
Also, no, I'm not a party person.
HowlerTwo
Ah yes, because the big problem with VAMPIRES under the ocean is the water pressure.
LicensedAdHominem
Water pressure wouldn't squish them if they don't have any compressible air, so they'd just have to poke a few holes to replace it with water. Temperature and nitrogen are also non-issues. All they'd have to do to resurface on demand is a large bell of air kept on the bottom. Vampire Atlantis is entirely feasible.
I like being the center of any party.
randomdudefromtheinternet
Also isn't it like straight down at some point and not like even descend? That would make it hard to just walk back to the shoreline, more like climb insane mountain heights before you come back to land, right? Sounds awesome in a fictional sense though and since vampires posses superhuman strength who knows what their pressure limits are
Cornflakes91
also the bits of people that *arent* filled with water and thus incompressible are the bits with air in them that a vampire doesnt use.
would possibly be good to do a biiig enema first to have that bit filled with watervtho
mksu
This is a great example of the sort of dysfunctional and uneven obsession with "realism" that ruins worldbuilding and storytelling. Nobody ever created fiction worth reading by thinking like that.
LicensedAdHominem
+ It's not even correct.
differentstrokesfordifferentfthagn
Everyone has their own degree of "like the real world" that needs to be met before they can suspend their disbelief.
Honestly, I love the implications of vampires in the deep depths despite these issues, and what it would mean about their physiology and society.
mksu
There's nothing wrong with realism. There's a lot wrong with aimlessly nitpicking random things for being unrealistic (and they're often not actually unrealistic, just unusual) while losing sight of what you're trying to accomplish. That's the difference between realism and "realism."
CycloneSP
that's why the term "immersion" is used instead. ppl don't want realism most of the time, they want immersion.
Vebrandsson
The only issue you hit with vampires on the ocean is finding food reliably. That tends to be my complaint of vampire pirates and the like in various settings like Warhammer. If vampires suffer from going more than a day or two without blood why would they go out on the ocean where they're likely to not encounter another ship for months at a time?
IAmTheBadW01f
Trade deals where they provide treasure and intel from sunken ships in exchange for livestock
blairdavies350
Question: how do vampires react if their blood experiences decompression sickness (nitrogen bubbles in the blood)? Is it a frothy treat like a smoothie or a gross texture or is it harmful?
jayman0123
Vampirates man. It was right there... (https://supernatural.fandom.com/wiki/Vampirates)
BiomechPhoenix
Fish blood. Of course this is only workable for those vampires that can sustain themselves on animal blood.
Shazoozle
They go port to port using promises of riches to “hire new crew” and using previous plunder as a sign-on incentive.
sometimesarobot
There would still be the problem of pressure, so they could only go down so far.
DarthVaderDidNothingWrong
I think pressure is only a problem for the diver's parts that are filled with air.
imakeeper
There are a lot of air spaces in the head and ears that would collapse if not filled with water. Either way it would be really uncomfortable for the vampires.
robingal1
This makes me realize vampires only inspire to speak, passing air over their vocal chords. Therefore, all the mervamps would use sign language!
ElbowDeepInTheElbowDeepBandwagon
Yes! Deep diving is only a problem if you need oxygen to survive.
https://dan.org/health-medicine/health-resources/diseases-conditions/oxygen-toxicity/
DarthVaderDidNothingWrong
The Mariana trench could be filled with vampires and zombies
randomwalrus
Definitely is. I have been a professional vampire hunter for decades now and have yet to find a single one. They have to be hiding somewhere
Sayagain
How long is the course to get certified for that?
DarthVaderDidNothingWrong
As a unicorn rider myself, I understand the struggle