Do you consider yourself a vampire, and keep quiet most of the time for fear that all your friends and acquaintances will call you crazy (at best)? Some common indications of vampirism are: photosensitivity and nocturnal tendencies; a blood fetish; a dietary craving for blood, and you're not pregnant and experiencing pica; a feel for "energy" in all the living things around you and a tendency to absorb same; a profound desire to be a vampire and a sensation that one is somehow "different" from everybody else; or a combination of these things added to a pre-existing or new autoimmune condition. (You can read more about it in the essay section.)

Do you have a close friend or lover who considers him/herself a vampire?

Do you allow your loved one to cut or pierce you for blood, and feel a desire to talk about your relationship (either its loving closeness, or problems you might have) but hesitate to tell other people because they'll call you a pervert or a neurotic?

There is a place to call home.

The Vampire/Donor Alliance is a support group, and often, a rather loose and discordian social club. It is not affiliated in any way with other vampire organizations, or really with the "vampyre lifestyle." It exists to serve ALL who might be a part of the vampire community: gothic "lifestyle" vampires and non-lifestylers alike (although lifestylers may find us rather boring); energy feeders; sanguinarians (drinkers of blood); "succubus/incubus" type vampires (sex feeders) and nephilim; donors, would-be donors, and other loved ones; and those who are simply curious, provided they wish us well.

Because we do not wish to alienate anyone who might need us, we have a "mystique-free" environment. That means that we do not speak of "fledglings/childer," utilize a vampire "glamour" or a public face, have a formal structure, or otherwise keep very much organization. Most of all, we don't use codified slang and we don't have ranks that can be risen through to show off how much "learning" or "enlightenment" or "worthiness to teach a neophyte" a given member has. If you want that sort of Illuminati-style hierarchy, you'll need to look elsewhere, because we don't believe in it. Members are encouraged to join other vampire groups if they want to do so, and the addresses of various organizations can be found in the "links" section of this page, so it's not like we want people to give us their exclusive allegiance and diss the other vampire groups out there. We don't have secrets, we don't meet in secret cabals, we don't really require that people even meet really. We don't have an agenda. We're about as loose as it's possible to be. The Vampire/Donor Alliance is not a formal "court," nor is it a religious organization (although many of us have been ordained as ministers within the Church of Universal Life).

If you want to dress up, go out to a night club, and do the "I'm so vampiric that I can trace myself back to Vlad Tepes/Elizabeth Bathory/Lord Byron/The Comte de St Germain," be our guest. Just please don't do it around us. We're just a bunch of people who happen to be vampires, or who happen to love vampires. We have lives, not unlives. We'd like to keep it that way. We don't really have much in common other than the word "vampire" or "donor," and a feeling of love and solidarity for some of the people that we meet through the group. We're not "kindred." We're not in "clans." We don't haunt "theatres of the vampyres."

(/END RANT) :)

This little spew was probably a bit overstated, but lately it seems that more and more vampire groups have been springing up, most of them with highly formalized structures and protocols, and some with a lot of internal conformity. This is a worrisome trend. Are people so hungry for absolutes and structure and a sense of mystery/mythology that they will create little cabals for themselves and try to live in a world of their own creation, a world where they are Important because they are "other than mundane," "engaged in serious study," "elders," etc? It appears so. This is nuts. It gives rise to cultlike fanaticism; it's really immature. Guys, if you need formality, can't you find it somewhere else? Like, I don't know. Join a Moose Lodge or something. Oh wait. My own nickname comes from the oose Lodge in the Flintstones. Never mind...

The "security check" was never my idea - it was Sylvere's. As many of you know by now, the list has been moved to a new address. I am the sole owner of that address. There was a messy divorce between me and the moderating team of the former list; Sylvere, who technically owned that list, and I had a major falling out. The new list has one moderator: me. I never liked the idea of checking addresses and phone numbers, so I don't do it. To join the VDA, just sign up for the e-list. That's it. Really. We're all adults, and we know better than to post phone numbers or addresses to the list or to people we don't know well, right? so doing a security check isn't necessary.

Yes and no. Since November, we've expanded a little. Some cities have enough members that it's practical and fun to organize munches. We do hold Gatherings - the main Gathering is the weekend before Samhain/Halloween (more on that below). Usually we piggyback our Gatherings to science fiction conventions, fetish balls, etc because it's more economical for us and it helps us reach out and recruit. However, we aren't really organized. Regional coordinators called IDIOTS ("I Do It: Organize Things") take it upon themselves to hold munches, publicize group meetings, etc. There is no real central core.

There are two annual Gatherings for all list members. At Beltane, approximately (whatever is the weekend closest to the first of May) we hold a Gathering in San Francisco or Seattle.

The main annual Gathering will be held on the first weekend of November (near Halloween). This year it was held in Cincinnati, at my house. this seems to be a good location; we might find somewhere else next year, but we'll try to keep it cheap and central. ($15 to pay for groceries. Sound reasonable?)

Why split the Gatherings up into two weekends, in two cities? First, there's the issue of money. There are people who can't afford to crash in a motel. Also, cost of driving is a factor for those who can't get plane tickets - petrol is outrageously expensive, so it makes sense to make the Gathering as accessible as possible. There are some people who might be able to drive to one city but not to another.

Activities at Gatherings include seminars, vampire film marathons, play parties (21 and over, please), outings to goth night clubs, games (Twister, Trivial Pursuit, eyeball hockey) and - well, you'd have to show up to see for yourself.

I've been corresponding with someone who might be willing to act as a "tour guide" and get some of us a discounted tour of Europe. We'll see how that pans out. Obviously, if we end up doing that, it won't be $15, but it would be cheaper than most tours and it would be a great way to meet all our European list members.

It all started last year when I was bellyaching with some fellow Renaissance Festival performers about how rotten the owner of the Ren Fair was and how it would be great if a group of Rennies could buy the town of "Willy-Nilly-On-The-Wash" (would you believe that there are several Ren fairs that have a town with this name???) and run it themselves.

The fact that several of us played Vampire: The Masquerade (TM) and were all primogen or Princes made the conversation even more interesting.

I came home thinking, "Why not? Why not buy a Ren fair town and make it a permanent dwelling place for Rennies?" Somehow that mutated into a "Why not found a small village for People Who Don't Quite Fit In, and make it a hate-free environment so that nobody would be persecuted, and vampires and queerfolk and lifestyle D/s people and Goths and Otherkin and historical reenactors and hippie artists and witches and miscellaneous nerds and friendly "mundanes" could all live together in profitful harmony?"

So far nobody has contested my desire to run for mayor, which means I either have a lot of respect from the potential townspeople, or everybody wisely thinks I am nuts and wants to let me be responsible for my own folly.

Obviously I am not going to divulge details on a public webpage. That would be like saying "Come here, Mister Skinhead Nazi, here's your target and have a nice day!" However, I'd like to point out to visitors that yes, this project is in the making, and hopefully we will have the land bought and development begun by the year 2002.

I said "hopefully." Realistically, it does take a while to drum up venture capital. Since the main cash cow and premise for the village will be a Renaissance festival, those of us who are involved in the business/town start-up need a few years to make a higher profile for ourselves as performers. It's kind of like Broadway - no equity, no support.

 

 

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