Vampires in Eorzea

[KageTokage]

This wouldn't mesh with existing lore very well, considering that voidsent are almost universally considered unholy abominations that need to be purged and simply summoning them is considered a crime (Punishable by death to boot, at least in Gridania).

Having direct ties to them (Particularly someone with as much publicity as the WoL) would be a bit of stretch.

[Zojha]

This wouldn't mesh with existing lore very well, considering that voidsent are almost universally considered unholy abominations that need to be purged and simply summoning them is considered a crime (Punishable by death to boot, at least in Gridania).

So kinda like primals then.

Meanwhile Summoner.
I mean, sure, they made up some reasons why 'your' way of using their power is a-okay, but you can do that with anything if you want to.

Not that vampirism is really necessarily a voidsent theme. Black and White magic are already vampiric in nature, what with them draining the aether, i.e. lifeblood out of the area to fuel their spells. DRK's Syphon Strike and Souleater carry those vibes more prominently, draining stuff from their victims. I don't see any realistic barriers to the concept, but I also think it's somewhat overdone. Next you get werewolves and then werepires and vampolves.

[BillyKaplan]

I mean, sure, they made up some reasons why 'your' way of using their power is a-okay, but you can do that with anything if you want to.

The reason why SMNs can use Egis is the same reason why RDMs can use White and Black magic, while the separate arts are forbidden on their own.

Not that vampirism is really necessarily a voidsent theme.

To be fair, when you think 'vampire' you think a distinct set of connotations that is closer to what we you get from voidsent. And those connotations have already been established in lore to be voidsent related via the RDM questline. Mind you, not every leech is a vampire, to put it in broad semantic terms.

[Zojha]

The reason why SMNs can use Egis is the same reason why RDMs can use White and Black magic, while the separate arts are forbidden on their own.

And even those forbidden magics are available to you thanks to "reasons".

I rest my case. It really doesn't matter. If it doesn't fit, you make up reasons why it does, the lore to support something never exists until it does. Even if it's just "You got chosen, lul". WHM doesn't really seem much deeper than that.

As for distinct vampire connotations, I'm afraid that got ruined by memes for me. I firmly associate vampires with sparkles now. So I prefer to just think of it as the concept of leeching blood, symbolically life.

[BillyKaplan]

And even those forbidden magics are available to you thanks to "reasons".

There's a difference between 'available' and 'allowed'. We can summon a Primal. We really shouldn't. And in that case, while you're right about WHM, BLM is still very much taboo and even the CNJ who's enabling your group of BLMs is in trouble if it ever goes public. We'll probably handwave it away by saving the day or what have you, so you'll be right there, but for now BLM is still vastly forbidden by the lore. And mind you, the debate has shifted to whether or not it'll be ALLOWED, not possible.

So I prefer to just think of it as the concept of leeching blood, symbolically life.

But that's just leeching, not necessarily vampirism. I get where you're coming from, but it's still not quite the same.

[Zojha]

There's a difference between 'available' and 'allowed'.

A difference that in this case does not matter. I don't think you get the point.

The point is, it's a made-up world with made-up rules. If something doesn't make sense, you can always create some excuse why it does. If tapping into primals doesn't make sense, you create Egis and safe methods like trances and suddenly it does. If you cannot make somebody a WHM, you make a lolchosen exception and suddenly you can. Can't breathe underwater? Well, let's make up some random ritual that allows you to, problem solved. And you thought there were 7 chakras? There are actually 14 now.

And similarly, you can always make up some excuse why you'd be fine cuddling a voidsent in public. There is no justification for it 'now', but there wasn't a justification for breathing underwater until Stormblood either. Now there is. The jobs I named are just meant as examples from an earlier time where there also was no justification until suddenly there was. And I could name a sheer endless amount of further examples, because ultimately, all lore is made-up like that. First you want something, then you decide how to justify it. It's a process that is constantly applied. It's how fiction works.

Good storytelling doesn't change what is already established in that process, but rather establishes new things. That's what SE generally adheres to. Instead of going:"Actually, you could always breathe underwater.", they make up a new ritual that didn't exist prior.
Bad storytelling changes things that were already established. You can find numerous cases of that at Blizzard, a classic being the story of the Eredar.

What all this means however is that using established lore as argument for why something is or isn't possible or plausible is a weak argument at best, pointless at worst, because it's all subject to change. When the original creators do the changes, we call that canon. When random people on the net do that, we call it fanfiction. Quality of both varies.

But I think I've derailed the topic enough at this point. Spoiler tags to reduce visual clutter. Zojha out o/