The Vampire Code 1.0

(Read-time: 17 minutes)

Meet my Vampire Code! A code is a way for fans to describe themselves using a short list of letters. After the original Geek Code, many other people got inspired and made their own codes.

Since so many vampire resources exist (each catering to different fanbases and subcultures) I made one code to rule them all. Any vampire fan can use it, whether you’re a cinephile, a tabletop role-player, a vampire lifestyler, or simply a casual.

Anatomy of the Code

Each category has a list of parameters that you can choose from and combine as you see fit. In most variations, the first letter or letters act as the main prefix, followed by a secondary string of letters or plus symbols that specify your exact niche.

Using the Code

Go through the categories, copy whichever parameters apply most closely to you, and compile them into one continuous block to create your personal Vampire Code.

Code Modifiers

Use these to get even more specific with your answers.

?: You don’t know where you are in this category.
~: You have a rough idea of where you are, but you fluctuate.
/: You fit into more than one type in the category.
!: You refuse to answer for this category. For example, any of the sexual catergories.
#: You will answer partially but you’ll keep the rest to yourself.

Part 1: Basic Information

This code indicates your general relationship with vampires. You can use multiple modifiers as you see fit.

1.1: What's your relation to vampires?

How would you summarise yourself? Personal tragedies, potential criminal record and/or proclivities for villainy not required.

Va: Vampire Artist. You draw, paint, or sculpt vampires.
Vat: Vampire of All Trades. You do lots of things that you don't wanna nail down right now.
Vdiy: Vampire Crafter.
Vc: Vampire Cinephile. You’ve seen just about every single vampire film, except for London After Midnight, which continues to be your white whale. You love internet piracy because, by proxy, piracy was the thing that stopped Nosferatu from suffering the same fate. Your idea of a good time is bingeing all of the Hammer Draculas in a single evening, followed by watching them again in reverse for good measure. If you’re more online, you’ve had fond memories of watching James Rolfe’s Monster Madness. If you’re more offline, you’ve had fond memories of getting ripped off by rare DVDs, only to find out they don’t work in your region. If your parents know about your passions, they call every Hammer film “Hammer House of Horror,” despite that being an obscure series from the early 1980s.
Vd: Vampire (game) Developer. You create games about vampires, or vampires are such a large presence in your mind they watch you writhe in the throes of debug hell.
Ve: Vampire Enjoyer. You just think they're neat.
Vf: Vampire Furry. You like anthropomorphic animals, especially when they are vampires. Your fursona is likely a bat, cat, or wolf. You have either very passionate or very pointed opinions on Bunnicula and Duckula. If you’re yiffy, the idea of a giant bat creature might make you go a little…I won't finish that line.
Vg: Vampire Goth. You're gender non-conforming, eternally misunderstood, and you find the vampire to be a useful symbol of your vexations. If you’re sexually inclined, it was Type O Negative that did the job. When it’s night, you’re wishing you were in a casket, and when it’s day, you’re wishing you were in a casket.
Vk: Vampire Kinkster. Vampires are literally the most BDSM thing ever, and this is not even an argument. Alternatively, you’ve realised vampires are strangely applicable to your apothecary shelf of cartoon-physics-fuelled internet kinks. Anything people used to draw on DeviantArt you like too, except the people inflating each other with bicycle pumps are also vampires.
Vjv: Vampire, just a Vampire.
Vl: Vampire LARPer. You role-play as a vampire…outside. You have a posse of like-minded vampire friends who alternate between running face-first into trees because they can’t see through their sunglasses and accidentally terrifying the elderly. You have enough horror stories to fill a small book, but you know your hobby already has bad enough press. Yet you persist, and honestly, your acting skills could be far worse for wear if you hadn’t gotten in there.
Vm: Vampire Musician.
Vo: Vampire Otherkin.
Vp: Vampire Photographer.
Vr: Vampire Reader.
Vrp: Vampire Role-player. You role-play as a vampire, and oh god help you, you can’t get out. It has been 3,346 hours into your campaign, and your character (after centuries of VPTSD-riddled backstory) has just died the True Death. You now wander about as a husk of your former self, rejecting your friends’ pleas to carry on and avenge your dead character with a mourning gay life partner. You are either extremely into Vampire: The Masquerade or Dungeons & Dragons, because you don’t want to remember that taxes exist while pretending to be a vampire. Grimtooth’s Traps was not a homebrew trap manual for DnD, it was actually an aspirational home-improvement text. All around you are neck-deep in vampire lore, even if it’s all made up. But don’t worry, I’m only teasing, all vampire lore is made up.
Vs+: Vampire Scholar. You’ve written a book, thesis or some other educational material on vampires. You actively study vampires and have more than five years of experience. Basically, you know your stuff.
Vs: Vampire Scholar (Aspiring, and no, the VTM handbooks don't count here).
Vt: Vampire Tailor.
Vw: Vampire Writer.

1.2: How often do you engage with vampirism?

How serious are you about vampires?

E+++: I think about them all the time.
E++: I think about them most of the time.
E+: I think about them often.
E: I like them casually.

1.3: What do vampires make you feel?

How do vampires make you feel?

Fc: Comfort.
Fd: Something different.
Fe: Excitement.
Ff: Freedom.
Fn: Narrative satisfaction.
Ft: Titillation.

1.4: Gender?

What’s your gender and sexual orientation? How relevant are these to your interest in vampires?

Ga: I’m a vamp…um. Androgyne.
Gf: I’m a vampiress.
Gm: I’m a vampire.
Gn: I’m a vampire but also some other thing because pesky human genders don’t apply to me.
Gt: I’m also transgender.

1.5: Orientation

Oa: Aro-Ace
Ob: Bisexual
Og: Gay
Oh: Heterosexual
Oo: Some other sexuality
Op: Pansexual
Oq: Questioning

1.6: Does liking vampires influence your gender and sexuality?

Ve+++: Vampirism is my gender and sexuality.
Ve++: Vampires are a large influence on my gender and sexuality.
Ve+: Vampires somewhat affect my gender and sexuality.
Ve: It could do?
Ve-: My interest in vampires doesn’t affect my gender or sexuality at all.

Part 2: Vampire Preferences

This section covers your preferences in vampire fiction. Anything you like, dislike, want to see more of, or find overdone, it’s all here.

2.1: Ethics

How ethical do you like your vampires? Do you prefer them good, evil, neutral, or some other kind of morality not known to human minds? Good or evil in this context is in a general sense, how your ideal vampire treats others as a whole.

GE+++: I like uniquely heroic vampires.
GE++: Vampires should behave just like we do; as individuals, not a monolith. Being vampires doesn’t make them evil, the evil ones just use “being vampires” as an excuse to do evil.
GE+: I like them to have glimmers of humanity but besides that, they’re selfish and apathetic to humans.
GE: It depends on the individual story.
GE-: I like them selfish and apathetic to humans by default.
GE--: I like them as chaotic-evil monsters that enjoy every minute of their devilries.
GE---: I like them as something else entirely. Either vampire morality is so completely outside of our ideas of what’s normal, or they’re completely animal.

2.2: Kinds

What kinds of vampire scratch your itch?

KAR: Anne Rice-like vampires. Con-artists, seducers and chronic tragicomics.
KB+++: Bestial vampires of any shape.
KB++: Bestial vampires in a bat-like shape.
KB+: Bestial vampires in humanoid shape. Count Orlok comes under this category.
KB: Bestial vampires, if you consider animals to be such.
KD: Dhampirs, half-breeds, were-hybrids and artificial undead.
KN: Nobleman/noblewoman vampires. Typical Count Dracula ones.
KP: Punks, misfits and weirdos that don’t fit the vampire mould.
KS: Stephanie Meyer’s vampires and their derivatives.
KAta: All of the above.

2.3: Powers

What powers do you like your vampires to have?

Pb: Bram Stoker rules only. Sunlight doesn’t kill ‘em, it just takes away their powers.
Pc: Cartoon Logic with a side of Count Chocula please!
Pe: Only the weirdest, most experimental ones possible.
Pf: Folklore only.
P: I’m not picky, it depends on what the story’s doing.
Pvtm: Vampire: The Masquerade. I want a whole cheeseboard of vampire powers here.

2.4: Ratio

What’s your ideal ratio of vampire to other things?

R+++: Whatever What We Do in the Shadows was doing.
R++: The more, the better! No matter what!
R+: I like more of them as long as they're interesting characters.
R: I like vampires but they go best in a monster mash.
R-: It depends on what the story’s trying to do.

2.5: Real-Life Issues

Do you like vampires as metaphors for real life issues?

VI+++: Every time I close my eyes I see cultural constructs.
VI++: Effeminate men that hide from the sun, sleep in the same coffin and have a custody battle over a traumatised vampire child one of them made as an anchor-baby? Hmmm…
VI+: Resource-hoarding aristocrats that expand mindlessly at the expense of everyone around them? Hmmm…
VI: It depends on the individual story.
VI-: I haven’t liked the examples I’ve seen but I’m still open to the idea.
VI--: No, it’s super overdone. We get it man, old money bad.
VI--: No! Get your politics out of my vampires!

2.6: Werewolves

Uh oh, here comes this question…Should werewolves appear in vampire stories?

W+++: Yes, yes, yes! I don't even care what they're doing, just make it happen!
W++: Yes, just give me a good hook and I'm in!
W+: Yes, I don't see why they shouldn't be.
W: It depends on the individual story.
W-: No, it’s super overdone and it should stay in the 2000s’ where it belongs.
W--: No, unless they’re getting turned into wolfskin rugs.
W---: No, never! I hate werewolves and they ruin perfectly good vampire stories!

Part 3: Lifestyle Preferences

This section covers your lifestyle choices. Anyone this into vampires, let alone enough to fill out a code, is gonna have some quirks.

3.1: Does anyone in Real Life know?

Are you out of the coffin? Are you that guy? Do people ask you for vampire-themed trivia? Do people shudder at your intellectual prowess? Do you get vampire-themed gifts every Christmas? I know it doesn't sound very vampiric, but they do say you're supposed to fear the undead around this time of year.

iRL+++: Nobody can escape my undead clutches.
iRL++: People just know.
iRL+: People get the jist by looking me up and down a few times.
iRL: People get the jist after a few conversations.
iRL-: Um...My parents know...
iRL--: A select pact of online friends know under the cover of a velvet-lined chamber.
iRL---: It’s my little secret!

3.2: Does your interest influence how you dress?

How do you dress, Dracula?

Z+++: Bury me in this cape or curses will fly.
Z++: I’ve got full vampire zoot here.
Z+: I’m pretty spiffy but it’s nothing too elaborate. Some nice hair, some basic colour coordination, maybe some fangs.
Z: I’m pretty unassuming. I could maybe wear a Hammer shirt but fangs, nails and frills are way too much for me.
Z-: No, I dress differently.
ZPr: I printed my own Jesus Franco Dracula shirt because god can’t do all the work. (Me, this is me. This parameter is just for me.)

3.3: Does your interest influence your living space?

Do you want your environment to feel as vampiric as your soul? Or are you a casual fan with a few posters and stuff here and there?

L+++: I’m typing this from my hand-made artisan casket.
L++: I had to turn off the fog machine before starting this.
L+: Dark walls, check. Sconces, check. Candles, check.
L: My space has a few vampire things lying around.
L-: No because my bank account said so.
Lp--: No because my parents said so.
Ll--: No because my landlord said so.
Lu--: No because my university said so.
Lr--: No because my room-mates said so.
L---: No because all my other obsessions said so.

3.4: How are you with blood?

How’s a little blood? Real life blood, anyways. It's safe to say most of us haven't drank it, though it is a thing with the lifestylers and fetishists. If you're in England or any other country with blood dishes, you can safely and reliably try some.

Ap: GLRRRUGGGHRGEGRHHGHGGH
An: I regularly drink it. (I trust with safe, sane, consensual, and hygienic means.)
ABp: I eat blood dishes like Black Puddings and stuff but I wouldn't go any further than that.
ABn: I’d drink it.
Bp: I’d drink it but I’m not actively seeking it out. I have, um, stuff to do.
Bn: I’m fine with blood but I mean, I wouldn’t drink it.
Op: I wouldn’t drink it but I do get weird cravings.
On: I’m scared of blood!

3.5: How good are you with computers?

What’s a vampire’s favourite code language? C-SHARP!

VC+++: I'm reading this from behind seven proxies on Pale Moon which runs on an installation of Linux from a hand-built computer in my custom-made home-office after a long hard day of debugging code for clueless old people.
VC++: I’ve got some projects and code languages under my belt.
VC+: I’m into computers but I’m kind of an amateur. I own a website but it hasn't got any fancy backends or PHP things.
VC: I’m a standard user, no unholy wisdoms about me.
VC-: Um…I know how to set dark mode on all my devices.

If you're VC or higher, feel free to specify your exact operating system.

l: Linux or a Linux-derivative.
m: Macintosh.
w: Windows. Feel free to add numbers, for example VC+w98 if you use Windows 98.

3.6: How nocturnal are you?

How connected are you to night-time? Is it meaningful to you, or do you defy the stereotype?

N+++: I stay up all the time, it’s my whole schedule.
N++: I’m a Night Owl.
N+: I sleep pretty late, pretty often.
N: I like to stay up late when I can but I’m hardly nocturnal.
N-: I’m more crepuscular than nocturnal.
N--: I’m actually a morning person but I get it to work.
N---: I’m a morning person and it’s not my choice because of my day-job!

3.7: How sexual are vampires to you?

Vampires have been historically associated with metaphors for sexual desire. Their fans then proceeded to take the metaphor, throw it in the shredder and unleash waves of vampire breasts onto an unsuspecting world. Oh, the whore-ror.

S+++: YOU AND I COAGULATE! VITALIZE A DYING RATE! VLADIMIR MY DEAR, YOU KNOW I’M AFTER EVERY DROP! GET INTO A DIFFERENT VEIN! R.I.P IS ALL THE SAME! I WAS BITTEN NOW I’M TRYING TRANSYLVANIA! YOU’RE THE COFFIN I’M THE KEY! WE TUNE UP IN HARMONY I’LL DO ANYTHING FOR YOU EXCEPT FOR MANIA!
S++: Well, every time I try to watch a movie and a vampire bites someone, a giant puddle forms between my legs..
S+: Sex? With a vampire? (Vampire fang-wearing voice) Sexth? Yeth please!
S: Sex? With a vampire? I’d rather watch someone else do it.
S-: Mmmmm…cold clammy genitals smushing flaccidly against each-other…SAID NO ONE!

How sexual are vampires to you? (Kink edition)

You can be kinky without being sexually active, but if you’d rather keep the bedroom habits to yourself, by all means feel free to skip it with an exclamation mark.

xxx: “YYYYOOUU MUST BOUNCE ON IT, CRAZY STYLE… MAYBE EVEN FART ON IT A LITTLE BIT. THAT WOULD MAKE ME GOON.”
xx: If someone’s not getting inflated I’m not getting it up.
x: I'll suck blood and toes.
x-: I’m a vampire but I’m totally vanilla about this.

Part 4: Hypotheticals & Weird Stuff

Eek! You’ve gotten yourself turned! Treat this like simple horseplay or your ideal Otherkin fantasy section.

4.1: Who would you feed on?

What's on the menu tonight?

FoA: I’d feed on animals.
FoB: I’d feed on babies exclusively. Why yes my vampire name would be Lilith, how did you know?
FoC: I’d feed on my co-workers, starting with the managers!
FoE: I’d feed on everyone.
FoF: I’d feed on my friends.
FoL: I’d feed on consenting lovers.
FoOV: I’d feed on other vampires, like a cannibal.
FoP: I’d feed on politicians. What? They’re just gonna get replaced after this news cycle dies down.
FoR: I’d feed on blood-based recipes and be like a vampire chef.
FoS: I’d feed on strangers.
FoSO: I’d flip open my local Sex Offender Registry and get to work.
FoV: I’d feed on villains, evildoers and anyone my conscience can stomach.
FoW: I’d feed on rich people.

4.2: Which of these is closest to your vampire fantasy?

Or idle workplace/unemployment daydreams.

VFa: I just got off this boat and everyone’s being super mean to me and all my rat friends. I also look like I got dragged across satan’s taint but that’s neither here nor there.
VFb: I’m a crocodile in a vampire’s castle moat. Don’t ask me how I’m living in these conditions.
VFc: I’m a hulking monstrosity that terrorises the living.
VFd: I’m a little cartoon funny animal being persecuted by the local villagers for my harmless, yet eccentric habits!
VFe: I’m a little cartoon funny animal that suddenly remembers to brutalise the local villagers.
VFf: I’m a scrappy, forever-young punk that’s sticking it to The Man-pire!
VFg: I’m a sad little creature being allowed to take shelter in a vampire’s castle. Sometimes they throw peanuts to me.
VFh: I’m a vampire’s familiar and this FUCKING SUCKS (but the sex is amazing).
VFi: I’m a vampire’s familiar but don’t worry, it’s cool, we unionised.
VFj: I’m attracting all the local vampire bad-boys like moths to a flame.
VFk: I’m in a harem of equally attractive vampires and we all exist in a giant cuddle-ball.
VFl: I’m just a bat honestly.
VFm: I’m just myself but with fangs and even more excuses.
VFn: I’m literally a sex slave.
VFo: I’m literally Dracula.
VFp: I’m literally my Vampire: The Masquerade character.
VFq: I’m Louis de Pointe du Lac minus the “owned slaves” bit.
VFr: I’m some kind of hybrid and this brings me immeasurable angst.
VFs: I’m some kind of hybrid and this brings me immeasurable glee.
VFt: I’m a werewolf in a loving relationship with one of the undead.
VFu: I sit in my castle and drink tea in frilly outfits. That’s literally it.
VFv: I sit in my castle, drink tea and have sexual tension with the cold, sopping wet humans that stumble in. Yes I know, very original.
VFw: I sit in my castle, drink tea and suddenly remember to brutalise the local villagers.
VFx: Whatever Jonathan Harker had at the castle but gayer, and I’m Dracula.
VFy: Whatever Jonathan Harker had at the castle but gayer, and I’m Jonathan Harker.
VFz: I’m the 26th mysterious thing.

4.3: What would you enjoy the most?

VEa: Coughing on people and watching them die from diseases while I don’t.
VEb: Having an excuse to never go outside.
VEc: How good warm blankets feel against my cold dead skin.
VEd: My cool vampire powers. Watch this! *Nudges paper cup*…I’m working on it.
VEe: Slaughtering my enemies!
VEf: Staying up all night!
VEg: The other vampires.
VEh: Turning into things!
VEi: Using centuries of free time to finally hone my hobbies.
VEj: Using centuries of free time to re-enact the Garden of Earthly delights with my/other peoples’ orifices.

4.3: What would you enjoy the least?

VEz: Getting kicked out my local VTM LARP for accidentally breaking someone’s ribs while pretending to cast Celerity.
VEy: Not being able to eat garlic.
VEx: Running out of blood recipes.
VEw: The constant knowledge that I can only die a violent, excruciating death.
VEv: The daylight.
VEu: The other vampires! Eek!
VEt: The parental disapproval.
VEs: The realisation that hiring familiars, no matter how nice and ethically I do it, is a form of slavery.
VEr: The realisation that every time I shower, I’m touching running water, forcing me to use a rag on a stick.
VEq: When I run out of room for all the bodies...again.

4.4: Would you socialise with your fellow vampires?

If you had some illusion of choice.

VS+++: Stand back, I main Toreador.
VS++: Vampire rules can’t be that different from human ones. I mean, they used to be humans themselves. How bad could it be?
VS+: Well, I’ll try…
VS: I’d wait for them to come to me.
VS-: Be serious! I’d get hung from my pantaloons in the first five minutes!
VS--: Be serious! Everyone here is speaking in middle english!
VS ---: Be serious! A solid third of this room has profited off the transatlantic slave trade!

4.5: Zoinks! It's a werewolf!

What do you do?

AWOO+++: *Slowly removes clothes*.
AWOO++: Run up to it because it looks cold and scared and in need of a hug.
AWOO+: Attempt to greet it.
AWOO: Fumble in my pockets and watch as a single moth flutters out.
AWOO-: Run away screaming.
AWOO--: Suck its blood!
AWOO---: Hunt it for sport and turn it into a trophy to warn the others!

Completing your Code

So, you’ve got all these characters. Now, how do you display them? Just like with other codes, you take all of these little characters and put them together (using spaces or slashes if you want multiple in a single go). Once you do, you should get something that looks like the example below.

Va/Vg/Vk/Vs E+++ Fc Gn Ob Ve++ GE++ KB+++/KN P~ R+++ VI~ W iRL+ ZPr L ABp VC+ N++ S+++ XXX FoR/FoSO VFn VEi/VEr VS- AWOO++

Now you can plug it into your webpage, profile, or anywhere else you want. That said, if you’re going to display it on your webpage, make sure you use this particular type of code.

Accessbility Note


<span aria-label="My vampire code!">Va/Vg/Vk/Vs E+++ Fc Gn Ob Ve++ GE++ KB+++/KN P~ R+++ VI~ W iRL+ ZPr L ABp VC+ N++ S+++ XXX FoR/FoSO VFn VEi/VEr VS- AWOO++</span>

This wasn’t around when all the original codes existed, but now we live in the age of screen readers and other assistive tools. For those of you not in the know, these tools help disabled people get around the internet. So how does this relate to the code? Well, screen-readers parse everything in plaintext, and without this special code, they’re gonna get blasted by Hadean-eon frequencies and die. Just kidding, but it’s super inconvenient for them. The last thing anyone using a screen reader wants is to hear a bunch of gibberish while browsing your site. You certainly wouldn’t like it if you were in their shoes, so please give this more accessible code a try.

In Closing

Other than this, that’s basically it. Now you can show off to the other vampire fans exactly what your niche is. I’ll try not to make too many edits to this code because, while I’m not sure how many of you are actually going to use it, I don’t want to confuse, frustrate, or otherwise burden those who do. I don’t want you going around only to watch your code suddenly become obsolete.

I hope you had a fun time with my code. In terms of redistribution, feel free to spread it around. Get some eyes on it. If you run a website that consolidates or archives these types of codes, feel free to include mine. Call it The Vampire Code or Pearlnight’s Vampire Code, whatever suits you.