I know, I know, you’re all Sooooooo disappointed that the bonnacon is extinct in this universe, right? Seriously though… a bovine beast that emits a flaming substance from its anus? I just… I mean, it’s not the nastiest monster out there, but jeepers. I give them points for creativity, but maaaaan, the bonnacon is not something I really wanna draw in action. I actually have a good reason for it and the others mentioned to be extinct but that’s a story for another time.
Now… last I checked, vampires ‘come’ from a variety of sources. Blood-drinking monsters are a strange, almost universal phenomena, and though the forms these monsters take vary, cultures from around the globe have strange, vampiric creatures in their folklore. Some of the earliest known sources for vampires come from Slavic myth… but then again, who knows? Before recorded history, who’s to say that Paleolithic man didn’t invent them, only for them to be forgotten and reinvented later, due to the lack of sophisticated writing?
One of the problems with doing a storyline with mythological creatures is that there’s a lot of ‘canon’ folklore and myth to take into consideration, along with my own silly ideas and concepts. And, well, before anyone takes the liberty to yell at me because “Im, doin’ it rong!!1eleven!!” I’ll say, I know just as well as anyone that in myth, the wizards didn’t create the vampire (Which I will say I am treating differently from, say, Nosferatu). However, this deviation from folklore is both a means of stepping a but away from a previous, failed, webcomic attempt, as well as in a strange way, a means of making the Eldritch world make more sense in my own mind, while working with the “Mages” and “Mancers” in keeping the presence of the now-extinct wizards around (And yes, in this universe, there IS a difference). It’s just another thread in the spider’s web, as it were… and if I make it through a couple more books of this comic, I’ll be able to reveal a bit more of that portion of the web. But I have some werewolfery to show you guys before that…
Regardless, I spend a lot of time researching all of this weird stuff… and, well, some of it I like, some of it I don’t. On top of that, there are often conflicting myths about the same creatures or events. So, I’ll pick the pieces I like from here and there, ranging from books to documentaries to even good ol wikipedia. And if I still think things should be different… I change them. As Seamus states in this page, according to this universe, humans got some things correct in their myths, but others, well, not. The case in point is historical zombies verses the kickass zombies of modern media. Now, that is not to say that in Eldritch, there aren’t undead, since there are vampires. But it is food for thought. However, while I do not intend the possible “errors” in human stories and myth to be a crutch, or an excuse if I am not accurate, I do intend to use it as a springboard to reinvent myth as I like.
For instance, regarding the fae-title “Oberon…”
In the rare case you’re not aware, Oberon refers to William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It is, frankly, my favorite of his works, mostly because it’s full of whimsy and dirty jokes (You can keep your Romeo and Juliet, give me a comedy!) In this tale, Oberon is the name of the King of the Fairies. We’re getting a little glimpse into the social standing and structure of the modern Fae in this page… That at least one Fae has set up a little sanctuary for the Eldritch folk in the area, that the Fae have a strong dislike for the wizard-created vampires, and that apparently leaders in the Fae community have taken Shakespeare’s “Oberon” and applied it as a title or… Maybe, just maaaaaybe, Shakespeare was privy to some information most weren’t.
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