#the werewolves don't view any of their existence as punishment because the idea of punishment just doesn't enter their minds

[ranticore]

Good luck to revelation on dismantling the unfair punishment of monsterization and the whole scapegoat thing

I’m not sure if the punishments are a good or bad thing but I’m assuming it’s bad because it seems really unfair towards some monsters, especially the werewolves

It's kind of moot at this point.. ending some spells wouldn't turn monsters back into people, they have been monsters for thousands of years. A disruption of the basic world state strong enough to change that would indeed be a type of apocalypse. Most people - 99.99999% of people - have no memory of why monsters exist, there are no werewolves going "agh I wish I hadn't been twisted into this form". It's just all anyone alive who's not a wyrm has ever known.

Binding hundreds of people into an ever-marching doomsday cult is as the kids say "not cool"

[sora-of-uranus]

I love how you went straight to Greek mythology because originally I was itching to talk about it but I held back since…well I always go to Greek mythology. BUT! you have given me reason.

Focusing on how you connected werewolves into this (I love it) I'm thinking of the myth of Lycaon where he sacrificed a child on an altar/ tried to feed Zeus human flesh (strangely common occurrence I'll add) and was punished by being turned into a wolf. This myth also then was MAYBE used to explain a festival/ceremony that involved sacrificing a wolf that was maybe thought to be a werwolf. What I'm saying is that theres defo a basis for the idea of werewolves steming from atleast a goddly curse whether that is a greek god or not.

Linking to that: I THINK its at that same festival I mentioned but it's written that people would turn into wolves after performing sacrifices towards Zeus. If the wolf managed to not consume human flesh whilst living as a wolf they would return to human form 9 years later, if not they'd remain that way forever. I think this idea of consuming other people being what keeps this beastly form is (yes symbolic of the idea of stepping beyond the lines of civilisation and into the 'barbaric' act of canibalism) very intresting when we view it as a link to vampires and how when they first taste human blood they shift from fledgling to propper vampire. Even though the wolves in mbav don't have that same "bite a man and your a wolf forever" it would make perfect sense for that to have been a sure thing somewhere within their genetic history. Alternatively maybe the wolves DO still have that ability but we just never saw it cuss Ethan was cured within days and the other guy…well he bit Ethan so it isn't looking good in terms of healing.

moving away from werewolves and focusing on Apollo (kind of) I think it's really interesting to see the vampires ability to wolf in sunlight as a blessing from Apollo. I haven't currently got any thoughts to add to that beyond its a great idea I just wanted you to know I loved it.

You also mentioned how if Ethan would take on the role as an Apollo 'child' (or follower) then Benny would be the Hermes/Dionysus pairing. I offer you this: Ethan as Apollo, Benny as Hermes, Rory as Dionysus. I put Rory with Dionysus since Dionysus is twice born, he's heavily linked with the idea of walking beyond the line of society which as a vampire works pretty well with Rory. Also wine and blood. Benny as Hermes is a slightly awkward fit (like putting a square into a rectangle hole on a baby toy. yes it works, but is the BEST choice?) but I think it works well from the idea that Hermes is like Apollo in how people just went "ahh shit we got another territory…let's just slap it on hermes and carry on with our day" so as such he has a collection of kinda random things, which I think works pretty well with how unorganised Bennys magic is and how random the spells he uses. Like theres no rhyme or reason as to what Benny learns he just goes "yeah I wanna do that today" and he does it. Also as a trickster (thinking of the myth were he steals cows by turning their hoves backwards) Hermes and benny work well. This paragraph has no reason to exist I just love rambling.

ANYWAY onto what I was actually going to add: I always have a bad habit of linking seers to Tiresias specifically (which….actually kind of sucks cuss the main Tiresias myth I see is his origin where it's ZEUS who gives him prophecy in response to Hera blinding him). This linkage for me always added to that vampire seer mixed genetic makeup since my introduction to him was through Oedipus and the Odyssey (I'm not gonna expand to much but Oedipus is actually usefull here aswell since it's Apollo who sent the plauge and also the prophecy and both Tiresius and Delphi. Plague, healing, society, prophecy, it all blends well and shows that shared connection). The odyssey is always the fun one cuss we meet him when he's already dead. Odysseus sacrifces a lamb when he's in Hades to allow the souls to drink the blood and for a moment regain both their human memorys and their feelings. WIthout that blood the ghosts walk as shadows of their formers selves, barely recognisable as human beyond their forms. This idea of humanity being regained through the consumption of blood is SO intresting and tricky from a symbolic pov but for this theory I'm just gonna say that this is where I link vampires in specifically since its perfect.

BUT! You mentioned Apollo, which to me my mind goes straight to Delphi. This addition isn't going to expand the genetic family tree but it is going to explain a bit on Seers specifically. Historically it's been understood that the oracles in Delphi were all experiencing brain damage and hallucinations from the volcanic gas under the area and also a nearby lake which released hallucinogenic vapour (they'd most likely wash in the lake either their whole bodies or their hands and feat as a religious cleansing. Some would also sleep outside near the lake to get dream visions). For the my babysiters a vampire universe I'll say that the Oracles were both real AND experiencing this damage since we know the supernatural exists. This idea of prophecy being directly linked to bodily harm from the outside world is brain itching when we assume that the seers of Ethans day have seem to evolved beyond having to evoke a God directly, almost as if they have evolved to do it off their own power OR the act of prophecy is the direct worship and evokation. Either way, it's evolved beyond Delphi, but if we watch Ethans reaction he almost seizes up and his eyes white out, it's a physical reaction. I would almost bet that as the visions became stronger or if Ethan found other powers the reaction of his body would worsen or even deteriorate. Which would then link to my earler thing of Seers functioning of the blood they create themselves which then leads to shorter lifespans than other supernatrual creatures or potential dysabilitys.

Also I love how mythology can be treated as an accurate source within mbav because of the mummy episode and the sun god episode. Though both those religions existing implies all religions potentially exist which makes for a very interesting and messy accurate religion which I will NEVER try to understand.

Even if we draw from Ancient Egyptian mythology (must admit, I am weaker in this than Greek since I'm not doing a degree in it so some of this might be a bit washy but we power through) theres a very interesting idea with Vampires (not as in literal vampires, just the thematic connections). Osiris is the god of death (after his own…not so peaceful death) with his son (who may have been conceived post-mortem….this has no baring to the theory I just need people to suffer this knowledge with me) Horus being seen as a god of healing, sun, and sky. You also then have Isis who was Osiris's wife and Horus's mother who was like…THE Goddess of healing. That connection just creates a very intresting cycle of life and death which vampires seem to be stuck in the middle off

This is gonna be a mish mash of cultures and ideas so bare with me. In eastern Europe (specificly slavic countrys) the vampire was an almost ghostly spirit rather than our common undead sexy friend. They were trixters to some extent, spread disease but in the way rats do rather than the specific bite we know. They also didn't consume blood. So this is the technical truth aspect of this idk 'theory' (but more headcannon I suppose). From this, I headcannon, it evolved into two specific paths: the vampire as we know and the seer. Both evolved to revolve around blood since blood is commonly seen as a holder of the human spirit and life force making it a very powerful energy source. Vampires evolved specifically as almost undead creatures, focusing on that ghostly aspect and almost making the souls haunt the dead body in such a way that it becomes 'imortal'. The sucking of blood is to create a constant source of energy to power the 'possession' and inturn their existence- like food for us. The 'infectious bite' then becomes a combination of corpse germs and supernatual infliction that continues to create vampires- something their ancestor obviously did not have due to the lack of biting and corperal form. on the otherhand, seers found their powersource in blood by creating their own. Specifically in having a functioning human body. The living body acts as a conduit for the supernatural power wich is displayed by divination and prophecy, what which ghosts being conected to the past and human life being seen as something of the future. This ghostly ancestor also explains why Ethan can see ghosts when touching their objects, he's channeling that energy. Of course if having a living body was such an easy way to have blood the vampire would have done it too, the problem with using your own body as a conduit continuously is that it starts to degrade over time either with natural circumstance like being old as shit and dying, or your body contracting ilnesses. It's has it's ups and downs. anyway the idea of a common ancestor is so intresting to me, especially since in the few mythologys I research prophecy and disease are strangely commonly linked. And I mean blood has ALWAYS been apart of seeing the future, think of literally any form of animal sacrifice amongst religions. Or how in some underworld storys the souls must consume the blood of a sacrifice (not necessarily human!) to be able to comunicate.