What is all this Vampyre Community stuff about anyways?

Exploration of one’s Vampyric (or other nightside) nature and what that means to them is the driving force behind why people end up in what we call the Vampyre Community. We end up aligned with or ingrained in this subculture that includes a lot of social and pseudo-“political” interaction, education, nuance, and baggage because of the beauty we find underneath the bullshit and the connections we make along the way. It is not unlike any other “scene” in that regard. So why does anyone subject themselves to dealing with all of the baggage & nonsense of that pseudo-political social hierarchy stuff??

Well, many don’t… many are solitary because of it.

However, for many… it’s about finding yourself in a place that feels more like home than anywhere else.

So many people who end up in the VC are lost in some way. Lost and trying to unravel their awakenings, trying to make sense of their mental states or the chaotic traumas that they have or are currently experiencing, and the VC provides a social climate where that’s normal and accepted. Being mentally ill, traumatized from the past, dealing with whatever, it’s not detrimental to your social standing with Vampyres. It’s normal to be autistic, have ADHD, Bipolar, BPD, physical disability, be self employed or on SSI because you can’t deal with normal society. Many people who have ended up in the VC learned to cope with these things through vampyric practices or by being around the people of the VC. Many people are able to pay their bills because of the compassion and commerce of other members of the VC. It’s expected of us to be on the fringes. Fictional Vampires by nature are on the fringes in basically every context. We’re no different. The path of the vampyre is learning how to take our inherent disadvantages and turn them into “superpowers.”

Unfortunately, because of the mixture of people the VC has, it means that there’s a lot of people who are prone to being taken advantage of or easily manipulated and the imbalanced vampyre predator will exploit this. History shows us this repeatedly. “Ethical Vampyrism” is an oxymoron projected to help people understand consent when feeding. But, vampyres are hardly truly ethical creatures… but that’s a post for another day!

Ultimately, it comes down to family.
for better and for worse…

What the Vampyre Community offers is the prospect of chosen family to have connection to that you either haven’t gotten before or are currently not receiving. Many of us link up with people in the greater community who seem to get us. We grow energetic cords between people that form into bonds, friendships, partnerships, romances, and familial ties that are hard to break. We create this web of connections around us that fulfills a need within us for family that understands the real us, something that many never had. However, what people fail to realize is that family isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Siblings fight, your parental figures tell you when you’re fucking up. It’s not about finding people to be your yes men. Your people check you because they love you and it’s often not easy to hear or handle.

In the past (90’s early 2000s), it was more like gang mentality. There wasn’t much separation between certain gangs in New York City and some of the early Gotham Halo Houses. Finding your House or your Bloodline to join was a very serious commitment to a family that you became “ride or die” with. You would frequent events, run the streets together, interact with each other on the regular, put forth real effort for that family and you may or may not even be invited to be integrated in and/or be “sired.” Once you were Sired, you were held to predetermined standards of ethics that were understood on a family/group level as well as standard community ethics. Each House/bloodline had their particular guidelines, and then they have the understood turf rules of the various venues and the security that upheld those standards. Back in the Day, if you fucked up, you got your ass beat… People were close enough to you and saw you frequently enough, plus the lack of camera phones… It was very much “talk shit, get hit” some days. But that also meant you were protected if you didn’t fuck up. There was accountability if people got out of pocket. Something we miss these days.

It maybe wasn’t quite gang serious in communities around the rest of the country during those times. I couldn’t really say, my knowledge is the NorthEast Coast of the USA. But integrating people into your House/bloodline has never been a casual choice for anyone during those times. Yet, it was what many sought out to achieve. If you liked a particular House, you had to step up to prove yourself worthy of being in their House through effort, helping them with events, hanging out with their members, showing up for them the way you would for a close family member… and even if you did those kinds of things there was no guarantee that you’d get into that Bloodline. Sometimes a person just does not have the energy of the bloodline in them. It’s often just as beneficial to be a friend and ally of a prominent House as it is being a full member, as they’ll protect you as one of their own regardless.

That’s what my O’Mallie Family became known for in the 90s.

House O’Mallie was the first recognized House outside of Sabretooth in the Gotham Halo in the 90s. It was “granted its charter” by Father Sebastiaan and Father Vincent because Stephen O’Mallie  went from a “Regents Guard” aka Protector of the leader(s) at the time, to running a crew of Regents Guards, to being named the Sheriff of the entire community. As he progressed, he formed a crew of protectors around him. Don’t let this noble nomenclature fool you. They were rough and tumble party goers who took you outside and beat your ass if you fucked up. But it was always done with the intent to protect. The integrity of our actions despite O’Mallie’s disposition has always been respected. In the early days, O’Mallie was a tight knit group of New Yorkers who policed the community from assholes and predators in ways that we couldn’t achieve nowadays. (not for lack of trying, the world’s just different now)

There’s almost 30 years of O’Mallie history. We’re one of the first and certainly most enduring families of the vampyre community. I’ve only been a part of this history for 5 years now. It feels like much longer, but I also can’t believe how much we’ve accomplished in that amount of time.

I can confidently say the secret to existing for so long is family. Nobody in O’Mallie cares about pretending to be royal and never has. We are a family before anything else. We check in on each other. We talk to one another. We’re always communicating, sharing, chilling. Trying to meet up in person whenever we’re able. Creating lasting bonds and memories. We’re not trying to take over the VC and do duplicitous shit to each other to make “political” moves. We’re not backstabbing each other or anyone else to gain standing or cause drama. We don’t care to play into the “King Grand Poobah of the Court of Jerkoffs” game. Those of us who are involved in any Court or other organizations are often the (unpopular) grounding voice of reason amongst them.  We’re chillen, having picnics, barbecues, getting in the pool, having some drinks, causing a ruckus somewhere. A gathering of O’Mallies is known as a “trouble.” We roll deep and we know how to have fun. We laugh from the pits of our bellies and we love from the depths of our souls. Our passion for each other, for life, and for protecting the sanctity of what we believe in is our lifeblood.

I am blessed and honored to be an O’Mallie as I know there are very few families out there with the best interests of their people at heart. I’ve started talking about our family more openly in hopes that it will inspire other families or organizations to take note that you can thrive outside of the realm of some of the VC’s bad habits. There’s no need for the royalty schtick and I will personally say that it’s a red flag when someone is too into the royalty thing. The community is more than a game of vampire flavored Risk and V:tM.

So wtf does any of this mean?

The moral of the story is that almost everyone who ends up in the vampyre community is in pursuit of finding their flock. We’re all looking for connection with people who understand us. We’re looking for people to connect with who understand the nightside in ways “mundane” individuals never could. No matter why we identify as vampyre or why we’re attracted to the nightside community and/or subculture, the end goal is almost always (at least in part) some sort of companionship. In pursuit of people like us to talk to, to connect with, to learn from. I think more people come to the VC hoping to find that source of family that many see is possible, but we often get burned in the process of looking for it.

It’s not about bending to the needs of a King or Queen. It’s not about royal hierarchy and “ruling” over anything. It’s about embodying the type of person that your community and family want to be around. It’s about being the kind of person that people will follow into hardship without having to be asked, yet doing everything you can to make sure you don’t end up having to ask. It’s about creating a narrative around you and your slice of the community that people want to be a part of. It’s about being supportive enough that your people become your family. It’s about building enough trust and loyalty amongst your people that you could invite them into your home if you wanted to. These are the people you should trust to have your back in the mundane and spiritual world and people you’d be willing to go to bat for in the same ways. They’re not your followers, they’re your companions, your brothers and sisters in arms, your family.

In my opinion, the Vampyre Community is superficial when it’s not treated like this.

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