I am Mikhail Sauromatos.
I have been a figure of notoriety within Germany's Vampyre Society for about a dozen or so years. For a good part of this time, I was actively involved in the organization of a number of forum-based Vampyre communities in Germany, taking on various roles, both at the forefront as well as in the background.
Before my journey as a Vampyre, I explored various currents of the occult milieu, which has profoundly influenced my views on Vampyrism and contributed to my personal Weltanschauung.
Very early on, I developed my own take on Vampyrism, that I further refined into a way of providing guidance and direction in the context of personal mentorship.
We, Vampyres, are a people of the Vampire Mythos, in that our self-identification and our cultural self-expression as Vampyres will in some capacity reference the figure of the vampire from popular culture.
A vampire in the most common understanding of the word appears as a creature which drains the life (often in the form of blood) of humans to sate their own needs, enrich or prolong their own existence.
Vampyres do not believe that they are literal vampires as they appear in popular fiction or folklore.
While some Vampyres might believe there to be some hidden truth to vampire stories, namely historical ‘Living Vampires’ who have passed into myth, Vampyres generally do not make any fantastic claims of possessing qualities commonly associated with the vampires of popular fiction or folklore.
Vampyres are perfectly able to distinguish fact from fiction.
Indeed, the reality of Vampyres as a modern cultural phenomenon is a fact that is beyond any doubt.
Since at least the latter half of the last century there are people like us – people who name themselves Vampyres for a wide variety of reasons.
What is commonly known as the ‘Vampire Community’ is in fact not a unified community but a collection of networks, groups and individuals who are associated with each other by virtue of their shared self-identification with the vampire as a category of person or as an archetype.
What makes one a Vampyre is – to the best of our understanding – ultimately tied to the very individual reasoning leading one to name oneself a Vampyre, to adopt the Vampyre Identity, and to participate in Vampyre Culture. Put more simply, a Vampyre is potentially anyone who chooses to name oneself a Vampyre for one reason or another. The individual reasons for why a person might identify as, or express themselves as a Vampyre, or as being Vampyric, are many and varied.
Personally, I don’t care much for labels or divisions. I care about personal stories. What is yours?
