Therian Blood Lusts

[WingedWolfPsion]

This is true, but it is important to establish the difference between a vampire's blood craving, and a predatory therian's craving for meat.  They are worlds apart.

It has not been my experience that awakening sang vampires don't crave blood.  Instead, they develop a craving for something they can't identify first, and then it solidifies into a craving for blood.  This craving is generally identified before they feed for the first time, as it becomes increasingly acute whether they feed or not.  Obviously, if they didn't crave blood, why would they ever try it?  Sang vamps also take energy, as well as blood.  The distinctions between a sang and psy-vamp aren't always entirely concrete.  However, sang vamps both crave and need blood...not just energy alone, while psy-vamps do not crave or need it.

The quality if a sang vampire's 'craving' is more like an addiction craving, while a therian's craving is more like a craving for a type of food.

[Mystere]

I have to say that the stipulation that psionics don't crave is wrong. We don't crave blood, but we can "twoof" just as badly. (Where did that term come from anyway? I mean, "twoof"? Sounds like something a child came up with. LOL.) Unless you were specifying a blood craving, and even then, it's not quite true. I've craved blood before, but I actually experimented with blood during the early stages of my Awakening. And there are plenty who, when they identify with the term "vampyre," experiment with blood feeding as a method to help with the cravings/health problems, especially since many are not familiar with energy work when they Awaken. (That was my reasoning. That, and I made the connection between the energy I need and the medium of blood.) I've been involved in a few discussions that have made that suggestion in cases where the "fledgling" had an extremely close friend who was healthy and open to the idea.

The craving for blood would solidify when the connection was made (even subconsciously, possibly through sensing the energy in the blood when in proximity to an open wound) between the energy needed and the blood that carries it. It's like the body craving red meat when anaemic, which happens even in people who were raised vegetarian. The bodies recognize a viable source when there's a definite need.

And if the craving develops without exposure or presence, why are there people who have to experiment for years to determine their optimal feeding source? It was nearly two years after my Awakening began before I figured out that sexual energy was the best source for me, despite being exposed to strong sexual energy in the presence of my boyfriend and my friends. I just see a lot of inconsistencies to say that sangs always crave the blood specifically.

I do recognize the comparison to addiction/food cravings. I feel like a sex addict when I'm vamping out - my drive is out of control, and I'm practically a predator. Thankfully, I'm getting that under control.

[WingedWolfPsion]

I have to say that there was no such stipulation, I explicitly said that psy-vamps do not crave blood.  I didn't mention anything at all about their craving anything else.  Naturally, they crave energy, because that is what they need.

As for the term 'twoof', I feel your pain.  I think it is the most ridiculous word I have ever seen created to describe something, much less something of that nature.  "Blood rage" is the one I prefer to use.

As to your question on why some people have to experiment to figure out what they need, it's because not all vampires are the same.  Sangs never have that problem.  Sangs crave blood.  If they crave ONLY something else, and not blood, they're not sangs.  Sangs need blood.

I'm wondering if perhaps you are throwing a lot of psy-vamps into the sang category when they don't belong there.  Experimenting with blood doesn't make someone a sang.  So-called 'hybrids' may also contribute to the confusion...it's possible to be both sang and a psy-vamp, but that is being two things at the same time, not being a cross between the two, so hybrid is the wrong word for it.
Since sangs need energy ANYHOW, I tend to wonder if it's legitimate in all cases, but some vampires need both blood and some types of energy that typical sangs don't, so I suppose there is a use for a separate term for that.

In general, therianthropes aren't quite as close to the edge as vampires are.  Most therians have control over their shifting, and that is tied in to cravings and drives.  It should also be pointed out that predatory drives and cravings are only found in predatory therians, and there are a good number of therians whose theriotype is not a predatory animal.  Horse therians or deer therians do not go around craving meat.
There are also predator therians who choose to be vegetarian, for whatever reason.   More power to them, but I certainly am not one. lol

[Mystere]

I misunderstood the phrasing in my initial reading.

Unless I have spoken to sangs that have not been entirely truthful - something to which I am willing to admit possibility but not with the consistency that I've seen it - I doubt that all sanguinarians develop the craving that is so clear. I have heard of much more experimentation that led to sanguinism than I have of specific cravings.

I have to say though, my wires cross sometimes. ^.^

[WingedWolfPsion]

Well, it's simple enough to determine--put up a poll, or just ask, in the sang-specific topic area on this forum.

[Mystere]

Thought about that, just haven't done it yet.

[sphynxcatvp]

Just wanted to add a quick comment here:

...Unless I have spoken to sangs that have not been entirely truthful - something to which I am willing to admit possibility but not with the consistency that I've seen it...

I've seen postings from people who believe they are drinking blood when - what it SOUNDS like from their description - they are really taking energy, perhaps what they perceive as a really dense form of energy, but energy nonetheless without any physical blood being touched.

I think some people just (*cough* charitably speaking *cough*) Don't Know Any Better. Or they're trying to be "in with the cool kids". Or are passing on things they don't know are false because that's what THEY were told was The Truth.

It's very, very, VERY frustrating for those of us who are much more in touch with ourselves and not lost in lala land...

[XXXDameaXxXD]

I have recently found that, out of all the meats ive tasted, venison is the best relief for severe blood lust/hunger issues. But that could just be me.

[nightwolf]

I agree it works very well for curving the hunger.