I thought I'd pose a thought-provoking question and I'm interested to see what you guys think.

I will only pose the most prevelant theory... Vampires bit to turn because their population was dwindling, the filled the dwindling numbers of pure-bloods with humans.

After that I will reserve other alternate theories for later...

I'd assume that holds true for some cases but doubt it is the only reason. Others might be:
"I cannot bear to see you age and die, my love" as per the books & movies.
"I can so I do" i.e. an instinctive thing
"I can & you will be my Follower" i.e. a power trip

Are numbers such a big deal for vampires? After all, too many sanguines would be noticeable & potentially dangerous.

What exactly is your question? As I'm seeing more of statement of fact...

Hypothesis here,

They're a long lived species (and I'm guessing after they hit say, 200, it all looks like the same-old same-old to them), while in the far past, humans (while quick studies and adaptable) were lucky to hit fifty years. So if a vampire left an area for about 100 years, the oral traditions and cultural practices may be highly similar, but other dynamics (anything from politics to immigrants to soil condition) might have drastically changed.

So, if every fifty years a group of vampires nabs and turns a human they deem worthy of being one of 'them' (though doubtless they would remain a lower ranking member) they would have a guide to the area as well as a group member with a alien, but fresh perspective, and the human in question would (I'm guessing) still pass as either a member of his group, or a related human group, having the dialect, gestures, references, physical traits etc down from birth. Having a member that could walk (almost) unnoticed among regular humans would have been very highly valuable under some circumstances. Also because of the lower rank, disorientation the human would initially have, and difficulty a turned human would have being a fully accepted member of the 'in' group, they'd also have a semi-disposable minion.

From the perspective of not the individual turner (who may have their own reasons) but simply a group, tossing in an occasional human might be extremely handy.

Though I'm sure there are multiple other reasons it all started.

LOL Sorry Hammer, the question would be why did Vampires start biting humans to turn them into half-blood Vampires?

very good post !! I'm looking forward to reading it

good question and does cause some thought. i believe hollywood along with some great writers have given us a misimpression of vampires turning someone because they could not live without them. for me, i can see them having dwindling populations for some reason and turning humans to refortify their ranks. i can also see some doing it because they have the ability to as well as doing it to have a follower.

i believe real vampire clans have a "code of ethics" where it comes to the turning of a human. first of all i'm of the opinion that they will be extremely selective in the choosing process and it would not surprise me one bit if they chose based upon an individual's level of intelligence since why wouldn't they want to try to get the most intelligent humans to become part of their clan?

the wish to survive and go on rather than face extinction might be more of an issue than others and i can't say vampire clans would see turning humans as anything but trying to keep their race in some form at least still here. i think this need to go on may be very strong in a vampiric mind and as predators i wouldn't expect them to simply go away into extinction quietly or without a last ditch fight to survive.

i suppose what it comes down to is unless we get the real scoop from a real live vampire or clan then it's all conjecture and thought for discussion. this was another great topic to actually think about. loved it! thanks, magnolia! hugs :grouphug:

I think there have been some great answers so far. But they got me wondering to how or why a vamp/coven would select one human over another. Do they only select those who are extremely intelligent or do they look for other skills? Are they looking for a variety of people that could be used to enhance their bloodline?

I think they may have started biting people because there was something about the first human who was turned that somehow appealled to that vampire. Was it because how they looked or was it something else? Also how far back are we talking about when we talk about this first turning?

I guess ultimately I have more questions than answers here. Maybe someone else knows the answers.

Well, many of the answers provided is part of a viewpoint I share in a way.

I think the first human to be turned was maybe because of dwindling numbers in the vampire population.

though, now I think 'turning' takes place because of more reasons than that:

1) Numbers
2) That specific human possesses something that they may want, or want to use. Be it psychic ability already present, be it intelligence or plainly to have a new one to learn the modern ways from so as to still blend in.

Maybe they are also testing different humans as to find the perfect combination of certain traits which they can use to help make them stronger.....

I am not sure.

Good points, Lampro - have a 'local' in the Clan would be very useful, I'm sure.