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It's been happening lately. the writing thing. [smilee] !
I must have reached the saturation point with this LOK stuff.
The point when I've stewed long enough in the soup, became immersed enough for the brain to reach critical mass and be so ready to write that it all just starts flowing out onto the page like how a dam bursts. and the only worry is keeping up with it so you don't lose too many things along the way.

Last time, what came to me was the early pre-history of what happened before the clash of the ancient races. And I was shocked senseless by how many things it totally and completely makes sense of : the curse, why it was used, why Kain sacrificed Wraith Boy precisely when he did, vampires' dark gifts, what the "Dark Prophecy" is, how the vampires and hylden fit in to the larger geologic history of the planet (a pattern of interplay between sentient races which dates all the way back to the primordial dark), how the hate was engendered between them and the hylden, and why a hitman has been hired to wipe out their fates. Oh, and all the "dark forces" we never get to see--they show up in spades now that certain events have rung their snooze alarm after a million years. (Along with a great scene to use as a prologue opening for the next game.)

Then, today, I started to "dream in video game." Totally having non-stop in-living-color visions of video game footage from the final battle for Nosgoth. No drugs involved! Just pacing around and humming repetitive riffs to focus my concentration like a chant, eyes focussed inward. These new (or very old!) villains are sooooo freakin awesome!

Since February is already taken as Black History Month, I'm claiming October as the month for word processing.

Recently went long-winded on the topic of vampire hearts. Came up with a system that's traditional vampire lore merged with LOK mythos as much as possible to make sense of what we see in Soul Reaver. It's post #14 here: http://forums.eidosgames.com/showthread.php?t=95641

As for dismemberment thoughts, that might be held in reserve as a special trick for expert hunters to use or a way to get rid of a vampire that appeared to have grown unstoppable, or sick Sarafan fun and games back in the day. But on a day to day basis, I don't think SR vampires had anything to fear from losing limbs because no one has the wherewithal to do that to them even when they tried. I'd treat their body like one cursed unit that lives or dies, heals or burns, in totality. As if their magic nature changes them to a "hit point" system and they no longer worry about "critical wounds." Like the probability of dismemberment is altered down to nil, similar to how undead skeletons just have that magic glue holding their bones together which always seems strong enough to get the job done. You'd try to hack off their arm but it just wouldn't work out for you cuz the curse don't play that. And for the living vampires, Vorador style guys, the preternatural grace of their species might explain why no dismemberment scenarios befall them. But to add color to the vampire community, it'd be fun to have one of them crippled and treated like a pariah because to have that happen is just such an embarrassment. Also, can't you picture a dark ceremony where Turelim heads are placed on an altar, then switched onto beheaded corpses of defiant human leaders and their eyes light back up again? Because I can. But that'd take special prep work, like with Ted Williams' frozen head. Mostly decapitation should spell death, because all these old old species need a kill method, you know. Not just to make humans feel better about their chances, but because the old old species all clashed with each other since time immemorial and they discovered these methods through trial and error---knowing each others' kill methods was the original deterrant, the mutually assured destruction of the ancient world. Maybe if a warrior has a real gem of a soul, or is a creature or weapon who possesses a magnitude of power making it a true peer of vampires, maybe then you'd see his axe cleaving vamps down the middle line. I doubt they'd come back from it. (Though your idea for scary complete regeneration from any skin fragment----that could have been another kind of devolved vampire! or another dark forces plague.)