An open letter to the South African Vampyre Community – by Octarine Valur

I am Octarine Valur. You may have heard of me, you may have heard a few interesting things about me. Some of them may even be true. I’m called the founder of South Africa’s VC. I’m called ‘Regent’ of the SA Vampyre Alliance. Some have called me ‘despot’ and some have even mocked me by calling me ‘Queen’. You may wonder which of these things is true, and you may be wondering what the SAVA is about.

Despot? Queen? No. I am neither of those things. Anyone who knows vamps, knows that getting a group of us to face in the same direction at the same time is like herding cats. Not all of us would agree about anything at the same time or in the same way, and neither would all of us get along or see eye to eye. A strong leader gets things done, a passionate leader holds on until it is.

I am Regent of the SAVA, yes. I founded the SAVA, yes – after spending several years in search of the elusive South African Vampyre Community online, and of finding nothing more than a handful of solitaries interested in becoming something more, something bigger, and more real and significant. An actual community. A family.

That’s what the SAVA is about – making the community around it into a family. The SAVA is an organization started in May 2011, and its purpose was to build the SA VC, beyond the isolated little FB groups and offline solitary vamps scattered across South Africa – to create a thriving network of real-life Vampyre covens, courts and social groups. To some degree, SAVA has succeeded.

Today we have at least one House in our community, House Valur and its two covens, d’Eir and Veritas – and the SAVA and its various projects are our legacy. Today, thanks to the efforts of the SAVA, vampyric Pagans can participate openly in Pagan groups and within the Pagan community with understanding and without fear of prejudice. Thanks to the SAVA, the SA VC has a face and a voice. Despite the criticism brought against us over the years, our critics have never delivered anything worthy of compare to the SAVA.

This is to let you know – the Awakened of South Africa – we are here. We’re here for you, and we’re not going anywhere. Take our hand – join us in making the SA VC better!