Donnchadh MacSeoin (Sl4cker)
Appearance: Donnchadh(Or, translated to modern English, Duncan) is a rather unorthodox vampire, even by the standards of The Alliance of Sorcerers. He is 5'9, blond haired with a sharp-eyed, thin face, and very usually wears a black cloak, with yellow trims and runes both ornamental and practical, with grey clothes under. In one pocket, he carries a thick tome of spells, a staple for a member of the AoS. In the other, he carries a small but thick glass disc he uses to see an object as closer than it actually is. On his back he carries a sort of strange spear-like device, where instead of where a metal head should be, attached to a wooden pole is an equally wooden hollow cylinder. It has an opening on top that was occupied by a metallic dart when fully loaded. Upon activation, the strange 'Flamespear' as he calls it fires the dart forwards upon a pillar of fire. He also carries a small knife around, more suited to rituals than fighting, for in case he misses.
Backstory: In reality, Duncan is more of a historian than a sorcerer. From is first days as but a fledgling he has been quite an introvert, even among the rest of his covenant. He has spent days in some library, reading of forgotten ages. However, when Carlsson and his followers first started his political frenzy, Duncan was inspired. All his life, he knew things that were already finished, things of which wouldn't of changed if he had existed or not. He had for his entire life as a vampire known only the past, but the Disciples were showing him the present. He had been shown how to innovate. Thus, he spent time not in some dusty library, but a lab. Taking inspiration from his books, Duncan had technically successfully recreated mythical things; magical orbs, things that allowed one to view the sublime as if looking through a window, flaming weapons that set alight whoever crossed their owner's path, and many more creations that were... unsuccessful. This is the Duncan we know today; the one who packed his most important things and set off to strange new lands, in more ways than one.
Claim to Fame: His usually unorthodox contraptions and trinkets have netted him a rather well-known reputation. Seen as an embodiment of the new, his superiors have decided it would be most fitting that an innovator such as him would lay claim to strange lands, alongside his strange inventions.
François Du Gris (Spiderking50)
Appearance: François is one of the few grey vampires. His skin is the color of stone. His eyes are like the morning fog above a bloody battlefield. He dresses as the living do (will update this when I know more of the culture). One would think he is a minor aristocrat. His clothes are almost always dark grey with sanguine accents. François is not as gaunt as many of his whiter brethren, but still quite thin by living standards. Many of his kin believe this to be because he is a young vampire, others believe it has to do with his strange origins, but they are both wrong. François is quite old, but while many withered away, he stayed well fed. He has the look of a true vampire: a hunter.
Backstory: François is an enigma. Some remember him from centuries long past. They remember François when he was a blanc. He was a gifted hunter and would never go thirsty. His brethren warned him that if he did not stop feeding so often, the living would become frantic. Then he and the rest of the Red Leech disappeared. Now he has returned from the dead as a Gris.
Claim to Fame: François was elected to attend this rendez-vous. The other Gris seem to revere François, but also tread lightly around him. Mostly this comes off as them being respectful.
Mardak Riltierd (Tomcost)
Appearance: a short, thin man, with the appearance of a man in his late forties. He uses a trimmed beard and moustache, and appears to be looking elsewhere, never making eye contact, even when speaking to those who are directly in front of him.
Backstory: Mardak was a sorcerer apprentice, a mediocre one at that. He had reached the position due to the favorable place of his parents among low-ranked noblemen, and his obsessive curiosity, which was his only trait that could be called more or less positive. Mardak's meeting with the vampire folk was... unusual, at best. He witnessed the abduction of a lowly noble by a group of vampires, a fact totally unbeknownst to him by that time. He followed the abductors until he lost them, but kept investigating afterwards, without much success. Eventually, he found the now-turned nobleman, and, perplexed, he confronted him. It was almost a public embarrassment, hadn't the noble managed to evade most of his questions with some degree of skill. Still, young Mardak was not satisfied, and futilely pursued more answers on the following days. Eventually, the nobleman moved away from the city, but apparently spoke about Mardak to his partners. Not achieving much, Mardak continued his studies, eventually becoming a fully trained, yet still mediocre sorcerer. It was because of his obsessive nature, not his skills with magic, that eventually he was abducted by some members of the alliance of sorcerers. Having found what was really happening, he gleefully accepted the gift of immortality. Unfortunately for him, his lack of skills made him get shunned by most sorcerers of the covenant. As such, he came to the Seekers, where he felt at home, studying the hidden dark arts, and becoming, this time, a competent summoner of the dark things from beyond.
Claim to Fame: to increase the dominion, and hopefully the available sacrifices for the covenant.
Rupert Reiher (Taricus)
Appearance: Standing around an impressive 180 cms with ebon hair and stark sapphire eyes, rupert cuts an impressive figure between his build and youthful look. Typically clothed in unassuming garb only his size tends to bring about attention.
Background/Description: Rupert's history is long, as befitting a member of the praetorians. Firmly prominent as one of the better examples of the guard's martial ability, rupert has fought on countless of battlefields for far longer than anyone can count, and done so from the frontlines of such. Many tales abound of a peerless warrior over the ages that single-handedly wiped out entire warbands, companies and parties of warriors without ever seemingly sustaining injury.
Of course, while an able fighter, Rupert has no tolerance for intrigues and typically remains aloof in regards to such matters preferring merely to let his abilities talk. Rupert has, however, occasionally acted as a tool or enforcer in a plot. This is mostly out of part of pragmatism given that he usually offers his services to the controller of a dominion in exchange for being allowed access to such, typically staying a few months before moving on.
Two things Rupert commits to which set him apart from his peers however. Firstly is a respect for the order of the sun, given that if he was younger, he'd likely been part of that covenant himself. The other, is a little more drastic; Rupert's feeds solely on bandits, raiders and other criminals. This is some borne from pragmatism, as no-one typically cares about a murderer in a dungeon suddenly turning up dead, or the drained bodies of brigands lying next to the roads.
Claim to Fame: In part via him volunteering, and most of the others preferring not to be parted from their current dominions. Rupert himself, whilst skilled, held little in regards to dominions back west.
Vayne, the Crowmother (Vacio)
Appearance: Raven black hair, pale white skin, 5'10", 61kg, silver eyes, with narrow pupils like a cat.
Backstory:
Vayne, has long wished for achieving Lichdom just like many of the Heirs of the Throne, she has read ancient tome after ancient tome in attempt to discover any fact about liches and the process to become one. However her reason is slightly different from others whom just want immortality or untold power, she believes become a lich will bring herself close to her God, Death. Even when Vayne was alive she had a fascination with death, she often killed small bugs or animals, and it wasn’t long that with her fascination with death that she eventually learned of the existence of a creature of the dead, a vampire. It had been a traveling bard who told the story of a knight who fought a Vampire Count in order to save the damsel in distress. She asked the bard many questions about the Vampire count, like why they needed blood, how the came to be, happy that someone appreciated his tale, the bard gave Vayne an old thick book of legends and myths.
After that Vayne would be seen with the old tome all day everyday, learning all she could from the book about vampires and their legend. And several months later she read the tale of how a necromancer had transform himself into a Vampire through a dark ritual on the night of a new moon. So she made preparations for the ritual, drawing of magical circles, memorizing the incantation used in the legend. Then it came the night of the new moon, she began the incantation, made the necessary human sacrifices (she had given them are large amount of booze the night before,and dragged them to the forest), however despite her mimicking the ritual exactly the ritual seemed to have no effect. Then suddenly her heart started to hurt, her body became cold as ice, her legs gave out, Vayne collapse onto the floor, losing consciousness she saw something, a figure in a black hood robe approach her before everything went black. She awoke the next night with a thirst, she found herself drawn to blood she had used for the ritual and began to drink the small puddles of blood that had yet to dry. The blood invigorated her, she had never felt this way before, but that is when it started. A whisper from behind, suddenly turning to check what was there but only the dead bodies of those she had sacrificed laid, she could swear she heard them say something.
The whispers would occur when around the dead, she believed this to be a gift from the being called death, he had blessed her with the ability to hear them whisper to her. During her early year as a Vampire she spent a large portion of her time in graveyards, mausoleums, and catacombs, in attempt to converse with the dead but with no luck. During one of her trips to a city’s graveyard she encountered one of her own kind whom seemed to talk in riddles, Vayne didn’t understand the man from time to time but found herself relating to the Vampire. It was through this vampire she learned of the Heirs of the Throne, and their eccentric minds similar to her own. Over the decades she learned more of her kind, and even earned the nickname Crowsmother as for wherever she went the crows would soon follow.
Claim to Fame: One of the influential Elder Vampires of the Heir of the Throne, during one of his mad visions, he had a moment of clarity and foresaw Vayne traveling east in her search, and appeared to have the Artifact in her hands but as Vayne was about to do something the vision ended. So the Elder used his influence to have her to travel eastward in order to figure out, what was the rest of the vision. Vayne does not know the reason why she was sent east, only told that it holds answers.
Virgil Torelli (Andres)
Appearance: Brown eyes, brown hair, a bit above average height, muscular but otherwise normal build.
Backstory: Virgil basically grew up in the underworld alongside his best friend Roger. As children, they relied mostly on burglary and mugging, and as they grew older they took on jobs from people as intimidators and even hired murderers. When they hit what they considered to be the primes of their lives, they became vampires so they can maintain their youth and strength forever, after which they promptly assassinated and disposed of their sire. For two decades, they became better and better assassins as there was rarely a shortage of people wanting other people dead. Seeing as there was no covenant based on assassination (or at least none that they knew of), they decided to found their own covenant.
Claim to Fame: Is travelling with Roger to the East to entrench his new covenant's position as an important power while there's still no competitors.
Artifacts:
Unfocused Scry Orb: In the days of magic, the arts of divination and scrying were crucial components of any war or game of intrigue. Though most scry orbs have been lost to the annals of history, MacSeoin has successfully been able to create one of his own. Weaker and unable to project far into the future, the Scry Orb is able to see potential events that may occur in a month's time, but only in the surrounding area and even then, only after hours of careful observation.[The Orb may only be used once every three months.]
Flamespear: While myths from the far south speak of miraculous weapons called flamelances, the flamespear crafted by MacSeoin is no legend. A very mundane if innovative weapon, its only supernatural attribute is the sudden immolation of its fired projectiles, and even that could be replicated with the right materials. The weapon gives its bearer a very potent ranged fire weapon, a useful threat against fellow vampires and mortals alike.
Focusing Lens: Less of an artifact and more a useful trinket, these Lens allow you a clearer picture of far-off happenings.
Assets:
Mortal Apprentice: A young human, your superiors have assigned an aspiring sorcerer to your service. He clearly lacks the rigours for promotion, but he can still be very useful. As an apprentice, he has knowledge on reagents and can help with preparing spells and rituals.
Intrinsics:
Sorcery (Expert): This character is capable of casting elemental spells. In ages past, all but the most complex spells could be cast without difficulty. In the present however, an immense sacrifice is needed for even the simplest of spells. Basic elemental spells (e.g, small fireballs and door-sized walls of ice) require the use of Blood and Health to cast. Advanced spells (e.g, thunderstorms and magmasummoning) require reagents which can be difficult or trivial to acquire...although some reagents can be substituted with enough blood....[Confers +3 to actions relating to Sorcery and knowledge of elemental spells including the required reagents]
Ritualcraft (Intermediate) : This character has knowledge of ceremonies required to appease the various spirits, demons and gods that happen to influence the world. Though arrogant and at times very difficult to communicate with, understanding them is key to any aspiring ritualist. [Confers +1 to actions relating to Sorcery and knowledge of rituals including the required reagents]
Tinkerer (Intermediate): MacSeoin strives to innovate rather than rely on old technologies and customs. Leave him with a few spare parts and some reagents and he could probably put together a comm array...one with a great deal of static and will likely fall apart after a week, but a comm.array nonetheless. [Confers +1 to actions relating to Tinkering]
Flaw (Social Isolation): Most senior members of the Alliance of Sorcerers are shut-ins meeting rarely and usually communicating via magical artifacts or messengers. Though most are at ease with fellow Sorcerers, many have difficulties speaking with outsiders. They're either too stupid, too stubborn or simply too incompetent to understand why the Sorcerer is right. [Confers +2 to actions relating to persuasion. Is nullified if person is befriended or already knows that you are right]
Artifacts:
The Silver Chalice: What this drinking vessel does is a secret Francois will probably bring to the grave. Not that its very powerful by itself or very useful to anyone else save for sentimental reasons. Used to induct vampires into the Brouillard Gris. Can generate silver blood.
Assets:
Aspirant: An aspirant is a common term referring to mortals on the path to vampirism. Though not rare, many are ignored outright for lacking certain criteria and those who are eventually embraced usually have some skill useful to their sire or covenant. The mysterious Brouillard Gris would be amongst the last covenants any mortal would desire to join, simply because nearly no one knows of them. That Francois has one at his service is a feat unto itself and the mortal probably has a great story to tell. This aspirant seems to have great knowledge on history, especially on the Vittar Empire. Aspirants can be used for nearly everything but it is recommended to keep them alive as they can be later turned into strong vampires. The more experience an aspirant has before being Embraced, the stronger the resulting vampire.
Smuggler: A supplier of illegal goods (rare reagents, souls and narcotics), the smuggler has spent decades trafficking his merchandise throughout the Mezev Tsardom and now the Eastern March. Though he has lost his network of contacts, he is very much willing to aid you and your cause...as long as you can pay, of course.
Hedgewitch: Hedgewitches are usually the first and often only provider of magical services a peasant will ever know. In truth, much of witchery is little more than superstition and mundane herbalsim. Some witches however retain the abilities associated with the more academic sorcerors, if somewhat twisted to suit their local cultures. Rather than making use of the elements, most witchery instead works with boons and hexes, which are often associated with ritualism. How exactly witches are able to use hexes without ritual is a secret most scholars discuss even to this day. Regardless, this witch will offer her services to you, as agreed previously.
Intrinsics
Silverblood: The blood of any Brouillard Gris vampire has a high silver composition, which while making them walking ore veins, also prevents most werewolves from getting anywhere near him.
Shapeshift (Silver Mist): All members of Brouillard Gris are capable of shifting their very form into gaseous silver and Francois is no different.
Occult (Intermediate): Though most ritualists ply their business with the intent of speaking to any supernatural being from beyond the mortal plane, occultists are far more specialised. Dealing with the creatures of the dark, the art of occult is more bargaining than true magic. By trading sacrifices to agents and beings of the dark, the occultist can receive great rewards or force events in time. Some whisper that it is possible to conjure one on to the world itself, although few can back these claims. [Confers +1 to actions relating to Occult and knowledge of rituals including the required reagents]
Flaw (Pale Complexion): You are obviously a vampire, even moreso than your compatriors. Paleness is a common stereotype of the vampiric disease and as such, it is recommended you avoid well-lit areas or come up with a air-tight reason for your complexion. On the other hand, it is trivial for you to strike fear into the hearts of mortals and as such, intimidating them into doing what you want is also trivial. [Confers +1 to Intimidation unless target is immune to vampiric intimidation.][/b]
Elder: While most vampires sent to colonise the East are merely Embraced, Fracnois is an Elder. Still remembering the days of the Empire and stronger Winds, Francois possesses a vast historical knowledge as well as the respect of other vampires...as well as being a sought-out target for Amaranth [Confers +2 to 'persuading' younger vampires.][/b]
Dialberie (Rank II): This vampire has the obvious scent of someone who has engaged in the consumption of vampire blood...[Confers +2 to intimidating younger vampires and -3 to Elder vampires unless they are members of the Brouillard Gris. +2 to Perception rolls.][/b]