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Vlad Bathory
Player: [|@doomedluke]
Vlad in his Shadow Form and Shadow Wings
Character Build
Class Focus:	Darkness (The Void)/Hybrid
Power Level:	40
Research & Development:
Biographical Data
Real Name:	Confidential
Known Aliases:
Gender:	Male
Species:	Human/Soul vampire
Ethnicity:	Mediterranean
Place of Birth:	Somewhere near ancient Babylon
Base of Operations:	Millennium City, Vibora Bay
Relatives:	Farzam (lover - deceased)
Characteristics
Age:	Apparent: mid 40s; actual: 2870 years (deceased with 42)
Height:	1,73m (5'8")
Weight:	102Kg (224 lbs)
Eyes:	Bright orange
Hair:	Black (actually bald)
Complexion:	Pale white skin
Physical Build:	Short and stout
Physical Features:	Bald, beard
Status
Alignment:	██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ Lawful Neutral
Reputation:	██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ Reclusive
Identity:	Secret
Years Active:	Acts through centuries with different identities, often in secret.
Citizenship:
Occupation:	Relic negotiator
Education:	Very instructed
Marital Status:	Widowed
Known Powers and Abilities
Dark energy discharges, dimensional rifts, shadow tentacles, flight through shadow wings, can turn into a swarm of bats, can fuse or cover his body with shadows, can inflict fear on creatures and drain their life energy.
Equipment and Paraphernalia
none

Attributes
	Strength	█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █		Endurance	█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █
	Agility	█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █		Speed	█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █
	Fighting	█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █		Projectiles	█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █
	Durability	█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █		Resistance	█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █
	Intelligence	█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █		Psyche	█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █
	Intuition	█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █		Charisma	█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █
ReldinBox Template

Vlad is my sixth character and was intended to be a vampire. Since The Void archetype only allows to drain life energy, he turned into a soul vampire instead. He was also intended to have a more traditional seductive and androgynous vampiric appearance with a long, white hair, and more slender frame, but when creating him, I decided to go the opposite way, with more masculine, rude and non-stereotypical looks, thus changing him into my "bear" character. I have been playing him for some months, but only now I decided to develop him deeply. When thinking of an origin for him, at first, I thought of making him some historical tyrant or overlord that later became repentant, after being cursed with undead immortality. But since I did not want to create conflict with historical facts, I decided to make him a fictional leader against a dominant empire. Finally, I came with the light/darkness conflict, also involving the two antagonistic persian gods.

English

Appearance, Personality and Characteristics

"I have existed for 2870 years. But I am not alive since I was 42." – in 2013.

"I feel... The darkness in my soul!"

Vlad Bathory is a man, not very tall but of strong constitution and thick size. His skin was white, but now is very pale. His apparent age is about his mid 40s. He has heavy features, with a dark beard and bald head.

Vlad usually dresses adapting to the time and place he lives, but has a taste for Victorian clothing, time to time dressing accordingly with a heavy coat and hat, which also helps relieving the effects from sun light. He may, occasionally, use a mystical armor he crafted during the Middle Age.

He is a serious man, sometimes showing a sarcastic or harsh sense of humor. Though honorable, he is constantly in conflict with his dark nature, which taints him to kill at every moment, thus preferring isolation.

Unlike blood vampires, Vlad maintained his emotions and is not entirely hunger-driven. He may become fond of others and even love someone, although he will avoid this by any means in the case of mortal beings. Should he find someone that is not an easy prey and vulnerable to his dark side, Vlad may risk a relationship. He never fully recovered from the loss of Farzam, though.

Powers

Vlad can channel the Darkness in his body through dark energy bolts or create shadow tentacles to attack his enemies. He can create dimensional vortexes capable of dealing great damage to any creature caught by them, or even to bleed off or anulate any damage directed to himself. He can use his enemies' own shadows to create chains and tentacles to imprison them for a short time.

The Darkness within his body automatically makes him partially merge to the shadows in his surroundings, making him more difficult to be noticed by other beings in environments with little light. Vlad can also consciously use the Darkness to boost the strength of his attacks or to generate more energy to channel through these attacks. He cannot use this power under the light of the day, however, and also avoids using it during night as, under its effect, Vlad finds it harder to control his dark instincts. While using this power, creatures next to him can instantly become terrified, as Vlad's body becomes shrouded by shadows. The majority of his powers can affect psychologically other beings, even inflicting panic attacks on them.

Vlad can also use the Darkness to form wings and use them to fly, usually through short distances or when in combat, or can simply transform himself into a cloud of bats and dark mist to fly with greater speed. In this form, however, Vlad is incapable of using other powers.

Finally, Vlad can shapeshift into a enormous and horrifying bat-like monster to look even more intimidating. His powers, though, do not change while in this form.

Weaknesses

Vlad, unlike european vampires, cannot transmit his vampirism, which is a combination of the powers conceded and curses inflicted by both Arhiman and Ahura Mazda. Besides that, his curse is not in his blood but in his very soul. He does not need blood to survive, but the very vital force from other human beings. His body keeps functioning through the dark energy existing within him, fueled by the souls he drains.

Because of the Darkness in his body, the sun is capable of weakening Vlad in a similar manner it does to other vampires. However, as his power got stronger through centuries, it can not deal him greater damage beside a great discomfort. Because of that, Vlad prefers the night as active time.

Vlad does not know any means to get rid of his curses. He believes that by keeping his sanity and avoiding killing, especially innocents, he will eventually reach redemption and Ahura Mazda will remove them and give him rest. However, he knows that, every time he feeds, he is also giving power to Ahriman, enemy of the god. His very existence is a paradox and, for this, Vlad is in constant conflict with his own nature: he can not die because of Ahura Mazda's curse, but his existence forces him to deliver souls to Ahriman.

History

Life and Death

Bahadur was an aryan leader born before the foundation of Persia, in the region at south of Parsa and near Babylon in 857AC. He was leader of a nomad warrior aryan tribe (which later became known as the persian) when aryan people were still dominated by the assyrians. Being a fierce and merciless warrior and skilled strategist, Bahadur fought the assyrian domain over his people in the 9th century BC. In 815AC, when the Assyrian Empire ruled by Shamshi-Adad V, was passing through a civil war, Bahadur, leading a little rebellion near Susa, was betrayed by part of his men, who received riches from the assyrian to make so that their leader stopped the incursions against their domain. His closest men were murdered at night while Bahadur was imprisoned and tortured throughout days and finally be left to die in the desert. Refusing to die a victim of betrayal, and angered by what he thought was a treason from the god Ahura Mazda, or Ormazd, Bahadur swore he would take the lives and made a pact with Angra Mainyu, or Ahriman, god of death and darkness, which, in exchange for the souls of Bahadur himself and his victims, gave him the necessary powers of Darkness for his vengeance.

When he awoke the next night, Bahadur found the bodies of his men and their families, and also of his lover, Farzam ("the Wise"). Full of anguish and hate, he followed the tracks of the traitors and, as he found them camping and feasting, he killed all in a blind rage. When he finally came to his mind, however, he realized he had not only killed the traitors, but also their wives and children, draining their essences. For this profane act, Ahura Mazda cursed the avenger with death in life, so he could live until he could redeem his sins.

(un)Life in The Persian Empire

But the anger and the hunger could not let Bahadur perceive that Ahriman had turned him into his slave. The hunger made him to consume lives of innocent and guilt indiscriminately, whose souls where drained by the Darkness, the tentacles of Ahriman himself inside him.

Bahadur saw that his body could move and he was conscious, but he could not eat and the sun light weakened and hurt him. He wasn't really alive. He indeed died that night, and now he needed the life energy from other humans to sustain him.

The warrior spent centuries living in the shadows, until the rising of the Persian Empire, when he started to serve as a counselor to the persian kings, including even Xerxes during the Battle of Thermopylae. However, the courage of Leonidas and his men in the battle against the persian conqueror touched him, not only reminding him of the time that was he who fought against the assyrian domain, but also making him to sympathize with the spartan king.

A Change of Heart

Bahadur began to question the way how he lived during the last centuries. He eventually met personally Alexander the Great, when he took Babylon. The aryan already knew the macedonian's fame and realized that despite his young age, Alexander was wise, brave and idealist. Bahadur decided to retire from the political games and started to just watch, while he lamented the fall of Alexander's empire after his death.

Alexander's sense of justice made Bahadur decide not to take innocent lives anymore and, thus, he began to feed only on those who he found corrupted. From that day, he began to live in seclusion and to adopt different names, according to the place where he was and the time.

Living in Shadows and Meeting other Vampires

Later, Bahadur came to meet other vampires in Europe, but avoided approximation because he knew their blood thirst and that they yielded easily to it.

He even admired Vlad Tepes by his courage and skill as a governor and warrior while alive, but disapproved of his cruelty and violence while treating his fallen enemies and the criminal of his kingdom. After the hoaxes that gave that Vlad was assassinated, having met his father Vladic Dracul, a vampire in fact himself, he discovered that it was just a lie so that Vlad joined his father in the un-life.

Bahadur never became in contact with Elizabeth Bathory as, when she lived, he lived in the Kingdom of England. To him, for some time, Elizabeth's fame as a vampire was nothing but folklore.

After his arrival to the North America in the end of XIX century and the Victorian Age, and knowing the facts and rumors that surrounded both Dracula and Bathory, one of the names Bahadur started to use more frequently became Vlad Bathory. The irony of the name given his condition amused him, in a society that faced vampirism as a mere superstition, especially after the publishing of Bram Stoker's romance about Vlad Tepes.

The Werewolves

Present Days

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Português

Aparência, Personalidade e Características

“Eu tenho existido por 2870 anos. Mas eu não estou vivo desde que tinha 42.”, Vlad Bathory em 2013.

“Eu sinto... as trevas em minha alma!”

Vlad Bathory é um homem não muito alto, mas de porte largo e forte. Sua pele era clara, agora muito pálida. Idade aparente 40 e poucos anos. Feições duras, barba negra fechada, careca.

Vlad se veste de forma normalmente adaptada à época em que vive, mas tem um certo apreço pelas vestimentas vitorianas e, vez por outra, costuma se vestir de acordo, com um pesado sobretudo preto e chapéu, o que também ajuda a diminuir o efeito da luz solar sobre ele, caso necessário. Ele pode também, ocasionalmente, usar uma armadura mística de batalha que confeccionou durante a Idade Média.

É um homem sisudo, ocasionalmente mostrando um senso de humor sarcástico. Embora honrado, ele está constantemente em conflito com sua natureza negra, que o tenta a matar a todo instante.

Poderes

Vlad pode canalizar as trevas dentro de seu corpo através de descargas de energia negra ou criar tentáculos de sombras para atacar seus inimigos. Ele pode criar vórtices dimensionais capazes de causar grandes danos a quaisquer criaturas pega por eles, ou ainda de escoar ou anular qualquer dano direcionado a si mesmo.

As trevas em seu corpo automaticamente o fazem se fundir parcialmente às sombras a sua volta, fazendo com que outros seres tenham dificuldade em percebê-lo em ambientes com menor iluminação. Vlad também pode usar as trevas conscientemente para aumentar a força de seus ataques ou para aumentar a energia disponível para canalização para estes ataques. Ele não pode usar este poder se estiver sob a luz do dia, no entanto, além de evitá-lo durante a noite, pois, sob este efeito, Vlad tem maior dificuldade em controlar seus instintos negros. Quando usa estes poderes, criaturas próximas podem instantaneamente ficar aterrorizadas, uma vez que o próprio corpo de Vlad fica envolto pelas sombras. A maioria de seus poderes são capazes de afetar seus inimigos psicologicamente, até mesmo infligindo ataques de pânico neles.

Vlad ainda pode usar as trevas para formar asas e voar através delas, normalmente em curtas distâncias ou quando em combate, ou simplesmente se transformar numa nuvem de morcegos para voar com maior velocidade. Nesta forma, no entanto, Vlad é incapaz de usar seus outros poderes.

Fraquezas

Vlad, diferente dos vampiros europeus, não pode transmitir seu vampirismo, que é uma combinação dos poderes e maldições concedidos por Ahriman e Ahura Mazda. Além disso, sua maldição não está no sangue e, sim, em sua própria alma. Ele não precisa de sangue para sobreviver, mas da própria energia vital de outros seres humanos. Seu corpo continua funcionando através da energia negra que existe dentro de si, alimentada pelas almas que ele drena.

Por causa da escuridão dentro de seu corpo, o sol é capaz de enfraquecer Vlad de forma semelhante a outros tipos de vampiros. No entanto, devido ao seu grande poder, o sol já não é capaz de lhe causar maiores danos, além de um grande incômodo. Por isso, Vlad prefere ter como período ativo a noite.

Vlad não conhece meios para se livrar de suas maldições. Ele acredita que mantendo sua sanidade e abstendo-se de matar, principalmente inocentes, ele um dia conseguirá redenção e Ahura Mazda as retirará. No entanto, ele sabe que, toda vez que se alimenta, está também fortalecendo Ahriman, inimigo do deus. Sua própria existência é um paradoxo e, por isso, Vlad está em constante conflito com sua natureza: ele não pode morrer por causa da maldição de Ahura Mazda, mas sua existência o força a entregar almas para Ahriman.

Histórico

Bahadur era um líder ariano que nasceu antes da formação da Pérsia, na região ao sul de Parsa e próximo da Babilônia em 857AC. Foi líder de uma tribo guerreira de arianos (que depois vieram a ser chamados de persas) quando o povo ariano ainda era dominado pelos assírios. Tendo sido um guerreiro feroz e impiedoso, e hábil estrategista, Bahadur lutava contra o dominio assírio sobre o seu povo no século IX AC. Em 815, quando o império assírio, governado por Shamshi-Adad V, passava por uma guerra civil, Bahadur, que liderava uma pequena rebelião próxima de Susa, foi traído por parte de seus homens, que receberam em troca riquezas dos assírios para que seu líder deixasse de fazer incursões contra os dominadores. Seus homens mais próximos foram mortos durante a noite, enquanto, Bahadur foi aprisionado e torturado durante vários dias para, enfim, ser deixado para morrer. Recusando-se a morrer vítima de traição, e em revolta ao deus Ahura Mazda, que ele julgava tê-lo traído, Bahadur jurou que tomaria as vidas daqueles que o traíram e fez um pacto com Angra Mainyu, ou Ahriman, deus da morte e das trevas, que, em troca das almas de Bahadur e suas vítimas, deu-lhe os poderes das trevas necessários para sua vingança.

Ao despertar na noite seguinte, Bahadur encontrou os corpos de seus homens e suas famílias, e também de seu amante, Farzam (sábio). Cheio de angústia e ódio, seguiu os rastros dos traidores e, encontrando-os acampados e festejando, matou a todos numa fúria cega. Saindo de seu estado de fúria, no entanto, percebeu que havia matado não só os traidores, mas também suas mulheres e crianças, sugando suas essências. Por tal ato profano, Ahura Mazda amaldiçoou o vingador com a morte em vida, pra que vivesse até poder expiar seus pecados.

Mas a raiva e a fome não deixaram Bahadur perceber que Ahriman o havia transformado em seu escravo. A fome o fazia consumir vidas dos inocentes e dos vis indiscriminadamente, cujas almas eram drenadas pelas trevas, os próprios tentáculos de Ahriman, dentro de si.

Bahadur percebeu que seu corpo ainda podia mover-se, mas não conseguia alimentar-se e a luz do sol o enfraquecia e feria. Não estava realmente vivo. Ele havia de fato morrido naquela noite, e agora precisava da energia vital de outros humanos para se sustentar.

O guerreiro passou séculos vivendo nas trevas, até a ascensão do Império Persa, quando começou a servir como conselheiro para os reis persas. Bahadur foi, inclusive, conselheiro de Xerxes durante a Batalha das Termópilas. No entanto, a coragem de Leônidas e seus homens na luta contra o conquistador persa tocou-o, fazendo com que não só se lembrasse da época em que lutava contra o domínio assírio, como também com que se identificasse com o rei espartano.

Bahadur passou a questionar o modo como havia vivido durante os últimos séculos. Por fim, conheceu pessoalmente Alexandre, o Grande, quando este tomou a Babilônia. O persa já conhecia a fama do macedônio e percebeu que, a despeito da pouca idade, Alexandre era sábio, corajoso e idealista. Bahadur decidiu se retirar dos jogos políticos e passou a observar, inclusive lamentando a queda do império de Alexandre após sua morte.

O senso de justiça de Alexandre fez Bahadur decidir não mais tomar vidas dos inocentes e, assim, passou a se alimentar apenas dos que julgasse corruptos. A partir daí, passou a levar uma “vida” reclusa e a adotar diferentes nomes, de acordo com o lugar onde vivesse e a época.

Mais tarde, Bahadur chegou a ter contato com outros vampiros na Europa, mas evitava a aproximação por conhecer a sede de sangue e saber que os vampiros cediam muito fácil a ela.

Admirou Vlad Tepes pela sua coragem e destreza como governante e guerreiro enquanto vivo, mas desaprovava a crueldade e violência com que tratava os inimigos abatidos e os criminosos de seu reino. Após os boatos de que Vlad havia sido assassinado, tendo conhecido seu pai Vladic Dracul, que era de fato um vampiro, descobriu que tudo não passava de uma farsa para que Vlad se juntasse ao pai na não-vida.

No entanto, nunca tivera contato com Elizabeth Bathory, pois, com o início da colonização das Américas, Bahadur vivia no Reino da Inglaterra. Para Bahadur, durante um certo tempo, a fama de vampira de Elizabeth não passava de crendice popular.

Após sua vinda para a América no fim do século XIX e da Era Vitoriana, conhecendo todos os fatos e boatos que cercavam Drácula e Bathory, um dos nomes que Bahadur passou a adotar mais frequentemente foi Vlad Bathory. A ironia do nome devido a sua condição o diverte, numa sociedade que encara o vampirismo como uma mera superstição, especialmente após a publicação do romance Bram Stoker sobre Vlad Tepes.

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