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Character Name:
Aubrey Attwater; formerly Alberich Attwater; formerly Abel; nickname: Brie (pronoun. 'Bree')
Power level:
Master
Age, Gender:
Male; age: 523 ; time spent as a vampire: 501
Location:
Venice
Description:
Aubrey has a slight build and only average height; weighing up 115lbs and toping the height chart at only 5”11’, he is less than imposing in his appearance, though his manner is quite different. His hair is rather fine and is a kind of dirty blonde; the length of his hair and the style varies from year to year, becoming shorter and choppier or longer and fuller as the mood strikes him. Aubrey’s eyes are green-blue hazel, or in his own words, “blueishy-green, maybe?” Despite his undead status, he would have been pale nevertheless. His colouring is reminiscent of his Germanic paternal ancestry, though he would remark that both his father and grandfather had English accents thick enough to walk on. He added a piercing to his right eyebrow sometime in the last few years, in keeping with what he sees as a “modern trend”. As a Master vampire, Aubrey is able to disguise his nature – a skill augmented by his bloodline – allowing him to appear relatively human. His face is highly mobile and expressive, and altogether deceptively innocent looking; he has the type of face and build that suggests ‘victim’, though what Aubrey lacks in stature and physical presence, he makes up for in force of emotion and intelligence.
His apparel is undoubtedly modern and can be slightly eccentric; Aubrey’s favourite item of clothing is a long black leather military-style coat with red lining. The most outrageous item in his wardrobe would be perhaps the black top hat, which he wears when he’s out to make mischief. He also has an assortment of everyday clothes, including a variety of tank tops, shirts and regular t-shirts – in black, white and red – and several pairs of jeans, both skinny and baggy, typically in black. It is not unusual to see Aubrey wearing a tie along with his casual clothing, for no other reason than he thinks it makes him look good. He also seemingly has a never-ending supply of Converse, his preferred footwear. Though his appearance is predominantly casual Aubrey can and will dress more formally if the situation requires, being in possession of a number of black blazers, trousers and several pairs of smart dress shoes.
Personality:
Despite being over just over four centuries old Aubrey still acts his collective shoe size (twenty) and, although he refuses to take much of anything seriously, he can and will act like an adult upon occasion; rarer still does he act his actual age. He is perhaps unusually human in his mannerisms and behaviour; when politics does not require him to be pokerfaced his features are very mobile and expressive, reflecting his emotions. Aubrey doesn’t hold with the stereotypical ‘woe-is-me-cursed-for-eternity-emo-vampire’ bollocks; he honestly doesn’t see the point. His forceful personality wouldn’t allow him to skulk in the shadows and recite romantic poetry in any case; live is for living, after all – and what do they have if not life in some way, shape or form?
Aubrey is first and foremost a highly whimsical and capricious creature, prone to impulsive decisions and ideas. He loves theatrics and drama, and is passionate about the stage; his own past as an actor is a significant factor, and he is continuously impressed with new technologies and methods in stage performance. A consummate actor himself, Aubrey knows – as many older vampires do – how to school his face and mind into stillness lest another read his features and know his thoughts. Nevertheless, he is in touch with his emotions, both negative and positive, sometimes explosively so. He likes other around him to be happy because when they’re down, he really does feel down in the dumps with them. Being around an over-excited, or just plain, Aubrey is often a hazard unto itself; even when in a stable emotional mindset he speaks with his hands as much as his mouth and face, and when excited or emotionally disturbed his gestures become even more violent and wild, leading to the possibility of catching a whack across the head.
His less than imposing physique correctly gives the impression that Aubrey is not violent by nature, being an advocate of the ‘he who runs away, lives to fight another day’ policy. Not to say that Aubrey is cowardly, instead he finds himself leaning toward a more pragmatic disposition that makes itself well known when the other shoe drops. He has an intense dislike of politics and the accompanying grandstanding, backstabbing and other gritty details because it all adds up to a quick death in his mind. Far better, in his mind, to straddle the fence, keep your head down and be noncommittal. He figures he’ll survive longer; heck, it’s worked up until now.
He adores the modern era and adapts with little to no trouble as the centuries roll on by; by spending time in the world rather than loitering on the sidelines, Aubrey believes that he can integrate more fully into the world and overcome the remaining prejudices against his species. In this respect, he is relatively pro-human though he recognises that many humans are more monstrous than the actual ‘monsters’. Closed-mindedness, prejudice (in any way, shape or form), arrogance, kowtowing, all these things grind Aubrey’s beans; honestly, why can’t the world just get along y’know? He uses large amounts of slang and modern idioms since they are, after all, in the modern era. Oh, and they sound fantastic don’t they? That being said, he tries to keep the swearing to a minimum lest he start to sound like a crass youth.
History:
Renaissance England flowered in the 15th and 16th Centuries; it was an age of expansion and exploration abroad, while at home Elizabethan and Jacobean styles applied classical motifs to architecture and art while retaining medieval forms, and as centres of power began to shift from the landed gentry into the cities, the class system became more economically based. Previously in the medival era theatre companies would attach themselves to the households of noblemen and perform seasonally in various locations. These companies became the foundation for the professional players that performed on the Elizabethan stage; these company tours gradually replaced the performances of the mystery and morality plays by local players.
It was into this world that Alberich Attwater was born to Elric and Meggy Attwater in 1487; Alberich’s future lay in his father’s modest theatre troupe where he began his theatrical career in a nest of costumes and props backstage, helping the actors with their costumes and lines. Elric Attwater’s troupe was fortunate enough to have been sponsored by a minor noble family, and thus was able to perform seasonally up and down the country. He was an outspoken child, confident and quick-witted, and very much on good terms with the rest of the company; they were, more or less, an extended family of sorts, so young ‘Al’ was never sort of attention or advice. As he grew several things became clear: he was not going to have his father’s impressive bear-like stature – instead taking after his mother’s more slender, willowy build – and that the boy was made for the stage. Of course, this did not mean that Alberich was going to have an easy time of it in the troupe; pure talent was no substitute for years of experience in his father’s eyes, so Alberich was subjected to the same training and lifestyle as any other actor.
Although Alberich enjoyed his work as a stagehand, his first true love was the stage. During the Middle Ages it was considered disgraceful for women to go upon the stage, and thus many of young Al’s first roles were that of girls and women. Although the troupe boasted its own playwright, most of their work consisted of various adaptations and retellings of other works; in time Alberich proved his mettle as an actor, playing significant secondary characters. By this point, the young actor had grown into a competent man and was facing his mother’s incessant demands for grandchildren. At the age of seventeen he was certainly of marriageable age, though he despaired of the thought of marrying; it just didn’t feel… right. He didn’t want to “settle down”; he wanted to be an actor! There was plenty of time for marriage and babies and so forth.
Alberich’s career continued to blossom and despite his previous objections, he found himself engaged to a delightful young woman named Catherine; Catherine was as sensible as Aubrey was whimsical and was perfectly prepared to put up with her husband’s passion for acting. Their marriage was a joyous affair and was, as all marriages within the troupe were, a particularly rambunctious one. Their little Al had grown up and was finally married! The troupe continued to perform up and down the country. Catherine, while not allowed on stage, was highly efficient at making the flamboyant costumes for the actors; Alberich, on the other hand, finally made his way onto the stage where his skill and charisma secured him the status of the leading man. One night after a performance, the actors headed to the local public house for their usual celebratory drinks; Catherine, by this point, had given birth to a beautiful baby girl and was round with her second child, and so headed back to the troupe’s caravans with the other women and younger company members, leaving the men to their boisterous drinking.
Later the troupe members who had remained in the pub would proclaim their ignorance and distress when Alberich disappeared from the public house. No one could be certain when he was last seen him or when he’d vanished from sight; he was in their words, “Just… gone.” Although Alberich would never know it, he had only been moved a few buildings down from the pub and it was the last time he would set eyes on the troupe members. Vampires, as far as Al was concerned, did not exist. They could not exist. This idea was very quickly overturned, along with Al’s own sense of self. The transition from human to vampire was painful and horrifying, and yet his mind survived more or less intact. Should anyone comment on his behaviour, there is always the catchall answer of, “Having your throat torn out repeatedly tends to scramble your brains a bit, don’t ya know?” Humans have been turned for many reasons; Alberich was turned not for his features but for his rhetoric and charisma. He moved people, he inspired them; it was a useful skill after all.
Although vampirism did not sit well with Alberich, neither did the idea of dying for good. The notion that he could not go back and see his wife and child, the troupe, and his parents enraged him. What kind of person could simply abandon all that? The answer to that particular question was relatively simple: one who did not wish those people to die. It was not the kind of statement one argued with, particularly when the people you were arguing with could quite easily pull your limbs off. Over time his abductors slowly became companions as Alberich found that they were, for the most part, much like himself; their maker, Caius, was of Roman origin and was responsible for many of the lessons that Alberich learned during his first years of his ‘unlife’.
The vampires he had been recruited by eventually seemed to weary of country living and once Aubrey had passed the century mark, and was deemed capable of coping in a city environment, they moved themselves and him out of the area and down into London. London was positively horrifying compared to Alberich’s relatively rural lifestyle. It was horrendously filthy, disease ridden and crowded, and he struggling to come to terms with his new identity. Seemingly gone was his previous wit and banter, replaced instead by a morose pondering and penchant for philosophical debate. Although he keenly understood that his hunger for blood must be sated, he took no joy in his hunting or his victims; it became, rather simply, something that needed to be done. Although his dislike of London was more than evident, some things struck a curious chord with the young vampire. One of those things was the Globe Theatre, the theatre of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men; it was the most spectacular building Alberich had ever seen, and he was present in the crowd when it went up in flames in June 1613 during a performance of Henry the Eighth. Although no one was harmed in the fire, he was much saddened to see the fire consume the building. Much to his personal relief, the Globe was rebuilt the following year but was closed and pulled down by the Puritans in the 1640s to make room for tenements. Alberich met this decision with loathing, scorn and a great deal of sadness; he loved the Globe Theatre, heck he loved all theatre, and found that his previously whimsical and fanciful nature was returning to him, albeit tempered by recent events.
London saw the introduction of lessons that were largely tailored to city-living, and included, finding suitable resting places, the correct way in which to approach other groups of their kind, how to find victims (both willing and unwilling) and other such useful titbits of knowledge. However, nothing Caius did could have prepared them for something along the catastrophic lines of the Great Fire of London. Unlike many citizens who merely moved themselves and their possessions to the nearest ‘safe house’, Caius moved his small group of vampires out of the city altogether until the fire had abated. Indeed, Alberich had had his fill of fire for the moment; contrary to the opinion of Samuel Johnson that, “[You’ll] find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford” However, Caius, Alberich and the rest of their group were more than tired of London and all it’s filthy, hazardous glory. Alberich was 179 years old at the time of Great Fire of London, and it remains a landmark in his memory.
Instead of settling in another town or city, the vampire proceeded to move around the countryside, always mobile and never settling in any place for long; they also made the decision to change their names, something Caius recommended doing every half century or so, particularly if they decided to spend a great deal of time in one place; Caius was now Carson and Alberich now Abel. Abel against Caius’s advice, performed on street corners for his own amusement as well as for money. Thieving clothes and other material objects was something he refused point blank to do, and so he derived the means to buy them for himself. Of all Carson’s vampires, Abel was singularly adept at blending in with humanity, and so most of his doubts were rendered defunct. Time rolled on by in her linear fashion into the Georgian era, and Abel watched England’s transformations keenly. With the new social changes and cultural vibrancy of the era, Abel felt that humanity was moving toward a world of acceptance and prosperity. Of course, the democracy he dreamed of would never truly come to be, and anything approaching it would not arrive in the world for some centuries to come. The Georgian era passed them by with little to no notable events, though the number of their members fluctuated slightly over the years.
As the 19th Century bled into the 20th Century, Carson felt a keen sense of wanderlust and opted to take his group of vampires back to the mainland of Europe; Abel, while eager to see the mainland – Rome in particular – decided to stay in England alone. Although Carson was disappointed to lose him, believed that if Abel couldn’t look after himself after 500 years, then he probably never would. Once again in London, they parted ways and with the onset of war Abel disappeared into the rural countryside. He travelled continuously during the First and Second World Wars, the countryside being viewed as a damn sight better than the cramped and Blitz-stricken cities. When the war was declared over, Abel moved south back into London, with the Master of the City’s gracious permission, in time to witness the Big Smoke of 1952; although the smog had no effect on him, it led to thousands of premature deaths and tens of thousands of sickened people. Admittedly, it was an easy thing to hunt through the dying for victims, and a quick painless death at his hands was far better than a slow death through lung infections.
The move into the Swinging Sixties was the catalyst for Abel’s ultimate recovery; this libertine era finally brought him back to his fantastical self and this was the beginning of his goal to integrate more fully into society. At the turn of the next decade, Abel adopted yet another name, one that led him almost full circle to his birth name: Aubrey, the Norman-French form of ‘Alberich’. Unlike his other names, this one stuck and he has not seen fit to change it since. If possible, Aubrey loved the modern era more than anything else that he had previously seen in his four centuries of unlife; it was progressive, decadent, wild and rebellious, and of course, spawned Ray Ban sunglasses.
However, as immersed as he was in London life, he began to weary of the rambunctious Londoner-lifestyle and instead took it into his head to finally undertake that journey into Europe that he’d always wanted, toying with the notion of looking up Carson, his old friend and maker. He had no idea exactly where Carson had ended up, and Aubrey’s journey turned into something of a grand tour of Europe as his maker proved to be extremely elusive. Eventually, Aubrey more or less decided to settle, and in Venice no less, with the permission of Donovan, the newly instated Master of the City. Why Venice? Three simple words my friend, Carnevale di Venezia. Aubrey fell in love with Venice and its culture, making an unusual effort to learn Italian. Now, a loyal member for the Venetian Kiss, Aubrey works in Il Teatro di Anima (he laughed himself silly when he discovered what the name really meant) as a variety act.
Powers/Training/Experience/weaknesses
-- Eccentric;; Aubrey could talk and think his way around a corkscrew in a whirlpool and is odd in both the most basic meaning of the word and in a way that has nothing to do with the supernatural.
-- Empathy;; he can ‘smell’ emotions and detect lies to some extent. This is one power the Aubrey dislikes, mainly because it doesn’t always work – “if the person telling the lie believes the lie then the lie is no longer a lie but the truth… right?”
-- Fisticuffs & Knife training;; eventually running stops becoming a viable option and when Aubrey finds himself unable to ‘vamp’ his way out of a situation then he goes for the good ol’ uppercut to the chin. Then again, sometimes the good ol’ uppercut to the chin doesn’t work, requiring something of a more pointed and shiny nature to be employed as a weapon. Years on the streets of, well, the streets of anywhere really, have resulted in Aubrey’s aptitude for knife-work and the throwing of smaller blades with wicked accuracy.
-- Levitation;; of himself and one other. This is by far his favourite power, though he’d be the first to admit that travelling long distances at great speed is somewhat draining.
-- Mass Hypnosis;; Aubrey can, to some extent, exert a hypnotic effect across a crowd of people. His maker suggested that this was only a natural extension of his innate charisma.
-- Mind Roll;; he can ‘roll’ those lesser than himself with his gaze.
-- Street Magic & Performance;; along with his skill as an actor, Aubrey has dabbled in street magic as an accompaniment to his stage training; he most uses this as an additional tool with which to gain money.
-- Sunlight, fire, decapitation, holy objects and water and so on;; all major no-no’s; Aubrey likes his body and relative health all intact, thank you very much.
-- Vampiric nature;; increased strength, stamina and heightened senses, and quick healing; all useful things, right?
Master vampire Powers:
-- Call shadows: all the better to hide in
-- Animal to call: leopards
-- Ability to create human/animal servant
Blood Line Power:
-- Line: Mr Oliver
-- Power: the power to cause earthquakes. Since Aubrey is still rather young he is only capable of a 4.0-5.9 on the Richter magnitude scale: 4.0-4.9 would be described as a 'light' quake with noticeable shaking of indoor items and rattling noises with significant damage being unlikely. 5.0-5.9 would be described as a 'moderate' quake, which can cause major damage to poorly constructed buildings over small regions, at most causing slight damage to well-designed buildings.
Kiss or Non Kiss:
Kiss
RP Sample:
*waves China’s minion badge*
Playerbase/Face Claim name:
Theon McInsane a.k.a the front-man of Lovex
Pictures:
Pic#1
Pic#2
Pic#3
Aubrey Attwater; formerly Alberich Attwater; formerly Abel; nickname: Brie (pronoun. 'Bree')
Power level:
Master
Age, Gender:
Male; age: 523 ; time spent as a vampire: 501
Location:
Venice
Description:
Aubrey has a slight build and only average height; weighing up 115lbs and toping the height chart at only 5”11’, he is less than imposing in his appearance, though his manner is quite different. His hair is rather fine and is a kind of dirty blonde; the length of his hair and the style varies from year to year, becoming shorter and choppier or longer and fuller as the mood strikes him. Aubrey’s eyes are green-blue hazel, or in his own words, “blueishy-green, maybe?” Despite his undead status, he would have been pale nevertheless. His colouring is reminiscent of his Germanic paternal ancestry, though he would remark that both his father and grandfather had English accents thick enough to walk on. He added a piercing to his right eyebrow sometime in the last few years, in keeping with what he sees as a “modern trend”. As a Master vampire, Aubrey is able to disguise his nature – a skill augmented by his bloodline – allowing him to appear relatively human. His face is highly mobile and expressive, and altogether deceptively innocent looking; he has the type of face and build that suggests ‘victim’, though what Aubrey lacks in stature and physical presence, he makes up for in force of emotion and intelligence.
His apparel is undoubtedly modern and can be slightly eccentric; Aubrey’s favourite item of clothing is a long black leather military-style coat with red lining. The most outrageous item in his wardrobe would be perhaps the black top hat, which he wears when he’s out to make mischief. He also has an assortment of everyday clothes, including a variety of tank tops, shirts and regular t-shirts – in black, white and red – and several pairs of jeans, both skinny and baggy, typically in black. It is not unusual to see Aubrey wearing a tie along with his casual clothing, for no other reason than he thinks it makes him look good. He also seemingly has a never-ending supply of Converse, his preferred footwear. Though his appearance is predominantly casual Aubrey can and will dress more formally if the situation requires, being in possession of a number of black blazers, trousers and several pairs of smart dress shoes.
Personality:
Despite being over just over four centuries old Aubrey still acts his collective shoe size (twenty) and, although he refuses to take much of anything seriously, he can and will act like an adult upon occasion; rarer still does he act his actual age. He is perhaps unusually human in his mannerisms and behaviour; when politics does not require him to be pokerfaced his features are very mobile and expressive, reflecting his emotions. Aubrey doesn’t hold with the stereotypical ‘woe-is-me-cursed-for-eternity-emo-vampire’ bollocks; he honestly doesn’t see the point. His forceful personality wouldn’t allow him to skulk in the shadows and recite romantic poetry in any case; live is for living, after all – and what do they have if not life in some way, shape or form?
Aubrey is first and foremost a highly whimsical and capricious creature, prone to impulsive decisions and ideas. He loves theatrics and drama, and is passionate about the stage; his own past as an actor is a significant factor, and he is continuously impressed with new technologies and methods in stage performance. A consummate actor himself, Aubrey knows – as many older vampires do – how to school his face and mind into stillness lest another read his features and know his thoughts. Nevertheless, he is in touch with his emotions, both negative and positive, sometimes explosively so. He likes other around him to be happy because when they’re down, he really does feel down in the dumps with them. Being around an over-excited, or just plain, Aubrey is often a hazard unto itself; even when in a stable emotional mindset he speaks with his hands as much as his mouth and face, and when excited or emotionally disturbed his gestures become even more violent and wild, leading to the possibility of catching a whack across the head.
His less than imposing physique correctly gives the impression that Aubrey is not violent by nature, being an advocate of the ‘he who runs away, lives to fight another day’ policy. Not to say that Aubrey is cowardly, instead he finds himself leaning toward a more pragmatic disposition that makes itself well known when the other shoe drops. He has an intense dislike of politics and the accompanying grandstanding, backstabbing and other gritty details because it all adds up to a quick death in his mind. Far better, in his mind, to straddle the fence, keep your head down and be noncommittal. He figures he’ll survive longer; heck, it’s worked up until now.
He adores the modern era and adapts with little to no trouble as the centuries roll on by; by spending time in the world rather than loitering on the sidelines, Aubrey believes that he can integrate more fully into the world and overcome the remaining prejudices against his species. In this respect, he is relatively pro-human though he recognises that many humans are more monstrous than the actual ‘monsters’. Closed-mindedness, prejudice (in any way, shape or form), arrogance, kowtowing, all these things grind Aubrey’s beans; honestly, why can’t the world just get along y’know? He uses large amounts of slang and modern idioms since they are, after all, in the modern era. Oh, and they sound fantastic don’t they? That being said, he tries to keep the swearing to a minimum lest he start to sound like a crass youth.
History:
Renaissance England flowered in the 15th and 16th Centuries; it was an age of expansion and exploration abroad, while at home Elizabethan and Jacobean styles applied classical motifs to architecture and art while retaining medieval forms, and as centres of power began to shift from the landed gentry into the cities, the class system became more economically based. Previously in the medival era theatre companies would attach themselves to the households of noblemen and perform seasonally in various locations. These companies became the foundation for the professional players that performed on the Elizabethan stage; these company tours gradually replaced the performances of the mystery and morality plays by local players.
It was into this world that Alberich Attwater was born to Elric and Meggy Attwater in 1487; Alberich’s future lay in his father’s modest theatre troupe where he began his theatrical career in a nest of costumes and props backstage, helping the actors with their costumes and lines. Elric Attwater’s troupe was fortunate enough to have been sponsored by a minor noble family, and thus was able to perform seasonally up and down the country. He was an outspoken child, confident and quick-witted, and very much on good terms with the rest of the company; they were, more or less, an extended family of sorts, so young ‘Al’ was never sort of attention or advice. As he grew several things became clear: he was not going to have his father’s impressive bear-like stature – instead taking after his mother’s more slender, willowy build – and that the boy was made for the stage. Of course, this did not mean that Alberich was going to have an easy time of it in the troupe; pure talent was no substitute for years of experience in his father’s eyes, so Alberich was subjected to the same training and lifestyle as any other actor.
Although Alberich enjoyed his work as a stagehand, his first true love was the stage. During the Middle Ages it was considered disgraceful for women to go upon the stage, and thus many of young Al’s first roles were that of girls and women. Although the troupe boasted its own playwright, most of their work consisted of various adaptations and retellings of other works; in time Alberich proved his mettle as an actor, playing significant secondary characters. By this point, the young actor had grown into a competent man and was facing his mother’s incessant demands for grandchildren. At the age of seventeen he was certainly of marriageable age, though he despaired of the thought of marrying; it just didn’t feel… right. He didn’t want to “settle down”; he wanted to be an actor! There was plenty of time for marriage and babies and so forth.
Alberich’s career continued to blossom and despite his previous objections, he found himself engaged to a delightful young woman named Catherine; Catherine was as sensible as Aubrey was whimsical and was perfectly prepared to put up with her husband’s passion for acting. Their marriage was a joyous affair and was, as all marriages within the troupe were, a particularly rambunctious one. Their little Al had grown up and was finally married! The troupe continued to perform up and down the country. Catherine, while not allowed on stage, was highly efficient at making the flamboyant costumes for the actors; Alberich, on the other hand, finally made his way onto the stage where his skill and charisma secured him the status of the leading man. One night after a performance, the actors headed to the local public house for their usual celebratory drinks; Catherine, by this point, had given birth to a beautiful baby girl and was round with her second child, and so headed back to the troupe’s caravans with the other women and younger company members, leaving the men to their boisterous drinking.
Later the troupe members who had remained in the pub would proclaim their ignorance and distress when Alberich disappeared from the public house. No one could be certain when he was last seen him or when he’d vanished from sight; he was in their words, “Just… gone.” Although Alberich would never know it, he had only been moved a few buildings down from the pub and it was the last time he would set eyes on the troupe members. Vampires, as far as Al was concerned, did not exist. They could not exist. This idea was very quickly overturned, along with Al’s own sense of self. The transition from human to vampire was painful and horrifying, and yet his mind survived more or less intact. Should anyone comment on his behaviour, there is always the catchall answer of, “Having your throat torn out repeatedly tends to scramble your brains a bit, don’t ya know?” Humans have been turned for many reasons; Alberich was turned not for his features but for his rhetoric and charisma. He moved people, he inspired them; it was a useful skill after all.
Although vampirism did not sit well with Alberich, neither did the idea of dying for good. The notion that he could not go back and see his wife and child, the troupe, and his parents enraged him. What kind of person could simply abandon all that? The answer to that particular question was relatively simple: one who did not wish those people to die. It was not the kind of statement one argued with, particularly when the people you were arguing with could quite easily pull your limbs off. Over time his abductors slowly became companions as Alberich found that they were, for the most part, much like himself; their maker, Caius, was of Roman origin and was responsible for many of the lessons that Alberich learned during his first years of his ‘unlife’.
The vampires he had been recruited by eventually seemed to weary of country living and once Aubrey had passed the century mark, and was deemed capable of coping in a city environment, they moved themselves and him out of the area and down into London. London was positively horrifying compared to Alberich’s relatively rural lifestyle. It was horrendously filthy, disease ridden and crowded, and he struggling to come to terms with his new identity. Seemingly gone was his previous wit and banter, replaced instead by a morose pondering and penchant for philosophical debate. Although he keenly understood that his hunger for blood must be sated, he took no joy in his hunting or his victims; it became, rather simply, something that needed to be done. Although his dislike of London was more than evident, some things struck a curious chord with the young vampire. One of those things was the Globe Theatre, the theatre of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men; it was the most spectacular building Alberich had ever seen, and he was present in the crowd when it went up in flames in June 1613 during a performance of Henry the Eighth. Although no one was harmed in the fire, he was much saddened to see the fire consume the building. Much to his personal relief, the Globe was rebuilt the following year but was closed and pulled down by the Puritans in the 1640s to make room for tenements. Alberich met this decision with loathing, scorn and a great deal of sadness; he loved the Globe Theatre, heck he loved all theatre, and found that his previously whimsical and fanciful nature was returning to him, albeit tempered by recent events.
London saw the introduction of lessons that were largely tailored to city-living, and included, finding suitable resting places, the correct way in which to approach other groups of their kind, how to find victims (both willing and unwilling) and other such useful titbits of knowledge. However, nothing Caius did could have prepared them for something along the catastrophic lines of the Great Fire of London. Unlike many citizens who merely moved themselves and their possessions to the nearest ‘safe house’, Caius moved his small group of vampires out of the city altogether until the fire had abated. Indeed, Alberich had had his fill of fire for the moment; contrary to the opinion of Samuel Johnson that, “[You’ll] find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford” However, Caius, Alberich and the rest of their group were more than tired of London and all it’s filthy, hazardous glory. Alberich was 179 years old at the time of Great Fire of London, and it remains a landmark in his memory.
Instead of settling in another town or city, the vampire proceeded to move around the countryside, always mobile and never settling in any place for long; they also made the decision to change their names, something Caius recommended doing every half century or so, particularly if they decided to spend a great deal of time in one place; Caius was now Carson and Alberich now Abel. Abel against Caius’s advice, performed on street corners for his own amusement as well as for money. Thieving clothes and other material objects was something he refused point blank to do, and so he derived the means to buy them for himself. Of all Carson’s vampires, Abel was singularly adept at blending in with humanity, and so most of his doubts were rendered defunct. Time rolled on by in her linear fashion into the Georgian era, and Abel watched England’s transformations keenly. With the new social changes and cultural vibrancy of the era, Abel felt that humanity was moving toward a world of acceptance and prosperity. Of course, the democracy he dreamed of would never truly come to be, and anything approaching it would not arrive in the world for some centuries to come. The Georgian era passed them by with little to no notable events, though the number of their members fluctuated slightly over the years.
As the 19th Century bled into the 20th Century, Carson felt a keen sense of wanderlust and opted to take his group of vampires back to the mainland of Europe; Abel, while eager to see the mainland – Rome in particular – decided to stay in England alone. Although Carson was disappointed to lose him, believed that if Abel couldn’t look after himself after 500 years, then he probably never would. Once again in London, they parted ways and with the onset of war Abel disappeared into the rural countryside. He travelled continuously during the First and Second World Wars, the countryside being viewed as a damn sight better than the cramped and Blitz-stricken cities. When the war was declared over, Abel moved south back into London, with the Master of the City’s gracious permission, in time to witness the Big Smoke of 1952; although the smog had no effect on him, it led to thousands of premature deaths and tens of thousands of sickened people. Admittedly, it was an easy thing to hunt through the dying for victims, and a quick painless death at his hands was far better than a slow death through lung infections.
The move into the Swinging Sixties was the catalyst for Abel’s ultimate recovery; this libertine era finally brought him back to his fantastical self and this was the beginning of his goal to integrate more fully into society. At the turn of the next decade, Abel adopted yet another name, one that led him almost full circle to his birth name: Aubrey, the Norman-French form of ‘Alberich’. Unlike his other names, this one stuck and he has not seen fit to change it since. If possible, Aubrey loved the modern era more than anything else that he had previously seen in his four centuries of unlife; it was progressive, decadent, wild and rebellious, and of course, spawned Ray Ban sunglasses.
However, as immersed as he was in London life, he began to weary of the rambunctious Londoner-lifestyle and instead took it into his head to finally undertake that journey into Europe that he’d always wanted, toying with the notion of looking up Carson, his old friend and maker. He had no idea exactly where Carson had ended up, and Aubrey’s journey turned into something of a grand tour of Europe as his maker proved to be extremely elusive. Eventually, Aubrey more or less decided to settle, and in Venice no less, with the permission of Donovan, the newly instated Master of the City. Why Venice? Three simple words my friend, Carnevale di Venezia. Aubrey fell in love with Venice and its culture, making an unusual effort to learn Italian. Now, a loyal member for the Venetian Kiss, Aubrey works in Il Teatro di Anima (he laughed himself silly when he discovered what the name really meant) as a variety act.
Powers/Training/Experience/weaknesses
-- Eccentric;; Aubrey could talk and think his way around a corkscrew in a whirlpool and is odd in both the most basic meaning of the word and in a way that has nothing to do with the supernatural.
-- Empathy;; he can ‘smell’ emotions and detect lies to some extent. This is one power the Aubrey dislikes, mainly because it doesn’t always work – “if the person telling the lie believes the lie then the lie is no longer a lie but the truth… right?”
-- Fisticuffs & Knife training;; eventually running stops becoming a viable option and when Aubrey finds himself unable to ‘vamp’ his way out of a situation then he goes for the good ol’ uppercut to the chin. Then again, sometimes the good ol’ uppercut to the chin doesn’t work, requiring something of a more pointed and shiny nature to be employed as a weapon. Years on the streets of, well, the streets of anywhere really, have resulted in Aubrey’s aptitude for knife-work and the throwing of smaller blades with wicked accuracy.
-- Levitation;; of himself and one other. This is by far his favourite power, though he’d be the first to admit that travelling long distances at great speed is somewhat draining.
-- Mass Hypnosis;; Aubrey can, to some extent, exert a hypnotic effect across a crowd of people. His maker suggested that this was only a natural extension of his innate charisma.
-- Mind Roll;; he can ‘roll’ those lesser than himself with his gaze.
-- Street Magic & Performance;; along with his skill as an actor, Aubrey has dabbled in street magic as an accompaniment to his stage training; he most uses this as an additional tool with which to gain money.
-- Sunlight, fire, decapitation, holy objects and water and so on;; all major no-no’s; Aubrey likes his body and relative health all intact, thank you very much.
-- Vampiric nature;; increased strength, stamina and heightened senses, and quick healing; all useful things, right?
Master vampire Powers:
-- Call shadows: all the better to hide in
-- Animal to call: leopards
-- Ability to create human/animal servant
Blood Line Power:
-- Line: Mr Oliver
-- Power: the power to cause earthquakes. Since Aubrey is still rather young he is only capable of a 4.0-5.9 on the Richter magnitude scale: 4.0-4.9 would be described as a 'light' quake with noticeable shaking of indoor items and rattling noises with significant damage being unlikely. 5.0-5.9 would be described as a 'moderate' quake, which can cause major damage to poorly constructed buildings over small regions, at most causing slight damage to well-designed buildings.
Kiss or Non Kiss:
Kiss
RP Sample:
*waves China’s minion badge*
Playerbase/Face Claim name:
Theon McInsane a.k.a the front-man of Lovex
Pictures:
Pic#1
Pic#2
Pic#3
