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Thousand Year Old Vampire: Guillaume d'Orléans
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<blockquote data-quote="Whizbang Dustyboots" data-source="post: 8848302" data-attributes="member: 11760"><p><strong>Florence, 1550</strong></p><p></p><p>I awoke in darkness, the taste of smoke and charred human flesh in my mouth giving way to dust. Normally, the darkness was no problem for me, but this evening, it was like a blanket across my face.</p><p></p><p>No, not a blanket. Rubble. Stone and dirt. I sat forward, forcing it off me, thrusting it away with desperate hands to find even more rock and stone beyond it. My quarters beneath the fencing school had been filled with fallen rock.</p><p></p><p>I opened my mouth to call for Filippo or one of his sons, but only a croak came out, and I suddenly realized I was starved for blood, hungrier now than I had been since first arriving, a comatose prisoner, in Florence.</p><p></p><p>The last thing I remembered was a war council of the la danza nera in Il Chiarissimo's underground palace. We were discussing Savanarola, who was reportedly teaching his followers, il Piagnoni, about the vampires in Florence and planning on doing something about us.</p><p></p><p>But I remembered returning home before dawn, tired, perhaps, but no more than that. So what had happened here, and why had I not awakened for it?</p><p></p><p>With all my might, I began to slowly clear my way upward, moving the rubble as far as I could. Many times, I found myself confronted by immovable walls of stone and had to slowly crawl backwards and find another path forward. Other times, I dislodged too much at once and had to prevent a rapid landslide that might crush me, or worse, let in a sudden blast of sunlight for which I was unprepared, not knowing what hour of day this was.</p><p></p><p>When light finally broke through the rubble, I was so used to crawling in darkness that at first, I mistook it for sunlight and recoiled in panic. But it was moonlight, and as I pulled away the last few stones and pulled myself out, I saw it was a full moon. </p><p></p><p>I was still in my neighborhood of Florence, but things had changed. My school was in ruins, but other buildings around it were also damaged and some replaced entirely. And then I saw them: cannonball holes in some of the surviving buildings.</p><p></p><p>But otherwise, the street looked normal. It was clean and there were flower boxes in the windows. This was not currently a city at war. But when had it been? And for how long?</p><p></p><p>First, though, I needed to feed. Immediately. </p><p></p><p>I stalked the alleyways as I had so many times over the centuries, dragging unfortunates out of the gutter or even the streets, gorging myself until I could think clearly again.</p><p></p><p>I had learned from Cologne and had worked to diversify my investments, none of them requiring "Guglielmo Nero" to access them. And Catherina had been a good business manager, further expanding my financial empire and making it less vulnerable to wars or calamity.</p><p></p><p>I could rebuild, here or in another city. I had long ago created records suggesting I had multiple male heirs around Europe. The question, then, was whom to become and where to resume my long unlife.</p><p>[spoiler="Character sheet"]Prompt 40 + 10 - 2 = Prompt 48</p><p></p><p><em>You awaken covered in dust. Generations have passed. Your sleeping place has been sealed off. How did you escape? Lose a Resource. Strike out all mortal Characters.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Guglielmo Nero</strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>Skills</strong>: </p><p>Bloodthirsty (checked); </p><p>Knows the secrets of killing vampires (checked);</p><p>I control the beast; </p><p>Skilled merchant (checked); </p><p>Cook Portuguese seafood dishes;</p><p>Knowledgeable of medieval medicine; </p><p>Knowledge of vampire anatomy; </p><p>I can draw the shadows in around myself, creating supernatural hiding spaces (checked);</p><p></p><p><strong>Resources</strong>:</p><p>The Spear of Aeolius, an ancient Roman spear capable of killing vampires</p><p>Diary: A leather-bound German-made ledger book</p><p>An ever-beating heart, which magically will not die</p><p></p><p><strong>Characters</strong>:</p><p>Juião/Julian Black: a Portuguese orphan turned my servant turned vampire (Immortal); </p><p>Meresankh, an ancient Egyptian queen who has lived 3,000 years as of 1472, and whose still-living heart I have in my possession (immortal); </p><p></p><p><strong>Marks</strong>: My eyes cannot stand bright light and I have to remain in shadows at all times; my touch is fatal to plants; </p><p></p><p><strong>Memories (five, up to three Experiences each)</strong>:</p><p>1: I am Guilliame d'Orléans: I rescue a dark-haired girl from attack and Constansia pledges herself to me, believing me to be a servant of Satan, and we soon wed; Constansia conducts her Satanic rituals and summons a demon, Raum, to serve me in the form of a raven;</p><p>2: I am Wilhelm Black: Brought into the society of the Nachtvolk of Cologne, I watched their leader slowly dismember a vampire, leaving him alive for hours, just in agony; with the help of the mortal Itzig family, I become a rich merchant, with investments across Europe.</p><p>3. I am Wilhelm Black: Julian, now a violent enforcer of the Nachtvolk, gifts me an ever-beating heart; Meresankh, the immortal woman whose heart that is, confronts me in Florence, but allows me to keep it in my safe-keeping for now; </p><p>4. I am Guglielmo Nero: After Florentine banks collapse during the 100 Years War, I move my banking operations from Cologne to Florence; poisoned by Averardo de' Medici, I wake up in Florence 100 years later, the Itzigs dead, my banking empire dismantled in my absence; setting myself up in Florence, I come to own and operate out of a fencing school.</p><p>5. I am Guglielmo Nero: I awake in the rubble of my Florentine fencing school, war having destroyed the building; </p><p></p><p><strong>Diary (four memories, up to three Experiences each)</strong></p><p>1: I am Guilliame d'Orléans: The night the other (DAMAGED) were burned alive, Carnutes fed upon me as I screamed in pitch black darkness; I confront Carnutes about him making me a vampire and he confesses he did it out of loneliness and tells me I will suffer in the same way some day; Carnutes possessed Raum and led the Archbishop of Tours' men to try and killed me -- but I used the Spear of Aeolius and killed Raum and Carnutes instead.</p><p>2: I am le Passeur or "the Frenchman": The Portuguese (DAMAGED) Juião helps me after I am burned by sunlight, unafraid of my supernatural nature, and I take him in as my servant; Juião teaches me to cook with the seafood I catch underwater; at his urging, I prey on (DAMAGED) as I tend to them.</p><p>[/spoiler]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Whizbang Dustyboots, post: 8848302, member: 11760"] [B]Florence, 1550[/B] I awoke in darkness, the taste of smoke and charred human flesh in my mouth giving way to dust. Normally, the darkness was no problem for me, but this evening, it was like a blanket across my face. No, not a blanket. Rubble. Stone and dirt. I sat forward, forcing it off me, thrusting it away with desperate hands to find even more rock and stone beyond it. My quarters beneath the fencing school had been filled with fallen rock. I opened my mouth to call for Filippo or one of his sons, but only a croak came out, and I suddenly realized I was starved for blood, hungrier now than I had been since first arriving, a comatose prisoner, in Florence. The last thing I remembered was a war council of the la danza nera in Il Chiarissimo's underground palace. We were discussing Savanarola, who was reportedly teaching his followers, il Piagnoni, about the vampires in Florence and planning on doing something about us. But I remembered returning home before dawn, tired, perhaps, but no more than that. So what had happened here, and why had I not awakened for it? With all my might, I began to slowly clear my way upward, moving the rubble as far as I could. Many times, I found myself confronted by immovable walls of stone and had to slowly crawl backwards and find another path forward. Other times, I dislodged too much at once and had to prevent a rapid landslide that might crush me, or worse, let in a sudden blast of sunlight for which I was unprepared, not knowing what hour of day this was. When light finally broke through the rubble, I was so used to crawling in darkness that at first, I mistook it for sunlight and recoiled in panic. But it was moonlight, and as I pulled away the last few stones and pulled myself out, I saw it was a full moon. I was still in my neighborhood of Florence, but things had changed. My school was in ruins, but other buildings around it were also damaged and some replaced entirely. And then I saw them: cannonball holes in some of the surviving buildings. But otherwise, the street looked normal. It was clean and there were flower boxes in the windows. This was not currently a city at war. But when had it been? And for how long? First, though, I needed to feed. Immediately. I stalked the alleyways as I had so many times over the centuries, dragging unfortunates out of the gutter or even the streets, gorging myself until I could think clearly again. I had learned from Cologne and had worked to diversify my investments, none of them requiring "Guglielmo Nero" to access them. And Catherina had been a good business manager, further expanding my financial empire and making it less vulnerable to wars or calamity. I could rebuild, here or in another city. I had long ago created records suggesting I had multiple male heirs around Europe. The question, then, was whom to become and where to resume my long unlife. [spoiler="Character sheet"]Prompt 40 + 10 - 2 = Prompt 48 [I]You awaken covered in dust. Generations have passed. Your sleeping place has been sealed off. How did you escape? Lose a Resource. Strike out all mortal Characters.[/I] [B]Guglielmo Nero Skills[/B]: Bloodthirsty (checked); Knows the secrets of killing vampires (checked); I control the beast; Skilled merchant (checked); Cook Portuguese seafood dishes; Knowledgeable of medieval medicine; Knowledge of vampire anatomy; I can draw the shadows in around myself, creating supernatural hiding spaces (checked); [B]Resources[/B]: The Spear of Aeolius, an ancient Roman spear capable of killing vampires Diary: A leather-bound German-made ledger book An ever-beating heart, which magically will not die [B]Characters[/B]: Juião/Julian Black: a Portuguese orphan turned my servant turned vampire (Immortal); Meresankh, an ancient Egyptian queen who has lived 3,000 years as of 1472, and whose still-living heart I have in my possession (immortal); [B]Marks[/B]: My eyes cannot stand bright light and I have to remain in shadows at all times; my touch is fatal to plants; [B]Memories (five, up to three Experiences each)[/B]: 1: I am Guilliame d'Orléans: I rescue a dark-haired girl from attack and Constansia pledges herself to me, believing me to be a servant of Satan, and we soon wed; Constansia conducts her Satanic rituals and summons a demon, Raum, to serve me in the form of a raven; 2: I am Wilhelm Black: Brought into the society of the Nachtvolk of Cologne, I watched their leader slowly dismember a vampire, leaving him alive for hours, just in agony; with the help of the mortal Itzig family, I become a rich merchant, with investments across Europe. 3. I am Wilhelm Black: Julian, now a violent enforcer of the Nachtvolk, gifts me an ever-beating heart; Meresankh, the immortal woman whose heart that is, confronts me in Florence, but allows me to keep it in my safe-keeping for now; 4. I am Guglielmo Nero: After Florentine banks collapse during the 100 Years War, I move my banking operations from Cologne to Florence; poisoned by Averardo de' Medici, I wake up in Florence 100 years later, the Itzigs dead, my banking empire dismantled in my absence; setting myself up in Florence, I come to own and operate out of a fencing school. 5. I am Guglielmo Nero: I awake in the rubble of my Florentine fencing school, war having destroyed the building; [B]Diary (four memories, up to three Experiences each)[/B] 1: I am Guilliame d'Orléans: The night the other (DAMAGED) were burned alive, Carnutes fed upon me as I screamed in pitch black darkness; I confront Carnutes about him making me a vampire and he confesses he did it out of loneliness and tells me I will suffer in the same way some day; Carnutes possessed Raum and led the Archbishop of Tours' men to try and killed me -- but I used the Spear of Aeolius and killed Raum and Carnutes instead. 2: I am le Passeur or "the Frenchman": The Portuguese (DAMAGED) Juião helps me after I am burned by sunlight, unafraid of my supernatural nature, and I take him in as my servant; Juião teaches me to cook with the seafood I catch underwater; at his urging, I prey on (DAMAGED) as I tend to them. [/spoiler] [/QUOTE]
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