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Thousand Year Old Vampire: Guillaume d'Orléans
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<blockquote data-quote="Whizbang Dustyboots" data-source="post: 8848311" data-attributes="member: 11760"><p><strong>Las Vegas, 1970</strong></p><p></p><p>Vampires did not create Las Vegas, but we flocked to it soon enough.</p><p></p><p>It is possible to never see the sun in Sin City, in casinos that are designed to prevent gamblers from ever realizing how many hours they've wiled away at the tables. Clocks are forbidden and it is the rare casino where natural light can be seen from the craps table or slot machine.</p><p></p><p>And so naturally, my money flowed here as well, first as a silent partner in others' casinos and, once Las Vegas was clearly going to be a thriving enterprise, through my various investment groups. Seemingly every gaming company is already run by reclusive millionaires who hand control of the group off to their sons once they reach their 80s. The vampires fit right in.</p><p></p><p>Today, I have my own penthouses atop three different hotels, each with glass so dark that no sunlight ever penetrates inside.</p><p></p><p>And at night -- it pays for vampires to wear watches in Las Vegas, even if no one else needs to -- I can take my pick of inebriated gamblers from all over the world, many of whom would get into trouble even without me, and whom no one is surprised to see turn up dazed and battered in the drunk tank.</p><p></p><p>But it's early in the evening -- just after 11 p.m. -- as I'm swimming in the private rooftop pool of my most recently built hotel when the phone rings. One of my girls -- it doesn't do for someone in my position to not have girls around; that would raise eyebrows when nothing else would -- brings the phone over to the edge of the pool for me.</p><p></p><p>"Boss?" It's my receptionist downstairs. "There's a Brazilian here to see you."</p><p></p><p>"What do you mean?" At some point, my accent has drifted into American gangster, fitting a stereotype that the living are comfortable seeing me as. "Do I have any appointments scheduled?"</p><p></p><p>"Not tonight." </p><p></p><p>My staff is used to my hours, which are shared by plenty of both the living and the dead in Las Vegas.</p><p></p><p>"What does this Brazilian want?"</p><p></p><p>"He says you two go way back. But boss, he's a kid."</p><p></p><p>I said nothing for a long moment, then lifted myself out of the pool, taking the phone from my girl and waving for her and the others to knock off for the night.</p><p></p><p>"Boss, are you still there?"</p><p></p><p>"Send him up," I said, pulling on a robe and unlocking one of the fridges where I kept "the good stuff."</p><p></p><p>I was waiting by the pool when I heard the elevator chime.</p><p></p><p>"Out here, Julian."</p><p></p><p>"Everyone calls me 'Junior' now," he said, stepping outside.</p><p></p><p>Hundreds of years dropped away in an instant. I sighed, feeling a weight I did not know I had been carrying drop away.</p><p></p><p>"It's good to see you."</p><p></p><p>I would have recognized Juião or Julian or Junior anywhere, although he had updated his look to match modern times. He dressed in the flashy manner of the newly rich, with heavy gold chains and an expensive-but-not-tasteful suit. He looked like he'd attract the attention of every thief in the city, which I suspect was the point.</p><p></p><p>"I'm glad," he smiled and there was no anger in his eyes, which looked almost as tired as I'm sure mine did. "I didn't know if you'd remember me, after 600 years."</p><p></p><p>"Not everything," I admitted. "But enough. It's good to have someone who understands."</p><p></p><p>I slid a glass across the table. It was dark out here, but I knew he could smell the blood.</p><p></p><p>"I don't think there's anyone left on Earth who knew me before I called myself a Brazilian," he said, after drinking. "Before there was a Brazil."</p><p></p><p>We talked for hours. I told him about Florence and the Mediterranean and then Virginia, Savannah, New Orleans, Chicago and Las Vegas.</p><p></p><p>When the vampire war had come to Cologne, Julian had already been gone, having been on the losing end of a power struggle between the Nachtvolk. He had returned to Portugal and followed their colonists to India, Sri Lanka and Macau. Today, he split his time between Macau and Brazil, switching whenever there were too many questions about why the boss' son still looked so young.</p><p></p><p>Like me, he had discovered that casinos were ideal for our kind, and had come to that realization a century earlier than I had, in Macau.</p><p></p><p>"But eventually it gets ..."</p><p></p><p>"Lonely," I finished for him.</p><p></p><p>"Yes," he nodded. "I have been betrayed by so many over the centuries and wanted to find someone who never had. And at last, I remembered you. And I had guessed you would have discovered casinos as well."</p><p></p><p>"A vampire haven, in the middle of the sunny desert."</p><p></p><p>"It would be easier for me if there was someone I could trust, so that my gaming companies didn't always have a young boy hanging around. There have been questions too many times."</p><p></p><p>"And I have never been to Macau."</p><p></p><p>"So, partners again?"</p><p></p><p>"Partners," I agreed, and we clicked glasses and drank long into the night.</p><p>[spoiler="Character sheet"]Prompt 64 + 6 - 1 = Prompt 69</p><p></p><p><em>Prompt: You bond with an ancient enemy Character over your shared past, finding in it something more comprehensible than this modern world. Check a Skill. You become friends. Share a Resource and gain a Resource that is shared with you.</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Will French</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 (checked); </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>Visionary; </p><p></p><p><strong>Resources</strong>:</p><p>Diary: A leather-bound German-made ledger book</p><p>An ever-beating heart, which magically will not die</p><p>Allied with the Piagnoni, a 17th century group of Italian vampire hunters</p><p>An English shipping company, based in Southampton</p><p>Joint custody of a gambling empire in Las Vegas and Macau;</p><p></p><p><strong>Characters</strong>:</p><p>Juião/Julian Black/Junior: 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 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>2. 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>3. I am Guglielmo Nero: I awake in the rubble of my Florentine fencing school, war having destroyed the building; I traveled the Ottoman Empire, searching for the origins of vampires before being sent to Cyprus on a mysterious errand, and there I erected a magical structure atop Mt. Olympus; I ally with an Italian vampire hunter to kill Averardo de' Medici, the vampire ruler of Florence.</p><p>4. I am William French: Fleeing a vampire war in Europe, I run a shipping business ferrying colonists from England to the New World, preying upon them during our voyages.</p><p>5. I am Will French: After centuries apart, Julian finds me in Las Vegas, where I am now a casino magnate and we merge our Las Vegas and Macau gaming empires;</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 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>3: 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>4: 1: 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>[/spoiler]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Whizbang Dustyboots, post: 8848311, member: 11760"] [B]Las Vegas, 1970[/B] Vampires did not create Las Vegas, but we flocked to it soon enough. It is possible to never see the sun in Sin City, in casinos that are designed to prevent gamblers from ever realizing how many hours they've wiled away at the tables. Clocks are forbidden and it is the rare casino where natural light can be seen from the craps table or slot machine. And so naturally, my money flowed here as well, first as a silent partner in others' casinos and, once Las Vegas was clearly going to be a thriving enterprise, through my various investment groups. Seemingly every gaming company is already run by reclusive millionaires who hand control of the group off to their sons once they reach their 80s. The vampires fit right in. Today, I have my own penthouses atop three different hotels, each with glass so dark that no sunlight ever penetrates inside. And at night -- it pays for vampires to wear watches in Las Vegas, even if no one else needs to -- I can take my pick of inebriated gamblers from all over the world, many of whom would get into trouble even without me, and whom no one is surprised to see turn up dazed and battered in the drunk tank. But it's early in the evening -- just after 11 p.m. -- as I'm swimming in the private rooftop pool of my most recently built hotel when the phone rings. One of my girls -- it doesn't do for someone in my position to not have girls around; that would raise eyebrows when nothing else would -- brings the phone over to the edge of the pool for me. "Boss?" It's my receptionist downstairs. "There's a Brazilian here to see you." "What do you mean?" At some point, my accent has drifted into American gangster, fitting a stereotype that the living are comfortable seeing me as. "Do I have any appointments scheduled?" "Not tonight." My staff is used to my hours, which are shared by plenty of both the living and the dead in Las Vegas. "What does this Brazilian want?" "He says you two go way back. But boss, he's a kid." I said nothing for a long moment, then lifted myself out of the pool, taking the phone from my girl and waving for her and the others to knock off for the night. "Boss, are you still there?" "Send him up," I said, pulling on a robe and unlocking one of the fridges where I kept "the good stuff." I was waiting by the pool when I heard the elevator chime. "Out here, Julian." "Everyone calls me 'Junior' now," he said, stepping outside. Hundreds of years dropped away in an instant. I sighed, feeling a weight I did not know I had been carrying drop away. "It's good to see you." I would have recognized Juião or Julian or Junior anywhere, although he had updated his look to match modern times. He dressed in the flashy manner of the newly rich, with heavy gold chains and an expensive-but-not-tasteful suit. He looked like he'd attract the attention of every thief in the city, which I suspect was the point. "I'm glad," he smiled and there was no anger in his eyes, which looked almost as tired as I'm sure mine did. "I didn't know if you'd remember me, after 600 years." "Not everything," I admitted. "But enough. It's good to have someone who understands." I slid a glass across the table. It was dark out here, but I knew he could smell the blood. "I don't think there's anyone left on Earth who knew me before I called myself a Brazilian," he said, after drinking. "Before there was a Brazil." We talked for hours. I told him about Florence and the Mediterranean and then Virginia, Savannah, New Orleans, Chicago and Las Vegas. When the vampire war had come to Cologne, Julian had already been gone, having been on the losing end of a power struggle between the Nachtvolk. He had returned to Portugal and followed their colonists to India, Sri Lanka and Macau. Today, he split his time between Macau and Brazil, switching whenever there were too many questions about why the boss' son still looked so young. Like me, he had discovered that casinos were ideal for our kind, and had come to that realization a century earlier than I had, in Macau. "But eventually it gets ..." "Lonely," I finished for him. "Yes," he nodded. "I have been betrayed by so many over the centuries and wanted to find someone who never had. And at last, I remembered you. And I had guessed you would have discovered casinos as well." "A vampire haven, in the middle of the sunny desert." "It would be easier for me if there was someone I could trust, so that my gaming companies didn't always have a young boy hanging around. There have been questions too many times." "And I have never been to Macau." "So, partners again?" "Partners," I agreed, and we clicked glasses and drank long into the night. [spoiler="Character sheet"]Prompt 64 + 6 - 1 = Prompt 69 [I]Prompt: You bond with an ancient enemy Character over your shared past, finding in it something more comprehensible than this modern world. Check a Skill. You become friends. Share a Resource and gain a Resource that is shared with you.[/I] [B]Will French Skills[/B]: Bloodthirsty (checked); Knows the secrets of killing vampires (checked); I control the beast (checked); 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); Visionary; [B]Resources[/B]: Diary: A leather-bound German-made ledger book An ever-beating heart, which magically will not die Allied with the Piagnoni, a 17th century group of Italian vampire hunters An English shipping company, based in Southampton Joint custody of a gambling empire in Las Vegas and Macau; [B]Characters[/B]: Juião/Julian Black/Junior: 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 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; 2. 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. 3. I am Guglielmo Nero: I awake in the rubble of my Florentine fencing school, war having destroyed the building; I traveled the Ottoman Empire, searching for the origins of vampires before being sent to Cyprus on a mysterious errand, and there I erected a magical structure atop Mt. Olympus; I ally with an Italian vampire hunter to kill Averardo de' Medici, the vampire ruler of Florence. 4. I am William French: Fleeing a vampire war in Europe, I run a shipping business ferrying colonists from England to the New World, preying upon them during our voyages. 5. I am Will French: After centuries apart, Julian finds me in Las Vegas, where I am now a casino magnate and we merge our Las Vegas and Macau gaming empires; [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 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; 3: 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. 4: 1: 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. [/spoiler] [/QUOTE]
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