Identity MatrixName: Adrian Valdovsk
Gender: Male
Race: Vampire
Class: Assassin
Faction: Unaffiliated
Tier: 4
Appearing age: Twenties
Appearance:
Adrian has a handsome appearance, perhaps accentuated to unrealistic standards by the Vampiric curse which stripped some of the more rugged aspects of his complexion. His body is lithe but evidently strong and muscular, his neck is marked with two faint scars made by fangs. He tends to wear his hair short to medium length, it's colour is as black as the night. Like most Vampires of Caucasian descent his skin has an unnatural paleness.
Build type: Athletic
Height: 6ft 0”
Weight: 83kg
Hair colour: Black
Hair style: Mid length
Supernatural powersAs a vampire, Adrian is expected to surpass the limits of an ordinary human by a sizable degree. As it stands, his abilities are as followed.
His strength is roughly twice that which can be attained by a peak human male, giving him power in his muscles way beyond what someone of his build should reach. This physical strength presents itself not only in blows, but also in running and jumping. His jump height is about twenty feet vertical and thirty feet horizontal, which can reach thirty feet vertical with a running start by forty feet across.
However, it is his speed which marks him out as unique, and gives him such a fearsome reputation. Even most vampires struggle to keep up with him blow for blow, and at a straight sprint he can outrun the average Lycan.
Statistically, he can move at about four times the speed of a peak human male, giving him a sprinting speed of about 120mph.
His reflexes are obviously far superior to a human to compensate for such speeds, and as such he can react at four times the speed of a human, meaning something like a bullet could actually be spotted and partially avoided. This doesn’t mean he is unhittable of course, but that you shouldn’t expect to land a punch to the jaw if you’re throwing it at the speed of an average human.
His endurance and stamina have both made sizable improvements, although these are both highly dependent upon feeding. When recently fed, he can regenerate from wounds and keep running for hours on end, throw multitudes of blows and become incredibly difficult to kill. Two or three days without feeding however can reduce him to near human capabilities, a most distasteful state of events. This also accounts for his immortality (no aging)
His senses are very much enhanced by his predatory blood, his eye sight almost four times as acute (Half that at night, but still much better than a humans night vision)(although this only comes from concentration, the same with all his senses.) His hearing twice as acute, and his sense of smell almost ten times as acute, especially for blood. His sense of touch is actually somewhat dimmed, at about half what can normally be felt by a human, this acts as a mild pain killer allowing him to ignore the majority of injuries for some time.
His fangs and claws are usually concealed, but can be released at any time. Both are incredibly durable, the claws especially, and razor sharp, allowing him to cut through flesh with ease.
His bite can drain the blood, but in three days’ time it also makes the afflicted a familiar, the introduction of Adrian’s own blood quickens this process to minutes if they drink, but also makes them a full vampire in three days instead. While they undergo the process they are incredibly susceptible to seduce.
His body is very resistant to frost, poisons and diseases due to his vampiric blood and general undead-ness.
Supernatural WeaknessesHowever, the flip side of this is an extreme weakness to fire. In direct sunlight his skin burns and his powers are reduced by half, three quarters after five minutes. His eyes are also very sensitive to bright lights.
Wood or silver piercing his heart kills him, although it has to be relatively significant, a single splinter could be pulled out and his muscle would heal. Decapitation also works.
Learned SkillsAdvanced acrobatics and climbing.
Thief skills such as lock picking, pickpocketing and stealthy movement.
Almost all forms of weapon skills (In his timeline, nothing past 1960’s would have any familiarity in his hands) have been at least perfected to adept levels. Although he favours short swords, pistols and rifles have also been invented in his life time, and he is an above average marksman.
He was actually an able hunter before turning, and his profession has only given him more time to perfect his skill with the bow.
Adrian seems like a fairly adept martial artist, though his exact style is unknown it seems to be a mix of Judo and a striking art like Kick Boxing.
Learning of certain poisons and effects, obviously he had had enough time to become above averagely knowledgeable.
Fairly wide knowledge of the mythological and supernatural world, due to lengthy experience with all forms of monsters and an above average knowledge of their strengths and weaknesses due to extensive reading.
MagicMist - Adrian can turn into mist and burst forward from his original position at about brisk walking speed. His maximum distance is fifteen feet, and the effort of doing this is considerable. The first time takes very little away, but the second time he would lose about half of his stamina, the third time he would hardly be able to fight past human standards.
Shadow Cloak - The vampiric assassin is also capable of making himself blend into the shadows, when used in a dimly lit house or at night in the open world, he can become invisible. Detect life spells obviously don’t work on him in this state, but he’s also found that without some preparation an average dispel or detection spell won’t locate him either. This ability can be used for a maximum of an hour cumulative on and off in a day. It seems to be the mark of midnight which allows him to regain his hour of use.
Muffle – A fairly simple spell that makes all Adrian's actions silent, including footsteps and any sound his armour may naturally make when moving. It may be used with one other power active, such as Shadow Cloak, but automatically de-activates upon use of a third ability.
Silence - Prevents an opponent from talking or casting spells, it is launched as a green hex which flies as fast as an arrow. The time it lasts is usually very brief, only five or ten seconds depending on an opponent’s mental constitution.
Poison – Adrian can poison his blood, allowing him to apply it to his blades and arrows. When poisoned, if it enters someone’s blood stream it causes rapid delirium and fever. A normal human would collapse after a few minutes, and began to turn into a familiar. Undead are relatively unaffected by this attack, but other vampires are somewhat susceptible.
Seduce – Basic vampire ability, coerces someone to do as the vampire wishes, usually works on mortals at close ranges, can be resisted by PC’s.
EquipmentLife Taker – An obsidian dagger about 9 inches in length, the edge seems smooth but it is actually incredibly sharp. It’s also been enchanted so the actual blade is about equivalent to an 8 on the Mohs hardness scale. It looks like a fairly standard straight blade, the hilt and blade are both black. Any wound dealt by the blade has shown to be incredibly slow to heal, and can continue bleeding for up to an hour. The hilt is made of the same metal as Death bringer’s blade, and is therefore incredibly durable.
Death Bringer – A Viking sword about 30 inches in length, made of a dark metal so infused with magic it has no common name. The blade itself is unnaturally sharp and durable, capable of cutting clean through a chainmail vest with Adrian’s impressive strength behind it multiple times with no damage to the weapon itself.
Hunt – A bow usually only brought on missions. It’s a recurved bow, made of a black wood. The arrows are obsidian tipped, and therefore incredibly sharp. The bow itself is unnaturally silent, and about 90cm in length. It can fire about 300 meters accurately.
Armour: A full set of lightweight and trimmed down black leather armour, with a black hood. The armour is moderately enchanted to provide the protection of heavy leather armour or padded armour such as a hauberk. It could very well stop an arrow or slow down a bullet, it would not be as effective against a thrust from a blade or spear, but it might turn or weaken a cut if he's particularly lucky.
History and personalityMy name is Adrian Valdovsk, I was born in 1503 and I come from a land of endless forests and eternal darkness. The sun shines here so very rarely, now that is but a blessing. For the light burns me, it weakens me, it drives me insane. It does this because I am a vampire. This is my curse, so many fools see it as a blessing, and they wish to be like wolves amongst cattle. They see my race as hunters, as something beautiful. This is not true; I do not feel… myself. I will never feel right again.
Not always was I this creature before you, not always did I loathe every moment of my existence. I am selfish, selfish of my own life, and of the life I used to have. Would I let myself die? Let myself starve to end this miserable existence? No.
My mistake was to enter the village, to boast of my own prowess in the hunt, my riches and my success. It did not matter to them that I lied, only that I lived. They took that away from me, I fawned at their feet for decades, slavering for morsels. When I grew strong, I took my revenge as I took their blood. I ripped open their throats, I burned them alive. I killed the undead, I killed my own kind and I’ve never heard the end of it.
After I left the village, the blood on my hands and face wiped clean, I wandered for a while. I realised I could experience some of the things I loved as a mortal. More exciting were the things which I found even more vivid, more engaging and more enticing as a vampire. These things were sinful though, but in my depression I wallowed in such depraved acts. What care had I for my morality? For my soul, for the afterlife, there was only one place for me. Indeed, I decided better to enjoy my unnatural life for as long as I could, for I feared what would come when it ended.
Even as I write this though, my thoughts have changed, now I tire of eternal life. The people… they no longer concern themselves with such aged spirituality, and I know in my heart what comes after death. Eternal slumber, and I’ve grown so weary.
Written by Adrian Valdovsk, 1923 Valdovsk’ Memoirs
I never thought I'd write again, indeed looking back I realise I was quite the melodramatic fool once, though an honest one. I have experienced hard-ship, certainly, but also pleasure beyond that which I can describe and certainly more than a damned soul like mine deserved. Many I have faced in pursuit of my own greed or to stave off hunger or boredom, some even made some small impact upon me. I have decided to record the names of these here, so that I do not forget to value what life I have, which I have prolonged through the suffering and pain of these others.
Perhaps my most interesting combat, I once was commission to wage a private war against an organisation that styled themselves as peacekeepers or police. They were naive, but interesting. I lured their forces in with some small episode of chaos, poisoning a water-source and driving nearby inhabitants mad. When the forces arrived I encountered an interesting woman who adopted strange mutations throughout our contest, though I bested her with my knife and forced her to flee. I still remember the taste of her blood on my knife, exquisite. The so called Chief also made an appearance that night, he fell swiftly to my sword. I regret not pursuing the woman.
It seems to have been my fate to run across the swords of my beloved's people often in my unlife. I had not been to her homeland, though I had heard much about it she never told me of the favoured swords of there so called 'Samurai'. Yet later I saw many, and one such occasion had me face a man with two of the 'Katana' swords. They were fearsome weapons, their owner skilled in their use. Perhaps our conflict will one day be renewed, and concluded.
Finally, I faced a most interesting creature masked as a man in the catacombs. He was one not of this world, and though I defeated him promptly he dealt me a vicious wound that even my Vampiric nature struggled to heal. He too utilized the Katana, an interesting coincidence, though one I still assume was only that, a coincidence.
I suspect there will be many more confrontations ahead of me and some behind me I have neglected to mention, but for now, I tire of writing.
Valdovsk Memoirs, revisited. Author, Adrian Valdovsk -
Quirks/Simplified personality matrix: Adrian seems to be a sadistic and cold creature, taking life without remorse and almost always out for his own gain. He falls into the Neutral evil alignment. He’s also very methodical, but considering his profession is more than capable of adapting to changing events.
However, upon further reflection Adrian seems to be a melancholy soul, overly dramatic and fantastical, filled with south doubt and loathing and prone to fits of depression alongside periods of intense enjoyment. His character is not a simple one.
He has a strange love of the natural world which has remained with him since his days as a human. His home is in a cave in a forest.
He also, strangely, seems to favour talking in miscellaneous Haiku. He only deviates from this strange self-imposed rule when the situation strongly demands it.