Welcome to Gaia! ::

Finito. Tell me what you think. And, for the love of God, tell me where to post it. I don't want to have to go exploring in this mess again. confused

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Gaia Username: Ikken Isshu

Character Name: Caecus

Clan: Lasombra

Age Class: Young Vampire

Age: 86

Appearance: Having always been tall and thin, Caecus' appearance often brings to mind a thin sapling, young and spindly, not physically powerful, but aspiring to become more. This is a mostly accurate appraisal, though his strength is somewhat enhanced due to his vampiric nature. Caecus moves silently and rarely presents anything but a smooth appearance. In life, Caecus, an Italian, was a very vain man, who placed a great deal of value on his appearance. He has since lost a great deal of that vanity, but ironically, he has become even more beautiful. His skin is smooth and fair, his hair dark and clean-cut, his eyes deep reddish brown.

Personality: Caecus is quiet, soft-spoken, and thoughtful, but where he has opinions, they are strong and he does not hesitate to speak about them. His interests lie not in people or vampires but in philosophy and God, and he has spent nearly half his vampiric existence searching for answers to his soul's questions. In people, he values an open mind above all else, though he disdains people - especially modern people - as a perversion of all that is good in the world. Very often he can be found in a deathlike trance for days or even weeks at a time, dwelling on corridors of thought that most people - and vampires - simply shrug off. In these periods, he tends to rise only when he needs to feed, which is not often, as he has mastered the ability to ignore his own bloodthirst for a very long time.

Biography: When the War began, Caecus was still a young man, a distinguished film actor; and the War was in its final stages when Caecus himself was turned. Over the intervening years between then and now, Caecus became furious at the world, at his fate, for stealing from him his carefree existence as a mortal. He used to be free! He used to be alive! He used to live in a world where mankind was the master of his environment! And now, here he was, stuck in a hellish dystopia, surrounded by people who would kill for a bit of gold, a bit of technology, an edge over their fellow men. Caecus eventually decided that this world wasn't worth wasting his emotions on, so he tried to shut himself away from it, interacting with it only as necessary. He has not been completely successful in this, but he is nevertheless capable of presenting a disturbingly emotionless facade to the most horrifying of spectacles.

He is also something of a masochist, though in a more artistic than sexual sense; his dwelling is full of all the traditional weaknesses of vampires, some of which are genuinely harmful to a vampire and some of which are not; garlic hangs in cloves, crucifixes from all different periods of history adorn his walls, holy water peppers his shelves in decorative bottles. More than traditional vampiric weaknesses, though, he also has a fondness for religious artifacts, namely those of Judeo-Christian faiths. The aforementioned crucifixes are prominent in his abode, as are representations of the Star of David, prayer beads, artistic representations of the Holy Lance; and his bookshelves are almost completely dominated by religious texts, including many different versions of the Holy Bible, the Torah, the Quran, and many, many more.

Notes: He's gay. Because I feel like it. wink But he has no qualms about using his vampiric nature and beautiful face and body to seduce members of either sex.

You could name him something in a foreign language. That's what I usually do when I can't think up a name off the top of my head. My own guy's name, 'Caecus', is Latin for 'blind person'.

Here's my revised profile. I PM'd it to you, but I figured I should put it here, too, for posterity's sake.

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Gaia Username: Ikken Isshu

Character Name: Caecus

Clan: Lasombra

Age Class: Mature Vampire

Age: Possibly 175 or thereabouts. He stopped counting about a century ago.

Appearance: Having always been tall and thin, Caecus' appearance often brings to mind a thin sapling, young and spindly, not physically powerful, but aspiring to become more. This is a mostly accurate appraisal, though his strength is somewhat enhanced due to his vampiric nature. Caecus moves silently and rarely presents anything but a smooth appearance. In life, Caecus, an Italian, was a very vain man, who placed a great deal of value on his appearance. He has since lost a great deal of that vanity, but ironically, he has become even more beautiful. His skin is smooth and fair, his hair dark and clean-cut, his eyes deep, lush shade of lavender.

Personality: Caecus is quiet, soft-spoken, and thoughtful, not the type to get up and do much unless absolutely necessary. His interests lie not in people or even vampires, but in thought and philosophy, and he has spent nearly half his vampiric existence searching for answers to his soul's questions. In people, he values an open mind above all else, though he disdains people - especially modern people - as a perversion of all that is good in the world. Very often he can be found in a deathlike trance for days or even weeks at a time, dwelling on corridors of thought that most people - and vampires - simply shrug off. In these periods, he tends to rise only when he needs to feed, which is not often, as he has mastered the ability to ignore his own bloodthirst for a very long time.

Biography: When the War began, Caecus was still a young man, a distinguished film actor; and the War was in its final stages when Caecus himself was turned. Over the intervening years between then and now, Caecus became furious at the world, at his fate, for stealing from him his carefree existence as a mortal. He used to be free! He used to be alive! He used to live in a world where mankind was the master of his environment! And now, here he was, stuck in a hellish dystopia, surrounded by people who would kill for a bit of gold, a bit of technology, an edge over their fellow men. Caecus eventually decided that this world wasn't worth wasting his emotions on, so he tried to shut himself away from it, interacting with it only as necessary. He has not been completely successful in this, but he is nevertheless capable of presenting a disturbingly emotionless facade to the most horrifying of spectacles.

He is also something of a masochist, though in a more artistic than sexual sense; his dwelling is full of all the traditional weaknesses of vampires, some of which are genuinely harmful to a vampire and some of which are not; garlic hangs in cloves, crucifixes from all different periods of history adorn his walls, holy water peppers his shelves in decorative bottles. More than traditional vampiric weaknesses, though, he also has a fondness for religious artifacts. The aforementioned crucifixes are prominent in his abode, as are representations of the Star of David, prayer beads, artistic representations of the Holy Lance; and his bookshelves are almost completely dominated by religious texts, including many different versions of the Holy Bible, the Torah, the Quran, and many, many more.

Notes: He's gay. Because I feel like it. wink But he has no qualms about using his vampiric nature and beautiful face and body to seduce members of either sex.

lol, you said 'toiletry' rofl

Anyways. If you're at all interested, maybe rather than having cousin Renault you could have my as-of-yet unnamed Lasombra as your charity case relative? I'd find it more interesting for myself, and what's more, we wouldn't have to fight over El xp

I actually want to play this guy pretty badly, but I could squeeze you in as well, I'm sure she comes from a big family. I'll have to think about it.

I agree, though I hate to say it. You probably haven't noticed, since I'm doing my damnedest to avoid it in Alvirad, but I have a tendency to pull extra characters out of my hat whenever the plot gets boring. I've had over 30 characters in roleplays before. In one, a particularly in-depth (see convoluted) roleplay between me and one other person, I must have had at least 50 characters, and I kept relatively good track of all of them. But my point is that when you have more than one or two characters, it's easy to isolate them with each other, and that... kind of defeats the purpose of a roleplay.

And anyway, Teddo's idea would make it easier for you two to start off with immediate character interaction. Which is always lovely. Anyway, Teddo, what do you think of my boy?

Ooh, spiffin. Such lurvely characters, although so far it's looking more like a Vampire roleplay than Vamp vs. Lycan. (Just teasing the people with lycans in the works)

Okay, I really like the idea of entwining Clover with Morena and Teddo's character. (Btw, I like the names Damitri, and Tuluth the best out of the ones you picked. Perhaps consider Ambrose, or Mihel? And Montresor is a fantastic surname for any of those names.)
Since Teddo's idea only covers the last three years of Clover's servitude (she was conscripted at age 12) I think it would fit nicely if she had started out as one of Morena's maids, and Morena for some reason or another saw fit to send her off to keep track of Teddo's absentminded character. Seem good?

I also have another human character idea boiling around in my head... One whose sympathies lie with the Lycans.. Possibly even in love with a Lycan, but living in one of the cities. Can you tell I like writing tragedies?

Also, I'm curious. Ikken, what is it that will drag Caecus into play? Teddo's has Clover and his obligations to various councils to drag him out of his tomb, and Morena seems like the type to be constantly climbing the social ladder. And Clover is insufferably curious, she probably will not see the end of this story alive because of it.

Aaand I just now noticed that the character skelletons have been changed. I'm going to go finish up Clover's profile. sweatdrop

Gaia Username: Ellenoir
Character Name: Clover Sparrow
Organization:
Age Class: Non-applicable
Age: 23
Appearance:
Clover is a rather unremarkable young woman, aside from her hair. Feathery and hard to control, her ear-length locks often fall into her face. Its bright fiery colour alone is enough to keep her from fading into the scenery.
Her eyes are neither large nor small, her face neither round nor long, her nose neither sharp nor snubbed. All in all, pleasant to look at, but not gorgeous. Average, with a light dusting of freckles.

Her build is slight, being only 5 feet and 1 inch tall. Clover is strong enough to get through most household chores without any trouble, but by no means a warrior. Her true strength lies in her nimbleness. She can lace a corset tighter and swifter than maidservants ten years more experienced. Buttons, buckles, laces, complicated garments are simple tasks under her slender fingers.

When she is in the presence of the lords and ladies of the household she wears simple, proper, unassuming garments: A black ankle length skirt, over dark brown leather shoes. Her shirt is a high collared coal black knit long-sleeved affair. Over the knit shirt she wears a brown leather corset, a shade or two lighter than her shoes. The corset buckles closed rather than laces. Hanging from her corset she carries a watch as well as other small tools and keys, which she uses to wind and repair the clocks and gadgets of the household.
Sometimes she covers her hair with some kind of bandana or veil.



When she is in her own quarters, or in the human districts of the city, she dresses a little differently: Trousers instead of skirts, as a matter of personal preference. When she’s working on a project whether it be a watch, music box, or what-have-you, she has a pair of goggles that she can swap the lenses out to varying degrees of magnification.


Personality:
Clover is driven by a few simple urges, whose conflict make for quiet but strong character. First her most instinctual urge is that of curiosity. She needs to know why things work and how. If she stumbles upon a secret passage it will pang away in the back of her mind leaving her agitated until she has the opportunity to see what lies on the other side. Her fascination with how things work is most obviously exhibited by her small experiments and creations. She has notebooks full of sketches and measurements and calculations.

The next pillar of her persona is her loyalty. Her first loyalty is to her family. In particular she feels a very strong bond to her elder brother. She writes home every week, and receives letters back in kind. Family news, and her brother’s latest compositions, which she dutifully begins making music boxes out of. The vampire family which plucked her out of the factory mill is her next greatest loyalty. She realizes that had she stayed in the factory she would have had no time to explore her craft. After a few years in the factories her hands would have been injured one way or another. A crushed hand is useless when working with clockwork devices. These vampires are her graceful benefactors; she owes them everything she has.

Quiet, gentle, unfailingly polite, she is every inch the servant, fading into the background when not needed. But her mind is always ticking, always pondering.

Biography: Clover spent her earliest years in the Under-cogs of Ilnaria. Her mother and elder sisters worked in the assembly factory, and her father at the water purification tower. So from a very early age she was learning how things worked. Their supper-table conversations were often about the various malfunctions at work and how they were being fixed. But when she was 12 years old her whole world changed.

She had just started working in the factory alongside her sisters when an inspection came through. That was her first time meeting a vampire, and she’ll never forget it. The unearthly grace of the man fascinated her. She knew he was different, and when his eyes passed over her she met them her curiosity burning. What was it that made him so different from the foreman?

It wasn’t until he had left that her sister scolded her for meeting his gaze. “Blast it child! That was the Comissioner, a Vampire, a Noble! We all could be written up for your disrespect!” But no write ups were handed down. Instead after their shift, after their supper, when they were taking Clover to her first dance ( see notes, #2) they were met by the vampire once more. There was a hushed conversation, from which the children were excluded, before Clover’s father took her home while the others were shuffled off to the dancehall.

They walked in silence, fear pressing hard on Clover’s mind. When they reached their small home in the East Wall her father told her only to pack her things. When the vampire returned, her father held her tight as the stranger picked up the small package of the girl’s belongings. She’d never seen her father cry before.

From that night on she began to live in a completely different world. She was taken to the Upper City and placed in the home of one of the Vampire families. Most of the other servants looked at her with disdain, a dirty little urchin from the Undercogs. And because of this, when she wasn’t pressed down by duties she snuck off to find ways into the Uncercogs. As she grew older and moved up from simple maid to lady in waiting, she made a habit of meeting her family every night at one of the dancehalls in the Undercogs. Eventually however, her mistress took to traveling, much to Clover’s despair.

Even without her family to visit, Clover would still slip away to find some sort of recreation with other humans, dancing preferably. And she often wonders if this behavior is what led her mistress to send her away. Now she tends to the affairs and household of an assuredly odd vampire. Brilliant though he may be, she can see why her mistress wanted someone to look after the poor man. If it weren’t for Clover he would certainly forget to eat and waste away to nothing.
It’s a big responsibility, but it’s also quite freeing. As she’s the head servant (often the only servant in the household) once she accomplishes the tasks she sets for herself, she’s left mostly to her own devices.

Notes:
1) Her current project is a clockwork bird that has a music box in it so that it appears to sing. She’s having a great deal of trouble getting it to fly however.
2) Being old enough to work in one of the factories is seen as a rite of passage in Ilnaria. Many of the adults in the city spend the time after their factory shifts unwinding in one of the many dance or pool halls, drinking, singing, and making merry. Children are generally not welcomed to these places, so your first time going is a special ritual of ascension to the adult world.
3) Clover would never admit it, but she occasionally will make a correction to one of her master’s schematics. Other times she simply copies them down to try and make miniaturized versions on her own.

Yeah, my guy will probably go on some philosophical soul-searching quest or some such nonsense. I'll figure it out when I get there. Maybe he'll decide that 2893 crucifixes isn't enough, and he'll go out to buy another one. xd

The skeletons have changed?

And I can't wait to get the Lycans in on this. I don't personally like playing them, but it's great to pit them against Vampires. A bit overdone, but still classic.