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Thousand Year Old Vampire: Guillaume d'Orléans
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<blockquote data-quote="Whizbang Dustyboots" data-source="post: 8848261" data-attributes="member: 11760"><p><strong>Orléans, 1030</strong></p><p></p><p>The house I had moved my father and myself into was already a fearful spectre in Orléans, a moldering wreck of dark windows and rotting roof timbers.</p><p></p><p>But Constansia makes it into something even darker. The basement becomes an abattoir. At first, I think it's for my benefit, but I soon realize she's seeking something more, reaching out to powers that I cannot afford to believe are not real, but which I dread her succeeding in contacting.</p><p></p><p>Many nights, I return just before dawn to hear the sounds of my young wife and her companions -- a coven? a cult? -- chanting in Latin, performing Black Masses and other rituals, beseeching things that make my cold flesh run even colder.</p><p></p><p>One morning, I lurk in a darkened doorway, sated by drinking from one of the sacrificial victims Constansia has had secretly brought here from another city, when I realize she's using my old penknife from my days at the scriptorium to peel back the skin of another unfortunate. I feel rage flash through me, even though that old life is years behind me, dead and buried, when something begins to fight its way out of the dead body. A black cone pierces the abdomen, forcing its way outward.</p><p></p><p>A moment later, a black feathery head, streaked with blood follows, and a raven claws its way out.</p><p></p><p>It takes me a moment to realize its first sound is not the croak of a bird, but its name,</p><p></p><p>"Raum! For what purpose have you called me up from Hell?"</p><p></p><p>Constansia positively writhes in ecstasy and the debased men and women who serve her moan and cry out in triumph. It takes all my self-control to not tear their throats out, one by one, disgusted as I am by their presence.</p><p></p><p>"Great Raum!" Constansia cries, "You are to serve as my great husband's eyes and ears during the daylight hours and provide infernal counsel to him in all matters!"</p><p></p><p>The raven looks from her to me and cocks its head.</p><p></p><p>"Of course. Let us begin."</p><p></p><p>Looking at the creature and this stinking room full of blood and madmen -- and none madder than my wife -- I realize for the first time in years that I want none of this and that if I could take back what Carnutes did to me, I would. But then I remember my father, blind and deaf and near death, several floors above, and the idea of aging and dying like he is holds its own terrors for me, not least because I know that Hell awaits me -- has always awaited me -- and that this existence that passes for a life is the best possibility left for me.</p><p></p><p>I say nothing and stalk out of the room. Behind me, the cult shrieks praises to Satan before slinking back to their ordinary lives with the sunrise.</p><p>[spoiler="Character sheet"]Prompt 6 + 3 - 2 = Prompt 8</p><p></p><p><em>You are recognized for what you are by another creature like yourself. Create a new immortal Character. Lose a Resource and gain a Skill. What did you lose to them?</em></p><p></p><p><strong>Guillaume d'Orléans</strong></p><p>Skills: literate in French; literate in Latin; a capable gardener; bloodthirsty (checked); knows secrets he should not; </p><p></p><p>Resources: a cowhorn inkwell, engraved with a knight; a small bronze crucifix</p><p></p><p>Characters:</p><p>Onfroi, my father, an ambitious farmer who has pinned the family's hopes on me (mortal);</p><p>Cateline, my sickly younger sister, my best friend (mortal);</p><p>Carnutes, the center of the heresy and vampire, a melancholy figure often lost in reminiscences of Rome (immortal);</p><p>Constansia, Guillaume's first wife, a sociopath who believes her husband is an agent of the Devil (mortal);</p><p>Raum, a demon in the shape of raven, summoned by Constansia to serve as Guillaume's familiar (immortal)</p><p></p><p>Marks: My eyes cannot stand bright light and I have to remain in shadows at all times</p><p></p><p>Memories (five, up to three Experiences each):</p><p>1. I am Guilliame d'Orléans, son of Onfroi, a novice scribe born late in the 10th Century of Our Lord</p><p>2. I am Guilliame d'Orléans: My father, Onfroi, gifts me an engraved inkwell, which he had to save for months to afford</p><p>3. I am Guilliame d'Orléans: Father Guiscard invites himself into our home, openly lusting after Cateline, which neither my father and I can do anything about; I kill him when I come home to find him raping Cateline, which she watches in mute horror</p><p>4. I am Guilliame d'Orléans: The night the other heretics were burned alive, Carnutes fed upon me as I screamed in pitch black darkness</p><p>5. 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>[/spoiler]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Whizbang Dustyboots, post: 8848261, member: 11760"] [B]Orléans, 1030[/B] The house I had moved my father and myself into was already a fearful spectre in Orléans, a moldering wreck of dark windows and rotting roof timbers. But Constansia makes it into something even darker. The basement becomes an abattoir. At first, I think it's for my benefit, but I soon realize she's seeking something more, reaching out to powers that I cannot afford to believe are not real, but which I dread her succeeding in contacting. Many nights, I return just before dawn to hear the sounds of my young wife and her companions -- a coven? a cult? -- chanting in Latin, performing Black Masses and other rituals, beseeching things that make my cold flesh run even colder. One morning, I lurk in a darkened doorway, sated by drinking from one of the sacrificial victims Constansia has had secretly brought here from another city, when I realize she's using my old penknife from my days at the scriptorium to peel back the skin of another unfortunate. I feel rage flash through me, even though that old life is years behind me, dead and buried, when something begins to fight its way out of the dead body. A black cone pierces the abdomen, forcing its way outward. A moment later, a black feathery head, streaked with blood follows, and a raven claws its way out. It takes me a moment to realize its first sound is not the croak of a bird, but its name, "Raum! For what purpose have you called me up from Hell?" Constansia positively writhes in ecstasy and the debased men and women who serve her moan and cry out in triumph. It takes all my self-control to not tear their throats out, one by one, disgusted as I am by their presence. "Great Raum!" Constansia cries, "You are to serve as my great husband's eyes and ears during the daylight hours and provide infernal counsel to him in all matters!" The raven looks from her to me and cocks its head. "Of course. Let us begin." Looking at the creature and this stinking room full of blood and madmen -- and none madder than my wife -- I realize for the first time in years that I want none of this and that if I could take back what Carnutes did to me, I would. But then I remember my father, blind and deaf and near death, several floors above, and the idea of aging and dying like he is holds its own terrors for me, not least because I know that Hell awaits me -- has always awaited me -- and that this existence that passes for a life is the best possibility left for me. I say nothing and stalk out of the room. Behind me, the cult shrieks praises to Satan before slinking back to their ordinary lives with the sunrise. [spoiler="Character sheet"]Prompt 6 + 3 - 2 = Prompt 8 [I]You are recognized for what you are by another creature like yourself. Create a new immortal Character. Lose a Resource and gain a Skill. What did you lose to them?[/I] [B]Guillaume d'Orléans[/B] Skills: literate in French; literate in Latin; a capable gardener; bloodthirsty (checked); knows secrets he should not; Resources: a cowhorn inkwell, engraved with a knight; a small bronze crucifix Characters: Onfroi, my father, an ambitious farmer who has pinned the family's hopes on me (mortal); Cateline, my sickly younger sister, my best friend (mortal); Carnutes, the center of the heresy and vampire, a melancholy figure often lost in reminiscences of Rome (immortal); Constansia, Guillaume's first wife, a sociopath who believes her husband is an agent of the Devil (mortal); Raum, a demon in the shape of raven, summoned by Constansia to serve as Guillaume's familiar (immortal) Marks: My eyes cannot stand bright light and I have to remain in shadows at all times Memories (five, up to three Experiences each): 1. I am Guilliame d'Orléans, son of Onfroi, a novice scribe born late in the 10th Century of Our Lord 2. I am Guilliame d'Orléans: My father, Onfroi, gifts me an engraved inkwell, which he had to save for months to afford 3. I am Guilliame d'Orléans: Father Guiscard invites himself into our home, openly lusting after Cateline, which neither my father and I can do anything about; I kill him when I come home to find him raping Cateline, which she watches in mute horror 4. I am Guilliame d'Orléans: The night the other heretics were burned alive, Carnutes fed upon me as I screamed in pitch black darkness 5. 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; [/spoiler] [/QUOTE]
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