Hardbitten

Posted Jul 15, 2022, 5:04:39 AM UTC

His name is Hesperos (evening star)

Baltsaros (prince of splendor)

Codename: Hardbitten

Height: 6’5”

He is a Vrykolaka Dhampyr, a child born from the unholy union of a mortal woman and a Greek vampire. Born or spawned around 400 years ago in a derelict Grecian brothel somewhere outside of Rhodes, Hesperos was discovered as an infant still clutching on to his recently deceased mother, a prostitute who had fallen pregnant under mysterious circumstances just three months prior and given traumatic and ultimately fatal premature birth to her supernatural, hybrid son. Despite being newly born, he was not making any cries or shedding any tears. The apathetic madame of the house of ill repute in which the suffering woman had once worked and resided was unaware of her working girl’s condition and hastily passed the baby off to the unassuming coroner when he arrived to collect the dead body for funerary rites and burial. Having pity on the child, now abandoned and destitute, the kindly undertaker took him home to his partner (a scholar and astronomer) and the two raised him as their own. At first the couple was elated, having always wanted a child of their own. They named the new addition to their small family according to how they viewed him as a gift from the heavens and an answer to their wishes for a child. Little did they know that Hesperos would grow preternaturally quickly and mature into an adult both physically and mentally in the span of only a few years. Regardless of the unnaturally special circumstances, they brought their beloved son up with compassion, kindness and a deep love of learning. The couple knew that there was clearly something very unusual about their son, who was hardly able to sleep and even seemed to not need to except very seldomly. He was also quite uncomfortable in direct sunlight and avoided it whenever he could by staying indoors and clinging to any available shade. Most unsettling however was his insatiable desire to drink the blood of animals whenever it was available to him, (usually livestock set to be slaughtered and the occasional hunted game.) This persistent thirst was his constant, unwanted companion no matter how much he ate or drank, but it was manageable enough that he was able to resist preying upon live animals and people. He felt disgusted by and loathed the part of himself that fetishized and lusted over the alluring idea of biting into a warm blooded creature and drinking their blood. He promised himself that he would never victimize another being in that way and would instead find other ways to appease his hellish cravings. Even after finding out about his true nature, his adoptive fathers accepted him completely and even helped him to conceal his monstrous traits and defended him from ignorant bigots who might attempt to persecute him for the cruel factors outside of his control. Due partly to his accelerated childhood and adolescence, Hesperos began his life being someone who was exceptionally socially awkward and somewhat unable to relate to his peers and community. Although quite intelligent, he could be a little naïve at times because of his limited experience interacting with people outside of his small family circle. He was also somewhat bookish and introverted which served to further ostricized him from the simple, rural townsfolk making their modest livings in the agrarian, mediterranean countryside. Most of the humans he had encountered would agree that despite his kindly disposition and comely features, that he exuded an inexplicable aura of unease and even animals seemed to feel uncomfortable around him. As a tactic to mitigate these involuntary fear responses he often received from others, he has conditioned himself to speak softly to everyone he encounters and to intentionally create a bit of noise when he approaches people and animals in an ineffectual attempt to not startle them because he naturally moves with a near undetectable silence, like the apex predator he so desperately wishes he wasn’t.

As his human fathers slowly began to succumb to age and senility, Hesperos gradually took over the family business and carried on his parents’ legacy all while caring and providing for the elderly men who were his dear family and the only two souls who knew his true, horrible origins. He gained a reputation around the village for being exceptionally competent and fastidious, but slightly creepy in a way that was difficult to explain. People were beginning to become wary of him as well for he seemed to them to have appeared out of thin air as the heir to his father’s mortuary business and also not to have visibly aged over the course of many decades. Because of this, he grew more and more isolated from the other people of the community outside his home and when both of his parents finally passed, he respectfully laid them to rest in a tasteful mausoleum on the land that they had owned. With his only familial attachments gone, he decided to pack up his few precious belongings and leave the only home he’d ever known behind. These treasured heirlooms included a custom made, sturdy, reinforced, steel and leather umbrella (a gift his adoptive fathers commisioned specially for him) that could be used as a walking stick or a parasol to protect him from the dreadful, stinging rays of the sun. Inside the cane shaft was a secret, hidden blade suitable for self defense. The canopy and its hefty panels could also be used as a makeshift shield should the need arise. Also he took with him a small, golden broach shaped like a diamond star. It is the only possession he has that had once belonged to his birth mother. She had stashed it away in her undergarments sometime shortly before she tragically and gruesomely died during childbirth and it was uncovered when his father was preparing her mangled corpse for burial. The trinket was given to him by his adoptive fathers once he came of age. It is his only clue about his true parentage and it is very dear to him because of the intriguing mystery it represents. With these prized items, some field rations, a scant purse of coins and little else, he quietly left the small township he had called home for so many years and set off to wander the earth, seeking knowledge and the natural beauty of the world. He hopes that one day he will find the Vrykolaka that created him so that he might have the answers he seeks about his past and why he exists or perhaps other immortal beings like himself so he doesn’t feel so alone. 

Over centuries of traveling and learning about the vast world, he has become jaded to the plight of humans for he sees them as imminently corruptible. He will occasionally stand up to injustices when he witnesses them, but he doesn’t go out of his way to look for wrongs to right or problems to solve as he figures karma will work things out eventually. He has taken to becoming an amateur scribe and cartographer, recording the highlights of his journey for posterity. (A dorky lover of knowledge through and through) He is especially interested in learning the arcane arts of elemental sorcery, but being half undead, he finds it very difficult to summon the raw mana necessary to perform complex spells on the fly the way that other beings, more innately gifted and in tune with natural sources of magical energies can. To compensate for this, he takes any opportunity to prepare potions and simple cantrips ahead of time or utilize stored magic such as enchanted artifacts or premade scrolls. (techniques that real wizards would find laughable) Despite his inherent disadvantages, he practices diligently and works very hard to improve his casting ability. Not so long ago, he ran into a girl, Moonstruck, with whom he’s bonded over their mutual circumstance of being ‘cursed’ in some way or another and spending their immortal lives looking for answers. She started following him shortly after they met actually. At first he was unsure about his new stalker, but as they have traveled together and gotten to know each other better, he’s grown quite fond of her, plus she’s not afraid of him, not even a little. He’d never admit it to her face, but he’s become quite smitten with her.

Powers and Abilities:

As a Vrykolaka Dhampyr, he has many of the usual supernatural traits commonly associated with vampires but since he is a hybrid, it is to a lesser degree than his full blooded counterparts. These include superhuman strength, speed, agility, endurance, and durability. All of these are amplified according to the amount of blood he consumes. He can subsist off of food and water instead due to being half human, but he will gradually weaken the longer he abstains from drinking blood. The blood of humanoid creatures is most potent and satisfying to him. Along with his craving for blood, he also has a weak aversion to sunlight which is more of a nuisance than a real threat, but exposure to prolonged or intense solar radiation could certainly put him out of commission if he didn’t take preventative measures to avoid such situations. Garlic isn’t poisonous to him the way it would be to full vampires and the presence of it can be endured, but it is certainly nasty smelling to him and would make him rather sick temporarily if somehow accidentally ingested. He lacks any sort of transformation ability like many vampires tend to employ and running water poses no obstacle for him. Holy objects and religious paraphernalia make him feel quite dizzy when he is in the presence of someone with strong faith welding them defensively, but otherwise they don’t bother him. He can walk around in churches and cemeteries without feeling any ill effects. He has a passive healing factor that is pretty modest compared to his full blood counterparts, but he still mends any acquired wounds much faster than a vanilla human might. Blood consumption also bolsters this ability. He requires far less sleep than humans do as well. He’d easily be able to stay up for about a week without suffering a noticeable debuff. However, sleeping at regular intervals does help him to keep his strength up and his human half healthy. When he is able to sleep, he usually chooses to do so during the daytime. Lastly he does not have the restriction about not entering residences without first being invited inside, but he’d probably wait for an invitation first anyways because he’s a gentleman.

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