[OOC] {Casual - High Casual} Welcome to Salem, Massachusetts

[Themerlinhawk]

I see how it is, just ask mom and see if you get a better answer. That the game we are going to play? Lol.

[ArenaSnow]

I see how it is, just ask mom and see if you get a better answer. That the game we are going to play? Lol.

@Themerlinhawk

Hushed may well work something out with him - or not. Either way, the option to talk to the head honcho should be open in my view.

It would probably be simplest, in either case, to just use the available sheet and drawing out the process. But then, there's over a week for him to figure things out.

[McHaggis]

.

[Silent Whispers]

One more question before I begin work on my sheet: Is the coding required? I prefer not to use coding if I can help it.

@shagranoz

When it comes to the character sheet, I'd prefer it best if you would use the provided formatted sheet. :) I hope that it doesn't turn you away but if any coding issues arises within your sheet then you can PM me and I can fix it for you.

Sounds good??

@HushedWhispers@ArenaSnow@Themerlinhawk

I maybe rushed this one a little >.< I wasn't sure what to put in the Abilities section so I just put in the basics, also it's probably a little vague. Thinking about making a human character/mini-aspiring hunter as well.

Ambrosio de Avila

Julie London - Perfidia ♫ Buena Vista Social Club - Chan Chan ♫ Nina Simone - Sinnerman

●⚫🌑 Full Name

Ambrosio de Avila.

●⚫🌑 Nickname

Ambrose → Anglicized name as of 1932. Otherwise, he sometimes gets 'Rose' as a nickname.

●⚫🌑 Date of Birth

August, date unknown. He celebrates his birthday for the whole month.

●⚫🌑 Age

Late Twenties (414)

●⚫🌑 Gender

Male

●⚫🌑 Sexuality

Pansexual

●⚫🌑 Relationship Status

Single

●⚫🌑 Role

Vampire

●⚫🌑 Occupation

Ambrose is the owner of a small nook of a shop called Avila's Antiques, situated beneath his apartment. It has existed in its current form for over a century, occasionally changing name. When he is away from home, he shuts it down for months at a time. Amongst the fine china and ornaments are shelves of occult books and even some rare weapons collected from hunters.

●⚫🌑 Face Claim

Diego Luna

●⚫🌑 Dialogue Color

7DBED5

●⚫🌑 Appearance

Ambrose is of Latino heritage, bearing a tan complexion and dark hair and eyes. He's not too tall at only 5'7", but the heel of his cowboy boots (theoretically) adds an inch in height. His build is lean if not scrawny with all the signs of poor nutrition during childhood. Alongside cheekbones that could cut glass are a wolfish grin and eyes that glimmer with something feral, and these features are eternal, regardless of his unruly hair and ever-present stubble. It is fair to say that Ambrose has a certain roguish charm about him, and an apparent lack of care put into his appearance only adds to that.

An assortment of scars decorate Ambrose's skin––quite a lot, even for a vampire of his age. Most of them are bite-marks from his kind (rival covens, the newly-turned and ravenous, etc.) but a few are from the weapons of various hunters he has encountered over the years. For this reason, and perhaps as an old throwback to when he had to actively avoid the sun, he wears long sleeves. He has a name tattooed on his wrist.

When one gets to Ambrose's age, money is no object, and thus he wears all sorts of designer clothing. Even his ugly mustard sweaters have an obscene price-tag. Those that rip or stain as a consequence of his lifestyle get thrown out without regret, and so most of his wardrobe appears to be brand new –– so new that occasionally he forgets to take the stickers or tags off. At the same time, he wears a pair of boots that have been resoled and fixed up by cobblers so often that they're probably not even the same ones he bought in the 1960s, but it's a comfort thing.

●⚫🌑 Habits & Quirks

⤷ Flipping a coin when idle.
⤷ Delaying feeding for as long as possible, usually around the two week mark.
⤷ Testing the sharpness of his fangs.

●⚫🌑 Hobbies

⤷ Collecting antiques and old books.
⤷ Music - playing the guitar.
⤷ Learning new languages.
⤷ Writing unsuccessful history books (under a pseudonym).

●⚫🌑 Likes

⤷ Watching the sunrise and sunset.
⤷ People who are passionate about their beliefs.
⤷ Witches (and witch blood, but that's neither here nor there.)
⤷ Social gatherings and parties, especially with dancing.
⤷ Both his human descendants and vampire children.
⤷ Talking aggressors down from a fight.
⤷ The other supernatural creatures - an unpopular opinion to some.

●⚫🌑 Dislikes

⤷ Most other Elder vampires. Stuffy.
⤷ The 17th and 18th centuries.
⤷ Diseases, dirt and germs, even those he's immune to.
⤷ Drinking blood from unwilling participants.
⤷ Fake paintings and faux designer gear.
⤷ Needless violence and bloodshed.
⤷ Rules and restrictions - they're meant to be broken.

●⚫🌑 Fears

⤷ The extinction of his human family line in Salem, traceable from the 16th century to the present.
⤷ War between supernatural factions, the mortals and the monsters that go bump in the night, or within the coven itself.
⤷ A return to his gluttonous addiction to human blood.

●⚫🌑 Secrets

Ambrose is not the uncle of the girl he has assumed guardianship of, Juliana Avila, but rather her distant ancestor. She is the last descendant of his human daughters and so he has a great desire to keep her alive, even if she does not know that he's actually a vampire.

As someone who has drank human blood for most of his existence –– especially during his rule as a coven leader in New Orleans at the turn of the 20th century –– the past two decades of exclusively animal blood have been trying. All he really wants to do is find a willing participant and get his days of self-flagellation over with, and those desires are something he's actively struggling with right now.

●⚫🌑 Abilities

Like all vampires, Ambrose has supernatural strength, speed, agility, and an accelerated healing rate. Immortality is a given. He also has the standard ability to compel others – in theory.

●⚫🌑 Limitations

As a vampire who has recently been living on animal blood only, Ambrose is slightly weaker than one who drinks 'better' blood, though he hopefully can offset some of that natural disadvantage with age and experience. His personal morals prevent him from purposefully using his compulsion ability on others.

●⚫🌑 Personality

♦ Peacemaker ♦ Hedonistic ♦ Playful ♦ World-Weary ♦

Ambrose is a joker, always seen with a grin or mischievous smirk. In his mind, vampires who lose their sense of humor and whimsy to age might as well just walk into a hunter's stake. To some extent, he misses the days when he was wild and feral, gorging himself on blood nearly every night and finding great thrill in fights, but those days are (mostly) over. Now he's if not sensible then at least restrained, and whereas before he followed the whims of his elders obediently, he's unafraid of showing a little rebellion and bearing his teeth at those better than him. He has very little ambition, and does not care whether or not he has the top-dog position in some vampire hierarchy or not. After he left his New Orleans coven, the politics of his kind have not interested him.

It has been the case ever since he was human that he fell to addiction easily. Booze, blood, it's all the same, really. Though he makes an effort not to fall back into bloodlust, he still indulges his hedonism with all sorts of fine goods. His impulsive decisions are on a different scale from most, and he doesn't think twice before spending several thousand dollars in a few mouse-clicks. (Damn whoever showed him online shopping.) Ambrose is vain, spending a lot of time on his appearance, but the rub is that he thinks he looks better bearing a few blood stains and scratches––he's maybe not all that well-adjusted, come to think of it.

Ambrose has lived so long that he expects conflict everywhere as a rule of thumb, and is just cynical enough to always be preparing for a fight and his escape route if it goes south. His first instinct is to solve problems with words rather than fangs. As a diplomat for his coven, he relies on his natural talent for fast-talking to diffuse situations with witches and werewolves and other vampires alike (and sometimes even hunters) and prays that they don't shoot the messenger. He doesn't like violence. Unfortunately it's an occupational hazard.

●⚫🌑 Place of Origin

Mexico

●⚫🌑 Background

Ambrosio de Avila –– later known as Ambrose, after a mistake on new identification papers many centuries later –– was born in the New World. His lineage could be traced back through cruel conquistadors and brutal tyrants, but by the time of his birth, they were just barely scraping by. His grandfather cut off his father from what little inheritance he might have earned because of who Ambrose's mother was; a woman of "loose morals", if one were to believe the rumours, which was true.

Disease claimed most of his family by the time he was a teenager, the eldest of three siblings and the one responsible for taking care of their failing patch of arid land. As someone who was well-liked in the community, despite his scoundrel ways, Ambrose had enough sway to send his sister to a convent and secure a position as a clerk in Mexico City for his brother before their land was fully worthless. By then, Ambrose was working as a tailor's apprentice and teetering on the edge of alcoholism. It was only his friendship and eventual romance with his landlord's daughter, Catalina, that kept him from self-destruction.

They married. Had three daughters, a nice life.

Ambrose was turned when he was twenty-seven years old by a vampire who he later found out wanted a large following of fledgelings under his command to take Mexico City. His feral bloodlust would not be diminished for many years, and fleeing to his family would bring down the night upon them. Instead, he sent a letter explaining it all to his wife in moments of lucidity in between acts of violence to quench his thirst. In the process of amassing numbers, his sire brought the attention of a sect of vampire hunters associated with the Catholic church down upon himself. Many of Ambrose's peers were put down, and while he fought with them briefly out of confusion and misplaced loyalty, eventually he escaped to return home to his wife and children––ten years later.

With hunters on his tail, he uprooted his family (much to Catalina's annoyance) and had them head north. His daughters were well-informed of his condition; they were not surprised when he appeared just as young as he left, nor were they surprised when their mother died of age-related illnesses and they themselves looked older than him. For generations he protected his own lineage––given he had very little else to do––as they made a name for themselves in Mexico.

Until eventually, he was struck by a mid-life crisis. Ambrose turned away from a family that barely knew him anymore and left for the States, where he returned to the unavoidable side-effects of his continued existence. By then, Ambrose had a better hold on his bloodthirst, but he had not yet calmed into his pacifistic nature. His first real job in the supernatural underworld was as an enforcer for a self-proclaimed 'lord' in New Orleans. He fought werewolves. He flirted with witches. He embraced the nightlife and the freedom that came with it to do as he pleased, and in the process, he amassed a network of friends and acquaintances so large that his employer exiled him on threat of death.

The move was as unexpected as it was fuel for a fire of righteous anger. Ambrose left, but only for a few decades. In his travels, he visited numerous hives of supernatural activity and even travelled overseas. Like his sire before him, he returned to kickstart a brutal conflict in the name of power that did not end until he ruled the city of New Orleans for all of thirty years, in the early 1900s.

It was then that his contacts back home reported a move of his remaining blood relatives to Salem, Massachusetts. The message was a stark reminder of all he had forgotten in his centuries of addled blood-craze and embrace of hedonism. It was time to leave New Orleans, though it had left him with many things: a strong accent, a love of French cuisine and a dash of sexual promiscuity in an otherwise conservative world. Ambrose returned to discover the survivors of his family, and told that first generation the truth about who he was––and he could prove it too beyond skin-deep superficial resemblances. The genealogy Ambrose had recorded himself was priceless.

In return for the protection of his line from anyone who might seek to do them harm, mundane or otherwise, Ambrose agreed to join the local coven of vampire and offer them his expertise and connections. He often left Salem in search of potential new bloods or alliances in the local area, and even visited his remaining friends in New Orleans once or twice, but after travelling over most of North America, he was forced to settle down in the last ten years when someone disappeared all but one member of his family; a child who he obtained guardianship of being the only survivor. His now-teenage "niece" is investigating supernatural things she has no knowledge of, and Ambrose can't offer any help (or forbid it) without giving the game away.

●⚫🌑 Extra

Ambrose speaks quite a few languages, though tends to forget some of them every century. Other than Spanish, his mother tongue, and English, which he uses in everyday life, he knows French, German and Portuguese fluently.

@McHaggis

Me and my Co-GMs will look over your sheet whenever we get the chance. :)

[Sierra]

Hmm, do I think my little Salem witch can work in something so much more supernatural than her original setting?
Am I okay with having deadlines on my RP stuff?
I'm interested for sure. I'll sub and get back to ya on these decisions.

[ArenaSnow]

Hmm, do I think my little Salem witch can work in something so much more supernatural than her original setting?

@Sierra

Only one way to find out, eh?...

[Alfhedil]

Right, got a few questions for hunters since I was tinkering on my character concept. First is whether or not they are an international entity, which I would assume to be the case as I thought I saw a few hints at such in the OOC and the CS for Raini. If they are in fact an international organization, that leaves the question of whether or not there are national chapters or splinter groups aligned with one country/organization or another. Also, would it be plausible for a hunter to have been primarily trained through a national military, and supplemented that with hunter training?

[ArenaSnow]

Right, got a few questions for hunters since I was tinkering on my character concept. First is whether or not they are an international entity, which I would assume to be the case as I thought I saw a few hints at such in the OOC and the CS for Raini. If they are in fact an international organization, that leaves the question of whether or not there are national chapters or splinter groups aligned with one country/organization or another. Also, would it be plausible for a hunter to have been primarily trained through a national military, and supplemented that with hunter training?

@Alfhedil

Hunters have connections with other hunter groups; however, there is no international entity that would in one way or another call itself "The Hunters" that poses a united front. You could say they're almost coven-like; they'll work with allies, but again, they're not a united front or organization by any means, and a group with chapters would be spread out or geographically somewhat small - feel free to introduce such a group in your CS if you think it has a good shot. As for military involvement, it would probably be unofficial. There may be an officer, even a mid to high level one somewhere who happens to be using military resources to train hunters, but no notable government actively trains hunters and outfits them.

[Bishop]

Basically like the American Hunters in Supernatural.

[Argetlam350]

I'll get my CS up tonight.

[Apokalipse]

Yo I might join this

[Sierra]

I might write a sheet as plan B if my newest listing fails to attract a partner. Unending failure seems to be my theme of the year at this rate. :/

[Alfhedil]

Got the weekend shift to work on a sheet, and at the very least with this one I know what I'm doing with my character and a good idea on how to write it. Just going to be a matter of fighting "writer's bleh" and actually doing it :v

[ArenaSnow]

Yo I might join this

@Apokalipse

I might write a sheet as plan B if my newest listing fails to attract a partner. Unending failure seems to be my theme of the year at this rate. :/

@Sierra

Eh... that's not optimism inspiring. >.> Hopefully this gig lasts past the usual mark of life or death of roleplays...

Got the weekend shift to work on a sheet, and at the very least with this one I know what I'm doing with my character and a good idea on how to write it. Just going to be a matter of fighting "writer's bleh" and actually doing it :v

@Alfhedil

Almost there...

[Sierra]

<Snipped quote by Sierra>

Eh... that's not optimism inspiring. >.> Hopefully this gig lasts past the usual mark of life or death of roleplays...

@ArenaSnow

It's not like my RP success rate has led me to expect any different. I'd be a bit more motivated if there wasn't a "due date" on character sheets that turns a casual hobby into work similar to what I have as a university student.

[Themerlinhawk]

I wasn't aware there was a due date?

[Sierra]

I wasn't aware there was a due date?

@Themerlinhawk

points to very first line in the zeroth post

[Themerlinhawk]

Admittedly it says to read everything bellow the line after the due date. Cheeky thing aren't you.

Well then. Here we go.

Thomas James Finch

Character Name

_{{ "I built this and I will burn it if I must" }}

Blood on my Name || Beat the Devil’s Tattoo || Only Human

---

| {Full Name} |

Thomas James Finch

| {Nickname} |

Tom

| {Date of Birth} |

October 23rd.

| {Age} |

176

| {Gender} |

Male

| {Sexuality} |

Are you sleeping with me? Not your business.

| {Relationship Status} |

Widowed

| {Role} |

Warlock

| {Occupation} |

Contractor

| {Face Claim} |

Joe Manganiello

| {Dialogue Color} |

Skyblue

| {Appearance} |

Tom dresses the part of the working man that he tries to be. Complete with steel toed work boots, blue jeans or tan cargo pants, and a worn leather jacket, few could mistake him for much else. Beyond this Tom rarely is clean shaven and maintains his rough around the edges appearance quite well. Longer dark brown hair, pale skin and the beginning streaks of grey complete his appearance as a hardworking man who has been through plenty in his life.

On a handful of occasions Tom has been know to clean himself up quite well. When he feels the need to dress the part Tom favors dark slacks, grey button ups and thigh length dark over coats. More often than not this is in response to a need for him the look the part of the almost two century old Warlock that he is. Though the occasion rarely calls for it.

| {Habits & Quirks} |

• A master pencil spinner, the skill comes from his constant work with drafting tables and the need for large wood pencils for marking boards on the job. Consequently, he is quite good at it, much to the annoyance of those around him.
• Patently refuses to speak to anyone before his first cup of tea. Don’t bother he will ignore you.
• Will not drive automatic cars on principle, he will ride in them but he refuses to drive them
• Compulsive locker. Tom checks the locks on his home and vehicle twice before leaving them and twice when returning.
• Writes in all capital letters. A holdover from an earlier time in his life, Tom’s handwriting is always in capital letters regardless of what he is writing.

| {Hobbies} |

• Painting, for all his potentially destructive and self destructive behaviors Tom is an excellent painter.
• Music, another strange hobby of the Warlock, Tom plays the violin and quite well though his voices is questionable at best. A student of the classics Tom is not prone to playing anything newer than Berstein for whom he makes an exception. Beyond that the only sheet music to be found in his household is from the classics Bach, Beethoven, and so forth.
• Native American artifact collecting is Tom’s hoarder hobby of choice though his home is more museum than anything else sorting objects from: Cree, Kiowa, Blackfoot, Cherokee, Choctaw, Piqua, Ma-chis and his favorites; Navajo.
• Fishing and hunting, a strange hold over from Tom’s early years he has maintained his skills as a hunter over the years out of habit.
• Chess, both playing and the collection of Chess boards. While not a Grand Master, Tom is quite good at the game.

| {Likes} |

• Drinking, an unfortunate taste that has haunted him for many years
• Autumn.
• Historical documentaries, he has a fascination with depictions of what has happened throughout history, especially when it pertains to his own life.
• His cabin up the coast in Maine where he use to spend his time when it was too cold or too snowed in to manage construction.
• Reading, Tom has read libraries in his lifetime and shows no sign of stopping anytime soon.
• Magic, some say that power can be addictive and in Tom’s case it certainly borders on the edge. No one could accuse him of being a slacker in practice or experimentation. Though he swore off petty use of magic when Claire died almost forty years ago. Now he turns his mind to seeking out new spells and new uses for the Art.
• Listening, one of the few things good that has come of his time sitting in bars is that Tom is excellent at listening to those who need to pour their heart out to someone who will listen.

| {Dislikes} |

• Ignorance.
• Over indulgent men, while this might be rather hypocritical of Tom it explains some of his own self loathing.
• Oathbreakers, Tom cannot stand people who break their promises.
• Poor leaders, these are the people that get people killed.
• Racists
• Philistines, please think for yourselves for the purpose of thinking. Just use your brain.
• Joy and happiness Swarms of insects, hates them. Truly hates them.

| {Fears} |

• The loss of a loved one. There is nothing more terrifying to Tom than losing someone he loves.
• Spiders, bloody spiders. Insects he hates, spiders scare him witless.
• Failure. An extension of his fear of losing a loved one but in the end Tom fears failure most of all.

| {Secrets} |

• Tom is well versed in Dark Magic. Much to the horror of anyone who has had the unfortunate experience of witnessing it.
• He is one the only living members of the Lowry Gang.
• He served as a Pinkerton for several years after Reconstruction though he left the Agency soon thereafter to move north.
• Whispered by those old enough to have heard of it supposedly Tom has plumbed the depths of the blackest magic.
• Tom has sworn off another romance after Claire, though his heart wavers.

| {Abilities} |

A savant with fire and kinetic magic Tom is a user of magic that is born once in an age when it comes to this kind of magic. Beyond this Tom is a reader capable of taking imprints from rooms left by their previous occupants.

His grasp of Dark Magic is undocumented at best though it would appear extensive.

| {Limitations} |

Tom’s ability to read rooms is limited by time constraints, more than a few hours and the trail runs cold quickly. Beyond this Tom’s more powerful manifestations of magic can take a physical toll on his body through repeated use; which is why he does his best to refrain from grand displays of magic.

| {Personality} |

♦ Hard working ♦ Self Medicating ♦ Protector ♦ Vengeful ♦

Thomas can be accused of a handful of things, being concise and rude are two of them. Among the others can be counted arrogant, honest, and caring. Shaped by the last seventeen decades and more than enough violence to fill several life times most find Thomas to be an acquired taste. To those who do acquire the taste for Mr. Finch they discover and intelligent creative man lost to grief from four decades prior. A life fighting someone else's battles has caused Tom to become the sort of man to have on your side when the night closes in. One of the Hive’s protectors Tom will stop at nothing to keep safe the handful of things left to him that he cares about and the members of the Hive fall into that group; even if some may find him distasteful.

Once Tom was a kind, strong man; a soldier and a man driven by a pursuit of a greater good and a higher calling. Those who knew him then knew him as a reserved but happy man and at times even playful. Though those days are gone now, sometimes the way Thomas use to be can be seen in how he interacts with his few friends. Never one to hurt those who does not deserve it and not nearly so quick to anger as he once might have been. Time has aged and tempered Tom making him into the beginnings of a bitter old man with a slowly hardening heart.

| {Place of Origin} |

Wilmington, North Carolina.

| {Background} |

Born twenty years before the start of the Civil War in America Tom Finch was a confederate defector early in the war. Two years prior the young man had discovered his powers of magic and come to learn that one of his Ancestors had been a wise man from the edge of spain. With her death centuries before the blood line had gone dormant. Tom’s birth had heralded an awakening of magic in his blood line that had not been seen since his great great great Grandmother. At first the young boy had been thrilled by the power. With each day that his powers grew he practiced more, until one day it finally got out of hand. While practicing near his family's home he had caught an entire field on fire. The resulting blaze killed the entire family that were their neighbors, including his intended.

For the next two years Tom swore off the use of magic. With the start of the war of Northern Aggression Tom did his best to stay out of the fighting and protect his family and his home. Such things are not meant to last however as the Confederacy came for the family’s crops and livestock. In the end Thomas was forced to use his powers again, this time he did so knowing full well what would happen. When the flames died and every soldier had been burned to a crisp the young Warlock saw nothing but fear and loathing in his family’s eyes. From that day forth Thomas set out on his own and never looked back. Six months later what remained of his family was killed by looters. During the course of the war Thomas did his best to help where he could but he soon realized that this was not his war.

With the end of the civil war Thomas moved home to Wilmington, however his peace was not to last. In 1864 Tom Finch joined a group known as the Lowry Gang. A group of outlaws who stole from the Reconstruction era soldiers and lawmen in and around Robeson County. Tom Finch ran with the gang until Henry Berry Lowry disappeared in 1872. On the heels of the man who had helped him to find a purpose once again. Traveling west the next years of Thomas’ life are not well documented and he never speaks of them but many suspect that it was during this period that he learned to better control his magic from the Shamans and medicine men of the native tribes he crossed paths with. When Tom finally returned to the east coast he was fluent in a half dozen native languages including Navajo.

Following this period Tom finally moved further North along the Eastern seaboard where he was destined to meet Claire. Some say that all people are destined to meet a single person who is to be their other half in this life. If that is the case then Tom found that in Claire on the coast of Maine while he was building home along the coast, well away from the pains of his past.

Like so many things in Thomas’ life this too was destined to pass. After five long years of happiness Claire passed from a fever in the winter of 1977. Much of Thomas current life can be attributed to the passing of Claire. It was at this time that Thomas abandoned any restraint he might have had in a mad self destructive dive into the depths of Dark Magics. Two years later Tom would visit Claire's gravesite one last time to enact a ritual which would haunt him for the rest of his days. The day after, Tom packed the remains of his home and moved south to Salem Massachusetts. There are few who remember much of Tom’s induction into the Salem Hive as it was swift and few questions were asked by the previous leader. Within a year Salem had a new contractor, architect and carpenter. And the Hive had a new watch dog, though many question how rabid he might be.

| {Extra} |

Thomas speaks one of most difficult languages for a native english speaker to learn and speaks another five which are all but extinct. Tom’s CCW includes the Griswold revolver he used in the Civil War.

[Alfhedil]

Yeah, not going to lie, the due date is kind of looming over me ominously and I'm not entirely sure about making it x.x

That said, I've made some progress, just need to work on fact-checking things while I have internet.

[ihinka]

I am really tempted to claim the Were Alpha. There don't seem to be many werewolf applications, shame.