[OOC] Thicker Than Water

[Jig]

We've begun, but I'll still be accepting sheets for the forseeable future :)

• Tl;dr - vampires integrated into the modern world. What could go wrong?


• Style - best of both worlds, modern realism and campy gothic


• Discretions - violence, gore, sex

Though the stones had been rolling for a little while beforehand, it started on the first of January, 1980. The vampires declared themselves. Where previously they had been covert, true identities hidden from society altogether, those movers and shakers among them decided it was time to reveal themselves.

Those movers and shakers were well-placed. While some vampire dynasties are still yet to 'come out', many of those in the Western world with great power belong to the vampires' flock. While humans breed children, vampires breed those with proven power and influence to bring to the table. It was with surprise and, yes, some horror, to the average citizen that their historic rulers, financial dynasties and families of import were not of their own world.

At first there was outright global resistance, and, though it varied upon the country, Europe cracked first. With vampires in high places, it did not take long for vampires to attain legal status, and further rights until, in many European countries, vampires acheived equal status with ordinary breathers. Still, much of the world is not as progressive; while vampires enjoy safe existence from legal, religious, and vigilante persecution in South America, Japan, and most of Europe, the Americas, Africa, and the vast majority of Asia remain hotbeds of lynchings and witch-hunts, both literal and media-based. This is no doubt on account of the limited presence of vampires in the upper-echelons of those societies.

At around the turn of the Millenium, the so-called Age of the Vampire began - at least in Europe. Strict charters imposed by vampires internally and the law externally were naturally drawn up to regulate the process of feeding. It was no longer acceptable to simply slaughter one's way across a city, draining the homeless, the vulnerable, and the destitute. Though cagey at first, the vampire community was, on the whole, true to its word in the exclusive feeding from willing doners - paid doners. The boom of the blood market was inevitable. Every human on the planet was eligible to blood-let, and with the vampire community as a whole having money to spend, prices were at a premium. The unemployed were no longer unemployed. Homeless hostels and suitable medical practices were bought out or established by vampires, exchanging services for the needy at the cost of excess blood. Nobody need die, and nobody need have their hand forced. Vampire and human cooperation - it was a utopia waiting to happen.

With vampires suddenly an economic and social miracle, they became, frankly, fashionable, and, where their social scene had been, in the darker days of the '80s, underground or at the very least segregated, humans were becoming more and more interested in vampire culture. Vampire bars serving, predictably, blood, suddenly had standard alcoholic drinks on the menu. The diffusion is mutual, with the top blood brands being served on draught in ever more human-oriented establishments. With the Netherlands having adopted pro-vampire legislation first, it benefitted first from the vampire integration and Amsterdam is now, without a doubt, the Vampire Capital of the world.

Needless to say, not everybody is happy. While progressives in the religious field have turned the other cheek and welcomed vampires into society, those more conservative movements, including, typically, the Roman Catholic Church, consider vampires aberrations to be eliminated from society. These movements lobby, as any religion does on those matters close tho their interests. At the same time, there are cells, like with many religious movements, that seek to take matters into their own hands and decrease the vampire population more directly - by force.

At the same time, many vampires resent the new world order, in which humans and vampires enjoy equal footing instead of vampires having a perceived superiority. In particular, vampire breeding is now regulated to prevent the total vampire population becoming unsustainable - just like having children in the traditional sense, breeding is a very emotional and heartfelt issue, and not one that many feel should require a license. At the same time, there are psychos that enjoy the hunt as much as the blood.

This RP takes place in Amsterdam, a modern-day metropolis speaking every language (conveniently, everybody speaks English!) with immigrants, human and vampire alike, from around the world, living and, usually, breathing as one. This vampire paradise, or 'vamparadise' if you will, is a fragile balance of respect, restraint, and cooperation. Wouldn't it be a shame if something upset that balance?

Lore

Origins: nobody is quite certain where vampires came from, though, due to the viral nature of the way vampires breed, it is believed that they originated from just one single individual. Supernatural, rather than genetic, origins are considered silly and even offensive.

Blood: blood is like a bonus nutrient for vampires. Without it, their vampire-ness, and therefore, the vampire, dies. Exact reactions to blood vary: for some it's like a drug hit, for some it's a nice glass of wine, for some it's a sexual thing, and for others it's like having vegetables with a meal. Yes, vampires do eat, but very little, because the energy they gain from blood is largely sufficient.

Biology: let's not ask too many questions here, because I'm not a biologist and can't possibly justify this stuff. To all intents and purposes, vampires are living beings with beating hearts. They just don't necessarily actually breathe (except to talk).

Powers: yes, vampires come with powers, including bonus strength, bonus agility, speedy physical regeneration, and even a little bit of vague telepathy. None of this is crazy powerful (I didn't use the term 'super'), but a vampire will generally hands-down physically overpower the average human. The telepathy is more of a biological, pheromoney thing, and not directly controlled. In the same way animals can be 'on heat', vampires can evoke emotions in others, from fear through rage through arousal. Typically this emotive behaviour is more visceral and impulsive, rather than contempletive and mellow. Range of effects depend on the strength of the vampire and the willpower of the subject. Humans are more susceptible than vampires, though both can be effective.

Siring: or, breeding. A human dying of bloodloss that drinks the blood of a vampire will become that vampire's progeny, resurrecting shortly after their death. This doesn't simply create a fully-fledged vampire instantly; the resultant vampire, called a progeny, is weak, frail, and hugely dependent on their sire, just as a human baby is. It takes a progeny usually ten to twenty years (though it can certainly be longer) to become 'fledged' and to stop being dependent on their sire. During this fledgling period, they are typically emotionally unstable, highly compulsive, and extremely susceptible to their sire's telepathy, which can be so influential as to be considered out-and-out mind control. During this fledgling period, they usually live in service to their sire to a lesser or greater degree, and this is encouraged so as to form the bedrock of vampire social structure. They will usually continue to show their sire great respect and generally obey them even once fledged. Depending on the sire in question, their relationship may be formal or not. Conservative vampire society favours formal sire-progeny relationships; progressive vampire society favours more relaxed relationships. A sire in good control of his progeny completely sets out the path that that progeny will follow for the rest of their lives.

Weaknesses: On the whole, if you want to kill a vampire, do it thoroughly. Destroying the heart or the brain is the way to go, but they do have some kryptonites.

• Sunlight: not really. Vampires are typically paler than humans and so exposure to the sun is more damaging to vampire than a human, but not crippling. Fledgling vampires are even weaker.


• Holy relics: no


• Garlic: really no


• Running water: they can cross it


• Stake through the heart: anything through the heart


• Silver: no


• OCD: vampires are typically compulsive, and can be distracted by disruptive patterns. A folkloric measure against vampire attacks was to spill grain - they'd go batshit and have to count each grain while you made a getaway


• Entry without invitation: there's no real magic force stopping a vampire entering a dwelling without invitation, but fledgling vampires have historically had this rule drilled into them to the point that they really do have to ask for permission, on the whole, before entering a dwelling. How individual vampires interpret this may vary - you have been warned!


• Blood deprivation: will definitely kill a vampire

Age: Vampires do not age physically, but they do mature. As they grow older, they tend to grow more powerful in their general vampire superhuman-ness, and so the older the vampire, the more respected and feared. They do not die of natural causation.

Appearance: They look like humans, but slightly paler than their skintone would presume to the point of looking a little ill. Presumably, the blood isn't too close to the skin because it's off doing wonderful biological vampiric stuff. They're not just snow-white, though. A black vampire still has a darker skin-tone than a white human, natch. Fangs are a dead giveaway, and permanent, though they grow in during the fledgling state.

Bats: No correlation, beyond folklore.

Half-Vampires: Nope. Vampires are sterile. They cannot conceive. This has nothing to do with my violent and flagrant bias against half-breed characters in general and half-vampires in particular. Honest.

The Golden Rules

While the legal jargon is obviously extensive and complex, what follows are the golden rules. These are largely new to the vampire population and are considered the key milestones to human-vampire cooperation.

• Vampires must obey the laws of the land and should expect to be protected by them.


• Vampires may not feed off unwilling humans. Doing so is considered the equivalent of rape in addition to whatever injuries are sustained. Clearly this is a grey area when humans are under the influence of drink, drugs, or crazy vampire mind-powers.


• Vampires may not sire an unwilling subject, require a means-tested license for each new progeny, who must then be registered with local authorities. Licenses are almost exclusively a means of hugely staggering the vampire population; there should apparently be no more than one vampire per five hundred humans.

Amsterdam

Amsterdam has, naturally, changed a little bit since the beginning of the Age of the Vampire. Strictly speaking, many of these facilities are commonplace around Europe but these are most prevalent in Amsterdam.

Population: it's a hugely popular destination for vampires and those interested in vampire culture, as the vampire capital of the world. Fewer than half of the current population is actually indiginous Dutch, and there are representatives of every nationality. English is the most widely-spoken language (not too unlike today's Amsterdam!) As a result of this boon, Amsterdam is both hugely wealthy and extremely densely populated.

With every immigrant-based population boom comes a level of competition among the lower classes for employment and work. Many humans have been forced to relocate to the suburbs and rely on the blood-letting industry to get by. Naturally, this causes tensions between some humans and the vampire society.

The Red Light District: where previously Amsterdam's red light district was focused on drugs and the sex-trade, it now refers to a different area entirely; the centre of vampire services and nightlife. There are clinics where humans can literally sell their blood and get medical advice and support, naturally tailored to the vampire topics. However, the area is most famous for its night-life, with bars serving (yes) blood and the vast majority of them have rooms upstairs for when their vampire clientele and humans want to get some 'privacy'. Some bars have hugely seedy reputations; others insist on being higher-class establishments.

Facilities: not actually part of the red light district, but integral to it, there are many facilities around the city designed to support (some say 'exploit') the destitute, the unemployed and the homeless. In essence, they are hostels for which the only price is the blood in your veins.

Churches: a curious thing has happened to religion. You might think that religion would implode under the new revalations, but they're more popular than ever before. Some have embraced the new world; others rail against it and decry vampires as aberrations. Either way, religion has been reinvigorated by the Age of the Vampire and church attendance has never been so high.

Locations

Ogthoven Manor / Tuinhuis van Ogthoven: a manor to the West of Amsterdam surrounded by countryside. It's a little bit dilapidated, but it's being renovated. This is the primary residence of Albert Ogthoven and a bit of a coincidental throwback to previous vampire mythology, where secretive nobles eat local peasants that get lost - this was actually the situation at the time. Despite being a bit creaky and rough around the edges, it's still fairly luxurious and a nice getaway from the busy urban Amsterdam. Albert entertains guests fairly often, human and vampire, as part of his policy of encouraging vampire-human cooperation, hence the recent efforts to fix the damn hovel up.

The Burlesque: a falsely bohemian vampire bar in the red light district. While it tries to be all cool, edgy and dark, it's actually one of the nicer bars in the area, tastefully decorated, a little bit expensive, and generally rather pleasant. The blood it serves is usually fresh and of high quality. It has private rooms for feeding, but these are actually furnished properly in a proper hotel style, unlike dodgier establishments, and there is a very very strict understanding that they are to be hired in the event of live feeding. The staff are well-dressed and there are doormen to personally greet clients; 'Welcome' signs are considered tacky but vampires still have to be invited in. Music is typically the house band, and there is a proper stage for periodic performances of whatever sort - rarely actual burlesque. The room is decorated with lots and lots of leafy plants, and is styled after the ultimate lounge/living room, rather than a club. Owned by Albert Ogthoven, who actually uses one of the rooms for personal day-to-day use while in town.

Downstairs in Red: rather a step-down from the Burlesque. Basically a strip joint and more normal bar rolled into one, in a way that would never be accepted in purely human terms. The blood is cheap trash, even serving pig's blood for the poorer/less choosy clientele. As usual, there are rooms upstairs, but it's not rare to find a vampire simply chowing down on their human friends in plain sight, though this is somewhat discouraged. The rooms are basically cells, anyway. The main body of the building is a dancefloor with a few high tables and stools, television screens displaying deals behind the bar and showing music videos that don't usually actually match the generic house and pop music of the environment. The 'other room' (ie: the one with strippers) looks just like any other strip joint - half-heartedly pretending to be classy but not really trying. Also owned by Albert Ogthoven, who basically never sets foot there.

European head office of Liberal Recovery Bank: found along the outside of the city, due to a lack of building space within the city itself. It mirrors in style to the one in down town New York city. The building itself, is about twenty-three stories high, and made of glass. The lobby is large and open with a lot of security guards looming around. There is a check in centre before you would have to pass through security, which acts much like an airport. Once inside there are offices upon offices, each having their own little room rather than the cubical style. Almost all of the building is working towards the company itself, but there are some of the lower floors rented out for the right price. Miss Dune’s personal office is on the top floor and is the size of about four offices put together.

Jan Bakers Architect bureau Amsterdam office: Located just outside the heart of Amsterdam, this young thriving company has recently settled in the so-called 'Clipper Building' together with three other companies. Their main office is located in Utrecht, but with the increasing demands for architects, they opened a branch in Amsterdam as well. The building is four stories high, made out of concrete and glass, lacking every characteristic appeal that seems to ooze out of the Herenhuizen (city mansions, I don't really know how to translate it) on the channels, the character that Amsterdam is known for. The reception is shared with the other companies but Bakers' hires the whole second floor. This floor breathes light and is designed by someone who lacked any colours but white. Sketches and photos of finished projects decorate the walls of the waiting room as well as the branch leader's office. It's relatively small, but for a business that opened up only twelve years ago in Utrecht, it's quite the accomplishment.

Caito and Jansen Law Firm: Located just inside the border of the city. Built in the early 90's, what was once the Caito Law Firm has recently taken a new partnership becoming Caito and Jansen. The building isn't the most modern, standing only two stories high. Made of a mixture of both brown and red bricks. Plans are currently in the making so that the building can be remodeled to add in another story. On the first floor is the waiting room which is fairly large, with light wooden floors and easily fits at least thirty chairs for clients. There are at least two security guards, and three lobbyist who take in the paperwork and answers the phones. Also there are a few offices of the legal assistants. The second floor holds more legal assistant offices, the law firms records, and the office of Anthony Catio.

[Jig]

Rules of the RP

• You know how to RP. I don't have to tell you about Godmoding and Powerplaying.


• Welcome to the Advanced Section: I'm not personally very interested in post-length, but basic grammatical and spelling accuracy really is necessary.


• Keep in touch! Don't feel like you have to post every day, but letting us know if you're going to be out of town, please.


• Feel free to make as many characters as you can keep on top of.


• Enjoy!

Sheets

Please please please format these with the coding so the headings are bold. It makes reading them so much easier. Click 'View RAR' in the top-right corner of this post and you should be able to just copy and paste the sheet, coding and all.

Vampire Sheets

Name:
Gender:
Actual Age:
Physical Age:
Nationality:
Occupation:
Appearance: picture and/or description. Pictures should be realistic, and not of a celebrity. If I recognise a celebrity, I will not accept the sheet. ^^
Personality:

Attitude to The Age of the Vampire: are you revelling in or restricted by your new-found liberation?
Reason for being in Amsterdam:
Vampire Traits: relationship with blood, particular proficiencies in any vampire skills or particular sensitivities to their weaknesses?

Status: Fledgling or Fledged
Sire Name: Who bit ya?
Sire Details: A bit of detail about them might be nice, and their relationship :)
Progeny: Who've ya bit?
Progeny Details: A bit of detail about them, too :)
(list as few or as many Progeny as the vamp has, but don't feel like you have to go into crazy detail on all of them)

History: older vampires have a lot of history, but focus on the important bits, especially the fledgling experience.

Other Details:

Human Sheets

Name:
Gender:
Age:
Nationality:
Occupation:
Appearance: picture and/or description. Pictures should be realistic, and not of a celebrity. If I recognise a celebrity, the sheet won't be accepted. ^^
Personality:

Attitude to The Age of the Vampire:
Reason for being in Amsterdam:

History:

Other Details:

---

Characters:

Vampires:

Alexander - Jig

Name: Alexander Thompson
Gender: Male
Actual Age: 53
Physical Age: 20
Nationality: British
Occupation: Barman
Appearance:

Click

Personality: Alexander is a shadow of a man. He has a decent mask of friendliness and social ease, and generally comes across as a slightly cheeky, affable young man, if a little bit evasive. However, he is hugely demanding of his sire and prolonged absence basically causes a mental breakdown. He becomes twitchy and withdrawn, and engages in hugely compulsive behaviour. While he isn't stupid, he has little willpower, determination or initiative, so he relies on the drive of others around him ideally his sire, or menial tasks and routine, to give him purpose.

Attitude to The Age of the Vampire: He has only really known the Age of the Vampire, and so it's normal for him. While apolitical, he, immitating his sire, is supportive of vampire-human cooperation.
Reason for being in Amsterdam: He was sired in the Netherlands, and remained there.
Vampire Traits: Alexander is possibly the worst vampire. His strength and agility are barely superior to that of your common garden human. In fairness, his mental capacity to manipulate humans isn't too shabby, but his own defences against those manipulations are next to nothing. He consumes little blood, possibly as a result of (or a cause for) his vampiric uselessness and suffers from intensely compulsive behaviour, even by vampire standards. Though Alexander is technically fledged, he exhibits most of the traits of fledglings.

Status: (Barely) Fledged
Sire Name: Albert Ogthoven
Sire Details: Albert is over three hundred years old, and has sired many vampires in his time. Alexander, however, is the last of Albert's progeny, since he takes up so much of his time. They have a hugely formal relationship that has, unusually, barely developed since Alexander's fledgling phase and is atypical of Albert's other progeny, all of whom have respectful, but ultimately relaxed relationships with their sire. Their mental link is still very strong.
Progeny: Nobody
Progeny Details:

History: Alexander, then called Al, was born in 1960 in the dead-eyed world of greater London suburbia. His childhood was absurdly uneventful and far less exciting than the 70's. Al grew up just in time to appreciate punk, and he went for it hell for leather. Despite having a decent school record, the destructive listlessness of the punk movement had completely captured his imagination. He kicked school at the earliest opportunity, was kicked out of home, narrowly avoided arrest, and entered a filthy squat.

Essentially, he was the quintessential 70's punk. He even joined a band (imaginitively called Deadstuff) as a haphazard drummer, and that band, barely eating and washing even less frequently, actually had a modicum of success - enough for a thrown-together European tour, living out the back of a van.

That's when it all went a bit wrong. In the northern part of the Netherlands, near to Amsterdam, they missed a gig (that was technically supposed to take place in Germany) and decided to go out on the lash instead. One thing led very much to another, and Al still doesn't know what insane combination of drink and drugs had him lose his friends or where exactly it happened, but he stumbled across a Albert Ogthoven.

Albert, who knew that the world-wide reveal of vampires was coming, was both hungry, and saw an opportunity for a modern vampire to assist in the modernisation and rehabilitation of vampires into human society, and turned the boy, after feeding from him, of course.

Al did not go down easy - not in slightest. Full of youthful punk rage, he had to be restrained for weeks, even while sustaining the kind of bloodloss that a full vampire-feed ensues. Even when released from physical captivity, Albert used telepathy to completely and utterly restrain him. This mental captivity was Alexander's life for the best part of two years, and, even from then, was prone to violent outbursts, and remained housebound.

Vampire influence on a fledgling tends to reduce over the first few years until it is barely used. This is down to the fledgling mellowing and requiring less monitoring and, at the same time, developing a resistance to that influence. Alexander was so completely crushed during his fledgling phase, however, that that resistance never really developed, and probably never will. Similarly, his vampire agility and strength failed to flourish, too, possibly because of his newly subservient nature and undermined confidence, though they weren't hampered quite to the same extent as his mental resistance and have very slightly developed over the years.

The dark days of the '80s and '90s basically had no impact on Alexander, whose existence was more or less exclusively tied to Albert's domestic, and not political, life. He was largely spared the persecution and lynchings, and, living in the Netherlands already, was already in the most vampire-friendly society when he started to take his first baby-steps out into the world again.

Since then, Albert has encouraged Alexander to become more independent, to limited success. While still in almost constant contact, Alexander is just about holding down a job as a barman in one of Albert's chain of vampire bars in the red light district.

Anthony - Love Dove

Name: Anthony Caito
Gender: Male
Actual Age: 90
Physical Age: 25
Nationality: Italian
Occupation: Lawyer
Appearance:

Personality:
Anthony can be seen as a bit cold at times, though that really isn’t the case, and he can be very nice at times. He merely prefers not to waste his time and effort on those who he feels aren’t going to listen to him in the first place. Anthony isn’t quiet, however, though he has a habit of getting annoyed and walking away. If pushed he can become violent, but prefers to come off more sophisticated, as his Sire was. He has a very dark sense of humor at times, is sometimes very blunt, and is extremely picky.

Attitude to The Age of the Vampire: At the beginning of The Age of the Vampire, Anthony felt extremely restricted. However, over the years he has gotten used to it, and has started to revel in it.
Reason for being in Amsterdam: Came here after the death of his Sire, to get away from the protests.

Vampire Traits: While Anthony isn’t a weakling when it comes to strength he prefers the agility that comes with being a vampire over strength. Which seems to bother some humans that call his agility being stealthy. However, that seems to help his job, when pushing the bonders of his legal code. He isn’t the best at manipulating as he doesn’t seem to use it much, however, he is able to protect himself from being manipulated quite well. Anthony likes blood, clearly, though it isn’t a thing he thinks about all the time. Also in that subject he is extremely picky, usually finding two or three that he likes to drink from, only for when his favorite isn’t available, because of this he is a regular at some of the night clubs.

Status: Fledged
Sire Name: Flora Devereaux
Sire Details: Flora was a very important person in Italy, she was just over two hundred when she was killed. She was a very kind woman, and despite her time, had the ears, blood, and the hearts of many. Anthony and Flora had a very strict, formal, and family like relationship. A lot of the changes to his personality as a fledgling were due to her. Flora also believed very strongly in her progeny being seen and not heard around the older vampires. All together she had eight progeny's before her death. She died very soon after the coming out of vampires in a human protest.
Progeny: Anthony has yet to make one.

History:
Anthony was born in 1949 in Italy. His human life wasn’t far from the norm of those ages, he started to work in his father’s store when he turned sixteen, being paid the same as the others that worked there. Around nineteen he started putting his money back in order to go to college, though he stayed working part time. That is where he first met Flora when he was twenty-three, she was a regular at the store and as many other men he had been slightly smitten with her. As patient as Flora was, she waited until he was twenty-five, when Anthony’s father died before turning him. It had been late at night when Flora came into the store, despite the fact that the store had been closed she was able to get him to let her in. It was there that she ended up turning him.

Flora was very strict and tended to keep Anthony and her other progenies very close at hand, even after they became fledged. Which during his time as a fledgling she had four fledged already. To his sire, he and the others she turned were like children she had never had the chance to have, therefore she had the same loving instinct as a mother, while demanding obedience and loyalty to her. She often even referred to them as "Child" when speaking directly to them. However, Anthony seemed to be one of her favorites, as the other called it, they had one of the closest relationships of her first five. While she didn’t use manipulation on Anthony quite as much as the others, she used it mainly as a form of punishment. If he were to get into a fight, speak out of turn, or do something to upset her, Flora would use manipulation to mentally knock him back down to where he belonged.

Still even after the change Anthony managed to run the store for a little while, as well as finish going to college. He even changed his major to become a lawyer as Flora wanted him to, so she would have influence in that field as well. With the reveal of vampires, however, came the death of his Sire. Only shortly after the reveal which she helped set in motion, there were protests in the area of Italy they lived in. One of which was the cause of Flora and a few of her fledglings, the humans carrying the stakes and screams things like kill the vampires. After they had killed Flora, they even had the disrespect to burn down the house with their bodies inside, showing who of the two races were the true monsters. After that happened he and a few others Sired by Flora fled to Amsterdam.

Since then he has opened up his own practice in Amsterdam, and has become a regular at one of the clubs in the red light district, mainly sticking to one of the blood donators named Lailaa Visser. Though he has a few others he drinks from when she isn’t free, Lailaa keeps his interest and has to be one of his favorites.

Christina - AlidaMaria

Name: Christina van Beusenkom
Gender: Female
Actual Age: 225 (13 July 1789)
Physical Age: 19
Nationality: Dutch
Occupation: Secretary at a Jan Bakers Architect bureau

Appearance:

Christina always dresses elegantly, not showing too much skin but she also tries her best to follow current human fashion to prevent standing out too much.

Personality: Christina has had her share of exciting events during her lifetime, and those have shaped her to be a serious, cautious woman with quite the bit of self-humor and sarcasm. She also tends to put things in perspective and isn't afraid to speak her mind when she thinks she has to. She's quite intelligent and smiles more than she used to, after all she traveled the world and has seen so much beauty that it can slightly compensate for the other things she has seen. She has a great sense of honor and duty and won't betray her kind, although she isn't too psyched about the some of her brethren and sisters behave.
Attitude to The Age of the Vampire: Suspicious. Although she doesn't doubt that some of her fellow Dutch are sincerely trying to establish a society where vampires are accepted, her experiences have taught her never to fully trust humans. No doubt there are some that disagree with this age, and therefore Christina tends to behave the same as she did a hundred years ago. But on the other hand, she
Reason for being in Amsterdam: After traveling the world for a long time, she decided to come back to her country. And of all the provinces and towns to settle down, she figured that the metropolis Amsterdam would be the place where she could spend another 10 years without people noticing what she really is.
Vampire Traits: For Christina, drinking blood usually has the sensation of drinking a good glass of wine. Some humans however, especially males, provide an ecstatic feeling when drinking from them and thus Christina prefers to drink bottled blood.
She's particularly good at sensing other people's emotions when she's quenched, or to put it another way; she becomes extra observant to their body language and therefore she knows when people (especially humans) are lying or when they change from emotion.
Besides that, she also possesses the usual extra agility and is able to control human minds, although if not necessary, she prefers not to use her abilities to prevent unnecessary attention.
Her greatest weakness is that she gets drunk on blood quite easily, making her unable to stop drinking or lose her temper and destroy a few things. Luckily for her (and her house and Jan) she is physically extremely weak in vampire standards and wouldn't even be able to beat up a human.
Status: Fledged
Sire Name: Emile Louis Francois (he lacks a surname since he was born before the age of Napoleon)
Sire Details: Emile is about 500 years old and he was one of the French that came to the Netherlands under the rule of Louis Bonaparte. After he became a vampire, he enjoyed his new found powers a bit too much and created quite the few scandals and tales of vampires throughout Europe. His personality is... outgoing to say the least and for his lack of love for duty, Christina detests him. They met in 1808, three years after Christina had gotten married. With use of all of his charms, he persuaded Christina to share his bed for one night, where he bit he her, sucked her dry and turned her. After that, he gave her the adress to his estate near Toulouse and provided her with an enormous amount of money, a carriage and a driver to bring her there. When she declined to stay with her husband, he explained that there was no way for her to stay with her husband in Amsterdam, being a vampire. When she declined again, he rolled his eyes, left the money, driver and carriage in Amsterdam, told her that she'd change her mind and disappeared. Only a few days later, she had grown too weak to even come out of her bed and called out to him by telepathy. It turned out that he had stayed in Amsterdam, enjoying the city's pleasures and took her to Toulouse. He stayed there until she had regained her strength, then left her in the care of his other progenies. She only saw him twice after she came to his mansion, where he kept something like a harem of progenies.
Their relationship is quite cold as Christina detests his way of 'life' and Emile has more than enough other progenies he likes better. Their mental link is therefore quite weak.
Progeny: Jan Koster and Kenta Ichimaru
Progeny Details: Jan was a childhood friend of Christina and he met her again when she returned to Amsterdam after ten years. She still wasn't quite able to control her thirst and Jan turned out to be one of the special cases. She found herself unable to stop once she drank from him. Jan is a cheerful fellow and still follows Christina around to this day and helps her with all kinds of things.
She met Kenta in America, just after the beginning of World War II when the Japanese became an extremely unwelcome sight America. Thirsty for blood after suppressing the urge to feed for too long, she entranced Kenta with her abilities and fed on him... Too long and too much it turned out. For the second time, she had turned a human without intending to and Christina felt disgusted with herself. Kenta traveled with her and Jan for a few years, but around 1950 on the Indonesian countryside, he was killed. After all, he looked Japanese and the Japanese had exploited the area for five years. Their bond had been quite strong, despite the circumstances and Christina never forgave herself for letting him die.
After she had turned and lost Kenta, Christina decided to never ever let herself go out of control like that again. Up until this day she has kept that promise to herself and never turned anyone again. The new system of bottled blood is perfect for her, since even if she gets drunk, she won't be putting anyone in danger.
History: Christina grew up in the eighteenth century Amsterdam. The time of the industrial age in Europe, but in the Netherlands most still continued their ways as they had in the Golden Age (17th Century). Her father was a well to do cloth merchant and at a young age she helped him as a clerk. She had a good education and excelled at languages and music, encouraged by her father she often accompanied him on his business trip overseas to England and over road to Germany, France and Italy. At the age of sixteen, she had an engaged marriage to a rival of her father, who was thrice her age, to merge their businesses when she'd produce an heir. Unfortunately for both families and companies, it seemed that Christina's womb was barren. Her husband, who at first had been very kind, began abusing her physically and mentally and finally he turned to alcohol, wondering if he should divorce her or not. After all, if he did, he risked the newly found partnership with Christina's father. Fortunately for him, Emile Louis Francois solved his problem by kidnapping his wife.
In Toulouse, Christina quickly became friends with a few of Emile's other progenies. She trained her vampiric powers and after ten years, she returned to Amsterdam to see what had become of her family. After all, Emile never had forbidden such a thing. It wasn't a happy thing Christina returned to. Her father had died not long after she had left and her mother had sailed off with a ship to America, never to be heard of again. When she accidently turned Jan, Christina fled the city with him, confused and angry at the world and God for allowing such things to happen.
After that, she and Jan traveled the world with Emile's money and her own inheritance. Sating her thirst of knowledge and never staying anywhere too long. Wherever they were, Christina always made sure that they kept up with the rapidly changing world. Of course she had an interest in the ideas of the French Revolution, the new technologies and the slowly decreasing the world's vastness because of things as aircraft, the telephone and finally internet. She mastered various languages and bought a violin in Mirandola, Italy. She found some comfort in writing and playing musical pieces and after almost two hundred years, she finally returned to her place of birth. She was hired as a secretary at a an Architect bureau, still living according to the way she always had: never stick out too much for if they find you and they will kill you.

Other Details:
She hates it when people belittle her or treat her like a youngling because of her appearance.
She heavily dislikes mirrors, not because of some magic but simply because she hates how she still looks the same after all those years and it reminds her of how she used to be when she still was human.

Lacey - Touch of Insanity

Name: Lacey Rain Dune
Gender: Female
Actual Age: 84
Physical Age: 28
Nationality: Canadian
Occupation: CEO of Liberal Recovery Bank
Appearance:

Personality: Lacey could be labeled as a cold hearted bitch with a god complex. She believes she is better than everyone else and thus almost untouchable. She does not take orders well and believes she should always be the one giving them. Humans in her mind are mere pieces of meat that live only to feed them. However, Lacey does understand that not everything she does is legal and thus has to go around the law to get her way. She is short tempered and very rude. There are very few people she will speak kindly to and even then she usually will have a rude comment thrown in here and there. She tries to show herself as the perfect being, no flaws, but she has many that she hides very well, for one the fact that she does have feelings and a heart. Lacey is young and untrusting, believe she is fighting the whole world by herself and thus cannot trust anyone fully.

Attitude to The Age of the Vampire: Likes the idea of vampires and humans living and knowing about each other but believes that vampires should be standing above the humans.
Reason for being in Amsterdam: Head office of the bank is currently being moved there.
Vampire Traits: Lacey may be stronger and faster than humans, but by vampire standards she really only average and tries rather easily. Lacey struggles greatly with her blood lust and almost always keeps a blood and wine mix with her to keep her from attacking someone in public. Just the smell of it in the air will drive her crazy and side track her. In this way, Lacey has to feed a lot. However, with all the blood she takes in, she has great still with manipulation of humans. She had been rather good at getting people to do what she wanted them too when she was human and she had gotten ten times better now. Lacey’s OCD issues are no different than any other vampire, however, she lacks slightly when it comes to crowded night life, too many people everywhere, making a mess and being overly noisy so she will tend to avoid it as much as she can without crippling her business.

Status: Fledged
Sire Name: Victor Ellsworth
Sire Details: Victor and Lacey’s relationship was always very strained, even when she had months of total submission to him. Victor tried to make Lacey love him and want him as much as he wanted her for the company. Lacey would come out of her ‘hazed’ state of submission to remember her real goals and would try and keep focused on getting through the fledging without him realizing what she really had planned for him.
Progeny: None
Progeny Details: None

History: Lacey was born in 1930 in the country side of Nova Scotia, Canadian. Her mother was a stay at home mom who raised Lacey. Her father was estranged to her, always keeping his distant and hardly ever home. Many would believe this was usual for the growing business man despite the depression of the 1930’s. That didn’t mean they didn’t struggle and almost lose the company at some points during the depression. For her father had started his own bank along with his father which had covered all of Nova Scotia and was starting to move into the rest of Canada before the depression hit.

The true reason for her father’s estrangement was not because of his job or the struggles that came with the times but shortly after Lacey’s mother became pregnant with the Lacey, he was turned. The man who changed him was a mystery to Lacey, but had a big hand in helping her father keep their business going well in the fledging period. He worked alongside her grandfather in her father’s place.

However, at the age of seven her mother became very ill and soon passed away leaving the young Lacey to be cared for by her vampire father, whom did not have full control of himself. This left Lacey seeing her father as a nightmare, a monster as he was. By the age of ten they had to start to travel all over Canada for business and thus she started home schooling, where this teacher became her Nanny as the same time. Two years later, her father finally sat down his daughter and explained himself to her. What he was and why he had been so distance all this time. He told her not to fear him, that with time he would be a better father but Lacey already hated her father and what he was and brushed him off.

In her teenage years she was rather rebellious since they had money to burn and she was homeschooled. She’d find ways to get in trouble but at the same time was very isolated from people almost losing all ability to interact with them. However, that didn’t stop her from going into business for university. She was sent to the best schools in both the USA and Europe and excelled in both. By the time she was finished her schooling, her father’s company was starting to try and get some locations in America.

Lacey was the early age of twenty-six when she finished school and started to work hand in hand with her father. Despite how the two did not get along, the two worked very well together and easily started to gain a market in the USA. Although it was not large they both knew with time it would grow. Her grandfather then passed away when she was twenty-seven leaving her father and her as Co-CEO’s in his will. Her father did not like this at all believe he was going to live forever, why should he share his hard work with anyone else? So he hired a Russian assassin to kill Lacey. Luckily for her, someone had set eyes on her. A man named Victor Ellsworth. He pulled her out of a death blow at the last second, letting her get hit and sent to the hospital. Well at the hospital he told her what he was and how her father had hired the assassin. He told her that he would change her so they could take over the business and become the richest of humans and vampires and change how things work. She was high off of pain killers and pissed at her father and agreed.

Shortly after she left the hospital she went with the man to a remote part of Europe to deal with her change. This happened in the year 1958, shortly before the world learned of the vampires. Lacey had believe this would be a good place to hide well she changed and worked out the details of her father’s removal. However, the real reason she was taken so far out into the middle of nowhere was because, Victor Ellsworth was also her father’s sire. He explained this to her after the change was already in effect and he had all control. He never had to lock her away because he used his mind control on her to keep her in submission. Victor had learned of her father’s plan to kill Lacey, giving Victor the idea of gaining full control of the company without hiding behind the scenes anymore. His idea was to create Lacey into a vampire and marry her before taking out her father. Lacey had no intentions on marrying Victor. She spend the twenty years by his side at all times because he didn’t trust Lacey as far as he could throw her, despite the control he had over her. Lacey over the time had worked up her own mental powers and started to gain back some of her dominant personality against him. He should have removed that trait from her personality all together, but it was what he liked about her most. She was strong without being some crazed feminist.

Due to the time of her change, Lacey missed most of the transition from vampires being unknown to being known and came out being accepted for the most apart by society.

It was around 35 years after her change (1993) that he finally gave her more space and the two killed her father. He simply disappeared. Victor had used his control over her father to get him to leave the country and killed him somewhere in South Asia well Lacey was left in New York where the head office had been place. By this time their company had spread through Canada and the USA and parts of Britain and Germany.

After about a month Lacey finally reported him. She was questioned but never really thought to be behind the disappearance of her father and in the end deemed it a death by conversantly between humans and vampires. It was now 1994 and Victor was ready to move onto the next part of his plan and marry Lacey. However, during their time apart Lacey had grown stronger and was able to come up with a plan to kill her sire. She refused to be controlled and was to prideful to be anyone’s ‘bitch’ as she called it. Sadly, this murder didn’t go over as well as her father’s.

She just barely got away with it and by 1998 she was finally deemed innocent. It was then that she left a man in charge of the head office so she could work on taking over the rest of Europe with her company.

Today, her company has locations in most European and a new head office in Amsterdam, and a second still in New York. She spends most of her time in Amsterdam because of the high population of vampires and other wealthy people doing business there.

Other Details: Father’s name is James Dune

Jennifer - Kraft

Name: Jennifer de Sauveterre
Gender: Female
Actual Age: 224 (Born; December 21st, 1790)
Physical Age: 24
Occupation: Purveyor of the arts and education
Nationality: French
Appearance: Clicky

Personality: The gift of an extended life came with an acute curiosity, knowledge, sexual, music, literature and the arts, a sense of freedom and liberation, Jennifer prefers to live in the moment. A bohemian type of vampire, Jennifer is wilful, freethinking and independent, with a sharp wit, soft smile, capable of displays of great kindness and generosity, Jennifer would like to think herself as a true vampire of the new world, alas she is also still very much a vampire of an old one also, despite her liberal tendencies, her egotism often puts her at odds with others, especially elder vampires – and while, respecting order and the golden rules of which all vampires are now expected to abide to – to see fit to instruct her or to order her, to even simply expect her to conform to a certain standard or ruling, is to draw her immediate ire. And she can hold a grudge for a very, very, long time.

Attitude to The Age of the Vampire: Jennifer has long lived amongst humans without negative repercussions – though, unaware of her vampirism – the Age of the Vampire was simply a long awaited sigh of relief from the annoyance of having to hide her most important aspect of herself. However, she is sceptical of the age all the same, as though it seems as if it is a golden age, the bubble will eventually burst.
Reason for being in Amsterdam: With a bustling scene of both vampire and human art and culture and education, it was a scene Jenn couldn't pass up. She is currently the foremost Vampire benefactor of art and education in Amsterdam.
Vampire Traits: Several years living amongst humans, long before the Age of the Vampire, allowed Jennifer to reign in her blood lust. However, she is incredibly picky as to whose blood she is drinking, preferring the blood of intellectuals and artists, importing her own vintages – whilst not much of a fighter, to humans in particular (and lesser vampires), can come off as incredibly alluring, Jennifer would typically in her nature chalk this up this her charm but she is aware that this ability is for more attributed to her powers.

Status: Fledged
Sire Name: Albert Ogthoven
Sire Details: Once, Jennifer and her sire had been close. Though she would no longer admit to it, she had once loved him. Her connection to her sire was so strong, her jealously of his other progenies often put their lives at risk if she caught any inkling of their attempts to gain the favour of Albert over her. However, over the years, as she grew more independent and his number of progenies grew – Jennifer and Albert eventually separated. With no contact between the pair for nearly a hundred years, their mental link is less than stellar.
Progeny: Though she has nearly sired her own progeny on more than one occasion, Jennifer has gone through life thus far without a single progeny.

History: Jennifer remembers her early humans years surrounded by social strife and imperialistic wars across Europe. All, largely, originating from her homeland of France. She grew up during the age of the Revolution and was witness to the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte, who would take her four brothers and father from her to serve in La Grande Armée, which came to a staggering and spectacular halt in Russia. She was twenty-four by time the wars finally came to an end with Napoleons' final defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, living alone with her mother, a country still devastated by the numerous wars, were rather an oddity for their times, being women of common birth ran what was once their father's inn, a popular destination for travellers and locals, the pair garnered some relative power and stature in their town. However, beyond this, Jennifer would seem to be another character of history with no other noticeable causes or impact on the world. Or, so she thought. Living close to the borders of what would become modern Belgium and Germany, men, especially soldiers, would come and go on regular occurrence – the night the man arrived however, she felt a difference. A difference which would become apparent after their night together and with it a whole new world awoke for her.

Weak like all progenies from the beginning, she soon adapted well to her new found lifestyle and initially; Jennifer was fiercely loyal to her sire, falling in love with him in the process. Even though Albert would sire other progenies, ones she was insanely jealous over, she would go to great lengths to ensure none of them would come to usurp her place. Of course, time passes and people, even vampires, slowly begin to drift apart.

Jennifer's own curiosity of the world as she grew into her strength began to grow with her; the opposite sex, the same sex, art and music and poetry, Jennifer began to detach gradually from her sire, her personalty becoming more desiring of personal liberties and freedoms, Jennifer entered what some could argue was a stage of vampire rebellion. She would venture to Paris, Milan, Rome, Vienna, even far as the Ottoman Empire to visit places of art and culture, dabbling with the great minds of Europe, several of which became lovers – for months at a time she would leave, barely informing her sire of where she was going or what she was doing, before abruptly returning again, unaccounted and expecting life to continue as normal. It was upon her return from one of these ventures, after a furious night, the pair finally went their separate way, with him staying in the Netherlands and Jennifer leaving for America, where, she has spent the majority of her life since; avoiding vampires whenever she could, she attempted to reintegrate herself back into human society, though it would take an incredible amount of willpower to overcome her lust for blood, which she had almost unlimited access too, she soon adapted, finding ways to acquire it without causing suspicion or panic. L.A, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Canada, across to Asia, back to Europe, Jennifer mingled with the art world, becoming a patron of many famous artists and writers, a keen supporter of cinema and music; a world that she enjoyed and made her happy.

Then other Vampires decided to reveal themselves to the world, bursting her bubble. At first this was an annoying reminder of her fellow kind, then that annoyance became a relief as she longer had to hide or sulk around for blood. She was also first to jump on the resulting art scene of the so-called, “Age of the Vampire.”

At the start of the millennium, Jennifer left America to travel to a destination she had long avoided; Amsterdam. The metropolis of the new world. Jennifer made her visits on and off, uncommon but enough to be noticed. However, with the construction of one of her own pet projects, she has decided to make a permanent stay within the city, and, to pop in on a few old faces.

Other Details: Jennifer is the chief patron of The Voltaire. A high profile art gallery and museum open to the public in central Amsterdam, it is also known for its extensive library and study centre, making it a popular destination for both students and tourists.

Albert - Jig

Name: Albert Ogthoven
Gender: Male
Actual Age: 483
Physical Age: 35
Nationality: Dutch
Occupation: Businessman, Pro-Cooperation lobbyist
Appearance:

Click

Personality: Albert is impulsive and opportunistic. He lives from one quick moment to the next with open eyes, using instinct, rather than any real forethought to guide him. He is changeable, and adaptable, and not a little unpredictable. As a result, he has a deserved reputation of flightiness and perhaps untrustworthiness, though he is not disloyal, per se. He does not seek to deceive people intentionally, it's just that his opinion is wont to change. His permanent state of flux might imply a relaxed, easy-going nature, but this is not strictly true. He is frankly hypocritical, expecting others to remain consistent in what they say and do and, while he is generally affable and well-mannered, he is also known to be extremely impatient with a hair-trigger temper, and generally somewhat volatile toward other vampires. While he would not consider himself a snob, he is a great believer in vampire hierarchy when it suits him, expecting deference and obedience from not just his progeny, but any vampire lower down in the pecking order than himself.

Attitude to The Age of the Vampire: Albert has been an integral part of the vampire liberation movement, and so The Age of the Vampire is, in a small way, down to him. Therefore, he is very emotionally invested in human-vampire cooperation, even though, after over four hundred years under the radar with total freedom to hunt, he finds it extremely difficult to stick to The Golden Rules. However, he thinks it's vital to set a good example, and will come down like a tonne of bricks on any vampire that upsets the balance.
Reason for being in Amsterdam: He is a Dutch national, was sired in the Netherlands and has generally stayed there.
Vampire Traits: As a reasonably oldish vampire, Albert is generally fairly powerful around the board, in vampire terms. Before the Age of the Vampire, he was a big old hunter, and so blood has always been a fairly vicious, thrill-seeking mission for him. Obviously things have to be a bit more sterile now, and so blood has become a little bit boring for him, if necessary. His compulsive behaviour is a great setback for him, though he has developed techniques of distracting himself.

Status: Fledged
Sire Name: Phillipe Arizola
Sire Details: Phillipe Arizola is a Spanish vampire that Albert is no longer in contact with, who sired him as a Dutch agent to act on his own behalf.

Progeny: In his time, Albert has sired multiple progeny. Those of importance will be listed here. If you want Albert to have sired your vampire character, let me know and we can probably work it out.

Progeny: Alexander Thompson
Progeny Details: Alexander is Albert's most recent 'acquisition', sired at the end of the . While Albert has experience of successfully siring vampires, Alexander was something more of a challenge, and their relationship is basically unchanged since then. Alexander is needy, demanding, difficult and emotionally unstable. While Albert takes his responsibility to his progeny very seriously, a little part of him does resent the stability he is forced to try to maintain for Alexander's benefit.

Progeny: Jennifer de Sauveterre
Progeny Details: Jennifer was, like the rest of Albert's progeny, a tactical acquisition, a secret he never really kept from her. She was not his first progeny, but probably the one he has connected with most. Their relationship was that of a twisted romance shortly after her turning, and the two remained together in one sense or another for almost a century. However, his negligence and her dissatisfaction with him drove them apart and the two never met for almost a further century. Now that she has returned to Amsterdam, with motivations other than to return to her sire, he does not know quite what to think. He completely expects her to return to him altogether, romance and all, and at the same time to volunteer The Voltaire into his little empire, knowing full well that she won't.

History: Albert Ogthoven was born the son of a farmer just about in the Northern regions of the modern-day Netherlands (a country that did not then exist). His little life was largely without incident, and, typically of the time, inherited the farm from his father when he passed away, and continued in his exploits. The twist of fate that sucked his life into international politics still beggars belief.

The historical context was the Dutch revolt, in which the Northern regions of the modern-day Netherlands broke free from their Spanish rule. What followed was a long struggle between the two parties, in which the newly-formed Dutch Republic fought back against Spain's attempts of resubjugation. All of this was of little consequence to Albert Ogthoven, until Phillipe Arizola got involved. Phillipe Arizola was a Spanish vampire, invested in Spanish victory and the defeat of the Dutch republic. The plan was simple; by siring a Dutch vampire, Phillipe would create a sleeper agent that, once fledged, could be inserted in the upper echelons of Dutch society as a spy.

The former peasant was quite content with this plan. Having been integrated into a world not mentioned in the Bible or spoken of at the church, and thrust into wealth and even some power, ideas of loyalty or religion were inconsequential. Unfortunately for Spain, the Dutch Republic went from relative strength to relative strength, and, as Albert's mission grew ever less possible, their mutual interest in one another faded. One was a Spanish aristocrat with dying interests in the Netherlands, and the other was a Dutch noble. They had nothing in common, and the whole thing had the tone of an awkward breakup.

Ultimately, Albert realised that he would have to disappear. One could not simply 'live forever', and so, having established himself as one of the four burgemeesters of Amsterdam (sort of mayor), he retired to the countryside as soon as he felt his immortal cover might be blown. He built himself a manor (originally titled De Landhuis van Ogthoven) in the country and established himself as a landlord to local farming peasants. With sympathy for the life of the peasantry, he was generally a benevolent landlord, apart from the bit where his peasants tended to 'disappear'. In the meantime, he remained his mayorship of Amsterdam with a legal mechanism that allowed him to send representatives in his stead, either people he'd bribed, or frequently progeny he'd groomed for the purpose.

Much of Albert's history follows that of the country itself, enjoying the successes of the Dutch Republic, and then fighting for survival when consumed by France. In all of these historical twists, Albert jumped from one event to the next by the skin of his teeth, before eventually retiring to his manor in complete societal isolation. He naturally had his progeny around him and ventured out to feed on peasants (in true Dracula style), but otherwise let the world go by.

Unfortunately, his literal fortune was dwindling to nothing, and he was becoming antsy and bored with sheer inactivity. As the 19th century drew to a close, he endeavoured to become a national player once again. Following the fallout of the Napoleonic Wars, the southern low countries (ie: the rest of the modern-day Netherlands and Belgium) were poised to be united as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. Anticipating this direction, he travelled South to Belgium with the intention of snaring a local, in much the same way that he himself was acquired by Phillipe Arizola - to use that local as access to Belgium. Unfortunately, his chosen subject, Jennifer de Sauveterre, was in actuality, French. Still, he did like her as a person, and she was fluent in French, and so served some function. Over the coming years, the two developed a romance of sorts, setting rifts in the Ogthoven household. She was his favourite progeny and she was fiercely defensive of that status.

He continued to flit from event to event, bringing other well-placed humans into his flock as the fortunes of the Netherlands demanded, making sure that he had allies in both the Netherlands' huge trade market and its own industrial revolution throughout the 19th century. Unfortunately, as his small empire grew, he took on more and more progeny and had less and less time for each. His relationship with Jennifer broke down gradually, and then completely, resulting in her leaving him in the first decade of the 20th century to forge her own path - against his wishes. The two would not see one another again for almost a hundred years.

Still, he threw himself into his expansion, continuing the same old games, anticipating events and running with them. His gut instinct was usually about correct, something he now attributes to nothing more than luck, and as vampires chose sides in any given conflict, inevitably, some would be killed or be forced into exile. Through sheer chance, or some kind of sociological natural selection, he became one of the oldest vampires in the Netherlands as the others faded away. His luck ran out when Germany invaded the Netherlands in 1940.

The thing with humans on the wrong side of history is that they die and they're posthumously dissected by historians, safe in the grave. Vampires don't get the same excuse, and it was Albert's calculation that Germany would win the Second World War, and he lobbied to, well, help them. This included accepting the holocaust. While vampires were somewhat more pragmatic about the mass deaths of humans, he had still picked the wrong side and he was almost destitute and cast out, with many of his progeny killed not in direct conflict during the war, or indirectly picked off by vampires seeking to undermine his influence. However, when the allies started to tip the balance, he changed tack and supported the resistance against the German occupation, salvaging some of his reputation in the aftermath of the war. In the same manner as before, some vampires older than himself were killed during this period, raising him in the Dutch hierarchy of age, even with his social standing damaged.

It was time to start up again. This time, he eschewed material wealth, and decided to try to take a more leading role in vampire society. When, in the '60s and '70s, the Western vampires were discussing going public, he took, this time choosing the correct side of history to write his name, the attitude that humans and vampires could and should live in harmony, in an increasingly informed world. It was no longer possible to skulk in a mansion until one was hungry. Urbanisation had seen to that. His campaign was one of the most public and influential in Europe, and, though he was well-poised to take a leading position in the new, public vampire society of the '80s, two things waylaid him. Firstly, he had made the decision to sire a vampire, a young, modern Western human to act as a posterchild and mutual insight into the two societies. To see precisely how this went wrong, check out Alexander's sheet. Secondly, and probably more importantly, he realised that perhaps he ought to lay low for a while. His support for vampire liberation was of course unwavering, but more discrete. Fortunately, the Netherlands' relationship with the vampires was fairly balanced by the mid-nineties, and it was then that he used what money he had left to establish the first vampire bar in Amsterdam, in the area that would become the new red light district. By now, he has a small chain of these establishments, but they haven't flourished as much as they might have, as he cannot decide whether to focus on them or on vampire politics. Either way, he is a cornerstone of vampire society, and is a well-respected, if hardly revered, figurehead in the community, using his power and influence to encourage (violently if necessary) vampires to coexist peacefully.

[Jig]

Humans:

Lailaa - Touch of Insanity

Name: Lailaa Mary Visser
Gender: Female
Age: 26
Nationality: Dutch
Occupation: Club Dancer/Stripper/ Blood Donator
Appearance:

Personality: Lailaa is very fake when it comes to interacting with people at work. She puts on a flirty and happy personality for the people to see as a way of making more money. However, due to her history she is very depressed and hates life. She is currently working on turning her life around but still struggles daily trying to make herself really happy. She is very submissive when being told to do things and doesn’t really know how to say ‘no’. She tries to project herself in a way people want her to be and therefore, can slightly change how she acts with the people she’s with. Over all though, she tends to keep to herself and doesn’t voice her own opinions. She never acts shy at work, because that’s not the real her in her mind, but if you try and get closer she is very closed off and shy. If you try and get close she tends to close off even more and push the other person away.

Attitude to The Age of the Vampire: Lailaa is all for the vampire age and is very apart of the culture of it all. As much as she’d like to leave the night life and start to become ‘normal’ as her parents had been, part of her craves to always be a part of it without her realizing it.
Reason for being in Amsterdam: Born and raised there, stayed for work.

History: Lailaa was born and raised in Amsterdam. She had been lucky and her family didn’t have to become donators. Her mother was a teacher and her father a cop. However, she is not fully Dutch. Both her parents were born and raised in area, her mother’s father was a businessman from the USA. He came over for business trying to make some deals with the vampires of the area when he met her grandmother and never went back. It explains her more Americanized first and middle name well her last name remains Dutch.

In Lailaa’s childhood her mother tried to keep her as far away from the vampires as possible, creating a slight fear for the mystery creatures known as vampires, or ‘them’ as her family called them. It did not help her impression of them as her father spoke of them from his job when she would lay in bed trying to fall sleep. As she got older and they started to learn more about the vampires and their way of life connected with theirs, they still scared her but where so alien as they used to be. At one point they even brought a few in to talk to the class to help them understand that they were not to be feared and that they were meant to be viewed as everyone else.

It was shortly after that visit from the vampires into the school classrooms that she would really start to notice how many of the people in Amsterdam were vampires and as she got to her first year in high school she no longer noted the difference between the two races and accepted them as the same despite how her mother’s views were.

High school was when Lailaa started to real change into who she is now. She had the same views of one boy, Carlo, whom was in many of her classes in her first year. The two started to date within the first few months of their school year. However, as time went on and they started to change as all teenagers do, her Carlo started to become abusive. It started off by isolating her from her friends, and keeping in contact at all times. If she didn’t reply within five minutes of a text, he would send another, by the fifteenth message if she still hadn’t answered he’d call until she picked up. By their second year of high school he was mentally abusive to her. Telling her that she wasn’t good enough and that the was ugly if she did things he didn’t like. As a girl whom had loved for the first time she was too blind to see that he was abusive to her.

As the end of their second year, her parents finally started to step in and try and get her to break up and no longer see the Carlo. He did not like that at all and convinced her to drop out of high school and run away into the worst part of town with him. Neither of them realized how hard it’d be to live on their own, and soon enough he had her donating her blood for housing, food and more. It was only when she asked why she was the only one who had to donate that things started to get abusive. She had to be totally submissive to him and listen to everything he told her or else he’d hurt her. She started to turn to drugs and alcohol as a way to numb herself. When she turned eighteen, Carlo had become a local dealer and she was forced into the vampire night scene. She started off as a dancer, then started to strip. The deeper Carlo got into crime the lower she had to go. When she was twenty-one she started to go into the private room with clients, where she’d let them do things for the right price, the one being drinking right from her neck.

With her life hitting such a low point, where she no longer loved herself, and at twenty-two tried to kill herself and failed which only made matters worse at home. The beatings happened almost every three days, and the screaming at her every day. She didn’t know how to get out of the relationship now, but she knew now that she wanted to leave him and no longer loved him. So at the age of twenty-three she checked herself into rehab to get cleaned up. It was a long year there but it was good getting the space from him. He was pissed and came to visits her everyday and almost got kicked out every day when he started to mentally abuse her. They all tried to get her to leave him, and the city, but she couldn’t. She was too scared to and something about this city just kept pulling her in.

So when she finally left rehab clean, she moved back in with Carlo and nothing had changed. At times she thought about going back to drugs and a few times she almost did if it wasn’t for one of her vampire clients, Anthony Caito helping her stay clean. She did start to pick up drinking again and would get wasted a lot, but in her mind that was better than going back to cocaine.

Yannick - AlidaMaria

Name:Yannick Bakker
Gender: Male
Age: 20
Nationality: Dutch
Occupation: Artist

Appearance:

Personality: Yannick is quite the aloof guy. His motto is: If you don't bother me, I won't bother you. And he lives his life according to that. He isn't too talkative, especially when he's working.
Attitude to The Age of the Vampire: He has no reasons to fear or hate vampires, so he doesn't. Since his artistic style is similar to the Hague School, the old vampires provide him with enough work. After all, humans find his style quite passè the older vampires on the other hand, tend to find his work melancholic.
Reason for being in Amsterdam: After finishing his education at Minerva in Groningen, he moved to Amsterdam to start a new life, figuring that a city as big as Amsterdam must have a place and need for artists.
History: Yannick lived quite the ordinary live in a small town in the periphery of Groningen. His mother died of cancer when he was only four years old and since he didn't have any siblings, he grew quite fond of his father. His father used to be an artist and he was the one that discovered Yannick's talent. He ushered Yannick to follow an artistic education and to revive the Hague School. After all, the vampires might find that an attractive style. When and earthquake destroyed his hometown and killed his father, Yannick decided to fulfill his father's wish and study art.
At the moment he's making enough money to rent a small apartment in the suburbs of Amsterdam and he has a few vampiric and some human patrons. He isn't all too impressed by the vampires, if anything, he's a bit disgusted by them and he'll do anything not to become a 'blood donor'.

Natalia - Cthulhu

Name: Natalia Andronikova
Gender: Female
Age: 21
Nationality: Russian.
Occupation: Drifter, currently a bar maid in one of the red light districts ‘vamp friendly’ strip joints.
Appearance:

Natalia stands at about 167cm in her bare feet, which is why she usually wears soft heeled boots for her work to make her seem less a push over, she has a slim build but the clothing she wears can't hide the definition in her arms. Often wearing black jeans with the 'fashionable' rips and a black turtle neck over a black tank top which only occasionally seen on busy nights. She'll often wear her mid-back length wavy hair up in a high messy bun at work or loose while at home.

Personality: Natalia is still rather naïve, her upbringing left little room for freedom of choice and now that she is out on her own it shows in her behaviour that she doesn’t always know what she’s doing. Despite that she is a well read woman with a keen thirst for knowledge, she prefers to make her own, informed decision on things which is why it can take her a while to decide one way or another. She has a bubbly, friendly personality but often keeps herself guarded around strangers and has a whimsical mix of both fear and awe in the presence of vampires. She prefers to stay out of arguments but is a sucker for someone who needs help and often is found feeding stray animals behind the back of the bar she works at and giving them medicine.

Attitude to The Age of the Vampire: Confused.
Reason for being in Amsterdam: To find a certain Vampire and either kill him or learn more about him. She’s still not sure which way she’s going with it yet.

History: Natalia's earliest memory is of a warehouse, it's window's reminded her of a ghost and the steel shutters that closed behind them sounded so final and absolute. She remembered the bitter cold and the snow that howled across the window panes causing them to lightly rattle in their places. The floor was cold despite her fur lined boots and when she blew into her hands she could see the air condense before her. It smelled odd to her young nose, she couldn't have been more than six years old, of beer, body odour and blood and made her nose feel itchy with every breath. Their were sounds too, aside from the men and women around her who laughed and joked with her parents and told stories, horrible sounds, scratching and howling, growls snarls and the worst was the sobbing. She'd tugged on her mothers hand in hopes of getting her attention, to ask what the noise was and what was making it but her mother ignored her and hurried her forward to meet their uncle.

Uncle William and Aunt Vanessa scared her, they had scars, tattoos and seemed to always be serious and aggressive. As they approached a big table she noticed the huge map pinned down with multi-coloured drawing pins and decorated with string, it reminded her of a puzzle but when she reached for it her hand was slapped away and Aunt Vanessa glowered at her. The adults started to talk about things she didn't understand, blood suckers and raids, cataloguing and disposal, they sounded like words she had no business knowing so instead she peered into the room. It had three floors, the main floor which took up most of the area, an upstairs cabin that over looked both the lower floors -she wasn't allowed up there- and a downstairs that jutted into the main room, she wasn't allowed down their either.

The shutters rolled up and a waft of cold snow drifted in followed by three people half carrying, half dragging a forth who looked to be sleeping with his hands tied and his legs bound. He had blood coming from his head and sharp pointy teeth in his gaping mouth that had a pink sheen to them.

By the time she was ten she had a better understanding of what was going on, her parents and her Aunt and Uncle spent a lot more time together and they all but lived in the 'instillation' as she had come to know it as. They were all members of a group called Freedom for Human Rights, an underground group that had been labelled terrorists by some and heroes by others. They fought and eradicated Vampires as a mission 'from God' and protect the people who would be killed by them if they were left to roam the streets. She was told that Vampire's were all Sinners who could no longer repent and were cursed by God, their deaths merely meant their souls were freed and were delivered back to Lucifer their master.

She was finally given access to the lower floor in the Instillation and there she saw the enemy up close and personal. They locked her in a room with a hungry vampire, chained to the wall via a thick neck collar and steel chain, at the prospect of fresh blood the creature whimpered at first and cowered as if the sight of the small girl was enough to frighten it but just as Natalia dared to step forward to check on the man he turned and lunged, eyes flaming red and skin both pallid and sunken, it was the teeth that still haunted her vision to this very day, long, sharp and hungry. He had his hands bared like claws, grabbing at her shoulders only to miss as she fell to the ground screaming. Her screams only seemed to make it hungrier and angrier as it scrabbled for her leg and would have sunk it's fangs into her leg had her mother not come in and shot the creature straight through the forehead.

From then on she was trained as one of them, she was taught how to fight Vampires, how to kill Vampires and more about their 'faction' which had, according to her tutors, been around for over a hundred years. She was trained how to use the arts of stealth and subterfuge to capture live targets or execute unsuspecting ones and how to use small hand guns and rifles (which she was not too great with). If she disagreed with her tutors or failed them she was met with painful punishment by having her hands wrapped with a cane until she learned not to answer back.

By the time she was eighteen she was considered an efficient soldier to be employed into their movement and their was just one thing she had to do to become a full member. She was sent to what was killed 'The Pit' little more than a ten foot across hole in the ground usually used for sparring other initiates but today was a bit different. On the other end of a chain held by her Uncle was a man, even without the thick neck collar she knew the signs, he was a vampire and she was supposed to kill him.

The fight lasted twenty minutes the Vampire giving as good as he got but unable to keep the upper hand for long without the master of his chain pulling him back up against the wall. The Vampire's fangs were fully out and Natalia splat a glob of blood to the floor from where she'd cut her tongue from his last blow. It didn't take too much longer to have the Vampire pinned to the ground, a serrated blade pinned to his throat and the roar of her faction to finish him deafening her ears. However through her own deep ragged breaths and thick haze of hatred she saw something she had, until that moment, thought impossible for a Vampiric monster. He looked afraid and in that moment he looked so very human, she couldn't bring herself to do it. Lowering her blade and climbing out of the pit much to the boo's and calls for blood from her faction.

That night she was dragged from her bed and taken down to the holding cells, little more than refurbished storage rooms. There her hands were tied and she was hung from a hook in the ceiling like meat, her toes barely reaching the floor. Each cell door was open, a dozen hungry eyes staring out at her and one pair that seemed almost familiar. It was her Aunt's face she saw and her voice she heard as she began to lecture her but she wasn't alone, her uncle and parents were also there.
“You show them mercy? Do you think any of them would show you mercy?” She felt the sharp familiar sting of an blade against her thigh and felt the hot blood as it spilled from the fresh wound. Immediately she heard the slither of chains as the inmates hastened forward, she saw five faces straining against their collars to get to her and only the heavy collar holding them back.

She had to admit she was scared, they looked vicious and reminded her of sharks or piranha, if it weren't for the chains about their necks she wouldn't last a minute trussed up as she was. Though while she bit back her fear at the five lunging for her it was the one who didn't that caught her attention. He was doing something in the back of his cell that she couldn't see but he wasn't lunging, he wasn't trying to get to her, he wasn't a shark.

Before she could question if what they were doing had ever been right she let loose a scream that caused 'six' to flinch and the others to salivate. She'd been punished before but the cane across her back was unexpected and harder than usual. By the time her Aunt was done she had to be dragged back up to her caught, whimpering with tears down her face but 'six' was whimpering, the sound so similar to the sounds she had first heard here years ago.

After that she was given time to recover but her back was a mess of wounds and had a habit of reopening. She learned to fight but was made to train harder and was forced in the holding cells with one through five more often, forced to sit there with them mere inches from her face in hopes of reinforcing their belief's.

It wasn't long after the wounds had truly began to heal that something happened, to this day she isn't sure what, whether they were infiltrated, attacked or simply betrayed. Ultimately it really didn't matter, the prisoners were set free while the faction was sleeping. The first Natalia heard of it was the terrible screams which shook her from her nightmare and forced her to glance to her right. Not seven cots over a Vampire had its fangs embedded deep in the throat of one of her 'family'. More screams went up and Natalia slowly slid out of her cot and under it, as the room began to erupt with movement. Others were waking up and arming themselves but there was little worse than a starving vampire it seemed, at one point Natalia was dragged out from under the bed by one of the five, a kick to his jaw left him confused enough to let go and she bolted across the room to where her mother was handing out guns. She was handed one as were the others and told to go 'deal with the issue', she really hated guns, something about the weight, the noise, the smell, she fired two half hearted shots before a scream from behind had her whip around to see Six with his fangs buried into his mothers neck. She was struggling but there wasn't anything she could do to get the monster off. Natalia levelled the gun with Six's head and steadied her hand, if she fired right now she could probably save her mother but she didn't fire, she wasn't really sure what she was waiting for, if anything, Six wasn't like the other five and yet he was acting like them now. She was confused and wanted to understand but none of her training explained it to her, movement to her left caught her gaze and the gun was knocked from her hand by one of the other vampires.

Stumbling back she hopped over a cot and toe flipped it in the way of her attacker, giving her enough time to duck towards the exit, avoiding gun fire as she made her way to the shutters. When she thought she'd more or less escaped a strong arm grabbed her and through her back into the middle of the room where she promptly smacked her head. Her vision blurred and she saw her Uncle's boot hovering above her head, then he was simply gone and a brief glint of familiar eyes before everything went black.

When she woke up she was dressed in her winter coat and out in the snow, her head hurt and she had blood in her hair but she was alive, she was a mile out form the facility but she could still see it and the black smoke that rose from it as the sound of siren's swam in from the main road.

After spending over a year trying to locate the one she called 'Six' and any news about the other members of her group, only to be met with shrugged shoulders and dead ends she finally conceded and moved to Amsterdam in hopes of finding answers and Six. That was a few months ago and she's still no closer to getting her answers, though she makes pretty good tips.

Other Details:
- Is legitimately scared of Vampires.
- Likes: The smell of roasting nuts, the colour purple, classical music, swimming, being wrapped up in blankets, good books and fireplaces.
- Dislikes: Being cold, the smell of cooking meat, the colour black or red, techno and thrash music, enclosed spaces and being restrained.
- Is skilled in Systema and knows moves from other martial arts styles though not overly proficient in any.
- Knows how to use handguns but doesn’t like them.
- Has scarring on her back from her 'childhood' so doesn't wear low backed clothing or like her back being touched.

Skylar - Love Dove

Name: Skylar Lockett
Gender: Female
Age: 22
Nationality: Irish American
Occupation: College Student/Blood Donator
Appearance:

Her hair is naturally a darker red; she dyes her hair a brighter red and adds the black streaks in.

Personality:
Skylar has what many would call an adaptable personality, meaning that she often picks up quirks and attitudes from the people she is around, which could be caused by her time in foster homes. Normally though she stays very bubbly and enthusiastic to the point of being annoying at times. Whenever she actually is sad, it’s not very hard to tell, because she isn’t able to hide it. She’ll usually get quiet, then runs away and start crying. Also, Skylar isn’t a very trusting person; she cautiously picks who she shares her feelings and history with. If asked about her family or childhood, she changes the subject as quickly as possible, and gets quiet if pushed about it.

Attitude to The Age of the Vampire: Skylar has a neutral feeling for the Age of the Vampires. She mostly sees it as a way to make a little extra money. Besides, her opinions cannot change the way the world is anyways.
Reason for being in Amsterdam: Came on a scholarship.

History:
Skylar was born in Ireland, both her mother and father were Irish, however, she moved to America when she was just a baby, and grew up there. Most of her life, she and her twin brother were raised by a single mother, who worked three jobs to support them. Other than the fact they lived the lower class life, the first part of her life was fairly good. She excelled in school and was one of the top students in her third grade class. However, after her grandfather passed away, things took a turn for the worse.

Her mother ended up having a metal break down, and shortly after turned to drugs and alcohol. Around the time Skylar turned ten, CPS was called and her mother was deemed mentally and physically unfit to take care Skylar and her brother. Though the case workers did manage to find her father, he was already married with other children and refused to accept them as he did not want to admit the fact he had cheated on his wife, and knocked up Skylar’s mother. So because of this, they both became custody of the state and put into a foster home, until their mother could be able get the two of them back.

For the first two years their mother actually did fight to get them back, visitation with supervision and working with the courts. After those two years her mother gave up, and stopped going to court, thus the two of them were forced to stay in the foster home. While her brother was adopted quickly, Skylar bounced around from foster home to foster home for the next two years until she was finally adopted at fourteen, and once again things in her life started to pick up. Skylar once again had a family, and though she never managed to find out where her brother went to, she was happy.

She had never really had many dealings with vampires being in America, until she turned nineteen, when she was given a scholarship for Musicology at the University of Amsterdam, and moved there with a few of her friends that had gotten the scholarship as well. She is currently working as a Blood Donator to earn a little extra money to survive while studying her way through college.

[Kraft]

I'm working on a sheet currently, however, I had the idea that maybe the vampire who sired her would be another player. Would you be okay with this sort of development Jig?

[cthulu]

Hope there's room for one more, just spotted this rp before logging off for the night so I'm going to finish reading the OP in the morning but it certainly looks interesting to me.

[Jig]

cthulu said
Hope there's room for one more, just spotted this rp before logging off for the night so I'm going to finish reading the OP in the morning but it certainly looks interesting to me.

I mentioned in the Interest Check that I don't really see why there should be any limit to the number of players.

Kraft said
I'm working on a sheet currently, however, I had the idea that maybe the vampire who sired her would be another player. Would you be okay with this sort of development Jig?

I'd positively encourage it. ^^

[Jig]

UPDATE TO THE CHARACTER SHEETS.

I forgot to include 'occupation' in both Vamp and Human sheets.

[Kraft]

Jig said
I'd positively encourage it. ^^

Excellent! :D Would anyone at all be interested in collaborating on a piece of history together?

[Jig]

I'll be creating an older (in vampire terms, anyway) vamp that could well have sired your character, depending on what that character may be like.

[Jig]

I'll be creating an older (in vampire terms, anyway) vamp that could well have sired your character, depending on what that character may be like.

Double-post derp.

[Touch of Insanity]

Hey Jig, I sent you a PM with some questions about my character (just some things I want to make sure are okay before I go and write it all)

[Jig]

Got it, and replied. :)

A couple of people have sent me PMs about ideas, which I definitely approve of, but unless you especially want to keep ideas under wraps, I'd prefer they were posted in the OoC. You don't have to worry about somehow cluttering it up! It's what the OoC is for.

Sharing ideas around can inspire others and get lots of people involved in the same plot strands, which is really helpful for a group RP. Keep it up guys. :)

[Love Dove]

By the way Jig, wanted to let you know that Touch's human is going to become my progeny during the RP :)

[AlidaMaria]

Hey! I'm working on a cs atm but I will be out of town and unable to post anything until tomorrow night. I also was wondering about a detail: is blood solely sold as human beings or is there also the possibility to just buy 'blood bags' or anything of the sort? And another question: what exactly would be old for vampires? For example, would vampires who are a few hundred years old be something unusual? Sorry for all the questions x'D

[Jig]

Questions are great.

Vampires can, in this lore, be of any age, but I'd rather keep it within the last two thousand years. Anything else feels a bit ridiculous to my mind.

Blood bags (of a sort) are definitely sold. I'll add this info to the OP because it's a great point.

• Organic produce: find a volunteer and go wild. Just don't kill them or seriously injure. Vampires can make this a very euphoric experience akin to (or even as part of) sexual intercourse, so there would indeed be a good few volunteers



• Take-out: go to your local blood stockists and pick up a bottle and swig at leisure. In my head, it's basically sold in bottles like wine. Since many of the blood-letting clinics are privately-owned, there are basically different brands.



• Dining out: in vamp-friendly bars, they pull pints of it, freshly let (typically better than bottled - preservatives make it crappy), sell a bottle of a recognised brand (see above), and there are often humans willing to have the experience of being nommed, either for kicks (high-quality establishments) or for money (low-quality). Chowing down in public is just rude, though, so bars tend to encourage their clientele to hire one of the rooms provided.

[Touch of Insanity]

That leaves me with a good question, how does the feeding effect the human (when taken directly fangs to skin)

[Jig]

If in doubt, compare it to sex.

A willing subject will probably have a nice, euphoric time. An unwilling subject would feel violated and assaulted.

It also depends on the circumstances, and what crazy psychadelic vampire mind influence they're under. Most vampires would, quite instinctively, repress the subject's capacity to feel pain, and either make them drowsy (the rapey kind) or have them on a high (the nice drunk-sex-after-a-third-date kind).

Since vampires are totally a thing now, it's easy to find information on (a) how not to kill the subject and (b) how to tend to to the wound. It can be done quite safely.

[Love Dove]

I have a few questions about the vampires. Do their eyes change colors? Like when they drink blood, or are angry? Also do they have human colored eyes or are they red/black all the time?

[Jig]

Another good question. Apart from fangs and a pallor, vamps look like ordinary humans.