Vampire the Masquerade

Greetings, my name is Dimitri Ivanovitch. I was born in 1886, the cousin to the czar of russia. My family lived in wealth and power, until the revolution. Like those of my ilk, I was fascinated in the occult, for such knowledge was en vogue in the russian court and I was a favored relative of royal family, though I took care to keep out of the political strife of the time. I had forseen the troubles arising and sequestered the majority of my family wealth out of the country. I further had plans to smuggle my family out and eventually rejoin with them. However, political pressures prevented me from doing so until it was too late. My family was lost, and I myself only escaped the country in the midst of bloodshed and knee deep in blood. My loyal servants sacrificed their lives that I might escape. My most loyal servant, Sergei, revealed his true nature to me in the flight and sacrificed himself. I had long been aware of the spiritual world ... I had no idea of the other aspects of the supernatural world into which I was about to be thrown. Finally, on a train headed west from Budapest, I encountered a cultured and lovely lady. I spent the trip wining, dining, and charming her. Little did I know what I was in for. The last night of the trip she embraced me, and I awoke the next night in a private storehouse at the train station in Paris. I had been left a long letter explaining what had happened to me, and who I was to contact in Paris. I had been taken without my consent into the most noble of kindred clans. The prince told me to take my wealth and to go to Johannesburg, South Africa. There I would clear the place of enemy forces of the kindred as best I could until such a time as a prince was assigned. It is near a century later, and I am still waiting for a prince to be assigned. Some have tried to take the title, but have been dealt with summarily. I rule the city as a territory for the Parisian prince. I have a iron grip upon my adopted city and the surrounding plains. I have even managed an unsteady truce with the glasswalkers. The werefolk within my game preserves bear me little ill will as I truly am interested in preserving the natural resources therein - though I suspect they merely consider me a necessary evil. In recent years, I began a new liason with the Prince of Chicago - he finding useful my weapon brokering business (I had long since been involved in mercanary and weapons brokering in addition to my legitimate businesses). At the Chicago court, I began a relationship with a noble lady of a japanese clan. During an attack upon her, my bodyguard and I managed to slay a massive demon, but at the moment of our victory she was captured and I was forced to surrender along with my bodyguard lest she be slain outright. We were taken to a Sabbatt stronghold, our innate powers somehow negated in a ritual. We were either being toyed with before being diablerized or they were trying to recruit us. I used my ability to speak with spirits however and discovered a secret way out of the castle. It was at this escape that I committed two acts of diablerie. One upon a sabbatt princess who was in the act of feeding herself. My bodyguard and I drank from her as she herself fed, taking her by surprise. I finished the deed while he finished the embrace of the human - we thought she might have some information that might be useful. That day we lay hidden in the secret catacombs of the stronghold, then we made our escape just before dawn the next night. They must have thought we'd already escaped the place, the stronghold was totally abandoned. However, on the way out, I found a nosferatu elder chained out awaiting sunrise and like ourselves unable to use his powers. At his request I took him and finished his torment before the sun rose. Once outside we contacts our allies. We found we were in a old castle outside Paris. The prince had the place cleared and gave us clearances for the deaths. Neither the Nosferatu nor the Sabbatt princess had presented himself to him, and so were nothing. The human which my bodyguard had embraced was given acknowledgement, and has served us since. (We had been fully willing to have her destroyed had he wished, such is the law). I have also during my long existance discovered the location of a natural well leading into the astral plane ... the umbra, I believe the furballs call it. Not a nice place. I have since hired sorcerors to protect my strongholds with glyphs against such intrusions. One thing I recovered from the umbra was a single drop of 5th generation blood, and a sword cane capable of aggravated damage. Also a harddrive from a mystical computer, which I have incorporated into my laptop. It appears self aware. _____________________________________________________ Character Sheet no longer available - character retired