Israfel

(924-945) Read stories of this era: 1, 2. Born 924 AD during the Dark Ages near present-day Munich Germany, Israfel was brought up into a family slightly more fortunate than most. Though his father died when he was fourteen years of age by an unknown disease, such a thing was not unusual for the time. His mother survived two childbirths, his own as well as his sister's, Christdean. A 'free peasant' instead of a serf, his family rented farmland at the edge of an untamed forest from the local lord. Israfel's mortal years were typical: especially with the death of his father, he was the new man of the household and had no time for education even if it would have been offered. As if in guilt of this, he still felt of a strong connectivity to God and the Church.

Preoccupied by the running of the house, finally at nineteen he was engaged to be married to a fifteen year old girl that, considering the circumstances, he hadn't had much time to get to know in his earlier years. Her name was Ellisa, and they were engaged to be married -an arranged marriage, as was custom- in the early summer of 943. However, those plans were never to unfold. Two vampyres had traveled to their village only a few months before, at the end of winter, and after those months they decided to make Israfel's family their target. Whether that decision was based on Israfel himself or because he lived closest to the wilds than anyone else is unknown.

It was on a rainy Sunday night when everything changed. In the span of only a few hours his family and fiance had been killed, leaving him as the sole survivor. The older and more mature of the two vampyres soon took an interest in Israfel: whether it was for his mere pleasure, or whether he found the loyalty and strength in the boy refreshing, perhaps he didn't even know. Although Israfel was embraced and became a vampyre himself, he felt disconnected from the rest of his kind. Mostly upset because of his murdered family, he thirsted for revenge and for everything to be right again. It took two tries for him to actually succeed, and with that completed he sought peace and comfort within an unfamiliar town.

Things didn't go as plan when they found out what he was. Seeing his super-human strength by complete accident, they needed no other evidence to burn him at the stake. He would have died, had not a fellow vampyre of his bloodline rescued him. Her name was Cassiel, and it was she who introduced him into his heritage of 'true' vampyrism as well as the darker side of life, which he now embraces openly. Immediately he became attached.

(945-1358, the Plague hit in 1348) Read a story of this era.The bliss with Cassiel was short lived, however. After living in happiness for nearly four-hundred years, catastrophe struck: the Black Plague in the year 1348. A trickle-down effect took place; the humans were dying in profuse quantities, which led to a limited supply of blood for the vampyres. Unrest took place between many of the Immortals: the newly-created died from pure starvation, while others resorted to cannibalism. During those horrid times was when the hunters, most of them witches, took action. Killing off first the weaker vampyres, with the confidence boost that that gave them, they soon began to move onto older and stronger prey. Cassiel was one of them, and as with those of his family, Israfel sought revenge for her death.

Eventually he tracked the solitary hunter down and killed her. As proof of his conquest, he took her primary weapon: a blessed dagger, with silver incorporated into it to make it all the more potent, especially to those of his own kind. Also for his first-killed hunter, he received another gift: that of blood magic producing the effects of telepathy. With this new power of the mind, he can even currently read into another's thoughts and memories by pure force of will. He can also usher his thoughts and memories into another's mind, a form of communication that he often uses even now.

(1358-1759, after being overthrown in 1619, he spent the remainder of this period studying his vampyric abilities and sleeping) Read a story concerning the end of this era. After the thrill of vengeance faded and he was left to his own devices, he slowly began to sink into a state of aggressive depression. Unable to do anything as the one he loved above all else was killed, his subconscious knew that had not happened once, but twice with Ellisa. His mannerisms and demeanor began to get brutal without a sheath to hold him back: with his love for Cassiel slashed away, he had to turn that love onto something else if he wished to keep his sanity. Or maybe he lost it because of that. Delving more deeply into his vampyric powers and magics, and killing more human victims than ever before because it simply helped him to escape from reality, he slowly began to enjoy it for a reason beyond that, and it transformed, with time, into something much greater. With killing more humans came the obvious notion of valuing them less, to nothing but mere food and therefore cattle, so the slave-trading business was ideal. Selling mortals for the highest bidder to make some money and to therefore better the members of his bloodline, it became a hobby of his that he still finds amusing and oddly satisfying to the present day.

But with the growing darkness in his heart, things began to grow ill. Another wave of the Plague hit Europe, and though it was lesser than the chaos before, the race of vampyres were again effected. In the year 1565, 217 years after the first wave, Israfel's territory was hit. Tzan, the current Elder of Israfel's bloodline in the area, grew depressed due to the constant dwindling supply of mortals. Weak with internal politics that involved Israfel and a few others that had talked about overthrowing his position of power, he was killed in 1566.

Israfel's leadership lasted only fifty years. Pushing the boundaries of their laws by sending the weaker members of his bloodline off to get killed and thus purifying the power of his line, the quantity of his fellow vampyres against him eventually bet the quality of him and his allies. The majority of Israfel's followers killed, in 1619 he himself was barely able to escape with his life when the lesser vampyres rose up against him. Exiled now to a life of solitude, he retreated to England and spent the remainder of this period sleeping, and studying his vampyric powers and magics.

(1759-1916, after 1866 spent the remainder of this period studying occult magics before, finally, sleeping) He awoke again in the mid 1700's after having slept for nearly 140 years. His major wounds healed, the 100 years he spent in England was his 'cooling down' period. Learning English from the mortals around him during his time asleep, he knew it would be easier to survive in his current state if he took part in human society. At first stealing his wealth -it wasn't hard with his preternatural abilities- he secured his fortune and moved to the lively city of London. Here it was easier to slip about unseen, and he was able to kill without being found out by the mortals. He fully recovered from his injuries that he had suffered nearly 200 years ago, and throughout the Romantic and Victorian periods was able to live life comfortably.

This is basically the only time in Israfel's life where he associated frequently with mortals and lived fully in their society. It was not to last forever though, and around the 1860's with the fading of the Victorian period he moved back to his native country in what was now Germany, and engrossed himself in his occult studies before finally settling down to sleep.

(1916-1945) Read stories of this era: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Awakened in the middle of World War I by the cries of his fellow countrymen, he felt a strong sense of connection, due in part to the rise of extreme nationalism at the time and the unforgettable "August Days". Joining the German ranks, he was revered as a large help because of his preternatural abilities, though he kept what he was a well-kept secret. After the war, with the rise of the NSDAP, Israfel heard the first shouts of the Führer and the need for a better, non-democratic Germany within his place in the Freikorps. The political parties from the times before the Great War had failed, the Weimar Republic had failed, and that along with the cruelties inflicted upon the Fatherland with the Treaty of Versailles sowed the seeds for one of the greatest periods in history: whether it was great in evil or great in good. Israfel was most impressed with the way Joseph Goebbles used propaganda to influence society, and the purely business-like manner everything was approached in.

Finding truth in the Führer's words, it mixed well with Israfel's own philosophies on life, as well: that the strong should live and the weak should die. Joining the NSDAP and the SA, he quickly rose up in ranks even before the Second World War. Apart of the elite SS and later the Waffen SS, he assisted in the takeover in Poland. He was disgusted by the German-appointed leader of the North-Western portion, however: instead of actually fixing the Jewish problem, Otto Ohlendorf had the Jews sign a contract portraying their 'true' Aryan heritage. It solidified his affiliations. Promoted to an Einsatzgruppen officer in 1941, he moved to Lithuania, a part of Einsatzgruppe A in the Baltic states. He had first hand experience in the slaughter of thousands of Communists, Jews, and political prisoners in the mere three years there. In 1944, when the need was lessened for the mobile killing squads, he was transferred to manage a Jewish work camp in Poland. With the last month of the war, however, he traveled back to Berlin and witnessed it and the Führer's collapse.

Israfel revels in the destruction of mortals, and these particular wars made it all the more systematic and brutal. He looks back on this time rather fondly.

(1945-Present) After World War II, Israfel saw the period of disgraceful turmoil his chance to slip into the shadows again. But his studies and his sleep was fitful. The whispers of Stalin and the rise of Communism had his blood boiling, and the preternatural rest did not last for very long. Haunting the shadows of humanity, making his mark on a few spies for the Soviets, it is, and was, a period in his UnLife that he considers one of his worst. To see the loathsome enemy come into power marred his still-beating pride, the pride he had in the Great Wars and in his mortal compatriots. Moving to Russia, he learned the native language of the enemy with surprising speed. The assassinations he committed were never linked to him, of course, as he hadn't been alive to the world for more than decade.

Once the turmoil died down, he moved out of Russia and inhabited the rural areas of Germany, which thankfully didn’t serve as a reminder to the country's tragic defeat. There he stayed, virtually in solitude, for but a few years until the modern era caught his attention. Rebellious electric music, the embrace of that which is dark, these dark subcultures and ideals serves as his link into the mortal world even now. And once more, Germany seemed to be one of the leading catalysts and supporters of this interesting style.

The Berlin Wall long since torn down, there were no more gruesome reminders of the brutal actions taken upon his country after the Second World War. He moved back to the capital, and with a few short visits to other countries such as the United States, Britain, and the countries neighboring Germany, his life is now primarily stable with no key pressures from the outside.