Rainer Venandi
The Shallows swelled as the rains pleaded, drawing the strait and sea through the muddy causeways. It was not a place for men, a lesson learned by a weary traveler who had lost his way through the God’s acre.
Appearance
Rainer is tall and well built, rarely seen outside of his armor which combines heavy leathers, furs, plate, and chain mail. He bears scars across his face that existed prior to his change. His skin tone changes based on recency of feeding and his hair is often kept long, in a ponytail. While his affliction does not prevent the growth of facial hair, he often keeps it short to non existent as a preference for traveling.
He carries an assortment of weapons that include a standard broadsword and a silver meteor hammer. Additionally, it’s not uncommon for him to carry throwing knives or a mini crossbow.
Skills and Abilities
The Vedymin strain of Vampirism is unique in its effect on the infected. Below are the common traits seen in Rainer.
Survival
The survival rate of infection from the bite of a Vedymin vampire is astronomically low. Most die within the first hours of the bite while others may writhe in agony for days with an infection similar to fatal consumption. The infection is so pronounced that any vampire carrying this strain, who wishes to avoid detection, must take care for their rate of consuming blood. This presents problems due to the high predator drive of the strain, requiring feeding on a nearly daily basis.
Strength, Speed, Hunters Sense, Mental Acuity
This strain of vampirism, like many others, improves the infected vampires abilities in strength, speed, perception, and mental acuity. In addition to this, it is not uncommon (which is the case for Rainer) to gain proficiency in seeing at night and to sense other supernatural beings.
Long Life and Healing
Rainer, like all Vedymin vampires, has improved healing capabilities and extremely long life span. This is not to say that he is immortal or cannot die; grievous wounds can and will kill him. He ages at such a diminished rate that for those with shorter life spans, it may appear as if he doesn’t age at all. Additionally, while he can heal quickly, serious wounds will often form scar tissue
Silver Resistance
Contrary to common lore, not all vampires are weak against silver. While the Vedymin has no issues with silver, it is not uncommon for them to carry silver based weapons. For instance, Rainer carries a silver meteor hammer as an auxiliary weapon for bounty hunting.
Blood
The origins of blood consumed by Rainer changes the effect of the blood on his body; a trait that is uncommon among different vampire strains. The most common advantage for Vedymin Vampires is the consumption of blood from other vampires, which cannot be affected by this strain. This consumption allows Rainer to walk in the daylight, a task that is impossible otherwise. However, consumption from other creatures is not as well known. Additionally, consumption of blood from different creatures in too short of a time frame will cause serious illness and could potentially kill Rainer.
Memory Loss
The initial infection causes long term amnesia or, in some cases, outright memory loss that cannot be recovered. For those fortunate, like Rainer, memories can be slowly regained over decades or even centuries.
Burial
Vedymin are quite fond of the ability to walk in the daylight. This allows them some reprieve from the melancholy of a lifetime of eternal darkness. However, those who frequent the day time hours are inflicted by heat exhaustion that can be, and sometimes is fatal. The condition comes to a head, on average, twice a year and requires a weekly long duration of being buried in fresh soil. Rainer has found that the condition is more quickly resolved when he is buried in cold or tundra soils. Whether that is because of the tie to his mother land or simply a result of colder conditions, he isn’t sure. Additionally, because Rainer was born a Nord, the affects of heat exhaustion tend to hit him harder than other Vedymin.
Reduced Magic Proficiency
While not entirely understood, Rainer has very little capacity to practice magic. He can conjure small spells on a whim but, despite his efforts, any form of advanced tutelage has never found hold.
Pronounced Feeding Requirements
Vampire strains vary for the requirements on feeding. For Rainer, and for what he assumes is common for this strain, he can go at most a week without feeding. The effects of not feeding are noticeable after a single day and fatigue and sickness set in within three days of not feeding. It can affect the mind and the body, causing Rainer to go into a brutal rage that precedes debilitating exhaustion. Additionally, the tone of his skin changes from tan to pale as time from last feeding increases.
Last of the Line
As a direct result of the hideous challenge it is to survive the change to a Vedymin, those who endure the process become sterile. Rainer is no exception.
Personality
Rainer is not without a sense of humor. But just as often as he can be found in sarcastic and jovial moods, he can be pitted into a sense of self loathing and hatred. While very few understand him for what he truly is, the stigma associated with his infection wears heavily on his conscious. As does his predator drive, which is largely the motivation for his choice of profession. Rarely will he take a bounty that does not allow for return of quarry in any status, dead or alive.
Biography
As He Knows It...
Rainer was born off the cost of Eretejva, far to the West of Faarin. Beyond that, he has very little memory of his life preceding the Shallows. Moments, like lightning in the dark, are all that he can recall from his former life. The spray of ocean water and the pounce of a stray wave against tarred boards. The smell of blood, densely matted against the fur of a recently passed wolf. The feel of warmth from a fire, adjacent to a window that overlooked a rocky coast, lined with dunes of snow and outcropping rocks.
His true life began in the mud, birthed by words poured out from bloody fangs, ensuring that he would not survive the night. That the change claimed far more than what was ever offered. Having been born to the whispers of the Vedymin strain, his life has since been taken by the voracious need to feed. Moving from city to city, he does little to draw attention to himself. Instead, he works as a common bounty hunter, claiming tags that are hung from the boards or through contracts spread by word of mouth. Every day is an effort to simply recall who he once was, before that beast laid claim to him...
As We Know It...
Rainer was born in Eretejva to a loving mother and distant father. Originally raised on Sittekar, he was forced from a very young age to fend for himself. This led to him gathering various trades, from hunting to fishing and smithing. He eventually settled on fishing as his vocation, which he continued as they moved West beyond Indelholm and Faarin. Eventually he grew to be a weathered man, knowing the sea and far reaching trades, as his father died of old age and his mother died of a broken heart.
He eventually found love in the arms of a Nordenfiir woman. Though he was hardly her only love, he cherished the time he could spend with her. Until one year, among many they laid together, she took to child and claimed it as his. Six months later, Arvid was born and Eydis knew from the very first moments that he was Nordenfiir, just like her. But she had no desire to raise a child or be tied down to the act, so she left quickly after the birth of the child.
Rainer raised the child as he would any other, though other concessions were made for his particular species and capabilities. Until Arvid reached the age of 16 and left and took to the path. Rainer never saw Arvid again. It was this heartbreak, first by Eydis and then by Arvid, that motivated the man to purchase a larger sea faring vessel and acquire a team of like minded fisherman. Men and women without homes or loved ones, caring only for the sea. Moving up and down the coast, they stretched as far west as Elbion and often took to port in Alliria. It was a fateful night, an unlucky night, where he was caught in the rains in the Gods acre of Alliria...
Current Status
Rainer passes his time moving along the coast from Alliria to Elbion. Occasionally, he will make his way north through the Spine or along the Steppes and even more rare, he will find his way to his home continent.
Chronicles
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