Joachim Armster [Vampire/Bount - New Template]

by **Joachim Armster** Thu May 31, 2012 7:00 pm

JOACHIM ARMSTER

Joachim Armster [Vampire/Bount - New Template] Auavk8

ABILITIES //
Proof of who I am //

I have had administrator permission from Ravilin Asura to sacrifice my Doll powers for personal powers.

Joachim has his own powers separate from his Doll, making him appear to be stronger in some cases perhaps, but this is counterbalanced by having a weak Doll. Joachim's Doll will never have more than 3 abilities total no matter what (It will only start with one and may have no others to begin with, regardless of trials/post-approval permission), and it will never develop a Fusion form, as it lacks the power to achieve that state.

Personal Powers:
[list]
[*] Poltergeist: Joachim possesses a short range form of basic telekinesis, powered by his reiatsu. This telekinesis manifests as a purple fire around him, but is in fact kinetic energy controlled by him, the fire is merely the appearance of the reiatsu sustaining it. From his own body, Joachim may extend or detach these flames to seize an object, and then move it. The appearance of the glowing purple fire around the object in motion is from where this power get's it's name, as it appears as if a malevolent spirit is moving the object in question. However, while simple and effective, Joachim's telekinesis is limited by two things; range, and weight. Anything within 30 feet of him is easy to effect as long as the purple flame-energy can hit it, which does allow for enemies to dodge. At this range Joachim can move objects very quickly with his telekinesis and can generate very large amounts of force. However, beyond thirty feet, his control drops by nearly half; and beyond ninety feet, his control is barely enough to lift a paperclip. The weight of an object, also, makes it harder to move - just like it would be if he were trying to move it with his hands, except that Joachim's telekinesis is many times stronger than his hands could ever be.

The power of this ability is determined by Joachim's Kido stat.

[*] Vampirism: Joachim is a unique breed of Bount, one who feeds on essence through the blood rather than mere energy. Joachim and his relatives feed on the blood directly, preferably from living beings, and do not age from eating living souls; they are entirely immune to aging for this reason. Joachim has minor control over blood outside of living bodies, and s capable of moving liquid blood as if it were an element, which he uses to absorb blood and draw it to himself. By absorbing blood, Joachim gains small amounts of energy and life force, allowing him to recover gradually by drinking blood. Joachim's body can handle the digestion gallons of blood at a time, and does so rapidly. However, Joachim does not absorb power from drinking blood, and you will not lose power from being fed upon. Joachim, also, can not gain your abilities from feeding on you. All he does is leech small sums of energy and absorbs the life force contained in blood to restore his own. Also, Joachim may not directly control the blood inside of a closed, living body without touching it. Dead bodies are fair game, but blood from a dead body is very low in energy content, with little life force to give. However, by biting or making prolonged physical contact with a living body, Joachim can draw out the blood through any wounds or point of access to the target's blood supply, allowing him to feed directly on a living being and extract large amounts of blood. However, this usually is not fatal unless Joachim maintains a bite for longer than 3 posts, in which the enemy is at risk of dying from blood loss, but even then it varies upon the strength and blood content of the enemy he is feeding upon. It is very difficult for Joachim to feed upon an enemy's blood, as it requires him to get very close.

Humans bitten by Joachim become either 'Vampires' or 'Ghouls'. These are not separate races, but rather, are mutations developed by humans whom Joachim feeds upon. Neither gain Bount powers. However, both do become slightly stronger, develop a need to feed on living blood, and suffer an allergy to sunlight which causes them to burn. They also gain night vision. The difference between a Ghoul and a Vampire is that Ghouls lose their minds and mutate, becoming decayed, zombie-like creatures. Ghouls may feed on the dead, and dead blood. Vampires, however, retain their minds and their appearance becomes more attractive. Vampires must feed on living blood and cannot feed on the dead. But neither of these two variations of vampirism are separate races. They are comparable to diseases or mutations. Both, however, stop aging and will not age after being turned. A human becomes a vampire or a ghoul after being fed upon one time (optional, the player may not turn at all if they do not wish to) but other races require 3 feedings to develop vampirism.

[*] Ghost Eye: Ghost Eye is a special power Joachim uses when he cannot see, or to change his field of vision. When activating Ghost Eye, Joachim's eyes go blind, and do not heal until Ghost Eye is deactivated, and even then the normal regeneration time applies. Ghost Eye is a psychic-like power similar to clairvoyance, or foresight, except that it is not used to view past or future. Ghost Eye applies only to the present; it does not transcend time. Ghost Eye allows Joachim to see within a short range all around himself, up to a range of 90 feet. From 91-120 feet, things gradually appear less clear to him, before slipping into total blackness. Within this range Joachim sees everything, even down to microscopic details, as he is aware of all his surroundings and interprets the psychic awareness as 'sight'. This does allow him to see through objects as well, but only within the range of his psychic vision. Ghost Eye lasts until deactivated, but by default Joachim is colorblind in Ghost Eye. However, by charging Ghost Eye for two posts before activating it, he can enable full-color vision for the extra energy put into it. But all in all, Ghost Eye isn't that great due to it's extremely limited range. The normal eye sees at least four times farther than Ghost Eye. However, Ghost Eye is unique in that it cannot be disabled or negated, and is immune to all illusions, which makes Joachim particularly dangerous to those who rely upon blinding their foes. Additionally, as one might infer, telescopes and binoculars don't help the wielder at all, and nothing increases the sight range of Ghost Eye. It is always 90 feet.

[*] Phantom Vortex: Joachim possesses a flash step similar to Hirenkyaku, except that his entire body is enveloped in a casing of energy when moving. This is aided by Joachim's telekinesis. As he specializes in speed, this particular variant of flash step is very fast, nearly three times quicker than Shunpo. It also releases waves of shredding energy outward in a ten foot area around and behind Joachim like a drill, lashing out at those who get too close while he is moving to inflict minor to moderate lacerations. However, while it is much faster than other flash steps, Vortex also has a much shorter range due to the difficulty it requires to maintain a coverage of reiatsu over the entire body instead of just the feet. For that reason, it has only half the range as Shunpo, so to travel the same distance it will be double the difficulty and twice the exhaustion that Shunpo might inflict.

The power of this ability is determined by Joachim's Kido stat.

[*] Ectoplasm: If wounded, a dull lavender-purple goo substance gushes from Joachim's wounds or from exposed tissue, covering the injury entirely. This unnatural goo is ectoplasm, radiating the same negative energy as ghosts or dark spirits. Like stem cells each tiny particle of ectoplasm can become any type of cell, and replaces cells that were lost. Ectoplasm is the means through which Joachim regenerates, and can secrete from any part of his body. It is also resistant to temperature, toxins, and even pathogens, so it is very hardy and durable. Ectoplasm also ceases bleeding very quickly. However, the ectoplasm does have one weakness; Sunlight. It's neither ultraviolet radiation, nor anything else particularly scientific, but direct sunlight from the natural sun of earth will damage the ectoplasm and greatly slow down Joachim's regeneration. This severely limiting weakness is part of why Joachim prefers to only go out at night.

Ectoplasm is capable of growing back lost tissue and replacing body parts entirely, but is actually specialized for reattachment, not necessarily regeneration. For severed or removed body parts, they can be re-attached instantly, and are fully repaired upon being merged back onto his body with the healing properties of the ectoplasm. For example, if you chop off Joachim's arm, he can grab it and stick it back on, and it will fuse back into the wound as if nothing had ever happened. the downside is that this takes much longer in direct sunlight, and that if the tissue is already dead or if it had been burned, reattachment takes longer as the dead cells must first be replaced before the body part can be used again. So with that in mind, there's actually three weaknesses to this power; burns, flame, sunlight, and necrosis, which is the death of cells and tissue.

For generating new body tissue in the absence of a body part to re-attach, the regeneration is actually slow despite how advanced it is. An entire post is spent waiting to see if Joachim will try to re-attach what was lost. By the second post after being wounded, however, Joachim's body assumes that there is no body part left to re-attach and begins to grow new cells. Special, external nerves and internal fibers of mutation-proof genetic code 'tell' the ectoplasm what to make, but if for whatever reason this is unavailable the ectoplasm will replace what was lost even without nerves or genetic code, but it takes twice as long. Because of the method of healing which is done, all healing times are the same; three posts. From a small cut to the loss of an eye, it's always three posts, unless Joachim is standing in direct sunlight. When in sunlight, all regeneration times are increased by two posts, so healing from a tiny cut while standing in the sun would take Joachim five posts instead of just three. Reattachment also takes two posts while standing in direct sunlight.

The power of this ability is determined by Joachim's Kido stat.

[*] Spectral Barrier: At all times, Joachim is encased in a strange barrier, which is usually invisible. This barrier extends around him for ten feet in all directions, and lowers it's power when out of combat to avoid excess energy consumption. However, while in full use, the barrier appears as a dim purple aura around Joachim, with ghastly faces and oddly humanoid shapes appearing in it's flame-like motions. This aura does nothing against purely physical attacks; objects will pass right through the barrier. This is because the barrier effects only spiritual energies and powers. The Spectral Barrier is designed to repel energy, but does not do this through deflection or reflection. Rather, it blocks and entraps the energy that strikes it, and then destroys it with powerful negative metaphysical force capable of eradicating energy. This barrier can go as far as to block a fully charged cero, or even high level kido. But when struck, it is 'drained' so to speak, and there is a recharge period for it to regain full defensive strength, so it is not impervious to energy. However, as a general rule, any energy that does manage to pass through the barrier is weakened by a massive 80%, making spells or reiatsu based powers difficult to use. However, the barrier does have limits. If hit by a fully powered, average joe's perfectly normal cero by someone of equal kido stat, the barrier is weakened to only half it's protection for two posts, after which it is fully charged. However, as stated, the barrier does nothing against physical attacks; it is purely specialized for defense against spiritual attacks. But the barrier doesn't just block energy. It also weakens all enemy powers within, or any enemy power that is attempting to effect Joachim. All such effects are reduced by 80% - meaning that if the effect is not physical, and is based on energy, it is severely weakened. For example, a rather strong illusion would suck inside the barrier, and Joachim would be effected very little by the trickery. Or, someone charging a cero within the area of Joachim's barrier would find that it would take five times as long to fully charge it. However, if the barrier is recharging, then the reduction is only 40%.

The power of this ability is determined by Joachim's Kido stat.

•Bount Doll |

Name: Unbrandt
Seal:

Physical appearance:

Doll swords shown in this image

Personality:

Abilities/Techniques:

Wraithblade:

Shrieking Sword Sorrowful Slash Storm:

APPEARANCE //
Further than just the skin //

• Height | 6'3" (Six feet, three inches)
• Weight | 200 lbs
• Hair color & Style | Long white, straight, flowers down to collarbones.
• Eye color | Luminous Grey-Silver
• Overall Appearance |

Joachim stands at a height of 6'3", with a handsome, gorgeous body marked by a seamless intertwining of strength and beauty. He is well developed but possesses an air of unnatural youth, and impossible attractiveness; a girl lacking caution might look at Joachim's perfect porcelain visage merely out of curiosity, and in mere moments later, find herself consumed in the vampire's seductive spell. His features, while smooth, are defined; the shape of his face, the faintly gaunt, modest curves and sharper edges to him, it's all in balance. He bears very European features and does not stray far from the stereotype that all nobles are beautiful. His extremely white skin devoid of all pigment is of a deceptive texture; although it seems soft, is in fact hard and tough, and whatever smoothness it promised was not that of welcoming flesh but that of cold and unforgiving stone. His beauty is statuesque and undying, but cold and unforgiving. Joachim, while bearing very slender look due to the length of his long limbs, is in fact well built. His muscles are broad and thick, but his overall form is athletic, giving him a much more lanky look. Images are shown below, enclosed in spoilers for convenience.

Image One:

Image Two:

Spoiler:

PERSONALITY //
Understand the invisible //

• Positive Traits |

Many years of knowledge, very intelligent
Hasn't aged a day beyond his prime
Very wealthy
Strongly driven, plenty of willpower.
Seductive

• Negative Traits |

Brooding and cold.
Subject to minor depression.
Very self-centered at times.
Has difficulty relaxing.
Avaricious.

• Habits |

Killing.
Drinking blood.
Having sex.

• Fears | Sunlight.
• Goals | Self-benefit.
• Overall Personality |

Joachim is a sharp nobleman, and is a very cunning, despicable, and self-obsessed hedonist. Of course, he is only despicable if you truly know him well - a proper aristocrat rarely exposes dangerous habits or tendencies to those who might observe them. As for the first impression Joachim is nothing less than charming and polite. He is wretched in deeds, not words. From his dark, immortal lips spills forth a silver tongue, seducing the unguarded ear with honeyed words of unnatural deceit; a darkness of mind and soul comes over those who linger near him for too long. Joachim is both manipulative and callous, often using those around him however he can even if their usage is meager. Sometimes the mere adoration received from a less intelligent mortal is all he needs. Other times, he may demand crushing acts of despair for the sake of his own amusement. It varies largely upon the mood of the Vampire.

While neither racist nor overly brutish, Joachim does believe in a separation of people by birth. Those that are born weak fulfill lesser roles in life to him, while those born strong of mind and body rise to preside over the weak. He doesn't attempt to sugar coat this belief either. If he believe a person is inferior, he has no qualms in treating them as such, often subjugating or seducing such people... but the truly useless are often met with cruel treatment, borderline abrasiveness, and on rare occasions, malevolence. Joachim has an extraordinary selfishness in him, with little to quench his avarice with. Rarely does he value the life of an inferior being.

Joachim is usually very chilling and calm within, and he is very self-assured. He's no braggart and is not likely to speak much of himself... but he does naturally perceive others differently, often in such a way that makes them inferior to himself, without the intention of making them as such. Joachim adores pleasure and beauty, and is obsessed with women, younger or older; whether to pluck the fresh flower of a girl's youth, or to suckle the final sip of beauty from the older flower before it withers. There's a broad range of women Joachim will deflower in such ways. His tremendous lust, however, is not entirely as simple as that. Joachim has a fear of loving another person, especially someone intimate, stemming from being hurt in the past and assuming that love leads to pain. He isn't even aware of this fear as he's much too calm to even draw attention to it, but it does exist, and it creates difficulties when it comes to him from forming a close relationship with others, often making him seem cold and brooding.

Joachim still, however, desires love subconsciously - and in this same subconscious, attempts to satisfy that deep longing with sex, pretending that lust is safer than love. However, it should be noted that he despises one thing above many others in a person, and that is just one thing: lesbianism. Failures of relationships and past loves gone astray kindled a strong dislike of homosexual or even bisexual females in him, and continued poor encounters with lesbians have left him with an overall hatred of them.

HISTORY //
Tell me a tale... //

• Birthplace | Armster, Romania.
• Mother | Ilsa Tchort Armster
• Father | Rovenov Dracul Armster
• Siblings | Vasily Tepenkov Armster, Cautherine Daksta Armster, Vladimir Rosenkrut Armster, Sascha Cherenkev Armster, Pikorta Breznehv Armster
• Other Relations | Many lost lovers...
• Companion | Unbrandt, his Doll.
• Overall history |

Joachim was born in the distant province of Armster, a significant portion of noble land along the coat of the black sea in what would become present day Romania. At the time of his birth it spanned for hundreds of miles, and reached deep into Transylvania. Joachim was born to a family of Vampires, a long bloodline of bount who had lived on this land for centuries. Scattered sub-sects of this family ruled the land of Armster, ruling villages and peasants. The land of Armster was mediocre in much of the quality in t's land, but did possess the coast, and many smaller fine areas that were highly sought after. Invaders and rival nobles often sought to seize these holdings, but it was the unnatural power of House Armster that defended their tiny kingdom. Joachim did not receive a particularly warm or affectionate childhood, instead receiving teachings from his fellow nobles on anything from etiquette to mathematics. While there were many wise, educated members of his family who taught him, Joachim was weary of his days very early on in life. Teachers dictated his every action, and although tied to them by blood, there was little affection or warmth. Expressions of love or care by he himself were often punished and he was taught to be 'stoic', or to keep a stiff upper lip as the saying in modern times goes.

As he matured, Joachim became very calm and confident in himself, as he was very intelligent and proficient in much of what he did. He slowly came to the belief that he could succeed at everything, because he was highborn. These early vestiges of self-assurance would develop into his current state of emotion, come to be as early as his preteens. Towards his adolescence, and the heights of puberty, Joachim found that as a powerful young man he had a great many things available to him. Women, wine, many things he'd had difficulty reaching before. He entertained himself with the accumulation of wealth and fine things, and often the prettier servant girls in the castles and villa of Armster. Joachim rarely suffered sexual frustration, and there was a great deal of carnal satisfaction in his life.

But to have time with the girls and his things, Joachim had to excel in general knowledge, noble etiquette, and even swordsmanship. He learned very quickly that power drives success, and success would grant him things that could make him happy in his cold and strange life. So he responded by making sure he did his best, and achieved the greatest results he could. In return, he was allowed money and got his pick of the girls to serve him in the castle he stayed in with his powerful relatives, and there were no small number of half-bounts born of his widespread passions, none of which allowed to share in the Armster name.

Near adulthood, however, Joachim discovered he succeeded well not just because of willpower or intelligence. He had a peculiar abnormality - odd powers of his own, telekinesis to name simply one, which had been mistaken by his relatives for exceptional control of spiritual energy. And yet, Joachim found himself less in need of sealing his growing spiritual energy, much unlike the other strong ones in his bloodline. After some time, Joachim realized that by some strange intricacy of his birth, he was backwards; rather than favor the powers of the Doll in which he stored his power, Joachim lacked proficiency in the Doll entirely, incapable of even making one for the first three centuries of his life. But he did have his own powers, unique abilities, as if the power that would have been his Doll's had been made as his own instead. This made Joachim faster, stronger even, compared to his brothers and sisters.

But although superior to his peers, he was not superior to their Dolls. Rare was it that an Armster was permitted to create a Doll, as it was their belief that they shortened the lifespan of a Vampire tremendously. However, Joachim was the son of the present Lord of Armster, and a viable heir. Of course, heirs rarely inherited the title of the family, as nearly all successions had been won by combat in the past. But it did put Joachim higher than much of the family and had been part of his privileged upbringing.

The heirs of the Lord were permitted Dolls, just as the Lord Armster himself was. Joachim chose no Doll, and sparring was frequent amidst the siblings, and Joachim would always defeat his brethren when he got close. But as they mastered their dolls he found much greater difficulty in beating his siblings. Joachim, instead, found himself inbetween somewhere - his natural power could overwhelm a fellow bount, but he himself was weaker than the Doll of said bount, and could not best a fully developed, mastered Doll in direct combat. So Joachim gradually learned how to play dirty. to exploit weaknesses and mistakes, even to coerce the opponent into making mistakes for Joachim to exploit. Joachim learned the value of deceitful words and false appearances in dealing with his siblings, for in manipulating them he could pit them against one another, and cause them all to fail in whatever they did while he showed nothing but success to the family.

However, Joachim did have a cousin, a wretched little spawn who was also an heir due to success in schooling and whatever tasks the family had set for him. Near the end of his first century in life, Joachim came to know jealousy. Joachim stayed just ahead of this relative, but always worked much harder. His cousin, you see, was a brilliant genius - a goodhearted lad who did good in whatever it was he decided to do. And he had nothing but respect, care, and devotion for the family. He was kind, and light hearted, which is why Joachim envied him. It wasn't that the cousin needn't put forth effort to impress the elders who ruled the House of Armster, but that he could have the one thing Joachim had been denied without risk, fear, harm, or even danger. And worse yet, he tried to share it with Joachim.

His cousin thought Joachim to be a friend to him, simply because they were heirs and close by blood, but Joachim could not have felt farther or angrier. The cousin had a wife, even a daughter, and had mentioned 'love' so freely. Joachim could not obtain these things. There was a gap, a chilling void inside of him, which had been quiet and manageable in most of his life... but this boy irritated it. Joachim became agitated at his lacking for what his cousin had, and began to utterly hate him. Worst of all, Joachim had to pretend like him and enjoy his presence, even when he could not stand to be in the presence of someone of such offending joy.

Towards Joachim's 190's, he became the first in line to the title of Lord, and his father had ruled for many years. It was assumed a new challenger would come soon but none did. There was the occasional Lord who, by sheer power, held the title for centuries and proved themselves to be most worthy by surviving these trials of challenge and battle. The duels were never pleasant, but deemed necessary for the clan, to preserve survival of the fittest amongst leadership. And the heirs too could duel amongst themselves, but rarely did, as they were hesitant to risk the lives of their kin or even their own in the pursuit of what kept them alive.

Joachim's only competition was his cousin... throughout history, the one to succeed the current Lord by combat had always been one of the top three heirs, but Joachim did not wish to seize it. He was content to simply be the best among his siblings and to feel that he was the best of his breed. He needed no title for that, being a Lord would've made him much too busy. But there was that wretched, happy cousin of his, always bringing his beautiful loving wife and bright maturing daughter around. Oh, how Joachim loathed those three. More children existed from them now, but Joachim rarely met them.

Although previously third, Joachim's cousin had defeated the second in line to the title of Lord by combat, and was now directly beneath him. He'd always go on about honor and respect, and serving the family. He never played deceit or treachery while Joachim had to do everything he could to ensure he was unbeatable. The cousin, on the other hand, just walked into a challenge with little to no preparation or strategy and did it his own way - honesty. He met every task with respect, every trial and duel, and succeeded every time by sheer ability and effort each time. He was always so sincere, too. Joachim began to envy that too.

But for some odd reason, Joachim was never challenged by his cousin. He waited many years, all the way into his 260's, ruling clusters of villages and collecting taxes but never fighting against his rival kin as much as he had before. Instead, the cousin was receiving all the challenges, doing whatever was asked of him by the elders and the Lord Armster himself. He even took more work than Joachim did, and Joachim knew now that if he did duel his cousin, he would surely lose. Joachim knew he had been surpassed. And he did not understand why the cousin spared him from that inevitable humiliation. Why? He had to ask, and yet, he could not lest he risk his image. The image was everything that Joachim knew. If he just kept a straight face and showed no weakness, he could intimidate his rivals. And that strategy had aided him and protected him since childhood. But it was failing him now.

Eventually, Joachim challenged his cousin, pent-up with anxiety. Joachim knew, surely, that the bount's Doll would defeat him easily... and that this was to be a losing battle. But Joachim fought, and he did his best, however things were not as expected. His cousin did not use his doll, and instead, wielded only swords. Joachim got in hits, gradually, and took almost none. He was being engaged in close combat; his greatest specialty. The fight did not last ten minutes, and by the ninth minute, his cousin lay bleeding on the ground, coughing. Joachim had to ask why. He knew he should have lost. "I wanted.... to be like... you" Were the words his cousin spoke to him that day. Words which would haunt him for the rest of his life. Joachim realized then that his precious little cousin had absolutely idolized him in everything, and truly did love him. Joachim had been worshiped by this member of his kin since the day they met. He had been the big brother of his cousin, whom Joachim then realized had no friends or allies, save his sole thread to Joachim himself. Joachim had just maimed his only true friend in the world.

Joachim was overcome with remorse, and violated the rules of Armster dueling; he forced a healer of the bount to save the boy's life, and spared the cousin. The injuries were grave. But from that day forward, Joachim swore he would never allow himself to hurt a loved one again. He would protect that cousin of his for the remainder of his life, for as long as he could, as he felt deeply responsible for the wounds he had inflicted upon him. Joachim became distant from the rest of the family for these sudden acts, but was forgiven... however, Joachim did not forgive himself, and became angrier and colder. The superficial noble world of the nocturnal aristocrat in which he lived had made him this way, so monstrous he would nearly slay those who loved him. How could he have done such a thing? He realized then that he'd known his cousin loved him, that there would never be ill will from such a good being, and that Joachim had been both paranoid and irrationally hostile towards the young man. He wept for days, the first time he'd shed tears since his fifth birthday.

Joachim became distant from the rulings and actions of House Armster, and had little to do with the nobles. He would show up regularly to visit his cousin, who had survived, but was gravely injured; even the Bount had difficulty treating him. For years, the cousin bore crippling wounds, and as decades came to past it became evident that he might never fully recover. This further weighted Joachim's heart to despair but he never stopped visiting. He rarely stayed long. But every visit was marked by a rare look in Joachim's eyes, a stare of devotion and strong emotion behind that cold visage. He was determined to fix this, somehow.

Joachim lingered to the House with only loose ties. His lack of activity forfeited his claim to the title, but there was no lack of encouragement for him to take it back, as Joachim was replaced by a Stipe Armster; a vampire of unprecedented voraciousness. The opposite of Joachim, he was brutally violent and by no means calm, and regularly violated custom and code alike, sometimes at the same instant. Joachim however simply moved farther and farther away from the rest of the family until he discovered an empty bed where his cousin had once been. For whatever reason, the boy had left...

Joachim desperately pursued him. Reviving his old ties, he went to every powerful noble of Armster he knew; grandfathers, uncles, brothers, sisters, nephews, cousins, everyone. But no one knew anything - no one but Stipe Armster. Stipe confronted Joachim in his wandering search, and gave Joachim a lock of his cousin's hair, the same one which Joachim himself had nearly killed. "I was tempted to finish what you did, but I did not." Stipe taunted. Joachim nearly smote him there, but Stipe was powerful, although by no means the strongest. There was no quick or easy way to fell him. So Joachim pretended instead to care nothing for the captive cousin, who was no doubt locked up in Stipe's dungeon somewhere. He'd been imprisoned for nothing but weakness. And Joachim was the only one who so much as remembered the boy's name...

Months afterwards, Stipe became the Lord of Armster, but refused to give up the family sword upon gaining the title. He kept it by force, and Joachim became his right hand man and retainer, who feigned loyalty in awaiting a chance to strike.... Stipe was a cold, ruthless ruler. But Joachim became second to only him, and had access to a great many resources. Joachim could not remove his cousin from the dungeon but sent him everything from doctors to food, keeping him clothed and taken care of with exorbitant sums of money to preserve the injured kin's failing health.

But Joachim rarely had the chance to attack the Lord Stipe of Armster. There was never the good opportunity he'd been waiting so patiently for.... it was as if fate was guarding the man from any sort of weakness, and that wretched sword of his could slay Joachim in an instant if he so much as twitched in the wrong direction. Joachim was forced to wait for centuries, building up his power, and developing his own abilities; he lacked a doll, but forged four swords of his own to wield, which he controlled through his telekinetic powers. These weapons were vitally instrumental in his life, for in every battle he fought they became his primary tools of bloodshed. And yet, Stipe's rule had lasted for 350 years, and it was now the mid 1600's.

It lasted for a few more years after that, and after this, it seemed as if it could never end. No one could defeat Stipe; Joachim had waited patiently for it to happen, but it never did. His cousin's health continued to slowly fail as he became a bedridden vegetable. There came one night, then, where Joachim had no choice; he would not allow his cousin to die of consumption in a basement. He was attending a meeting with Stipe himself, moving casually with him through the hallways... Joachim moved a little further back... he slowed his pace... then plunged a sword into Stipe's beating heart.

Stipe, however, had tremendous regenerative powers. The wound did harm him severely as it was an excellent surprise attack, but Joachim could not defeat him so easily as he had hoped. Stipe retaliated immediately and called for help, but the hallway had been sealed and fortified several years ago by Joachim for this purpose, although Stipe possessed the sword. Joachim managed to cut off the hand Stipe used to wield the blade with, and then kept it away, pushing it with his psychokinetic power far from him each time it came too close. It was a long battle. Joachim bore many wounds, and they came steadily as the fight continued, a terrible life-or-death duel that exhausted both vampires. But Joachim's power did not weaken with his fatigue, while Stipe's regeneration failed with the loss of his stamina. Deceiving Stipe with a feigned, three sword thrust, he spun behind the tyrant and chopped through Stipe's neck with a sweep of his fourth blade, ending the greatest struggle of his life in that very same instant.

Joachim claimed the Sword of Armster, and was recognized as the Lord of Armster now. But customs and tradition had been confused. Stipe had destroyed many of the written and unwritten rules, and Joachim had inherited what had become a dictatorship. To prevent his newly acquired power from being taken, Joachim decided to play dirty; the sword, the final lasting symbol of right and power in the family, was used to make a Doll for Joachim. By sealing his Doll into the Sword of Armster, it became his Doll, and thus Unbrandt was born. Wielding the sword like no other had in the past, Joachim was a very powerful and charismatic leader to his people for a short time. He took his cousin out of the dungeon and kept him in nice places now. Beautiful gardens, places of warmth and comfort, feasts and celebrations... he was brought to every occasion Joachim attended in a great, cushioned mattress, bent and wrapped around like a sofa, with a dozen servants at all times. The withered kin's health recovered, and he was conscious, but forever weakened... it was a constant source of remorse for Joachim. But he could not let go of his cousin even though centuries of sickness and negligence had left his body and mind permanently warped. Joachim was certain Stipe had harmed the boy somehow; there were unnatural wounds inside of his body.

But in a mere fifty years, Joachim's cousin grew fatally ill. He kept him alive, resorting to hiring non-bounts; human doctors, shinigami of the fourth division, even those of his own kind who possessed healing powers foreign to the House of Armster. He spent exorbitant sums of money keeping the relative alive. But his cousin's body withered still, and the treatments he received permanently altered his body, and he became a bulbous, mutant mass of flesh hidden beneath clean white linens and soft sheets. There was no shortage of weeping from Joachim, and there was naught he could do...

One day, however, the ruined body of his cousin rose, and stumbled through the halls to Joachim's chambers, meeting him there one last time. He was dying, and he knew this might be his last few hours in this life. He severed his connection with his own doll and supplanted the majority of his power into it, and gave it to Joachim as a final gift; it was literally a life-sized doll of a woman with long black hair. She was made of ceramic. This same doll had possessed tremendous power enough to defeat Joachim but he lacked the ability to use it. Still, he took it as his cousin's final gift. The boy wanted just one last thing before he was gone, and that was to see the ocean. Joachim granted this request, and left him there with several dozen guards and servants, as well as food and shelter in case he survived. But those who went with him claimed he vanished, and decades later, the black sea was filled with stories of a giant, kind-hearted whale-like sea monster who led lost ships sent astray by storms back to their homes.

The House of Armster was changed tremendously by Joachim. He granted the nobles power once more, but maintained authority over them. Rather, he made the House of Armster autonomous and independent of himself. Stipe had made the House so dependent upon the Lord of Armster that it could not exist without one. Joachim undid this, giving the local nobles and aristocrats great power, and he was praised and loved for this. But then, Joachim vanished, taking the family sword with him....

Armster expanded and grew, becoming a parasitic merger with the rest of Romania, the only lordless House in it's time and area ever to have known success. It became a very mercantile and militaristic aristocracy, greatly developing the land of Romania, but Joachim had disappeared after making this possible. In truth, he had fled far, living beneath cities and aqueducts from rome to london. His name was forgotten, and those remaining bounts who encountered him mocked the current Lord of Armster, and he was named the 'sewer vampire'. He lived in caverns, or beneath lakes, and never strayed from the water. Joachim would often lure mortal women to his lairs with his unnatural grace and power... and vampires born of these unions began to appear. Various vampire hunts occured as a result, as these children lacked discipline and fed openly on living humans.

Joachim spent many years living aimlessly this way, with no real hopes or cares for the world. He amassed wine, finery, and gold in his sewers and lairs, living in regality still. There was always at least one woman in his life, tainted by the kiss of vampirism, and forever bound to his unnatural beauty. He would keep his brides for years, taking them usually at 12 to 15, and keeping them until they reached their 50's. Joachim's influence over the women kept them healthier, and thus, even when they did age into their middle years they did retain their attractiveness. But they usually died around 50 as well, after having been fed on for years. Joachim still lives this way, preying on the living and seeking women to keep in his lair, spending his endless immortality on hedonism and feeding... he has since grown in power, after having fed upon many souls, but receives no detriment from feeding on the living.

by Ravilin Asura Thu May 31, 2012 7:01 pm

Approved

Joachim Armster [Vampire/Bount - New Template]

Joachim Armster [Vampire/Bount - New Template]

Re: Joachim Armster [Vampire/Bount - New Template]