Hrafen "Hank" Dalgaard

General Appearance
Hrafen is a powerfully built man... one who seems to have been blessed with quite a few advantages. His physique is that of a working man, stoic and strong. His gaze is one of almost boredom, or perhaps calmness, and it rarely changes despite circumstances. Most often he wears something simple, such as a pair of fitting black jeans, and a black t-shirt. Simple.

In the public Hrafen's eyes are very controlled and bored. He ensures that he looks surprised when he is supposed to, and responds to those around him appropriately, so that he won't stand out. In private, however, his eyes are far more intense, and more naturally reactive... he feels he can be much more receptive and open to those in one on ones, or more private settings.

Hrafen acts like a more simple man. He is comfortable performing work, toiling away, and accomplishing more mundane things. He is quick on his feet, and not afraid to get dirty if necessary, but he would be the last one to ever choose the dirty side, if it at all could be avoided.


History
Hrafen was a young, powerfully built man that came of age during a rough and warlike time in middle Europe. An ancient tradition of "Northmen" behind his training and early years, and Hrafen enjoyed a youth overloaded with war, invasions, violence, massive amounts of herbal drugs, and charging onto the beaches of opposing colonies along the rivers of ancient Scandinavia, where he built his reputation on blood and stone.

A decade into his madness fueled young adulthood, Hrafen had discovered a remarkable talent for stealth... invasion and ambushes were his specialty. As he saw it: why fight fair when you can fight to win instead?

As he approached his early thirtieth year of life, Hrafen invaded a neighboring town, and during the initial ambush setup in the town, Hrafen met a beautiful woman by the name of Corina. A Romanian woman that was lying in wait in the town that his brothers and he were planning on invading. He initially thought she was a local, so when he'd captured her inside of her own home, she played the role of 'helpless damsel' perfectly, and sucked him into her trap. In reality, she had been feeding off of the populace of a local Swedish town for several months, and had been looking to move, but she needed some support in place to be able to maneuver into her next feeding grounds. After several days of lying in wait with her, Hrafen fell to her charms, and was turned, and when his brethren invaded the little town, he went on a bloody rampage, and murdered at least a dozen townsfolk himself and earning not only the respect, but the fear of his brethren. Something was different about Hrafen, and the fact that he slowly started to make himself scarce, eventually slipping away with Corina to a larger English city, where they spent the better part of a hundred and fifty years hiding, and keeping themselves out of trouble, barely feeding and scraping by.

Now, close to  the 13th century, Hrafen took over an English farm, and established himself as a major trader in Southern Englad to the locals. They never seemed to mind why his prices were always the lowest, and why it seemed like it cost him nearly nothing to survive... they just loved his willingness to seemingly toil all night, every night, to ensure his crops were surviving, and thriving. Hrafen took his time for the next 150 years, while Corina grew bored, and angry with his seeming contentedness to stay a farmer, and live a stable life.

Now, in the 16th century, Hrafen sold himself to various war parties in the War of the League of Cambrai, battling for both France and the Holy Roman Empire. He had no true dog in the fight, but now that Corina had been subtly urging him to violence for close to 300 years now, he was prepped and ready for some true violence, hailing back to his Viking roots. Smashing his way bloodily through the conflicts, loving every minute of it, Hrafen was somewhat surprised to find Corina gone when he returned from war, his farm having been returned to the city. Now that he had nowhere to return to, close to 1516, Hrafen wandered the European continent for the next century, participating in various conflicts... Fourth Muscovite–Lithuanian War, the Little War in Hungary, and even the long drawn out Livonian war. He had his hands bloodied well into the 1600s, and he didn't see any reason to stop, though he felt a deep-seated pulling on his mind... urging him westward.

Another slow hundred years of traveling back from the Eastern sides of Europe to the west, maintaining a low profile, and only feeding enough to survive and not draw attention, Hrafen learned far more about the subtlety of being a solitary vampire. Suddenly without Corina around to guide him, Hrafen realized just how difficult it was to get answers about his own heritage, and the painful lessons that he learned at the hands of the few towns that discovered that he was either "a warlock", and tried to burn him at the stake, or the simple cities that simply chased him into exile.

Eventually arriving, close to the 1800s, on the Western Coast of England once more, Hrafen set up (once more) with another farm. Some deep-seated part of him hoped that Corina would return, and give his life some meaning. He dabbled in relationships with locals, but hardly as much as he would have given any other circumstance. Instead, he managed to learn how business relationships could benefit him in a huge way. Expanding his skills was his most valuable learning experiences here, and he developed a quite wide set of skills as a business-partner in a multitude of business ventures.

The Western portions of the world had already been well-established, and Hrafen made his way to New York City, close to 1825. Having already heard of the establishment of the United States - Hrafen was mildly intrigued, but more intrigued in a city like New York: so busy that nobody would notice a missing homeless person here and there, and certainly nobody would mind a businessman who wanted to be left alone. Settling into the city, Hrafen was approached by the ruling Sabbat here, and he was happy to abide by their rules. He had many talents that were useful, so he was (mostly) left alone. He had to do just as much work for the Sabbat as anybody else, but the one thing he'd kept hidden from them all here was his history of warfare. A man with HUNDREDS of years of war under his belt would no doubt (if found out) be forced into more war for the Sabbat, and he wanted nothing to do with his murderous ways anymore. He was still quite capable, but he almost longed for a more normal life, and tried his best to keep his talents and skills of destruction hidden away... even going so far as to pull his own punches in necessary fights just to convince others that he was hardly able to fight, despite the fact that he was, still, built like a true viking warrior. This was truly important, as in the last hundred years, when the Camarilla took over, Hrafen was able to easily slide into the new regime, instead of being so deeply embroiled in the conflict that he ended up dead.



Current Views and Position
Hrafen is currently very comfortable working under the Camarilla. He has kept his violent capabilities under wraps for oh so long, and yet, he is comfortable with the "new" regime.

Hearing that Reginald has returned to the city doesn't bother him... he's made a recent career of hiding amongst any crew or group that claims power. He has very little concern (unlike many of his kind) for gathering personal power for himself. He believes, far more, in the value of each particular moment, and person, involved.