William Ruthven
The Basics
Name: William Ruthven
Title: Lord
Aliases: Too many to count
Gender: Male
Apparent Age: Rotting 40ish
Real Age: 572
Race: Human - Black Court Vampire
The Physical
Physical Description: A young man of noble stock, he has strong aristocratic features, and the lean musculature of a person with a privileged diet. Nutrition has given him length of bone as well, resulting in a man of impressive height. Feathered black hair and light beard are additional blessings that have combined into a package that many a common and noble girl have found most attractive. And he is well aware of that fact, which is reflected in the arrogant swagger that he is never seen without.
It's not just his particular visage that so draws the attention. For there are clearly men of more beautiful countenance out there. Usually on stage of theaters or the depths of bordellos of course. However, there is an almost animal magnetism to the pale man that is difficult to articulate. Many have commented on the enthralling quality of his rich brown eyes that boarders on a reddish color is the first thing about him that draws them in. Whatever the source of this attraction, William has certainly enhanced this natural gift with an easy smile and a pleasant demeanor. People find that they trust him easily, and that he is the sort of person that they would like to befriend.
At least, that is how William Ruthven would have been described in life.
Only now William is dead, and has been for centuries.
His hair, once black as a raven's wing has turned the ghastly white of the ancient. His brown eyes, once so alluring, now look like the milky orbs belonging to an aged tiger with cataracts. Even his very flesh, once kissed by the sun from long marches under the hot sun, is the pale color of a corpse, and cracked like ancient marble in a crumbling mausoleum. His teeth, once pearly and straight, are now yellowed and blunted with the weight of years. And fingernails, once kept short as all wise soldiers do, have grown long and black. More claws than fingernails. And no matter the clothing he adopts in order to blend into the general populace, there is always that air of unreality about him. The smell of the grave, and the cold of the unliving.
Alternate Form: None
Talents & Weaknesses
Skills: As a nobleman of the 16th century, William was tutored in all manner of subjects expected of his station. He received a classical education, learning a great many languages, and the philosophies of ancient Greece. Protocol and etiquette were drilled in him with such religious fervor that they come as second nature to him, even many centuries later. And while expected for him to learn, equestrianism and skill at arms were those skills that he was most eager to learn. From halberd to arming sword, courser to destrider, and everything in between were his passions. After his death, William became obsessed with his newly discovered magical talent. His focus of study was primarily in Necromancy, with a secondary interest in Verisimilomancy, if only for practical reasons.
Much of the modern world confuses William, as it does most Black Court Vampires, but he tries to stay as up to date on things if only in order to fit in. While inventions like cell-phones delight him for their utility, he still doesn't understand the want or need for social media, and greatly disdains it.
Powers: Like all Black Court Vampires, William has super-human strength, speed, and resilience. Arguably to a greater degree than the other Courts. And while they have immortality, their bodies do ever sow slowly decay, until they can no longer pass for human. Among the more horrific powers of the Black Court is their innate mind-control magic, which they use to create Thralls and Renfields. Apart from the Psychomancy of his Court, William is unique in that he makes great study of Necromancy and Verisimilomancy.
And over the many centuries, he has gathered a number of Grimoires and magical items to aid him in his research, and survival. William owns original copies of the Grimoire of Turiel, Rauðskinna, Ghāyat al-Ḥakīm, The Liber Officiorum Spirituum, Galdrabók, and the Magnum Grimorium sive Calendarium Naturale Magicum Perpetuum Profundissimam Rerum Secretissimarum Contemplationem Totiusque Philosophiae Cognitionem Complectens.
William's most famous magical artifact however is Clarent, the blade Mordred stole and then used to kill Arthur at Camlann. It is also known as the Kingslayer, Kinkiller, and Crownbreaker. It doesn't appear to have much in the way of power, but for William it is a status symbol more than anything else.
And while all Black Court Vampires make use of Darkhounds, William is rather fond of one in particular, and has kept it for centuries. William took a handsome and loyal Scottish Deerhound named Thurstan, and turned him into a terrifying and black-maned Darkhound.
Vulnerabilities: Sensitive to garlic, tokens of faith, running water, fire, and decapitation. Unless invited, William cannot cross a threshold at all. He is ancient enough not to be slain by sunlight, but it does leave him weakened. And while Black Court Vampires don't see it as a weakness, many would consider their dependency on blood to be a vulnerability.
Under The Hood
Personality: William, having been many things in his time, soldier, nobleman, monster, necromancer, often will adopt whatever persona is most advantageous to him at the time. In another life he might have been a spy. This goes along with his deeply held belief in pragmatism. If he needs to be loud and boisterous to make it through a dangerous domain, or gentle and placating to the local aristocracy to get them to do his bidding, he will do so without any visible complaint. While the man has pride, he is not foolish enough to cause problems if he can avoid it.
Which is not to say that the Vampire is a coward. Indeed, the "real" William Ruthven is a man consumed by an unquenchable thirst for many things. Fortune, power, magical prowess, blood, and most of all, novelty. Immortality can get so boring after all. And acquiring all of that requires no small amount of courage. But unlike some men, that courage isn't born of sheer bravado or ignorance, but hard won experience. William knows his limits, but he also knows his strength. And he knows when to take a long-shot gamble, and when discretion is the better part of valor. That is what almost six centuries of warfare and politicking will teach you. There are not many beings that have survived the things that he has, which has instilled him with a deserved sense of confidence and coupled world-weariness.
When alone with old comrades in the Court, or new people that he really trusts, they will find an almost contradictory man beneath whatever mask he has put on until that moment. Being a native of the high court of Scotland, he has a wickedly clever, almost sarcastically aggressive attitude in most situations. But this behavior is tempered by a wisdom born of long years of survival and bloodshed. At times he almost takes a mentor-like outlook when with younger beings that have garnered his interest. His fiery proclivities are further offset by his education and knowledge gained in his mortal life's education, and his magical studies in undeath. The wider world has humbled him, and he values intelligence just as much as his physical prowess. And despite how many times he has had his heart broken and experienced loss, part of William is a romantic. He falls in love easily, and hard.
He is fully aware of this trait, but is helpless to fight it.
Truth be told, it usually ends with him tearing out the throat of the one who incited his passions, but that is simply what his Black Court instincts tell him to do.
Backstory: Even in the modern age, many people are aware of "The Vampyre," a short work of prose fiction written in 1819 by John William Polidori. In the story, a young wealthy gentleman named Aubrey strikes up a friendship with the mysterious and alluring Lord Ruthven. The two agree to travel abroad in Europe together, only for Aubrey to discover that all of the murders and misfortune that seem to follow them are on account of Lord Ruthven, who is a vile creature that seduces maidens and drinks their blood. The story ends with Lord Ruthven triumphant, with Aubrey slain as well as his sister.
And while that made for an excellent horror story, it ruined Lord Ruthven's unlife, and made him the target of all manner of Vampire Hunters. He was forced to flee Britain, and come to America.
But that is not the true beginning of Lord Ruthven. His origins go much, much farther back than 1819. Born of Scottish nobility in 1450, William Ruthven had the misfortune to be born to a time of great civil upheaval. The great conflict of his time was a civil war between James III of Scotland and James, Duke of Rothesay. Throwing in his support behind James III, he fought many battles in his king's name. However, after the battle near Blackness Castle, in which things did not end in James' favor, a rival to William, a Lord Oliphant, arranged things so that William was handed over to the rebels as a hostage.
That was where the nightmare began.
Thrown into the dungeon beneath Blackness Castle, William languished for years as the war raged on. What no one, not even Lord Oliphant, could have known, was that the catacombs beneath Blackness Castle were home to the Black Court Vampire known as Hundeprest. A powerful and half-mad Vampire that had been driven from his original domain of Melrose Abbey in the 12th century, Hundeprest had relocated to Blackness Castle in order to continue hunting in secret. For a long time, he toyed with the prisoners. Extending their terror by months. Picking them off, one-by-one. Until only William remained. Perhaps he saw something special in William. Or maybe he was simply lonely. Or maybe it was just another mad whim, but Hundeprest painfully turned William into a Black Court Vampire.
When William Ruthven emerged from the dungeons in 1488, after the death of James III at the Battle of Sauchieburn, he was a much changed man. Initially, people thought his aversion to daylight and his eccentricities were due to his trauma from living in the dungeons. But the truth was far more terrible. Knowing that it was only a matter of time before being discovered, William used his families wealth and influence to scour all England for Grimoires of black magic. For he had discovered that upon his transformation, he had a magical talent that he had not known in life. Hundeprest was of no help in that regard, as he did not know any magic, nor have any interest in the subject. Their parting was...not amicable.
As time wore on, William learned more and more Necromancy and Verisimilomancy in order to hide his true nature from his friends and family. This culminated in his faking his own death in 1528. From that point on, he used his illusions to take on the identity of his own descendants. Every fifty years or so, he would "die," and leave everything to his "son." And that worked for many, many centuries. Until that damned Polidori published his story!
He should have slain Aubrey before he could reveal his story to another party.
Having been forced to flee to America, William settled in New York City in 1821. He has lived many lives since that time, pretended to be many rich industrialists and playboys. But these days, he finds anonymity to be a better guise. Though, he still prefers to live in finery like a gentleman. As such, he currently resides in a bricked off section of the now closed City Hall station of the IRT Lexington Avenue Line of the New York City Subway. Such a secret lair requires very little in the way of protection, as it is almost impossible to get to, and most don't even know it exists anymore. Which is just as well, because recent events in Chicago have made things very difficult for those in the supernatural community who wish to remain hidden.
Connections: The Black Court. In recent decades, William has utilized Monoc Securities, and is on good terms with the company and its CEO. Lord Ruthven is also on extremely good terms with Baldemar, a Goblin captain in Lord Herne's coterie. Most Wizards have reliable sources of information, and in Lord Ruthven's case, he often turns to the creatures of Hell. He finds their transactional wants acceptable, and their rates reasonable. For the past two centuries, Malphas, a Great Prince of Hell, commander of forty legions of lesser Demons, has been his main contact. Sworn to Lord Ruthven's service is the ghost of the legendary Götz von Berlichingen, who retains his intelligence and skill. And the list of Zombies and Thralls in his service after all these centuries is too long to contemplate.