Name: Asar Shafik
Gender: Male
Age: 2571
Date of Birth(Modern): July 14th, 563 B.C.E.
Apparent Age: 26
Place of Birth: Meroe, Nubia
Species: Vampire
Coven: None, Interested in finding one.
Appearance: (I was planning on just putting this in one of the scenes in the history, but as I never got around to it..) Asar has dark brown eyes which are set into a strong face. His cheek bones are defined and high set, leaving his actual cheeks to be slim down a long jaw. His chin is narrow and decorated with a slight, black goatee. Asar keeps his head clean shaven which requires him to shave every evening upon waking up, leaving only thin eyebrows and his goatee to show hair on his face. His skin is still slightly dark despite lightening some as the ages have passed. Physically Asar has kept his body fit during death, as a soldier in life he was required to do a great deal of physical labor which left him with the desire to keep his body relatively toned in the after life, though some of it as faded with time. In truth much of his former glory has toned down some in his age, though the fact that he still stands at a reasonably impressive 6'4 still leads some to declare him intimidating.
(Absolutely horrible at describing a physical appearance outside of actual roleplay, so I opted to find a picture which most closely resembles what I have in mind. This being said- One the picture does not have a goatee, and two it's actually a Haitian because I had a hard time finding pictures of Nubians. ) Helpful Visual Aid(For my own aid I put dates near portions of the text, all of those are just centuries- nothing specific. Oh! And sometimes I have skips, but if I do it's usually included in the text and I just didn't feel the need to put a date counter there. They're more or less just at the changes in lifestyle.)History: (500 B.C.E) The life of Asar Shafik begins simply enough with his birth into a small family near the outskirts of the great city of Meroe along the Nile river. In fact his childhood was a rather uneventful one in truth as his father, Amir, was an average fisherman and kept the family from starving even during the hard years and his mother, Umayma, tended Asar and his older brother, Katir, well. From an early time the siblings found their places in the world, with Katir taking well after Amir and Asar following his elder with due diligence and modesty.
By the time Asar was twelve Katir, fourteen, was the apple in Amir's eye and the two of them began to venture out before dawn in the small fishing boat which the family had crafted leaving Asar to help Umayma tend to his newborn sister Asenath. In fact Asar's father had begun to grow so distant from his two youngest children that when Asenath passed away due to sickness Amir hardly seemed to mourn her passing while Umayma grew distraught from the loss. Despite the fact that Asar had been near to Asenath during her death, it was more Amir's response which got to the child than the actual death, for if the loss of a daughter barely phased the man how much differently would the loss of a second born son effect him?
It was that question which followed Asar into adulthood and helped lead him into the Nubian military, with his father's blessing, at the age of sixteen. If his life wasn't important then surely by taking the lives of those who had importance Asar could also take their importance upon himself. Who could really tell what decision it was put Asar's on his path to the training as a Nubian Archer and to his eventual undeath? Was this determined with the death of a younger sister, or perhaps even when he was born a middle child? Perhaps fate can be excluded altogether and Asar simply found a hidden meaning in taking the lives of others and that itself was cause. Regardless of the root though it was four years from entering the military that Asar first felt the rush of death around him, but hardly in a manner befitting a soldier.
Even today I can remember the first time I killed though each time it seems as if the person has changed. I do not even fully recall my siring besides the fact that the woman who took my life was stood out in such contrast to the world I found myself in, but for some reason the life of some fool seems more important than my own death.
It was raining that day, I remember only because the priests had predicted a poor season and thus the rain had shocked us all. I was no longer in Meroe but in Kema, near the 3rd Cataract, and the change in weather had brought many out to celebrate. The rain itself seemed to fall in walls, blocking sight out and turning the streets to mud quickly as I walked towards the barracks which I called home. Suddenly through the roar of water I heard a short yelp from a narrow gap in the buildings to my left. The yelp itself had come from a small girl who had apparently fallen into what I first thought was a statue and later realized was in fact a man wearing the robes of a priest. It took me another moment to realize that the man was actually speaking and it was then that I realized the woman hadn't tripped, but rather the priest had shoved her aside. It did not anger me that he discarded women so easily, for at the time I did much of the same if the situation called for such treatment, but it was the air about him which got to me. He stood in such a pious way, as if he himself were a deity to be feared. Clearly this man did not liked to be trifled by such a lowly woman and with that I nearly left for the rain was cold and my day had been long, but something held me there for long enough to see him pull the woman up by her hair and that's when I made my decision. My feet had taken me into the passage casually and my eyes locked onto the priest's who was now quite aware of my presence.
“Why do you carry yourself like this? What authority gives you the power to behave in such an unflinching away?” My voice was steady, far more then I feel it should have been, but my hands shook slightly, mind you it was anticipation which caused them to shake, not fear.
The priest did his best to look down at me despite me clearly being the larger, he had no fear for he spoke for the gods. “Watch your tongue, I'm a priest for the temple of Osiris, the god's shine on my actions or else what would have caused this rain from the God of the harvest.”
The god's supported this man? Then surely my actions were suicidal as I quickly approached the unflinching man and subtly slipped the knife from the sash around my waist. “Metal guides my tongue priest, and if Osiris shines on you so brightly perhaps a visit is in order to your god of the dead.” Something possessed my body as the knife suddenly drove into his stomach and he screamed loudly. I do not know what guided my hand as I quickly pulled the knife from his gut and drove it into the throat of my screaming victim in order to silence him. His body slowly went limp and his weight came onto me until I drew both knife and arm away to see him drop to the ground only to cause the woman to look at me in what must have been a look of both relief and fear.
“Well, I wouldn't want him to grow lonely.” It was easier the second time. She did try to crawl away, but my knife found her throat more quickly and her screams were muted by the rains and the water diluted the blood into the mud quickly which left me to return to my barracks --after discarding my stained shirt in a nearby refuse pile of course. The other soldier's did not question my state once I mentioned how sodden my shirt had become on the walk home they simply nodded and I changed into some drier clothing and went on with my day. As time carried on Asar found himself training more and more, becoming more adept with the bow which he would carry into war and also working with the sickle swords brought south from Egypt. Importance had been found in the taking of lives, for if he was so unimportant then how could he possibly be allowed to kill others? It was with this philosophy that Asar worked harder to find an outlet for his new power.
I do not recall much of my sire or the actual event honestly. I was still in the military however, and it must have been close to five years since my hand first tasted blood when the goddess found me. The night itself was calm if I recall, a summer night with the noises of the river to comfort my mind while I sat near the Nile and looked towards the west. I only recall that she came from the west and it was as if she could see what I had done by simply gazing into my eyes. Looking back I could not say what it was she saw in me, desire perhaps, but I know that as she left me with such a gift near the edge of the Nile that truly it was a gift from the divine.
I do not know if we spoke after my creation or if we truly spoke before it either..., but I did survive so surely something must have been said of what I was made into. I had been given the right to judge now, and with this right I turned south to Meroe. (500 B.C.E Continued) In the city of Meroe Asar began to learn more of what his new role in the world was, and what it meant to be immortal. In time his blessing faded into what seemed like a curse, for no life could be had for those who were destined to judge humanity. The men he'd known in the military began to die off from age and sickness, and not even the howls of pain issuing from his prey could calm the pain forming in his own mind. Still, it seemed that only with death could Asar quiet the sorrow even momentarily and thus his feeding increased. As a result of this new lifestyle though he began to attract more attention than the man wished, and thus the vampire left the city once every twenty years, venturing to the more distant villages to feed and slumbering the days away in tombs, avoiding his primary hunting ground for several years until he felt it safe to return.
(350 C.E.) Life continued like that for many lifetimes until Nubia itself had fallen to outside invaders and Asar felt himself being pushed out of his hunting ground. It was not easy to leave the comfort of his home though, and it pained him deeply to bid farewell to the graves of his mother and sister for the last time, but with foreigners closing in Asar was forced to flee north and into the lands of Egypt. Here the people were really no different from those who he had judged in the south, their sins no greater or worse. His hunting grounds had changed, but the prey still was very much the same and the hunter was growing more skilled in staying hidden.
(600 C.E.) In time Asar found his blade had stilled, and though the pain of loss still lingered, the craving of food had died away long ago. Death began to cease calming his mind, and thus the desire for it faded, leaving only the desire to sleep. So, the immortal found the darkness he needed in a small necropolis which had been made for the incarnations of Banebdjed. The slumber which came over him lasted for many years until the mortals began to rummage through the tunnels of his new home and his hunger reawoke.
(800 C.E.) Nearly two hundred years had passed since Asar gazed on the moonlit sands of Egypt, and though the land still remained similar to how he had left it the immortal felt as if he'd lost another home in his slumber. It wasn't until visiting his previous hunting ground in Alexandria that this loss became permanent though. In his absence several over vampires had sprung up in the city he'd once called home, and feeling his claim to the location had vanished in his sleep Asar turned east and began a long journey around the Mediterranean Sea.
During his journey Asar found himself forced to drink from caravans, hiding during the day in hovels built near the sea and foraging for meals from the local populous when the caravans dwindled. The life was not what he'd enjoyed in the past, for he had no time to pray to his goddess, nor time to train with the sword which he'd carried since death. For these reasons Asar continued his trek until coming to the large city of Constantinople, the great city so near the lands in the west, but still not one of them.
(850 C.E.) It was in this city that Asar set up his new home. Unlike the previous homes though Asar wished for his presence here to last, and as such kept much of his hunting to the prince's isles and the small homes outside of the city walls. This was also the first time that Asar found himself in need of more steady material wealth. Up until this point he'd taken his coin from those he killed, taking their valuables and coin purses with him before disposes of corpses, but now killing the wealthy attracted more eyes, and as such the immortal knew he'd need another way to gain money, and the way opened up to him in the form of trade.
While Asar had a reasonably large reserve to draw on he had no means of bringing more money in, or at least he didn't until the man discovered how large the trade network extended from Constantinople. By using his money as a backing Asar found he could loan money to aspiring merchants and then collect a portion of their profits, and of course when any man backed out of the deal Asar paid them a less pleasurable visit, but never killed them. Rather the vampire would use some of his more subtle powers to damage them mentally, causing hallucinations and eventually resorting to force until the word spread that he wasn't one to be trifled with.
He kept his business small, working through letters and others to distribute coin to several different merchants whom would then use the money to purchase goods and travel east, and when they returned they'd pay him back with interest, and in turn draw more coin for their next expedition and thus profits increased for both parties. In truth Asar found this method to be quite profitable when one consumed so little money to survive and as he simply signed his notes and promissory notes with “The Shafik Family”, Asar had worked out a means to bring revenue in through the ages. However, matters became difficult when the Suljuqs and the Crusades arrived and made trade a far more risky endeavor.
(1100 C.E. ) It was during this time that the economy began to crumble away and with it a large margin of Asar's profits, in the end his coin was only worth a third of the value which he'd held prior to the wars, but over all his profits were still substantial and his ties to now successful merchant families had held through the loss reasonably well. However, it was during this crusade that Asar felt his lust beginning to rise up again. It wasn't as if he hadn't fed, for the immortal found himself feeding from the sick quiet frequently, but since leaving Egypt he'd greatly lessened the number of people he killed, and thus in the chaos of war Asar found his muse yet again urging him to judge.
What reasons did he have now though? The pain which had haunted him in the past had now passed, and the man now had importance in his own right, but the desire to see men squirm under the pressure of his blade had returned as solidly as it had been in the past. Perhaps it was not the desire to kill, but rather the challenge which he'd missed so deeply. Since his rebirth Asar had felt his life becoming complacently easy, and now his finances seemed to be in order which left little to strive for in his solitary life.
(1300 C.E.) It wasn't until the Ninth, and final, crusade that Asar finally felt his blood lust again dissipate to a dull echo of what it had been a mere two hundred years ago. The hunt for decent mortal challenges had left the vampire wanting more, but after so long of slaughter it was becoming clear that the flesh of mortals wasn't going to fill his desire for challenge. Their screams did little to calm his lust in the end, but it had faded regardless of being unsatisfied. His pilgrimage for blood had brought him far from his home, onto an island called England. Following the mortals to their homes had been a fruitless attempt at trying to find their strongest, but the trip itself had shown Asar a different world from his own, one which borrowed many of the ideas which he'd seen in the west, but perverted them in ways which left them barely recognizable. Still, the trip had left little to be desired as Asar found himself arriving in the city of London just as the Black Death began to sweep through it's streets and allow his feeding to go by completely unnoticed, and which left London's economy perfect for entry when the plague finally left it's streets and Asar tried to resume his trade from Constantinople, only to find that banks had successfully replaced him.
(1500 C.E.) With no effective way of making profit Asar had to resort to holding up in unsealed crypts during the day while spending his nights leaning more about the world. Prior to his life in London the immortal had only truly gathered information through gossip, but here he found large collections of books which allowed him to read of cultures he'd only heard of in the past. Languages that he spoke quite well were supposedly dead, people he remember seeing from the distance had changed history forever and here he was, a god sitting in a crypt, but completely unknown.
(1600 C.E.) Perhaps it was because of his new found knowledge that Asar began to question the value of his own life again. Never since his rebirth had the man wondered his importance, but he'd seen other gods since then and in some cases even considered hunting them instead, and thus his own value seemed far less substantial when one considered all the deeds that he'd failed to accomplish while mortals had done so much. This new wave of depression hit the immortal very hard even as he began to hear of groups of vampires who were forming things called “covens.” What did they have which urged them to gather together while he worked so hard to stay away from his own kind?
It wasn't until the great fire that Asar lost what little remained of his self confidence when he realized just how powerless he was. In a fit of anger and sorrow the immortal left his home and headed for the British colony of India, a place once rumored to be the end of the world. He'd given up on finding a place for himself in this world and thus opted to move to a new place, a fresh place. It was in he city of Delhi where Asar set up again. His money quickly taking on the role of paying merchants once again, for here many Indians were not given loans, while his life became focused on trying to find a place to call his own, and a place in history for his name.
(1750 C.E.) In India Asar continued his solitude for the most part, or that is until he'd met a young Indian woman through his business and began to employ her as a messenger to his merchants until eventually falling in love with her. The truth of his love was that it was primarily based on her resemblance to the goddess who had blessed him in his life, but when Asar confessed to her what he was and what he wanted to turn her into she declared that he was a rakshasa and attempted to flee. Unsure of what he should do, but certain that he couldn't let her tell others what he'd said to her Asar was forced to kill the woman, thus returning to his introverted lifestyle.
(Modern) It wasn't until long after India had gained it's independence from Britain that Asar finally gathered the courage to try interacting with his own kind, and headed to the not so 'New World' in hopes of learning more about the communities which vampires set themselves up in. It wasn't until he'd heard rumors that all five covens had set up in a city called Demaitre that his curiosity got the best of him and led him into the city...--Just in time to have his head bitten off by a very demonic little girl.--
(Argh! so much of that is forced near the end, but I didn't skip anything this time. I hope this is at least enough to skim by your standards, if not let me know and I'll edit it some more. ) 