Sael [Inactive]

Name: Sael (Say-ell)
She goes by numerous aliases, usually something plain and forgettable; her favorite name is “Mary Jones.”
Age: Getting into her sixties now, but she looks half that age.
Race: Markian Vampire
Occupation: Mercenary, killer-for-hire, bounty hunter when she feels like it

Appearance:
She has caramel brown skin and the tall, muscled body of a swimmer. Sael tends to prefer men’s clothing, just because she looks bad in a dress. She has a chiseled jaw, defined cheeks and thin, spread lips that give her something of a masculine, gaunt face if she pulls the right expressions. Her eyes are prominent for their large size and hard, coal black stare. Her cocoa brown hair is usually chopped short, uneven and messy, and to keep it out of her face she wears bandanas and head bands.

When she isn’t in a disguise, her attire consists of frilly blouses combined with coat vests, tight pants, boots and a magnificent cuffed, navy blue long coat. Her clothing has been hand-tailored for her fit, but sometimes you wouldn’t know because she wears it sloppily and half-buttoned. She typically has a cigarette between her teeth, and her posture is slack and nonchalant.

Personality:
Born into a middle class family, and raised by strict parents, Sael perfected her poker face by the time she was twelve. She’s always had deep-rooted problems with authority and enjoys getting away with things under the table. She knows it’s wrong to deviate and embraces her rebellious, unlawful side. Arrogant, smart-mouthed comebacks are her forte. She’s blatantly regardless of others, focused mainly on her survival and satisfaction alone. Selfish, addicted to the excitement and harshness of sustaining herself, she enjoys messing with people, the more damage done, the better. She’s a trickster at heart; pranks, disguises and daring escapes make up her life.

Past experience has taught Sael to cope and adapt to abrupt change, and be cool-headed in any situation. She’s been able to tough out the most horrific of times. She’s stubborn and impetuous around others, determined to get her way. Her tendency to provoke unnecessary violence and get into fights shows her masochistic side, but she’s also nurtured her artistic side, over time becoming an admirable sketch artist and she loves playing piano. She even fantasizes about a stage career, but she leads a far too irresponsible and dark lifestyle to take this dream seriously. She does take pleasure where she can get it, but takes immense effort to restrain herself. It’s hard to live in a crowded city and try to control the ever present blood lust.

Likes – the city, simple pleasures, frequent sex and baths, playing piano, sketching, running, dancing, the theatre, and impersonating others.

Dislikes – being bossed around, her ex-husband, working hard, expectations, kids, dogs, anti-vampire products, and the wild country.

Other – she’s a voracious smoker.

History:
Sael was born (under a different, no longer used name) and raised in the upper part of Avyon Ryn, the capital island of Coxland. Her parents were in that unique situation where while they achieved high status for a successful business, they were at a disadvantage because of their ethnicity and heritage. Sael’s grandfather worked his way up into high class society, and the family fought to keep up their reputation ever since, placing stress on tactical, financially beneficial marriages, and pushing male heirs into the family business.

As a woman, Sael spent the first two decades of her life being smothered by the surrounding social unrest, family pressure and expectations. She never had to work hard and didn’t get out much, so she drew entertainment from displeasing superiors, violating expectations, and subtly rebelling against her environment. She became an expert on passive resistance; she developed a reserved but cold, unpleasantly sharp-witted disposition, that unsettled more than it offended. She delighted in faking sickness and fatigue just to worry her parents and get moments of solitude, when she would nurse her artistic side by playing piano. When she was fifteen, she developed a crush on her music tutor, but her attitude and aggressive, emotional advances frightened him into resigning the position.

Sael’s parents purposefully arranged their routines so that they could spend most of their time broadening social circles, constantly making more contacts and investments. Because of this, Sael was often left in the care of the family servants and tutors, who became terrified of her over time. They knew she hardly ever got sick, but she coerced them into supporting her lies, threatening to beat them if they didn’t. Sael never did get much more physical than slapping or kicking, but she grew to like using violence as her playing card. It gave her a beautiful sense of release in such an oppressive environment.

She became more emotionally stunted and apathetic to her life as the years passed, so that when her parents sprung an arranged marriage on her, she was able to take it in stride. When she realized the abusive, chauvinistic nature of her husband, she started unconsciously separating herself from the present, looking ahead at the rapidly darkening future. Her husband, a Markian vampire, suppressed her in a dark, painful and inescapable lifestyle. He was inhuman, and did inhuman things to her. She’d been treated as second-rate, but now she lived like a piece of property and it was taking its toll. She started having thoughts of suicide.

When he turned her, the world turned inside out. It happened so quickly, over a mere week, and after she suffered her first shedding, he abandoned her. She awoke, naked and left for dead on a wharf peer, and staggered home to an empty house. She hid there for a few days, escaping when police and neighbors started knocking inquisitively on the door. The next several months were hell, as she had to adjust to her new life and survive. She scavenged and stole, wallowing in the slums. Eventually she started to pick up on tricks, embrace this strange, dangerous freedom and within two years, she was on her feet, and had become a new person; cut off entirely from family and her old life.

Sael now walks a line between races; not quite human, not quite a bloodthirsty hunter. She keeps to herself, but enjoys having a human close by to feed on and indulge herself with. Her life is full of debts and rewards, disguises, abductions and deceit. She threw her Christian morals to the winds long ago. If it gets too messy, she just moves to another slum. Recently she’s been lurking in the outskirts of Arrun, calling in favors. She’s been keeping an eye out for her ex-husband – so she can kill him when next they meet.

Abilities:

See the article on Markian vampires for detailed information on the breed’s strengths and weaknesses. Sael’s trained her reflexes and hand-to-hand fighting over the years so that she can be deadly in close combat. Her best advantage by far is her healing ability.