Character History

[gregorio]

Date of Birth: May 22, 989

Place of Birth: Venice

Current Home: New York City

Occupation: Research Doctor, Member of the vampire council

Name Meaning: Gregorio - Originally the Greek name Γρηγοριος (Gregorios), derived from γρηγορος (gregoros) meaning "watchful, alert". D’Ambrosio - Late Latin name Ambrosius, which was derived from the Greek name Αμβροσιος (Ambrosios) meaning "immortal".
Alias(es): Gregor Ambros

     

Eye Color: Blue mostly, with a hint of red in their cores

Hair Color: Brown

Height: 5’11”

Weight: 155 lbs

 

Physical Description: An average height (though tall for his time) and lithe, with a distinctive face and pronounced cheekbones. His hair is as long now as it has been for centuries. While his hair is dark, his eyes are a striking lighter blue, with a hint of red at their cores. He usually has a mustache and a thin goatee. Gregorio is lithe but fit, built more like a dancer than anything, and he moves with a grace to match.

 

Personality: While many pureblood vampires are highly territorial and carve out small kingdoms for themselves that they guard jealously, Gregorio’s brother Danilo a prime example in his rule of Venice, Gregorio himself is much more of a nomad and only truly gets territorial of his workspace, his research, and the knowledge he’s collected over the years. Quiet and bookish, Gregorio possesses a great deal more patience than his brother, Danilo, and rarely loses his temper. Of the two of them, though, Gregorio is more likely to carry a long-term grudge and more likely to end a rivalry quietly and deadly. Gregorio enjoys modern technology and has always kept up with the modern science and technology of the time, often incorporating it into his work. Accused by some of being as cold and logical as the machines he favors, he’s usually assumed by his subordinates to be married to his work.

 

Habits/Mannerisms:

 

Hobbies: Theater, Music

 

Languages: Fluent in English, Italian, German, and Latin, conversational in French, Russian, and Korean, and speaks a bit of Hindi.

 

Magic: In addition to the ritual magic which all vampires excel at, Gregorio has practiced a few forms of magic which he has turned into specialties. 

• He practices a form of blood and alchemy-based magic that he marries with scientific advancement and demonic magic in order to research and try to cure vampires’ weaknesses. 
• In addition, he and his brother, Danilo, practice a form of shapeshifting. Both can transform into large bat-like creatures, with enhanced senses, six limbs (both wings and arms), long talons on both hands and feet, bat-like features, and long fangs. 
• Like his brother, Danilo, he can read minds, though Gregorio is better at it and can sift through more than just surface thoughts. 
• Like his brother, he can control minds to a degree and erase memories, even from some vampires.
• Unlike most pureblood vampires, Gregorio and Danilo can manage the indirect sunlight of windowed buildings, heavily shadowed overhangs, or well-tinted cars as long as they feed more. While Danilo uses it to play a part in the politics of his native Venice, Gregorio uses it to aid in his work at the Alberici Group.
• Danilo and Gregorio are the ones who brought the curse down upon the vampires originally and they’re the ones who accepted the demonic pact that turned them into vampires later. As such, they find it harder to be around holy items and holy ground. This includes items that other vampires have some tolerance to, such as holy water. Holy water, crosses, and other holy items can burn their skin. Holy ground makes them uncomfortable and weak. They have not shared knowledge of this weakness with other vampires, including other members of the council.

     

 

Background: I used to be a priest.

I grew disenchanted, I suppose. It wasn't a good time for the Church, just before the Great Schism between east and west. Even my native Venice didn't escape the conflicts of interest and petty bickering between Church and state. Things were not well in Venice, either. The usual political intrigue.

My brother, Danilo, was already learning black magic when I left the Church. Venice was a bustling trade center, a port city with the keys to the east. We learned so much without ever leaving Venice. Of course, we did travel, all of the original twenty-two of us did, to Constantinople in 1026. There, we were to perform a ritual to bring a demon under our power. We were prepared to learn more than any of us could imagine. What we received instead was the Bane.

We knew immediately that something was wrong, before we'd even left Constantinople. We were hungry but couldn't eat. Thirsty but water sickened us. God's light burned us. The light of day sent us up like kindling. The trappings of the Church burned our skin. Danilo and I made our way back to Venice in the cargo hold of a trader's ship, where we became aware of the degree of our curse. We grew weaker and weaker as we went without food, but we didn't die. Nothing helped. It got so bad that our servants had to attend to our every need. And Danilo's grown children were also affected.

Danilo and I never told anyone that it was us who summoned the demon. Us, with the help of our household servants whose throats were slit to satisfy the demon's hunger. We chose damnation over eternal suffering. Our souls, and the souls of our children, for the means to satisfy the hunger and grow strong again. The demon gave all of us some of his own strength. Our fangs, our blood hunger, a means to grow strong again. We were stronger than before. Faster. Predators of the highest order with all of our magical ability at our disposal. God's curse still burned in our veins, but we had the means to fight it and no longer possessed the will to submit and plea for forgiveness.

My brother has ruled Venice in one form or another from the shadows for close to a thousand years. As two of the three remaining original vampires (for we CAN die, which we found out the hard way during the Dark Ages), our voices hold weight on the Council. Me, my passion has always been science. Science and magic, which over the years have melded together more and more. Knowledge is the true power, in science and among sorcerers, and I have pursued it across almost every continent on the planet. The others talk about their little kingdoms as if they are the center of the world, but I know how vast the world truly is.

I now head the medical arm of the Council. Research has been ongoing for centuries to find a way to stamp out our weaknesses. What started out as a furtive library and alchemist's workbench in a miserable little storehouse in Venice has become a multi-billion dollar facility focused entirely on our kind. That, to the human world, makes advances once in a while to medical research, but otherwise is unremarkable enough to go unnoticed. We have married our knowledge of black magic with the latest technology in order to research our own genes, map our own DNA, manipulate it and design it in hopes of engineering our own future. If we could but gain the sun, we would be gods.

So far my research has yielded frustrating results. Close, but not close enough. I continue to try. I have eternity, after all.

 

Notes: In the human world, Gregorio D'Ambrosio is a fairly obscure research doctor for Alberici Group, a pharmaceutical company based in Venice. The only thing of any real note about him is that his brother is a successful Italian politician and his family has long held influence and money in Venice.
 

Secretly, the Alberici Group is owned by Danilo and Gregorio D'Ambrosio and it is heavily involved in supernatural medical research, especially anything to do with the vampiric condition. The Alberici family have managed the company for two centuries while Gregorio conducts his research in a far more hands-on manner.