gregorio | Entries tagged with info: general

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.

The D’Ambrosio twins rule jointly over their family’s territory and their seat on the council. They are two of only three surviving original vampires, and they claim Venice and the surrounding area as their hunting grounds.

Danilo D’Ambrosio is the hotter tempered of the two. He believes very strongly in vampire supremacy and their policy of keeping humans in the dark. He’s deeply involved in human politics and has been subtly influencing political races for centuries. What his money can’t buy, his magic can tip in his favor. Oddly enough, the volcanic temper drops away at home, and Danilo is a dedicated family man, helping his wife, Kelly, with Antonio and the twins.

Gregorio D’Ambrosio is the quieter of the two brothers. Cold and logical, he’s been accused of being as unfeeling as some of the machines he favors. Gregorio is a former priest who turned to the dark arts and now heads a team of vampires who use a blend of sorcery and technology to try to isolate and remove the weaknesses in the vampire condition. Most of the household, their staff, and the assorted hangers-on and lab assistants assume Gregorio is married to his work, but he and Dylan Woods have been sneaking out for long walks with Priest…

Kelly D’Ambrosio is Danilo’s wife. She’s been a vampire for five years now. In addition to her thriving sculpture business, she also has three children under the age of six. Given the difficulty that vampire women have with pregnancy, balancing her work, her health, and her family life is an immense source of pride for her.

Antonio, Cecilia, and Salvatore D’Ambrosio are Kelly and Danilo’s young children. Antonio is the oldest and so far wants nothing more than to learn to be a knight. His father indulges him with sword practice. Cecilia and Salvatore are twin babies at the moment. Salvatore spends a lot of his time in and out of his uncle’s lab, being treated for all manner of childhood illnesses.

Dylan Woods, a human musician. He doesn’t know about vampires and assumes Gregorio is an entirely ordinary overworked research doctor living with his politician brother and his family. Dylan is an American, a cousin of Kelly’s, and is using music studies in Venice as an excuse to keep an eye on Danilo for Kelly’s family. Dylan and Danilo do not get along, but Gregorio has so far managed to smooth over all of their fights.

Priest is the family’s greyhound. The dog is especially fond of Gregorio, and they’re a common sight along the canals at night.

Leonzio D’Ambrosio is one of Danilo’s grown children. He was born before they were cursed, and though he’s second generation, he’s far older than a lot of the vampires sitting on the council. Leonzio lives in Canada and rarely keeps in contact with the rest of his family. He and his father do not get along.

Frediano D’Ambrosio is another of Danilo’s grown children. He’s almost three hundred years old and is the former head of the Sanguinarium, the Council’s police. He still works with the group and is living in London at the moment.

While most of the made vampires are nomadic, not often staying in any one territory for more than a few years, born vampires have very strong territorial urges and blunted empathy, guilt, and other emotions, which make relations with other vampires difficult at best. In order to avoid conflict amongst themselves, the vampire families established a council to provide law and order for their kind, as well as settle disputes civilly, without need for bloodshed.

This council, for born vampires and consisting entirely of born vampires, was dubbed the Order of the Red Serpent by the early Church, and from early times has been the target of numerous unsuccessful hunts. The name was taken up by the vampires, and the name has enjoyed more success among the vampires than in the Church, where it has fallen into obscurity. Many of the older members of the council have ruby pins, rings, or other jewelry in the shape of serpents.

Membership in the council is established by a vampire's birth into one of the twenty-one original vampire families. For most families, the father would hand down his membership to his oldest son, in the event of his death. For some vampire familes, whose original vampire ancestor was female, that membership is instead handed down to the oldest daughter. Two families still possess their original vampire ancestors, and those ancestors still man the council. Sixteen of the other seats still remain active. The other seats belong to vampire families whose members have all been lost or are missing.

The Order of the Red Serpent passes laws to regulate vampire society as well as settles disputes between rival families and even disputes among made vampires. These laws are enforced by a police force consisting of lesser members of the major vampire families. Membership in the force is a status symbol as well as a matter of pride, and the council usually has plenty of vampires to enforce its wishes. This police force also deals with security threats from normal humans, such as someone trying to go public with proof of their existence, and even the ocassional hunter.

The Core Laws of the Order of the Red Serpent:

1. Respect the territory of thy equals and thy betters.
2. Thou shalt take care to keep thy blood away from mortals.
3. Thou shalt not create more than one vampire from a mortal every ten years.
4. Thou shalt never allow thy nature to become knowledge of a mortal.
5. Mortal hunters are to be killed, lest thou art to be counted among them.
6. Thou shalt never raise arms towards thy ally.
7. Thou shalt never leave evidence of thy feeding.

Other laws are added and dropped as needed, but the core laws have remained the same since the council first convened.

The Order of the Red Serpent has had its headquarters in Venice since 1347, and the council has maintained a strong presence in the city. The two oldest members of the council maintain their households in Venice. Other members of the council have their main residences scattered around Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa.

Vampires are descended from a loose society of witches, sorcerers, and conjurers in 11th century Europe. Information and rituals were shared amongst the group, and after one such ritual was circulated, members began to notice a strange affliction that slowly started to make their lives miserable. After several months, desperate for a cure, they met in Venice to attempt to cure the affliction. They all participated in a particularly difficult demonic summoning. While the demon could not undo the curse that had been placed upon them, it could ease the symptoms, allowing them to sate their hunger and thirst with the blood of humans, and giving them the strength and lasting health to enact the revenge that they wanted for their predicament, in exchange for their souls, and the souls of all of the children they might have. They agreed, and the first vampires were created.

A vampire's curse can be transmitted two ways, by birth and by blood. All of a vampire's children will be vampires themselves, regardless of the status of their second parent. It takes only one drop of of a vampire's blood entering the body in order for a normal human body to begin the transition to vampire (the exception being a human mother and vampire child).

Physically, there is little difference between the two types of vampires.

1. Physical Strength: Both are strong enough to bend a metal pipe or jump to the top of a two story building.
2. Speed: Vampires have reflexes twice as fast as humans, and are able to move at speeds up to seventy miles an hour.
3. Longevity: Most born vampires stop aging between the ages of 20-30, as the body completes the gradual change to vampire.
4. Healing: A vampire's body heals injury twice as fast as a human. Save fire, the sun, and decapitation, most injuries will not kill a vampire, though they can and do slow them down or even put them into a torpor-like state. When in a torpor, the vampire's metabolism slows down, preserving the blood in the body to be used for healing and sating hunger. Still, most of the time, a vampire will wake up from a torpor ravenous.
5. Most possess a natural aptitude for magic, though knowledge of magic is not innate and must be taught. Personal belief can affect this, with those who do not believe in magic showing little to no sensitivity.
6. Most vampires possess hunting and killing instincts to aid in getting the blood they need.
7. Senses: Eyesight, especially night sight, is considerably increased. Hearing is sensitive enough to hear their prey's heartbeat in a quiet room. Sense of smell is slightly more sensitive, to the degree of an exceptional human.

The weaknesses each type of vampire possesses vary based on how they were made. Vampires by birth show different weaknesses than those made by blood.

1. Vampires typically do not begin to change until they reach puberty. They do not reach their full strength and resilience until their mid-to-late 20s. Before the change, they are subject to all the same injuries, diseases, and aging as normal humanity.
2. Vampires by birth usually have red eyes, and even as children are often photosensitive.
3. As children, vampires tend to sunburn easily. Once they've gone through the change, vampires by birth are the group most affected by the sun. They cannot stand even indirect sunlight or they will burst into flame.
4. The perpetual hunger and thirst that afflicts most vampires does not usually affect a vampire's children until they begin puberty, but can under rare circumstances manifest in younger children. Younger children affected by this hunger are unable to eat or drink normally, and are required to drink blood, as their elders do. Vampires by birth are usually more affected by this hunger and thirst than those made by blood. While a vampire made by blood can be sated, a born vampire very often is not. Control is learned early in life, as vampire children are attracted to blood at an early age, before the hunger and thirst take hold.
5. Born vampires are born with the same instincts their elders use for hunting. They also usually are born less able to empathize with others and with a strong possessive instinct. All born vampires are extremely territorial, and it is not uncommon to find families returning year after year to the same ancestral home.

In contrast, vampires made with blood show other traits.

1. They are frozen at the age in which they were given blood, regardless of age. The change, for this group, takes typically two years, in which the fledgling vampire will be more ravenous than at any other point later in life.
2. Their eyes usually do not change color, and remain the same color they were in life. They are usually not as photosensitive as born vampires.
3. Once fully changed, they are not as sensitive to sunlight as born vampires. They can stand indirect sunlight for minutes at a time with blisters and peeling to show for it.
4. Though they feel the same hunger and thirst as born vampires, it is not quite as overwhelming, and can be sated by feeding regularly. Control is not quite as important to learn, for this group, and many do not show the same restraint as born vampires when in the presence of blood.
5. Though they acquire the same hunting and killing instincts as born vampires, they are still subject to the same emotions they had as humans. While born vampires rarely feel love, empathy, or guilt, made vampires often do.
6. Most made vampires do not feel the same territorial instincts as born vampires, and they often wander.

Both groups are subject to some of the same weaknesses.

1. Food: Holds no nutritional value for vampires who have completed the change. It tastes disgusting to them, and most find even the smell nausiating.
2. Water: Pure water is a poison when ingested, accidentally or otherwise. Depending on degree of ingestion, symptoms range from vomiting, dizziness, weakness, to torpor or death.
3. Hunger: Vampires are perpetually hungry and thirsty and must drink human blood to satisfy those cravings. Born vampires typically require more blood than made vampires.
4. Sunlight: No vampire can stand in direct sunlight and live. Direct sunlight ignites vampiric flesh upon contact. Indirect sunlight causes severe burns on made vampires, and it can ignite born vampires.
5. Fire: Both types of vampire are equally combustible, and avoid fire. Their flesh burns readily and is difficult to put out, once it's alight.
6. Wooden stakes: A wooden stake through the heart will disrupt the demonic pact, taking the vampire's strength and health. It will make it impossible for a vampire to feed while leaving the hunger and thirst. While it will not kill a vampire, the vampire will very quickly waste away into a living mummy, remaining unable to move and feed until the stake is removed.
7. Decapitation: A vampire will die when its head is removed.
8. Crosses: A blessed cross will burn a vampire's skin. Most crosses and crucifixes will make as vampire feel weak and sickened.
9. Mirrors: A vampire's reflection doesn't show in a mirror.
10. Conception: Vampires have a hard time conceiving, as the body usually rejects the fertilized egg, and it typically takes many years before a child comes to term successfully.

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Gregorio D'Ambrosio

August 2019

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Gregorio D'Ambrosio

Entries tagged with info: general

Character History

The D'Ambrosio Family

Order of the Red Serpent

Vampires: Their strengths and weaknesses