Nika
Name: Pherenike (Her true name), Veronika ("Vera", "Nika") Tauridin
Race: Vampire
Age: Approximately 2300-2400 years old, counting periods in hibernation. Prone to be mistaken for a young adult as par for the course.
Height: 164 cm
Weight: 56 kg
Description: She's a woman of average height by modern standards, something that amuses her more than upsets her, blonde haired and grey eyed, fair skinned with a subtle, ashen pallour, but still fitting in well with the mortal masses.
Nika prefers to dress casually, further cementing the impression she's far younger than her real age, falling downright in love with athleisure fashion trends. Bike shorts, leggings, hoodies, sometimes ripped jeans for a variety. She wears her hair down (which reaches slightly down below her shoulders) without much care for styling it, since she has concluded it's a waste of her time in the modern world and her hair's gonna look fine every time she wakes up from sleep.
Attributes
Strength: Incredible to Fantastic
Agility: Incredible to Fantastic
Durability: Incredible to Heroic
Willpower: Zen
Magic: None.
Magic Resistance: Medium.
Other Abilities: Nika's undead body has been honed to the human peak and beyond, stronger, faster and more durable than even mightiest mortal in her world, but she can push herself even beyond with the stolen blood of mortals. She has to be economic about those feats and can be worn down over a fight.
Enhanced Strength: For short bursts of time, she can achieve even more monumental feats of strength, even casually throwing cars (can push her Strength to Fantastic range).
Enhanced Speed: Able to move faster than the eye can perceive for short moments, Nika is fond of pushing her speed further to launch surprise attacks or interrupt a slower opponent (can push her Agility to Fantastic range).
Enhanced Durability: A veritable juggernaut if she is concerned about her hide, she can use the lifeforce flowing in her veins to weather damage from high calliber rifles (Fantastic) or even survive an explosion (Heroic). Pushing her Durability to Heroic range drains her to a point of starvation, weaking her but allowing her to survive something that could easily kill her.
Unstoppable Motion: Mirroring the legend of Theumessian Fox somewhat, her momentum can't be stopped or redirected against her will. She can only be stopped in tracks by physical obstacles that she cannot break through, and caught by someone with a superior physical force. She will always unconsciously boost her strength with blood to overcome such complications, one of possible ways to wear down her slowly over fight. Her vampiric weaknesses still apply, and can be used to limit and stop her movement. She still cannot enter a building that requires an invitation, and magical wards and barriers incorporating sunlight and fire as symbols or components cannot broken through (that applies even with the protective ring on).
Magical barriers meant to stop physical elements from entering or crossing are treated as physical obstacles in general, and if they don't incorporate those elements mentioned above they can be broken through by her physical force if she's on a move (Medium Magic strength barriers normally, High Magic barriers force her to boost herself).
Avoid The Ground: Going to the ground had been seen as disadvantage in Greek world , and interpreted commonly as an omen of defeat. An adaptable warrior can fight and salvage victory from that position, but never chooses that position by choice. She can only be forced to go to the ground by a physical strength superior to her own, and like in the example above, she will always unconsciously boost her strength with blood if her regular own strength is lacking, a flaw that can bring about her defeat in long run.
Keen Senses: Her senses have been sharpened to unnatural degree, both by her mere nature and her experiences. She can see well in the dark, hear human heartbeats, scent blood like a hound and sense other predatory supernaturals if they interact with her.
Power of Ego: Though she prides herself on her physical prowess before anything else, every vampire is to an extent a creature of impressive will. Never honing that aptitude beyond basics, she can still semiconsciously attract attention of weaker willed masses, cow them by lashing out with her aura of a predator or even mingle with the crowd by suppressing the kind of vibes many vampires usually uncosciously exude.
Blush of Life: Blood is life, and hence she can mimick human bodily functions perfectly if she expends a bit of her lifeforce. She can eat food and pass medical checks for hours if she feels a need to pass as one of mortals.
The Lost Visage: While she doesn't lack a reflection like some vampires do, her face is never caught by mirrors and cameras. She either always stands in such way her face is not caught in a mirror or she doesn't look properly at a camera, a flash smears the image or it is over- or underexposed. It always seems to happen by pure coincidence and few people attribute that to supernatural causes unless they're particularly driven and obsessive to find a pattern by pouring over photos and records. If she wills it though, she can suppress that phenomenon.
Eternal Return: As an immortal, her body always returns to its original state from the mortal life. Cut hair grows out, wounds heal. She can regenerate injuries by tapping into her stolen lifeforce, while cosmetic changes and superficial bruises and cuts recover on their own. She regenerates damage like lost limbs even in seconds, but such grave injuries require serious expenditure of her reserves.
She can suppress this phenomenon with a force of will to change heir hairstyle or keep tattooes and piercings. In the case of gravest injuries, especially left by fire and sunlight, she is left with natural scars after she recovers from them. Life of danger leaves its mark even on immortals.
Starvation: When she's starving for blood, her body is weakened enough that she's less of a danger then when even moderately hungry. She can make still a quick work of a hapless mortal to get what she needs, and she might be even pushed into such an immediate fix in desperation. Her physical stats are downgraded to Amazing, and she cannot actively boost herself as described above due to shortages in blood.
Frenzy: Hunger, danger or a threat can occassionally push Nika into a frenzy, her instincts goading her into ending her problem by any means necessary. She usually can restrain herself very well, and it takes a lot to provoke her, but once she gets into that mindset, she cannot be mentally controlled to stop it, merely diverted onto another target. This does not violate the ability of Unstoppable Motion as her haywire instincts don't care about specific target in state of frenzy. Sometimes it's also possible for her to take the frenzy by reins and control it to extent, choosing the target and the goal.
Spreading the Curse: At a cost of a bit of her humanity, she can turn another human into a vampire such as her. This is an act she is not frankly interested in unless someone piques her interest and they know exactly what they're getting into. She has no taste for dramatic stuff like turning a nemesis into a creature of a night and other rubbish like that straight from a horror novel. Nika can also empower a human into someone stronger as long as she supplies them with a bit of her blood. Again, the fact that people subject to such treatment grow obsessive over her means she's definitely not a fan of turning someone into an obsessed follower. The weak should put effort into improving themselves rather than be beholden and addicted to her.
Drinking once from the same vampire is considered still safe. Drinking twice develops a Lesser Tie to the vampire. A third drink enthralls her to the point that she develops a Greater Tie to the vampire. The bond lasts for a year.
Characters who drink her blood risk developing a Tie to her in similar manner, unless they're immune to such bonds according to their sheet. Humans who drink her blood without being turned into a vampire can become living supernaturals called ghouls who depend on monthly supply of the blood to remain empowered, but Nika's will is required for that to work. Accidental drinking of her blood doesn't bring any benefits. Ghouls benefit from a boost in durability and speed, a lesser version of Enhanced Strength and Enhanced Speed, limited by the need to use donated vampire blood. Their rank in Strength and Agility increases by one as long as they're ghouls, and can actively boost them by further rank for short bursts.
Vampires who are created by her may develop her bloodline abilities, culminating with Unstoppable Motion and Avoid The Ground. Vampires who don't share her blood may potentially join her bloodline if they're sufficiently strong in blood and compatible, up for approval by the Gms, through being fed her blood once. Both adopt her Weakness of Never Reject A Direct Challenge if they develop said bloodline.
Soul Eater: Ultimate taboo of the vampires, her and her undead descendants are capable of cannibalizing vampiric souls for knowledge and power. She views such acts with extreme disgust, but has potential to devour even human souls as an elder vampire. She is not going to do that without a radical change in her views on that.
Pankration: Her true martial skill lies in the mastery of pankration she honed over her unlife. Combination of boxing and wrestling, focused on ending the conflict as efficient as possible rather than showmanship, slightly adapted to her vampiric nature in how she applies the moves.
Assets: She has established her mortal identity as a mundane citizen renting a cheap studio apartment, no questions asked, spending the money she stashed in her lair to pay the rent month in advance and go on shopping spree, delighted by all the progress that happened throughout last five decades since she decided to bunker down in Tampa, Florida. Except it's not Florida, but ah, who cares about this at this point. Currently on sabbatical from her quest for martial perfection to soak in all the new things about the society first, and enjoying first rays of sunlight since Gods know when after she nicked a protective ring from a vampire who mistook the youthful image she has tried to build for being a rookie vampire, and letting him get away with his hide intact after he blurted out what the ring was. Fair trade.
She has gathered many souvenirs throughout her unlife, and many have mostly sentimental value. The chiton she wore during her mortal life for Herean games (or rather one of successive recreations with part of the original fabric), a saber proudly displayed on her wall, reminding her of her life as a Cossack, a wristwatch she took from a dead German officer as a trophy, her WAC uniform reminding her of that complicated period in her unlife when she was cajoled into working for the government.
For a martial arts enthusiast, she's startingly pragmatic about dealing with small fries who are intent on robbing her or taking her life, but have to prove they are worth unleashing her moves in a death-or-life situation. .45 ACP Colt M1911 she open carries is a effective measuring stick. An enemy is either quick on uptake and agile enough to deal with its subsonic bullets or can shrug off its stopping power, passing the test and proving themselves more worthy of effort.
Weakness:
Bloodrinker: Blood is both her strength and one of her weaknesses, even if she doesn't think of this that way. She has sustain herself on human blood. Drinking too many times from the same person makes her fixated on a mortal to unhealthy degree. The alternative, drinking a fellow vampire's blood, can be even more addicting, something she'd rather avoid.
After drinking blood from the same mortal many times, she risks developing a Lesser Tie to said mortal. It can develop after a second feeding or later when it's narratively appropriate.
Drinking once from the same vampire is considered still safe. Drinking twice develops a Lesser Tie to the vampire. A third drink enthralls her to the point that she develops a Greater Tie to the vampire. The bond lasts for a year.
Starvation: When she's starving for blood, her body is weakened enough that she's less of a danger then when even moderately hungry. She can make still a quick work of a hapless mortal to get what she needs, and she might be even pushed into such an immediate fix in desperation. Her physical stats are downgraded to Amazing, and she cannot actively boost herself as described above due to shortages in blood.
Fire and Sunlight: Fire and sun are anathema to the vampire, and while she can mitigate damage from fire to some extent if she actively uses up the lifeforce within her veins, she has no innate defenses against the burning rays of the sun. Fire inflicts grave burns on her as if she was a sturdier human (Exceptional rank Durability) unless she actively strengthens her body with blood (Incredible rank Durability as the enhancement doesn't work as well as against other types of damage). She cannot protect herself against sunlight in this manner, and her Durability against rays of sun without the protective ring is equivalent to someone with Human rank Durability getting set on fire.
Invitation: Nika cannot enter a private dwelling uninvited, and needs to be welcomed first, explicitly or implicitly.
Staking: A stake to the heart paralyzes her just as well as any other vampire of her kind. It's easier said than be done, but it's one of surefire ways to stop her in tracks.
Never Reject A Direct Challenge: She cannot reject a direct, explicit challenge, whether it's something she's good at like martial arts or something entirely else, as long as she has ability to compete against her challenger (for example, she cannot compete when it comes to magic since she has no knowledge of magic).
Intimacies:
Lesser Cause: Martial Arts
Obsession with the martial prowess hasn't consumed her entirely, but she still values it greatly as part of her identity to the point her devotion to pankration imprinted on her blood. Testing herself against fellow athletes and martial artists or even just discussing the finer points of her passion really makes her fired up.
Lesser Principle: "Don't judge one's worth by the circumstances of their birth."
Raised as a mortal in relatively egalitarian society of Scythian people and gravitating towards Cossack society in later stages of her life, she holds various kinds of authoritarians and chauvinists in disdain. On battlefield and in social life, one's worth is measured by their character and competence rather than their origins.
Lesser Principle: "The weak challenge the strong, not the other way around."
Tormenting someone who is not a threat to you is just in poor taste for an immortal champion, but if they challenge you, fighting back respects their courage, even for her it just means testing challengers first before fighting back more seriously. She doesn't view herself as a hero, but she can step in defense of someone weaker, as she believes it's not just something that applies only to her.
Lesser Principle: "It's admirable when someone reaches their prowess on their own, but never dismiss outright a potential apprentice."
When someone asks her for mentorship, she's not inclined to refuse people on principle. She weighs though such requests by many factors. What do they actually want to learn? What kind of mentorship they can endure? Do they know what they are getting into the more serious their wishes are? Do their beliefs clash with her values? From someone who just wants to learn how to exercise more efficiently to someone who actually covets the prowess she currently possesses, her standards and expectations vary wildly regarding potential apprentices.
Lesser Principle: "Don't toy with those who want to kill you. Even if they can't kill you, sparing them would be scornful."
Nika has no dilemma over mowing down obviously weaker challengers if they explicitly want to kill her. If someone declares war on her, it's a war, no matter how one sided it is. This is partly because her ingrained habits as an occassional soldier of fortune, and partly because she's uncomfortable with looking down on her opponents in general. However, in sports and honorable duels, you defeat the weak opponent and help them stand up. There's no room for savagery outside battlefield.
Lesser Tie: Souvenirs (Nostalgia)
As much as she looks toward the future rather than the past, keepsakes from her past 'lifetimes' still hold a sentimental value for her. She will never willingly part with them or sell them, any burglary puts people responsible on her immediate shitlist, effective from the moment she realizes who is responsible for such travesty.
Origin: Pherenike originally was an upper class youth raised in the culture of Graeco-Scythian culture, descending from both peoples, and taking keen interest in athletics, especially martial arts like wrestling that some of young women did practice despite societal pressure. Still unmarried at age of 19, she was allowed to participate in Heraean Games in Elis, one of few outlets in the Greek world for the women interested in sports, even if the competition was limited to running. Her laurel of olive wreathes decayed by now, but the memory of the competition is still engraved into her mind. She doesn't talk about the identity of the one who turned her into a vampire soon afterwards, but she likes to say she wasn't satisfied with her situation at that time and wanted to see for herself how better she could become by leaving her life behind.
Getting away from the suffocating social boundaries of her mortal life, she first chose to hide herself among the masses of her more egalitarian Scythian kinsmen, taking the barbarian lifestyle in stride. No shortage of blood and bloodshed, relative respect for warrior women like her, and faking her own death in a burial ground she arranged for herself in Crimea before too many questions asked, slipping away once in a few generations to either join groups that could stand a sight of a warrior woman in their ranks or infiltrate the society as more sedentary high-born woman if the societal life at the time intrigued her enough to tolerate a few decades without particising her art overtly.
This cycle got finally disturbed in 1942 when a group of Nazi archeologists disturbed her burial site, some getting away with her gold and items of sentimental value and some getting eaten by her first. Tracking down the perpetrators across whole Europe and mingling with successive partisan groups, she finally made her way to Bavaria to deliver final acts of justice and reclaim her treasures. The world got too interesting and egalitarian for her to just stop, and she decided to finally change her routine. Her vigilante spree attracted a bit too much attention from the U.S. Government, whose agents were actually bold enough to give her an offer she couldn't refuse: work for us for or you will be treated like an enemy from now on. Of course, she could refuse, deal with the consequences, and she was probably skillful enough to slip away from Bavaria relatively unharmed. But there were still remnants of people who crossed her around, and the commanding officer was enough brazen to treat her like a soldier under his temporary command rather than someone larger than life. She liked the attitude, and was willing to go along with those Yanks.
And so she officially got enlisted as a member of Women Army Corps, got new identity out of the deal, endured doing non-combat roles as part of her cover and got unofficially brought around to fight remnants of Deutsche Ahneberbe who had a bit too much occult knowledge and not enough sanity to be left alive. After the project finished, she retired and moved to the United States, occassionally reactivated as agent for missions in Third World when CIA needed some firepower to fight guerillas and warlords with their own occult back up. When the situation calmed down in late 1970s and it looked like detente was shaping to become a norm during Ford and Carter's administrations, she decided to pass time in hibernation for more interesting times but made it challenging to find her lair through vague instructions. Of course, some spooks could plan to off her, but those who wanted to enlist her again had to use their minds to find her again.
She got a bit more in bargain than she expected, still figuring out out how the hell heir resting place switch places from Tampa, Florida to this confusing sprawl of a place.
