Elan Varlov

Elan Varlov (a.k.a. The Blood King)

Physical Description

Identifying Characteristics

Ashen skin, blood red eyes, and a sense of majesty that radiates off of him like an aura of invincibility.

Physical quirks

Like most vampires Elan does not move as naturally as a living person would and when not aware and acting against it will often be deathly still.

Special abilities

Elan is a master alchemist and one of the top three necromancers in the world. After centuries of court life he developed his skills in intrigue and manipulation to the degree that his image influenced many vampires to follow in his example.

Apparel & Accessories

While alive Elan wore alchemist frock and various tools to support his research. After becoming a vampire Lord Varlov began wearing silk and other such materials claiming the coarse fabrics such as cotton felt abrasive on his skin. As the Blood King he wore enchanted fabrics that were woven with protective magics as well as lifestyle enhancements making the fabrics smooth to touch but tougher than chain-mail.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Elan Varlov who was originally an alchemist and healer who like most of his family sought to craft the philosophers stone. But as he got older he feared his skills would be lost desperate for an answer he joined under Morgana a wizard who had some success gathering the souls of the dead to commune. Together they worked to modify his alchemy and gather information from previous sages and spellcasters to better learn where they failed. Together with the one other they managed to create the the first undead. Though mindless the trio finally had proof that death was not the end and managed to gather several more patrons and subjects to test their experiments on their third was remade his soul bound to a phylactery the first Lich came into being and took the title Lord of Bone. After investigating into the Lich's mental and physical state Elan sought an answer closer to the living state, for while the Lord of Bone was powerful and undying it held no emotion just cold reason. Ghouls, Gasts, and other dead were raised but few held the same reason and power the Lich did. But as Elan lay dying of the Weight of Ages Morgana gave Elan their last experiment, a drought that would turn Elan's own blood into necromantic power. Elan's veins burned with dark energies as the svartálfar was burned away only to arise as a Vampire lord.
Given a new lease on existence the vampirism took Elan's frail body and rejuvenated it to his prime. While there was a cost to this power Elan could not tell a difference between his feelings and emotions before "return" or after. In time Morgana continued to create new and more undead until she herself arose as a spirit. Her efforts having shown to the svartálfar clan that the curse would not end them as easily Elan and the Lord of Bone worked to raise Morgana as the svartálfar's new leader. Some did not like the undead and fled Forbuho but most stayed and gave Morgana the rank of Queen and the name LeFay.
Elan shared the “gift” of vampirism with friends and family others who were able create lesser vampires and began their own bloodlines, though Elan kept the elixir and it's recipe to himself and Morgana. And for a time the svartálfar saw a golden age as half their deaths returned as sentient undead. Work was still done to attempt to improve but the best and brightest often succeeded while those of lower status often failed to return or came back as mindless zombies and skeletons.
But the Golden age did not last long, with the immortal Queen becoming more and more unstable with each passing year discontent began to spread through the empire. A few people delicately broached the subject to Elan as the Lord of Bone had sequestered itself away from commoner and noble alike. Each time Elan would offer sympathy but said he kept his loyalty to the Queen as she had made him who he was. But his loyalty was only to himself, and while dissent was quiet it was growing, Elan chose to wait and see if turning on either side would be to his benefit.
This all changed when his great grand daughter and last of his line Ana Varlov chose to end the living Varlov bloodline with herself. She was somewhat vocal in her dislike of the Queen and was the reason many revolutionaries quietly broached making Elan the next King. After his great grand daughter chose to end the bloodline Elan was somewhat angered but had long since let the family line fall from prominence while he managed the vampiric bloodlines. Instead Elan decided to embrace Ana into his vampiric bloodline and threw her a party. During the event the Queen had come aware of Ana's dissent and rather than kill her or give the girl a lesser punishment Mogana LeFay chose to designate Ana Varlov as her next host. All other times the Queen chose a subject of low birth to hose the Ghost Queen's body but this was the first time a noble, and one of another court had been taken. Elan now understood the Queen in her madness could very well order him deposed and or put to death on a whim, it was then Elan knew he had to remove the Queen.
With the Queen decreeing that on the full moon she would kill her current host and take on Ana Varlov's body Elan had less than a month to prepare. On the premise of grooming and preparing his great grand daughter for her duties Elan secreted the girl away promising to protect her. In truth he worked a spell beneath the girls very skin in order to give Elan time to plan his coup. After flaying and repairing the girl he bewitched the girl to insure nothing would be remembered and sent her to her doom. All the while Elan contacted and organized the various discontented, many of whom were living people who held little rank among the courts of the dead. As they planned the Queen soon grew bored of Ana Varlov's body and chose another girl to whom she would possess, this was the signal to begin the revolution. As the ceremony to kill off the current Queen and have her ghost possess the next in line began members of the court of blood and the lower ranked living svartálfar struck at key places within the Court of Breath giving many of the spirits their final death and using necromancy to enslave those that could not be killed. When the Queen did not appear many believed Elan had managed to contain her in some way, only a few were aware that he had sealed the Queen and secreted her body away. But with the coup successful Elan was crowned the Blood King and ushered in a new age for the svartálfar. This age lasted almost a hundred years before the living svartálfar grew unsatisfied by the regime change, discontent began again as the needful dead grew in number and the living were forced to give blood and more to feed their dark masters. While many svartálfar began to fight the Blood King sought peace as he understood without the living the svartálfar would eventually cease to exist. He began the Great Undertaking which would release the svartálfar from their curse but in truth the Blood King's motivation was far more sinister.
Gathering the greatest minds and spellcasters the svartálfar attempted to figure out a way to end the Weight of Ages and return the svartálfar to their natural lifespan. Instead the Blood King managed all the information and used his own prowess to direct the ritual to empower Elan Varlov and transform the vampire into a greater being that could control all the svartálfar if not every one within the world. But the living svartálfar could only wait for so long and after several generations the numbers of Vampire, Gast, and Wights grew too much for the svartálfar community to handle. Blood Court undead demanded the people be subservient like cattle while living svartálfar sought rights and recognition, new fighting began and attempts on Elan had begun, while unsuccessful they proved his control was slipping. Rather than resolve the issue Elan knew he needed time and took the Great Undertaking and began to direct what he could so he could appease his people and take enough power to insure none could overthrow him. The Blood King announced the ritual would begin and gathered enough spellcasters to remove the svartálfar capitol Obsidian from the clustered planes. In actuality the power would be directed to the Blood King who would in turn bleed off the excess in hopes of completing both tasks of saving himself and the city. But Elan's pride had gotten the better of him as his meddling with the ritual had unforeseen effects he was not prepared for. At the height of the ritual's power the magic ran amuck and seemingly destroyed everyone involved both within the city and without.
The Blood King Elan Varlov was dead but even today his legacy live on. Now the myth of the Blood King has grown and distorted with Elan becoming a folk hero to the living and undead alike. None are aware of his true intentions and few even know the truth about Elan's character. But regardless his impact can be felt across the world as the surviving svartálfar from the Great Undertaking and vanishing of Obsidian fled Forbuho to introduce the greater world to the threat of necromancy and the undead.

Education

Elan Varlov trained under his parents as an alchemist for most of his childhood and adolescence. Having tutors for various other subjects Elan was a prodigy for his time but limited by the weight of ages that prematurely ended most svartálfar.
Later in life after admitting to his failure to craft the philospher's stone he turned to Morgrana to find another answer to stave off his impending death. Working under Morgana they began developing a new branch of magic and eventually found and established the beginnings of necromancy.

Employment

Elan began his career as a court alchemist of note though he never was able to complete the philosophers stone. While working with Morgana he developed and then taught necromancy to all who dared. After his transformation to a vampire he founded the Court of Blood and led the reformation of svartálfar politics. He was the head of the Court of Blood until he kidnapped the Ghost Queen and established himself as the Blood King, ruling for more than two hundred years before his death.

Accomplishments & Achievements

• Elan Varlov is the first True Vampire Lord and originator of the vampire affliction.
• As the Blood King he kidnapped the Queen and managed the revolt to overthrow the leaders of the Court of Breath
• Along side the greatest minds of the svartálfar Elan oversaw the Great Undertaking that created the pocket dimension around Obsidian

Failures & Embarrassments

While attempting to subvert the Great Undertaking the Blood King manipulated the ritual to harness the necromantic power of Obsidian for himself. Instead he destroyed himself and all other living and undead beings within a mile of the city.

Current Location

Forbuho

Species

Svartálfar

Conditions

• Vampirism

Ethnicity

Shadow Clan Svartálfar

Life

623 914

Circumstances of Death

Great Undertaking

Gender

Male

Eyes

Red

Hair

White

Height

5'9"

Weight

147lbs

Aligned Organization

The Court of Blood