Character Profile: Vil

Name: Vil (Wilhelm, Vilma) Garrido
Species: Vampire lamia
Setting: Ancient or modern
Sexuality: Pansexual
Ancestry: Spanish-German
Birthday: January 22nd
Sections
Quiet Scholar
Without a Purpose
Mentor Protector
A Writer’s Overwhelming Will
New Connections
The New World
Blood Tyrant
Tail Turn
The Vampire Code
Hot Professor Trope
Vampire Snake
Rationalized Manipulation
Finding a Purpose
Many Mansions
A Fling or Stability?
Poetry, Painting
Birds
Quiet Scholar
Vil is something of a reclusive scholar, having spent several centuries in relative isolation, reading and writing and watching human civilization change and grow. Though private, they have something of a friendly college professor vibe. Though they can take on a frightening persona if they want or need to, they’re usually pleasant for a vampire, helpful to those who need it, and studious, being quite knowledgeable.
Without a Purpose
The last century has been particularly isolated, with Vil almost never hosting guests and generally being distant with those who do visit. Their past phases, their past purposes, all abandoned as difficult, terrible, wearisome. They began to ponder what the future held for an immortal being without a purpose when they encountered a young lady flying wildly through the night, a vampire taken by blood lust. Seeing her as a danger to herself and others Vil captured the girl and brought her to their mansion to feed her from their stock of blood and calm her down.
Mentor Protector
This vampire’s name was Hilja, who only recently turned vampire from human. The vampire who had taken her blood and turned her had not stayed behind to guide her in the new life she was now cursed with, as is standard practice among vampires. She was lost, scared, and confused, and Vil felt a concern for her they hadn’t felt in a longer time than they could remember. Vil took her in and promised to show her how to handle being a vampire, doing all they could to keep her safe. They gave her a bracelet and told her it was enchanted to stave off the blood lust—not true, but as a placebo and gift to show their commitment to her it has worked well.
A Writer’s Overwhelming Will
From around the 16th century to the late 19th century, Vil lived in quiet obscurity with one exception: they wrote. They wrote short stories, poems, and sent out books to be published, gaining quite a bit of notoriety. Prior to this time they had been a terrible controlling presence throughout Europe, but after finding their actions unpleasant Vil retreated into privacy. To continue seeing humans with a small source of blood and thralls to occupy their time, Vil wrote hypnotic language into their works. Those susceptible would be drawn to attend a book club at Vil’s home, where they could enthrall them for a time then send them on their way with no memory of it. After a few hundred years Vil grew weary of this; they found it repetitive doldrums, and eventually ceased the work and completely isolated themself.
New Connections
At the time Vil became a reclusive writer they were known as Wilhelm. When their fame grew they met other famous and secretive people; a few fellow vampires, although those meetings were not always friendly; and other non-humans as well, such as fellow lamias, some of whom, like Vil, had an extended lifespan and had lived for centuries. One such meeting was Veda, a noble lamia from the east. Veda was more active in the public eye and had a wide staff, including alchemists who had devised a potion to alter elements of the body. Vil experimented in this time, spending a few years going by Vilma and back and forth before concluding they were not satisfied with male or female and took the name Vil.
The New World
As Vil’s writing fame grew, suspicions began to arise of them with the people who would meet with them after reading their work. Some rumors slipped out that may have been true, and Vil began to be spoken against. Not wishing to deal with any unpleasantries, Vil moved to the Americas in the mid-19th century. They continued to meet with enthralled readers until the end of the century, when they grew weary of it. From then on they only met with a few close companions, such as Veda, who had moved to the Americas as the USA was formed to help shape it, but even these meetings were rare.
Blood Tyrant
Prior to Vil’s quiet life as a writer they had turned into a tyrant, taking strict control over tribal villages and later towns, forcing the inhabitants to build for them large mansions. They would take who they pleased and force people to follow them, usually through hypnotic control but sometimes physically. Much blood was spilled; many tried to overthrow them, and on occasion they succeeded but Vil simply moved to another village. Over the years the nobles of western Europe came to view Vil in awe of their holding down the villages, and Vil subsequently had many affairs with many nobles, often controlling them to gain an edge in the powerful courts of the land.
Tail Turn
Vil began to be disgusted with how the nobles treated their fellow humans, though, and upon realizing they were treating intelligent beings like cattle, grew disgusted with themself. Vil looked back on a thousand years of terror and couldn’t take themself perpetrating another thousand years, and they vacated all position of power and disappeared into obscurity, wishing only to have the occasional willing visitor guided by their words to keep them company.
The Vampire Code
Vil didn’t start out as a terror, though. Vil was born to a polycule of a Germanic vampire lamia and two Spanish humans in the third century BZ. Vil inherited all the vampire and lamia powers, and was raised with the vampire code, which at the time followed a standard game. A vampire rose in a village, enthralled a few victims who left their windows open despite the cold, inspired terror for a bit, then was struck down by a hero who gained fame from it, giving the vampire a century to rest before being revived by a clumsy wanderer on a dare and starting the cycle over again.
Vil followed this pattern for about a thousand years before they began to see it as repetitive. Not wanting to be put to rest for another hundred years, they eventually broke these rules and took permanent command in a village, leading to their thousand years of terror.
Hot Professor Trope
Having settled down significantly from their earlier years, Vil is usually calm and collected, gentle and friendly. As a studious vampire who will help those in need, they have a professor vibe to them. They’re something of a hot professor trope, actually. While they never saw themself as the teaching type, after adopting Hilja and helping her through the changes as a vampire, they began to consider the idea of teaching more new vampires, starting a group where they could safely become accustomed to and learn how to control themselves.
Vampire Snake
Vil has both powers of a vampire and lamia. Their hypnosis is based more on a lamia’s, with rings in red and fuchsia colors, along with one very dark. However, it’s more powerful than the average lamia’s. Vil can float, but they usually reserve this to move their tail through the air without having to hang from something above. They can transform into a snake, in which form they can change length from only about a hundred cm long to twice as long as their lamia size. They can also become a flying snake, growing bat wings they can use to fly, although they can only really fly well at their shortest length. While they can’t turn invisible, they can seem to disappear, undetected by human senses; they can also seem to fill a room with their presence. While this isn’t hypnotic, it allows them to become the most notable thing in a room.
Rationalized Manipulation
Long ago Vil was a very manipulative person. They didn’t even need to use hypnosis to get people to do what they wanted half the time. Where they couldn’t, they used hypnosis; where someone was resistant, they used force. While they’ve reduced this significantly now, they can still be manipulative—even to themselves. While they were once manipulative and knew it, doing so because they wanted something, they will now manipulate someone and then rationalize to themself that they’re doing so for their own good.
Finding a Purpose
Hilja instilled a new sense of purpose in Vil to help her and perhaps other new vampires become acclimated to it. Before they met her they had gone centuries without a purpose; they previously only had the seeking of power as a purpose when they were a controlling terror in Europe, but they eventually thought of it as a hollow purpose.
Many Mansions
Vil mostly occupied existing palaces in their early period, swooping in, taking over, then being defeated and disappearing until reviving again. The area they occupied didn’t have much in the way of grandeur at the time. When they became a terror of Europe they started having villages build mansions for them. They were chased away sometimes, but they always had a new mansion built elsewhere. When they settled down they stayed in only one mansion, their last mansion, in Spain, until leaving the continent for the Americas. They bought a mansion there where they could remain in isolation, and remained there ever since.
A Fling or Stability?
Vil has a loneliness over having neither a partner nor one-night thralls to spend time with, but they’re not one to admit it. They keep up a stoic appearance, but they would love to have someone to spend time with romantically. However, even if they were to admit it, they would turn to a stronger desire for stability; after thousands of years without stability, they’re not sure they would want to go back to one-night affairs with thralls. They would rather find someone to settle down with, but they wonder if it’s too late in their undeath for that.
Poetry, Painting
Vil always had an interest in painting, and took a renewed interest in it after settling down, regularly painting in their mansion. They had also written poetry in the past, and poetry was one of the most common works they produced and sent out to draw those already willing to come to enthralled club. Vil often painted portraits of thralls, although many of those from Europe are now lost. Vil has also disposed of many portraits they painted in America; when they isolated themself and stopped enthralling people with their words they didn’t want as many reminders about that time. They began to paint more abstract pictures, as well as pictures of birds.
Birds
Vil has always been interested in ornithology and has kept many birds over the years. They kept fewer birds early on due to fading regularly for a century, but when they became a more permanent fixture in Europe they often collected birds as pets. This is one of the few things retained when they became reserved, keeping a bird sanctuary in their mansion, although when they left Europe they tasked a local birdkeeper with making sure all their birds were looked after. Vil’s birds were one of the few creatures they saw regularly after isolating themself. While they like birds of all feathers, they have a particular fondness for owls and have raised many owls from eggs.