Vladimir Farkas Dashkovari

Vladimir wearing the Armor of Wailing Darkness

Vladimir Farkas Dashkovari is a pureblood Vampire, heir to the Duchy of Barthum, former member of The Chaos Hounds and a sitting member of The Guardian Council. Vladimir is a stern and taciturn warrior, he is nonetheless an incredibly loyal and passionate warrior who would give his life for his allies and people. He now plans to overthrow the despot Duke Tepes Ulfvart and restore to peace to Barthum and Forestsedge.

## History

### The Prodigal Son

Lord Vladimir Farkas Dashkovari, or Vlad as he is known to those to with whom he is close, was born a son of the Lords of Barthum. Due to this impeccable heritage, his vampiric potential almost rivals that of even second generation vampire, a potential which did not go unnoticed.

Vlad developed exceedingly quickly within his coffin as vampyrling, taking only fifty-two years to reach maturity and received the very finest education through most learned necromantic tutors and even his own Dashkovari progenitors. Upon the day he awoke from his slumber he was more than prepared to fill his place and role as a noble of his bloodline.

Within a short few years he was allowed to join the knightly order of his family the Blood Hussars. Despite butting heads with the orders elders on several occasions and earning a reputation of being rebellious rulebreaker, Vlad still excelled managed to excel in combat and in the field of tactics that had command of his own knightly retinue. Soon he had earned the right to assume the title of Justicar before eventually assuming his inherited position of Marquis, albeit over a less than coveted territory known as the Darkwood Borderlands.

The Darkwood Borderlands were thickly forested territory that bordered the boundaries of the dwarven nation of Kha-Li-Daz, and served a principal location from which dwarven thieves would try and infiltrate the vampiric lands to pilfer natural resources. Added to this, it was also the location in which many of the tunnels stemming from the catacombs beneath The Eldritch Citadel emerged, and often saw incursions by ghoul packs that would rampage without permission upon the local mortal peasantry further inland. As a result, Vlad’s exemplary lordship over these woods was well received by court elders and he soon found himself in their favor, becoming an esteemed regular at court. That is until the return of Duke Tepes Ulfvart.

The first vampire and founder of Barthum, Duke Ulfvart disappeared a thousand years ago, abandoning the vampires and his nation. The return of the Duke thus spelled disaster not only for Vlad, but also for the entire Dashkovari bloodline. Upon his re-emergence, the Duke of Darkness was exceedingly displeased with the way the Dashkovari had overseen the realm, creating a system of structure and order that tried to coexist with mortals rather than crushing them under heel. Along with the added Asscenyi political scheming, Duke Ulfvart became so incensed with the Dashkovari elders he declared that the entire bloodline from the second generation onwards was to be utterly destroyed. This led to what would become known as The Reckoning.

### War of The Bloodlines

This announcement led to a great civil war erupting within the realm. The Dashkovari, ever defiant, refused to flee from their assailants, their martial excellence and military expertise allowing them to fight back against the other families with significant success despite being outnumbered. The vampiric knightly orders held strong their bastions and launched successful counterattacks against any and all who tried to vanquish them, despite the best efforts of Asscenyi assassins, Von Sankovik sorcerers and Banffysk savagery. However in the end, one by one, the knightly orders and fortified strongholds of the Dashkovari fell, some by means of betrayal due to Asscenyi plot and others by attrition against wave upon wave of summoned undead and Flesh Golems.

As things became desperate for the Dashkovari, their numbers dwindled significantly, resulting in the only First Born Dashkovari elder Grigori being awoken for aid. Waking in a fury from his ancient slumber, he soon joined his progeny in an effort to stem the tide of their destruction. But this awakening did not go unnoticed, and Duke Ulfvart soon took to the field of battle himself.

Duke Ulfvart, taking control of the war effort, launched yet another assault against the last Dashkovari fortress. His sheer necromantic power and gifts from Edwardius led to his forces overrunning the fortress and, as the walls were breached, he and Grigori found each other amidst the blood and chaos. The two warriors soon began a battle that would go down in vampire history, the two trading devastating blows that destroyed entire wings of the fortress and hordes of undead. Ultimately Grigori, despite being an immensely powerful vampire, could not stand against the might of Edwardius’ chosen champion, and Duke Ulfvart struck him down and began to feed upon and drain the life from the Dashkovari elder. Vlad, seeing his father beaten and ragdoll, took the incredibly brash action of attacking Ulfvart while he was distracted, plunging his sword deep into the Duke. Seemingly unfazed, The Duke pulled the sword from his body and grabbed Vlad by the neck, the Dashkovari warrior being treated like he was nothing but a child.

### The Dashkovari Broken

Vlad, writhing in agony from the Duke’s fangs plunging into his neck, felt his essence being drained from him, his body shuddering and screaming as it began to wither. But with one last act of defiance for sake of his bloodline Grigori arose and tore the jaw of Duke off with a slash of his claws. The Duke, enraged beyond all reckoning, tossed Vlad aside with such immense power he was thrown miles away from the site of the battle. He turned his attention to Grigori, finally putting to end the First Born and decimating all hopes for the Dashkovari bloodline. With their greatest felled, the remaining Dashkovari would flee from the fortress or were taken captive, those who survived were forced from the realm and were hunted ruthlessly by their own kind. The few notable survivors, including Vitali and Alexei Dashkovari, had no knowledge of what fate befell Vlad and thought him slain.

Vlad however had landed deep within the thick woods several miles away, every single bone in his undead body shattered. His essence drained and grievously wounded, far from his coffin which was likely destroyed, Vlad was forced to spend the remainder of his strength to transform into mist and make his way to a long forgotten catacomb. A location that very few of even his own kind had ever known about, he began the long process to restore himself.

It is here that he spent a long span of time in a deep slumber, slowly regaining the strength to walk upon the plane once again and bring about his vengeance.