Valeria Witlock

Senior Inquisitor Witlock of the Vigilant Order

The Red Inquisitor

Valeria Witlock is a Senior Inquisitor of the Vigilant Order, a branch of the Divine Church, as well as one of its rising vampire hunters. She is responsible for leading an inquiry into the Atracan territory of Grimtham Isle, to root out and slaughter any hostile vampires in the area.

## History

Much of Witlock's past is shrouded in secrecy, though not for any particular reason beyond Witlock refusing to talk about it. What most do know of her comes from Father Nathaniel Weston, her mentor and adoptive father.

She was born in the late fall of 1850. Her parents, Octavia and Marcus Witlock, were shopkeepers in a small village known as Colchester in western Atraca. Her father was a watchmaker, specializing in pocketwatches for those with the coin, while her mother was more of a seamstress.

According to Weston, she had a rather normal childhood. Even had a few friends that she'd play with after school hours. Her adolescent years were also relatively normal, till the summer of 1864. Reports began to surface in the area around Colchester of vampire sightings, resulting in Weston (a Senior Inquisitor at the time) being dispatched there to investigate.

One night in July, he was quickly summoned from his room at the local inn to the Witlock family's shop by the town constables. The sight at the tiny little home shop was heartbreaking and gruesome. Apparently the night before, Marcus Witlock had been attacked and bitten by a vampire. The infection was slow, and turned Marcus into a ghoul instead of a normal vampire. He would return home early that night and kill Octavia Witlock, before turning his attention to Valeria.

The constables reported that Valeria killed her own father with the family's woodcutting axe during a scuffle in the yard behind their home. After disposing of the ghoulified body of Valeria's father and burying her mother, Weston requested that Valeria be placed into her care. He couldn't just leave the girl there as an orphan. The Divine Church agreed.

In the years following the incident, Valeria was raised and taught by Weston, as well as other members of the Church in New Dewsbury, one of the larger cities in central Atraca and Weston's birthplace. She was trained in the art of hunting by Weston, taking particular interest in hunting vampires. She also began to follow the teachings of Adona, the chief god of the Divine Five, and Velin, the patron god of the Vigilant Order.

Eventually, she was brought into the Vigilant Order as an Inquisitor, serving alongside Weston. Wherever he went, she followed. Countless vampires were slain by her blade alone, the bloodshed earning her the title of 'The Red Inquisitor'. Eventually, she worked her way up to the title of Senior Inquisitor, while Weston ascended to High Inquisitor. They would continue to work together untill Weston decided to retire from fieldwork in the summer of 1877, after an incident with a vampire on Grimtham Isle that almost left him blinded.

Valeria would continue her work, persuing vampires wherever they were found with a sense of intense drive and purpose. This would eventually lead her back to Grimtham Isle, after recieving word from Weston that there were an abnormal number of vampire sightings and reports on the island in recent weeks.