Vitalis Bénévent

Grand Inquisitor **Vitalis Bénévent** is the leader of the Inquisition whose investigations and experimentation led him to discover that an ancient power has awaken in the blood of the de Rune family. Motivated by self-interest, he had the institution forces capture the carrier, Hugo de Rune, with the aim of gaining this power through blood transfusion and creating a new world order.

## Biography

### Background and Early Life

Within the Inquisition, Vitalis may have either rose to the rank as Grand Inquisitor or was appointed by himself or the pope. At some point during the past, Vitalis had learned that Hugo de Rune had the Prima Macula in his blood. He had the de Rune family closely monitored and waited until the right time to take the natural carrier and the power for himself.

During the reign of the Bite, Vitalis contracted it and had members of the Inquisition obtain Episanguis crystals, which are processed by the alchemists into an elixir that can slow the disease's progression along with blood transfusions.

### The de Rune Legacy

In September 1348 with the emergence of the plague rats more widespread than ever and his ever-dwindling health, Vitalis could wait no longer. He ordered his second-in-command, Nicholas, to raid the de Rune estate to capture Hugo. Although Nicholas did capture Béatrice de Rune, Hugo's mother, and slew everyone else in the estate, they did not succeed in getting the boy, who escaped with his older sister Amicia.

### In the Shadow of Ramparts

The Inquisition released the plague rats into the city as a pretext for evacuating the town and thus enabling them to work unimpeded, securing the University for the Grand Inquisitor's arrival just as Amicia was infiltrating the building. As she snuck about, she overheard the soldiers announcing his arrival and one of them mentions that Vitalis is sick.

### The Way of Roses

Vitalis is finally seen in the flesh within the University. Like Amicia, he was there for the same reason: to obtain the Sanguinis Itinera, a forbidden book locked away under the University behind a special door. Vitalis had the smith who built tortured to get him to open it, but the man died; instead, his son, Rodric, was brought to open it. At this point, Vitalis was suffering greatly even with the treatments, confined to a chair carried by two men, and mad with pain and the prospect of power, but he ordered his men to not kill Rodric so he could do as was needed.

Amicia freed Rodric, who opened the door and the pair got to the book just before Vitalis and his men could. The Grand Inquisitor mocked Amicia's efforts to save her brother using the book, claiming that, using Hugo and the book, he would save the entire world. The University burned down, forcing Amicia and Rodric to escape with the book and Vitalis to evacuate along with his forces, relocating to the town Bastion.

### Blood Ties

Béatrice: *You're a monster!*
Vitalis: *A monster? Madame... you have yet to see just* how*.*[[Source: "Blood Ties"|[src]]]
Moments before forcing Hugo to fully awaken his abilities

Using Hugo's captured mother Béatrice as bait, Nicholas captured the boy and brought him into the order's custody. While some of Hugo's blood was taken to begin the transfer of the Prima Macula to Vitalis, Gauthier arrived to inform him of his excommunication from the Catholic Church, saying even the pope knew he had simply gone mad with power. Vitalis mocked him, saying he cannot excommunicate a saint. Shortly thereafter, Hugo escaped, found Béatrice, and attempted to leave but Vitalis cornered them in a large circular room and ordered Nicholas' men to kill her. This forced Hugo to fully awaken his power to control the plague rat swarms to protect his mother, much to Vitalis' satisfaction. This had both shattered Hugo's mind, making him easier to manipulate, and awakened Vitalis' own abilities now that he shared blood with the boy. For the next month, both Hugo and Vitalis grew in their now-shared power.

### Remembrance

Vitalis was anything but willing to share this power he had so long craved, so he sent Hugo and Nicholas to assault Amicia and her friends hiding out in the Château d'Ombrage castle, expecting that Hugo would kill his sister and then be killed by Nicholas, ridding him of his greatest potential enemy. Neither occurred, as Hugo forgave his sister for lying to him, killed Nicholas, and instead joined with his friends to turn his incredible power on Vitalis and the Inquisition.

### Death

When the children assaulted the Inquisition's headquarters in the cathedral, they discovered the horrors within: now able to walk and seemingly free of the plague in his body, Vitalis trapped the congregation inside and fed them to his own horde of "angels;" white, hairless rats that no longer feared light. He had obtained such fine control over the horde he could use them as an extension of himself, swirling them around his body to protect him from Amicia's sling or pile up and come crashing down like a massive arm. His and Hugo's rats battled in massive waves, initially pushing the boy back, but slowly he lost ground and Hugo sent his rats to remove the ones covering Vitalis' body, allowing Amicia to finally end his reign of madness with three sling hits to his head. As he lay dying, he looked into Hugo's eyes and saw that the boy was no longer afraid.

## Physical Appearance

Vitalis was a frail, older man with white hair, wrinkly skin, a sharp chin, and a thin face. During his battle with the plague, his face became covered with a of number festering boils and his left eye became grey and useless, but post-threshold all his symptoms seemed to be gone.

He wore the vestment of his office, including a black and gold stole over his neck, a white and gold miter on his head, and a white cassock robe. All of his clothes were exquisitely detailed and edged with gold.

## Personality

*And Vitalis... You might think the Captain of the Guard is scary, but the old man, believe me... When he's disappointed, he burns people alive just to take his mind off it...*[src]
An Inquisitor's assessment of Vitalis' character

Vitalis was both ambitious and manipulative, showing no remorse when mentally and physically torturing young Hugo to learn more of his powers. He also seemed to care little for anybody but himself, as revealed when he deemed the kids in Amicia's group as "relics of the old world".

Whereas Béatrice, Laurentius, and Lucas saw the Prima Macula as something to be eliminated, Vitalis saw it as a tool to obtain power and control over everything. The power is such that it drove him mad and filled his mind with delusions of grandeur.

## Trivia

* Vitalis' image is very similar to Emperor Palpatine or Darth Sidious, the main antagonist of the *Star Wars* saga:
	+ Both masters of their orders.
	+ Both are elderly.
	+ Both mass killers.
	+ Both cause great damage to achieve their goals (Palpatine kills millions and thousands to create an Empire, and Vitalis goes to great lengths to gain the power of Macula).
	+ Both successful hypocrites and manipulators.
	+ Both are opposed to the protagonist families (the Skywalker family for Sidious and the de Rune family for Vitalis).
	+ Both have been watching heroes for many years.
	+ Both have a wide range of abilities (in Vitalis after he became the bearer of the curse).
	+ Both sworn enemies for the mentors of the main characters (Sidious for Yoda and Obi-Wan; Vitalis for Beatrice and Lawrence).
	+ Both are first outsiders, but then show activity.
	+ Both have proxies who fulfill their will: Darth Vader for Sidious, Nicholas for Vitalis.
	+ Both consider themselves the personification of power, their side (Dark for Sidious, Light for Vitalis).

## Gallery

Add a caption!Add a caption!Add a caption!Add a caption!Vitalis meets RodricAdd a caption!Protected by a swarm of his rats"I am the Macula's blade of light!"The death of the Grand Inquisitor