Ventura Rathwild

*"Die monster, you don't belong in this world!"* - Ventura, to literally any undead creature he sees.

## History

Ventura hails from the county of Barstoi in Ustalav, a harsh
province dominated by the tyrant Count Neska and the Pharasmin inquisition. His mother fled from the far off region of Chelax to protect both herself and her son, refusing to reveal the identity of his father to him. While Barstoi proved as difficult to live in due to the harsh and unforgiving rule of law, he and his mother were able to make a decent life in a small salt mining town on the outskirts of the territory. His nature as a Dhampir was well hidden, and he and
his mother went out of their way to appear normal- he even learned and adapted to working out in the sunlight, rejecting his heritage as a creature of the night.

Over the years, Ventura grew a strong sense of justice and
devotion to his home, and proved his devotion to the religion of the land by joining the legions of Pharasmin inquisitors who provided law and order for the county alongside the Count’s own militia. There he served for years, faithful to his Goddess and his Order and the laws of his adopted home.

Unfortunately, their peaceful life wasn’t meant to last. His father, a vengeful vampire and necromancer, had spent the last several decades searching for him and his mother and finally tracked them down to their home- their small village was too far away from the capitol of Barstoi to receive help from the militia in time, and was overrun by the undead forces in the span of a single, horrific night. Ventura was one of the few to survive and escape the bloody slaughter, although his mother was not so lucky; she had been dragged from his arms by the rotting hordes and torn apart by their claws, a punishment for defying his father. The brutalities he witnessed and the fate of his mother as he escaped have never stopped haunting him to this day.

From that day onward, Ventura redoubled his faith and swore to eradicate the undead and those who would meddle with them wherever he could find them so that such evil could never rise again- and to hunt down his father and any other vampires with brutal efficiency. He would spend the next several years learning the skills necessary for the task from the orders of inquisitors that were so common in Barstoi, and when he believed he was ready he began his long journey to his father’s manor in Chelax to destroy the vampire once and for all.

A long and triumphant quest later, ending with Ventura planting a stake in the heart of his vampiric progenitor, and he returned to his homeland to resume his duties as a lawman and aid in delivering the nation of Ustalav from the hordes of undead that still plague it to this day.

Of course, all of those hopes would be foiled when Ventura found himself in a strange and unfamiliar city, having apparently spent months there in a fugue state and having lost much of the strength he had gained in his years-long crusade to destroy his father. Seeing no way to return to his home of Ustalav and similar problems in the form of madness, corruption, and especially undead and the necromancers and cults who would meddle in such evils present, he has now made it his mission to cleanse the Beyond of this evil instead.

Having accepted this world as his new home, Ventura seeks to establish the inquisition of his homeland here and to found an elite team of holy warriors dedicated to the cause of eradicating the undead menace once and for all. After that, maybe popularize Pharasma as the deity of choice too.

## Personality

Terse, fierce, and intense. He can turn on the charm if he wishes, but he is a man obsessed with his duty first and foremost...and that duty is to rid the city of any accursed undead that dare trouble its citizens. He continues his duty to the Church of Pharasma as he did in his formnow ser life, and while he has a burning hatred for all undead and those who would taint the world with necromantic evil, he especially despises vampires to a fanatical degree.

When he is not in the midst of hunting undead, he spends his time investigating crime in the city for the local law enforcement, bringing his brutal style of justice on the criminal underbelly of the City of the Lost. While the policy of 'death penalty for literally every crime' from his homeland is frowned upon here, he's certainly not going to miss an opportunity to rough up every murderer, arsonist, and jaywalker he comes across in fulfilling his duties to the city.

Make no mistake, Ventura Rathwild IS the law.

## Appearance

Tall, pale, and intense, this dude dresses finely even when delving into the darkest pits of the city and somehow always manages to look his best (that's probably from his vampiric heritage, honestly)- that is, he dresses finely, OVER his armor. While he hides his fangs and undead heritage as best he can, his red eyes, deathly pale skin, and silver hair betray his lack of humanity. Also he has fangs. Sharp, pointy fangs.

The man always smells of garlic, and seems to always be decked out with holy regalia on his person- he takes his duty as an inquisitor seriously as all hell.