Xavier Alastair Kartia

Xavier Alastair Kartia

Vampire

1092

Male

Straight

Isabella Pénélope Szilveszter (Master)

Xavier the Huntsman stands approximately 6'2“ and weighs 215 pounds with striking features such as his jet black hair, icy eyes and his form which is meticulously groomed, sharply dressed and carried with a nearly otherworldly grace. Xavier dresses in fine silk and leather adorned with silver accoutrements along with a monocle or glasses giving him an appearance of a flawless butler or steward. When summoning familiars from his Household or summoning Cauchemar his eyes glow a malignant shade of purple. If he bares teeth it can be seen that he possesses a total of eight fangs instead of four, an extremely rare trait for a vampire and considered a sign of vampiric nobility in the Old World.

Ancient Vampire Traits - Xavier exhibits traits similar to other ancient vampires, mainly great strength, regeneration, enhanced senses and speed. True to his longstanding duties as The Huntsman his eyesight, hearing and sense of smell are at their apex. Xavier’s jaw strength is roughly equivalent to that of a nile crocodile and his fangs are capable of puncturing through full steel platemail like paper, even shown to be able to break a knife which he promptly spit out in pieces.

Household Connection - Xavier has a variety of beasts that serve as his familiars. What his Household sees, hears, smells or learns so too will Xavier and they afford him a resource most precious to a vampire who gathers information - eyes and ears abroad. Xavier the Huntsman’s Household contains several murders of crows, a pair of black eagles and three vicious dire wolves. The beasts of the Household are completely loyal to Xavier and will carry out any orders given to them to the best of their abilities.

Xavier can tame beasts to serve in his Household and those tamed so turn black for the rest of their lives. Unless the familiars are killed they share in their master’s immortality though the creatures are generally tougher than they were before they were tamed. Xavier’s Household will only follow orders given by him or Isabella unless one of them allows another to give the beasts orders.

Cauchemar - Xavier’s oldest, strongest and most beloved familiar is this massive black warhorse whose gleaming red eyes hint to it not being a normal destrier. Storied to be a demon it is uncertain exactly how the dreadsteed Cauchemar has remained alive for over a thousand years but it is also equally uncertain why Xavier the Huntsman has taken great care to keep this ebon nightmare in the shadows in the same manner as one would keep a vampire. Cauchemar’s name is French for Nightmare.

Cauchemar stands eighteen hands high and weighs about 1,750 pounds. Xavier’s interactions around the beast imply that it has been his mount for a very long time. The beast has a calm temperament and is very difficult to spook. Cauchemar will accept any rider as long as Xavier allows it, is a fast runner and is capable of strenuous activity for up to seven times longer than a normal horse of its size due to its status as the head of Xavier’s Household. Cauchemar and anyone currently riding him is capable of travelling between shadows, as long as the area entered and the area exited both are sufficiently dark and sufficiently large to allow his massive frame.

Umbramancy: Xavier's umbramancy has been tampered with by the denizens of the Umbral Realm, as he will discover to his lament - he can only carry what will actually fit within an area equal to his own volume (which means no warhorses, no motorcycles, etc), although he can still store familiars there as long as they are not wider than he is. He is still capable of using it as a portable inventory to swap weapons at will, closet to store spare apparel, etc, and he can still store familiars there as long as they are not wider than he is, but creatures kept within may note that the capacity is more limited than they may be used to. He can also emerge at will from Cauchemar's shadow if the two are separated, as Cauchemar's shadow is sufficiently large to fit him through, but not from other familiars.

Master Swordsman: Xavier was one of the premier masters of the blade of his time famed for his skill with the rapier together with the main gauche and though his skill extended to several other kinds of swords both one handed and two handed he has always preferred speed and precision over brute force. He keeps a case with fine examples of these weapons, and most commonly carries a polished steel rapier and main gauche on his person, both with elaborate wire handguards and blood red leather grips. These weapons are often treated with alchemical silver.

Expert Marksman: While not nearly as skillful with firearms as he is with blades Xavier is still a capable marksman. He prefers handguns, bows, crossbows and spearguns over heavier guns. He has a full arsenal in storage at his lair of choice.

Master Herbalist and Alchemist: Xavier is well versed in the arts of herbalism and alchemy using them in tandem to create such useful things as his alchemical liquid silver unguents and a variety of masterfully blended teas, herb blends, spices and his prized Nightshade tea which he only serves to vampires as the tea is toxic to humans as well as werewolves. His skill in these ancient arts is also a part of what makes Xavier a good bartender and a brewer of fine lagers, stouts and other kinds of beer, liquor and nonalcoholic beverages when the ingredients are in season.

Xavier is capable of making potent herbal medicines, salves, potions, anticoagulants and sedatives as well as deadly poisons of various kinds and if it is beneficial for a mission he will apply these substances to the claws of his Household familiars rendering even his smallest raven able to kill or tranquilize a healthy human with ease. He also likes to use anticoagulant as a poison on bullets, arrows, crossbow bolts and speargun bolts

Master Rider: Xavier has more than a thousand years of experience with horses whether in or out of combat. Even in undeath he can approach a horse without spooking it with his supernatural form. While rarely shown he is also skilled in the use of polearms while on horseback making him and Cauchemar a deadly combination should such a charge be used in battle.

Master Tamer: Xavier has over a millennium of experience in training, breaking and riding horses and smaller animals. Each of his familiars was individually tamed before they became part of his Household.

Shape Shift - Dire Argentavis: Xavier has the ability to assume the form of a shadowy black Argentavis Magnificens with glowing yellow eyes and talons that gleam wickedly under the light of the moon. This creature looks like a massive black eagle standing six and half feet tall with a nearly twenty foot wingspan. In the form of an Argentavis Magnificens he can carry a fully grown humanoid either on his back or clutched in his talons. However, this does not extend the capacity of his shadow storage.

Rapier and main gauche, various small arms, crossbows and spearguns, Cauchemar and his accoutrements, Indian silk hair ties, enchanted monocle (can see through illusions and never fogs), enchanted silver binds (enables Isabella Pénélope Szilveszter to summon Xavier to her location over great distances and communicate with him at will).

Xavier likes Isabella, serving drinks, drinking nightshade tea, cleanliness, cool nights, moonlight, his familiars, well mannered people, people who leave generous tips, people who love horses

He dislikes messy or rude people, humid nights, tofu, people who disrespect Isabella, unruly werewolves, people who don’t leave tips, stereotypical Americans, people who mistreat horses

Xavier Alastair Kartia is an ancient vampire once serving as an enforcer of vampire law dispatched to deal with the most heinous of crimes, in particular to kill those who sired vampires without permission with the offspring of these acts left at his discretion whether they were permitted to continue unliving or were punished with true death, in most cases he would kill master and slave though there was one who he spared, a woman who at the time was known only as Elizabeth. He served in this capacity for more than one thousand years earning the nickname The Huntsman for hunting down criminals whether from atop the dreadsteed Cauchemar, through the use of and dangerous packs of monstrous familiars known as his Household, or both.

Ultimately he retired from active service to honor a promise he made to Elizabeth, now rechristened as Isabella Pénélope Szilveszter that he would become her bartender should she ever successfully open the bar she wanted. Xavier became an information broker along with his new 'Master' as few lines of work were as lucrative as that of a bartender when gathering information.

Perhaps more infamous than Xavier’s mastery of familiars or even his prowess with blades is his skill in umbramancy, the art of shadow manipulation in which he effectively stored items, weapons, his entire Household and even Cauchemar himself in a temporal space within his own shadow. He cannot manipulate the shadows of others, only his own, those of his familiars or those of inanimate objects and he used his umbramancy solely as a medium store his belongings or to summon his familiars as well as giving him means to escape danger and emerge elsewhere with or without other vampires if they are willing to enter his shadow. Unfortunately, the Umbral Realm has curtailed the capacity of Xavier's shadow, limiting him to only what can be stored within a space equivalent to himself. However, his connection to Cauchemar means that he can still travel to Cauchemar's shadow at any time, as long as there is a large enough shadow to fit him and as long as Cauchemar is currently casting a shadow.

Xavier is loyal only to Isabella but he is more likely to be friendly towards those who love horses and much more likely to be cruel to those who mistreat them. Among the creatures old enough to have heard the stories, Xavier the Huntsman is a legend. To those he has been commanded to hunt, the legends were…not horrific enough to describe what has befallen them.