Thorvald of Ostia

&nbsp While some assert that men are made by the times they live in, a select few believe that the contrary is true, and that history is shaped by the lives of a few great ones. Perhaps the greatest piece of evidence to support this statement is the "life" of Luther Isaac Augustus Thorvald, Count Eternal of Ostia. Over a millenia old, Thorvald has been a vampire since before his ascencion to the throne of Ostia. Apart from holding the title of Count Eternal, he is also the Primogen of Clan Rozainium and Lord of House Thorvald. Nearly all of Ilunia's vampires (theoretically) answer to him, and at one point, so did nearly all of Ilunia's humans. To some, he is the master statesman beloved of his people, while to others he is the symbol of cruel and unnatural oppression.

Mortal Life
Born as the youngest nephew of Grand Duke Kazimierz II, young Luther was slated to be little more than a footnote in historical texts. Kazimierz and his immediate family were all skilled warriors who had won prestige and glory expanding the lands of Ostia, while Luther's father, Igor Thorvald, had resigned his part of the family to a lifetime of mercantile affairs. Such apathy did not sit well with Luther the ambitious courtier, and he began to entertain designs of seizing more power for himself.

His ambition did not go unnoticed. At the time, vampires from Clan Rozainium had made Ostia city their unofficial hotspot, though the clan had not yet divided into the specialized Houses that it is famed for today. One vampire of Clan Rozainium, a mysterious advisor to Kazimierz known as Lady Iskra, took particular interest in him, and met him once after a meeting of the court. She recognized in him a drive to build an Empire and a passion that she had never known, while he found her to be a very powerful ally. A strange sort of courtship began, and Iskra began to desire Thorvald, his charisma and intellect impressing her.

He took note of this desire, and made good use of it. While she attempted to win him over, he made it known that he would need assistance in gaining influence. She obliged him, and for several years she granted him favors in exchange for hints that he desired her. And to an extent, he did. While his relationship with Iskra was second to his bid for power, they did eventually develop a sort of closeness that Iskra mistook as love. Such was Iskra's folly that one night, she gave up in her attempts to win him over subtly and simply seduced him into her chambers, where she gave him the Embrace against his will.

From Courtier to Emperor
"Ah, conquest. The secret desire of all men, mortal and immortal alike. Does it not reflect the curse of our kind, the overwhelming addiction to something so destructive?" -Thorvald during the planning of his first major expedition, the subjugation of the tribes that now consist of Kaffspar

Now a vampire, Lord Thorvald found himself shunned by his uncle's more conservative side of the family in an attempt by Kazimierz at hurting his brother's reputation. This isolated the Thorvaldian faction but had the affect of ruining the Grand Duke's reputation among the small Clan Rozainium. In a ploy to gain support, Thorvald and Iskra encouraged members of the Clan to leave the Duke's court, further damaging his credibility. Iskra herself stayed on as advisor, secretly working against the monarch and winning the court over. Eventually this tactic succeeded and a council of Ostian nobility asked Kazimierz to step down. He refused, and Iskra, always desperate to prove herself to Thorvald, executed the Grand Duke. Turmoil ensued, but eventually the nobility and merchant guilds sided with the Thorvald family, naming Luther their candidate for Grand Duke to placate the vampires.

What followed next became known as the Week of Ash. At the time, Clan Rozainium consisted of only twenty-six vampires, all of which were led by a Primogen whose name has been lost to bleeding. The Primogen ordered Iskra to blood-bond the new Grand Duke so he could gain a new puppet, and many of the older vampires agreed. Iskra, obsessed to the point where she could be easily manipulated, agreed. A friend of Luther's, Tomas Asaras, caught wind of this plot and alerted him to it. In turn, Thorvald and Asaras rallied the commander Marcus Scarlet and the sage Virguma to the defense of the city. Thorvald destroyed Iskra and the Primogen, whilst Asaras, Scarlet, and Virguma eliminated those vampires who supported the plot. As the only four remaining Kindred of the clan, they would come to develop their own Houses, each with their own specialization in Ostian society.

The years and eventually decades went by, while Duke Thorvald built up his domain through trade and colonization. Eventually Ostia had subverted enough territory that he felt it acceptable to declare the foundation of the First Ostian Empire. He created the Blood Legion, and it's cavalry counterpart, the Husaria (later named the Scarlet Hussars) for his conquest of the Kaffsparian tribes. To lead this new army, he embraced a mortal general called Lysander Sanudo and encouraged Marcus Scarlet to select a childe of his own. For that task, he selected Ramilies Scarlet. the now-infamous scourge of the northern lands. With this team of advisors, plus the advice of his ghouled consort Lady Alina Thorvald, he launched the campaign for northern expansion, dubbed the Wars of Ostian Expansion, or Wars of Blood and Bone (Kari Asins un Kaulu).

For the next nine centuries, Emperor Thorvald ruled over a great domain, covering all the land now ruled by the men of the north with the exception of Westhaven. Ostia proper flourished, and the great Court of Blood grew decadent and cruel. Eventually such cruelty resulted in the fall of the Empire, combined with treachery from within the clan and the nation.

Awakening Amidst a Fall
The glory days of the Empire did not last forever though, and with the start of the Human Wars of Independence, Thorvald found himself in need of a change. He again took the helm of the nation, brutally ordering Ramilies and Lysander to put down the rebellions. While initially quite successful, the rebel forces severely outnumbered even the most elite of Ostia's soldiers, and the Empire collapsed.

Awakened to his folly, the newly-titled Count Thorvald austerely regained his lost composure. Ostia, now a Free City, adopted a policy of mercenary neutrality, selling their forces for gold and favors. Almost immediately the adjustment proved successful for Ostia, and the city continued to flourish and love the Count for what he had done. Politically Ostia began to court new allies while Thorvald manipulated events to his liking.

Ostia's longstanding neutrality was broken on 1103 ATE when Thorvald personally presided over the signing of a mutual protection pact with Westhaven, which eventually led to the deployment of the Blood Legion in An Cogadh Ceart, the Westhaven-Shadik war that Thorvald dubbed Jo Mokoša, The Harrowing.

Personality
"Though the Count and I do not always see eye to eye, it would be incorrect to assume he does not have my loyalty. Thorvald is wise, and the decisions he has made over the years have kept Ostia alive, and kept it strong. He serves Ostia faithfully, and he has the respect of his government, our people, and myself." -Ramilies Scarlet to Zenithah Calvwern, Empress of Hellas Plantia

Since the collapse of the Empire, Thorvald has become cold and calculating. Incredibly polite and courteous, Thorvald has not been known to show true passion except perhaps to Lady Alina. Indeed, it is accepted that Thorvald has shed himself of most emotion, thinking cautiously in only the most pragmatic terms. Some close to the Lord have theorized that this is an defensive mechanism, that the elder immortal has seen too much sadness and darkness to be able to continue to think in human terms. Those who speak to him do note a tone of sadness in his voice, after all, and he often speaks of "what makes a man",

Austere to the extreme, the Count Eternal gets more pleasure out of observing the passions of others instead of participating in any sort of debauchery. He is studious and intellectual, fond of writing and discussing philosophy and other intellectual matters. Loyalty is important to the Count, and those who prove themselves a friend to Thorvald find their friendship and obedience returned.

The extent of Thorvald's personal power is unknown. It is confirmed that he possesses a great deal of control over the emotions of those nearby him, with an unparalleled insight into motives and desires. While not the warrior that Ramilies is, Thorvald is an accomplished fencer who's rumored to have a great deal of supernatural speed fueling his prowess. Above all, scholars advise, it is perhaps wisest not to know exactly what powers the Count Eternal possesses, for the chessmaster, warrior or not, has proved not to be a man that one can easily overpower.