Ven Versonii

Vampirism
Ven is not a vampire, and did not need to feed upon others before he began physically manifesting within the material plane. However, when he and the others bound themselves to that physical aspect of this reality, they turned a great deal of their powers upon themselves, and as a result, made themselves susceptible to the influence of symbolism and belief. Ven's element is fire-- or at least, that is the simplified version of what he is, and in turn, that element is attuned to the season of Summer, both known for their giving natures as well as their more predatory side. Fire devours, and so too does Ven in order to maintain his strength within this realm, and his physical form.

Ven can do this through the absorption of others life-force energy, either ambiently or directly, but blood holds more symbolic power for him, and as such, sustains him more fully and for longer periods of time.

With the introduction of these vampiric traits into his being came the other symbols often tied to them-- fangs, pale skin, a mesmerizing presence and gaze, and a bite that seduces even as it consumes... likely these aspects have changed over time with local mythology and belief. Ven has some control over how those forces affect him, but not totally. With the upsides come the down, and Ven also cannot enter personal dwellings without permission, and holy symbols can ward him off if the belief in them is strong enough-- though both aspects have just as much to do with territory disputes between deities as belief.

Something Else
While Ven can eat, and actually seems to take great enjoyment out of cooking for himself and others, as well as growing his own food, he really has very few true bodily needs. Ven is nothing mortal and never was. Within his personal realm, a place in a pocket of space that he calls The Golden Grove, is a house that he dwells in and uses to entertain guests in. That house is just as much his body as the human likeness that he wears to interact with the world around him. When he is feeling moody, it may rain. When he detects that his guests may need something, that thing may appear upon the bedside table when they turn away, as if by magic. Injuring the house may cause Ven discomfort, though it's more likely to irritate him than do any real damage.

And even this is just a fraction of what Ven really is, though that something is locked away somewhere in a state of semi-hibernation, and he has even less power when outside of his personal realm. The point is, no matter where he is, Ven is not limited to any one form, shape, sex, or species. What is seen with the eye is always only the tip of the iceberg.

That being said, Ven is not entirely invulnerable. While he is deathless in the ways that it counts-- kill his physical form and he will come back later with a new one-- he can be injured and forced into a state of hibernation for a time, sometimes even years, or even trapped. He is not quite as strong outside of the Grove, and must maintain his physical form with energy or blood in order to repair it and keep it functioning. He must still do the same within his realm, but to a lesser extent, and his power to manipulate reality is far greater there.

When outside of the Grove, Ven must exert considerable energy in order to work large changes on people or the environment around him. Changes on himself are not as difficult, but still take energy, and pose considerable risks if others should happen to get a hold of a large enough piece of him like a feather or scale. If this happens, they may make demands of him until the magic in that lost piece runs out or he gets it back.

Likewise Ven is vulnerable to elements the opposite of him. The summer months and fire strengthen Ven, while the winter and cold make him weaker. When in the territory of other gods or Tesseracts, his powers similarly become weakened, though less so if their alignment and elements are in harmony with his.

Blood & Fire
Ven's Acolytes are known as the Suntouched, and were primarily those of vampiric origin. They were followers of the Summer King, the Unceasing Flame, and they were most prominent in the years of ancient Egypt's glory days, though some few still remain, adrift in the world or deep in hibernation in forgotten tombs.

Their origins stem from a time where Ven lost many dear to him to war and strife, and could not find it within himself to let them die in fear and pain. In the case of those already turned when they came to him, Ven could offer them his own life-force in order to heal and sustain them. By consuming his blood, they also found themselves stronger in their own gifts, and immune to the sun for months at a time. These were known as the Nightborn.

Others were human, and Ven turned them personally, though never without the full understanding and acceptance of what he was offering. These vampires, called Drakon-ka, could live within the sunlight from the moment of their 'births', and even seemed to draw strength from it. They feared no fire, and though they did require some blood to sustain themselves, like Ven, they preferred to supplement by drawing life energy directly from the source. These were often the priests and most trusted of the Summer King, and when they awoke to their new lives, they often became just as strange in mannerisms in many ways as their sire.

In exchange for their gifts, the Suntouched were Ven's eyes and ears out in the greater world at large, and particularly in the case of the Drakon-ka, their life force and connection to Ven gave him power and nourishment in turn, and he found himself stronger whenever he was among them.

Ven can still extend these gifts to others if he so wishes, though he does so only very rarely these days.

Rainy day things, favorites, and little misc. facts.


Any questions pertaining to Ven's skills or powers. For those pertaining to the Suntouched or the Drakor-Ka, his progeny, check out their page.


What is says on the tin. Angst and the gnashing of teeth, blood and tears, blah, blah, blah. You've been warned.

Origins
Ven is an entity that survived the death of his own universe. When he and four others like him found themselves in the current universe, they found it to be at a lower dimensional frequency than their own, making it as malleable to them as a crayon drawing to a four year old, and at first they were just as destructive and irresponsible. Eventually the four encountered life, in this case, Earth, and it drew their fascination. Four of the Tesseracts, including Ven, decided to bind their true selves to physical avatars in order to protect this newfound life from themselves, and to better interact with it. This would come at a significant loss of their abilities, and the fifth Tesseract Qyinn, refused, still harboring dreams of recreating the universe they had lost.

Qyinn was deemed too destructive to be allowed to wander free. His plans to resurrect their old universe would destroy life in this current one, and so the other four Tesseracts converged on their companion and locked him away entirely.

Shortly after Qyinn was captured, it split a part of itself off to form its own earthly avatar in order to continue its work. But the part it split from itself was formed from all of its worst urges, and instead of working to recreate the original universe the five came from, it began spreading its rot throughout the great web that makes up all universes. Realizing that it could not undo this error itself, Qyinn begged the other four Tesseracts to help it contain this threat.

They agreed, for the sake of protecting the life and world around them that they had fallen in love with. Each, including Qyinn, put a piece of themselves into four mortal individuals, binding them to elemental avatars to help guide them and help them fight-- Ven's, the dragon and fire; Edin, the unicorn and air; Atobias, the gryphon and earth; and Maron, the leviathan and water. Qyinn also poured its own power into these individuals, to gift them the ability to heal the rifts being torn in the universe, and the corruption already done.

These individuals were the first of the World Walkers, each which spread into its own family with their own unique gifts and ways of stepping in between the worlds and completing their sacred duties.

But because Qyinn is a petty creature, and resented the other four for keeping it locked away, it also used that shared connection between them all to prevent them from ever revealing the true nature and origins of the Walkers to them, or from directly aiding them in any way.

As such, it also locked away significant parts of the other four's power within whichever mortal held their avatar, weakening the other Tesseracts forever more. And should the last bearer of each avatar perish before passing it on, that part would also be extinguished, preventing the four from ever regaining their lost essence. This all began a very, very long time ago, but it is a power struggle that still very much continues to this day.

The Ancient World
Ven Started in Phocaea, arriving on Earth among the Greeks. A good portion of his time was spent observing and learning about humanity in this ancient powerhouse of maritime trade. He would frequently find ways to accompany trading ships to experience other places and cultures along their routes, and because the ships he journeyed on never fell to storms or other maritime troubles, he began to gain a reputation as somewhat of a good luck charm. Eventually, an individual or so caught wind that these miracles were more than just good luck, and Ven’s reputation steadily grew from lucky charm into object of worship.

While Ven didn't go out of his way to seek out this new divine status, he didn't discourage it either. The ceremonial interaction and exchange of power fascinated him, and he couldn't deny that having worshipers had some undeniable perks. Ven’s acolytes acted as his eyes and ears throughout the human world, watched over him while he hibernated, and of course, they were always around when he needed a good meal.

But Ven did take care of his own too, it could hardly be considered a one sided exchange. Those Ven called his enjoyed protection in their journeys and good health, and rarely did they or their families ever go hungry or without shelter. As long as they cared for him, he cared for them.

But nothing lasts forever, and the Greco-Persian Wars took Phocaea first. Many of Ven's people died or fled the city when it was abandoned. Ven sheltered who he could. Others he pulled from the jaws of death the only way he knew how-- he turned them, making them the first of the Suntouched.

Phocaea frequently traded with Naucratis, a Greek settlement in Egyptian lands. When Ven departed the ruins of Phocaea for Egypt, the Suntouched came with him. Much of Egypt was also Persian ruled at the time, but things were far more peaceable than the lands they had fled from. Ven remained in Naucratis for a good while, maintaining it as his home port and venturing freely across Egypt and Persia, learning from both cultures and recovering from his previous losses.

When Ven eventually settled in Egypt, it was within the shadows of its later years (404–343 BCE). Egypt had finally succeeded in throwing off the rule of foreign invaders from Persia, and was enjoying a relative period of peace where temples were expanding and the old ways were being reclaimed. With them, Ven enjoyed a period of peace for another sixty years, quietly expanding his influence in the underbelly of Egypt. For Ven, it was a social game not to be taken too seriously, a time to play and experience humanity in all its flavors.

And doing so was hardly difficult. Egypt had a large population of vampires of its own, individuals from a culture of sun worshipers who could never see the sun again. The gift of Ven's own lifeblood would allow them to walk once more within its precious rays, and they saw him as a gift from the divine, if not divine in his own right. The ranks of the Suntouched swelled during this time, mostly composed of vampires and their mortal loved ones.

When Artaxerxes III reconquered Egypt, things got more serious. Ven lost several of his followers to Artaxerxes' reign of terror, though he managed to shield the majority of them from the worst of the conqueror’s acts by drawing on power from the part of himself that he had placed within the Walkers' Dragon bearer. With their religion and culture being actively destroyed, Ven's followers grew to immense numbers, no longer just vampires, but many mortal rebels as well.

The Suntouched didn't succeed in overthrowing these Persian invaders, but they were a constant thorn in their side up until Egypt was conquered once more in 332 BCE by Alexander the Great. By that time, the Dragon had vanished, presumed dead in some terrible cataclysm that Ven refused to talk about. Robbed of a significant portion of his power, he was not able to protect his people this time when the Roman armies came for them.

Despite the odds, many of Ven's people chose to continue to fight these new conquerors. Even with the additions of the vampiric ranks of the Suntouched, it was a bloodbath. This came as a great blow to Ven, who blamed himself personally for their deaths. He placed any survivors into a forced hibernation, to heal and sleep and wait for better days, and bade his mortal followers to flee and live their lives far from the Roman occupation if they could.

Then Ven himself went into a deep state of mourning driven hibernation and was not seen again until around 1870 when he popped up somewhere around Italy. Ven has traveled mostly in isolation since then.

The Modern World
Ven was aware of the fall of the Walkers, and even in his state of deep hibernation, felt their numbers shrink, already unbalanced by the loss of the last Dragon Bearer. He mourned that loss, but could do little to rectify the situation-- or so he thought. In truth, Qyinn had torn the injured spirit of fire from its previous host as he died to prevent its total annihilation, preserving it in a state of sleep until an appropriate host manifested in the bloodline.

When Krepta was born, Qyinn saw opportunity in her. The mother, Alyson, one of the few remaining Walkers left, had sought to hide the history of their family line from Krepta, and thus protect her from its horrors. Qyinn had other plans, and when it deemed Krepta old enough, it lured one of the beasts of Corruption to her home and allowed it to attack, stepping in at the last moment with an offer to protect Krepta, if Alyson would only pledge her young daughter to the Walker's cause.

Alyson accepted and Qyinn bound Krepta's soul to the Dragon's. It continued to hide the presence of Krepta from Ven over the years, with the design of molding this last Walker for itself without outside interference. Plans went well until a terrible act by another sometime in Krepta's late twenties caused her to lose control of her powers briefly, and the Dragon to emerge from her fully. The surge of power woke Ven to Krepta's presence and he found her curled up unconscious in a dark, seaside cave.

Qyinn's geas prevented Ven from exposing Qyinn and its schemes directly, but he could leave Krepta a gift-- a journal of her mother's, too recent to be from before the era of her supposed death. He laid other bread-crumbs too, popping up here and there under the guise of mischief or flirtation to lead her to a frozen, abandoned city once populated by the Walkers, or to offer her shelter from the eyes of Qyinn in exchange for services of her own. As long as it was well disguised, or seemed to be Krepta's idea, Ven could outwit the geas and lead her to the truth.

At least, this is his hope. And he knows, when that day comes, there will likely be a reckoning for all of them.