Alias : Algernon Baudouin
Title : Imperator of Valakis
Gender : Male
Race : Nirnaelite
Heritage : Valakian
Age : 4035 years old (immortal)
Height : 6f11 (rather short by Nirnaelite standards)
Weight : 260lbs
Hair : peach coloured, straight, mid-thigh length
Eyes : pale blue, dark scleras
Sexual orientation : homosexual
Partners : Dunahan Alsyn (deceased), Paride of Marnek (deceased), Henri Fontaine (deceased), Zachary Donovan
No children
Parents : Riage Belu (deceased) & Miane Diman (deceased)
No siblings
Voice : his voice is hushed, gentle, even honeyed. However, he speaks with a prominent lisp and has an accent that no one on Ler can place since Midianite culture is long gone and forgotten. He can speak all five languages of Ler fluently, having had all eternity to learn.
Movement : having weaned himself off blood, he is left rather weak. He moves a bit slowly, but this doesn't mean that his reflexes are not faster than that of a regular human. He simply will not expend energy unless needed. His right leg was badly mutilated during the curse, leaving heavy scar tissue which makes it difficult to bend his knee. As such, he has a slightly shuffling gait and tends to walk with a cane.
Personality : he is a very calm and collected person. He may appear as silent and detached, but it's simply because he prefers to speak to people he holds near and dear. Being so old and well-read, he can regale humans with grand tales of the past. His natural charisma, which elevated him as Imperator, also makes him inspiring to people and he can gain one's trust rather easily. However, his immortality has crippled his empathy. His enemies are dealt with swiftly and coldly. He has no remorse even if he has to slaughter innocents in order to achieve his goal. Nevertheless, he has risen to such power that he no longer has any enemies now, therefore his temperament is quite mellow. His people view him as a saint due to his kindness and generosity. Being immortal also means that he has nothing to fear walking the streets despite being a high profile target. Thus he is very close to the people of Sarna.
Weapon of choice : he is an excellent fencer, thus quite deadly with a rapier. He is also a great shot with a pistol.
Strengths : despite being weakened by the lack of blood, he can still easily crush bones with his hands. He can run quite fast and jump quite high, all with agility and grace. However, his eloquence and charisma mean he rarely has to fight.
Weaknesses : like all Nirnaelites, exposure to sunlight (this includes moonlight as well) causes fatigue until he ceases up. Although he can and will drink water on the regular, food tastes horrific and will make him sick. Thus he may rouse suspicion by never eating. Strong smells, such as garlic, lemon, lavender, etc. will overwhelm and deter him. However, smells of the flesh, like sweat or unwashed skin, will make his appetite grow and his bloodthirst more difficult to control. If in dire need of blood, he can consume that of an animal, however, the taste is revolting and it won't grant him much strength.
Favourite colour : white
Likes : watching mortals do everything he can't, dancing, fencing, going on walks, quiet rainy days, music, theatre
Dislikes : rude people, lack of grace, Auriel royalty, showing his face
BIOGRAPHY
Algernon Baudouin was born Soren Nuhir in 2016 of the Ancient Era.
When he was 19, he met Dunahan Alsyn, who would become his husband. Later on, Dunahan would become the leader of the first Auriels and began the royal lineage of the Donovan family.
The Midianite society was divided by the beliefs of different deities. Many Midianites sought audience with the cosmos in order to find a godly being that would grant them immortality. The most prominent cult of all was that of Empusa, believed to be a goddess of death. Her popularity was further increased by her being the sole goddess that the Rector of Midian, Jenesz Fabori, believed in. Her being linked to death, the population believed that she would help them overcome it.
Most Midianites claiming to hear voices from the cosmos were either insane or frauds. However, Algernon could hear a lamentful song. Although he could not speak the unknown language of the music, he somehow knew its meaning. These laments would vary, but the more the years passed, the more they urged him to leave Midian.
While Algernon founded his own church, becoming the hierophant of Yhrze, the name he gave to the singing voice he heard, he also gained many followers. However, as he rose in influence, the Rector came to deeply hate him.
Algernon's love for Yhrze also dug a rift between him and his husband. To Dunahan, it seemed that his partner was far more interested in that voice only he could hear than the man he had married.
Over the years, Jenesz's obsession with immortality led him to commit horrific acts in the name of Empusa. He was always encouraged by his right hand and confidante, the prophet Anderzu, who could see the future. Anderzu saw their race achieving immortality. He also saw rivers of blood and gore, believing this was Empusa's desire.
Algernon brushed off many assassination attempts, but never wished to leave Midian. He did not want to be afraid. Nevertheless, he could not stand idly as he witnessed the carnage wrought upon his people. The disciples of Yhrze were prime targets for sacrifices and their numbers were dwindling rapidly.
Thus he prayed to Yhrze to show a sign that he was the one true god. To lead his people back on the path of righteousness. That immortality was not worth losing their humanity over.
That night, a bright star fell from the sky, and a being, a fragment of Yhrze's consciousness, came to be.
However, Algernon and his followers' joy was short-lived. With his ear poisoned by the words of Anderzu, and highly threatened by Yhrze, Jenesz only saw a sacrifice in this being from the stars. They would use its corpse as a husk for Empusa to be reborn. She would rise and grant them their wish.
Unfortunately, there never was an Empusa. Calling death into the flesh of a celestial being only summoned a mere fragment of the torn soul of Nemeresis, the deceased god of death. And when Nemeresis refused to do his bidding, Jenesz tortured and killed him as well, thus dooming their entire race.
When the being from Yhrze was first captured, Algernon heard loud and clear that he had to leave. That there would be no saving him or his disciples if they remained in Midian.
With a heavy heart, Algernon departed, followed only by a handful of faithfuls. Many had families which would not leave and thus opted to stay with them. Even Dunahan, despite nearly sixty years of marriage, rather pledged himself to the resurrected, amnesiac Nemeresis, seeing a true god in the flesh for the first time, than follow his husband away from their homeland. Algernon's best friend, Gyul Letargis (later known as Amaury de Ronceval), was torn when his wife and child would rather remain in Midian, but he vowed to follow Algernon to the very end. Amaury would become Algernon's right hand and spymaster when he later rose to power in Sarna.
Thus, the most faithful disciples of Yhrze left Midian behind, never to return. On their way towards the coast of Ghaur, where they planned to sail to Almer, the curse befell them. They had no idea what had caused it, unaware of the horrific events that had transpired in their homeland. Maddened with a thirst for blood, slowly dying in agony, they began tearing at each other in crazed bloodlust. They ate rotting flesh off their friends and kins, clawed at their own face in torturous rapture.
Until the pain abated and they felt absolutely nothing anymore. In his grace, Yhrze had saved them, not without horrific consequences. Nemeresis' curse had been consummated, but left the remaining Midianites alive. They were all horrifically scarred, twisted beyond recognition, mangled, emaciated, turned into bloodthirsty monsters. Their blood had turned to ash in their veins. Their nerves could only be awakened by a meal of fresh human flesh.
Heeding Yhrze's song, Algernon led his disciples to Almer. There all the Midianites abandoned their birth names and took on new ones. Their occasional contacts with the Margraces made it so that they all adopted Margrace names. Thus Soren Nuhir became Algernon Baudouin.
The last message he received from Yhrze was to travel to Zardunel, which he and his disciples did. There they found an ancient, underground city where an entire civilization had been lost ages ago. Calling this place Nirnael, the Midianite made it their domain, away from the sun, and renamed themselves Nirnaelite. Above ground, Algernon, wrapped in bandages and a mask to not only conceal his monstrosity but also his aversion to the sun, rose to prominence in the fishing village of Sarna. Eventually, it would grow into the largest cosmopolitan city on Ler and become the heart of the new Nirnaelite empire.
It would take over 4000 years before Algernon heard Yhrze's voice again. Exhausted from undoing the curse of Nemeresis, the god had a short rest. During those long millennia, Algernon felt utterly abandoned, bereft of love, and even began to believe it had been his imagination all along. This lack of guidance, combined with his husband Dunahan resurfacing as an Auriel, having no memory of his previous life, led him down a dark path.