Alexis the Vampiric Priest

In life Alexis was a fervent worshipper of Holy Jove, who joined one of its monasteries at the age of five and spent his life climbing the clerical ladder. Like all such people, he had his faults: he was intolerant of other religions, and of heretics within his own religion, lumping them in with such genuinely evil elements as the Children of Ma-O. He considered the goddess Ulmania to be false and wondered why the Shogun and his Council of Admirals allowed such a religion to practise openly and even proselyte for new converts within a few streets away from a Jovian ziggurat. He could be foul tempered towards his underlings at times, yet most of them still admired him even if they didn’t like him very much.

It was he, once he reached the rank of City Bishop at the comparatively young age of forty-three, who had hospitals set up where certain monks, trained in the healing arts, treated sick, injured and dying Jovian worshippers for free. Those who belonged to other religions could be treated either for a hefty sum of money, or by taking the holy oaths that bound them and their souls to the Jovian religion. One thing that delighted him was when an Ulmanian priestess, seriously ill, had to convert to save her life.

Whilst most hospitals were hotbeds of infection, his wards treated only a few people per ward, those who were known to be infectious had their own room, and they were made of light balsa wood. Once every six months the patients were removed along with their personal effects, the balsa wards were burnt down, and new wards took their places.

He made sure that the food, whilst plain, was healthy, with plenty of fresh fruit, and that everyone had enough to eat and drink. As a result it was common knowledge that one was far more likely to be healed in a Jovian hospital then in another type. Enough non-Jovians who were unwilling to abandon their faith came and paid money to keep the hospitals going.

It was also he who established a squad of vampire hunters who rooted out nests of vampires and put them to the stake. Vampires, already not that many in number, became rare indeed thanks to his efforts. He himself was not above taking up the stake and holy water and going after vampires at the head of his squad. Popular with his fellow clergy, his superiors and the laypeople and free of the slightest taint of heresy, he seemed likely to become the youngest ever Cardinal before he had even reached the age of sixty. Which was when a vampire ambushed him one night. Perhaps for it’s own amusement, rather then kill him outright, the vampire turned him into a vampire too.

But so holy and powerful was his soul, that it was not driven out or beaten down by his demon and was able to regain control of the body. Horrified at what he had become, Alexis launched himself at his sire, taking him by surprise, and slew him. He then had to quickly tear off the holy symbol he wore around his neck before it could burn his undead flesh. When he then tried to go home, only to find himself barred from entering because of the holy symbol upon his door. Cursing what he had become, he seriously considered committing suicide. But in the Jovian religion, suicide was a sin that would bring great rage from Holy Jove in the afterlife, be it in killing oneself or willingly letting others kill you without fighting back.

For a time he survived by catching and eating rats, but knew he would soon come down with disease if he carried on doing that. And whilst disease could not kill a vampire, it could cause him or her great pain that might last for eternity. So he switched to attacking people who did not follow the religion of Jove. His favourite targets were criminals so that he could ease his conscience by telling himself that he was doing good and protecting society, but there were times when he had to feed on the innocent, in which case he tried to leave them alive if possible despite the increased chance that he might be hunted down and staked by the well-trained team of vampire hunters that he himself had set up.

He found that he did not have to drink human blood all that often, as killing and draining somebody would mean that he did not have to drink blood again for a whole month, whilst the smaller amounts he could take whilst leaving someone alive would last for a week before hunger would force him to strike again. The problem of being burned by sunlight he found to be a myth, as he could walk in the sun just like everyone else. He decided that vampires themselves to trick gullible humans must have spread the myth. It was either that, or his soul still being in control of his undead body prevented it from being seared by sunlight.

However, much to his spiritual anguish, he could not handle any sort of holy symbol or enter any holy place, although he could still hold a stake, and he doubted that any prayer he made to Holy Jove would be heard. To give his unlife some sort of purpose, he decided to infiltrate groups of vampires and then suddenly strike and destroy them from inside, thus doing his bit for his God and for human society. Despite the rumours rippling through vampiric society of a vampire who hunts and kills it’s on kind on a regular basis, he has so far managed to survive without being either uncovered as the traitor by other vampires or being tracked down by the members of the squad that he used to command.

Alexis hates what he has become, an undead travesty of humankind, hated by humans and vampires alike. He will never attack a fellow Jovian unless in self-defence or grossly provoked. His demon shares his body with him, and should he become greatly angry for any reason, his demon can take control of him for short periods of time, normally with very violent results. He has no family, having had a totally celibate life as a Jovian Priest before becoming a vampire. He lives partly on his old salary, which he can claim from the bank, as he has not yet been declared dead, and partly on what he steals from his human victims and from the vampires that he kills.

Plot Hooks

: The Jovian Church has paid the PCs to discover what has happened to their Bishop, as they have no idea what has happened to him. All they know is that Alexis’s holy wheel necklace was found lying in the street. Has he been murdered? Kidnapped? Has he had a mental breakdown? The PCs have to find him and uncover the truth.

: The PCs are vampires who are trying to track down and make an example of the traitor. Whilst vampires have been known to kill other vampires, to make a habit of it is seen as the worst possible thing for a vampire to do.