Royce Ambrose

[sully]

Name: Royce Ambrose
Age (Appearance): 26
Age (Actual): 351
Gender: Male
Clan: Sacramentum Et Res
Sire: Ari Hrafn
Childer: None
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Status: Black Sheep of the Sacrament Family
Sexuality: Pansexual, homoromantic
Quote: “Oi, get off my back Ari. What’s the point of immortality if you ain’t gonna enjoy yourself??”

Hair: Thick, curly brown, medium length hair falling slightly past his ears and into his eyes. While it looks messy and unkempt, closer inspection shows it’s meticulously styled to look uncared for. He has a light dusting of dark brown facial hair across his chin and upper lip.
Eyes: Bright hazel eyes always conveying a cheerful, yet mischievous demeanor
Frame: 5’ 10”. Royce has a lithe build with defined muscles, but very thin. Besides the small amount of hair on his face, Royce’s body is devoid of all hair
Tattoos/Distinguishing Marks: Royce’s body is covered in scars due to his years of living on the street and the numerous scraps he got into in his human life. There is one gruesome cut across his chest where a merchant slashed him with a knife for trying to steal some bread.

Personality: Royce is best described as a good-natured hedonist, constantly searching for new and old pleasures to be experienced in his undead life. He enjoys getting into trouble, both with mortal laws and those set down by Charon and the rest of the Sacrament. This mainly manifests as public intoxication, torrid romances with married individuals, good-natured scuffles, and a complete disrespect for tradition. However, Royce is loathed to commit harmful violence against a mortal or supernatural creature unless in self-defense. While he claims otherwise, Royce struggles with various addictions, mainly sex and alcohol (through blood). Since the Incident, Royce has tried to limit his intake of tainted blood, but has found it difficult. Despite greatly enjoying his immortality, Royce routinely laments about how much he misses being human. The only member of the family he likes is Ari, mainly because he knows how much stress he puts on Ari and hopes to one day make it up to him.

History: Royce never knew his parents, his earliest memories already burdened with loneliness. He grew up with a small gang of orphans on the streets of Liverpool in the mid-1600s. While most of the orphans left the gang once they were old enough to work, Royce stayed to look after the younger members and unsure they were well taken care of. This desire to protect his adopted brothers and sisters usually caused him to take the fall for any misdeeds committed by the gang. This left him with scars and bruises covering his body from his "punishments" by the hands of the towns adults.

By the time he turned 20, Royce was still living on the streets of Liverpool, but was now a drunk beggar, pick-pocketing the occasional traveler for more booze money. One day he made the mistake of pick-pocketing a handsome looking man named Ari. The two men took an instant shining to one another, with Ari showing concern for Royce's current situation. Over time, they became lovers and Ari told Royce about what he was. Scared at first, Royce was intrigued by the idea of immortality and asked Ari if he could sire him. Ari explained that things weren't that simple and told him of the Sacrament's rules regarding siring. Royce took an immediate dislike to these  "rule abiding" vampires, but was still too enamored with the idea of immorality. Without thinking, he begged Ari to allow him to try and earn his siring. Ari reluctantly agreed.

Royce spent the next six years studying and training to become a part of the Sacrament. During this time he met his fellow initiate Hugh who he took an instant dislike to. Cops had been the bane of Royce's existence, inflicting most of the wounds that still covered his body. They butted heads and every time, each trying to undermine the other and stop them from being sired. But they were unsuccessful in their efforts to thwart one another and both were sired into the family.

Many members of the Sacrament had been apprehensive to admit Royce into the family from the start and these feelings did not improve as Royce tested the bounds of his new immortal life. Over the next few centuries, Royce spent his time mainly drinking and fucking his way across the globe, following wherever Ari went. He occasionally got himself embroiled in resistance movements in various countries, leading Ari to have to come and yank him out before he was either discovered or killed. The two had an on and off relationship with Royce routinely breaking it off when he felt that things were getting a bit boring. However, he never stopped loving Ari and would go out of his way to help him when he could. On his sire’s 1200th birthday, Royce gave him a ornate gold ring, symbolizing the bond they shared as sire and fledge. While he eventually built connections with the rest of the members of the family, it was only Ari that Royce truly considered his true kin.

Five years ago, Royce went too far and drained a human woman, killing her in the middle of a club. The Sacrament was able to cover it up, but Charon was furious. He sent Royce away to LA to a member of the Giovanni family who instructed Royce on various business practices, as well as necromancy. Royce returned to the City a few months ago and has spent most of his time doing drugs and fucking his brains out, trying to forget the past five years of boredom and loneliness.

Awareness of Supernatural: “I know what I gotta know about who I want to know about”

Occupation/Job: Trust-fund Kid

Domicile: Penbrook Estate

Interesting Facts/Quirks: Routinely ventres out to vampire night clubs with a small harem of Sacrament mortal followers. He pays for their drinks and drugs at the cost of him drinking their intoxicated blood. He encourages rich young mortals to join his table, recruiting followers for the Sacrament through paying for their lavish parties in exchange for their loyalty.

Hobby/Hobbies: Party planning, running, sex

Likes: Humans, brandy, American Spirits, animal skin clothing

Dislikes: Traditions, rules, LA

Strengths: Royce had an innate talent for celerity and after spending over three centuries practicing, can perform acts of celerity some centuries older vampires cannot achieve. He is able to read, scan for, and look at memories in people’s minds, but develops a massive migraine if the ability is used too often or for too long. His love for humans has made him incredibly popular among the Sacrament’s human followers.
Weaknesses: Heavy alcohol and drug dependency. Unable to use telekinesis or domination due to a massive lack of study on both subjects. His tendency to get himself into trouble has made him the black sheep of the family, although not necessarily disliked by all.

Vampiric Disciplines:

Celerity

Cat's Grace: The vampire gains a balance and grace equal to and surpassing world-class trapeze artists. They can walk and even run across ledges and wires effortlessly and can keep their balance on the slimmest of supports.

Rapid Reflexes: While their bodies still can't defy the laws of nature, vampires with this power perceive events instantly and can react to them with superhuman alacrity. They can observe incoming projectiles to the extent that they can attempt to dodge arrows and even bullets without available cover.

Fleetness: Their mastery of Celerity now allows the vampire to move and react with dizzying speed.

Blink: The vampire swiftly closes in on a foe, engaging or escaping in the blink of an eye. To an unprepared observer the user almost appears to teleport, a rush of wind the only sign of their passing.

Traversal: With blurring speed the vampire can run or climb along any surface, including vertical and even liquid mediums. While Traversal does not grant insect-like supernatural traction, running up or along walls present little problem. Walking on water remains impossible, but the vampire can run on water for a limited distance given a run-up.

Auspex

Heightened Senses: The vampire's senses sharpen to a preternatural degree, giving them the ability to see in pitch darkness, hear ultrasonic frequencies and smell the fear of cowering prey.

Sense the Unseen: The senses of the vampire become attuned to dimensions beyond the mundane, allowing them to sense the presences otherwise hidden from the naked eye. This can be anything from another vampire using Obfuscate to someone using Auspex to spy upon the character to a ghost in the middle of the room.

Necromancy (Taught by Giovanni)

Bone Path
Tremenes: Make the flesh of a corpse shift once

Apprentice's Brooms: Allows the vampire to raise a corpse to perform simple functions like lifting a heavy box.

[sully]

Extended History:

Royce was born an orphan on the streets of the small town of Liverpool in the mid 1600s. He spent most of his time running around the town, stirring up trouble, stealing bits of food, and getting into scrapes with fellow children. Despite his raucous behaviour, most people in the town were kind to him, feeling sorry for his situation in life. Royce, however, never saw anything wrong with his life. While he understood that he had been dealt a bad hand by the powers at be, he very much enjoyed his life and the unrestricted nature of his childhood.

As he grew older, Royce began caring for the other orphaned children of the city. He worked odd jobs to make as much money as he could for food and shelter for his charges, but routinely had to steal to keep them all healthy and happy. This led to the town slowly beginning to dislike him more and more, saying he was allowing too much of an unsavory element to exist in their town. Royce was arrested and beaten multiple times by the cops in town, sometimes nearly to death. But each time he would crawl back out of the gutter, tend to his wounds, and return to his duties.

When he turned 20, the cops raided the derelict house Royce was housing the orphans while he was away and moved them to London for a “better life”. Heartbroken over the loss of the only family he had, he simply gave up and became a pick-pocketing beggar on the street, drinking his sorrows away at the local tavern. During this time he tried picking the pockets of a well dressed blond haired man on a cold dark night. Royce ran to the man crying and said that his mother was deathly ill and he needed just a few coins to get her the medicine she needed. While the man kindly refused to help, although stating he wish he could, Royce snuck his hand around the man’s back and lifted his coin purse. As he was about to conceal the purse in his own pockets, the man grabbed Royce’s hand with inhuman speed and glared at him, asking without words what the hell he was doing. Tired and a bit drug addled, Royce confessed he was trying to scrounge up enough money to travel to London to visit some children he had once cared for. Unknown to Royce, the man began to sift through the boy’s mind and found that while some of the money would have gone to drink and drugs, Royce was not lying about the children or his deep desire to see them again.

The man, who introduced himself as Ari, invited the boy to travel with him to London where he would keep him warm and fed until he would have the opportunity to see his past chargers. Royce, in no position to say no to such an offer, accepted, handing back the coin purse, but not before pillaging a gold or two. Whether or not Ari noticed this act, although he probably had, he made no mention of it. The boy traveled with Ari to London where he shortly learned that there was more to the man than he’d known. One night soon after arriving in London, Ari took Royce to a tavern off the beaten path where Ari promised to introduce him to Ari’s family. Over the course of the evening, Royce learned of this vampire family and that Ari, without truly asking him, had chosen him as his “fledge”. At first Royce was terrified by the idea and sought to run out at soon as he could. But he noticed the disgusted looks on the faces of the family members present at the idea of his siring and Royce became annoyed. Who do these assholes think they are? Just because I’m a street rat don’t mean I can’t make a good vampire. With a sense of reckless pride, Royce declared that he very much wished to be a part of this family and pledged to do whatever it took to succeed.

Over time, Royce began to learn more and more about the Sacramentum Et Res and other aspects of vampire culture and biology. While Royce seemed to take little interest in his studies or the family history, he could answer any question posed to him about the family quickly and correctly. Eventually, despite his dislike for Royce's erratic behavior and distaste for authority, Charon allowed Ari to sire the young man. As a vampire, Royce’s hedonistic desires grew larger and more unpredictable. He routinely got the human followers dangerously drunk and then fed on them, savoring in the shared drunkenness between them. However, he would always compensate them the next night, either financially or treating them to a large meal. Over time he found more and more comfort among the human followers of the Sacrament, choosing to spend less and less time with the family, besides Ari, unless absolutely necessary. Royce found the family's love for rules and traditions stifling and their desire to grow their power a tad boring. While it would be a lie to say Royce did not enjoy the power being a member of the Sacrament gave him, he never attempted to branch out and make a name for himself on his own.

Possibly due to this self-exclusion from the family or for a reason only he knew, Ari convinced Felicia and Charon to allow the former to sire a new child so as to have someone for Royce to "grow up with". However, this instantly backfired once the two met. Royce felt that Hugh embodied much of what he disliked about the Sacrament, mainly his deep desire to please the older members of the family for what Royce saw as Hugh's own gain and the simple fact that he was a no good cop. The two spent much of their time together squabbling and blaming the other for various offenses that they believed the other committed to slight them. Various members of the family tried to solve the issue between the two men, but neither were willing to let things go. The intensity of the two's animosity dwindled over the years, but Royce can still rarely see Hugh without trying to get one or two good digs in. Someone needs to make sure he doesn't get too big for his britches. And I don't mind being that guy!

Over the next few centuries, Royce spent his time mainly drinking and fucking his way across the globe, following wherever Ari went. He occasionally got himself embroiled in resistance movements in various countries, leading Ari to have to come and yank him out before he was either discovered or killed. The two had an on and off relationship with Royce routinely breaking it off when he felt that things were getting a bit boring. However, he never stopped loving Ari and would go out of his way to help him when he could. On his sire’s 1200th birthday, Royce gave him a ornate gold ring, symbolizing the bond they shared as sire and fledge. While he eventually built connections with the rest of the members of the family, it was only Ari that Royce truly considered his true kin.

It was no different than any other night. Royce was going out with a few human followers in the summer of 2014 to a local bar. Once there he bought them as much beer and hash they wanted and continued to drink from them as the night wore on. Eventually, with how inebriated the humans were and how much Royce drank, he became incredibly intoxicated himself. On the dance floor he spied a beautiful young woman dancing alone to a song playing on the jukebox. Royce went over and began dancing with her, their bodies becoming more and more entwined and heated. In his lust, Royce bit her neck and began drinking from her. She was fairly drunk herself so the liquor in her blood made it all the more sweeter. Unable to control his impulses, the girl eventually fell limp, dead from lack of blood. Once he realized what he’d done, Royce ran from the club to a pay phone to call Ari and tell him what happened. Ari came as quick as he could, and they tried to clean up the situation the best they could. But Ari, knowing they couldn’t keep this hidden without the family’s help, told Charon of the incident.

Brought before Charon, Royce got down on his knees and pleaded for forgiveness from the ancient vampire. The words tasted sour on his tongue, but Ari had made it clear that while the act itself would not land Royce into too much trouble, acting smart about it definitely would. Charon smiled coldly down upon him and remarked that he had waited a long while for Royce to finally screw up like he knew he would. He called him a disgrace to their blood and an insolent child who cared for nothing more than himself. The blood in Royce’s body began to boil and he rose his face to respond, wanting to ask how many humans the family had accidentally or purposely drained/killed over the centuries, but was met with Charon’s cold dead eyes and smile. "Out of love for your sire I have been as patient with you as I could Royce. But now I worry you are truly beginning to walk a dangerous path. I believe it's high time for you to learn some respect and how best to apply yourself to help this family grow. I will make arrangements with our Giovanni friends in LA to house and instruct you on the proper way to conduct yourself. Hopefully this will finally teach you how to behave."

Charon's last sentence rang loudly in Royce's ears, confirming the fact that this short banishment was not just about the young woman's death. He looked around at the other members of the family and found many of them nodding in agreement at Charon's proposal. Royce's eyes landed on Hugh who could not hide a smug, satisfied grin as Charon's verdict had been delivered. Only Ari's face showed sadness towards the decision, but he could also see that his sire seemed to approve nonetheless. In that moment, for the first time in his undead life, the fight went out of Royce. He nodded and thanked Charon for his decision on the matter and promised to do his best to make the family proud. Satisfied by this, Charon dismissed him and he was led away to one of the family's private jets, without even the chance to say goodbye to his sire.

The past 5 years in LA were some of the worst years of Royce’s life. The Giovanni kept him under intense supervision and allowed him very little time for fun or recreation. He learned the finer points of running businesses, “acting accordingly”, and picking up a few necromancy tricks from a Giovanni fledge he’d seduced. Royce was ecstatic when he received the call from Ari saying he was allowed back home, but was quickly hit by a feeling of uneasiness. He worried about what had happened to Ari and the human followers he cared for and how things would be now that he’d proven to Charon and the rest of the family that he was a “difficult child”. Regardless, whatever the City or the family had in store for him, Royce knew it had to be more exciting than the past five years of unending boredom. It was time to have some fun again.