Corporeal Forces: 6
Strength: 12
Agility: 12
Ethereal Forces: 4
Intelligence: 9
Precision: 7
Celestial Forces: 5
Will: 11
Perception: 9
Skills: Climbing/2, Dodge/4, Fighting/3, Knowledge (Vampire Lore)/4, Move Silently/5, Savoir-Faire/3, Seduction/3, Tracking/2
Songs: Attraction (Celestial/2), Charm (Corporeal/1, Ethereal/1, Celestial/2), Form (Corporeal/2, Ethereal/4, Celestial/2), Numinous Corpus (Claws/2, Fangs/3), Shields (Celestial/4)
Vessels: Human Male/3, Human Female/2, Bat/1, Wolf/1
Attunements: Impudite of Death, Balseraph of Death, Zombie*,
Kiss of Death, Knight of the Dead, Captain of the Infernal Legion, Baron of the Undead Kingdom
*Byrus developped a variation of the Zombie attunement, which
automatically creates cheap, zombie-like Vampires (which he calls Vampire Spawn) with NC: Fangs and Need (Blood)/3.
Rites: Sleep in a Cemetary for 6 hours, Kill ten humans - not necessarily all at once, Convert a willing human into wanting to become a Vampire (Special)
Just when you think all of Saminga's Servitors are tasteless brutes
who don't do much besides finding creative ways to kill people, hang
around in goth-like surroundings and buddy with the Undead, you
find one who's actually got taste... Even if he still is a brute
who likes to kill, plays the Goth scene and buddies with the Undead.
But then, what else would you expect from the Demon of Vampires?
History
Now, it should be noted that Byrus isn't the first Demon of Vampires.
That honor goes to an old Shedite of Death who's name is now forgotten,
who used to possess the corpses of plague victims, using them to spread
fear and death to more and more villages.
Around the dawn of the Victorian age, however, that demon's power was
waning due to medical advances, and Byrus saw a chance to advance
himself. For years, he'd seen the natural link between Vampirism and
the abilities of Impudites (especially those of Death), and realized
that Vampirism and Vampires deserved better then to be considered
"Second Rate" Undead. They certainly deserved better representation.
He plotted to replace that weakining Shedite for years. He finally
made his move in 1813, after the original Shedite's "unfortunate"
death by Malakite Encounter, when, under the Role of Lord Byron, he
wrote "The Giaour", a story almost glorifying Vampirism. He then
found Dr John Polidori, and subtily "inspired" his own writing of
"The Vampyre", a story focusing on a powerful aristocratic Vampire.
This little act of shameless Death promotion earned Byrus a smile from
Saminga, as well as a Knighthood. (The first time Saminga did so since
rewarding the demon who convinced Shakespere to kill off everyone at
the end of Macbeth. Say what you will, Saminga does appreciate good
litterature... so long as it pleases his tastes.)
It's no small coincidence that Polodori's Lord Ruthven was seemingly
modeled after Lord Byron, since Byrus was, at the time, shaping his
own "ideal" form of Vampirism, becoming the Ideal Vampire in form
and function. He learned the Numinous Corpus: Fangs as best as he
could, and also studied the Celestial Song of Shields, then took to
honing his skills at hunting prey in the streets of London, killing
prostitutes and other vagrants for practice, under cover of disturbance-dampening fog. After he had his killing techniques developped, he
began pursuing his prey into parlors and upper class drawing rooms,
focusing on innocent young ladies, enraging both Heaven and Lust as
he killed young, still virgin maidens in the prime of their youth,
converting many of them into undead vampires. This earned him the
Balseraph of Death Band Attunement, as well as a Captainhood. Saminga
always appreciates a good jab at Andrealphus.
Byrus' apotheosis came at last in 1890, when, with the help of a
Servitor of Nightmares whom he'd befriended (a Calabite who later on
became the first Demon of Horror Literature). His friend used the
Ethereal song of Projection and his own attunements to help Byrus
create the Vampyric nightmare which inspired Stoker's masterpiece,
"Dracula." Further incursions helped shape the novel further down the
road Byrus wanted it to, making Dracula a tragic, anti-heroic figure,
rather then just a remorseless beast. He also made Dracula-type
vampires social creatures relying on cunning, social influence and
seduction, rather then brutal violence. In other words, Dracula was
exactly like an Impudite of Death; seductive, but deadly. Lucifer
personally purchased one of the first issues, and visited Byrus,
insisting for a signature by "The Demon of Vampires."
Needless to say, getting a Baronhood from Saminga (who loved the book,
and was delighted at rubbing Andrealphus' nose in another perversion of
Lust) was almost anti-climactic. Still, Byrus wasn't going to rest on
his laurels... He spent the subsequent years continuing to promote
Vampirism as an acceptable "lifestyle", finding converts amongst the
more troubled, along with keeping the Vampire's image popular amongst
the masses. Around the 70s, he started getting some trouble, as the
Media began portraying Vampires as camp, almost comical creatures. For
a time, it started to look as if Byrus' reign as "Demon of Vampires"
was going to come to an end...
Then he met Anne Rice, and Byrus was pleased... He wasn't above
reinventing himself for a new, younger audience... especially since
it worked. Now, Byrus is tempting a whole new generation into thinking
of Vampirism as "Cool", and he's loving every minute of it.
Manner and Appearance
Byrus looks and acts like your typical Impudite; charming, sociable,
seductive... He definitely plays the part well, knowing all the tricks
of maneuvering amongst humans, influencing them either with or without
his resonance. This is just an act, however. As an Impudite of Death,
Byrus feels
no dissonance from killing humans, so he sees nothing wrong with simply
ripping a human's throat out before sucking the Essence out of the
bleeding corpse.
As is befitting the Demon of Vampires, Byrus can always be found dressed
in the fashions most often attributed to Vampires. For years, he wore
an almost ubiquitous tuxedo with red opera cape (or just about anything
with a cloak), but in recent years, he's taken to wearing more modern,
"counter-culture" clothing such as black leather trenchcoats, loose,
silky shirts, or just about anything with a "Goth" look to it (a style
so popular with other Servitors of Death, it's nearly become their
trademark).
Byrus is just as comfortable seducing young, virginal maidens into
baring their throats to him willingly as he is hunting down prostitutes
into dark alleys to rip them apart for the gore. Most of the time,
he doesn't even need the Essence, and he certainly doesn't need the
blood. To Byrus, the sheer thrill of the killing is enough. He enjoys
the act of killing and drinking blood far more then the Essence rush.
This makes him a capable, adaptable enemy, able to move amongst varying
circles of society almost at will. It's a fact now well known to many
members of the Eternal Order of the Blade, on whose Top Ten most Hunted
list he's been on for decades, shifting randomly between #9 to #6 at
any given time. Considering that Demons of Lust have actively been
trying to help the Order to find and destroy him all this time, his
continued success is a tribute to his skill, cunning and ferocious
determination.
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