Dracula, Lord of the Vampires

Vlad Dracul (a.k.a. Dracula)

Born the voivode (prince) of Wallachia in Transylvania in the early 15th Century, Vlad Dracul frequently warred with the Ottoman Turks for control of his country and his rightful throne. He earned a reputation as a ruthless ruler and the nickname “Vlad the Impaler” for his practice of impaling enemies on sharpened wooden stakes as a means of execution.
Gravely wounded in battle, Dracul was found by a gypsy who offered him an opportunity to survive, if he chose to take it. He did and the gypsy, herself a vampire, transformed Dracul into one of her kind. He later destroyed her in retribution and learned he could increase his vampiric powers by consuming the blood of his own kind. He departed Transylvania and began hunting other vampires and gathering occult knowledge around the world.
By the 19th Century, Dracula, as he was known, had returned to his ancestral homeland, where he controlled a castle. He made arrangements to move to London, then the center of the world’s political and social power, but met opposition from the vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing and his allies. Dracula later made a similar attempt to move to Freedom City in America, likewise thwarted by adventurers in that unusual city.
Vampire hunters and occultists have believed the Lord of Vampires destroyed many times over the centuries but, each time, Dracula has risen once again to stalk the night. Although he has not been heard from in some time—and is once again widely believed to have been destroyed—no one has yet claimed the title of “Lord of the Vampires” in his place, and it is likely the world has not heard the last of its most infamous monster

Physical Description

Special abilities

Dracula wields the powers of a traditional vampire, supplemented by the elder powers he has gained over the centuries. He is beyond the concerns of the living, immune to suffocation, the effects of the environment, toxins, diseases, and the like. He can recover quickly from virtually any injury, save being staked through the heart or destroyed by sunlight. Even burning or other forms of destruction are not permanent for him, and even traditional forms of vampiric destruction may be reversible under the right circumstances.
Dracula can exert his will over anyone meeting his gaze, controlling the minds of others. He often has a particular enthralled slave to do his bidding during the daylight hours while he rests in his coffin. Dracula can also summon and command “the Children of the Night” including bats, rats, and packs of wolves. His mental influence affects other vampires as well, and he can often command their obedience.
The Lord of Vampires is superhumanly strong, swift, and tough, able to assume the form of a cloud of mist, or a bat or wolf, often blending into a flock or pack of his summoned creatures.
Dracula’s sole need is the blood of the living to sustain him. He must feed or else he becomes impaired, disabled and, ultimately, dying. He is vulnerable to the light of the life-giving sun, which can destroy him, although it would take a minute or more of exposure to do so. Religious icons, wielded by someone of that faith, can keep him at bay and even cause him pain.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Dracula was transformed not by a mere Romani, but by an Urma (a “gypsy fairy,” one obsessed with power and night). Vlad, betrayed by his own brother and corrupt Hungarians, willingly rejected all that is good and holy for dominion over blood and darkness. He became not just a vampire, but a vampire lord. He ruled—in various guises—over many lands in Eastern Europe, establishing his vampiric dynasty and seducing multiple brides. In the 19th century, he set his eyes on Europe and on America, even briefly visiting Freedom City. In more recent times, he’s crossed paths with many superheroes. Though it might appear that they’ve destroyed him, he always comes back.
Dracula is a rare combination of skilled politician and sadistic butcher. At this point he cares little about nationalistic quarrels—all mortals are cattle to him, whether Turkish, Romanian, Hungarian, or from lands farther away. He retains a certain degree of honor, and a weakness for beautiful women, but he remains a cruel medieval warlord at heart. He enjoys torturing people physically and mentally, for the sheer pleasure of crushing them and for the taste of their blood once they can no longer endure his attentions. One of his favorite mental tortures is finding good and noble people and breaking them slowly, often by converting the ones closest to them into vampires. Unlike some other vampire lords, Dracula likes to create spawn; if they survive, good for them, if they turn against him, he destroys them.
Dracula is aware he is a pop-culture celebrity. It flatters him and reinforces his feeling of superiority. Dracula views most European vampires as his subjects, regardless of whether they are even aware of his existence.
Contrary to Bram Stoker’s tale, Dracula has no “tragic love.” He does, however, enjoy meeting young women. There is even a possibility they remain mortal after encounters with him. Dracula leaves forgotten “brides” in his trail, both in the Old and the New World. Some of them are reborn to unlife, especially if they’re evil—or innocent—enough. One such dark lady that Dracula fancied was the original Raven’s flame, Lenore, though she had been a vampire before their encounter.

Intellectual Characteristics

A blood-thirsty warlord in life, Dracula has since cultivated the appearance of a suave and sophisticated gentleman with Old World manners and style. He can be quite witty and charming, when he chooses, but remains just as ruthless as when he earned himself the title “the Impaler”. He enjoys the company of lovely ladies, particularly those with fiery or defiant spirits he can seduce or break to his will. He also enjoys fencing at words with other cunning minds, at least until he tires of their defiance.
Dracula only cares about two things: his continued existence and increasing his not inconsiderable power. He seeks out occult lore, ancient artifacts, vampiric bloodlines, and other opportunities to make him not only unchallenged Lord of the Vampires but a virtual unliving god on Earth. Dracula’s dark dream is of the day when he rules unchallenged, with all of humanity as his cattle and playthings.

Social

Contacts & Relations

Dracula had few friends in life and even fewer after death. One of his closest confidantes was Stephen V Báthory, his nominal lord. The two shared a unique friendship, and after Dracula’s transformation it did not waver. Perhaps these two bonded over impaling and torturing Turks, or over their unholy magic. Báthory was a skilled sorcerer, having learned his craft somewhere in what’s now The Barony of Volkavia. Together, the two wove great plans, hoping to unite Central Europe against the pagans and Western enemies, all in service to darkness.
Eventually Báthory was betrayed and killed by Alexandru Movila, a minor sorcerer who served Báthory. Dracula rewarded Movila as a traitor deserves, but using his mystical powers and sheer willpower, Movila managed to stave off death, and now roams the world as a vile magician called The Crimson Mask.
Dracula took a personal interest in the Báthory family. (In fact, it was due to Dracula’s machinations that another Stephen Báthory became King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth). Dracula was later impressed by the sadism and cruelty of young Erszebet Báthory, eventually transforming her into a vampiric queen. She was stronger than Dracula thought possible and was one of the few women to defy and leave him. Nevertheless the Báthory family has always had at least one branch in both Germany and Russia. Dracula watches them all, and intervenes to “assist” them in whichever bloodthirsty way he feels most appropriate.