Vampyre, made.

Good morning, I am Romanji; Roman to my friends, and I am here to fulfill Dream Teller's request that I speak with you. Some of you will recall that I was scheduled to speak here a few weeks ago but I was called out of the country before some computer glitch with this site could be fixed. Kaithlin filled in for me at that time and I would like to say that I appreciate her kindness regarding her post.

In the three centuries, six decades, and six years of my existence I have seen this world at it's best and worst. I have watched nations emerge and topple; seen the rise and fall of kings, dictators, popes, and presidents; watched factions of peoples destroy other countries and be destroyed, as they struggle for survival and supremacy. Always there were wars, as there are now, and will be.

I was birthed in the year 1638; the fourth son of a Scottish lowland Laird of the Clan MacAllistaire. My da was what is known as a Berserker, as were his four sons. Today there are many legends about our Kind; some of the information factual, but most of it no more that myth and drivel that has been romanticized, stigmatized, and demonized by ordinary folk who had then and now no real understanding of us. Some claim Berserkers were immortal freaks; powerful, dangerous warriors who sold out to the highest bidder for our services while others claim we were mortals with supernatural powers who went about killing innocent folk to preserve our secrecy and secure our supremacy. But few in these modern times believe we even existed at all.

'Twas a time when false claims greatly angered me but today, 'tis of no consequence to me. People will believe as they choose; their beliefs driven by mortal weaknesses they seem never capable of overcoming. And so it is that the false claims continue and will continue no matter what I say here this day. Be that as it may, I will fulfill Dream Teller's request that I tell my side of things for those few who are truly interested in the truth.

Berserkers are mortals but with longevity well beyond ordinary mortal years. 'Tis true we are endowed with what you call supernatural powers but we prefer the term extraordinary. Our preference of term is our way of distinguishing our Kind from unearthly Kinds; those not of this world. Some myths have it that Berserkers came into being in the late fourteenth century and were dwindling in numbers by the early seventeenth century. We have always been, since the beginning of time, and while our numbers have been dwindling we continue to be in these times. Were it not for our Kind many nations would have collapsed long before they did and the demise of certain entire races would have left the modern world far different than what it is this day.

During my former life (I will come to why I still exist) mine was a clan of respectable people who asked for nothing more than the means to live out our lives in peace and prosperity. In contrast to modern times, ours was a difficult existence for we had not the modern conveniences some of you take for granted. Our common folk turned the earth by hand, traveled wherever they needed to go on foot or horseback, cooked over open fires, slept on beds fashioned of straw, lived in homes built from wood cut by hand. Depending upon one's lot, bathroom facilities were chamber pots, or the outdoors. For the few who could read and write mail was delivered by horseback, which often took months to reach its destination then months to receive a reply.

Because my da was Laird, we had it somewhat better than the ordinary folk of our clan. Our home was a castle built of hand-hewn stone and sealed with mortar fashioned of sun-baked mud. It was large and drafty; warmed by fire places large enough for a man to stand upright in and our fuel was wood and animal dung. My da employed a large staff of people from our clan and he was known and respected for his care of our people. Our clan lived within the castle grounds ringed by high walls and moats that protected us from our enemies; a town, as it would be likened to today and all who resided there were under the Laird's protection. It fell to the Laird to rule the lives of his clan, not an easy task to be sure, but a grave responsibility my da shouldered with great pride and dignity.

He and my mother, who was of Rumanian gypsy descent, were good and decent folk and theirs was an extraordinary relationship. In those days women were expected to keep to their place, that being providing for all their men's needs; birthing his children; tending family, home, and livestock, and such, without complaint. Love between man and wife was most often nonexistent, as women were purchased much as livestock was, but my da loved my mother and made many unusual allowances where she was concerned. He saw to it that she was free of much of the back-breaking work women performed and he plied her with the nicer clothing and personal needs other women could not dream of having, and gave her rights of rule over home and staff in his absence. In turn, she loved him to distraction, saw to his every personal need. She bore him four sons and, finally, a daughter whom they both desired to complete our family.

War among clans was normal in those times, for such was the greed and hostility of certain clans who would stop at nothing for to gain more power and land. My da was a powerful Berserker with one of the largest, well-trained armies of warriors in that part of the world and for many years he kept our enemies at bay and our clan prospered for his protection of his people and his holdings. As each of his sons came of age when the Berserker rage was upon them our clan became more successful and the Laird and his sons were known throughout the land as a power to be avoided. But our lives began to fall apart not long following the start of my seventeenth year.

I was the youngest son and already a seasoned warrior and as duty was most important, I had not any real knowledge of things outside our world. My da had decreed it was the time for me to take a wife, as my brothers had, and begin my own family. I was not interested in becoming encumbered, for I lived for the battle, but Da's word was law and so he sent me off with two of my brothers and a company of our warriors to meet the woman he had chosen for me; the daughter of another Laird who was one of our allies. I was to declare my intention to take her as my wife, pay a dowry for her, and bring her home to wed.

My brothers decided that along the way they would introduce me to the charms of a tavern maid, the daughter of a maid both of them had frequented in their younger days. I was not adverse to such carousing, in fact looked forward to it, before I had to settle with another. The trip was long and arduous but there was much camaraderie and joking among us and the taking of bets as to how my first sexual experience would turn out. Many men younger than I had already had experience of women and talked relentlessly of it so that I was eager for the experience. We rode hard for the better part of two weeks and along the way we spent some nights in taverns drinking ale and swapping war stories with the locals. Our drunkenness and irresponsibility because of it was our downfall.

Late one evening at a particular tavern I was approached by a woman more beautiful than any I could have ever have imagined. The influence of the ale and the ribbing from my brothers and our friends gave me the false courage to accept her offer to go with her and show her how mighty was a Berserker. Had we not been drunk we would have had the sense to wonder at how she knew what we were and to handle the situation accordingly, but such was not the case. As it turned out, I bedded her and woke up to discover I had been lured to my doom. She had bought her life for the price of mine; turned me over to one from whom I could not hope to escape.

My captor was a master of his Kind; Vampyre, and I had been drugged and chained deep in the bowels of his castle. It was there I learned the fate of my brothers and our warriors; all murdered by the Vampyre's minions while I was kept for his experiment. He told me it had been tried once before but that his predecessor had failed. I had no belief in such as he but I sensed that this fellow was something well out of my realm of understanding and he meant to succeed. Overcome with grief at the loss of my kin and with the drugs making it impossible for me to use my strength to escape I could do nothing but listen to his desire to turn me into a dangerous creature without hope of salvation. His intent was to turn a Berserker and in doing so create the most powerful Vampyre of all times. In his intelligent madness he believed he could create and control the creature who would serve his every whim and his fondest wish was to be the renowned master creator of such a creature.

He kept me drugged and bound as he experimented with a combination of his blood and mine and then, weeks later, the fateful night arrived. Held down by his underlings, I was bitten and drained of my life's blood and forced to drink his to replenish my body. My human death was long and agonizing and then I was sent to ground; buried beneath the soil in his dungeon. I later learned I was kept there for an entire month before my reawakening; another agonizing experience, for which I begged for release from that life but it was not granted me. And so began the odyssey of that existence. I quickly learned to curb my tongue, for he was a cruel master in the extreme, and bided my time until I learned what, exactly, I was capable of. Rising after rising I became stronger and more adept at the things he taught me and my fury grew as well, but I hid it until the time that I could formulate my plan for escape.

During those terrible months I learned that my da and his army were searching for me and my brothers and in his grief and fury he left no place or people untouched. He soon became known as a mad-man for his battle tactics but I knew he only harmed out of grief. I could not wait for the day that I could re-rejoin him and what was left of our family. The opportunity presented itself, unexpectedly, but I had prepared for that possibility. 'Twas the night of a full moon when I was intended to prove my promised loyalty to my master. Still believing himself stronger and more intelligent than me, he set me free of physical and mental restraints, and bid me to go forth and destroy his arch enemy; another powerful night-walker who had invaded his territory.

My time had come and I looked into those heathen eyes, smiled, and accepted the challenge. He made the grand mistake of believing I worshipped him and when he turned to take his seat on his throne I called upon all that I had become and destroyed him. He never saw it coming and I rammed my fist through his back and tore out his black heart and burnt it. I was free and I was furious. I went through his castle destroying his faithful subjects and then I destroyed his castle.

I waited several weeks to get myself under control and then I went in search of my da. He had returned home to rest and restock his supplies and there I found him, not knowing what I was to face. I entered the castle, unseen and unheard, and went directly to his and my mother's private rooms. 'Twas da who answered my knock but when the door opened there was no welcome on his face. In that moment I knew he had heard what had happened to me and he drew his knife from its sheath; the weapon I had made for him as a gift. My mother wept and begged him not to turn me away but he lunged for my heart. I easily disarmed him while he cursed me to hell and ordered me away from his home.

I never came face to face with him again, nor the rest of my family, and I watched them die; one-by-one, the men at battle and the women slain, or of grief, or old age. I am all that is left of my family and while there are modern descendants of the Clan MacAllistaire, I have not ever made myself known to them.

While the master Vampyre realized his dream of turning a Berserker, he never knew to what extent he succeeded. He did not create the most powerful creature of all times, for there are other Vampyres; Ancients, more powerful than me but he did create one of more power and skill than most. I have spent centuries coming to terms with what I am and many was the time I thought to end my miserable existence. I make no apologies for the havoc I wreaked and the death I wrought in my earlier years as Vampyre, nor do I offer any excuses for those. Life is what it is and it has brought me to this point in time.

Fate led me to cross paths with a powerful Ancient, a Vampyre made, who is nearly two thousand years old and it is he who salvaged the wreckage of what I had become. Garth is my mentor and my savior; the one who keeps me to the path of good. I am still a warrior, called hunter of dangerous Kinds and protector of Mortals in these times. I ask for nothing in return but the right to my existence among all who dwell in this world. Mine is not an easy existence, nor do I expect it to ever be, but no more do I long for death and I will do what I have to do to survive until such time that my immortality is over.

Immortals are not exempt from death, as some believe, for we have our Achilles heels like any other. Our longevity comes at a price that few of you would be willing to pay were it offered you. So know that those of you who seek to destroy us place a price upon your own heads and if you come seeking to destroy us, we will perforce defend ourselves. And to those of you who have the foolish notion that you want to be one of us, heed my warning. Few mortals survive the change and of those who do, many go insane and have to be destroyed. Walk the light, as you are intended, for most night-walkers lead lonely, dangerous lives. We are without kin and have very few friends and even those we cannot fully trust, lest we be sold out. Roman.