Alexia Vautri

Early Life

Alexia was born to the Vautri family, a family of carpenters, in the city of Northpoint on one particularly chilly Morning Star evening. She was the only child of her parents. The Vautri family was well known throughout the Dutchy of Northpoint for their carpentry skills and ability to patch holes in trade vessels. Their family's wealth grew modestly and Alexia wanted for nothing.In her early teenage years, Alexia studied the fundaments of Magical theory and partical application under her mother, who was a retired battlemage in the Shornhelm Royal Guard. Alexia grew her magical talents throughout her teen years and became quite proficient in the use of Novice and Apprentice Destruction, Restoration, and Alteration spells, and trained her ability to wield bound swords. Alexia was given two options to pursue in her carrer, either inheriting her father's carpentry business, or joining the Northpoint guard as a battlemage just as her mother did before her, and living a lavish lifestyle, for one of her class.However, All of this was taken from her.

The Turn

Alexia, once she reached her early twenties, began to experience more of what life had to offer before settling down into a career. She frequented many inns and parties, and met lots of fine young gentlemen who she was assessing courtship for marriage with. Some of these engagements were sexual, though most were not.One man in particular, with a dangerous but sexy look in his eyes, approached her one night at a party, introducing himself as Leric, a breton man of tall stature, short black hair, and well-kept facial hair, and asked if he could have her hand for a dance. They danced and talked over drinks for what seemed like hours, before he offered to take her home, which she of course obliged to. The sexual tension between them erupted when they arrived at his home, and they laid with each other. Alexia very much enjoyed rougher intercourse. Slapping, biting, hair-pulling, nasty degrading words, and the like, were par-for-the-course for her, and so when her newfound lover bit her on the neck, she didn't expect anything of it, until he revealed what he'd done and what he was.Her lover was a vampire, and she had just been infected. whatever illusion Leric had cast on himself had been dispelled, and his fangs and deep red irises were on full display before her. Alexia's reaction was one of shock, turned to anger, turned to panic. She screamed at him and tried to distance herself from him in his bedchambers, but Leric did not attack her. He tried to explain the gift he'd just given her, and that he would welcome her with open arms into his family. Alexia, however, had very different ideas. She rushed to dress herself before running out of his home and back to hers.Alexia didn't know what to do. She was still in shock at what had just happened, and didn't know what to tell her parents. She didn't know how to cure vampirism and she was far too afraid to tell anyone what had just happened. Alexia eventually calmed down enough to go to sleep, thinking she would break the news to her parents in the morning, but she did not awake. She slept for three whole days, and her mother, being a mage, tried to heal her, to no avail.After three days time, she awoke, turned. After waking up, which was in the middle of the night, she lit a candle by her bedside and walked over to her wall mirror and gazed into her new face."It wasn't what I saw, it was more what I felt. I looked into the mirror, and saw a stranger staring back... behind my own eyes... as if my face was a mask."The hunger had already begun to fester and torment her, and she could feel it inside her.

Vampirism

Alexia's parents were just as horrified as she was, but they still loved their daughter, and refused to banish her from their home. Her mother didn't know how to cure her or if she even could be cured. Alexia was scared.The realization set in that the life she had been set up for was gone, her opportunities were gone, and she would never be the same. This reality horrified her and shook her to her core. The hunger had not subsided, but had gotten worse. Feelings of dread set in and she broke down in her bedroom and cried for hours.Above everything else, she wanted answers, and she knew exactly who she would get them from. The source. She hid her face behind a mask and hat, with a long thick coat, and made her way back to the place where she had met Leric, the vampire, the one who had corrupted her, the one who had stolen everything from her, and the one who was going to pay the price - eventually.To her surprise, he was waiting for her, and greeted her with an expectant tone in his voice. He knew she would come back to him, and he was ready for her. The illusion he had when they first met had returned, and he beckoned her to come with him again so they could talk. Alexia wanted to give him no more than a piece of her mind, and perhaps a dagger through his heart, but she couldn't, she needed him still, a need she loathed. He was the only one who could give her answers about her condition. So she followed him.Upon arriving, Leric dispelled his illusion so reveal his true face once again, and poured Alexia a chalice of blood. Alexia was sickened by the idea but her hunger was almost insatiable by this point, so she accepted his drink. Though she made it clear that she was not there to "join" him or anything of the sort, and all she wanted was a cure. Leric, of course, broke the news to her that no such cure exists, or at least no one around Northpoint knows of one. This news greatly angered Alexia and she began to scream at him and blame him for turning her into a monster without consent. Leric waited patiently for her to stop and calm down, knowing that as angry as she was, he was her only resource for dealing with her new condition.Leric knew that his attempt at recruiting a new member of his family had not gone to plan, so his plan switched to the long game. He interrupted Alexia's screaming rant telling her that there is no going back, and that he can offer help with living life as a vampire. He told her that he can teach her an illusion to hide her vampiric appearance, and even help to alleviate her bloodlust. Alexia, seeing no way out, agreed. Leric reassured her again that what she's been given is truly a gift, not a curse, and he merely spread his gift to her, though Alexia was still quite apprehensive to the idea, remembering again the life that was stolen from her. But this was her last option. And she stayed with him for a time.Alexia wrote home to her parents the next morning saying that she had found someone who could help treat her condition and that they would not see her for a short while, but that she was safe. She wrote this letter in poor conscience given how unsafe she felt and perhaps was. Leric began with the illusion, which in truth was quite complex, but still attainable for someone gifted with magical talent such as herself. A few weeks went past learning illusion, a school of magic she wasn't too familiar with, though learning it felt easier to her, like she was able to understand it easier than she had understood magic when she was a mortal, a phenomenon Leric explained to her was part of her new gift.After more weeks of training illusion, and learning to control her huger, Alexia was doing the unthinkable - she was beginning to accept vampirism as a gift, and not a curse.

Conflict

The conflict within alexia grew as she still felt betrayed, robbed, but at the same time, found new opportunities in her newfangled form. Leric had come around to apologizing for what he had done to her, and Alexia couldn't find it in her to accept his apology, but this would not last. Alexia's period of mourning for her old life was coming to a close, she thought, and the gift of vampirism was one she was beginning to embrace. She had grown proficient in her illusions to transmute her face and skin to look mortal, but still implicitly loathed that it was merely an illusion, and who she was before was lost, never to be found again. But was this really a bad thing?Leric had opened up more to her as they had lived together, and made her feel at home. She had her own room, her own food, her own clothes, even her own study. Leric didn't impose upon her at all during her time there. Alexia felt safe for the first time since she was a mortal.Leric felt regret for what he had done to her. He was no patriarch of a royal bloodline, he was a vampire infected by chance, unknowing of whatever clan had betwoed him is curse. Leric went through the same stages of grief Alexia had, and he had to figure out how to survive in his own. He eventually did come around on his own to viewing the curse as a gift, and relished in the power and longevity his life has been given. He revealed this to Alexia, and confided that he understood how she was feeling, and expressed solemn regret for what he had done to her.By this point, Alexia has almost entirely come around to viewing her vampirism as a gift, and expressed understanding and forgiveness for him. The sex they made was consensual, and she didn't regret the night they'd had, despite what he had done to her during it. Now, alexia felt safe with him, and was actually thankful for the shelter and teachings he had provided her, and her feelings and emotions rekindled.

Resolution

Alexia and Leric, meeting at the same view of their vampiric gift, began to spend more personal time with each other. She still saw him as an attractive man even beyond his illusion, and came to appreciate the fangs, the piercing red eyes, and the pale complexion. Their student-teacher relationship sprouted again into one of sex and trust, and they would dine together, lay together, and had been seen together.Several months had passed since Alexia had been infected, and though numerous letters had been sent back and forth between her and her family, she still had not seen them. Alexia, with her illusions mastered, returned home again, bearing the news of how she was cured of her curse, and had found a new life with her mentor. She admitted that she was not totally cured of vampirism, but she had been taught how to suppress its effects by Leric. She omitted that her mentor was the man who had infected her in the first place, not wanting her family to cast any aspersions about his motives or what she was involving herself in. After spending a few nights with her family again, she told them that she was going to go her own way and find a new life for herself. She and her family knew that Alexia was not of the spirit to inherit a carpentry business, and it was far too dangerous to join the guard, so her family supported her decision to find her own path, wished her well, and after a very long and emotional goodbye, she retuend to Leric.Alexia and Leric had officially begun a sexual relationship and were falling in love. Things were great for about a month into their relationship, and they laid with each other on a nearly nightly basis. Alexia felt like she had finally found her resolution and she felt safe in Leric's arms. Alexia's problems, however, were far from over, and new ones were about to begin.Leric's ego had gotten the best of him. He began to talk as though Alexia was his creation, and expressed himself in an arrogant way. Alexia began to think that his expressed regret for turning her was a lie, and that he was merely trying to build a vampire family, who she was the first member of. That he only wanted her for his own purposes and his own fulfillment, rather than anything to do with Alexia's quality as an individual. Alexia tried to suppress these notions. She was terrified at the idea of losing everything all over again, and so she resigned herself to staying with him, though they slept together less, and shared intimacy less often.Leric became worse. He became domineering, feeling as though he wasn't getting what he wanted. He demanded more of her, and his dominant will as a vampire was revealed to Alexia for the first time. Leric was hungry for the sex and intimacy she was denying him, until he couldn't tolerate her disobedience to him any longer. Alexia refused sex when Leric asked for it, and Leric reached his breaking point. He struck her and left her to go take care of himself. Alexia couldn't believe what had happened. Leric truly believed she was little more than property to him - his creation - and his possession. Alexia was afraid.Leric returned to her and apologized for what he had done. Alexia didn't believe him. She knew who he was and what she was to him. But she still was far more afraid of losing her livelihood again, and she stayed. Leric's apology was meaningless, and he continues a pattern of abuse and apology for a few weeks, losing his temper whenever alexia didn't do exactly as he wished. Leric wanted "his creation" to do exactly what he wanted, and Alexia's personhood was getting in the way. Alexia could take the abuse, but it broke her more and more inside every time it happened. Until Leric finally crossed a bridge too far.Leric approached Alexia from behind as she was reading in her study, gently ran his hands across her shoulders and massaged her neck, telling her what he wanted. Sex, of course, but Alexia wasn't interested, and Leric didn't take no for an answer. Leric began to shout, and Alexia told him to back off and leave her alone. That made Leric's rage even worse, and he punched her in the stomach. Alexia was in shock, but not surprised. She begged him to leave her alone, but Leric didn't take no for an answer. He picked her up by her arm, and beat her until she couldn't move. "Maybe this will teach you" he said, before spitting on the floor and leaving her in her study. Alexia had had enough. Her life had ended the second time, and she found her resolution once more, though this time, differently.

Revenge

Leric had apologized again and offered her a gift of whatever she wanted, any material possession he could offer her, and tried to excuse his absusivness as fleeting, promising he would never lay a finger on her again. Alexia saw through his words, he wanted her for what she could offer him, and he was trying to buy her trust again. Alexia took his gift, and feigned accepting his apology. Alexia decided that all she wanted was genuine sex with the man she "loved", and Alexia promised to be "better" for him in return. Leric was overjoyed.That night, Leric was awaiting Alexia to walk in seductively, tied up with ribbon atop expensive lingerie he had bought her, dyed Crimson red, her favorite color. She did her usual exaggerated walk, put her hands on Leric's chest, kissed him, and blindfolded him. Alexia whispered in his ear, telling him that neither of them would forget what she was about to do to him. Leric's tent was fully pitched, and Alexia sat on his lap, kissing his neck and chest more, kissing a circle of hickeys around his heart, telling him how much she wanted him. Leric relaxed, knowing exactly what Alexia wanted to do, as she'd taken a leading role many times before.Leric had no idea what Alexia's real plans were, and he wouldn't suspect was she planned to do next. Alexia told him to relax, ran her fingers across his face, and placed her left hand in the center of his chest. She reached for a silver stake tied to her upper right buttocks, and whispered "goodbye"She stabbed him through the chest with lethal precision, right through the circle of hickeys she had made over his heart. Before Leric could even react, Alexia had already cast a blood spell on Leric, draining his vitality though the stake she had stabbed him with. Leric gasped, trying to make words, trying to react, but Alexia had paralyzed him. She removed his blindfold and looked him in the eyes once more, getting off on watching him struggle as she had before. Alexia leaned in and gave him the kiss of death, and whispered, seductively, almost mockingly, "maybe this will teach you", and watched Leric's life leave his piercing red eyes.

Fallout

Alexia had finally done what had needed to be done. But as quickly as she felt the rush of the kill, it left her. She didn't know what to do next. Leric had no heirs, and his assets would be seized by the kingdom. Alexia would be on her own again, and returning to her parents wasn't an option. Two paths lie before her - go out on her own, with nowhere to go, or claim that she and leric were to be wed, and argue that she should be the sole remaining inheritor of his estate. The choice was obvious.The problem remained, however, how she could get away with it. Dozens of thoughts and plans raced through her head over the next few minutes as she dressed herself. One thought resonated with her, however, and her plan would work perfectly.Alexia ran out of the house, stake-in-hand and found the nearest guard. She panickedly explained to the guard that her fiancee, Leric, was secretly a vampire, and he had tried to turn her too! Luckily she had this silver object nearby which she was able to kill him with before he was able to scratch her. The chivalrous guard believed her, and followed her back home to examine the scene.Leric was not where he was when he died, as alexia had created a far different scene than what had actually transpired. Leric was slumped over dead in the hallway outside his chambers, and the brusing from the stab wound covered up the light hickeys alexia had made around his chest. Alexia continued to recount her fantastical story to the guard, and then asked him what she would do. Her livelihood was at stake, and she had nowhere to go. The Guar documented the scene, and left to gather more guards to take care of the scene.Alexia was feeling confident about her performance, but of course continued her shocked and shaken act for the guards and gawkers.Alexia stayed in the home for a few days before the pronouncement was made that she would inherit his estate. She was thankful for the pronouncement but of course carried in her sorrowful act in front of everyone. Once she arrived home, however, she couldn't contain her joy, and partied by herself in the home that now belonged to her.

Career

Alexia loved easy for a few months, reading and studying history and magic, eating fine meals, drinking the fine wine left in the cellars, but boredom eventually set in. She was restless.Alexia was always a warrior at heart, and why she had wished to follow in her mother's footsteps and become a guard. This option was no longer available to her, of course, but other opportunities remained open to her. Freelance. Marcenary? Vampire hunter.Alexia took out a chunk of dear Leric's estate and commissioned a fine suit of adamantium plated robes which would serve as her signature armor for hundreds of years to come. An astonishingly expensive set of armor, worth more than she could have comprehended just a year prior. She was fitted and measured, and the plates and colors polished and dyed to her exact specifications. Polished adamantium plates overlaid wine red padded fabrics, fastened by belts and buckles in a muted color palette, and tested for battle and mobility. It was everything she could have dreamed of and more, and she became fast attached to it and its style.Alexia had not forgotten about her family of course, and donated a huge chunk of her newfound wealth to them. Her father retired, and he and her mother were able to live easy for the rest of thier lives.Alexia's career as a vampire hunter took off after her self-branding and noteriety around Rivenspire for being the girl who killed her vampire fiancee. Her reputation preceeded her before she'd even taken her first job, and jobs came to her as fas as she could take them. Countless vampires and daedric abominations met their end at the tip of her bound sword, and her reputation and wealth grew.

Loss

Alexia visited her parents less as she traveled the kingdoms of High Rock, hunting vampires, Daedra, and witches. Of great loss to her. The reality that she would outlive them and any friends she made was a reality that sunk in deep. Moreso when her mother died a few years later. Alexia felt helpless, and had a very difficult time coping with the mortal reality that affected everyone she loved.Alexia sold the remainder of Leric's estate to cover the funeral costs, and she spared no expense. Alexia's mother was to have the finest of everything, and Alexia and her father both delivered joint eulogies for her mother.Alexia stayed with her father in the days following the funeral procession, and they spoke to each other at great length. They spoke about the lives they've lived, the memories they had with her mother, the future, everything. They both grieved together. But they both understood that her mother was still alive, in a better place, and that they would see her again.But Alexia knew she wouldn't. Couldn't. She would never see her mother again. And this was how she felt about everyone she loved. Alexia knew that she would never get an afterlife with her loved ones. And Alexia grew cold. Eventually she departed, leaving all her wealth with her father, and she never returned to him.

Conflict II

Conflict was beginning to be a staple in Alexia's life. She was pained to leave her father, the only living being she still loved, the only person she had left on nirn. But she couldn't deal with the loss again. She didn't want to witness the death of her last remaining parent, the last remaining person she loved. So she left him, felt the pain of that loss, and tried to move on.Alexia's father understood, but not entirely. It was not an experience he could understand, but he loved his daughter, and he knew she loved him, and despite the loneliness he would feel in the years before his eventual death, he knew how pained his daughter was, and gave her the space she needed.

Character inspiration

The name "Alexia" is the feminine form of Alexander, which means "defender of men" and originates from old Greek.A single member of the Vautri family can be found in ESO, a warehouse worker in Abah's Landing.Alexia has many character inspirations, among them is The Arbiter / Thel Vadam (Halo 2), Starkiller / Galen Marek (Star Wars the Force Unleashed), as well as elements from my own life.