Stibor Vlaszy Bogdanov - Tzimisce, Dark Ages Vampire

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Stibor Vlaszy Bogdanov

Basic history
Born in 1001 to a minor noble Vlaszy family who had recently married into the Bogdanov family which had its lands in Pomorie, Bulgaria (a beach town North of Burgas, jutting out into the Black Sea). Stibor was a younger son, and wasn't likely to inherit his father's lands. But the unique 'status' of the Vlaszy family guaranteed Stibor a small fief and a knight's stipend...and obligations. But the Battle of Salonica was to decide the inheritance - his father being killed there by Byzantine forces under Basil the Butcher. His eldest brother, Bogdan, took over as Boyar.

The Byzantines would continue the occupation until well after Stibor's death, and he would only get two chances as a mortal (but not human, Stibor had never known what it was to be human) to fight them:- the first was at The Battle of Dyrrhachium, which was a crushing defeat. Even Bogdan could see that the Byzantines could not be stopped and he joined with the other nobles in surrender...handing in their titles of boyar and instead becoming strategoi.

The second chance came in 1040 at the Battle of Ostrovo - led by Emperor Peter the blind. Another defeat at the hands of the Byzantines! Curse their Varangian Guard!

It was Lady Kara that ordered Stibor to Jerusalem for the Crusade, by that time of course Stibor was 'dead' and his fiefdom passed to his son, Stibor. Under a competent (but Byzantine) general, Stibor's capabilities were exploited to their fullest and he earned for himself a reputation as a fierce but honourable warrior. Although he suffered a mortal arrow wound while helping citizens to escape a skirmish, he miraculously survived and this was taken as a sign by his men and comrades - cementing his reputation further. But such was not his purpose - Kara wanted Stibor to act on her behalf on a small issue of diplomatic contact with a newly embraced Baron Heinrich von Achern...who seemed to be merely a difficult - but nevertheless likeable, neonate. Also Kara wanted an eye on several Byzantine notables who had set their mind to Danube based territories for themselves.

The arrow might have wounded him - but what Stibor saw at Jerusalem scarred even his tarnished soul.

When Lady Kara visited Stibor in Pomorie, 1145, Stibor had wrestled control of the next 'generation' of Bogdanov strategoi from his brothers using the political and martial skills honed in the Holy Lands. Another Crusade had been called, and again she wanted Stibor there, and again Stibor would be talking with Baron von Achern, but this time the negotiations would be hostile. The two of them talked over the next few nights of Chivalry in theory and in practice - and Lady Kara left with a hint that if he could live up to the principles he had so passionately advocated while in the Holy Lands, she may have seriously consider the Embrace. Stibor was taken aback - having never dreamed a Knight/low-Boyar of a backwater fishing town might become Tzimisce.

The talks with von Achern went as successfully as the Second Crusade - but Lady Kara was impressed with Stibor's courage and honour around the table and on the field. For fifteen years Stibor began to run errands, play host to various Cainite emmisaries. He loathed doing it, but his respect for Lady Kara had turned into a love. She was the perfect counterpart to him - and he was confident she would see it.

So confident indeed, that he proposed marriage to her in April of 1160. Kara was furious, so furious that she lost control of herself and she beat Stibor over and over again before slaking her thirst on his blood. Little did Stibor know that her frenzy was caused by a confrontation between her chivalrous principles and the bestial inhumanity of the blood bond. She regained composure in time to avoid killing him outright - but only just. It became clear that death was unavoidable for Stibor and he fought for every breath.

The death of Stibor Bogdanov

Kara offered Stibor eternal unlife as compensation for killing him, for which she also begged forgiveness, ashamed as she was for her outburst. Stibor's guilt and embarassment burned him as his life ebbed away - that he had caused Lady Kara to enter a frenzied emotional state, to cause her the pain of guilt; he would do whatever it took in order to ease her burden. But she had not finished. Rustovich had been clear that she was to ensure the Bulgarian Vlaszy contingency were bound by the blood to her. Stibor remembered agreeing as a youth to be bound, but had thought little of it since. If he wanted the embrace, Kara continued, he'd have to agree to continue the oath beyond the veil of death - to do otherwise would interfere with Rustovich's plans. The Oath would last no more than a century, and would be terminated upon Lady Kara initiating the Rite of Release.

Stibor gladly accepted the terms, and painlessly found death delivered to him. The change was not so pleasant.



Not able to claim the title Voivode yet, Stibor passed position of strategoi to his eldest brother and entered the full time service of Lady Kara as an Ashen Knight. What followed seemed like endless travelling to him. Lady Kara wanted that he establish himself in the Holy Lands, and so he headed to Jerusalem. Surrounded by unknown powers, and still struggling with his own - he began to seek allies in the city. He soon found himself a modest house in the city, and dug out a small basement/grave lined with Pomorie soil. He would, however, find himself regularly travelling to meet Lady Kara or her agents to exchange news and renew the Oath.

Lady Kara gave him autonomy to get involved during the Uprising of Asen and Peter in 1185 despite the precarious connection to Hungarian politics at stake; he gladly bloodied his hands against the forces of Isaac II Angelus. But while he was taking care of domestic affairs, Jerusalem was falling to Salladin. Stibor returned to try to find his allies and to witness his third Crusade.