karim

name: karim al-masry (kah-reem al ma-sh-ree)
nicknames: kar/kari (kahr-ee)
age: 16y/o (appearance), 176 y/o (physical form)
gender: cis male
species: vampire (monster)
     powers: tba!
profession: n/a
r.o/s.o: biromantic bisexual
height: 5"4' / 162.5cm
weight: 145lbs / 66kg
family: tba!
history: karim is unable to recall the explicit details of his former life, but can vividly remember the months that went by before his human form met it's demise. he remembers, firstly, being a teen sometime during the mid-1800's and being rather deeply entrenched in a more insidious lifestyle. having been recruited by a gang of looters- ones who raided egyptian tombs both before and after western archaeological excavations- karim was prized as being a stealth operative. this meaning that he was incredibly sneaky- charming, when he couldn't avoid the spotlight- gaining access to some of the most treasured and highly-sought after tombs in the country. for a few weeks, he recalled living rather well. he and his buddies had managed to sell off some of the artifacts they'd stolen through the black market and were able to spend their "paychecks" on women and booze.

of course, like all good times, though, they ran short. once again, karim and his gang needed to make way towards the desert and raid another tomb. they had gotten word of a french team heading down to the valley of the kings, just outside of luxor. apparently, a handful of new burial sites had been discovered and they were rumored to have been teeming with ancient artifacts and mounds of gold- just waiting to be discovered!

karim, functioning as a form of scout, weaseled his way into the caravan of intellectuals and servants alike as they began their journey from cairo. headed south through the desert sands, the team trudged their way down the barren landscape. the group of looters followed just far enough behind that they wouldn't be noticed. it took weeks to finally reach their destination, but the sight alone was almost enough to make all that walking feel worth it. just... almost enough. 

the french team set up camp not too far away from the valley of the kings, though they preferred to keep close to the nile. karim, young and impatient, grew weary of all the time it took for those western archaeologists to actually give the okay for people to begin going inside the tombs. something was holding them back, though, and it wasn't any issue karim or his gang were able to decipher, with no one in that group speaking anything other than arabic. eventually, however, his curiosity grew to be too much to contain, so in the middle of the night, when everyone else was asleep, the young egyptian teen went running into the valley. digging with only his bare hands and a small trowel, he managed to tunnel his way into what had previously been a half-open doorway. he kept going and going, pressing deeper into the dirt until finally... the floor gave way beneath him. what, 3,000 years ago, must've been a flight of stairs did no good to break his fall as he went tumbling down inside.

encompassed by darkness, karim fumbled for his oil lamp. after finally managing to light it up, the sight he was greeted with was... well, it was something. most certainly very dusty. after waving his lamp and walking forward a couple steps, however, he saw what lay before him. a giant sarcophagus, encrusted with gold and lapis lazuli. all around it were different artifacts, ranging from brilliantly embellished swords to humble clay pots. feeling his heart begin to race as he realized the absolute wealth that these items could gain him, the boy began to stumble around, trying to shove whatever would fit under his arms. as he rushed to leave, however, it seemed as though his stomping had made quite a large amount of the fragile tomb begin to quiver. just as he went to climb up out of the hole he fell in, the dirt stairs collapsed. the roof above it, collapsed too, burying his small figure underneath a heavy mound of sand.

karim awoke with a large amount of spluttering and coughing, as he lay smothered underneath the dirt. he felt himself items he had been carrying from underneath his arms and he began to dig his way out, finally, once he had escaped, he realized that he was exactly where he had been before- in that tomb. "whatever pharaoh lies here... damn you and your curses from the afterlife..." the conclusion he was beginning to come to now, however, was that while he was free, his one way of his escaping had been sealed off. those archaeologists wouldn't know any better to think he'd be trapped in there... and his friends... they wouldn't risk blowing their cover just to come and check on him. he'd have to find his own way out. 

what ultimately ended up happening was that karim did not escape. for what had been hours, at first, he sat at the site where the stairway collapsed and tried digging his way back up. the dirt would just fall right back on top of his hands. after that, he tried carving into other parts of the walls to see if there was perhaps a secret tunnel that would lead him out of the tomb. then, what had been hours turned to days. he would take breaks from digging sometime and would busy himself, messing with the pharaohs things. fumbling around in the darkness, once, he managed to stick his head through a band of seven or eight golden rings. (he supposed this is what the king would wear to make himself seem taller, or maybe having a neck like a giraffe was just in style back in 3,000 B.C.) 

no amount of playing pretend, however, could stop his stomach from gnawing ferociously at his insides as he continued to go without food or water. he didn't even seem to realize it so much, as he laid there, dying, what was actually happening to him. he just felt so tired. so, so very tired. he propped himself up against one of the walls in the tomb, letting his head nod off to the side. there was a moment, it seemed, that began to stretch itself out, like the darkness one experiences when they're asleep. it was after that moment, precisely, that karim awoke.

the time was 1995, and light poured its way ever so generously on top of the boy's body from above. there were no signs of decay, let alone any signs of mummification. the discovery of his body, however, is something that only would've been written down had anyone that discovered him returned to the outside world. he had been hungry, so hungry... and to be greeted after such a long sleep with a feast- oh, the boy had been absolutely delighted.

personality: 
✔️ positive traits ✔️
     ❥ resourceful
     ❥ friendly
     ❥ resilient

❌ negative traits ❌
     ❥ sneaky
     ❥ self-absorbed
     ❥ over-excitable

likes: tba!
dislikes: tba!
fears: tba!

extra: ❥ "al-masry" actually translates to "the egyptian" from arabic. karim........... doesn't actually remember his human last name, so he decided to give that one to himself after many years of searching and not being able to come up w/ anything!!! :vO
❥ he has two forms: a human one and an animal one! his animal form is based off of the egyptian fruitbat!!! 😳😳😳