Character

Introspective

Rowan looks at himself and how he affects others. He's very self-reflective and takes his time to understand why he feels the way he does when it comes to certain situations. He's keen on asking 'why did I react that way' or 'what can I do in order to be better' to himself. Rowan likes to attempt to understand himself in the way a human would. He realizes he's more complex and more complicated than a usual vampire.

Mysterious

Most people look at Rowan and they wonder. There's a wistfulness in his demeanor that makes people want to know more but he's not the type to tell. He says just enough to satisfy and yet not enough to paint a full picture. Untrusting enough to keep information but helpful enough to divulge in others.

Taciturn

He prefers silence rather than just speaking because he can. He observes, he listens, he analyzes and then he speaks. Rowan says only what is required of him or what he feels as though is necessary in the moment.

Unemotional

Rowan forces himself to quell the emotions within himself. While he reflects on himself in a healthy manner, it is rare that he shows an emotion towards other people, especially humans. He doesn't want to see himself get attached again only to lose someone he deeply cares for. He opens up a lot once he does find that he's close to someone but he doesn't want to let emotions cloud his judgement.

Serious

It's hard for him to take a joke or crack one. Rowan isn't the type to joke around and be lighthearted but he does wish he could be that way with someone. He, however, developed a serious demeanor when he became a Marquis and learned to take his father's place.

Distant

Losing everyone you love is a surefire way to not talk to many people or at least, desperately try not to get close to anyone. There are time where he feels weak and touch-starved, longing for a deep conversation but because of the idea that he'll be alone is enough to keep him from getting close to people.

ORIGIN

The Delacroix's are a family that was well known for their humanization of humans. They were the only family of vampires that didn't see humans as purely livestock, a family hated and ostracized for their values for not thinking they were apex predators. This ideal made them a target, a large one at that and was the reason why Rowan was had in secret and given to two close family friends. His actual mother was an Irish noblewoman Eabha O’Donovan who used to be human before she was turned by his actual father, a french pureblood vampire by the name of Jean-Louis Delacroix. Those two were friends with Rowan’s adoptive parents to keep him safe. His adoptive parents were named Amelie and Leon Beaumont. Rowan, however, recognized Amelie and Leon as his actual parents.

1-13 YEARS

Rowan spent his early development in the middle ages tended by his adoptive mother and with other commoner children at the time. During this time, while other children were practically kept on ball and chain, Rowan was okay with being alone and not touching much. After all, he was more consumed with his wooden toys at the time. He turned seven and began to fiddle around with weapons, toy swords and other things boys were allowed to fiddle around with. He remembered asking why he always had to drink ‘cranberry juice’, why he couldn’t have food like other children. It hadn’t occurred to him that it was because he was a completely different species altogether. At seven, he also began tutoring and schooling, adhering to a strict schedule and a belief that he needed to believe in God. Despite not understanding the religion, he practiced it anyway. He also began his apprenticeship in painting at this time.

14-18 YEARS

While playing with some kids, he realized that he was stronger and quicker than all of them while doing races and carrying some supplies for his Master. These kids noticed this. Rowan was made fun of and picked on for being, essentially, a freak of nature, for his paintings not being good and him sucking up to his Master by other kids. Considering he was close with both his Master and his parents at the time, he thought telling them would be a good idea. His Master just pegged it as kids being kids and to focus on his own painting but his parents believed that he shouldn’t stoop down to their level, ever. To not use his strength to hurt people. It only ever takes one instance to push someone to the edge though. When he turned fifteen, one of the others was being particularly harsh and Rowan got angry, baring his fangs at the bully, the bully running away in fear. Curious as to what happened, he traveled back to his parents when he could and tried to get an explanation. His parents told him that he was kindred. A vampire. That what he lived was a minuscule part of his life, not even .001%. He finds out who his real parents are but has no interest in seeing them. He continues his life as being a freak and is even checked by the clergy to make sure he isn’t actually a vampire.

18-21 YEARS

He gets into philosophy, mainly Peripateticism and a philosopher named Heraclitus but he does end up studying multiple schools of philosophy and philosophers, attempting to lace some of it in within his art. He does so, impressing his Master and a Degree in the Arts. Recognizing that he can put his talent to use, Rowan begins to find work around France, eventually coming across a foreign family aptly named the Harringtons that wanted to request a portrait of their son, Flynn. The two are absolutely taken with each other the moment they meet gazes.

THE FLYNN SAGA (21-31 YEARS)

At the time, Rowan had hardly learned how to keep his composure when it came to humans that smelled so phenomenal, he couldn’t wait to dig in. Every hour spent trying to contain himself to paint a beauty like Flynn was every hour spent in agony without a single sip of blood. Flynn, however, would take it upon himself to find ways to get closer to Rowan despite the ginger being rather snappy towards him at first. Flynn is gentle though, demure and everything that Rowan knew he personally wasn’t. The black-haired male continued to push for a friendship even after the painting and Rowan unconsciously let himself get close to Flynn. Eventually, the two became best friends with romantic tension so tense, one could cut it with a knife. There had been a day where the two sat on the grass with the night sky and all of its stars, wind gently blowing through their hair and the human’s scent finding its way in Rowan’s nose. Whatever Flynn had, the ginger needed it desperately and knew that he could take it without much pushback. So, he kept Flynn on the ground, coaxed him into a brief moment of passion. A tease, a kiss, a touch, a bite. His first drink from the source itself. Rowan was so taken aback of its wondrous taste that he pulled back near immediately after a second or two. Flynn, at first, was shaken by what was done to him and demanded an explanation of what happened, curious to understand. Rowan told Flynn what he was and asked him to keep it a secret from the others, lest he be beheaded. Flynn agreed on the condition that the two see each other romantically in the future. This wasn’t a problem, of course. The two acted as friends in the company of other people but as soon as they were alone, the two could be as intimate as they wished to be. Flynn wanted to be the sole person Rowan drank from, which be obliged. They were inseparable, had arguments like any old couple but always talked through it in the end. Flynn taught Rowan about his Irish heritage, the mythos and culture from there and Rowan taught Flynn what it was like to be French. For Rowan, Flynn was the one. There were nothing but good memories with him and Flynn up until Flynn had gotten terribly ill. A few days later, he was on the brink of death when Flynn handed the ginger his ring. “I was really happy to have met you, Rowan. Meet me on the other side when you do, okay?” Rowan was too late to turn him.

31-56 YEARS

One could say that Rowan took Flynn’s death the hardest. He cried as much as he needed to the night Flynn passed away and held him through his death. Rowan got it all out on that night, so on the day of the funeral, he was still. So began his melancholy and the source, the root of his heartache. He found that his life was emptier without Flynn, without something and someone to look forward to at the end of the day. The lack of human blood gave way to hunger pains. The lack of kindness to even him out made him more irritable. It was then that he realized just how mortal humans were in comparison to him. Just how easily they could die. He spent much of this time period alone with his thoughts, his anger and his sadness. He becomes softer in the process, learning that he must treat people well and give them good memories in the process but in the same vein, becoming slightly numb to the thought of losing the ones he loves the most. He began travelling for the next twenty years in the hopes that he could stop wallowing in self-pity.

THE AOIFE SAGA - BEGINNING (57-58 YEARS)

Rowan met Aoife in Ireland and she was a noblewoman whose family was known for brooch making and trading jewels. She won him over with persistence and passion rather than conventional means. Her family did not approve of the two meeting up so often since at the time, Rowan wasn’t a more well known aristocrat. He met her while she was on a daily walk of hers. The more Rowan happened upon her, the more he found himself forgetting what pain he went through. The more he found himself loosening up, wanting to be on her level but there was still a hole in his chest that felt empty from Flynn. Aoife, however, didn’t want to be with a man so gentle. She wanted someone who could fight, could take charge when they needed to. “As long as you stay this way, I cannot be with you.”

58-62 YEARS

He attempted to be someone he wasn’t for her. He grew to be manipulative and charming only to benefit himself. Rowan found other vampire acquaintances in this time frame in the dead of night, hoping to go through a sort of...transformation with his personality. For a time, it worked. He fed on unsuspecting people, became guilty over the amount of pleasure he had from it. While his vampire acquaintances were more than pleased by Delacroix's development of being a ‘real’ vampire and Aoife was pleased he turned into an assertive man, he still felt incomplete. This wasn’t him. Yet in his pursuit of happiness, he continued with the facade and let Aoife embrace him. His biggest mistake was not telling her what he actually was.

THE AOIFE SAGA - END (62-64 YEARS)

Aoife and Rowan end up being a passionate couple for five years, he almost wished he saw her as purely meat at the time. Rowan asked for her hand in marriage, to which she agreed and immediately tried for a child soon after the wedding. To no avail, a child was never born which led Aoife to believe that she was infertile and therefore, an unwanted woman when in reality, her womb would have been too weak to carry Rowan’s child. During the years of their marriage, she began to get paranoid of Rowan, thinking that he would leave her and decided to question what he was doing in the middle of the night. He stupidly told her, ‘nothing to be concerned about’. And so, she decided to follow him out one night to see if he really had an infidelity. Worse, she caught Rowan and his friends with blood on their mouths and hands, carrying a body that was no longer recognizably human. Rowan’s acquaintances found her before he did. In that instant, they wanted to eat her too and when Rowan finally saw who caught their attention, he begged and pleaded to his acquaintances not to harm her, to not take away his only happiness. They scoffed and left her and him saying, “We knew a Delacroix would be kissing a human’s shoes.” After they left, Rowan tried to explain to her but was only met with rejection and fear. Now without a wife and without his vampire acquaintances, he was left alone yet again.

64-75 YEARS

He found that it wasn’t worth it to travel anymore. It wasn’t worth trying to find happiness or worth trying to maintain friendships if people would leave him in the end, whether it be by their own volition or because of death. So, he went back to his adoptive parents to take care of their fragile state. They were lucky and lived longer than a normal person in the dark ages. He spent this time learning different arts and mainly found his love of music surpassed that of painting. First, it was his father that perished naturally after spending seven years with his parents. Both his mother and him went to the funeral but to his surprise, his actual parents, Jean-Louis and Eabha, showed up after hearing about Leon’s death. They apologized for leaving Rowan and he understood why they did it but resented them slightly for not giving him a cushier life. Four years after that funeral, Amelie, his adoptive mother, died. Rowan crumbled soon after, planning a funeral he didn’t want to have and being angry at the world for taking those that meant more to him than life itself. He found himself in despair, without much of a will to get out of bed in the morning but he still attended the funeral. His actual parents, Jean-Louis and Eabha, took him in his dreadful state, now deciding that it was time to teach Rowan the intricacies of life and what it meant to be a Delacroix.

75-100 YEARS

A lot of this period was Rowan learning exactly what power the name ‘Delacroix’ had in France. He had to learn mannerisms that his adoptive parents had taught him a little bit in the past and he had to learn how to be more refined, with more tact. It was revealed to him that he was to become a Marquis and in that, he had to learn how to talk to people in a way that wouldn’t incriminate him. He had to figure out the trade. Through this process, he found similarities between himself and his parents, realizing that they were both gentle in everything they did but held a presence that encouraged others to be respectful. That’s what Rowan wanted to be and accomplish. His father in particular poured a bit of insight into Rowan’s life, figuring he had gone through the motions of people rejecting him for who he was or loved ones dying before his eyes or being unable to tame the beast at times. So, a lot of his teachings and tests required a great amount of self-control and the willingness to accept that the ones he would love the most would die before him. “We, Rowan, have the capacity to be compassionate. You may be regarded as a monster but only if you act like one. Show kindness to others when you can, sympathize with everyone. You are only what you present yourself as,” was a classic line from his father, while his mother tended to tell him about the longevity of his life. ”You will live much, much longer than the ones you find yourself in frequent contact with, my dear. You will make so many friends along the way only to watch them no longer be with you. That is something you must feel at peace with. Convince yourself that they are watching over you, that they are happy wherever they may be. Do not be numb to the point of emotionlessness. Be numb enough to accept that they’re gone and that you must press on.”

100-600 YEARS

A lot of this time was spent learning new things and discovering new people as well as cultures. Rowan became more worldly, learned how to play piano and violin through this period of time, delved even further into philosophy and learned to cultivate his personality and mannerisms in the best way possible. He was essentially ready to be a Duke by this time and took over the manor of the faceless Duke, his father. It was still unknown to people that Jean-Louis and his wife had been vampires to most everyone but the monarchs of France. Most of what happened during this time period, however, was incredibly mundane.

600-650 YEARS

Jean-Louis officially handed over the title of Duke to Rowan and gave the manor and duties away to him officially while Jean-Louis and Eabha went to live peacefully in Versailles. Rowan has hired a new batch of staff, of course, letting them know that they were about to be employed by a vampire and is slowly letting everyone know that kindred do exist but the Delacroix’s aren’t the monsters that people know vampires as.

He has an Engraved Pocketwatch. || "I received this rather recently as a gift from Claude. I don't necessarily understand why he gave it to me but it has some sentimental value to him, I assume. He does frequently ask of me to pay attention to the time more. Do I daydream so often that I need this?"

He has a Silver Ring. || "..." Rowan stares at the ring longingly. It appears he doesn't want to talk about it.

He has a Gold Wedding Band. || "Ah. No, you may ask about it," he starts smoothly. "I keep it as a reminder of who I used to be. A reminder of what I never want to become again. It was...a hedonistic period."

He has an original piece of work called 'The Demure Raven'. || "It's an old painting I did of someone dear..." Rowan stares at the painting for a moment, it's clear he wants to say more but ends it there.

rowan is a pureblood vampire. this means he can change people from humans to kindred but who is to say the person being changed won't reject it? this is why he's wary of changing anyone. it's painful, feels like it burns and not to mention the shock from knowing you were alive to being undead.

rowan used to be absolutely manipulative and use his beauty to his advantage. safe to say, he doesn't do that anymore. he thought that being a 'normal' vampire would ease the pain in his heart but all he was doing was lying to himself.

he doesn't have a rose-colored view of romance anymore. he doesn't let himself have hope for anything regarding love because it always ends up the same. He doesn't want to go through it again. Not unless it's guaranteed that they'll stay with him.

being bitten and having vitae sucked by kindred usually feels euphoric. a lot of people who have been fed on say that their body gets warm and that they feel more connected to the kindred feeding on them and it doesn't hurt at all if done by an experienced kindred (which all adults should be).

he currently has no family other than his birth parents (who travel quite often) and the only kindred he really interacts with are the ones that share his beliefs in humane feeding. those same kindred have a spot in his manor.

while he's a painter, he's learned to love music more. he's learned to play piano, violin and harp. occasionally sings to himself.

his heart beats so slow that he's unsure if he even has a heartbeat. it's concerning to some people who notice it.

he tries to make feeding as intimate as possible without making the other person feel too uncomfortable. it's incredibly important to him to make sure that the human involved has fully consented. if they're too scared or say 'no', he stops immediately despite what his hunger wants and what they say (if they're purely scared alone).

if magnolia is in danger, he will go to every length possible to find her and protect her. god forbid anyone who threaten her.

SUPERNATURAL BEAUTY || The user is supernaturally beautiful and can use it to affect others. This power is divided into two separate but interlocking aspects: The user is always, and under any circumstances, physically, personally and socially perfect, graceful and flawless, without anything that would make them look unattractive or distract from their presence. They are perfectly aware how to increase their appeal by apparel, action or choice of words, but even these are simply details to enhance their natural appeal. For example, someone with this ability rising straight from the bed after a hard night's partying and wearing the rattiest possible clothes would make even the best supermodel primped to perfection look homely in comparison.Secondly, the user is able to affect other people, both by affecting their minds, emitting pheromones and generally being a perfect companion and/or object of admiration. At the lower level, the user could make a complete stranger treat them like their closest friend in only a few minutes and be perfectly willing to help them in any way they need. Someone with more power could make anyone treat them like someone who is privileged to do and get anything they wish and be admired and even loved for it. At the higher level user could make people fulfill their smallest suggestion, although not against their deepest principles. At the most powerful, they could simply eradicate free will, making everyone slavishly devoted to the user and willing to do anything to please them.

BLOOD-FLOW VISION || The user will have the ability to see all major and minor veins of any living being. The user can even see them through inanimate objects like trees, concrete, clothes, and so on. Only happens when he's ridiculously hungry.

SHAPESHIFTING || The user can shapeshift their form, transforming and reshaping themselves potentially down to their genetic and cellular structure. They can impersonate others or enhance their own body for combat, either by turning into animals, humanoids, monsters, etc. or by making the body stronger. User with particularly flexible abilities can manipulate their form at will, combining abilities, traits, etc, even being able to form limbs into weapons and reforming after being blown apart by explosives. He can mainly turn into a tabby cat with piercing green eyes.

VAMPIRIZATION ||The user can transform other beings into vampires. Usually, humans are most common in the transformation, but other beings can also become vampires as well. The human has to be killed and then the pureblood vampire would then give the human their blood. But it has to be quick. Immediately after they die. They’ll wake up with a searing burning feeling for a few weeks. The pain comes and goes but it’s excruciating. That’s if the blood giving works. There is a chance that the human will reject that blood. They’re basically a vampire for a few seconds and then their body practically deteriorates (won’t do details because it’s gruesome) and turns to dust.