Faina Starkova

[Faina Starkova]

In Character

Full Name: Faina Androvna Starkova

Nicknames: Fae, Faina Hailwic, Professor

Birthdate: March 18th, 1557

Current Age: 325 years, appears 25

Race: Vampire

Occupation: Ancient Studies Professor

Social Class: Lower

Family:

• Dmitri Androvich Starkov, brother, 329 years old
  
  Anton Hailwic, sire, unknown age when killed
  

Appearance:

• Faina is short by standing at five feet even with a very thin frame. She is also very petite, weighing in at ninety-five pounds, the vampire is practically skin and bones. She dresses very regally, attempting to show off her former wealth as both a Russian noble and a "vampire queen." But, after the loss of her husband Anton, Faina went into hiding and reappeared in the lower class, showing abnormally lavish dresses in that former fashion. Faina hides mostly because of her race for she knows how recognizable she is as a vampire.

History:

• Born in the earlier part of Ivan the Terrible's reign as the first Czar of Russia to parents of former royalty in the year 1557, Faina Androva Starkova was the second born child and the only daughter of the two. Her parents (both had magical talent but were untrained) gave all of their power up to the warmonger. For the first ten years of her life, things were not ideal. Ivan the terrible was in fact terrible and Faina wanted out. Her family wanted out. In the dead of night in the year 1567, the Starkovs departed the major Russian city of Moscow to well outside of the monarchy's grasp. Eastern Europe was so very feudal, more so than Russia at the time, but the Starkovs had soft hands. They kept moving west.

  After approximately seven years of travelling on foot across various countries both battle worn and torn, occasionally the four Starkovs could make a caravan here or there, but nothing what they were used to. The band of four Russians dropped to two the moment their trade caravan passed by a thieving band that killed Faina's and her brother Dmitri's parents. They were stripped of everything, and by now the siblings had nothing; not anymore. The seventeen year old girl and her twenty-two year old brother ran and barely escaped into what is now the southern region of Germany. It was hard, but they had nowhere to go. The pair made do and eventually figured out how to survive in the Black Forest of "Germany."

  One day after they had been living in the forest for about four years, when Faina was left alone for a week. Her brother had just upped and vanished. Faina was scared. She kept a stoked fire but did nothing. She managed to summon balls of light to keep her company, and that was something that Faina had done when she was younger but she had never thought of it as unusual or scary, but she saw a wan and gaunt figuration of her brother. He looked hungry Faina was scared. She was now twenty-one and the years of living in the forest had made her thinner than when the entire Starkovs started their journey. Her brother started to approach her and grabbed her shoulders, physically intimidating her. Faina shrank back, shouting help in Russian, English, French, and various other languages. No help came. All she remembers is her world going black.

  She awoke, dressed in fineries and furs in a strange place with her brother sitting beside her in candlelight looking sickly. Faina was confused and conversed with her brother on what had happened. Apparently Dmitri had met a tall, gaunt man that had been intrigued with the Starkov's story and presence in the Black Forest. He wanted Faina to be his wife and Dmitri to be his captain of the guard of his army. Faina was confused. Who was this man? It had never crossed her mind on whose land they were on. She was nervous and Faina was reluctant. She was tempted, however, on what the mysterious man was offering. She had never seen him and the blonde, frail, half-starved girl wanted anything that would make sure she would not starve and something that could be a very fortunate thing for the girl that had lost everything.

  She remained dressed in her fineries as her brother, still gaunt and frail, led her to a large dining room with lavish decorations. That night was her twenty-fifth birthday; she was old and willing to die if it made a difference. Faina was scared as she sat in a chair that seemed to be designated for her. She looked at the jeweled chalice that was sitting in front of her. It glistened with rubies. She was astounded by the jewels and how much they resembled blood. She was tempted to touch them when the mysterious host showed himself. He, too, appeared thin, gaunt, and pale. She was mystified by now, curious as to whom this mysterious suitor was. He introduced himself as Lord Anton Hailwic. Something, she noticed, was off. He hardly picked at his food whilst Faina nearly wolfed it down, although she ate properly for the standards of the time period, and Faina was curious as to why her brother, who had joined them, had not devoured everything in sight. It was to be her last meal as a human, she would later find out. Everything from there was a blur.

  When she awoke, Faina felt sore, dizzy, and was dressed in different fineries than when she had eaten dinner with Anton and Dmitri. She stood up and examined the clothing. It was blood red with black accents with gold, obsidian, and ruby accented belts, buttons, and other assorted fastenings. It was strange. The woman then turned and tried to examine her reflection in the nearest mirror and was taken aback. There was no reflection. Faina looked at her hands and felt her face. She had waxy, wan skin and her features were drawn tight and gaunt. She was a shell of what she had been before which was not completely a difference. Faina soon learned that she could not touch silver without feeling a burning sensation. She also learned that she could not be around anything that was garlic-related, made with garlic, or garlic itself. Faina could also not be near anything that touched sunlight for a searing pain coursed through her body.

  Anton and Faina grew somewhat close, but the pair never did anything abnormal excluding the occasional shared victim. Faina would slowly drain the blood of women, of various ages that she found rivaled her in beauty, into an ornate bathtub and bathed in it. The men that had flirted with the pretty women or were strong and dashing in their own rite were also slaughtered for Faina's insatiable appetite for blood. The way she drank the blood was completely different. Faina never drank the blood of the "innocent" women; she only bathed; and she never bathed in the blood of the men; she only drank their blood out of the same enchanted chalice she had received her first night in the stone palace of Anton Hailwic. Decades past and in the late eighteenth century, Faina had decided that the vampire royalty should move to France for better pickings of her favorite meals: pretty women and strong men. As the pair packed up their home and took their guard to France, Anton promised he would be close behind and he departed a month after Faina.

  However, by now, she felt alone even with her brother and the small guard that had been selected to guide the "queen" to France. News eventually reached her ears that her husband had been killed. Anton was staked just outside a large settlement for the settlement's inhabitants had blamed Anton for all the missing persons and deaths of all the loved ones. Now, Faina had never loved Anton, but he had always been kind to her. He spoiled her with fineries and unreciprocated affection. Faina was the one that suggested moving to France so that Faina would have more of a selection of women to bathe in their blood and drink the blood of princes and royalty. And she did. Minor nobles and beautiful women lost their lives to feed the insatiable diet of the "vampire queen."

  But life was not good in France; the country was rebelling against King Louis the sixteenth in the year 1789. It was several years of political dispute that Faina stood hidden from, taking hostages, prisoners, and various other victims from both sides of the rebellion. Faina pledged no alliance and stayed hidden. She would fall from society if anyone ever knew who she was. Lady Hailwic was not enthused with the public. Years passed and there was an announcement made that Queen Marie Antoinette would be slain by guillotine and the public was invited. Faina decided to show her face at that public execution. She stood close enough to the stand that when Marie Antoinette was beheaded, her blood dropped into a vial that both surprised and intrigued Faina. She retreated to her home and drank the blood of Marie Antoinette, the only female she ever drank the blood of.

  At this point at the end of the French Revolution, Faina remembered her wizarding heritage and researched the wizarding realm of France in which she soon was accepted as a vampire, a dreg of society, and quickly flew from her wealthy status to having nothing in the world of wizards. Faina, a scholar in her own right, quickly learned the history of wizards since her birth and even before then. Disgusted, Faina departed from France and headed to Great Britain. She had everything stripped from her; money, status, everything, the moment she entered wizarding Britain. Once again her comforts had been stripped from her and so she stripped her name: Faina would no longer be Faina Hailwic, vampire queen; Faina was now her maiden name: Faina Starkova. The year was 1800 and the nineteenth century would prove to be problematic for the young vampire. Many of her kind had been slaughtered and Faina feared she would be staked at any moment.
  Decades of fear plagued her body as she had to remain hidden and how she took extra precaution in the men and women she kidnapped, slaughtered, and feasted upon. She had no one. Dmitri had fled along with some of the other guard members upon entrance to Britain as Faina left for wizarding London. She lived in the slums of London which was almost worse than living in the forest with nothing. Faina kept an enchanted trunk with all of her wealthy possessions including the enchanted chalice with rubies, a locket that had a lock of Anton's hair, and many other things from her life as a vampire "queen." Faina hated living in fear and there was many prejudices against vampires that Faina had somehow managed to avoid the fullest impacts. Faina soon, however, turned to researching and writing down the stories and facts of her life that had connected with the wizarding world. Faina had soon written several text books on different parts of history, many that took place in her youngest years and before. The persecution of wizards was documented well throughout history and Faina just compiled them in simple textbook volumes.

  In the year 1825, Faina was hired at Hogwarts after the Ancient Studies professor spot opened and the current headmaster enjoyed her text on the history that stretched back to before the turn of the millennia. For the next fifty-six years after her initial hiring, Faina has remained in the lower class, remained a professor, and remained feasting upon the blood of "innocent" humans. The only major change was for Faina to pick up shop and move from the Slums of London to the Slums of Hogsmeade to stay safe in the year 1877. It was scary, moving up to another neighborhood that was strange to her. She had nothing, but she was scared of moving nevertheless. She was irked and confused, but she found a nice place to settle in and stayed under the radar of the vampire hunters, the Being Division, and other vampires. Faina was not going to leave without a fight. She had an income, and she was excited to keep making money even though Faina felt that Phineas Black, the new Headmaster, wanted to sack her. Faina has tried to keep a low profile since Black became Head of Hogwarts and she has tried to behave so that she would not be sacked. For the first time in centuries, Faina has felt safe and that Hogwarts is more accepting than anywhere else she has been in history, which is most definitely saying something in comparison to the staunch etiquette that she has to deal with.

Personality:

• Jealous-type, articulate, bloodthirsty, cruel, intelligent, cunning, motivated, determined, serious

Sample Roleplay Post: >>

Out of Character

Name: Puppet

Age: 18

Contact: Ask

Other Characters: A bunch.

How did you hear about us?: I live here.

  

[Violet MacFusty]

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