Lucius - Thousand Year Old Vampire - Character creation

My name is Lucius Septimius Firmus, most people don’t call me that though. It’s one of those names that lend itself to specific situations such as when the sun is up and you’re sober. While I don’t by any means dislike my name I would much rather people greet me with a smile or a kiss on the cheek. Some call me The Lyre, other times it’s Singer. Brother or Friend, are my favorites, they’re like titles but of the kind that you earn.

I have one real brother Quintus Septimius Firmus, he doesn’t have as many names as I do. Instead he sticks to what’s familiar and predictable. Quintus is only ever Quintus, while he might allow me to call him brother that’s it. He would never allow that privilege to someone outside of the family.

I tease him that he worships the God of Boredom, of course it’s not true. My brother doesn’t worship anything, not his wife, neither his son nor daughter. He doesn’t live for the day nor the night. I imagine that he endures life without finding much joy in the experience. Yet he seldom fails to berate me about my life, telling me that I am lacking. Telling me that I should set aside the lyre and instead work with him as a carpenter. What drives him I can not say.

He is my brother and for all his ways, I do love him. Part of me would want to work with him, perhaps it would make him happy for a while. Still, I love life itself. I love the days and the nights. I long for that feeling when a crowd gets caught up in my music and they hang on to every tone. The pure joy when people start to dance. To Quintus dancing is a disgrace, imagine if a noble danced in public? Of course none of us were nobles, but that mattered not to Quintus. As long as there was some rule that made life less joyful he would find a way to follow that path.

There was a time when I hated my brother. Inspired, by my lost patron Pompeia who had authored me a poem when she understood my love for music, I was writing a song for Fabia. Trying to remember that period it felt like I worked on that song for months. The process tormented me and it felt like a lifetime. It might have been days or weeks, but not much more. As the song was nearing completion I mentioned it to Quintus. At nights I wonder what might have happened if I hadn’t done that. He called it mediocre.

Then Quintus proposed to Fabia the next day. Never would I claim that Fabia belonged to me or was mine. Instead, what he stole was that feeling of my first love. He ripped me away from that place of wonder and cast me back to reality. I am not a creature of hate and I soon found myself loving my brother again. The sting of the experience still hangs with me though, it’s not the kind of thing that you forget. I still think that she smiled at me in ways she’s never done for Quintus. You could argue that she smiles for her children in ways she didn’t for me, though people are always fond of their children so that’s hardly special.

A brother that never betrayed me is my friend Aulus. We shared music and wine together, laughter, and songs. He had a singing voice that was mesmerizing, there were times when I lost notes from my lyre when listening to him. While I would have wanted to be able to sing like him, I was never jealous of my friend. What he had added to my experience, how could I not want that for him? Aulus was one of many such friends, but my best one to be sure.

Every day wasn’t filled with music, there were days where I picked up my hammer and joined Quintus in his work. While carpentry would never be my passion, there was a sense of joy to complete a task. Also it felt good to work with my body. Though even after finishing a given job, the end result never gave you a smile or applause from onlooking strangers, or friends not yet met, only music could provide that.

At nights when I play I can get a reaction from most of the people in the audience. There was one night when I noticed a woman in the crowd that didn’t grant me any such enjoyment. Not a hint of a smile or a tap of her foot. She didn’t even close her eyes and just listen. I can handle people ignoring me but she was watching me throughout the evening. She remained there to the end and in the late hours of night I was playing only for her. Still no visible reaction. In the end I asked her if she didn’t enjoy the music.

Sahylina said that she found it soothing, but that she’d stopped feeling any kind of joy a long time ago. Thinking of my brother Quintus, I asked her what could ever make someone stop feeling joy. Time, was all she said which was no answer at all. I challenged her on this and she offered to tell me in a hundred years to see if I’d changed my mind. Of course I didn’t know what she meant so I accepted thinking that a hundred years might mean tomorrow. A poetic way of saying tomorrow after the wine had worn off.

She leaned in as if to give me a kiss. While I didn’t desire the woman I remember having this notion that it might give her some joy so I didn’t resist. Sahylina was shorter than me but I still picture her leaning down to reach me, while we didn’t meet in that kiss I did feel her lips brushing mine. Then there was pain, her teeth sank deep into my neck. Her nails dug into my side and left their marks. Something snapped and they’re still in there growing. Always are her nails growing out from my side, no matter how I try to trim them.

I was 28 years old when I died. Nero had reigned for just under two years. Summer of the year people would later call 56 A.D. was coming to an end. When the pain subsided and I opened my eyes I had been remade as a vampire. The morning was early and I was hungry.