Laurent

Full Name: Laurent Hall
Birth Date: December 2, 1966
Death Date: December 29, 1992
Race: Vampire
Clan: Daeva
Bloodline: Gulikan
Covenant: Ordo Dracul
Rank: Dedicated Scholar of Pain
Age Appears: 26

History

Relatively uneventful childhood behind him, Laurent Hall had little idea what to do with his life after high school. Sure, he liked sports, but he wasn’t a good enough player to get an athletic scholarship to any exceptional college, and not knowing what major he should pursue, he simply opted to work instead of giving college a try. Habitually without wealth, Laurent found it a bit hard to scrape by without a college degree. However, his school was good enough to offer him a job as an assistant soccer coach because he had been a proficient player during his high school years playing there. Acting as coach certainly wasn’t a full-time job, and didn’t even have a salary – only a stipend that wasn’t large enough to support his livelihood in downtown New York City. In the late 80s, a new bookbinding business, NYC Bookbinding, opened its doors. Laurent answered the shop’s newspaper ad for help, and while he had zero experience with the art, he was eager and confident – and rather desperate for money so the owner took pity on him and offered to train him on the job. This wasn’t too unordinary because most bookbinders learn the trade while working.

While still assistant coaching, Laurent spent four years as an apprentice at NYC Bookbinding before finally having proficient skills to restore old books by fixing torn pages, broken hinges, detached covers, torn spines, and complete rebinding, among other book-related fixes. More abstractly, he also developed a keen sense of detail, patience, and neatness. The several years that followed didn’t bring an abundance of wealth, but the business was successful enough to allow him to keep his apartment downtown.

Laurent’s personal scent, the smell of grass, sweat, leather and old parchment, attracted the attention of a Gulikan vampire, a creature whose sense of smell was utterly keen, one that could not resist seeking out an addicting smell when they came across it. The Gulikan felt compelled to abduct Laurent, to keep him alive for days just so that Laurent’s smell could linger in his nostrils. After that time the vampire couldn’t help but want to keep Laurent for his own; once a Gulikan finds a scent they’re addicted to it’s difficult for them to let go of it. Laurent was made into a vampire, though much to the Gulikan’s dismay, the smell of him after ingesting vitae was much less desirable than it had been when Laurent had been human. Now that the haze of lust for Laurent’s scent had passed, the Gulikan saw it fit to train his new childe in the ways of their bloodline.

Laurent, understandably, was well beyond confused, in utter denial at first to what he had become. It was terrifying; he didn’t want to be this creature for horror stories, forced to live only by night and slaking his thirst on the blood of humans. Normal life as he’d known it was impossible now – no more coaching games under the bright sun, no more bookbinding by day, no more eating food, no more aging – all of it was intensely overwhelming, and made even more so by the Gulikan bloodline flaw that he was cursed to live with: olfactory addiction, which was what had forced him into this state of being in the first place by attracting the vampire.

An unfortunate side-effect of this olfactory addiction was the compulsion to constantly sniff the air around him, which perpetually made him look like he was a cocaine addict – a mildly annoying nuisance at first, but after months of not being able to quell his sniffing, he was desperate to find some way to calm it. He hated having to sneak around at night, hated his physical changes, loathed the Gulikan for making him like this.

His sire had little patience for the impertinence and began forcing Laurent to learn their bloodline’s signature asset, Ortam, which was the art of perfumery that could be so potent as to draw humans to them. Laurent did only the bare minimum, doing enough to avoid his sire’s rage and no more. But his defiance, however subdued, didn’t stop; eventually his sire could no longer take it and simply abandoned Laurent and jumped cities, confident that the young vampire wouldn’t be able to survive on his own.

As much as he disliked what he’d become, Laurent wasn’t the sort to just lie down and die. At the same time he really didn’t know too much besides the basics: how to feed, essential information about Kindred, and basic perfumery. Perhaps, he decided, there was some way to cure his condition, some way to fix what had been done and make him human again. After gratuitous probing for information, he discovered a certain sect of vampires that had that very same goal: to transcend the vampiric condition. He wanted to be accepted into that group because even though he couldn’t figure out a way to achieve his goal on his own, perhaps other vampires could give him insight on the matter.

The sect was known as the Ordo Dracul, or the Order of the Dragon, and its lineage dated back to Vlad Dracula himself. It was a secret society, separate from the rest of the New York City Kindred, and Laurent was unable to learn much of anything at all from them because he was not a member. When he inquired just what he’d have to do to gain admittance, the members of the Order, known as Dragons, told him that he would have to prove himself worthy first; he had to work hard in order to gain the attention of a potential mentor, otherwise he would never be able to learn the Coils of the Dragon, which were the abilities the Dragons had access to that helped them transcend their vampiric condition. He was instructed to pour his efforts into adjusting to other changes – learning a discipline, a language, a musical instrument, anything that would begin to prepare his mind for adjusting to the changes that the Coils would bring. If he could not prove to them that he could embrace those changes, then there was no point in letting him learn the secrets of the covenant.

Because the Order traces their lineage back to Vlad Dracula, Laurent thought it would be wise to learn something that related to their history in some fashion, in hopes that it would appeal to the other Dragons. He chose to learn to play an instrument that had been brought to Romania in the fifteenth century around the time of Dracula’s rule, the cobza. A cobza is similar to a lute, but with a short neck and bent-back pegbox. Having never played an instrument before in his life, the change certainly was a drastic one; it took him a while to learn how to read music before he could ever start learning to play the cobza.

As for learning disciplines, he no longer had any contact with his sire, so he had to turn to the members of the covenant that would entertain his company despite the fact that he knew no Coils. He was able to convince another Dragon to teach him the first level of Auspex, heightened senses, which only made his sense of smell all the more keen when he used it. He didn’t bother to learn that particular discipline any deeper, though; aura-reading and mind-reading really didn’t interest him – he was much more concerned about changing himself than anything else, and this viewpoint was something that made him fit in much better with the Dragons because changing oneself is central to the core philosophy of the covenant – after all, the Coils only affect the user, not anyone else.

Thinking more practically, Laurent opted to expand upon what he already knew of Ortam so that he could make various perfumes and oils to sell. To him it didn’t really seem like a very masculine sort of trade, but he did it anyway just because he had a good nose for it. Even years later he isn’t likely to admit to someone at first that he is a perfumer because it’s likely to get him laughed at by the manlier sorts. The art of perfuming requires chemicals and a wealth of aromatics though, and Laurent found out quickly that it was impossible to work on perfuming in his place of residence; the constant intense olfactory stimulation was a bit much for him to deal with – besides, he really didn’t want to be sleeping in the same place as a wealth of flammable substances.

Eventually he found a shop that would not only stock his products, but would also lend him a back room so that he could create his mixtures away from his own apartment. The aromatherapy store, Enfleurage, sells a plethora of essential oils that Laurent incorporates into his products. He sells some of his blends in Enfleurage, some at other new age stores in the city, and other special blends just to his Kindred associates.

In addition to disciplines and beginning a new career path, Laurent was instructed to observe humanity closer than he had ever done when he’d been human. Watching the changes in mood, in appearance, and in action of a human as he or she spends the evening out was something that Laurent became quite good at over time; not only with his dominant sense of smell, but also seeing and hearing those changes as he followed a particular human for hours each night and merely studied that person.

During this period of learning, his rank in the covenant was no better than a servant to the rest of the members; but he had to comply with whatever they wanted his help with because if not, he would not have been found to be a willing student and therefore not admitted to the covenant.

After working to change himself by learning new skills, and after close observation of change not only in himself but of others, Laurent was seen fit to enter into the mysteries of the Order. The older Dragons encouraged him to pursue the Coils of Flesh because they physically altered a Dragon’s appearance, and if anything could stop that persistent sniffing, then the Coils of Flesh could. Laurent did not have one particular mentor, but several he shared; it seemed wiser to him to draw on the knowledge and experience of multiple people rather than just one.

The moment he finally mastered the first of the Coil, he underwent a sense of enlightenment, a deeper understanding that he really did not have to settle for the stagnation that consumed so many other Kindred. He could rise above that, and perhaps eventually he could cure his vampirism altogether. Finally having a tangible result of his efforts made Laurent feel a great sense of accomplishment, and from then on he was deeply loyal to his covenant. The years that followed were spent continuing to work on the next two tiers of the Coils of Flesh.

Appearance/Personality

After years studying the Coils of Flesh, he finally managed to tone down the compulsive sniffing to something much milder. While he does still have to constantly inhale, the action looks like nothing more than breathing through the nose now. Because his olfactory addition is so strong and because he has yet to study the Coils of the Beast, he will frenzy if his nose is forced closed so he can’t smell his surroundings. Over time his sense of smell has only grown keener, especially when paired with Auspex – it is practically impossible to sneak up on Laurent; even if he cannot see or hear someone, he can likely smell them. However, sudden, overly-intense scents can “blind” his sense of smell temporarily, and during that time, Laurent can’t smell anything at all. Despite the fact that he can still physically inhale the air, the absence of olfactory stimulation at the very least makes him paranoid and panicky, and at the worst makes him frenzy because of the anxiety.

Laurent is 5’10 with mussed chocolate brown hair, blue-gray eyes, medium-build, and he almost always sports some manor of scruffy facial hair. Because he specializes in the Coil of Flesh, he is able to alter his physical appearance by spending a small amount of blood to do so – making his hair and nails grow, flushing his skin with blood to make himself look more alive, keeping food and drink down for a time, sweating, and making his image can appear clearly in photographs and video, though his image fades after a year or so. Because he must constantly take in smells through his nose, he looks as if he’s genuinely breathing at all times as well.

Because it is a color designated strictly to higher-ranking Dragons, Laurent avoids wearing the color blue in public; it’s an insult to those older Dragons if he does. Otherwise, he’s not a total slob, no, but he doesn’t spend hours of time on his appearance either; he prefers comfortable clothing more than anything, and usually sports yoga pants and a tee shirt in the warmer months, sacrificing those for jeans and long-sleeves when it’s colder. He’ll dress up for formal Order events, but little else.

Oaths are something taken very seriously in the covenant, therefore it is highly unlikely that Laurent will ever break a promise that he makes. To do so would shame him in the covenant. Three other chief principles of the Order that he holds true to are:

1) A Dragon has no loyalty above his studies.

2) A Dragon must understand, accept, and embrace purposeful change.

3) A Dragon is responsible for all he is and all he does.

Laurent says very little about his covenant to those who aren’t members. He cannot reveal covenant secrets lest he be severely punished, especially when it comes to the Coils – giving away the secrets of the Coils to an outsider is the most heinous crime against the covenant. When a Dragon teaches a non-Dragon how to learn even one tier of a Coil, that Dragon is impaled in the manner that Vlad Tepes used on his victims, and left out for the sun. Obviously Laurent wants to avoid that, so it is highly, highly unlikely that he will ever let anyone else know about just how he manages his abilities.

In general Laurent is friendly – he about has to be considering he knows just about no offensive abilities to defend himself against stronger vampires. His heightened senses, his especially keen sense of smell, and his ability to make perfumes can’t help him overly much in a fight, and when attacked he’s likely to flee rather than attempt to fight because he cares too much about his own well-being to risk being hurt. He tries to be light-hearted and keep a sense of humor about most things; it’s easier for him to do this than many vampires because he isn’t stuck in the stagnancy that usually defines vampirism. At the same time he takes his scholarly goals very seriously and is a very dedicated member of his covenant.

He’s relatively easy-going because he doesn’t have to stress himself out about Kindred politics or covenant feuds. That isn’t to say his existence is painless – after all, each new tier of Coils he learns is likened to a human going for a week without food: not impossible, but definitely not how the body was designed to work. Some Dragons sacrifice their morals for self-enlightenment, but Laurent believes he doesn’t need to murder or commit diablerie in order to achieve his goals. Coils are impossible to detect magically; there’s no way someone else could discern the details of a Coil unless a Dragon verbally spelled it out to them – and no Dragon in their right mind would.

While he can’t outright tell non-Dragons details about transcending their condition, he tries to joke around with other Kindred anyway to encourage them to not be so depressed about their current state of unlife. Laurent is responsible, loyal, and works well alone and with others. But at the same time he isn’t a strong leader, he can be perhaps too easy-going for some peoples’ sakes, and the secrecy he has to keep can turn people off from wanting to hang around him.

Interests

Balance is a concept that’s always interested Laurent, especially after becoming a Dragon, and that is why Feng Shui appeals to him. His studio apartment is arranged in such a way that caters to the ideals of Feng Shui, or at least as much as it can considering it’s a tiny apartment. The one exception is that he loves mirrors, despite the fact that they could reflect bad energy about; being able to see his flushed skin and watch himself breathe reminds him that he’s not so unlike a human. He does, however, flip the mirrors toward the walls before he sleeps each morning, as if to correct the energy of the room after the mirrors face forward all night. Dragons believe that change is unavoidable and necessary, and because of that, one should not grow too attached to anything. It’s easy for Laurent to live by this philosophy for the most part because he has few possessions – which is also good for the Feng Shui aesthetic. His bedroom itself is mainly red because warmer colors appeal to him. Besides, the color red is meant to increase heart rate, respiration and blood pressure, and what vampire wouldn’t want that if he were trying to be more like a human?

One particular item that he is rather attached to is his cobza; playing it helps to relax him and it also reminds him of how far he’s come – after all, learning the cobza was one of the first major changes he brought upon himself years ago. By now he can simply hear a song and then play it for himself on the instrument; he doesn’t bother with sheet music, unless he’s scribbling down a self-composed bit of music that he doesn’t want to forget.

Dragons are encouraged to watch change in progress, but also to enact a change and watch the effects of it unfold afterward. This process is called Chasing the Dragon’s Tail. On occasion Laurent will follow someone all night and enact change where he sees fit and watch what happens after. These changes must always be followed and appreciated; enacting change for no reason is pointless in the Order’s philosophy.

His bookbinding ability has made him quite useful over the years to those Dragons who have old texts that are falling apart and need mending. He doesn’t possess too many covenant-related books himself; most of those books are housed together in the Order’s chapter house, which is similar to a Masonic lodge that only members have access to.

Laurent doesn’t have a car; he believes owning a car in downtown New York City is just unnecessary because he can get anywhere in town via subway or walking. But then again, Laurent is pretty frugal anyway because of having to scrape by for money when he’d been human.

Sports are something he’s still interested in after all these years, though as more of an observer now than a participant, because he isn’t quite certain other vampires would take tossing or kicking a ball around very seriously. There aren’t too many nighttime sporting events, so oftentimes Laurent will set a timer to record choice games on the television or radio during the day while he’s sleeping.

The perfumes he makes for Enfleurage tend to shift toward Arabesque scents, as that is what the store specializes in, but he branches out for other dealers. He also sells what he makes to vampires, in moderation; perfumers usually aren’t trusted because the strength of their perfumes can break the wills of supernatural creatures, but after years with the covenant, Laurent has proven that he doesn’t have ulterior motives. Still, he’d rather be safe than sorry, and is careful about who he sells to.

He has little interest in politics, just like the rest of his covenant; they are far more concerned with bettering themselves rather than bettering Kindred society at large. They do believe anyone who does not accept change is unwise, but they don’t actively promote that idea – they’ll play nice with whoever happens to be in power for their own safety, even if they don’t agree with those in charge.

As for religion, Dragons believe that someone is always watching, though whatever that definition of ‘God’ is varies from Dragon to Dragon. Laurent is really not sure how to classify his beliefs about the nature of God yet, though he does watch to discern if changes he observes happen on their own or if they have some sort of divine intervention. Because he holds true that change is a constant, he believes that even after he dies, that will be a new stage of his existence. Laurent is inclined to believe this is some other kind of rebirth, since he was reborn again as a vampire. Mediation, especially when he’s preparing to learn a new Coil tier, is important to him because it helps him focus internally.