Played by: Andy Andersen
Name: Vladimir “Saint” Ivanovitch lll
Gender: Male
Age: 18
Race: Human
Hair: Black
Eyes: Green
Occupation: Serving as a battle cleric for the Vandregon army
Known Skills: Divine magic and poison resistance
Birthplace: In the Kingdom of Vandregon on Faedrun
Appearance: Wears the Vandregon colors under a cloak
Relationships: None
Rumors: From his studies, some think he is too close to the Undead
Bio: “I am not out to claim glory, or power… I am Vladimir “Saint” of the Ivanovitch family. My mother and father sent me to the arms of the church during the Undead plague back home at the age of 7. But I did not despair, they were not as loving as they could of been. The church offered me knowledge and a safe haven on the new continent of Mardun. Once the boats started to set sail for this new world, the priests who had taught me for most of my life took me and the rest of us and boarded the first ship to leave. I enjoyed the trip, the crew had such stories to tell, and some had stories of the Undead or being attacked by the Penitent. I was so interested in them and helping those of the ship that they gave me the nickname “Saint”. When we finally arrived on Mardun, things were very much as I thought it would be- a land also in the middle of a war, for at this time the humans and Syndar were in a bitter war with the native Ulven. The Priests whom I had come to call family quickly moved to establish a new homestead in a small village outside of the newly established settlement called, New Hope.
Days here seemed to go by fast, just as the people who rushed back and forth from the front lines and from the shores, and before we knew it, the war had ended. Some say we won, others said the Ulven prevailed. Either way, the war was over and I thought maybe now I can continue my research and studies. I was always one to take things apart and figure out how it worked and the one thing I longed to study was not as available here. I wished to study the Undead… I had learned all I could from the books in the library and I wanted more than anything to study them. Me being just a boy of fourteen, I wanted to do this more than anything and I pandered to the others. I even went as far as talking to the head priest, Calder. Calder was as religious as he was ruthless; he had fought on the front lines of the Aldorians and the Vandregon. He has seen the Undead scourge for himself, this made him my favorite place to go to answers. But unfortunately he did not give out information on his battle experiences easily. So when I came to him telling him I wanted to study the Undead, he was furious. He said the Undead are not to be studied, rather they needed to be destroyed by the Light. I was a man of the cloth as much as the rest, but I was also a man of the sciences, so anyone can imagine the conflict that this caused me inside.
Even though Calder would not allow me to study the Undead, I still found ways to keep myself entertained. A stack of books arrived all on the battle tactics of the armies of the Old and New. One book was on the Aldorian army, several on the Vandregon army and one or two that really interested me were on not only the tactics of the Ulven and each of the clans individual tendencies and specialties in battle- but one was titles “Mordok Hunting” It talked so low of the Mordok it made perfect sense that more people think of them as animals. I took all the tactics and worked to apply it to my combat strategies. My training took me years to perfect and by the time I was eighteen, I felt ready to set out and join the world. I hade planned on joining new Vandregon in two months. Then one day a group came to our church in search for a blessing on a journey they were embarking on. Balder was the first to greet them as they came up the steps. I was not concerned about what they needed; I was preoccupied with my training and meditation. Later that night Calder asked to see me, he had never asked to see me before- but I went anyways. Calder lived in a secluded part of the homestead with his wife whom I rarely saw and his son who had a grudge with me when one day his father yelled at him for not being as committed to his studies as I was. I had no problems finding Calder; he was standing in the doorway of his study. In a corner I noticed a chest, I had never seen it before. Calder turned to face me and saw that I had noticed it.
“I see you noticed the new chest, those people who were earlier left it in our care.” “Why? We have no need for it. And who is the lock supposed to keep out?”
Calder looks to me with a blank stare “Those people left it in our care….it is imperative it stays locked away from those who are not worthy.”
“So what did you want to see me about?”
“I called you here because I know you are planning on joining the Vandregon army. I know you were planning on leaving us here without any explanation.” I almost jumped when he said that but I let him continue. “”However thought I would not be mad at you for this…I too served for the Vandregon… They are an honorable group and they would be lucky to have you. But first you need to prove that you can fight. This brings me to why I called you in here. Those people need a cleric to go with them and a blessing for their trip, I told them I would send my best and brightest cleric, and that’s you. Now you’re not to let them stray away from this path.”
He handed me a map of Mardrun. “Here is Onsallas outpost. I have heard from a reliable contact that two Vandregon warriors from the militia known as the Myrmiden will be there one day earlier than the Vandregons current leader, William. Maybe there you will be able to join them. Now get moving, you leave tonight and should arrive to the outpost in three days time.”
I couldn’t have been more excited about the pleasant turn of events.
Later that night I met up with the group I will be traveling with. There were a total of fifteen of us. This chest must be very important if they managed to gather so many people. The journey took all of two days to go to hell. On the night of the second day, we were all woken up in the late night by a man on watch called Brueter. Brueter had with him a traveling companion named Rachel. I had no doubt that the two were engaged in relations with each other. He was screaming “He’s found us Rachel, we must get the chest and make hast to the outpost, they can protect us there!!” I had no idea who HE was, so I pondered who could have these men and woman who had seen death and killed in such disarray. Then I felt as if something was there, and odd feeling crept into my body as I noticed that another woman was with us. Her shadow was taller and leaner like a man and held a spear… My brain moved too fast for my body to react, her chest erupted with crimson red blood covering the spear tip as it slid back through her body and a man appeared behind her.
But he was not really a man, his face had almost no color, or flesh on it. His eye sockets were void of any eyes, just black holes. This was an Undead… I became excited- here it was, standing just as I had thought it would, void of any emotion. But I had to wait till it was dead for me to study it, I thought to myself. My mind was suddenly taken by fear as it lunged towards me, spear in hand, ready to thrust its sharp head into mine. I side stepped the thrust, but not before realizing that someone was standing behind me and was not in the cross fire and before either of us came to our sensed it was too late and the spear entered his throat and exited out the back of his neck. When it retracted, it pulled out strands of veins and muscle. Soon the others were aware of what was going on, a panic quickly set in. Each man and woman was working to get away at any cost, but this foolish effort ended up killing more and more of them. Some were set on fire, stumbling into the still burning fires. Other ran into each others drawn weapons. This mass hysteria was soon calmed and controlled by an ex- Vandregon soldier. I had learned of him when I met him, he was an older man in his late thirties called Axas. He was dishonorably discharged due to a crippling injury he sustained during a drunken brawl he started.
None the less, he started barking orders and soon rallied us into a line. Only ten of us were left after the beginning panic. One man moved to lunge his great sword in the Undead’s stomach but the Undead was unfazed by this and moved forward onto the blade until he was face to face with the man who stood petrified. Soon the Undead made it’s move and it thrusted it’s hand around the mans face and began to squeeze. Slowly and painfully, the man’s head started to crack and bleed. His eye were being gouged out and squeezed, the blood curdling screams could be a nightmare in and of itself, but it wasn’t long before the Undead had squeezed the life out of his victim and let his limp body fall into the dirt. But Axas stood tall, weapon drawn before he called for them to rush the Undead. The Undead had thrusted his sword into another person, but this time he let it go, reached for the handle of the great sword in his stomach and pulled it out. The battle began…
Axas did his best, but no one in our little group had the minerals to stand up to this seemingly invincible enemy. I was trying to convince Axas to hand me his sword so that I could bless it but before I could get a chance the Undead made a strong powerful swing for Axas and knocked him back. The Undead were swinging slowly but it would connect on almost every swing and these swings were powerful, at one point he swung hard for Axas and it connected with his big tower shield and it cracked and splintered right up the middle. One by one they started to fall like flies. Axas finally gave up his sword so that I could bless it, I ran for cover in the tall grass that surrounded us. But as I started the ritual, I noticed that the undead had not been so interested in me, until now… I heard its heavy footsteps behind me as I turned around to catch him, but instead I found a knife in my side. I blacked almost out instantly from the pain. When I regained consciousness, I looked around to see if there were any survivors, I only found the reanimated corpses of the others. I had to get away or else I would be next. I looked over and I could see the undead has it’s hand on Bruters head and all of a sudden his dead body began seizing and jerking for two minutes till the Undead staggered away almost in pain. I thought to myself this is how an undead is made…I had learned about the dark energy that coursed through an undead but I never had seen it in play. This undead was able to make its dark energy into a dead body. I saw the undead move to me as he got closer and closer, I knew I would have to endure more pain than I ever sustained, if I was to survive. As the undead reached me I reached up and grabbed the undead’s arm and bought it close to me. I took the dagger out of my side and trusted it into his chest. I then kicked him away. I ran as fast as I could into the dirge swamp… I knew I could not go back so I decided I would hide out in this swamp till I could regain my facilities. I foraged off the land and meditated and thought long and hard on the battle… Then one day, after so long by myself, I met someone…