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Maalik
Age unknown :: Clan Nosferatu :: Middle-Eastern/Former Member of the Hajj/Currently allied to the Camarilla :: Lorekeeper
Currently in: Maalik's Library, Paris Catacombs
Character Background
- While Nosferatu are known for their revolting appearance, Maalik is particularly inhuman. His skeletal features and glazed green eyes, which seem to glow with unnatural power, give the undead lorekeeper a semblance more of an ancient corpse than most his kin.
- Maalik was once a member of the Hajj, a sub-sect of Islamic Nosferatu that act as Guardians of the holy sites of Islam. During the Third Crusade, a small force of Christian Knights and militia attempted to loot the holy place Maalik had guarded for centuries. Succumbing to his fury and bestial instincts, the Nosferatu slaughtered the Christians in response. With the bloodlust fading and the realization of his savagery dawning on him, Maalik wept. Shortly after, he departed from the Holy Land, deeming his journey into self-imposed exile to be a penance for his sins.
- Philosophical, pious and kind-hearted, Maalik tries to avoid the politics and power-struggles of Kindred society, instead devoting himself to the pursuit of knowledge, believing that only through academic and spiritual enlightenment can he fulfil whatever purpose God has for him.
- After leaving the Holy Land, Maalik made his way to the Iberian Peninsula via North Africa, and from there he continued North, eventually reaching Paris.
- Maalik originally settled into an abandoned mine some distance outside Paris in the early 13th Century, where he met other Nosferatu. It wasn't until the dawn of the 14th Century that he moved into a mine deep below the city itself.
- In 1314, due to his hatred of the Crusaders who had defiled the Holy Land, Maalik took great pleasure in witnessing the execution of Jacques DeMolay, Grand Master of the Knights Templar.
- In his early years in Paris, Maalik attempted to integrate himself into Nosferatu society, an experience he found challenging for a number of reasons. Chief among these challenges were adapting to life in a land where Christianity was the dominant religion and acclimatizing himself to western culture, having spent the past thousand or so years in the Middle East.
- By the end of the 18th Century, Maalik had moved himself into a larger, deeper mine linked to the newly filled ossuaries of the Catacombs and established his ever-growing library. Here he carefully curated the knowledge and wisdom that he had gathered since his siring, caring for it throughout the wars, plagues and famine that have followed since.
- Although his true age is unknown, it is suspected that Maalik is now in at least his second millenium of existence. This is partly due to his remembrance of 'the birth of Islam' and the beginning of the Keening. Maalik is one of the Methuselah, a term that refers to "A vampire of the Fourth and Fifth Generations, who has lived for a thousand years or more."
Raw Material
Plot Ideas
- Maalik is of a scholarly nature, spending most of his time in his library. That being said, on the darkest of nights he may venture up to the world once again.
Existing Relationships
- Cereza Belmont - Perhaps the Antithesis of Maalik himself, he cannot help but feel that the Almighty has placed this child in his path, though for what reason he cannot fathom. He is fiercely protective of her, as one unfortunate Nosferatu found out...
- Arabella Balfour - The Prince's Consort is, in Maalik's eyes, fascinating. Their first encounter was a great meeting of the minds, and he respects her greatly.
- Byron Legard - While they've only recently met, Maalik holds the Prince in high esteem and respects his leadership.
- Roxane McDonnell - One of the only existing friends Maalik has, though they had lost contact over the centuries. Upon his return to the world, Maalik was pleased to hear his friend was alive and well across The Channel, and wrote to her immediately.
Current Plots
- '...like holding burning coal' - Maalik, having sent a letter to Prince Legard announcing his long-hidden presence beneath the city of Paris, prepares to meet the Prince's envoy and companion, Arabella. Before he can do so, however, he encounters something entirely unexpected, a small human child, Cereza, whose curiosity had brought her down into the dark.
- "The Conquest of One's Self" - Maalik, having received an invitation from Byron, finally meets the Gangrel Prince of Paris in the Père Lachaise Cemetary.
- A light in the darkness - After meeting with Byron, Maalik returns to the Catacombs to find a dangerous situation unfolding around Cereza
Credit for the basic template goes to Dun of RPG-D
