Valeri Antonin (NPC)

A former Borcan virtuoso singer in the choir of the Great Cathedral of Levkarest, Valeri Antonin now exists as an odem with vengeance against the Church of Ezra on his mind. He uses the adolescent Rhiannon Elysia as an unwitting pawn in his scheme to establish a Fifth Sect in Kartakass.

History

Born in the July of 705 BC to minor Borcan nobles Vera and Dimitrius Antonin, Valeri was called upon as a youngster to sing for visiting guests. An anchorite Sergei Kristovich was one such person, who made frequent visits to the Antonin home and assumed something of an uncle role to the young boy. Kristovich convinced Valeri's parents to allow him to become a choirboy for the Church and later, aided with some hefty bribes, to allow Valeri become Borca's first castrato in order to preserve his soprano singing past adolescence. Embarrassed by the matter, Vera and Dimitrius left Borca for Mordent, leaving their son entirely in the Church's care.

Valeri's instruction saw him as an anchorite by age 16 and singing his first mass in 724 BC. In the years to come, Valeri achieved great fame in the Core for his singing and brought in significant numbers in worshipers and donations to Ezra's church. At the same time, his nature as a castrato made him a target for mockery, derision, and even contempt as unholy. Alienated from most people, he would seek comfort in the presence of Kristovich. In 729 BC, Valeri's dead body was discovered. Although Valeri was made into a saint, formal investigation into the cause never went far, due to lingering fallout of the death of Yakov Dilisnya. Reardless of suspicions of other parties, the death was in truth a result of an encounter Sergei Kristovich. Although Kristovich may have not meant to kill the boy, he nonetheless abandoned Valeri to perish of blood loss.

Sergei Kristovich soon after left the Home Faith to retire to quiet study at the Ste. Mere des Larmes in Port-a-Lucine. However, Kristovich did not leave alone, for Valeri's unquiet spirit rose as an odem and became a stowaway in Kristovich's body without his knowledge. For the next six years, Valeri used Kristovich's access to the church's libraries to learn more about the faith's myths and religious lore, in addition to general self enrichment by day. At night, Valeri would leave the church grounds to feed on misery and strife elsewhere.

In 735 BC, Valeri Antonin ensured that Sergei Kristovich sent a letter to the Home Faith proclaiming his violation of Valeri Antonin. Valeri Antonin left Sergei's naked corpse lying on the ground as he inhabited the body of Richemuloise dandy Arsene Montcalme. Valeri's goal was to use Montcalme to sire a child possessing a strong singing voice and resemblance to Ezra as part of an elaborate scheme enact revenge upon Ezra's church. Valeri found a suitable mother candidate in Kartakass with Melody Elysa. Using Arsene Montalme's body, he seduced her. Both and Melody Elysia would meet ultimately meet gruesome ends. However, Valeri Antonin would delay taking Melody's life for over a decade in order to raise the sired daughter Rhiannon Elysia and her twin brother Andreas to become the perfect puppets.

When the twins were 11, Valeri convinced them that Ezra herself had manifested into the world through Rhiannon. By speaking to them as Ezra's voice though possession of Rhiannon, Valeri instructed and groomed them to be the tools he needed to establish a distorted and apocalyptic version of Ezra's teachings, with the ultimate intent of creating a Fifth Sect and writing their own holy text, the Book of Rhiannon.

Subtly guided by Valeri Antonin, the Elysia twins have traveled throughout Kartakass preaching. Once listeners have been secured,Valeri takes over Rhiannon's body as Ezra and pretends to speak in tongues- in reality merely going back and forth between his many known languages- to sell his religious messages. Though Valeri has yet to gather a strong following amoung the Kartakan people, he has manipulated wandering Invidian con-man Niccolo Torquatto to become a true believer willing to enact any evil in the service of the twins and their message.

Game Statistics

• odem, Chaotic Evil