From SuspireWiki
Yeah, so what? I'm not human. I get that. I'm also not a fucking monster yet. I'm not a saint, but I don't deserve that title. I've done alright by people. So what does that make me? A dog, I guess. A Raw Dog...and I still got my teeth. - Valentine Maralov
Currently, Valentine is in torpor for one year.
Does this happen to everyone, or am I just a fuck up?...Ah, Im a fuck up. Hot damn. Vampirism hasnt changed me a bit. Aight, gimee the long sleep. - Valentine's Last Words Before Being Staked
Contents |
Biography
Life has never been easy for Valentine Maralov. His earliest memory (or recurring dream) is of the sound of his parents softly speaking to one another in Russian...then the sounds of screeching tires, crashing steel, screams, and silence. He, the only survivor, was found with a recent birth certificate proclaiming him to be the 18 month old Valentine Maralov, son of Russian immigrants. He would never know that his parents, members of rival families in the Russian Mob, were actually murdered for their "betrayal". It was a miracle he had survived the wreck. Sometimes he wonders if maybe the alternative was best.
Life went on (painfully). He was taken into a poor, overpopulated orphanage in Techwood. The next few years were unpleasant but unremarkable. Things basically sucked. Playing with the kids could be fun (when they weren't picking on him), but there wasn't much to eat, much to do, or much hope for his future (despite the social workers' fervent denials). The only thing that really kept up his spirits were Westerns. Why Westerns? Why do wide-eyed, under-privileged kids latch on to anything? Heroic, scraggly, gritty cowboys twirling their six-guns and riding into the sunset had a way of helping him escape.
High-school was more of the same. He did okay. He didn't do great. He didn't have much motivation to do great. He had no money for college anyway, so what did it matter? Valentine is fairly smart, and he has a keen sense of intuition that allowed him to bullshit his way past most tests. He moved out of the orphanage and dropped out of school at 16. The social workers stopped looking for him after 48 hours. They were already way over-extended, and the cops in Atlanta never have time to look for a runaway punk. Valentine wanted to start carving away a small piece of the world for himself out of the massive bedrock that threatened to crush him at every turn. The first thing he did was buy a porno magazine. The second thing he did was buy a computer.
Few realize the breadth of things a single human can do with a computer. Valentine set about doing all of them. For a year he supported himself in a crappy apartment doing odd jobs. He spent all his free time surfing the net, learning things, doing things, and generally screwing around. He created a few nifty programs. He peeked into a few secure databases just to see if he could. Then he decided to do something useful. He created a no-questions-asked private investigations website. He was surprised at how much work he got. He was more surprised at how good he was at it. Unliscenced and illegal as it was, he was quite proficient at it. What he couldn't find out by scouring the dark alleys of the net or cracking into his subjects' computers, he simply found out in person. He found he could be quite discreet when he needed to be, and his mind often found things that were not meant to be found.
But something was about to find him. Valentine heard dark whispers on the internet. Rumors of some lurking darkness in the city. He pondered. He wondered. But he hardly half-believed. Valentine was looking for something more. His new life had its period of novelty, but now he wanted to truly make a means for himself. He wanted to rise from the squalor and stagnation of mediocrity and become something immortal.
He was granted his wish. Shortly before his 20th birthday, Valentine was presented with a job offer from a wealthy Atlanta businessman - Nicolas Hatcher. The offer turned out to be for far more than a job and, unwilling to be killed for rejecting the offer, Valentine (somewhat) reluctantly accepted and was embraced.
Things changed quickly for that. Valentine lived, learned, lied and loved more in the few months after his embrace than in the two decades before it. Now Valentine is left with three things. He is driven by a triad of goals simple, but almost overwhelming in their importance and difficulty: His love for Luciana Gabrielli, his thirst for revenge, and his will to survive.
Description
Valentine is tall and somewhat scrawny. At almost six feet, he is more lithe than gaunt, but he is not especially "in shape". He can be mildly handsome in a scraggly sort of way. However, though he often desires the company of women, his difficult lot in life rarely allows it. Years of hardship have bittered him slightly, and he looks down upon the social values and fads that seem so important to today's youth. In a casual setting, Valentine often wears simple T-shirts of dark and earthy colors and jeans. For social occasions, he has a black button-down shirt and slacks. For formal matters, he wears a pinstripe suit. As a Nosferatu, Valentine's arms are just a little too long, his skin, just a little too pale, and his eyes almost glow an eerie, unsettling silver. In addition, an air of fervent desperation haunts any mortals close to him. Strangely, his belly moves up and down in a rhythmic motion. Even though it does him no good, Valentine breathes.
Personality
Valentine is, in a strictly worry-free, casual environment, goofy, amiable and charming. He has a very down-to-earth personality. His manner of speaking and colloquialisms mirror the late 90's and early millennium that he grew up in. He is often blunt, occasionally vulgar, but rarely intentionally offensive. He is not exceptionally power-hungry. He does not have dreams of city status. He simply wishes to live his Requiem in peace with those he cares about. That, however, may present far more difficulties than attaining power. He is a casual young man with a sharp wit. Many would call Valentine stubborn. He would call himself "strong-willed". Valentine makes judgments, and it takes quite a bit to shake his opinions once they are formed. He is capable of holding fast to a belief even if everyone around him attempts to dissuade him from it (indeed, in his short time as a Kindred, this has already been tested and proven).
Humanity
Few would dispute the claim that vampires are monsters. Valentine is among these few. He prefers to think that he, himself is not a monster...not yet. He is determined to hold onto what makes him a person. He has seen evidence of how Kindred are twisted and bent in their Requiem to commit acts few humans would dream of. Valentine strays from this path of wantonness. Older Kindred tell him that his descent into callousness is inevitable, but Val is determined to hold on for as long as he can. It isn't about living for eternity. Its about living with yourself in eternity. This is the reason Valentine continues to breathe. Though most vampires abandon the meaningless process because it is not needed, Valentine actively pursues its continuity. He believes it is a way to remember who he is.
