Yuri Konstantin

From SuspireWiki

---

Contents 1 Background 1.1 Childhood 1.2 Stewardship 1.3 Betrayal 1.4 The ways of Baba Yaga 1.5 The coterie 1.6 Atlanta 1.7 Seperation 1.8 Friends and Allies

Background

Childhood

Yuri’s first memories were of the dark, damp, small room he and his mother lived in. There was a single bed for the both of them. The room had a simple wooden chair and a small wooden table in it, with on it a single candle. The candle was only lit when the torch in the hallway didn’t provide enough light. Their living arrangements were better then what the other servants had though. They had a simple straw matt and slept together in one big room. Yuri’s father arranged for their better living quarters. Yuri’s mother always told him that they would move in with him, eventually, when his father left his current wife. “It doesn’t matter that we’re black”, she said, “You’ll fit in fine with your brother”. Yuri wasn’t so sure. The other children picked on him. His mother was ignored by the other servants. She said it was because his father arranged for special things for them. She may have been right. It didn’t explain why his half-brother, Dimitri, picked on him when he and his father would visit however. His mother said that it was because she and her father weren’t married. That would change though. Yuri had to wait and see.

The next clear memory Yuri has is of his mother ill, lying on the bed. She had a fever and wouldn’t do anything but sleep. He heard the other servants talk about her being visited by Baba Yaga. When his father heard he sent a doctor. It was too late however. She died the next night. Yuri was taken in by the other servants. He helped out with the chores that were needed, carrying supplies, helping in the kitchens, etcetera. During the evenings he listened to the servants tell fairy tales and old myths to the children. Yuri was fascinated by these tales, and listened intently to them. The Christian stories he heard sometimes seemed a lot less interesting. Eventually, a few years later, his father sent for him to come live with him at his castle. His father’s wife had died, and he could now claim Yuri as his son. He got his own room, which was three times as big as the one he shared with his mother. He had a real bed, a desk, a polished copper mirror, and a washing bowl. He started to receive an official education. He started to receive tutoring in math, languages, etiquette, poetry, literature, hawking, riding, fencing, archery and religion. He had an uncanny ability to remember everything after having simply seen it, something that came into use when one had to remember certain specific details, and it certainly helped his education. What it did not greatly help with was on logically explaining certain things, such as grammatical rules, or responses during fencing. He was eager in being taught some of the courses, but others didn’t particularly interested him. He even showed a complete apathy for the religion the brothers tried to teach him, much to their dismay and anger. During the evenings, he sneaked off towards the servant quarters to listen to the stories told there. When his father heard about he had a talk with him. He told him that there was no problem with being interested in the history of the country, and the beliefs that were previously held. However, he should still listen to the brothers, and learn about Christianity, and partake in the Christian rituals, seeing those were what was accepted now. So, since then, Yuri feigned a interest in Christianity, and kept listening to the stories told by the servants. When he got older, he got one of the female servants that cleaned his room to tell him some of the beliefs behind it. As he got older, his father spend more and more time with him. He found out that he wasn’t the only one who was still interested in the pagan rituals still whispered about in the dark. His father believed it was important to know the history of his people. For Yuri, it went further then that though. He found the ideas of multiple gods, succeeding each other fascinating. He tried to learn as much as possible about it. This, quite often, caused some problems with the castle’s priest, which his father would then have to smooth out. The years went by and Yuri displayed a eagerness to learn. His thirst for knowledge was nearly unquenchable, that is, if he could be interested in the subject. His father found this attitude quite a bit better then the one his other son had. He saw the inheritance as his simply because he was Pyotr’s son. As Yuri reached maturity, he was appointed a piece of land of which he would become steward.

Stewardship

As time went by, he got the chance to look deeper into the myths that wrapped the country side. He heard about how the dragons would fight the Ala, who hid in tree’s, which caused lighting to fell tree’s. He heard the myth off the Fern Flower, which would only bloom on Ivan Kapula Day. Yuri’s father followed the stewardship of both his son’s closely. Where Dmitri would just pass the responsibilities off to others, Yuri took his job serious, and spend a great deal of his time to it. Eventually, Pyotr decided that it would be Yuri who would inherit the title from him, and not Dimitri. This, obviously, upset Dimitri quite dearly, who rode towards his father’s castle, and wanted to personally hear it from his father’s mouth. Pyotr confirmed the story, and Dimitri had a fit of anger, almost starting a fight with his father. His father threatened to have him disowned completely if he did not respect his wishes. Dimitri left the castle fuming. Three months later, Pyotr dies during a hunting party, being accidently struck by an arrow. Yuri inherits Pyotr’s title, and became a Boyar. Dimitri apparently accepted the fact that Yuri was now holding the title his father held before them. A few months later, a woman that went by the name of Ala come to Yuri’s castle, petitioning for admittance. She said he had some urgent matters to discuss with Yuri. After being brought in front of Yuri, the woman claimed that Dimitri was planning on having him assassinated. Yuri, at first, did not believe the woman, and told her to leave the castle. The woman however insisted that Yuri’s life was in danger. She urged Yuri to believe him, and told Yuri to ride with her. She would show Yuri that his brother indeed planned on killing him. Yuri, strangely enough, rode out with the woman that night. During the day, they slept, and during the night, they continued their travel. They followed this pattern because, according to the woman, they would otherwise be seen, and Dimitri would be alerted. After a week of travelling, they stayed in the same town for several days, until Ala let Yuri know that they would be going into the forest that night.

Betrayal

That night, Yuri and Ala went into the forest together. Ala explained to Yuri that no one could see them, seeing Ala had requested the spirits of the land to hide their presence from the prying eyes of others. Yuri, while amazed, was marvelled by this, as they walked out of the village, and people, indeed, ignored them. They went deep into the woods, and waited by a burnt out husk of a tree. Quite some time later, Dimitri appeared. A few minutes after that, a woman appeared, woman of nobility appeared dressed in riding clothes. Ala pointed towards the crucifix around her neck, but stayed quiet. While Yuri listened, Dimitri and the woman, started talking. Before him, Yuri heard the plan on how he would be killed. A lethal dose of poison would be slipped into his dinner the following week. He would get a fever, and hellish stomach aches, after which, the poison would kill him. After hearing that, Ala and Yuri left. They returned towards the village. Ala told him that there was no escaping this, without her and her servants help, seeing the church had plans on helping Dimitri. Ala would return within a weeks time, and offer Yuri an escape from the situation. Five days later, Ala returned with a group of servants. Ala and her following was admitted into Yuri’s chamber. There, Yuri was offered the choice between a life as a vampire, or death. Should he chose to continue walking this earth, the would be embraced by Ala on the night that he should be poisoned. Yuri would become more powerful then he currently held possible, and he would get a chance to enact revenge upon Dimitri. Yuri, was surprised, but after being shown that these people were indeed vampire’s, he accepted. Two nights later, Yuri Petrovich died at the age of 29, and was buried at the local cemetery. A night later, he was dug up again. And thus, Yuri Konstantin, started his requiem.

The ways of Baba Yaga

Yuri’s first few nights as a one of the kindred were learning what his new state meant. He quickly understood the basic ideas, which were, admittedly, not all that hard to grasp. You have to drink blood to survive, stay away from fire or sunlight, and listen to what we, his elders, tell you. As time passed by, Ala suggested he started to gain some influence among the local peasants, who Dimitri now ruled. It wasn’t a hard thing to do, if one came bearing food, people would generally listen to them. Under Dimitri’s reign, taxes had gone up, which meant that people had barely enough food to feed themselves. It also meant that they were displeased, to say the least, with his rule. And talking about how things could be different meant that they were defiantly interested. Yuri had to do all of these things disguised, off course. He had to hide the fact that he was black, seeing he would otherwise be to easily recognized. Meanwhile, his education within the crone also continued. He was taught what it meant to be a member of the Nosferatu clan, and specifically, the Yagnatia bloodline. He learned how, while they had a weakness when it came to social situations, a strong will, and commitment could negate that. He started to understand the crone’s believes, how creation was power. It was easy to destroy something. Creating something was what required an effort of will. Ala urged him to start by creating a garden. And, as suggested, Yuri started a garden outside their haven. At first, it was a simple garden. A tree that bore fruits during the summer, plants that would bloom during the spring. Eventually, the garden become more elaborate. He started to search for specific plants. Flowers that would bloom during the night, flesh eating plants, plants with very specific needs, etcetera. He’d spend hours a night working on the garden, which after time, became his pride and joy. Eventually, Ala told him to redirect his attention back towards Dimitri. Grudgingly he did so, spending less time with his precious garden, and focusing more on influencing the local peasantry. He managed to do so, to some success. Together with his sire he started to build up to a peasant uprising. However, a sudden arrival of priest completely ruined the idea. They start to point out the leaders of their revolution as witches, which had a devastating effect on the organization. Quite a few of the peasants gave up the idea all together, afraid of what might happened if they were persecuted. Eventually, the priests descended upon the coven of crone’s, who had to scramble to escape the flames. Yuri saw his priced garden go up in flames, and frenzied, killing five of the attackers, before he came out of frenzy and fled with the rest of the Yagnatia.

They settled down in the city of Yaroslavl, where a big coven of Yagnatia was present. He learned that the reason they had to flee was because of the Lancea Sanctum. They had found out where the Crone’s stayed, and had send witch hunters to that location to deal with it. Here however, the crones was bolstered by the presence of some of the Yagnatia that claimed allegiance with the Invictus. With the help of some Invictus allies, he once again set forth to make the life of Dimitiri more difficult. This time trough more official channels. The Invictus had some ties to the court of Nicholas I, trough which they could put some pressure on Dimitri. Which indeed was possible. They managed to put in some legislation that gave greater freedom to the peasants themselves. While they would still have to give up large quantities of the food they’d produce, there was a limit set to the amount that the peasants should be left with. Of course, Dimitri ignored those rules, and took more then was allowed. It wasn’t easy to convince the state to impose a penalty on Dimitri. Some of his lands were taken away, and given to others. Satisfied for now, Yuri pointed his attention to his studies of the crone. He was taught about the Slavic gods, and how none of them were period. They should be seen as houses of nobility, dethroning each other, and then taking the throne for themselves. After a god had been replaced he would not disappear however. He would stay around as a minor deity, or become a spirit, rather then a god. There had been several of such “dethronings” in the past. For example, while the god Perun was currently seen as the ruler of the Pantheon, Rod was the original ruler and the creator of the worlds. As he learned this, he learned of Yav, Prav and Nav as well. Yav stands for the material world, and is a part of Nav, the immaterial world. The stars are the souls of the dead, and can be seen from Nav. Gods and spirits (the latter to a lesser extent) are equally part of both of these worlds. Prav was the law governing the worlds, and was set for by Rod when he created the worlds.

The coterie

It was during these teachings that he met Damtien. Damtien was a member of the Yagnatia bloodline, but did not come from Russia. She was embraced while her sire’s cotorie had travelled trough Africa. He got along well with Damtien, feeling some kind of kinship with her, despite that colour hardly mattered in kindred world. It was during this time, that Yuri was promoted to the rank of Adhvaryu, for his apparent innate ability to remember the ritual steps that were required in preparation for the rights. As such, he got private lessons from the Father’s and Mother’s in the covenant. Using some of the influence he had among them, he even managed to include Damtien in these lessons, which only helped to strengthen the already existing bond they shared. Eventually, Yuri started a new garden in Yaroslavl. He managed to get excotic plants from all over the world, for which he had to pay a hefty price. Ala noticed this, and urged him to build influence amongst the upper class mortals of Yarosavl, telling him that he could get the resources, and possible even access to plants from the new world, by becoming a known face in those circles. What Ala did not tell him was that it also helped him learn on how to influence the mortals of the upper class. Yuri failed at first, trying the same approach he did with the peasants back at Dimitri’s estate. This failed however, and he was forced to adept a new way of approaching them. While doing so, he met a Yagnatia of the Invictus, Andrei Rostov. Instead of fighting over control, they decided to combine their efforts, and managed to keep control over the area, despite some attempts from the local dragon’s to take it away from them. They also managed to run a few of the lower Lancea Sanctum out of town, simply by ruining their reputation in the mortal society, then followed by weakening their position in the Kindred society. Some of the other Invictus were not to happy with Andrei’s allegiance, but they had to admit to the results. Yuri and Andrei managed to do quite well together. Yuri introduced Andrei to Damtien, who also took to the Invictus. They decided to strengthen each other, and form one of the Yagnatia cotories, and would spread the bloodline to new parts of the world.

They started to prepare for their journey. Damtien was judged ready and was taught “The Mother’s Blessing”, allowing the coterie to embrace if they so wished. Once the tribunal believed they were ready, they set upon their journey. They started by travelling to Moscow, here they met some of the local who sent them on their way to the capital of Prussia, Berlin. From there they travelled trough Hanover, Essen. They avoided Cologne, for they had be warned in Essen about the Archbishop that ruled the city. Avoiding Cologne, the eventually arrived in Paris, where they arranged for a boat transfer to take them to Londen. They stayed two years, gathering a herd that would supply blood during the journey, and eventually got a ticket aboard for a steamboat passage to America. They arrived in New York on the 27th of January 1902, 4 months after they left. They found the new world amazing, the whole atmosphere was completely different. Here people believed that anything could be done, if enough effort was diverted to the cause. They eventually moved on from New York having problems fitting in with the local Crone’s. Andrei, grudgingly, agreed, and moved along. They settled for a short time in Washington, but this time, it was Andrei that wanted to move on. They did so.

Atlanta

In 1905 they arrived in Atlanta, they settled in, and all three of them seem to like it here. However, the next year, the race riots happen. Both Damtien and Yuri lie low, trying to avoid going into public, fearing that they would be lynched by a horde of mortals. Eventually, the riot passed, and Damtien and Yuri re-emerged. They continued setting up their ties with the covenant. Meanwhile, Andrei was accepted into the Invictus without a problem. Meanwhile, Yuri became a father. He embraced a promising young man called Franklin More. He was the son of the owner of a local factory owner. The boy seemed to have inherited his father’s sense for business, and had a strange fascination with voodoo. However, Franklin had trouble adjusting to his new state. He was less interested in learning the anything about the Circle of the Crone, or the Yagnatia. Instead, he seemed content on feeding, burning trough his blood, then feeding more. Yuri had trouble controlling him. Eventually, he had to threaten him. This seemed to be successful and Franklin redirected his attention to his studies. It most likely helped that Yuri made him watch the trashing Marissa gave a crone for fucking up in front of the Bishop. He, however, did not seem to be a to great study, or a great anything. However, Yuri tried to do with what he got. He actually managed to get him interested and participating in the crone rituals. Yuri then starts a new garden, together with Damtien, surrounding the estate the Yagnatia had for themselves. They both work hard on it, enjoying the time spend on it. For Yuri it helps to clean his mind, and he enjoys the contact he has with Damtien. Andrei compliments them on the garden. As a finishing touch, the coterie plants a Angel Trumpet in the centre of the garden.

Seperation

That was when the second race riot hit. Yuri and Damtien once again decided to go into hiding, and manages to do so with the help of Marissa. Events take a terrible turn when Damtien and Andrei are set upon by a mob of angry white men, while Andrei is escorting Damtien to her hiding place. Both of them, are beaten nearly into torpor, and then lynched. Franklin barely manages to get them down in time, having only a hour of night left. With both of his coterie mates in torpor, Yuri goes trough a bout of depression, and has serious thoughts of falling to eclipse himself. However, he eventually decides against it, thinking that its better for him to stay active and guard their bodies. He also decides against waking them up, believing it might actually be better for one of them to be active at a time, who can wake the others, if needed. With Yuri in hiding, Franklin acted as an envoy for him, keeping up his contact with the mortal world. Eventually, emotions settle down, and Yuri feels its once again safe to go outside. He takes over from Franklin, and orders him to take up his studies again. Seeing how well he performed during the riots, Franklin is released.

The next year, during a winter night in Elysium, Franklin accuses Catherine Jung openly from preying on potential sacrificial victims for the crone, making them unsuitable for sacrifice. Franklin, of course, stands no chance whatsoever, and is socially cut to ribbons. Yuri is livid at him, when he finds out, and trashes him repeatedly, explaining over and over again that this was something that should have been brought up with the Crone’s first, before bringing it into the public. Eventually, Marissa also gives Franklin a beating. Franklin, fully aware of what happened to the last crone who fucked up, flee’s town. This anger’s Yuri even more, and he directs some of it toward the Hyrophant, telling her that it was his childe, and that she should have let him deal with it. Marissa however says that he obviously was not raised correctly, and that it was thus that she took matters into her own hands. Yuri decides to let the case rest. He withdraws from kindred society for a while, and only attends crone rituals, focusing the rest of his attention on his studies and the garden.

Friends and Allies

After ten years, he re-emerges again. He sets up several allegiances with some of the other kindred in the town. The most known of these is an allegiance he sets up with James William Hopkins. They become business partners, and appear to have several things running for them, apparently surviving the deflation by backing one each other up. Attacks made against either are generally met with reprisals from both of the kindred, which discourages kindred from attempting to attack their influences. When Michael Winchester disappears, the Lancea Sanctum and the Carthians both make a bid for praxis. Yuri openly supports Anthony Anderson’s claim. This is obviously done because of the problems Yuri has experienced with Bishop DuPont, being black and a crone. When Dexter Hepburn challenges the Carthians, Yuri is one of the kindred who is present at the bar the night Dexter is killed. When Anthony Anderson is officially recognized as the Prince, Yuri is pleased. He continues with business as usual, but his ties with James William Hopkins seem to have soured slightly even if they still remain associates. During this time, he also seem to grow an appreciation for Jazz, and can often be spotted at several Jazz concerts. He is so inspired, that he tries and take up the saxophone, something he manages to do with some success. Meanwhile, he also seems to forge a bond with Rose. Their believes, while taken from a different religion, seem similar, and they can apparently get along very well. They seem to be discussing events on a frequent basis, and some rumours even go around that they are lovers. While neither confirm it, the rumours are true. Yuri sees in Rose something of Damtien. He eventually invites her to work on the garden with him, letting her have the piece that once was Damtien’s. He asks Rose not to touch the Angel Trumpet, explaining the meaning it has to him. Rose of course honours his request.

Two years later, the garden is destroyed during the day. Yuri is devastated, seeing it was one of the last things that reminded him of Andrei and Damtien. He once again suffers a bout of depression, and even Rose can’t seem to lift his spirits. Eventually, he share’s with the Crone’s that he will slip into eclipse. He asks Rose to take care of his and the other Yagnatia’s bodies, while they sleep. Two nights later, Yuri falls to torpor.