Salphore de'Camyras
| Biological | |
| Full name: | Salphore de'Camyras |
|---|---|
| Born: | April 14 |
| Birthplace: | Zhanduril, Crystal Dimension |
| Sex: | Male |
| Race: | Dark Elf |
| Hair: | White |
| Eyes: | Red |
| Height: | 5'5" |
| Weight: | 127 lbs |
| Personal | |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Family/Relationships: | {{{family}}} |
| Religion: | Nominally Sindrialist |
| Title: | Sixthboy of House de'Camyras |
| Nicknames: | The White Death |
| Hobbies: | Torture |
| Known skills: | Arcane Drow magic, innate Drow noble abilities, preternatural strength and speed, varied psychic abilities (telepathy, telekinesis, etc), limited flight |
| Favorite color: | Red |
| Inspiration: | Clussian Regardie, Zaknafein de'Camyras |
| Motto: | |
Salphore, infamous Sixthboy of House de'Camyras, is an extraordinarily beautiful albino vampire with a streak of cruelty and sheer viciousness remarkable even by Dark Elven standards. He is an arrogant, bloodthirsty sadist with an insatiable appetite for men, qualities he no doubt inherited from his mother Ilivarra. However, he despises the Ara’yathri priestesses and nothing pleases him more than drinking their blood. His frequently scandalous behavior, blasphemous attitudes and position as Sixthboy would have meant a life doomed to obscurity--or more likely, sacrifice to the Spider Queen--had he been born to any house but de’Camyras. However, Ilivarra is notorious for her leniency toward males, and thus adores Salphore (albeit in a typically twisted way), and she favors him above all her male children, feeling a kind of perverse pride in him. His siblings all despise him, but not even his warrior and mage brothers, nor his high priestess sisters dare challenge such a powerful vampire.
From a young age, Salphore showed great aptitude for both the magical arts and swordplay. He utterly dominated his class in Melee-Magthere--no surprise given his father was Zaknafein de’Camyras, the greatest swordsman Zhanduril had ever seen. He showed similar promise during his stint in Sorcere. That, coupled with his utter disinterest in Zhanduran politics (save the killing of Ara’yathri high priestesses of course), made Salphore seemingly destined for a life as a Master in Tier Breche. Fate would have something else in store for him, however.
During Salphore's latter years in Sorcere, an immensely powerful, surface-dwelling vampire lord named Clussian visited the city from time to time, and Matron Ilivarra began negotiating an alliance with him, despite the fact that he had been born a surface Elf. Clussian, while amused by the viperish machinations of the matron mothers and impressed by the power they wielded, had no real desire to inject himself into their politics. That all changed when he met Salphore during the young Drow’s week-long break before graduation from the Academy (the only time during their ten-year period of training that they’re allowed to go home). One could say it was lust at first sight, on both their parts. Salphore was utterly mesmerized by the vampire lord’s beauty, passion and cruelty, and Clussian was equally attracted to Salphore’s sadistic hedonism and sensual good looks. In those ten days they, for lack of a gentler term, screwed each other’s brains out all over the de’Camyran compound. One particularly salacious tryst even happened right in the family chapel, upon the very altar of Sindrai'el itself. Salphore reluctantly went back to Arach-Tinilith for the graduation ceremony, but his undead lover had other plans for him. As the infamous orgiastic ritual at the culmination of the ceremony got underway, Clussian slipped in and spirited him away to an empty temple chamber, where they had their own private “ritual”. As Salphore lay breathless on the floor, Clussian whispered promises of immortality to him, swearing that as a vampire Salphore would enjoy power and freedom he would never know as a male in Zhanduril, even one of the House de’Camyras. Before Clussian could even finish making his offer, Salphore tilted his head and bore his neck to him. When the deed was done, Salphore slipped back with his classmates none the wiser, and walked out of Arach-Tinilith that night a graduate and a fledgling vampire.
Ilivarra was initially furious when she learned what happened, but quickly saw the benefits to the house. Salphore’s mother was by no means a stupid woman, and she knew that something had been going on between the vampire and her son. Despite the bruising of her ego (Ilivarra had naturally been sleeping with Clussian herself for years, of course), the shrewd matron decided to use the situation to her advantage, and though it pained her to lose such a talented male, she gave her twisted blessing to Salphore as he went off with Clussian. In the years that followed, Salphore became Clussian’s most trusted lieutenant, and matured into an incredibly vicious killing machine, obliterating any who would challenge Clussian’s authority much like a rabid dog. While both men are wanton hedonists (Salphore has dipped into Clussian’s harem almost as much as he has, though unlike his lord fixes his attention exclusively on the males), Salphore is fiercely, even fanatically loyal to Clussian, and saves his deepest cruelty and viciousness for anyone who dares seek anything more from Clussian than just his body. Salphore is extremely possessive of Clussian, and those who would dare compete with him for the vampire lord’s affection always find themselves brutally hanging from Salphore’s fangs or the end of his blades.
Though he dwells with Clussian, Salphore often returns to Zhanduril with and without his master, and has been instrumental in the defense of House de’Camyras on any number of occasions; on threat of an impending attack, Clussian always sends vassals with Salphore to aid the de’Camyrans in their many battles with their many enemies. When his youngest sister, Kariza, rejected the Spider Queen and fled to the surface with Solaufein Everhate, it was Salphore that Ilivarra trusted to hunt the young couple down and exact a fitting punishment. Salphore relished the task, as he always did, and his unique abilities allowed him the greater edge above the agents hired by House Everhate to perform the same grim task. Along with his vampiric allies, he successfully found the pair on the surface, and cut them down in short order; though both Drow were formidable in combat, neither could match the fury of a pack of vampires who outnumbered them. Both were wounded heavily but not killed; Salphore was too sadistic for simple killing, and struck them at last with a paralytic poison that kept them conscious and aware but utterly helpless and unable to move or speak. He then turned his attention to Solaufein, and brutally raped and tortured the Thirdboy of House Everhate for what seemed like an eternity, making sure that Kariza bore full witness to the atrocity, completely helpless to stop it. When he at last had his fill, Salphore completely drained Solaufein of his blood and left his corpse to rot beneath the sun. Strangely, however, he and his minions simply walked away from Kariza. She was wounded very badly, and Salphore thought it a far crueler fate to allow her to remain alone on the surface in her grief, where she would die painfully anyhow--either slowly from her grievous injuries, or once the surface Elves who dwelled nearby found her. For all Salphore knew, that's precisely what happened--and as such, precisely what he reported to Ilivarra upon his return to Zhanduril.
Ironically, it was what he felt his ultimate cruelty to his sister that saved Kariza's life, and thus potentially sealed the fate of the house he was so loyal to. In not killing Kariza outright, Salphore damned House de'Camyras in the eyes of Sindrai'el, and for the first time in the house's history, cost it her favor. To this day, none in House de'Camyras or Zhanduril itself knows the true story of what happened in that forest on the surface, save Salphore. The prevailing belief in the city, even one Salphore himself holds, is that Kariza and Solaufein died gruesomely on the surface, and that Sindrai'el's continued disfavor of Ilivarra despite the apostate's death was the Spider Queen's final judgment upon the Matron Mother for her many sins against the Way over the years. Why else would House Everhate emerge scandalized yet as deeply in Sindrai'el's favor as ever, yet House de'Camyras remain condemned? However, some in the city--particularly those in House Everhate--suspect otherwise, and believe Kariza might yet against all odds remain alive.
For his part, Salphore refuses to admit the possibility that he failed, and continues to gloat about his greatest triumph to anyone who will listen. But despite his distaste for Sindrai'el's priestesses and his occasional dwelling on the surface, Salphore remains just as loyal to his mother as to his vampiric lover. And in this, her darkest hour, Ilivarra needs her loyal son and his strange allies more than ever. All the while, she remains wholly oblivious to the fact that it was that very son that had a hand in her peril.
