Name: Volker Desgoffe und Taxis

Age: Looks 25 Real 28

Species: Dhampir

Weapon Affinity: Spiked Brass Knuckles

Colour Affinity: White

FC: Nicky Romero

Family:  Agga Desgoffe und Taxis - sister-in-law, twin brothers (20), Karlheinz Desgoffe und Taxis - brother, Large extended family

Rank: Crown Prince of Desgoffe und Taxis family

Dhampir Society is very different in Europe than it is in the Americas. When the first vampires and their offspring traveled to America they left behind the old ways that still shine strong in Europe. Seven noble houses make up high society along with a few wealthy merchant families. These families create the governing body of Dhampir life in Europe and make sure that the lives of the species remain peaceful and that they remain protected and hidden from the humans. The majority of Dhampir society didn’t concern themselves in the affairs of the elite, they had kept them safe for hundreds of years so they trusted the families with the safety and progression of their species.

At the top of high society was the Royal Family. Queen Fieke Desgoffe und Taxis had been the face of Dhampir Royalty for many years and had ruled over society with a fair and just hand since her coronation in the late 19th century. Queen Fieke had spent most of her regine making sure that the Dhampir species kept up with the humans in the quickly changing modern world.  By many she is seen as great leader and protector particularly for her actions during the world wars. Many people hope that her son Volker will live up to his pedigree and continue on his mothers mothers great work when she steps down.

Volker is the first born child of Consort Gustave and Queen Fieke Desgoffe und Taxis and is the first in line to take over the Royal Dhampir Bloodline when his mother steps down. The Desgoffe und Taxis family were at the top of the Dhampir aristocratic pyramid and so Volker grew up in a life of luxury. This didn’t mean that his life was easy but it did mean he had a warped sense of reality and that his world view was somewhat tilted. His father was a military leader and watched over Volkers early schooling like a hawk. He was taught self defence and the importance of being respectful. He had classes on decorum and etiquette and the ins and outs of the delicate democratic policies that the dhampir society had created over the years to keep them safe. His mother was particularly keen that he learn these things so that he would be able to recall them from memory when he needed them in later life.

He was home schooled till he reached the age of 12 when his mother felt he should go out and socialise with other children and make friends with people who weren’t on the house payroll. He was enrolled at St Boniface School for Boys, a prestigious school that was rivaled only by it’s sister school Fridolin’s School for Girls. The majority of the Noble clans sent their children to these schools for their education but this was the first time an Heir to the Dhampir throne had ever attended either school before. Though the school allowed high-born humans to attend many of the classes were aimed at the Dhampir children.

The first few weeks of school were a strange experience for Volker. He'd never attended school public or private so sitting in a class of thirty people his own age was a bit of a foreign concept to him. It was obvious to him that many of the teachers were going out of their way to please him as if they thought being nice to him would win them some favour with the Queen. Some of the students were the same, it was obvious when they rattled off rehearsed lines that their parents had made them learn. The humans that attended the school stayed away from him as they could see the others in his class treating him strangely. . That first week the only people he found himself comfortable talking to were Agga Richter, the girl that he betrothed to, and Faustus Kreiss, his personal bodyguard.

It was almost two months in when Volker met someone who would become his best friend. Volker had a particular interest in science, particularly chemistry. It was a subject that he insisted on having a good lab partner for. He totally abused his status, swapping partners as the drop of a hat for any excuse. It was the sixth week of term when, once again Volker had a new lab partner. The boy was Estheim Kreiss, nephew of his bodyguard. When they the two were conducting an experiment Volker was leaning over a beaker testing the temperature of it’s contents when Estheim twisted the knob on the bunsen, making the liquid boil up and almost splash Volker in the face. In the stunned silence that followed Volker surprised everyone by laughing. Everyone had been afraid of being themselves in front of him and yet here was Estheim being a totally normal teenage boy. The two became almost joint at the hip and went on to terrorise the rest of the children who attended St Boniface.

The day before Volker’s eighteenth birthday his mother took him on a hike up the side one of the mountains that their home was built in the shadow of. The trek up the mountain side was a test of his endurance though he did not know it at the time. There built into a fissure about half way up, was the entrance to ancient Dojo. Little paper lanterns lit the way down the twisty, hand carved steps which were only three fingers wide, if he tripped he felt like he would have fallen to his death in the darkness. After what felt like forever they reached a plateau which stretched out as far as Volker could make out in the darkness. There were small lanterns glowing, dotting the darkness like fireflies. Volker could make out tables covered in weapons and great shelves filled with scrolls and books. “This is where our family began,” he mother had declared into the darkness.With that bold statement she laid out the sleeping bags she had made him carry up the mountain side and demand they sleep. His mother was like that. She tended not to explain things till they were absolutely necessary and there was no point in asking or doing anything but what she said. Reluctantly he’d laid down and the two had slept on the cold hard ground in the heart of the mountain.

The next day Fieke had woken long before Volker. She had been busy laying both ancient and modern weapons alike across a what looked like a ceremonial flag. “Every year,” she explained, “The Weaponsmith Guild send a candidate who wish to become a Master Craftsman here to forge a weapon from the golden ore which is extracted from the cave floor. They smith here in complete solitude. Most fail,” she had said drawing level to him again, “The ones that do not produce these.” She’d drawn her own golden claymore then, it glowed a faint gray in the darkness of the cave. He’d have been lying if he told people that he wasn’t afraid of his mother. She was a terrifying force of who’d lead a legion of Dhampir against the insane vampire, Adolf Manner at the end of the war. Many of her deeds were unwritten to preserve the secret of their existence but for Volker and his siblings they were bedtime stories, family history passed down to them by word of mouth.

His mother lead him to the table. Almost all the weapons were of a golden substance, knives, swords and even a club or two but Volker paid them no mind. He was instantly drawn to a golden pair of spiked brass knuckles. He’d picked them up and they’d glowed a ghostly white. His mother was proud he had found his weapon so fast, she was not one to dilly dally and got right down to training him in the art of rune casting, showing the basics. They trained for three days and nights building up Volkers resistance and stamina. His mother was like a slave driver but he was determined to meet the challenge head on. By the end of the week Volker was able to cast and maintain many of the basic runes and was making headway in the family rune. His mother was satisfied enough with his progress that she said it was time to leave the secret Dojo in the mountain.

Volker went back to school and after a week of showing off things went back to normal. School went pretty well overall.When he graduated at the age of 20 with the rest of his Dhampir classmate he had matured out into a well rounded young man. He wasn’t valedictorian like most people expected, that went to Matthias Bahlow,  the quiet genius whom Volker had been roommates while for his stay in the boarding school. He had his future pretty well mapped out for himself. He was going to marry Agga Ritcher, someone whom he had fallen deeply in love with, his mother was coaching him on the finer points of ruling and he had a pretty close circle of friends whom he knew he could rely on.

All that changed when Agga told him she had slept with someone else. It was soul crushing. She had told him it didn’t mean anything but the deed had been done and the sense of betrayal he felt left him in shock. It was like his body was on autopilot and he was just a passenger. He was watching from the sidelines of his mind as his youngest brother married the girl he had been engaged to all his life. He was an empty shell as Agga moved into his brothers rooms down the hallway.  He started spending less and less time at home and more and more time out with Matthias and Estheim in the city, anything to get away from home.

It was in one of the run down clubs in Berlin that he made a friend that would take him out of his funk. Axel Saade was not from Dhampir High Society and had a totally different outlook on life than many of the Dhampir that he had grown up with. He quickly accepted the Swede into his friend circle and the two bonded over their mutual feelings of loss; Volker for Agga and Axel for his brother Otto who had died in an unfortunate accident. The others weren’t sure what to make of their friendship but for once Volker listened to his heart rather than what his peers thought he should do.

After three years on the party circuit Volker returned home to the Royal Manor inviting Axel to stay with him. It was time for Vol to simmer down and get serious about preparing to take the crown from his mother. The comet and the ability to turn their immortality had changed their plans slightly but to Volker all it did was give him more time to learn everything that come with the position of King. The Desgoffe und Taxis line had a seven step ritual to taking the throne. The first consisted of gathering an inner council which Volker believed he had done with Matthias, Estheim, Axel and Agga. Each had very different view points and weren’t afraid to voice them. His mother approved of his choice though she told him to practice caution when dealing with the outsider as she didn’t trust him. Volker brushed off that as her mother just being paranoid.

The next step in the process was showing that he was strong enough to protect the species, even if it was from itself. Fieke had given him a journal that detailed this ritual in particular. It had examples and Volker was inspired by the tails of his ancestors and was ready to tackle this step head on. The task presented to him came in three parts. First he had to research leaders of Dhampir clans across the globe and select one. He would then have to travel in secret with his chosen inner council to that leader's home city and defeating them three times in hand to hand combat. There was a certain format to these matches which Volker had committed to memory. He trained religiously as he researched finally selecting a fairly new clan leader, the man had barely been in his position for a year. Volker thought that him being so new to his position would make his own victory quite easy. So taking his friends Axel, Matthias and also inviting Agga, he set out for Evermore to defeat the leader and complete the challenge.

~Personality Traits~

Negative Traits: Brash - Arrogant - God Complex

Positive Traits: Loyal - Dedicated - Cunning - Charming - Intelligent