
Carmilla
"You are mine, you shall be mine, and you and I are one for ever"
STATISTICS
NAME Mircalla 'Carmilla' Karnstein
AGE 18/337
DOB Nov, 1680
HEIGHT 5'6"/170cm
BUILD Slim
HAIR Dark brown
EYES Brown with green flecks
THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE
Carmilla doesn't just have a tendency to stare - it's an incredibly penetrating and burning stare as well. Her physical looks, as beautiful as she is, can edge towards the unearthly.
ABILITIES & SKILLS
EnhancementsSpeed, strength, reflexes and other senses are heightened and beyond human limits and capabilities.ShapeshiftingCarmilla can turn into a huge, monstrous black cat, reminding of a (eurasian) lynx.Dream manipulationCan make her victim believe they're dreaming when they're not (when she's feeding), or outright invade her victim's dreams and figure in them herself.IntangibilityWhen freshly, and well-fed, Carmilla can pass through walls.
CURRENT INFORMATION
Parted from her mother (Sire) and Matska in 1900 to explore the world on her own while her mother brought a new 'little sister' into undeath, Carmilla has been travelling the world since then. Not something she and her Mother and Matska hasn't done before, but it's undeniably different to do so alone. She finds she quite likes it, though she's returned a handful of times to meet with her mother since then, and the advent of properly portable cell phones has made it even easier to stay in touch with her, which Carmilla does. Still, she is looking... for what, exactly, she's not quite sure.
PERSONALITY
Carmilla is a moody, intense woman with a temper she usually hides and pretends any annoyance isn't there, under a slightly more diplomatic countenance. Though when she does lose control over it, her anger is usually brief and she tends to snap, scowl and very seldom yell when she gets angry. It's rarer still that she becomes physical, and in that case it's more slamming a fist into something like a wall or table. Religion is the touchiest subject and the one which most easily makes her angry, both because of her own guilt regarding her (former) belief and inability to practice it now, and being wary/angry about the damage faith and faith-charged icons (no particular religion) can do to her, and the pain that comes with it.
Nonetheless, she can be very sweet, romantic and charming when she feels like it or is taken by some particular girl or woman. She may come across a little strongly, as she's pretty emotionally needy and physically affectionate, but that's not really intent or a lack of patience; her intensity works against her sometimes, and the vampire nature has simply enhanced this natural tendency. Still, Carmilla is genuinely interested in listening to people talking about themselves and their opinions - as long as she cares about the individual in question in some way. Otherwise she may be extremely dismissive of somebody, and the contrast might be very obvious if there's both of these people in the same room with her.
A patient sort of person, Carmilla is capable of laying in wait both literally (for prey) or metaphorically in arguments or romantic pursuit. She likes taking her time, regardless whether that may be a book, a hunt for prey, or just enjoying a quiet night of nothing, taking a bath and... trying not to dwell on missed chances. Her intensity is off-set by the rather languid body language and the way she comports herself, as the intensity is more mental than physical. It does help when she becomes interested in a subject she wants to learn about, however. Books, fiction or non-fiction doesn't really matter, are of great delight to her; education or entertainment from them are things she savours and always has. Especially the development of science has become something of a soothing topic, to smooth over what religion can no longer be for her, besides from being interesting.
No matter what she might claim or pretend herself, Carmilla isn't just emotionally needy - she's a romantic, despite her claim of never having loved (until Laura). This comes partly from a lack of desire so far of not feeling any urge to bring any of her romantic interests into unlife with her (again, see exception), but, also being possessive and needy, not wanting to let go and thus ending with killing her interests... and then feeling bad about it in a way she does not about her regular victims, instead of letting go and enjoying their continued companionship. She's turned this into her opinion on love and what sort of sacrifices it requires (blood and death), no matter that things could be different. It's led to that she can be very cavalier about life and death in general, though this has been both long in development and a consequence of her life and how she keeps herself alive; death is cheap, and at least her victims don't suffer.
APPEARANCE
Slim and pale, Carmilla has a sweet face and full lips, and small, delicate hands. Her deep-set eyes have, even while she was alive, always been described as 'penetrating'. Her rich brown hair can pick up golden or red highlights, depending on the light, and it's very thick and full, but soft.
Parted from her mother (Sire) and Matska in 1900 to explore the world on her own while her mother brought a new 'little sister' into undeath, Carmilla has been travelling the world since then. Not something she and her Mother and Matska hasn't done before, but it's undeniably different to do so alone. She finds she quite likes it, though she's returned a handful of times to meet with her mother since then, and the advent of properly portable cell phones has made it even easier to stay in touch with her, which Carmilla does. Still, she is looking... for what, exactly, she's not quite sure.
PERSONALITY
Carmilla is a moody, intense woman with a temper she usually hides and pretends any annoyance isn't there, under a slightly more diplomatic countenance. Though when she does lose control over it, her anger is usually brief and she tends to snap, scowl and very seldom yell when she gets angry. It's rarer still that she becomes physical, and in that case it's more slamming a fist into something like a wall or table. Religion is the touchiest subject and the one which most easily makes her angry, both because of her own guilt regarding her (former) belief and inability to practice it now, and being wary/angry about the damage faith and faith-charged icons (no particular religion) can do to her, and the pain that comes with it.
Nonetheless, she can be very sweet, romantic and charming when she feels like it or is taken by some particular girl or woman. She may come across a little strongly, as she's pretty emotionally needy and physically affectionate, but that's not really intent or a lack of patience; her intensity works against her sometimes, and the vampire nature has simply enhanced this natural tendency. Still, Carmilla is genuinely interested in listening to people talking about themselves and their opinions - as long as she cares about the individual in question in some way. Otherwise she may be extremely dismissive of somebody, and the contrast might be very obvious if there's both of these people in the same room with her.
A patient sort of person, Carmilla is capable of laying in wait both literally (for prey) or metaphorically in arguments or romantic pursuit. She likes taking her time, regardless whether that may be a book, a hunt for prey, or just enjoying a quiet night of nothing, taking a bath and... trying not to dwell on missed chances. Her intensity is off-set by the rather languid body language and the way she comports herself, as the intensity is more mental than physical. It does help when she becomes interested in a subject she wants to learn about, however. Books, fiction or non-fiction doesn't really matter, are of great delight to her; education or entertainment from them are things she savours and always has. Especially the development of science has become something of a soothing topic, to smooth over what religion can no longer be for her, besides from being interesting.
No matter what she might claim or pretend herself, Carmilla isn't just emotionally needy - she's a romantic, despite her claim of never having loved (until Laura). This comes partly from a lack of desire so far of not feeling any urge to bring any of her romantic interests into unlife with her (again, see exception), but, also being possessive and needy, not wanting to let go and thus ending with killing her interests... and then feeling bad about it in a way she does not about her regular victims, instead of letting go and enjoying their continued companionship. She's turned this into her opinion on love and what sort of sacrifices it requires (blood and death), no matter that things could be different. It's led to that she can be very cavalier about life and death in general, though this has been both long in development and a consequence of her life and how she keeps herself alive; death is cheap, and at least her victims don't suffer.
APPEARANCE
Slim and pale, Carmilla has a sweet face and full lips, and small, delicate hands. Her deep-set eyes have, even while she was alive, always been described as 'penetrating'. Her rich brown hair can pick up golden or red highlights, depending on the light, and it's very thick and full, but soft.
HISTORY
Born to Graf Karnstein in Styria and his wife, Mircalla was the only child of the couple - and while she did not find any interest in potential marriage, she would rather that than let it fall to her cousin, and since she had a friend in the young Baron Vordenburg who clearly felt both attraction and frienship for her, she was, despite not feeling the same ardour for him, considering the marriage. At a ball for her 18th birthday (two years after her father had died at the Battle of Zenta and three months since her ailing mother died of pneumonia), Mircalla was murdered by her cousin in bed - who was then killed by a foreign woman (far darker than to have come from the Ottoman Empire, and thus having been given lodging three weeks hence), who raised Mircalla as her own, since she was a vampire. It wasn't a spur of the moment decision; Mircalla's future sire had been planning to do this, and had been feeding on the young woman during the three weeks she'd been at the castle, and the ball seemed a perfect point to end things. Especially ending it before anything could be settled between the young gräfin and the baron, as she'd spent most of the time that evening either dancing with the baron or some of her close friends, and conversing with her foreign guest. Mircalla's cousin simply got there before the vampire, and stabbed her in the chest in her bed.
Nonetheless, it made her sire's life a little easier, as while being raised as a vampire at first struck Mircalla with quite a bit of existential angst, her 'mamma' was a supportive refuge who had saved her from the cruel death at the hands of her cousin. Of course, in her darker moments, it didn't seem like a rescue but rather more like being snatched from God's hand - but if an uncaring god had not saved her from this, and she was still alive when her cousin, thinking to steal everything from her, was not, that was... something, wasn't it? (It took a while, but she did realise her sire had intended to raise her nonetheless, but with years since then, it seems less awful, and her dear friend Baron Vordenburg recovered from his loss of her, so that was fine, wasn't it?
Mircalla stayed with her 'Mother', learning her new existence and coming to understand why men and relations with them had held no charm for her as she grew up, and she'd rather been much more interested in the embraces and kisses she'd shared with her close friends, compared to the times she'd let the baron kiss her, both for his sake and to see if they could not arouse her interest. It was an easy, if not simple life the longer she existed as a vampire, though a brief encounter in 1835 would briefly shake her when Mircalla visited a six year old little girl, too sweet not to have at least a brief taste of.
When she and her mother made arrangements to stay with the girl thirteen years later, Mircalla, calling herself Carmilla then, was taken in by Laura's beauty and quickly decided that she would turn Laura, even if her sire didn't know of the change in the intended plan. A plan that should have been a simple exercise that had happened many times before, but became more complicated, not just because Carmilla was planning to turn her; she was found out by a man who'd turned himself into a vampire hunter after his daughter had been killed by her and her mother a few months past. She barely escaped that incident with her life, grievously wounded. As she has to spend the next ten years recovering, her sire convinces her to at least leave Laura alone for a while - maybe they could come back some time after Carmilla has recovered and Carmilla could have her then. When they did, however, Laura had succumbed to the slow wasting some vampire victims with less stout constitutions are struck with. The whole incident burned itself into Carmilla's heart, and she and kept the anagram 'Carmilla' after that, in remembrance of those months with Laura.
Born to Graf Karnstein in Styria and his wife, Mircalla was the only child of the couple - and while she did not find any interest in potential marriage, she would rather that than let it fall to her cousin, and since she had a friend in the young Baron Vordenburg who clearly felt both attraction and frienship for her, she was, despite not feeling the same ardour for him, considering the marriage. At a ball for her 18th birthday (two years after her father had died at the Battle of Zenta and three months since her ailing mother died of pneumonia), Mircalla was murdered by her cousin in bed - who was then killed by a foreign woman (far darker than to have come from the Ottoman Empire, and thus having been given lodging three weeks hence), who raised Mircalla as her own, since she was a vampire. It wasn't a spur of the moment decision; Mircalla's future sire had been planning to do this, and had been feeding on the young woman during the three weeks she'd been at the castle, and the ball seemed a perfect point to end things. Especially ending it before anything could be settled between the young gräfin and the baron, as she'd spent most of the time that evening either dancing with the baron or some of her close friends, and conversing with her foreign guest. Mircalla's cousin simply got there before the vampire, and stabbed her in the chest in her bed.
Nonetheless, it made her sire's life a little easier, as while being raised as a vampire at first struck Mircalla with quite a bit of existential angst, her 'mamma' was a supportive refuge who had saved her from the cruel death at the hands of her cousin. Of course, in her darker moments, it didn't seem like a rescue but rather more like being snatched from God's hand - but if an uncaring god had not saved her from this, and she was still alive when her cousin, thinking to steal everything from her, was not, that was... something, wasn't it? (It took a while, but she did realise her sire had intended to raise her nonetheless, but with years since then, it seems less awful, and her dear friend Baron Vordenburg recovered from his loss of her, so that was fine, wasn't it?
Mircalla stayed with her 'Mother', learning her new existence and coming to understand why men and relations with them had held no charm for her as she grew up, and she'd rather been much more interested in the embraces and kisses she'd shared with her close friends, compared to the times she'd let the baron kiss her, both for his sake and to see if they could not arouse her interest. It was an easy, if not simple life the longer she existed as a vampire, though a brief encounter in 1835 would briefly shake her when Mircalla visited a six year old little girl, too sweet not to have at least a brief taste of.
When she and her mother made arrangements to stay with the girl thirteen years later, Mircalla, calling herself Carmilla then, was taken in by Laura's beauty and quickly decided that she would turn Laura, even if her sire didn't know of the change in the intended plan. A plan that should have been a simple exercise that had happened many times before, but became more complicated, not just because Carmilla was planning to turn her; she was found out by a man who'd turned himself into a vampire hunter after his daughter had been killed by her and her mother a few months past. She barely escaped that incident with her life, grievously wounded. As she has to spend the next ten years recovering, her sire convinces her to at least leave Laura alone for a while - maybe they could come back some time after Carmilla has recovered and Carmilla could have her then. When they did, however, Laura had succumbed to the slow wasting some vampire victims with less stout constitutions are struck with. The whole incident burned itself into Carmilla's heart, and she and kept the anagram 'Carmilla' after that, in remembrance of those months with Laura.
FAMILY TREE
ROADMAP
TIMELINE
MOTHER Gräfin Karnstein
FATHER Graf KarnsteinSISTER N/A
BROTHER N/A
SPOUSE N/A
ROADMAP
BIRTHPLACE Austria, Styria; Schloss Karnstein
LOVE LOST Styria, not far from her birthplace
TRAVELS The globe
CURRENTLY IN All over the place
TIMELINE
1680Born in Styria, Austria.1698Killed by her cousin and raised as a vampire by her sire.1835First meeting with Laura1848Second meeting with Laura, which goes awry and she's almost killed.
◇---
◇Over 18
◇GMT +1
◇PB: Alice Englert in Beautiful Creatures
◇CODE BY TESSISAMESS
Highlights
Feb. 5th, 2017 11:32 pm-While the events of the novella more or less applies as something that has happened, the ending is of course different - she isn't killed when found in the coffin, just grievously wounded by the stake almost going through her heart, and Carmilla's Sire convinced her to let Laura be, at least for a few years - when Carmilla checked years later (around 1855), it was too late.
-Which is something of a sore point even today, even if she understand why her mother told her to leave Laura behind. She remains a little bitter about it.
-Carmilla was 18 when she was turned, born in 1680, and is currently around 337 years old.
-She has a mole on her throat, on the right side and a little up above the collarbone.
-Feeds exclusively from female victims (and can sometimes become a little confused and indecisive whether she wants to eat someone or is romantically attracted to them).
-She sleeps immersed in blood; earlier this was often in a coffin, though in modern times she takes to other solutions. As well, 100-200 years ago she'd have used human blood; today it's usually animal such, though she still feeds from humans otherwise.
-Young vampires are confined to their coffins for at least a few hours every night until they are around a 100 (which, for Carmilla, would've been 1798); she was spending a few hours a night in the coffin only every few days while the Laura incident happened, and after this Carmilla, her 'Mother' and Matska left Styria. She does still, like any vampire, need to return to the area she was turned every so often; the older she gets the less she needs to do so and the less time does she need to spend in the area of Styria where she grew up.
-She isn't confined to the night. Morning and noon-time sunlight burns (the earlier, the more lethal), but she can be out during the day in the afternoon, the later the less effect (she prefers to stay inside until two-three at least).
-stake through the heart paralyzes vampires so they appear dead, but full death needs to be by decapitation and/or burning (normal fire or left out for the morning sun). Vampires do not turn to ash when staked or decapitated.
Notes on dates:
-Laura's account of the events to Doctor Hesselius is given eight years after the incident itself, so she's 27, which would be in 1823. By 35 (in 1850), Laura had succumbed to the weakness being fed but not killed or turned had stuck her with, and in 1870 the author (in the real world Le Fanu, obviously) of the book Laura's account was turned into tried to contact her after finding the doctor's papers and found she'd died earlier. In 1872 the book is published.
Powers
-enhanced senses, strength, and speed.
-Can transform into a large, feline beast. Looks very similar to a black (European) lynx.
-Dream manipulation. In particular making her victim believe she's dreaming even when she's not (usually in regards to when she comes to feed on someone, but also straight-up dream manufacture to allow interactions mind to mind).
-Is sometimes capable of passing through walls, but she needs to have fed recently to be doing feats such as that (or having soaked in blood for a while, hence why passing through the walls and whatnot in her tomb can be done).
-Revealing the full force of her predatory nature (usually cloaked) often stuns the target with animal fear and they become pliable/easily suggestible.
(-Carmilla is moody, and has a rather easily provoked temper. She tends to snap, scowl and yell when she gets angry. Only very seldom does she become physical, and in that case it's more slamming a fist into something like a wall or table.
-Religion is a rather touchy subject, both because of her own guilt regarding her (former) belief and inability to practice it now, and being wary/angry about the damage faith and faith-charged icons (no particular religion) can do to her.
-Nonetheless, she can be very sweet, romantic and charming when she feels like it or is taken by some particular girl or woman.
-Despite her temper, she is surprisingly patient otherwise.
-She tends to get possessive, regardless of if this is about prey (since she tends to choose one and feed on them for a while, which can lead to death, or not, depending on how long she does this), or a purely romantic attraction.)
-Which is something of a sore point even today, even if she understand why her mother told her to leave Laura behind. She remains a little bitter about it.
-Carmilla was 18 when she was turned, born in 1680, and is currently around 337 years old.
-She has a mole on her throat, on the right side and a little up above the collarbone.
-Feeds exclusively from female victims (and can sometimes become a little confused and indecisive whether she wants to eat someone or is romantically attracted to them).
-She sleeps immersed in blood; earlier this was often in a coffin, though in modern times she takes to other solutions. As well, 100-200 years ago she'd have used human blood; today it's usually animal such, though she still feeds from humans otherwise.
-Young vampires are confined to their coffins for at least a few hours every night until they are around a 100 (which, for Carmilla, would've been 1798); she was spending a few hours a night in the coffin only every few days while the Laura incident happened, and after this Carmilla, her 'Mother' and Matska left Styria. She does still, like any vampire, need to return to the area she was turned every so often; the older she gets the less she needs to do so and the less time does she need to spend in the area of Styria where she grew up.
-She isn't confined to the night. Morning and noon-time sunlight burns (the earlier, the more lethal), but she can be out during the day in the afternoon, the later the less effect (she prefers to stay inside until two-three at least).
-stake through the heart paralyzes vampires so they appear dead, but full death needs to be by decapitation and/or burning (normal fire or left out for the morning sun). Vampires do not turn to ash when staked or decapitated.
Notes on dates:
-Laura's account of the events to Doctor Hesselius is given eight years after the incident itself, so she's 27, which would be in 1823. By 35 (in 1850), Laura had succumbed to the weakness being fed but not killed or turned had stuck her with, and in 1870 the author (in the real world Le Fanu, obviously) of the book Laura's account was turned into tried to contact her after finding the doctor's papers and found she'd died earlier. In 1872 the book is published.
Powers
-enhanced senses, strength, and speed.
-Can transform into a large, feline beast. Looks very similar to a black (European) lynx.
-Dream manipulation. In particular making her victim believe she's dreaming even when she's not (usually in regards to when she comes to feed on someone, but also straight-up dream manufacture to allow interactions mind to mind).
-Is sometimes capable of passing through walls, but she needs to have fed recently to be doing feats such as that (or having soaked in blood for a while, hence why passing through the walls and whatnot in her tomb can be done).
-Revealing the full force of her predatory nature (usually cloaked) often stuns the target with animal fear and they become pliable/easily suggestible.
(-Carmilla is moody, and has a rather easily provoked temper. She tends to snap, scowl and yell when she gets angry. Only very seldom does she become physical, and in that case it's more slamming a fist into something like a wall or table.
-Religion is a rather touchy subject, both because of her own guilt regarding her (former) belief and inability to practice it now, and being wary/angry about the damage faith and faith-charged icons (no particular religion) can do to her.
-Nonetheless, she can be very sweet, romantic and charming when she feels like it or is taken by some particular girl or woman.
-Despite her temper, she is surprisingly patient otherwise.
-She tends to get possessive, regardless of if this is about prey (since she tends to choose one and feed on them for a while, which can lead to death, or not, depending on how long she does this), or a purely romantic attraction.)