Name: Olivier Frederick Alexander
Nickname(s): Oliver is fine. Call him Olli and you'll be dead at his feet in a blink.
Age: Turned while physically 26, now 817 years later he's still a vampire.
Birthday: Turned in what is now May 1195 in Constantinople, born on what he estimates to be September 8th 1169.
Bloodtype: Prefers A- especially vegans, vegetarians, sober or individuals who've never done drugs who have a purer blood content.
Place of Origin: Córdoba, Spain.
Likes:
Oliver was raised to possess refined tastes as a son of the Spanish Court at turn of the 12th century. That much has not changed today. He remains well dressed, favoring tailored and well made expensive clothing. He's annoyed by hipsters and flashy 'contemporary' clothes. Even when he dressed casual, he dresses in well fit clean clothes. Cleanliness is big for him. He knows very well the harms that a lack of hygiene can bring - he did live through the dark ages after all. Aside from his taste in dress, his taste in music is also classical. He has a passion for instrumental music and very few singers can move him. Often he won't turn the radio on simply because something like Katy Perry is on - and if he had the chance he'd off the woman. He is passionate about a lot of aged or antiqued things and overall has a love of history because it allows him to reminisce. When it comes to artifacts more specifically he is obsessed with anything related to the supernatural, whether it's the rumors of witches or vampires or werewolves or the like - no different than when he was human and brought into the brotherhood. He is innately curious and fact finding missions appeal to him. He is also a lover of languages and anthropology - studying other cultures fascinates him.
When it comes to more modern past times, he does enjoy sex. The advent of such carnal activities becoming recreational led him on a whirlwind century of sleeping around - and literally around the world. He loves to travel and often becomes irritated if he finds himself in the same place for too long. He likes changes in scenery and more rural and suburban settings than urban. The cities of today irritate him. When it comes to sports, he's quite athletic. He enjoys spending time playing baseball, running, rowing and boating. He's always loved sailing - especially during the time of long ships. Boats also provide isolated places for him to claim and dump his victim of course, an added benefit to the joys of being out on the water. He used to enjoy horseback riding a lot but now, as a vampire, horses are continually spooked around him which saddens him to an extent. He enjoys his own strength and immortality but in many ways, the remedial desires to be human remain ever so slightly.
Dislikes:
His life as a human was consumed by a hatred for vampires and to some extent that remains today. Oliver has grown to accept what he is after long periods of trying to off himself and Helena forcing him to remain undead. He adores his strength and the ability to act on impulse. He loves that his senses are amplified, making the experience of life all the more vibrant. He has come to enjoy the kill, loving when the animal in him possesses him. Most of all he loves that he can shut off his emotions and not feel because in some ways his compassion and guilt as a human were too much for him to bear. Yet beneath it all remains a slight distaste for what he is, what he does and how many people he's killed. The ghosts of his hunter brotherhood remain on his mind occasionally, triggered by certain sights and memories. He accepts that and in time whenever it does come up he turns off that regret. With nearly a millennium of time spent as a vampire he is thankful that he no longer has to deal with human illness and barbaric acts. He is glad that he is his own authority in many ways and is powerful over all others, aside from his few superiors.
He hates conflict and war, especially human battles and squabbles over religion. The idea of faith bothers him. It isn't that he believes in God but that he sees the enduring wars of religion has arguing over many names for the name deity. He is spiritual but continues to be astounded by humanities lapse into conflict over such a subtle difference. He also feels for the ill but the taste of their blood - tainted by sickness, drugs, chemicals, or the like - repulses him. Drugs are something he loathes, along with tobacco. His distaste for those things isn't something he'll hide from you either.
Oliver also dislikes the modern era's focus on infotainment and he feels like there has been a loss within academia to the television and it's focus on news and visuals for mass consumption and not education. The commercialism of society today bothers him and yet he finds himself falling into it often - buying expensive clothes and things but he focuses on the quality of those goods. He doesn't buy things just to have them - unless they're artifacts in which they're collected items.
The only thing he likes about computers are online catalogs and databases at the tip of his finger. Otherwise the screens are irritating. He still much prefers books.
Fear(s):
Oliver fears a return of the brotherhood. Rumblings have occurred through time as groups have discovered the power of the original hunters and taken up the mantle. His existence is traceable back to the group and the idea of being approached by them and condemned still remains, even after all this time. He also fears that at some point his emotions and his humanity may overwhelm him and render him unable to turn off those feelings.
Secret(s):
Oliver continues to hide the distaste he has for his kind. Not only this but he continues to kill whenever he feeds and the truth of that matter is that he has never been able to control himself. That lack of control is a sore spot for him given his age.
Personality:
Oliver is inherently a very private person and he can come off as quiet and subdued. He is not the first one to cause a scene and is only ever confrontational when personally threatened or spoken to. He is short with his words and not one to rant either. He prefers to bottle up his emotions within himself than to express them, knowing that Helena and the other Fallen mock him whenever he does tap into that more emotional side of him. He can come off as cold and steely and calculating and he is. He is extremely judgmental and attentive of a person’s appearance and behavior. With so much time under his belt he’s become highly adept at reading body language.
He is manipulative, especially when looking for a kill. He feels no qualms about seducing a woman and he’s very good at it. He also feels no issues with lying, stealing, cheating and the like. There’s a thrill involved with living in a lie for him and he is not afraid to act a role to get a girl into his arms. He likes to play people off each other and watch from afar. As an enforcer he enjoys using other people to resolve issues. He’s manipulating in so far as the blood is rarely on his hands but when it is, he enjoys it.
When he is tapping into his animalistic and vampire side, his cocky side can re-emerge. He is confident in his skills – whether it’s the hunt or otherwise. That said, when his emotions resurface and he is left taking account for what he’s doing or done, he’s compassionate. His residual humanity can have been acting incredibly empathetic and charitable. He can show that he cares and he can be more personable but it rarely happens as of late – given all he’s done and his lack of control over his vampire side.
When he’s hunting for prey, he can become sadistic and is not afraid to inflict harm – and while he enjoys physically toying with people, psychological play is his favorite weapon of choice. He likes to mess with people, especially his victims, playing off their body language and their desires and using them for his own gain. He is nothing short of an animal then and when his desire to feed kicks in, there’s no stopping him.
History:
Oliver Alexander was born to Maghtild and Aylwin Alexander, two members of what can only be described as an aristocratic class within Cordova Spain. Born in 1169, Oliver spent only a few years within the great city. The hub of life in Europe at the time and most developed of all regions, it was naturally coveted by many. In 1175 with the invasion of Al-Mu'tamid ibn Abbad his parents would flee, taking a ship and all of their goods north to settle along the coast in Léon. They would travel frequently thereafter between several established properties before ultimately settling in Toledo. With the resurgence of Christianity came conflict. Though Caucasian, Oliver’s family had been practicing Muslims until he was fifteen when pressures within the Christian capital brought about the transition. Oliver himself was dissatisfied with the need to change, having never been particularly religious, and faced severe chastisement by his family. He was the second eldest of six children, four of whom were boys. His oldest brother, Emmanuel, took the priesthood leaving Oliver the primary heir to his families estate. Still, their discontent with his position on faith from a young age led to a wedge being driven between them. They cared about their image to the various monarchs in the area and they were powerful people who intended to marry him off. As an aristocrat he had responsibilities and one of those was to be a good Christian.
At sixteen, in a particularly bad mood one day, Oliver wandered off in search of a tavern or some keep where he might find a strong ale to preoccupy his mind. He found a small rundown building in the city center but once instead he found that instead of the bar he anticipated, he was surrounded by ornamentally dressed men, all looking like knights in black onyx armor and dark hoods. He was taken and knocked out, waking up in a converted church in a cell underground. He had been taken with the knowledge that he was the son of the Alexander’s who had only the intention to ransom him and be on their way. But instead, Oliver found himself wondering about the mysterious tattoos each of the men possessed, and how they walked and talked. They were different and it did not take long for him to hear of magic.
At once he was entranced and even though he was their prisoner, he begged to know more about what they did. The leader, Salomon de Colne, saw something there. Oliver was not sure what but the leader and his men saw opportunity. It was rare to find someone so willing to believe, so open to the idea of magic when so many saw it as sin, as evil. And so they arranged for a vampire to be brought into a holding cell across from Oliver’s and he saw the creature grow rapid and violent upon near starvation before it was staked and killed. He was shocked to learn that such things really did exist. He had always been fascinated with such stories – a family nanny had told him of such things before being fired by his parents for telling ‘immoral’ tales and lies. He fell in love with the idea and not long after Salomon took Oliver into the group. They were the Brotherhood and they dedicated their lives to hunting vampires.
Abandoning his family entirely, Oliver was indoctrinated into the group and promptly trained. It was years before he emerged from the group with Salomon and the others on a formal hunt but he excelled beyond Salomon’s high hopes. He was strong and what’s more he was ruthless. Oliver dehumanized them and became a hunter hungry for the kill. The brotherhood would leave Spain shortly after he turned twenty, moving into France and the Holy Roman Empire before heading towards the Middle East and Constantinople where many of the brotherhood had been called. An infestation of vampires was said to exist within the monarchy there, and what’s more rumor had it that original vampires were in the area – a challenge Oliver was too arrogant to deny himself. Salomon tried to prevent him, as did the other brothers. They spent a lot of time trying to check Oliver’s self confidence. For once he felt good at something! And he was good. But he was too good for his own good and ultimately that led him to Helena’s trail.
He was twenty six and a hunter, an expert killer who enjoyed tormenting the undead creatures. He had been within Constantinople for a month, trailing Helena when she appeared to him. He was caught by her in the dead of night. The fight was far quicker than any other. Helena was so strong. She was so cunning. And she enjoyed pinning him and letting him squirm beneath her. He begged her to kill him, threatening her with the brotherhood, that his brothers would avenge his death. He confessed his absolute hatred for what she was and then she choked him, forcing him to shut up, before laughing at him. He remembered her brother her hand to his lips and then the violent twist she gave to his neck. When he woke up a vampire he was horrified and still in her presence. Immediately he tried to kill himself, to be anything but this heathen creature. How could it be that he had become the very thing he hated?
And then she brought him a woman. Oliver remembered her name immediately. Elira. He had spent several nights with her in Constantinople and she had been an informant to the brotherhood, often traveling ahead of them. While she wasn’t a hunter, she was a believer and she had brought many vampires to their deaths. Helena cut her throat slightly and the smell of the blood was just there. Elira was his first kill and Oliver didn’t even hesitate. When the smell emerged he couldn’t control himself. He just went to her and consumed her blood – all of it. And when he was done all he wanted was more. And Helena obliged for the first few weeks. It wasn’t until thirty two people were dead at his feet that his conscience kicked in and suddenly he was confronted again with what he was. The animal had kicked in, kicking out the emotion. And when the emotion returned it was overwhelming.
All of his life, ever since then, Oliver has battled himself for control and against his emotions. With so much time, his hatred for vampires has subsided but he knows that he is far from one of the better ones. He strives to be better, but he has never been able to control himself and so he resigns himself to remain with Helena. The kill remains too much to give up. He does love it. He craves it. And he can’t live without it.
Anything Else:
As a human he did receive an old form of tattoo and branding by the brotherhood on his right arm, under his wrist joint – reference here. It was branded by a hot iron and remains raised on his skin, but was also tattooed over and darkened with old age tribal methods.