Corbin Nicodemus's page

Step 1: Write at least 5 concept elements that you feel are important to your image of the character. These can be a concept overview, a list of important life events, a physical description, a personality profile...whatever you need to get an image in your mind.
- mysterious, ominous-looking
- charming, oily almost
- prefers to be in shadows or in the dark
- wears fine clothing and accessories
- commanding, used to being in charge

Step 2: List at least 2 goals for the character. At least one of these goals should be one that the character has, while another should be one that you, as a player, want to see developed over the course of the game.
- seek more knowledge of Hell and its denizens
- establish a noble house in Cheliax, the first of his name

Step 3: List at least 2 secrets about your character. One is a secret the character knows, one is a secret that involves him but that he is not actually aware of yet. This will help me in creating plots that center around your character. I will also be creating a third secret which you as a player will not be aware of, so expect some surprises!
- he killed his ‘family’ (see background below)
- one of the younger members of the family had been away, obviously survived and is hunting him down

Step 4: Describe at least 3 people that are tied to the character. Two of them are friendly to the character, one is hostile.
- Jerome, old bitter veteran living in Longacres where Corbin temporarily resides
- Cimri (contact in Longacre)
- Cara, young heir of the Nicodemus House, who is hunting him down

Step 5: Describe at least 3 mannerisms, or quirks that your character has. They don't have to be elaborate, but they should provide some context and flavor.
- always cleaning his clothes and self
- refers to himself as nobility and expects others to follow his orders
- he licks his elongated canines when he thinks no one is looking

CORBIN NICODEMUS, dhampir anti-paladin

APPEARANCE

Corbin doesn’t smile often but when he does, a perceptive person may get a glimpse of his elongated canines. His dark, greasy hair frames a long face of ghostly pallid skin. He is a tall and slender dhampir, typical of his kind, but with a thick layer of stringy muscle under his impeccably clean clothes. He usually wears a black outfit befitting a noble of his status with shiny, black boots to match when not expecting trouble. When trouble is near, he puts on a black breastplate trimmed in silver; his horned helmet is never far from his side. Whether expecting to fight or not, he is never without his demon-hilted greatsword, seeing the weapon a sign of his privileged place in life.

BACKGROUND (from Corbin’s journal)

Now, with over a 150 years in this world, I see things more clearly. I do not know who my real mother was, curse her soul, but my father is Count Viktor Puskas and I will find him one day.

I’ll start at the beginning... my mother died at childbirth. My father, heartbroken, but, not able to raise me, gave me to the Nicodemus family. I don’t know whether out of fear of him or because of some sort of debt, but I had a happy childhood at the Nicodemus Estate in Vauntil, Caliphas. The Nicodemus adopted me as their own son and told me, and everyone else, that I was really their nephew born to one of their family member and a Varisian elven woman who charmed my young noble father. That helped explain why I was on a different aging process as them, and it made sense at the time.
My childhood memories are filled with vineyards, lazy summers, and all the trappings of a minor noble family. And of Viktor. My father, whom I didn’t know as such at the time, would come to visit me every few months and speak to me about the world and how he would show me the splendors of Ustalav one day. When asked why I could not go with him, Viktor would merely say that I was not old enough yet. Now I understand that my father was waiting for the right time to make me as he was, eternal.

Years went by and my brothers turned into fathers and then grandfathers while I still was a youth in many aspects. Viktor stopped coming (I don’t know why but I mean to find out) and my relationship with the newer generation of the Nicodemus started to falter. As the senior member of the Nicodemus Family, I had pretty much free use of the family funds but left the managing of the estate to the younger generations. I built myself a small villa some miles from the main house and distanced myself from them as much as possible.

By this time, I poured myself almost completely into my knight training and I discovered Asmodeus. He came to me in a dream and I built a secret altar in his name. Years passed and the relationship with the Nicodemus festered; the current head of the family threatening to cut off my funds if I didn’t account myself in family matters. Also at this time, I had visions of Hell in all its glory and the Nine Circles, visions of grandeur and plans and destiny that required my presence.

Matters with my family became intolerable. Well, not really my family since those I had known had died years ago; these from the younger generation were strangers to me, hostile strangers. They wanted to cut off my funds! They wanted to strip me of my title! So I did what anyone in their right mind would do; I left.

The information below is not 'known' to other players unless specifically told by Corbin.

But not before I made sure a plague spread throughout the Nicodemus household killing most of them. Those that resisted the disease were too weak to fight me and fell to my blade. Of course, as a gifted speaker, I was able to let everyone know how sorry I was for the tragedy that befell my family. I hired a new help to merely maintain the estate and left to cope with my grief, so I said. No one knows that I followed the teachings of the laws of hells. And where to better learn about this than in Cheliax.

PERSONALITY

Corbin feels like he is entitled to all the good things in life. He is very bitter about his mother dying and taking away his chance at being eternal. At times, he will play up his noble heritage and call himself Count Corbin. This persona of his is obsessive with cleanliness and basically speaks to people as if they were all his servants. The dhampir is an accomplished liar and will talk his way out of most social situations.

However, when the problem is past talking, he is ruthless with his sword only seeing people as enemies and temporary allies. His betrayal by his family has left a sour taste in his mouth, and he is very wary of new people and slow to trust.

His usual delusion of trying to become a vampire may surface again but now it has been replaced with the illusion of the prophetic destiny promised by Hell.