ISLWYN KAVANAGH - COLORLESS CLAN, CLANSMAN

Some people say that money can't buy happiness. Such was a tenant that Islwyn's family never held to, for they were the descendants of wealthy merchants, and as far as they were concerned, money could buy anything, including joy. This attitude and the spending power of their familial wealth wove together to produce a dangerously naive notion that nothing could ever go wrong for them. Little did they know that the newest heir birthed to carry on the house's name would shatter that fragile impression.

In the beginning, though, things seemed to carry on as they always did. Islwyn was a quiet and mild-mannered toddler, never causing any problems or complications for his nannies or tutors. He traveled through the early years of his life, the perfect picture of wealthy obedience. It wasn't until he hit puberty that things seemed to change, the Kavanagh youth becoming aware of his place and in the world. This shift coincided with his being sent to one of the best academies money could buy for further education. For the first time in his life, Islwyn found himself thrust into the social spotlight, thanks to his family name and natural charisma, and the boy found he liked it.

And perhaps he liked it too much, for he started to doggedly pursue the feeling he got while he was surrounded by those that adored him...Rapidly cultivating a social clique of sorts. Islwyn was used to getting what he wanted, and these people who would practically trip over themselves to be in his presence only intensified that selfish foundation of his. It became so common for him that when he met someone who didn't fall into the category of fawning over him he went through two phases: disbelief, then challenge. Aeron was one of the first people that Islwyn met while at school that defied the status quo of people clamoring to be part of his inner circle.

Thus, Aeron became Islwyn's goal of conquest. He would win over the other youth or else. The Kavanagh heir wasn't entirely cognizant of just how far he was willing to go until the deed was done. While he had been successful in building a sort of rapport with the other student, even going so far as to form some kind of misplaced crush on Aeron, but when he still denied Islwyn, it was too much for the aristocrat to handle. Islwyn snapped, in a fit of if I can't have it no one can, and struck down Aeron. The power that Islwyn felt, the sheer euphoria that enveloped him as he felt the warm crimson stain over his fingers, dripping down the rock he had grabbed to bludgeon the other boy with was...addictive. There was no stopping this hunger that awoke in him. Turning it into a powerplay allowed his psyche to detach itself from any guilt he may have felt until all he experienced was desire.

So it was, that at the tender age of sixteen, that his lust for blood blossomed. The large library at the academy and its esoteric books on the properties of vitae and the substances of life only further fueled his newfound obsession and drove him to pursue and ultimately develop a dependency on the crimson liquid. Every time he killed, each fresh swath of blood that rained upon his pale skin, only increased his thirst, and that ultimately was his downfall. It was easy enough to disguise one killing as some unfortunate hiking accident but...Once there were multiple bodies to deal with, it was harder to hide.

Of course, no one expected the killer to be Islwyn Kavanagh, of the wealthy Kavanagh merchant family. Given the location of the killings, there was enough politics, red tape, and gossip to throw officials off his trail for a while. This allowed him to carry on with nurturing his newfound love, experiment and improvise. It became such that his love for blood carried translated into a love for people -- yet it was not a tender, romantic love...It was the love that the predator had for its prey, a fickle, passionate thing, and subsequently the more affection he felt for something, the more he wanted to hollow them out and bathe in their juices.

The summer of his eighteenth year was a brilliant, blazing thing, full of lies and debauchery. Islwyn had located a gaggle of younger boys who reminded him so much of Aeron that he had to have them. Pretty, deceitful promises were woven to win their trust, but Islwyn felt the heat of the authorities' investigation growing nearer before he could enact the grand plan he had for them. Refusing to allow them out of his grasp, they met a fate just like the lost love they resembled, their blood drained to bathe Islwyn. By the time he had bathed, and stepped out into the parlor of his lavish dormitory to seat himself at the grand piano, the Blue Clan was breaking down the door.

His slender fingers graced the keys, a haunting, blood-stained melody peeling out of the instrument, giving an elegant backdrop to the splintering of wood. As guardsmen piled into the room, all was quiet save for the classical melody, before all hell broke loose.

...

So it was, at the age of eighteen, that Islwyn was condemned to await execution at the new prison in Ble. The new environment definitely gave the pampered aristocrat culture shock, but strangely, it was something he adapted and thrived in. For the prison system introduced him to all sorts of new people...People who could be manipulated and used, and perhaps even better, he got to meet Strains first hand. These bizarre, gifted people immediately caught Islwyn's attention and desire. The blood coursing through their veins had to be the source of their eccentricities, of this the young man was certain, and thus he immediately started desiring it for himself.

Such actions within a prison however, do not stay secret for long, and such was how he began to attract attention. All this attention lead to him meeting one particularly interesting individual. This man, charismatic in a way that Islwyn was not used to seeing outside of himself, naturally piqued the youth's curiosity. While unwilling to admit this interest aloud, nonetheless, he listened more to what the man had to say than anyone else in his life. This cultivated into a sort of rapport that lasted and endured even after Syn escaped prison. Though Islwyn was not the most patient of individuals, he knew the value in a long con, and thus was content to bide his time until the king returned to liberate them.

Upon gaining his freedom, with no means or desire to go back to his old life, Islwyn decided to follow the older man into mercenary work. While unwilling to completely give up his name -- as names held power, and Islwyn reveled in his rich roots -- he rarely uses it due to the fugitive nature of his new lifestyle...Instead simply responding to the title/calling card of Sanguine. 

TIMELINE

AGE 12
-Sent off to Academy

AGE 14-15
-Meets Aeron & tries to 'court' him

AGE 16
-Upon rejection, kills Aeron.
-Develops a taste for blood and starts researching it.

AGE 17
-Picks off classmates here and there, blood lust growing.

AGE 18
-Befriends and subsequently kills a trio of underclassmen that remind him of Aeron, bathes in their blood.
-Arrested shortly afterwards.
-Sent to prison, learns more about Strains, meets Syn.

AGE 20
-Busted out of prison along with the other clansmen

AGE 21-PRESENT
-Begins merc work and is generally a menace to society.