Peter deBerencourt over the centuries has gone by many names: Frank Baer; Peter Baer; Franklin Strong; Francois Rochat, Francois deBerencourt and finally, Christophe Pierre Delatour, which was his birth name. Whichever name he went by, all who knew him believed him to be dead, decapitated by guillotine during the French Revolution. He was believed to be one among many who succumbed to violence, and lost their long lives. There were some, such as Ari Cottrell, and his son, Tim Wagner, that saw the loss of the Virehn known as Francois Rochat as fortuitous; they found him to be a total pain in the ass, that wouldn’t ever quite go away. Francois? He simply wanted satisfaction, after the loss of his son Gabriel, and his daughter, Elise - who was also his biological granddaughter. He could square with the death of his son; he’d earned his demise. It was the loss of his daughter Elise that he never quite got over.

Actions have consequences, and every effect has its cause–even if the cause isn’t clear, and a situation’s beginnings are murky. Peter DeBerencourt wanted payback for an event that happened some 500 years ago. Being a Virehn, he had all the time in the world to bring his revenge to pass. He’d hoped that he would see satisfaction when the situation occurred, but Ari Cottrell made sure he wouldn’t. Then, the Fourth Virehnai war began in 1462, and on the heels of the war’s end came the Compact. Once the Compact was cast, and came into force, it all but guaranteed that punishment would never come. His heart sunk when he heard that damned witch say that everyone would start with a blank slate. After that, there wasn’t much he could do to get revenge that wouldn’t end in his own death, too. Damned Compact. If there would ever be satisfaction, or a reckoning–he himself would be it, or engineer it.

Peter DeBerencourt’s problems - and depending how you view it, Ari, Tim and every Virehnai alive today dealing with VAS- began five years before the Fourth Virehnai war began. In 1457 AD, there was a party at an Inn called “Focaria Rubra,” or Crimson Hearth, in Zurich, Switzerland. The inn was large, and run by Ari Cottrell–though back then, he went by the name Alban Casimir. The inn had a reputation for hospitality far and wide, and served not only Virehnai, but Knights Templar, pilgrims and travelers of all types…and was a place where Virehnai–any Virehnai, regardless of faction - that needed help could receive it. This was based on an accord called “The Concordia Sanguinis”–which was the brainchild of Vibia Sabina Augustus, who was once both wife and cousin to Emperor Hadrian. She had a gift for diplomacy, and was trying to stave off future Virehnai wars by breaching the gap between the factions. After the Third Virehnai war ended with the Battle of Mursa, the heads of the major clans agreed to the accord Vibia crafted. It helped…until it didn’t.

Focaria Rubra, because of the adoption of the accord, attracted a very mixed clientele, and it often led to lively parties. The Virehnai, as a precaution, kept their parties private from any other parties that might go on. Any humans included in the Virehnai parties were either oathsworn or bloodsworn, and they knew who they were hanging out with. Likely, they were traveling together. Drinking in the Great Room was prohibited, to cut down on faction politics; if you tried it, they banned you. If blood was exchanged a little later in someone’s room, no one cared.

It was at one such party, like any other hundred parties occurring there, that the phrase ‘actions have consequences’ was especially apt, and caused Peter’s ire. This party included both humans and Virehnai; not unusual. The humans were bloodsworn, traveling with their patrons, either as their food sources, or as their trusted servants: maybe both, depending on whether you were Sulehnai or Draz’kul–which was standard.

The fire was warm on a cold, snowy night, and the alcohol was flowing; not a problem for the humans OR the Virehnai who would feed from them later. Normally, alcohol doesn’t metabolize in a Virehn’s system. It passes through, unless the human in question’s blood alcohol level is extremely high, in which case it’s likely to give a Virehn indigestion, or maybe present as ‘food poisoning’ and make them as sick as if they drank the alcohol themselves. Most of the time, they can tell long before taking a drink that the human in question has had too much alcohol. If they were more iniebriated than they looked, the Virehn switched to another source. Much like if a human drinks something slightly spoiled, and it tastes ‘off,’ they drink something else. Why would someone drink something that doesn’t taste right, or might make them sick? They don’t, and neither do Virehn.

Normally.

The night of that party, the weather became truly horrible; it was snowing copiously, and everyone was inside. Someone added a substance called ‘Zar’quess’ to the alcohol the humans were drinking, which is made with thornsap resin. In a human, drinking alcohol laced with even a bit of thornsap resin speeds up their metabolism, and makes them drunker, faster. If a human unknowingly drinks it, even if they’re not drinking to excess, they’ll get hammered.

The real reason anyone gives Zar’quess to a human is because of the effect it has on a Virehn. For a Virehn, Zar’quess allows the alcohol humans have in their system to take effect on them. A Virehn who has fed from a human who drank thornsap resin-laced alcohol will likely feel a buzz; whether or not they get buzzed, many times it makes them impulsive and aggressive. Some may lose control. Like any compound using thornsap resin, the dosing is critical. A drop or ten– depending on formulation, and what other ingredients are present with the thornsap resin, will either calm the recipient down…give them a good time…or turn them into a raging homicidal maniac. Long ago, an alchemist created the compound that became known as Zar’quess because some Virehnai missed the ability to get buzzed. It didn’t take the average Virehn long to realize you could also use it against an enemy, as an act of treachery. Zar’quess is one of those thornsap substances that are still illegal to possess.

The party in question on that snowy night? All the humans present in the Great Room of Focaria Rubra died, along with eight of the Virehnai. Three of the Draz’kul in attendance killed everyone who died; one of them spiked the humans’ alcohol with Zar’quess. Was it an act of aggression and treachery between factions? Was it simply a dosing error? It could not be determined fully.

Death of humans happens occasionally; it’s never supposed to happen within a Virehnai stronghold, regardless of faction, then OR now. This is one of the oldest rules: a version of ‘don’t shit where you eat.’ You don’t want dead humans outing a whole stronghold. The party, its mayhem and aftermath, prompted a Tribunal. A Tribunal was a big deal back then, because you needed at least three of the oldest in an area to be judge and jury. There was no Vel’sheth present, so they did without. Luckily, there were two Virehnai at the Inn waiting out the blizzard that were considered Sethari; The Tribunal comprised Diotimus Artimidorus, Aleksandr Philipou, and Alban Casimir himself.

The surviving Virehnai who were present but didn’t intervene were fined. That helped with the ‘cleaning bill,’ which included either paying off humans involved to‘forget’ what they saw, or ‘disappearing’ them entirely, and paying off the Virehnai who would be ‘inconvenienced’ by their loss. They also made reparations to the families that lost bloodsworn members.

That left the three Draz’kul that caused the deaths of the eight Virehnai. They hotly debated whether the deaths were ‘accidental’, particularly once they discovered Zar’quess was used. The presence of Zar’quess was the deciding factor, and why there was no leniency for the Virehnai in question. The Tribunal decreed 2 to 1 that all three Virehnai should receive a death sentence. Normally, this would be carried out by their faction, and the clan head would levy their sires a fine. As expected, the one that voted against the death sentence was Alban himself. His vote surprised no one, then or now.

Alban Casimir should’ve waited to hold the Tribunal until the weather cleared; he should’ve recused himself because of his interest in the matter. If he wanted it to take less time, he could’ve requested that Diotimus Artimidorus and Aleksandar Philipou wait at the inn until they could find a third Sethari with no stake in the matter at hand to act as judge. Alban did none of those things.

Why? It wasn’t in his interest to wait. That meant Alban Casimir would be both judging AND carrying out the sentence, as the oldest of the Virehnai present. Focaria Rubra was not only Alban’s establishment, but it was Clan Casimir’s stronghold, and he was head of Clan Casimir. The three Draz’kul sentenced were Gabriel Rochat, Hans Gerber, and Tobias Warrich, all from Clan Casimir. More importantly, Alban was Tobias Warrich’s sire.

It was determined that Hans Gerber was the one who spiked the alcohol with Zar’quess. Even his own clan knew that couldn’t have happened without Tobias knowing about it; none were brave enough to voice that thought. Even then, Alban was vengeful and brutal; the way others felt they couldn’t speak out about it was one more reason he shouldn’t have judged his own son’s case.

What resulted should never have happened the way it did. While two of the Virehnai charged received their punishment, Alban’s own child, Tobias, then around 50 years of age, didn’t. Not only were Alban and Tobias sire and child, but they were biologically related. Alban doted on him as he was his only living biological relation; he couldn’t, wouldn’t, kill someone with familial ties that he cared for. Alban instead delayed Tobias’ sentence, promising everyone, including the others who were part of the Tribunal, that he would receive his sentence. Alban, long accustomed to using his position, age and power to get his way made certain that Tobias never would. Today, Alban is better known as Ari, the CEO of VarenCorp International, and the child who never received that punishment is now known as Timothy Warner, Ari’s heir apparent.

Peter’s son Gabriel faced his punishment doled out by the Tribunal, and was decapitated for his part in the bloodshed. It was unfortunate that Gabriel had been involved at all, and Peter always questioned: if he hadn’t been friends with Tobias, would it have still happened? Peter hated that his son Gabriel paid a price that Alban wasn’t willing to dole out to his own child. That hurt; he wanted Tobias’ sentence to be carried out, too. It was only fair.

However. Peter didn’t lose one child the night of that accursed party–he lost two. His daughter Elise was ‘collateral damage.’ In nearly every way, Elise’s death hurt worse. Gabriel died because he took part in the bloodshed…ill-advised, and he paid for his stupidity. It was unfortunate.

He was not only Elise’s sire, but she was his biological granddaughter. She was simply an attendee at the party, smitten by Tobias’ good looks. Gabriel, Hans, Tobias, and Elise had been friends, and Elise looked up to Tobias, even imagining herself in love with him - which contributed to her demise. He’d warned her not to get too close to him, but she chose to ignore him. They were all of a similar age.