Uh, Yes problem. BIG Problem and we are talking about 4 such vampires not just one. The Brotherhood represents every bit as big a threat to our heath and well-being as any demon army.
To illustrate how nasty we are talking about let me sort of run down the powers of a few less ancient vampires than the Brotherhood then speculate on the powers of these four most ancient of their kind.
Valerian: The youngest of the brotherhood mostly by virtue of his ability to do something that even the tough-three can't do: Impregnate Human Females.
He can also perform these feats which are sort of minimal requirements for any "superior" vampire.
- Has killed four slayers
- Command the minds of mortals (even those with psychic shields like Tash and Sorrow)
- Accomplished sorcerer
- Unafraid of standard stakes, holy water, crosses, etc. Not unaffected, just unafraid...makes a difference when the bad guy does not retreat.
Dracula: In "Buffy vs Dracula" he demonstrated the following abilities:
- Transform instantly into a bat and mist.
- He was actually staked by Buffy and was still able to reform. Twice.
- He made Xander his "renfield" just by looking at him.
- He has an "entourage" (his wives)
Kakistos: To quote Giles: 'Kakistos' is Greek. It means the worst of the worst. It's also the name of a vampire so old that his
hands and feet are cloven.
- It took 2 slayers and a huge beam to drive through his heart to kill him.
- He held one slayer and beat off another one at the same time.
The Master: He was bad enough to carry a season (albeit a short one) by himself as big bad. He too demonstratrated a few unique abilities:
- He could designate someone as his representative (The Vessel) to drain victims whose vitality would sustain him.
- He was head of a Cult of vampire followers (Order Of Aurelius).
- He sired (by bloodline) some of the most powerful and influential vampires and demons (Darla-> Angel-> Dru-> Spike; Angel-> Black Jem; Angel-> Dru-> Darla (again)-> Conner-> Jasmine; Luke (The Vessel)->Colin (The Anointed One))
- Enthrall, Mage, strong blah blah...aren't they all?
- He was featured in ancient prophecies.
- He killed a slayer with almost no effort (or fight)
- He spent 70 years trapped in a church (without fear)
- He did not completely disintegrate when he was staked (his skeleton remained)
- Apparently his bones could be used to bring him back (until Buffy pulverized them)
Okay, just for the sake of argument consider if THOSE four vampires came to town. I'd be ready to shit my drawers and flee ...even if though Victor isn't physically capable of defication. So lets extend this from what we know:
All of the brotherhood are Ancient. So some of them have likely already begun the beastial changes (like Kakistos and The Master). This seems to take more than 2000 years. Dracula is a little over 800 and Valerian is 1700 or so and they are both pretty boys.
Magery is a given it seems for the ancient vamps. It seems to tip the scales in favor of the weakness-ridden race. It allows them to ignore certain accepted vulnerabilities such as staking, burning, and possibly even daylight, holy water, crosses, or beheading.
Strength increases with age. Its generally accepted that Darla(1) was tougher than Angel who was tougher than Dru who was tougher than Spike and so on... Not just physical strength but also power, intensity, and presence.
Psychic powers are also a given. The ability to command mortals must be something a vampire gets as a 500th birthday present. Even Drac could do it in the 1800's back when he was barely 600. All vampires are basically immune to psychometry and ESP as Angel demonstrated to Buffy in "Earshot".
Money and Power is also pretty much a given. After about 400 or 500 years any vampire would have stashed some money away into a source he could draw on for centuries. Angel had money stashed all around. Kakistos hired Trick to manage his funds. Valerian owns his own jet.
There is a lot of power in money. You have only to look at Saddam Hussein who has managed to evade the US with only $700,000 in US funds for months. Money speaks volumes. So does a network of loyalists.
These guys have been around so long that nearly ANY vampire you can think of could trace their heritage back to one of them. Since its a singleton series (meaning one branch since no "mommy" required) it should be fairly easy. The vampires that do not come from these four guys are likely from other ancients of note (Faschion, The Master, or Dracula for example) and even then there may still be a connection (The Master did sire Valerian after all).
Becasue of this, few vampires would even consider refusing a request from the Fanged Four. So all of their resources are at this handful of vampires' disposal. Its scary, that they might not even need a personal fortune at all with power like that.
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So when we finally start to write what these guys can do will do might do and have done we should consider then one step under Glory one step above Valerian and not trivial by any means
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Pft...ancient Vampire? No Problem...
If the Brotherhood are anything like that...Eeek! 8O Looks like Chance has bitten off more than a T-Rex could chew. Who needs a demon army when you've got four vamps like that?
Are the Brotherhood turning up altogether/individualy/in groups?
Pft...ancient Vampire? No Problem...
To answer your question, my initial proposal had the 3 remaining Elders of the Brotherhood come to LA in search of Valerian. Since they're arriving with a specific reason in mind, I'd expect that they'd arrange to travel together, or at least to arrive at the same time, so as to be able to get together and approach their youngest brethren soon after they arrive. (See below for summary of proposed S3 storyline.)
That's not set in stone though... What do the rest of you guys think? Also... Since Dave thought that the 3 actors I proposed are too pretty-boy, does anyone else have any other suggestions about who we can use to play the 3 Elders? :)
Pft...ancient Vampire? No Problem...
Too pretty boy?! Sacrilege!
Pft...ancient Vampire? No Problem...
Actually I like the actors youve chosen. My point was they would not even loosely resemble them at this point. They would bear as much similarity as The Master does to actor Mark Metcalf.
consider this:
Just an idea of Course.
Pft...ancient Vampire? No Problem...
Yikes!
I'm with Chance. A demon army sounds almost manageable compared to Valerian, Dathan, Crispin and Nicholas.
I love the description of Dathan. Is anything known about Crispin or Nicholas? Are those even their original names?
I ask about the names because I was wondering if their original names were variants on their current ones.
"Crispin," for instance, comes from the Latin "Crispus," which means "curly haired." It might have been a nickname or a family name.
Nicholas comes from the Greek "Nikolaos," which probably derived from the name of the Greek goddess of victory, Nike. "Nikolaos" means "victorious army, or victorious people."
What language does the name Dathan come from?
Why are Dathan's eyes pupilless? Was he blind when he was alive?
Valerian is the youngest of the Brotherhood--but who is the oldest, and how old is he? How old are the other two?
When the Brotherhood are all together, is one of them the acknowledged leader of the group? If so, which one? Is there competition for leadership?
Do any or all of them have any flaws, dreams or desires which might be exploited as weapons by the White Hats?
And if nothing's been done on their backgrounds, may I please toss a few ideas out and see what you think?
Pft...ancient Vampire? No Problem...
All that exists on the Brotherhood gamewise is that snippet in Valerian's background and this thread. We are flying by the seat of our pants here.
There is an article on the main site that sort of defines our vampire mythology. It mentions this about Ancient vampires:
So Dathan's eyes are pupiless becasue its creepy-looking and it seemed an interesting contrast to the dark latin eyes of Antonio Banderas.
As for an alternate, more physical explaination, its becase they are all pupil. His pupils are so large they have overtaken the iris and it is merely the milky whites of the eye itself that is showing illuminated slightly from within. His eyes are so well adapted to the dark that they emit slight photons to allow him to see in the deepest recesses of caves without any light at all.
As for the origins of the names, you'd have to ask April, but its wide open as far as I am concerned. Dathan is Sumerian if I remember correctly from the Hercules television show. Feel free to write a description for either of the remaining two vampires. I'd say Dathan is likely the oldest of the four. I'd put the ages of the other two anywhere from 1600 to 3000 years old.
When they get together they generally behave amicably but Valerian (oddly enough) is the brainchild of their union and so is sort of the leader by virtue of his quick mind and his calculated intelligence. But I'd say that Nicholas is likely the smartest one of all of them (including Valerian) and the others look to him to validate a lot of the decisions that Valerian makes. Valerian is smart, but once his ideas go through Nicholas they are blown into truely evil proportions.
Aside from those little tidbits (and my observations above) I'd say that is about all I had in my brain. April may still have more she has not shared. As for the writeup of Dathan, I didn't state it directly but it is totally reviseable. It was just an attempt to illustrate just how nasty I feel these guys are.
As for flaws, weaknesses and exploitable hooks...I'd say the biggest one is their arrogance. They all feel they are a better class of vampire. They are less worldly and more spiritual. They are stronger, purer, and less petty. They feed as they need to and don't feed on terror. Although Dathan has demonstrated a liking for sowing destruction and chaos, he works through others and rarely gets directly involved.
Valerian's weakness is Jade. Dathan's weakness is his desire for worshippers. The others...who knows?