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Character Name and Series: Manfred von Karma/Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Name in Role Play: Current name is Manfred von Karma XII
Race/Ethnicity: Vampire/German
Age: 865; was turned at 26
Gender: Male.
Appearance: In the form that von Karma most often presents to the public, it's a wonder why nobody's suspected him of vampirism- certainly, his looks and dress fit the stereotype to a T. His grey hair is aerodynamically slicked back, and he has a thin, gaunt face lined from age. He has piercing black eyes which are locked in an almost permanent glare. One could easily believe that his eyebrows are permanently stuck in the "angry eyebrows" position, as he's never really shown otherwise. He wears a navy blue suit with slight decorative trim, a cravat fastened with a turquoise brooch (with matching earrings), and a dark purple vest with gold trim. Typically, he carries a mahogany cane with him, which is more for show than anything. He's a bit shorter than one would expect, as well.
However, this form is an illusion. His true form looks much younger- around twenty-five, although his fox-red hair is graying around his temples, he has dark bags under his eyes, and his cheekbones are rather prominent. Still, he looks fairly handsome; one could compare him to a romantic poet who has just begun to show the negative symptoms of the opium. Unless he is going to a fancy social function, he tends to simply wear his vest over a white shirt with purple suit pants. If going to a social function, he wears a purple jacket over his vest and shirt. He keeps the cravat and earrings, of course, although he doesn't wear the brooch. Some aspects of his appearance are artfully messy- his cravat is too loose, and he wears his top button open.
Personality: von Karma's personality is practically defined by his obsession with perfection. He strives for it in everything he does, and considers anything less than perfection to be unacceptable. He's not exactly nice about it, either- quite the opposite, in fact. Von Karma is highly arrogant, and he was ruthless even before becoming a vampire, and centuries of being an undead bloodsucker certainly hasn't helped him break the tendency. In everyday conversation, he tends to be cold, distant, and likely to pick out even the smallest flaws in people- and heaven help anyone who tries to imply that he's anything less than perfect. He considers morals and ethics to be for lesser beings, and while usually more prone to slight irritation at the stupidity of the masses, he is absolutely terrifying when angry… and almost incapable of letting a grudge go.
The fact that he can't feed while keeping up the illusion of his age has caused him to create a personality for his true form. He changes it up every so often, but his current act is stoic, distant, slightly nicer, and prone to staring wistfully into the distance. He keeps up a bit of an air of mystery and takes himself very, very seriously, although this falls through a bit when he is outside a setting where he is required to be refined, attempts to use colloquialisms, and fails horribly. Von Karma chose to play this sort of character because it's easier to meet up with young women and bite their necks- von Karma is not one to waste an opportunity for easy meals- with this sort of personality, and even if someone was suspicious of the whole age thing no one would expect him to play such a loser.
Abilities/Weaponry: von Karma has slight hypnotic abilities, although using them too much, using them too broadly, and using them on more than one person at a time exhausts him. Most of the time, they are only used to muddle people's memories and produce minor illusions. His brooch, while not a weapon in and of itself, is enchanted so that he can look as though he is aging naturally without expending huge amounts of energy to put up illusions. Outside of the abilities you'd expect from a vampire, von Karma has the brain to go along with his perfection, and he is fairly good at fencing, as well. The cane he uses as a stylistic addition to his look also conceals a sword, and he's fairly good at coming up with improvised weaponry.
Weaknesses: von Karma is much less powerful than most vampires his age because of circumstances around him receiving his enchanted brooch. At the present time, his powers are the equivalent of those of a 200-year-old vampire, and may even be weaker. Also, he cannot feed with the brooch equipped, which forces him into his true form, and the brooch must either be touching his skin or fastened to an article of his clothing to be effective. Also, he doesn't take well to imperfections within his life. One could almost say that he has some sort of obsessive-compulsive disorder. His abrasive personality also alienates him from most people- the only exception being when he puts up his act as his young relative.
History: It's rather hard to believe, but Manfred von Karma was once a human hunter, from an austere family of human hunters in Germany- granted, he wasn't much different from when he was a vampire, other than maybe being able to go out in the daytime and not having an unquenchable thirst for blood, but he was human, nonetheless. Unfortunately, humans are imperfect, and the family mantra that imperfection is unacceptable had been instilled into Manfred's very being. Despite being married and having a child, he willingly became a vampire and then betrayed his sire, who was tracked down by Manfred's father. The older vampire proved too much for the elder von Karma, killing him- although not without expending so much energy that Manfred von Karma could easily kill him afterwards.
It had gone just as planned. Things were a bit hectic, considering that people got suspicious about those who stayed one age for far too long, but the lack of a world economy made it rather easy to go unnoticed. It was still irritating to have to keep moving all the time, what with the long distances between cities and the fact that people found cars with completely darkened windows… suspicious, at best, and they had the terrible habit of breaking down outside abandoned dwellings which often had troublesome inhabitants. They were easily dispatched, but the lifestyle of a nomad was highly irritating.
Around his 650th year, he could bear it no longer. He was in luck, however; at that time, he'd come into contact with a powerful magic user, who offered to perform a certain charm on an object that would give him the appearance of aging. Of course, Manfred accepted the offer, planning to kill the magic user as soon as she had outlived her usefulness… which the magic user anticipated. There was an unanticipated catch to the charm, which manifested whenever Manfred first equipped it to test it out- and afterwards, found his powers reset to those of a newly-turned vampire.
Outraged, Manfred eventually managed to kill the magic user, though the damage had been done. While the brooch didn't reset him every time he tried to use it, he had still lost all the power he'd accumulated over the years. Nevertheless, he still had his wits and quite a bit of money, which he used to establish himself in the city of Allupato. As the years passed, Manfred regained some of the power he'd lost- albeit at a slightly slower rate than the average vampire.
The years went by, with Manfred faking his death whenever he got on in years and re-introducing himself as a 'younger relative,' and despite his weakened state, he gained a firm handle in the hierarchy of Allupato, which didn't really change when he had to reset- after all, the young relative was his 'heir,' and generally proved to be quite similar to his predecessor.
Interestingly, when he was about 848, he happened to stumble upon his actual heirs- a young girl, Sophia, and her infant sister, Franziska, who just happened to be orphaned by a recent monster attack. Never one to miss a golden opportunity for loyal, talented subordinates, Manfred took the young von Karmas in under the guise of a distant relative- which was the truth, really. He intended to turn them both when they got older, but Franziska showed more talent, and another issue cropped up in his life.
There was a man named Gregory Edgeworth who was… well, you couldn't call him a hunter, considering he was practically a universal nonhuman sympathizer, but given Manfred's general disdain for lives other than his own, the two were at odds, and Gregory almost managed to expose him as a vampire. The key term being 'almost,' but any threat to Manfred's perfection had to be eliminated. Conveniently, a day or so after the incident, there was an earthquake, and Gregory was trapped in an elevator with a half-changed werewolf and his nine-year-old son, Miles- who alerted Manfred to the opportunity present by throwing a loaded gun that fired into his shoulder.
The incident was covered up, but simply killing Gregory Edgeworth wasn't quite enough for Manfred. Shortly afterwards, he informally adopted Miles Edgeworth, conditioning him into becoming the exact opposite of his father- and another candidate to become a subordinate vampire. The years went by, and eventually, Manfred intends to go through with his initial plan for Edgeworth and Franzsiska… and he's due to reset his age in a year or so, as well. Fortunately, he has 'Wilhelm,' his current 'young relative,'
Organization/Pack/Clan/Guild?: While not being part of an organization per se, von Karma is a hunter with his two wards, Franziska von Karma and Miles Edgeworth, who basically serve as his hitmen.