FIRST APPEARANCE: The God Killers (2013)

Ivory Blaque lives in a parallel world very similar to our own. The major difference is that in the Ivoryverse, mythological gods, the preternatural and aliens are real. Knowledge of their existence is kept secret from the general public and monitored by an international organization known as GENESIS.

LYCANS

Lycanthropes (lycans) of various types exist within the Ivoryverse. The primary species being werewolves. They blend in with society by spending most of their time in human form. GENESIS allows for them to self-govern, provided that they adhere to the terms of the Night Shift Treaty.

The treaty was designed to prevent an all-out war between the preternaturals and humanity. Lycans tend to form their own communities (packs) and abide by the tenets of the treaty. However, due to their animalistic natures, lycan society has its own set of internal rules and regulations which are closer in comparison to the animal kingdom than to human civilization. Despite their position in human society, they are bound to follow and obey the alpha of their pack.

An alpha for each species is assigned to every major city around the world. They are responsible for the protection and actions of all lycans who reside within their territory. Any visiting lycan must alert the city’s alpha of their presence and the duration of their stay—including alphas from other cities. While within an alpha’s territory, the visiting lycans are subject to the hierarchy and laws that govern them.

The World Federation of Lycans (WFL) governs the world population of were-creatures and assigns/approves all alphas to their territories and packs. The chairman of the WFL is the representative and liaison with GENESIS and handle any negotiations of the Night Shift Treaty.

VAMPIRES

Vampires have existed for thousands of years and have preyed on humans and lycans alike for sustenance. Of the preternatural creatures who exist in the Ivoryverse, vampires are the most difficult to negotiate with. Vampires tend to be extremely arrogant and look down upon any other creatures on the in existence.
Humans have risen up to protect themselves from vampires by hunting them during the day, when they are most vulnerable. A brotherhood of vampire hunters has existed for centuries and over time have decimated their numbers. In fact, had it not been for the signing of the Night Shift Treaty, vampires would have likely became extinct. However, since its inception the vampire community has thrived over the past century. Their population accounts for more than a third of all known preternaturals in the world today.
The vampires are ruled by The Conclave—an order of natural born vampires. The Conclave consists of nine patriarchs—The Consul of Nine Houses—who have voting rights. Each of the nine families represented is an aggregation of smaller families under a common living male patriarch. Every major city around the world has nine lords which represent one of the nine families of the Conclave. The lord of the city rules over all vampires residing in that city—much like the lycan alphas. Outside of the families are two princes—Vrykolakas and Vlad Kretsulesco and Xeresa, the ancient one.
Prince Vrykolakas and Prince Vlad are identical twins and the sons of the deceased vampire king—Romulus, who disappeared mysteriously disappeared around 717 BC. Xeresa is the oldest existing vampire and the last of her bloodline. She serves as the official advisor to the princes. She has been known to favor Vrykolakas over Vlad in matters concerning the Night Shift Treaty. However, she is in alignment with Vlad on matters of internal governing practices. She serves as a balance between the two brothers.

History: In the late 1800’s, the existence of preternatural creatures and other mythical beings was confirmed and acknowledged by world governments. A group called The Hell Hunters was formed and became the first US government sanctioned monster hunters.
During World War I, the preternatural communities residing in the US, entered into an uneasy alliance with the government—the precursor to the Night Shift Treaty. In exchange for secretly helping in the war effort against Germany, they would be granted a reprieve from persecution.
After WWII, the group disbanded, due to the influence of spymaster, Elijah Bishop. He felt that the group wasn’t disciplined enough, nor large enough to successfully defend the country, let alone the world from any fall out by rogue preternaturals.
GENESIS (Global Espionage Network of Supernatural Investigations & Surveillance)  was founded to combat supernatural/preternatural and technologically advanced threats to world security, GENESIS has, throughout the years, remained a highly clandestine organization dedicated to maintaining the Night Shift Treaty, fighting supernatural terrorism and extraterrestrial menaces as an international intelligence agency.
In its early incarnation as The Hell Hunters, GENESIS was originally affiliated solely with the United States government, but after the United Nations was established after WWII, it morphed into a UN sponsored ultra-clandestine organization. Veteran spy and Neo-Progeny, Elijah Bishop had established a report with the UN representatives and set forth plans for the organization’s formation. He felt the U.S. government alone wasn’t enough to handle what could become a global issue over time, as the number of preternaturals grew.  The United Nations based, international group that became GENESIS was agreed to be the most viable countermeasure against the nascent threat of rogue preternaturals.
Bishop made it conditional that he be named the head of GENESIS for life and that he would only answer to a secret order of the UN called the Republic. The identity of the members were purposefully hidden from him, but he used his empathic powers to learn their identities anyway. He hid his knowledge from them in an effort to give them some sense of authority. Otherwise, Bishop is the highest ranking agent and military figure in both GENESIS and the United States government under the President and a peer of the Secretary of Defense.
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IVORY BLAQUE

REAL NAME: Dominique Zora Blaque
ALIASES: None
CLASSIFICATION: Human
OCCUPATION: Former art thief, current gallery owner and art recovery agent
CITIZENSHIP: U.S.A.

PLACE OF BIRTH: New Orleans, LA
BASE OF OPERATIONS: Chicago, IL
KNOWN RELATIVES: Aristotle “Ari” Blaque (father, deceased), Angelique Blaque (mother, deceased), Cordelia Boudreaux (grandmother, deceased), Aurora James (sister), Jamaal James (nephew), Kennedy James (niece), Isis (niece)
ALLIES: Reginald Montgomery, Brody O’Keefe, Zaji Laveau, Professor Arthur Middleton, Brett “Flip” Warner, Detective Jazz Fitzgerald
GROUP AFFILIATION: None
ENEMIES: Johnny Philcher
EDUCATION: Master’s degree in Art history and a Bachelor’s degree in Archaeology from University of Chicago
FIRST APPEARANCE: The God Killers (2013)

HISTORY: Ivory Blaque was born in New Orleans, LA to Aristotle and Angelique Blaque, local restaurateurs and owners of Blaque’s Creole and Cajun Restaurant. She is the youngest of two daughters and eleven years the junior of her sister Aurora. The two of them weren’t particularly close due to the age gap and differences in personality. Ivory was especially close to Ari, while Aurora was closer to Angelique. Every summer, she would visit her great aunt in Chicago. While Angelique thought she was taking ballet lessons, Ari secretly sent her to study African martial arts under Zaji Laveau.
When Ivory was a teenager, her parents were murdered during a convenience store robbery. She became very bitter and distant as a result and rebelled from her grandmother until she turned eighteen and took off for Chicago. Her great aunt had died and she wasn’t close with any other relatives in the city, so she took to using her wits to survive. She often pickpocketed from obviously wealthy people and used the money and credit cards she stole to stay in low rent motels.
While visiting a local museum, Ivory happened to run into her childhood friend Lynda Middleton and found out that her father—Professor Arthur Middleton—was the curator of the museum. Prof. Middleton insisted that she stay with him and Lynda provided she enroll in a college program.
Ivory agreed and earned degrees in both art history and archaeology. She had finished her studies and was working at the museum when she happened upon an older man visiting Prof. Middleton. He possessed a rugged handsomeness and charm that stirred her attention. Despite Prof. Middleton’s attempts at dissuading her from pursuing him, she was instantly smitten with him.
She used her pick-pocketing skills on him to get his attention and learn more about him. He turned out to be a man named Johnny Philcher, a professional art thief. Ivory contacted him to let him know she had his wallet and they arranged to meet outside fo the museum. After their meeting, Philcher took a liking to her and decided to take her under his wing and train her to be an art thief. Eventually, she became both his partner and his lover.
When the FBI found it impossible to catch them, they decided to make a case against Philcher for tax evasion and sentenced him to ten years in a federal penitentiary. They used Ivory as a lynchpin to get the conviction by threatening her freedom is she refused to cooperate. Philcher encouraged her to testify against him so that while he was incarcerated with a record, she could continue his illegal enterprise on the outside.
Ivory reluctantly agreed and during her time away from Philcher, decided to go legit. She opened an art gallery in River North—the Midwestern equivalent to New York’s SoHo.
The Blaque Gallery rapidly grew and became one of the largest and most successful outside of New York and Los Angeles. Ivory still felt that she could be doing more, so she used her skills as a thief to hire herself out as an art recovery agent. She contacted an old friend of her father’s named Brett “Flip” Warner who agreed to assist her in her art recovery assignments. Things were going well until she was hired to recover a pair of Civil War era pistols—called The God Killers—in New Orleans. She barely escaped with her life as shadowy figures pursued her. To make matters worse, Philcher was released early from prison and wanted to pick up where things left off.
Ivory had changed during their time apart and wanted nothing to do with her former life, so she refused and this enraged Philcher who vowed revenge upon her.
HEIGHT: 5’10
WEIGHT: N/A
EYES: Hazel
HAIR: Black
AGE: 28
DESCRIPTION: Ivory is tall and statuesque, has long black hair in natural corkscrews. Her skin color is extremely pale, due to a rare form of albinism which only affected her skin color.
DEMEANOR: Fiercely autonomous, extremely intelligent, and sarcastic. She is very distant, but cares deeply for those within her circle.
NOTABLE SKILLS: Weapons training, hand to hand combat, human and paranormal history, art history, subterfuge and stealth
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REGINALD MONTGOMERY

REAL NAME: Reginald Quincy Montgomery
ALIASES: None
CLASSIFICATION: Vampire
OCCUPATION: Attorney and private detective.
CITIZENSHIP: U.S.A.
PLACE OF BIRTH: Westchester, NY
BASE OF OPERATIONS: Chicago, IL
KNOWN RELATIVES: Bartholomew Montgomery III (father, deceased), Estelle Montgomery (mother, deceased), Bartholomew Montgomery IV (brother, deceased), Edward Montgomery (brother, deceased)
ALLIES: Ivory Blaque, Brody O’Keefe
GROUP AFFILIATION: Montgomery & O’Keefe, Attorneys at Law
ENEMIES: Antoine Valentine
EDUCATION: Law degree from Harvard and B.A. in criminology from Princeton
FIRST APPEARANCE: The God Killers (2013)

HISTORY: Reginald is a vampire attorney/private investigator who is co-owner of Montgomery & O’Keefe, Attorneys at Law, a law firm/private detective agency which caters to preternatural clientele.
Prior to “The God Killers” Reginald is an uneasy acquaintance of Ivory who tolerates her sarcasm and general disdain for vampires, (she on the other hand, tolerates Reginald mostly due to the fact that unlike other vampires, he’s never lied to her and doesn’t treat her like any other human) mostly because of the fact that she never reneges on a promise and she’s one of the firm’s most well-paying clients. Reginald is described as arrogant, a neat freak, and a foppish pretty boy with social issues. He is extremely vain and has a healthy sense of entitlement which it’s believed to have carried over from his life before he was turned. He came from an affluent family, and was born in Westchester, NY. He left New York and took a job with the Department of Justice in Chicago—mainly to vex his father—during the 1930’s before stumbling upon a group of vampires smuggling alcohol laced with vampire blood to humans during prohibition. Once the vampires learned they were about to be exposed they attacked Reginald and left him for dead however, he survived and was turned. To reintegrate himself into the world, he assumed the identity of a distant relative to claim his own estate. He then slowly disappeared from the public eye during the depression and maintained a low profile. Reginald met Brody O’Keefe—a former Chicago Police Detective and turned werewolf—who was also hiring himself out as a private detective. The two decided to join forces and form a law firm/private detective agency which caters to preternatural clientele.
HEIGHT: 6’2
WEIGHT: N/A
EYES: Blue
HAIR: Blonde
AGE: N/A
DESCRIPTION: Reginald is tall and lean. His hair is cut in a crew-cut style. He is clean shaven and is usually well-dressed even when he doesn’t leave the office or is scheduled to see clients.
DEMEANOR: Brody is extremely arrogant and generally conceited. He is however bluntly honest. He doesn’t like the fact that he is a vampire and therefore hates them nearly as much as Ivory. He and Ivory maintain a relationship built on mutual respect. He is loyal to his friends and maintains a deep caring for his business partner Brody O’Keefe. They constantly argue, but truth be told they are the best of friends. Reginald is essentially a hermit and rarely leaves his home/office unless absolutely necessary.
NOTABLE SKILLS: He is an extremely talented legal mind and tactician. He has been trained in weapons use and hand to hand combat, although he prefers to use his wits instead of physical force. He is a highly skilled detective.
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BRODY O’KEEFE

REAL NAME: Brody O’Keefe
ALIASES: None
CLASSIFICATION: Alpha Lycan (werewolf)
OCCUPATION: Attorney and private investigator/security specialist. He is the alpha of the Chicagoland Wolf Pack.
CITIZENSHIP: U.S.A.
PLACE OF BIRTH: Chicago, IL
BASE OF OPERATIONS: Chicago, IL
KNOWN RELATIVES: Patrick O’Keefe (father, deceased), Vivian O’Keefe (mother, deceased)
ALLIES: Ivory Blaque, Malik Tokugawa, Reginald Montgomery
GROUP AFFILIATION: Chicagoland Wolf Pack
ENEMIES: Jack Corben (rogue werewolf), Antoine Valentine
EDUCATION: Law degree from DePaul University
FIRST APPEARANCE: The God Killers (2013)

HISTORY: Brody O’Keefe is a partner of Montgomery & O’Keefe, Attorneys at Law. Brody is described as down to earth, somewhat unrefined, and ruggedly handsome, with diplomacy issues. He was a former Chicago Police Detective during the 1950’s before being ambushed by a mob family who turned out to be a rogue pack of werewolves.
Brody reestablished himself by quitting the police force and hiring himself out as a private detective. As he learned to better control his shifts he kept a low profile and catering to the preternatural world. He earned a law degree from DePaul University and passed the bar.
Shortly afterwards, he met Reginald Montgomery—a vampire who was turned under similar circumstance—who was also working as a private detective/attorney. The two decided to join forces and formed Montgomery & O’Keefe Law Firm/Private Detective Agency.
Brody was trained as an attorney—largely by Reginald—and eventually passed the bar exam. He works as an acting attorney or private detective for their clients during daytime hours while Reginald handles the nightshift. At times they work together at nighttime depending upon the case.
HEIGHT: 6’2
WEIGHT: N/A
EYES: Brown
HAIR: Dark brown
AGE: N/A
DESCRIPTION: Brody is tall and well built. His hair is cut in a crew-cut style. He is clean shaven and is usually casually dressed except when he has to appear in court.
DEMEANOR: Brody is very loyal to his friends and fiercely protective of those he cares about. He is usually reserved, but he is still very much in tune with his inner beast and extremely dangerous when provoked.
NOTABLE SKILLS: Highly skilled in weapons use, hand to hand combat, and tactical strategy. He has keen mind and is a highly skilled detective.
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ANTOINE VALENTINE

REAL NAME: Antoine Valentine
ALIASES: Unknown
CLASSIFICATION: Master vampire (succubus)
OCCUPATION: Wealthy entrepreneur, vampire lord of Chicago
CITIZENSHIP: U.S.A.
PLACE OF BIRTH: Somewhere in France
BASE OF OPERATIONS: Chicago, IL
KNOWN RELATIVES: Unknown
ALLIES: N/A
GROUP AFFILIATION: The Conclave—vampire ruling body
ENEMIES: Brody O’Keefe, Malik Tokugawa, Reginald Montgomery
EDUCATION: Unknown
FIRST APPEARANCE: The God Killers (2013)

HISTORY: Not much is known about Antoine’s past other than he is a succubus and is over 1,000 years old.

HEIGHT: 6’1
WEIGHT: N/A
EYES: Brown
HAIR: Black
AGE: 1,000+
DESCRIPTION: Antoine has an athletic build. His hair is black and cut in a fade.
DEMEANOR: A brave loner who is fiercely protective of those he cares about. Malik is often calm and collected, he is still very much in tune with his inner beast and extremely dangerous when provoked.
NOTABLE SKILLS: Extremely intelligent, highly skilled in weapons use, hand to hand combat, and business strategy.
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MALIK TOKUGAWA

REAL NAME: Malik Tokugawa
ALIASES: None
CLASSIFICATION: Lycan (werewolf)
OCCUPATION: Artist, enforcer for the Chicagoland Wolf Pack serving under pack alpha Brody O’Keefe.

CITIZENSHIP: U.S.A.
PLACE OF BIRTH: Sapporo, Japan
BASE OF OPERATIONS: Chicago, IL\
KNOWN RELATIVES: Ken Tokugawa (father, deceased), Maya Abdul-Hakeem (mother, deceased)
ALLIES: Brody O’Keefe, Reginald Montgomery
GROUP AFFILIATION: Chicagoland Wolf Pack
ENEMIES: Jack Corben (rogue werewolf), Antoine Valentine
EDUCATION: Master’s degree in fine art with a focus on painting and drawing from the Chicago Institute of Art
FIRST APPEARANCE: The God Killers (2013)

HISTORY: Malik Tokugawa was born in Sapporo, Japan to—Maya Abdul-Hakeem—the daughter of an African American Civil Rights activist and political extremist and the son of a prominent Tokyo businessman—Ken Tokugawa.  His maternal grandfather—Malik Abdul-Hakeem—was framed for the murder of Nagami Tokugawa by a business rival and was sentenced to death row.  Maya spent much of her time and energy trying to disprove her father’s guilt by finding the real killer. Ken Tokugawa was at first bitter and angry at Abdul-Hakeem for his father’s death however, when he uncovered discrepancies behind the circumstances of his father’s death, he eventually joined with Maya to uncover the truth. It wasn’t until after Malik Abdul-Hakeem was executed that they were able to prove that he was innocent of the crime. During the time they’d spent together, Maya and Ken fell in love and married. The couple moved to Tokyo so that Ken could take over his family’s business. It was shortly afterwards that their son Malik—named after his grandfather—was born.  Malik spent much of his early childhood in Japan before moving to Chicago with his parents, so that his father could oversee the US branch of their family’s company. As a teen, while vacationing in remote portion of Illinois with his parents, they were attacked by a rogue werewolf pack. His parents were tortured and killed, while he was left for dead. He survived and managed to get help from another group of werewolves led by Brody O’Keefe. Malik was turned as a result of his attack and joined the pack in which O’Keefe was the alpha. He was groomed by O’Keefe to become the pack enforcer as the last enforcer—Corben—was the werewolf responsible for the death of his parents. He vowed to track down Corben if it was the last thing he ever did. Malik attended the Chicago Institute of Art and earned a degree in fine art with a focus on painting and drawing. He has gained a large following in the art world and has had highly successful gallery showings. In the aftermath, following his parents’ murder, he and Brody became very close and enjoy an almost brotherly relationship.
HEIGHT: 6’4
WEIGHT: N/A
EYES: Brown
HAIR: Black
AGE: N/A
DESCRIPTION: Malik is tall and muscular. His hair is black and cut in a fade. Malik’s skin is a rich honey color due to his mixed heritage.
DEMEANOR: A brave loner who is fiercely protective of those he cares about. He is often calm and collected, he is still very much in tune with his inner beast and extremely dangerous when provoked.
NOTABLE SKILLS: Highly skilled in weapons use, hand to hand combat, and tactical strategy. Malik is also extremely proficient in parkour or free-running. 

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ELIJAH BISHOP

REAL NAME: Elijah Bishop
ALIASES: Classified
CLASSIFICATION: Neo-Progeny
OCCUPATION: Director of GENESIS
CITIZENSHIP: U.S.A.
PLACE OF BIRTH: Classified
BASE OF OPERATIONS: Mobile
KNOWN RELATIVES: Classified
ALLIES: Ivory Blaque
GROUP AFFILIATION: GENESIS
ENEMIES: Reynolds, Johnny Philcher
EDUCATION: Classified
FIRST APPEARANCE: The God Killers (2013)

HISTORY: Elijah Bishop is the director/executive head of the Global Espionage Network of Supernatural Investigations & Surveillance codenamed “GENESIS.” Not much is known about Bishop except that he is a Neo-Progeny whose abilities seem to be empathic in nature. He also exhibits the usual Neo-Progeny enhancements such as super human strength, stamina, speed, agility and immortality.
After approaching former art thief and current gallery owner—Ivory Blaque—about the pistols he secretly hired her to obtain, he has since employed her to work for him in an uneasy alliance. Bishop is extremely manipulative and is very focused on whatever objective he is set upon.
HEIGHT: 6’1
WEIGHT: N/A
EYES: Hazel
HAIR: Black
AGE: Classified
DESCRIPTION: Middle aged, olive skin tone with occidental features. His race is difficult to determine due to his complexion and features. It is possible that he uses his empathic abilities to coerce people in his presence to involuntarily overlook his race as an issue.
DEMEANOR: Extremely intelligent, reserved, cunning and sometimes blunt. Although he can cause others to empathize with him, he has a very distant disposition.
NOTABLE SKILLS: Espionage, hand to hand combat, strategic operations, human and paranormal history.
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JAZZ FITZGERALD

REAL NAME: Jazz Fitzgerald
ALIASES: none
CLASSIFICATION: Human
OCCUPATION: Chicago Police Detective, head of the Chicago Unexplained Crimes Unit
CITIZENSHIP: U.S.A.
PLACE OF BIRTH: Chicago, IL
BASE OF OPERATIONS: Chicago, IL
KNOWN RELATIVES: Arthur Fitzgerald (father, deceased), Miko (mother, deceased), Ichiro Nakamura (maternal grandfather, deceased)
ALLIES: Detective Andy Glowiak, Ivory Blaque, Brody O’Keefe, Reginald Montgomery
GROUP AFFILIATION: The Chicago Unexplained Crimes Unit (CUCU)–a secret division of the Illinois State Police Department, GENESIS (unknowingly)
ENEMIES: Antoine Valentine
EDUCATION: Criminology degree from Indiana University
FIRST APPEARANCE: The God Killers (2013)

HISTORY: Jazz Fitzgerald was born in Chicago, IL to Arthur “Artie” Fitzgerald and Miko Nakamura, but was raised in Kyoto, Japan. Artie was a WWII veteran and an accomplished Jazz saxophonist, hence Jazz’ name. Jazz grew up in Japan with his maternal grandfather—Ichiro, when his mother died shortly after their arrival in Kyoto. Artie was too grief stricken to cope with his wife’s death, which caused his music career to hit a slump. He left Jazz in his grandfather’s care and moved back to Chicago, IL and took a job with the Chicago Police Department where he made detective. Meanwhile, Jazz was in Japan where he was trained by Ichiro in various Japanese martial arts. Jazz excelled but when he turned twelve, Artie sent for him to come to Chicago and live with him. While in Chicago, Jazz attended Bronzeville High School where he excelled at sports, particularly football. Jazz’ father was killed in the line of duty during Jazz’ freshman year in High School. Detective Andy Glowiak—Artie’s partner cared for Jazz at Artie’s request while he attended High School. Jazz was so proficient at football that he was awarded both academic and sports scholarships to attend Indiana University. While there, he majored in criminal justice and minored in music. Jazz is an accomplished saxophonist like his father before him. He was also a member of the US Army Reserve, and upon graduation from IU, he served another tour of duty in the Army full time before leaving the military and returning to Chicago. Upon his return to Chicago, Jazz resumed his martial arts training under Kerry Nakamura—his great uncle. Shortly after his return, Jazz joined the Illinois State Police Department, where he rose to detective and subsequently approached by GENESIS Director, Elijah Bishop for the Chicago Unexplained Crimes Unit. He was unsure if he wanted anything to do with the unit, but Bishop revealed to him that his father had been killed by a group of rogue vampires. This inspired him to join the unit so that he could utilize their resources to eventually track down the rogues responsible for his father’s death. He was later partnered with Glowiak ironically.
HEIGHT: 6’1
WEIGHT: N/A
EYES: Brown
HAIR: Black
AGE: 45
DESCRIPTION: Jazz has an athletic build. His hair is black and cut in a fade. He is half African American and half Japanese.
DEMEANOR: Jazz is very easy going, but a dedicated police officer and loyal friend.
NOTABLE SKILLS: Highly skilled detective, expert marksman with training in various weapons. He is an extremely skilled martial artist (ranked as one of the best in the U.S.).
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STREBOR

REAL NAME: Strebor (full name unrevealed)
ALIASES: N/A
CLASSIFICATION: Vampire’s human servant
OCCUPATION: Human servant to Antoine Valentine, master vampire and lord of the city of Chicago, possibly former soldier
CITIZENSHIP: Unrevealed
PLACE OF BIRTH: Unknown
BASE OF OPERATIONS: Chicago, IL
KNOWN RELATIVES: N/A
ALLIES: Antoine Valentine, Kareta, Maurice (deceased), Martin, Tristan
GROUP AFFILIATION: Antione’s den
ENEMIES: Ivory Blaque, CUCU
EDUCATION: Unknown
FIRST APPEARANCE: The God Killers (2013)

HISTORY: Not much is known about Strebor’s history except that he is at least a century old and is Antoine Valentine’s most trusted human servant.
HEIGHT: 6’6
WEIGHT: N/A
EYES: Blue
HAIR: Blonde
AGE: Unknown
DESCRIPTION: Strebor is very tall and muscular. He wears a crew cut and has piercing blue eyes.
DEMEANOR: Strebor exhibits a calm, yet forceful presence. He is arrogant and very comfortable in his position as Antoine Valentine’s right hand man. He also appears to have the capacity to be ruthless if necessary.
NOTABLE SKILLS: Based on his demeanor, Strebor is likely a former soldier and is at least a century old. He is highly skilled in weapons and hand to hand combat.
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CHICAGO UNEXPLAINED CRIMES UNIT

CURRENT MEMBERS: Detective Jazz Fitzgerald, Detective Andy Glowiak
BASE OF OPERATIONS: Chicago, IL (Bronzeville)
FIRST APPEARANCE: The God Killers (2013)

HISTORY: The Night Shift Treaty provided that each state would have—at the ready—a specialized unit of highly skilled officers to investigate any crimes that appear to be supernatural in nature. GENESIS recruits local city detectives who meet state police requirements to form the local Unexplained Crimes Unit. This special charter with the Illinois State Police Department gives the UCU detectives unlimited access to state records and certain government databases. The unit is headquartered within the largest metropolitan communities in the state and not necessarily the capital city, as preternaturals tend to congregate in large communities to better blend in.
The CUCU is headquartered on Chicago’s south side in the Bronzeville area. There are a total of nine officers assigned to a unit and on special operations, GENESIS personnel is called in to back them up.
Officers in UCU’s are put through a series of secret training courses conducted by GENESIS personnel in hidden facility. Some of the training includes: Preternatural identification, basic preternatural anatomy, preternatural history, specialized weapons handling and most importantly Night Shift Treaty laws.
Detective Andy Glowiak was recruited in the late 1960’s along with the Detective Arthur “Artie” Fitzgerald—the father of his current partner, Detective Jazz Fitzgerald. Detective Artie Fitzgerald was killed in the line of duty by a group of rogue vampires. The case remains unsolved and still haunts Detective Glowiak and Artie’s son.
Despite Detective Glowiak’s experience with the unit, Detective Jazz Fitzgerald was named leader of the unit, because Glowiak left the unit for an extended period after his partner Artie’s death.
In the course of their work, the detectives have had run-ins with Ivory Blaque from time to time. On some cases, Ivory has served as a consultant and on others she has been the prime suspect because of her hatred for vampires. During her exploits, Ivory has destroyed several vampires in self-defense and after a thorough investigation was cleared of any wrong-doing.
Because of her criminal past and the sometimes unlawful nature of her post-criminal activities, Detective Glowiak is extremely suspicious of her and only tolerates her out of respect for Detective Fitzgerald.
It is mostly because Fitzgerald is engaged to Ivory’s estranged sister, Aurora that a blind eye is given to the lawfully tenuous nature of her art recovery business.
The detectives often work with Montgomery & O’Keefe, Attorneys at Law on their cases, due to their connections with the preternatural community and trustworthiness. Although distrust of humans runs rampant among preternaturals, Brody O’Keefe’s father Patrick was an acquaintance of Detective Artie Fitzgerald as a child and the families have close ties.
OTHER CUCU OFFICERS: (Coming Soon)
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VAMPIRES

KNOWN MEMBERS: Antoine Valentine, Reginald Montgomery, Maurice, Kareta, Tristan, Martin
BASE OF OPERATIONS: Worldwide
FIRST APPEARANCE: The God Killers (2013)

TRAITS: Vampires come in two distinctions; born or turned. Born vampires are created through a birthing process much like humans. They are the most powerful of the vampires and develop their powers from birth. Since they are living creatures, they aren’t as susceptible to certain things turned vampires. For example, a born vampire can function in daylight indefinitely, although only and fraction of their full strength. They are still vulnerable to silver as are turned vampires, but it takes much longer for the poison to spread through their bodies. This vulnerability is counterbalanced by their formidable psychic abilities which are at optimal levels day and night.
Turned vampires are created from humans. It takes three exchanges of blood between a vampire and human for the process to take effect. Once turned, the newly created vampire is entirely susceptible to sunlight, silver and can no longer consume human food. The new vampire can only consume blood from a living human or animal with a preference for human blood. The blood lust is uncontrollable in newly turned vampires for the first six months, six days and six hours of their turned existence. During this time, their sire imprisons them to ensure they don’t become a danger to themselves or break the tenets of the Night Shift Treaty (NST). Once the six months time period has passed, the new vampire is slowly introduced into the den of their sire and taught how to survive as a vampire.
Born vampires do not age past the point they reach middle age and turned vampires past the age they are turned. During the daylight hours, younger (turned) vampires enter into a coma-like sleep. This is when they are most vulnerable and because of this, they tend to aggressively hide their daytime resting places. The older a turned vampire becomes, the less susceptible they are to the daytime hours. In fact, master vampires can walk around in the sun (provided they wear clothing that covers most of their skin) for hours at a time. However, if they choose to do so, their powers are greatly diminished and they are barely stronger than a human power-lifter.
Once turned, the new vampire develops superhuman strength, stamina, speed, agility, senses and healing. The average new vampire can lift/press up to 2 tons and run at up to 35 mph for up to two hours before fatigue starts to set in. Their senses are so acute that it is possible for them to determine a human’s emotional state based on their scent and hear a whispered conversation from several yards away. The new vampire can heal from most wounds—including gunshots and stab wounds—within seconds without experiencing great discomfort; however they cannot easily heal from wounds inflicted by objects made from silver or holy water (based upon the faith/conviction of the wielder), both of which can leave permanent scarring. Turned vampires are severely allergic to garlic and ingesting it is fatal. They are also vulnerable to fire, although to truly die from fire they would have to be completely disintegrated (reduced to ash). Wooden stakes are only effective if at least one end is embedded in the earth.
Only a master vampire can turn humans into their servants/surrogates. There is no known restriction on how many human servants a master vampire can make, however they tend to have very few. By “marking” the selected human, a psychic bond is formed. This is established by the first mark. The second mark, grants the human superhuman strength, stamina, speed and healing. The third and final mark grants the human a portion of the vampire’s life-force and gives them immortality.
A vampire’s most dangerous asset is their mind. With age and experience, vampires begin to develop the ability to control the minds of mortals. This hypnotic ability increases with the age of the vampire and is effective on most humans with the exception of Neo-Progeny and Neo-Humans, who are able to resist them with extreme effort. They can cause humans to enter into brief states of unawareness that masks the vampires movements, making it seem as though they disappear or appear out of nowhere. This gives the illusion that they can move at blindingly swift speeds.
Older vampires can intensify their auras to the point that humans can see them. When they do this, it gives them an ethereal appearance which further beguiles humans to do their bidding.
Using both their hypnotic abilities and aura intensifying is known as glamouring. The older the vampire, the more potent is their ability to glamour. This process also releases a form of psychic pheromones which increases the sexual desire in both the vampire and the human. The lust state induced between the two causes both to revert to an almost animalistic sexual attraction that usually results in extremely intense and extended sexual encounters. This can be very dangerous to the human and even become fatal if the vampire is unable to show restraint.
HISTORY: Vampires originated in a parallel dimension and traveled to earth when that dimension was destroyed. They are the handiwork of the Progeny—a race of technologically advanced beings from the same parallel dimension. Vampires were created to serve as Progeny soldiers used to guard the gateway between their world and the Underworld. When the vampires escaped the destruction of their world and travelled to the earth dimension, their first encounter with humans incurred fear and wrath against them.
Over time, humans gained the upper-hand due to their sheer numbers and diminished their number, which drove vampires into hiding. For almost 1,000 years vampires lived in fear of humans and did everything to hide their existence from humans. Some rebelled and attempted to enslave humans, but each time groups gathered and stopped them. There have been a number of vampire hunters who have banded together to drive them into extinction, the most famous of which was The Hell Hunters.
In fact, had it not been for the signing of the Night Shift Treaty (see The Night Shift Treaty), vampires would have likely became extinct. However, since its inception the vampire community has thrived over the past century. Their population accounts for more than a third of all known preternaturals in the world today.
The vampires are ruled by The Conclave—an order of natural born vampires. The Conclave consists of nine patriarchs—The Consul of Nine Houses—who have voting rights. Each of the nine families represented is an aggregation of smaller families under a common living male patriarch. Outside of the families are two princes—Vrykolakas and Vlad Kretsulesco and Xeresa, the ancient one.
Prince Vrykolakas and Prince Vlad are identical twins and the sons of the deceased vampire king—Romulus, who disappeared mysteriously disappeared around 717 BC. Xeresa is the oldest existing vampire and the last of her bloodline. She serves as the official advisor to the princes. She has been known to favor Vrykolakas over Vlad in matters concerning the Night Shift Treaty. However, she is in alignment with Vlad on matters of internal governing practices. She serves as a balance between the two brothers.
Every major city around the world inhabited by vampires has nine lords which represent one of the nine families of the Conclave. The lord of the city rules over all vampires residing in that city.  This vampire is required to be a born vampire and by default a master vampire. In the case of there not being a born vampire available to reign as lord of the city, a turned master vampire can be elected to fill the position.
The Night Shift Treaty grants preternaturals the ability to own and operate businesses provided they don’t openly expose their nature to the public and/or feed from an unwilling human host. As a result of this tenet, vampire businesses have flourished and grown into very powerful corporations. GENESIS has a division that is solely dedicated to monitoring the business practices of preternatural owned businesses to ensure they follow the laws laid on in the NST. Any vampire who breaks the laws of the NST is censured and must face a secret joint (vampire/human) court hearing. If the business grievance(s) resulted in the deaths of humans or exposure of the vampire’s nature to the general public, the vampire will be considered rogue and executed.
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GLOSSARY

BLOOD TWEEKERS – A human who is addicted to vampire blood and/or obsessed with vampires and their lifestyle. Blood tweekers offer themselves up as a food source to a vampire in hopes that someday the vampire will turn them or make them into one of their human servants/surrogates.

HUMAN SERVANT/SURROGATE – A trusted human chosen to serve a specific vampire in exchange for super human abilities and immortality. A human surrogate is only different from a servant in that they travel around the world independently of their vampire master and act on the vampire’s behalf in business matters. A human surrogate is often selected due to a physical resemblance to their vampire master. Not all humans who serve vampires are officially human servants/surrogates.

LORD OF THE CITY – The ruling vampire of a major city or territory. This vampire is of the master class or a natural born vampire—the most powerful of vampires.

LYCANTHROPE – Any human or humanoid who can morph into an animal. The older the lycan the more control they have over the transformation and can change at will, although on nights of a full moon the change is involuntary. Lycanthropy is transferred very much like vampirism (through blood exchange). Lycans are not immortal like vampires, but extremely long lived.

MARKS – The manner by which a vampire can turn a human into a human servant or surrogate. Marks are transferred psychically and transfers a small portion of the vampire’s life force to the human subject, granting them certain super human abilities. Three marks are required to make a human a permanent human servant/surrogate. The first mark psychically links the human to the vampire and causes them to secrete a pheromone that warns other vampires that they are off limits to others. The second mark gives the human incredible strength, stamina and agility. The third (and final) mark grants the human immortality which is tied to the lifespan of the vampire. If the vampire experiences true death, so does their human servant/surrogate.

MASTER VAMPIRE – A natural born vampire or a turned vampire who is at least 500+ years old. A master vampire is generally the head of a family and/or lord of a city.

NEO-HUMAN – A human with a recessive Progeny gene born with at least on parent who is a carrier and is descended from a Progeny ancestor. Neo-humans don’t display any super human characteristics unless they experience some sort of catalytic event which triggers their Progeny gene to activate. Unlike the Neo-Progeny, they aren’t granted immortality and don’t have to die to have their dormant genes triggered

NEO-PROGENY – A being with one Progeny parent and one human parent. Neo-Progenies are in essence demi-gods and often exhibit abilities similar—though not usually as powerful—as their Progeny parent. Their Progeny abilities remain dormant unless they experience a catalytic event (usually death) that activates the dormant gene that grants them immortality and super human abilities.

PROGENY – A being from another dimension who has assumed the identity/personification of a mythological god. The Progeny are in fact an advanced race who have developed the means to grant themselves immortality and super human abilities. They monitored humans and altered themselves to fit the persona of the world pantheons of mythological gods. The Progeny exhibit the ability to feed off of the adoration and admiration of humans and this gives them almost omnipotent abilities. Since the human population turned their faith away from the world pantheons, the Progeny have been drastically weakened. Some of them simply died out due to lack of sustenance, while others have secretly assumed positions of power so as to consume the praise and admiration humans bestow upon them.

VAMPIRE – An immortal being, either born or turned, which feeds on human blood or sexual energy.

WEREWOLVES – Lycanthropes who assume a wolf or wolf/human hybrid form.

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This page is a living mini-encyclopedia of the Ivoryverse. Please review it often as more information/entries will be added as the Ivory Blaque series progresses.