NEFARTAT.

﹟𝘕𝘖𝘚𝘍𝘌𝘙𝘖𝘛 :  a private and original portrayal of 𝘊𝘖𝘜𝘕𝘛 𝘋𝘙𝘈𝘊𝘜𝘓𝘈 from bram stoker's dracula & other media. inspired by film, theatre & folklore from across eastern europe. beloved by béla. ( he / him & they / them ) plotting is actively required for first interaction. medium activity. this character is not portrayed as or based on the historical folkhero Vlad Țepeș.

other   potential   themes   will   include  the deconstruction of gender-roles, the soul after death, societal expectation, the pain of distant memories, the western fear of reverse-colonization, & the allure of the dark.

carrd. spotify. sideblog. writes in mixed first / third person. affiliated with @mnhia & @vampyrra.

MODERN AESTHETICS. home and in public. bonus: character spotify

COUNT DRACULA + VOICE HEADCANON bold is for always/often, italic is for situational/sometimes.  strike is for never.

ACCENT: “country”  |  “backwoods”  │  “sailor”  │  “upper  class”  │  “city  slicker”  |    foreign  speaker  │  refined   

ELOQUENCE: educated │self-taught |  uneducated  |  doesn’t  use  conjunctions  |  shortens  words |  omits  entire  words  on  occasion |  mixes  up  words  │  just  makes  up  their  own  words!  │  archaic  english  │dependent  on  mood  or  setting  |doesn’t  use  contractions

TONE: loud  │  soft  │  room  volume  │ high  pitched │ low  pitched  │seductive  │velvety  │  speech  impediment  │  abrasive  │  gruff  │  shrill  │  booming  │  matter-of-fact  │  toneless  │  husky  │gravelly  │  breathy  │  nasal  │  barking  │  chatty  │  condescending  │  musical  │  suave  │  world-weary  │  brash  │  authoritative

HABITS:  refers  to  self  in  third  person │ incorporates  different  languages/terms/sayings │ uses  gender-specific  terms │ adapts  to  audience │  changes  pitch  around  animals  or  children  │  shifts  tone  when  lying  │ gives  others  nicknames  │ uses  terms  of  respect  towards  others

ㅤㅤㅤOTHER  BITS:   his predominant language while growing up was daco-romanian, specifically the crișana dialect with several argots borrowed from  banat dialects.  his accent was, however, warped as hungarian customs and language were further forced on the transylvanian population as corvinus’ power (and that of his warlords) grew.  he was communicative in what he could learn from the ruthenian ( his rusyn roots especially pushing his interest here ) roma, kaikavian, slovakian, ukranian and istriot languages (as we see in the book as well, this is canon), meaning that he had likely been a polyglot since a very young age - as is wanted of the students of scholomance.  he is diligent in learning language,  often spending full days without sleep just to memorize grammatical rules and language cadences so that he does not sound ignorant when he speaks.  this trickled down into when he learned english, which he gratefully practiced with his captive friend, jonathan harker, saying that he wanted nothing more than to eventually lose his accent. 

he puts emphasis on the middle vowels of a word, as is traditional in eastern european languages.  ivan becames eevan,  igor becomes eegor,  gregori becomes grygoree.   the emphasis on words turns to identification for action.  ‘if that is what you wish’  becomes ‘if that is what you wish.’  in the count’s mouth.  i take a lot of inspiration on his cadence and manner of speech from béla lugosi (rip) who basically made this role his own, and who was unfortunately mocked for his accent for decades after his portrayal/was ultimately denied success because of it in hollywood.  

he does not tend to speak in modern english, however.  he did not have the time to study it as well in such a fast-moving world as the future.  instead, he slips into the familiar unless he is corrected.  he will still say words like pray you to insist upon something, or say that to explain himself is to illustrate his meaning.  he is also prone to going off on wild tangents if a topic particularly excites him.   

ㅤㅤㅤVOICE  CLAIM  REFERENCE:   i utilize my faceclaim for his voice claim as well, especially in the deep sort of ‘quiet’ / nonthreatening way he talks.  i will include both here.  his singing voice (ivan ozhogin) is very deep, very ... baritone,  melodic,  very powerful and controlled.  ( see here and also especially here ) although the count almost never sings since his death,  and has since become somewhat rusty.  vampiric power somewhat takes over here, much like how a siren’s voice works, and serves to bewitch and ensnare the victim that hears it.  it sounds beautiful, metallic somewhat,  like a bell that has been rung.    his speaking voice, however, is much less threatening if he is not yelling.  but it is intimidating in some ways.  when you can tell he’s angry, but he’s still speaking very softly.  it is a little flat,  gentle, but very ... emotive, somehow.  dangerous in how its easy to be drawn in and made to feel comfortable.   especially since he tends to talk with his hands in canon, grabbing things and gesticulating (normally with only three fingers,  as my portrayal has a very early case of viking’s disease, which was stagnated at the time of his death.) of with almost every word.  assuming he isn’t annoyed, in which case he is very still.  

ㅤㅤㅤwho had done this crime? i could not contain the shock and wonder that had taken hold of my grave face. nor could i mask the initial disgust in my knowledge of the offense. but her question was asked in earnest, and her nature ( to me ) quite obviously known. what thing she had become. all teeth and dark cadaver with that familiar endless hunger. i wrestled with myself. would it not be pity to end her suffering before it truly had begun? nay. no. even i could do no such cruelty. she was not some newborn clawing at my feet.

i did everything within my power to look and sound as stoic as i could, as i always had with children. even if she was a young woman budding into life, her face could not fool me so. i captured her chin between my fingers, contrasted heavily with the way my pallid nails were tapping on her cheeks. all doe-eyes and cupid's lips once so full of innocence. hiding the fangs beneath ( . . . ) and attempting to pry me open for the answers she dared seek. i wondered how she found me. could she perhaps have felt the suffocating aura that was a beacon to my blood? how it so loved to return to the fount it had been given. though i was no akasha. only a violent birth unmitigated by the forces of these undead. in lifting up her face, i parted my mouth to speak and let show the vicious fangs so sharp and white like snow.

ㅤㅤi chose, for the moment at least, to ignore the irony of the costume. where a youngling bat had come crawling up the walls in search of villainy and foe, he found himself an elder, perched to watch the city in the shadow of the night. i had posed the question. was he afraid to die?

" to die, " my teeth were grinning, wrapped around the word as though to taste every sweet, seductive syllable until they'd been devoured. but i was sated for the moment, fed on rich and tasteless blood that was drizzling down my claws. the smell was intoxicating. to be freed of all my shackles and reap my vengeance on a city unassuming of our existence. " to be really dead? "

molten lava and charred flesh

vlad's heart burned so fiercely that it burnt itself out, leaving scars in its wake; scars inside their chest and on the hands of those who touched them, the hearts of anyone who got close enough to try and connect to their's. the person he was is no longer recognizable, burnt up by his own anger and passion and love. the injuries can never fully be erased, but they can be soothed with time and trust and forgiveness.

dracula, 1931 / euripides, medea and other plays / dracula 1992 / mark of the vampire / mahmoud darwish / richard siken / dracula, ballet (sydney, aus) / angela carter