#azvamps

He grew up in the poorer outskirts of Gotham, an area plagued by monsters and criminal low lives. His father instilled in him the fear of these creatures, the beasts that hunt their people. Both he and his brother were incredibly sheltered, told they would surely die if they ever left.

This mindset isn’t uncommon among the lower class of Gotham. They are left without protection, sacrifices to the fiends in their territory. It is a dismal town, and they are left with little choice but to leave or die. Few can afford to leave, though. And so they adopt these very cynical views of the world. Any progress their people might make is halted by this shared hopelessness. Few are brave enough to revolt against the elite that abandoned Gotham, or wiling to organize and help their neighbors in the midst of these monster attacks.

Jonah has some privileges that his brother doesn’t, being the elder and healthier of the two. Occasionally, he is allowed to go into town. To shop, mostly. And only for the necessities. On these brief trips he would hear in passing stories of an Outlaw Hunter—The Bat. At first he was skeptical, hunters never lasted long. They were all either turned, killed, or ran away. This rumored Bat would be no different. Of course, he has a shift in perspective later. Seeing The Bat changed everything.

During one of his very mundane market trips, he had witnessed a swarm of vampires heading into town just up ahead of him. He went to run, falling over himself as he tried to get away, but then a horse had sped past him. A dark stallion with a cloaked figure riding. The Bat Hunter. He effortlessly handled the hoard, not a single civilian casualty. He moved swiftly, beautifully. It wasn’t brutal like most other hunters. They were executioners, they relished violence. Batman laid the creatures to rest, it was as much for their wellbeing as it was the bystanders. It was inspirational to Jonah, it made him feel like there was hope for Gotham. For him and his family.

His hope was short lived, though. As Jonah saw a future for their people, his father fell into hysterics. Eventually, surrendering himself to a hoard to guarantee himself immortality, and turning the younger son. Jonah was forced to kill them both, and abandoned their home. He searched for The Bat, and begged to be his apprentice. Reluctantly, Bruce had accepted. He was reborn then The Crow, and promised himself to Bruce’s mission.

I’m still working on smoothing our details for some of the other Gotham Knights’ backstories, and toying with the idea of Gotham itself being supernatural, a “city of eternal night” kind of situation. Pieces are coming together slowly but surely… I am also finally figuring out some designs and aesthetic choices! Which I will hopefully post soon. Working on a lot of projects right now… Many Azraels in my future.

Some other small Azvamps things:

-Bruce’s horse is named Zorro 🐎 Bruce has had him for years. He took Zorro around the world when he studied under multiple masters in preparation for monster hunting.

-Harold Allnut plays a major role as their forge master supplying them with weaponry! He has made every Gotham Knight a signature weapon, as well as various other arms.

-Azrael muzzles himself. He knows he’s perceived as dangerous, and so he restrains himself for everyone’s safety. He has a problem with dehumanizing himself after being turned, which is due in part to how the other Gotham Knights treat him when he is first let into their ranks.

-Lesser vampires have varying degrees of awareness. Most of them have had their minds ravaged, overtaken by their bloodlust. The majority are hardly alive anymore, let alone the people they used to be. Even the sentient few usually don’t retain memories of their mortal lives. It’s like a disease that’s evolved into a state of being, whereas greater vampires are “true immortals.”

-The main (visual) inspiration for it is Vampire Hunter D with a touch of Hellsing

As for other AUs, I have manyy I have a lot of ideas all the time and often struggle choosing which I’d like to focus on. I’ve thought about Crow’s place within Dark Multiverse: Knightfall and actually written some of that out even though I dislike the comic itself. I’ve also thought about an AU that tries to restructure Karl Valley as a Post-Crisis character by making him the Faux-Azrael from early Az ‘95. And I have a semi-fleshed out Absolute Universe counterpart for Crow that I just haven’t mentioned here yet..

The Order of St. Dumas was formed by St. Dumas (shocking) who was a holy knight studying dark magic. He reached enlightenment through his studies and earned “immortality,” becoming the first vampire. When he first reached enlightenment he had a ravenous hunger and had fed on animals (reference to the frog mentioned in Agent of the Bat #61). After he had cleared his mind and fostered his newfound abilities, he recruited other dark mages to become his acolytes and form the Order.

He and his acolytes erected a plan to overthrow the kingdom and neighboring countries working alongside the warlock Ra’s Al Ghul. They tried to do this through infiltrating the ranks of the nobility with acolytes and mages who could control the politics of each nation to allow the Order more control and leeway. Due to their polarized views Dumas and Ra’s eventually broke off their alliance and Dumas continued to grow more power hungry over the centuries. One of his acolytes, Biis, had seen the growing corruption of St. Dumas and splintered off from the Order, forming his own cult in an attempt to gather enough forces to defeat Dumas. He, along with some of the knights of the Order of St. Dumas, banded together and managed to defeat him.

Dumas escaped within an inch of his life and asked that his mages use his blood to sire another ageless warrior using the body of one his most loyal knights, creating the first Azrael. The ritual they used to drain the blood of St. Dumas had preserved his spirit and he is believed to live on within the consciousness of his Azraels, effectively immortalizing himself.

The acolytes, in conjunction with the spirit of Dumas, trained the vampire Azrael to continue Dumas’ holy work in his stead and attempt defeat Dumas and his followers so that they can resume their conquest. Only one Azrael so sired at a time due to the lengthy ritual it takes to create one and the training they must undergo. It is also a precaution taken by the Order to avoid being overtaken by the immense strength multiple Azraels would possess. (Their major contingency for vampires is the Clench but because that is more of a widespread plague than a controlled solution it is their last resort.)

The Azrael’s are controlled through the use of dark magic and the spirit of St. Dumas in their mind (the hallucinations. they also tend to hallucinate other Azraels due to generations of them being mixed in with Dumas’ blood which is why JPV sees Ludovic so often). When they are first sired, they are often animalistic due to their hunger and the Order weaponizes this bloodlust, occasionally withholding blood from the Azraels so that they are especially violent went sent after their enemies. Azraels are expressly forbidden from reading any tomes or going into any of the areas where rituals are held and Dumas’ blood is stored. When an Azrael dies, their blood joins Dumas’ in the temple and is later given to the next Azrael. In doing this, the potency of Dumas’ blood has been diluted and the vampire get weaker overtime. Ludovic was weaker than his father, Jean Paul is weaker than Ludovic, etc etc.

To preserve the secrecy of everything, very few acolytes are taught dark magic. The head of the Order, (which I’ve dubbed the high priest/ess because “brother” felt too familiar for Rollo). Jean Paul is the seventh Azrael sired by the Order of St. Dumas. The Order has been around about 900 years since the death of St. Dumas, most Azrael’s don’t live very long despite their extended lifespan due to the rise in vampire hunters and the fact Azraels are constantly sent into battle (and their skills weakening each generation). The oldest Azrael was 110 years old, Ludovic’s father. He was considered one of the best Azraels, which is why Ludovic and Jean Paul seem to fall flat in comparison.

Ludovic’s incompetence was sort of excused as a product of the impotent blood from generations of dilution. Carleton Lehah, who was both their treasurer and one of the few dark mages during Ludovic’s time, had felt that the order grew weak between their feeble Azrael and High Priest Rollo’s narcissism. Being one of the more educated on their history, he was very familiar with the story of Biis and his battle with Dumas. He secretly began studying the teachings of Biis and embezzling from the Order to find his own attack on the acolytes.

He started with the other dark mages, trying to kill off as many as he could so that no more Azraels could be sired. He was intercepted by Ludovic, who he successfully defeated. Ludovic, struggling to regenerate due to his magic induced injuries and the sun rising, made his way to Jean Paul. He died in Jean Paul’s bed but Jean Paul had found a map on his person with notes about the ice cathedral, etc etc, so he follows it and manages to meet up with Nomoz. The Dwarflings story is largely the same. The Order no longer trained knights after so many had betrayed them during the first fight with Biis, so they subjugated a tribe of Dwarfling warriors to teach and serve the Azraels instead.