Witch
Personality
Reserved and placid, with a sense of menace lurking beneath the surface. Much like a tree: the top third is visible waving in the breeze, while the rest could spend decades shearing a slab of rock off the side of a mountain. He seeks out new people to meet who may be of assistance with his various problems. He tends to treat people as more than simply food; it's a humane streak that often gets him into trouble or disdain with others of his kind. He is typically impatient with politics, as it often lacks the urgency to address the problems he perceives.
Background
Early Years
~945-955 CE: Born in a village outside Tyddewi.
~965-975 CE: Father perishes while working high on a church structure, from a freak lightning strike and ensuing fall; Gwalchgwynn is accused in the event and convicted of using malicious sorcery. Sentenced to drowning that evening in the Afon Alyn river. The body is not recovered. The chained convict was abducted mid-drowning by a vampire and brought to his sire.
The elder of the pair had, in his human lineage, descended from a line of Irish oracles traced back to half-Fae origins. The pair had traveled from Ireland in search of a powerful seer, hoping to add his power to their oracular pursuits. The circumstances compelled them to turn the young witch immediately, well in advance of their intended timeline.
Rebellion
11th Century CE: Beset by troubling visions of shooting stars and bloody combat, Gwalchgwynn travels across the islands collecting artifacts and information in an effort to prevent the oncoming catastrophe. Despite his attempts, inhabitants of the lands continued to suffer under the various feuds and wars of the corrupt, insatiable nobles. He joined courts of a series of Welsh noblemen to try to steer them toward peaceful rule, but was eventually compelled to apply his foresight to military strategy to help Wales repel English oppression.
A Long Nap
12th-15th Century CE: Working as an advisor (sometimes masquerading as his own relatives or descendants to forestall suspicion of his vampiric nature) to Welsh independence fighters, he aided in repelling a series of invasions. During this period he began to assemble a library of texts and artifacts, mainly involving topics related to prophecy, alchemy, or botany. While assisting Owain Glyndwr's revolt, Gwalchgwynn was in Harlech Castle when English cannon fire collapsed the south wall atop him. The injuries sustained plunged him into a vampiric slumber, and in the chaos of the battle and siege all the rubble was covered up. He would remain entombed there for the next two and a half centuries.
1647-8 CE: After the end of the English Civil War, further parts of the castle were demolished and the stone transported to the local town. The disruption exposed the sleeping vampire, and the nearby scent of fresh blood was finally enough to rouse him from slumber.
Same As It Ever Was
18th Century CE: The disturbing visions next led Gwalchgwynn to France, where he once again attempted to influence the nobility to address the needs of the common folk. Once again his warnings were ignored until it was too late to divert from the course in his premonitions. As a result of these failures he concluded that more substantial resources would be required. Humans rarely listen to reason, but they will almost always listen to money. He returned to Wales to lay out a plan to expand his holdings, only to soon suffer a sharp resurgence of his horrific foresight.
19th Century CE: This time he traveled across an ocean to follow the menace shadowing his visions. Across the United States and its western territories he sought out clues to the coming disaster. Here he obtained modest, unobtrusive interests in a number of mining and lumber companies. Slowly the visions gained enough clarity to act on; at last his interventions appeared to work. The dismantling of slavery in the US would, he thought, finally bring an end to incalculable suffering.
Instead, with the eruption of the Civil War, he spent the next several years in a seething rage, tearing apart key railroads and making a number of Confederate spies disappear.
Unstoppable Forces
20th Century CE: Tensions continued to boil in disputed regions around the world. Gwalchgwynn's increasingly frantic visions drew him to Sarajevo in June of 1914. There he found other vampires manipulating events for their own unknown motivations. Having discovered the assassination plot laid by the Serbian Black Hand, he attempted to interrupt their plans, but a dark serendipity placed the target directly in front of one of the assassins. Within a month the continent would be at war.
Tormented by the constant setbacks, left with the belief that the visions served no purpose but to frustrate him into helpless, futile action, he retreated once again to his remote castle in Wales and from there attempted to focus on his research, his library of artifacts, and his growing network of resources.
Here I Go Again
21st Century CE: After decades of trying to push out and ignore a series of escalating apocalyptic visions, Gwalchgwynn finally emerged from his lair again. A recurring dream plagued him, a vision of inky tendrils stretching out over Earth from a blanket of swirling, dizzying stars. In the vision he noticed lights all along the North American coast, persuading him to return across the Atlantic. He landed first in Miami and over the next several years explored northward, attempting to gather more clues from his terrible dreams until finally arriving in New England.
