Calis Van Gothen

Name	Calis Van Gothen
Race	Human
Type	Vampire Hunter
Faction	Free Willed
Premiere	The Anax: Call of the Cursed One
Relative(s)	Absinthe Van Gothen

Calis Van Gothen

"I have my own vays of dealing wit such stress. Life, while short, has its pleasures, after all."

Biography

Pre-The Anax: Call of the Cursed One

The name, Calis Van Gothen, struck fear and dread into the hearts of undead everywhere; however, that was not always the case. In his youth, Abe found his calling with science. He had a special knack for biology, and by the time he went to apprentice in his early teens, he already had a wealth of book knowledge on anatomy, though, it was men like him that truly helped push the understanding of the human body forward. Autopsies were only beginning to be accepted by the religious nations, and he had some push back in his endeavors. However, the young doctor, at only nineteen years old, witnessed something unexplainable!

The Anax: Call of the Cursed One

In The Anax: Call of the Cursed One, Calis appears in the perspective of Anaximanes Ravenhurst in the year 1855. However, Calis had lived a long life before that. The name Calis Van Gothen struck fear and dread into the hearts of undead everywhere; however, that was not always the case. In his youth, Calis found his calling with science. He had a special knack for biology, and by the time he went to apprentice in his early teens, he already had a wealth of book knowledge on anatomy, though, it was men like him that truly helped push forward the understanding of the human body. Autopsies were only beginning to be accepted by the religious nations, and he had some obstacles in his endeavors. However, the young doctor, at only nineteen years old, witnessed something unexplainable by logic and reason.

The selling of cadavers was a profitable business at the time, and a pauper brought a gypsy’s corpse to the doctor, for a price. Though Calis did not like that this poor gypsy fellow would never receive a proper burial, in the name of knowledge, he set about dissecting the body. The very first thing the doctor noticed bewildered him. Not one single drop of blood remained inside the corpse. The next perplexing find was that rigor mortis never occurred. He could move any joint of the body, even easily open and close the eyes or jaw, as if death had occurred only moments ago, yet this man had been dead at least since morning, when someone spotted his body along a back road. Calis had never seen anything like it. The sun was setting as he gazed out of the window, trying to make sense of this bizarre, perplexing discovery. After he watched the sun go down, Calis turned and screamed in horror! The gypsy had stood up and gotten off the table, and was now staring, intently, at the doctor! His mind could not fathom this unnatural scene, but he had little time to dwell in that madness, for the creature rushed at him!

The young doctor miraculously dodged the attack, knocking over many of his tools. The undead monster seemed incredibly fast and powerful, and though Van Gothen attempted to flee, the gypsy caught him and slung the frightened man across the room as if he weighed nothing. The doctor hit the wall, sliding down it. The impact momentarily dazed the young man. The gypsy slowly came at the doctor, speaking of drinking blood! The creature bemoaned the doctor having cut into its flesh for the autopsy. Yet before his very eyes, Calis witnessed those grievous wounds healing closed, sealing the incisions which he had made at the beginning of the autopsy. In anger, the vampire brought a fist down on the doctor’s wooden cadaver-table: sending splinters and shards everywhere. Even the strong oaken wood was no match for the vampire’s unholy strength. Then, as the gypsy fell upon him, by chance or instinct, Van Gothen grabbed a broken piece of the oaken table, driving the sharp end into the creature’s heart! The monster screamed as it burned away into ash before the confused, terrified young man’s eyes.

With the tenacity of a bloodhound, he investigated the matter. He found the man who sold him the body, which led to the man who found the body, which led to a search for a gypsy camp, and onward his investigation went. He had his home in Amsterdam- a wife, children, and he still worked as a physician and scientist, but, over the years his investigation led him across Europe. In Germany, he met an inventor named Johann Conrad Dippel. He discovered that Dippel had discovered a monster akin to what Van Gothen had, and had used its blood to resurrect a corpse that Dippel had named Karloff. Because of the dangers involved, Dippel warned Van Gothen of toying with the otherworldly vampires. The two began a friendship and became colleagues in the search for truth.

Dippel used steam power in order to work his strange inventions, and together they fought and purged Germany of all undead. Also, along his adventures, he met [[Theodore Ravenhurst|Theodore and Deborah Ravenhurst, and these people fought darkness side by side on occasion. Finally, he tracked down what he thought was the original vampire, a Count in Romania. There, in his late twenties, with Dippel, the Ravenhursts, and a few others at his side, Calis battled the King of Vampires, Vlad Țepeș, and succeeded in destroying the fiend’s body- yet a puddle of red blood remained behind. They tried using magic and science to destroy the substance, but not even sunlight seemed capable. Having no other options, Calis used a pump, fabricated by Dippel, to collect the unholy substance. They placed the vile ooze into a puzzle box. This box was designed by Theodore as a brain teaser and blessed by the magical enchantments of Deborah so that only someone of the bloodlines of those present could possibly open the artifact.

Sealing the mechanized puzzle box with Dippel’s help, it was entrusted into the hands of the Ravenhursts to be locked into their magical vault where they sealed cursed objects located on their studies. The box could only be activated with a key. Dippel created a pocket watch, in which to hide the key. The watch required the user to press the top three times in a row, in order to retrieve what it held inside. Theodore took the pocket watch and the box to America. There, outside of Wakefield, New York, the husband and wife sealed the box into their subterranean vault. Theodore held the key, hidden within his watch, for the rest of his life.

After defeating Vlad Țepeș, Calis and Dippel turned to the vampire lord, Ivor. He was a Domnitor strain vampire- one brought about directly by the bite of Vlad. The team began their pursuit, yet Ivor proved to be very difficult to find. Whereas Vlad did not hide at all, always remaining in or around his castle, Ivor hid in dark places like sewers, caverns, or random abandoned buildings. Van Gothen and his vampire hunters spent weeks on fruitless snipe hunts. Little did he know that rather than playing prey, Ivor had tracked down the Van Gothen family living in Amsterdam. There, one by one, the Van Gothen family died. By the time Calis returned to his home, his family- from the youngest grandchild to his wife, had not only died, but they were now undead servants of Ivor! Ivor captured Van Gothen, and forced him to watch as Ivor fornicated with Calis’ now, very willing, corrupted undead bride! Ivor did all he could to break Calis’ spirit. However, Ivor’s pride and desire to torture the doctor turned out to be a horrible mistake.

Dippel and the Ravenhursts managed to break Calis free, and together the group decimated Ivor’s minions. With his own two hands, Calis killed his now twisted family, and swore revenge upon Ivor. Beaten and scared, the Domnitor fled across Europe with an enraged Van Gothen constantly at his heels. Suddenly, one day, Calis lost track of his foe. He could no longer find any sign of Ivor, and eventually determined that Ivor had sailed across the sea. So, true to his tenacious nature, Calis followed him there- to the United States. He tracked him to Wakefield, New York, and assumed that Ivor had learned the location of the puzzle box. It was actually Eleanora Blackwood that knew there was a treasure trove of powerful artifacts hidden in Ravenhurst Manor, and she had allied with Ivor in an attempt to gain access to the vault, the puzzle box hidden there merely a coincidence. Calis finally met his end in a titanic battle in the Wakefield inn. He and his compatriots would have won the day, but the wicked witch Eleanora used her magic to save Ivor, and together, the two annihilated the heroes.

Ivor thought he had finally won, besting the final Van Gothen on Earth. However, he did not know that just before his death, Calis had spent the night with the prostitute, Colette. By fate or by luck, the seed took root and she had a child- of Van Gothen blood. More than a century later, this bloodline had continued to Muriel Van Gothen. She and Roy McCoy later married and had two daughters Abigail and Molly. Ivor discovered this too late, and so Calis had his revenge, long in the making when Absinthe managed to aid in destroying Ivor forever.

Appearance

Calis is a 57 year old male from Amsterdam.

Abilities

• Scientific Knowledge
• Physical Attacks