Katsu Yuda

{Click Here for History}Katsu Yuda was born to a well-to-do couple consisting of a Fitness Instructor for a Father and a Corporate Businesswoman for a Mother; they having met at the gym the Father worked at and over the course of three years they grew closer and closer. Eventually they decided to marry, and within the second year of their marriage Katsu was born. His early life was typical for an Earthlings, and as he grew his interest in the sciences was kindled by his own parents. They were like polar opposites; from the way they approached their jobs, their parenting, even the way they spent their downtime. How could two so thoroughly different people still decide to come together to produce him? People were fascinating, and Katsu wanted to know everything about them. At first his interest aligned with Psychology, but as he became more learned he realized that Biology was the answer within the answer of Psychology, and even further within were Physics.

During his High School years Katsu enrolled in an early College program focusing on the Medical Sciences, his mother pushing him forward into him becoming a Doctor due to its lucrative potential. By the time Katsu was twenty he had already completed four years worth of College and had a Bachleor's Degree in Science and Biology, and was on his way towards a Doctorate in Medicine as well as Medical Science and Biology. It was all smooth sailing for another two years, and when Katsu was twenty-two he'd managed to secure his first Doctorate and was beginning his actual position as an acting physician when he was approached by the representative for a group of wealthy businessmen.

This group of businessmen were looking for a talented person to become their In-House Doctor and Medical Researcher, and were offering beyond top dollar to secure them. Despite the potential paycheck, Katsu declined at first; his current position was far more likely to give him opportunities to discover new and exciting things. Or so he said to the Representative in their first meeting, but they came back a second time, and a third, a fourth...they were certainly persistent. It was the fifth visit that finally caught Katsu's full attention, however. The Representative had brought with him a bio-sample, from some kind of mysterious organism. It was given in an effort to pique Katsu's interest, and after a short examination it succeeded. The sample had such strange traits that Kazuo had never seen in any organism he knew of, and in the one afternoon he had been granted to study the sample he had become enamored with it. There was such potential!

When questioned the Representative stated that the sample given was only one of the projects that needed skilled hands to undergo. Within a month Katsu had tendered his resignation and had been moved into the private facility. Working in this new environment was almost like a dream to Katsu. He wasn't called upon often to treat diseases or injuries as a normal Doctor was, but instead his work revolved around studying exotic samples, performing experiments with live specimen, and theorizing over new potential treatments and processes that could be created with this information.

Another year passed as Katsu happily worked away, becoming a Head Researcher at the facility. Over the course of his tenure he had come to learn, not through his employers or their representatives but instead through his study of the work he was given, the identity of his employers. Vampires. It may sound outlandish, but Katsu knew enough of mythology to understand the overarching theme of what he had been studying. More than a few samples had been of what appeared to be normal animals all under the effects of a similar disease, and most of those were blood samples. The live specimens had been creatures driven berserk, more than one had tried to attack Katsu himself, and each had required extreme force to be restrained. Which was quite interesting, given that some of the specimen had been herbivorous. There was also the sort of information his employers wanted from these samples that was a big clue, as they were never interested in creating a cure for the disease affecting many of the samples, but instead wanted information on how to either make the disease itself more potent, or to improve the ability of a given host to accept the disease without cellular degeneration or excessive mutation. Yes, either someone was wanting to use this strange disease to create a weaponized disease, or they were wanting to perfect a bioweapon, and Katsu figured it was the latter, as long as you accepted that a Vampire was essentially a bioweapon.

Beyond his discovery of who his employers were, Katsu also recognized that there was another researcher or team that was working on this project. While a laymen can look at something, such as say a piece of furniture or a sculpture, and see nothing but differences, someone who is an expert at their craft can see the similarities even among vastly different pieces of work. Katsu could see similarities in a majority of the samples and specimen given to him, genetic markers that marked a disease sample as lab-grown instead of natural, and the various specimen already had wounds associated with extensive medical examinations such as bruising, minor internal bleeding, and fresh scarring from precise slash wounds. There was clearly someone else working on this, and Katsu wanted to know!

Eventually Katsu started asking pointed questions, and with persistence was granted an audience with the true Head Researcher on this project, as well as a member of his employers; the Vampiress Katrina of Clan Cruor. While not possessing the alluring seductive beauty that the mythos tended to grant Vampires, she was a skilled Sorceress and Alchemist, and she had been the mirror to Katsu's own endeavors on the project. Every sample sent to him, every specimen, had been previously altered by her, and in turn she had used the information and theories that Katsu had produced by studying those samples to improve her creations. Impressed by Katsu's ability to glean the identity of his employers from the work he was doing as well as the wealth of information he had given to this project, Katrin accepted Katsu's suggestion that they skip the back and forth and worked together directly.

While working together certainly sped up the rate at which their work progressed; completing what before had taken months now only took two weeks, it was against Clan Law. To allow a human, no matter how competent, to know of the existence of Vampires, was a recipe for disaster. If the humans learned that there were whole Clans of creatures that viewed humans as food running parts of society behind the public's nose, they would rise up and the chance for the Clans to be eradicated...well, it wasn't something anyone amongst the Clans wanted to happen. Katsu had to be put down, for the betterment of the Clans. Katrin of course fought this; stating that Katsu was working towards the betterment of the Clan through his research. If they were allowed to continue they could create a new breed of Vampire a hundredfold stronger, but in the end she had to accept Katsu's demise, with the Clan Head going so far as to demand that she be the one to put him down. The Clan Head was her Sire; she could not resist his will. With her shoulders fallen, Katrin's travel back to the lab was a miserable one, and one that took the remainder of the night as she fought her Master's will as long as possible.

Of course, Katsu was intelligent and gifted, and he had studied the behavior of people for a long time. The very moment that Katrin had been called away from their work by the Clan Head, he knew. The longer a malicious person lived, the more paranoid and willing to kill others to secure their own survival they became. The Clan would no doubt demand his death to protect themselves; it was almost funny how stereotypical their behavior was. Yet, since he knew, Katsu had time to prepare. He had, in fact, been preparing over the entire course of his time working with the Clan, when he had realized their identities.

So when Katrin had entered the lab she found it to be empty; all the machinery powered down for the day and a single sticky note left by Katsu's hand at her console. “Don't know how long you'll be; going back to my Quarters to sleep”. When she reached his Quarters she found him sitting unconscious in a chair next to a window, an empty syringe placed delicately on the table nearby. Katrin could still feel his heartbeat however, pounding rapidly in his chest from across the room, and she tried to speak to him as she approached, her claws slowly extended as her Master's orders beat in her skull. She reached him, her hands reaching for his throat, when he suddenly opened his eyes wide, grinning madly as he snatched both of her hands with one of his. Katrin was shocked; his strength was greater than hers, and by a lot! Her hands were almost crushed in his grip, and before she could react further Katsu leaned in and whispered in her ear.

”We succeeded. Or I did; thanks to you. It's too bad your Master wants me dead... this is goodbye, Katrin, for now anyway. Be sure to tell your Master what he just lost, will you?” Katsu pushed Katrin away as he pulled the blackout curtains on the window wide open, bathing the room in the morning sun. Katrin was old enough of a Vampire that Sunlight would not burn her, but she was still sensitive to it, and she recoiled further, blinded. She could only hear the sound of shattering glass as the world's first Neo-Vampire, a creature born both of Sorcery and Science, connected to Undeath and yet molded by Living hands, escaped into the first glorious morning of his new unlife.

Over the course of several days the transformation that had begun in Katsu's old Quarters continued. His brown hair and mochi-colored skin had all color drained from them; his skin becoming a dull umber color and his hair darkening to black. His eyes instead took on the iconic red hue of a Vampire. However instead of growing enlarged fangs or claws his body instead simply grew taller, more muscle coming in and his digits becoming long and slender. If anyone knew his original form they'd never be able to recognize him now, the original Katsu had died just as the Cruor Clan Head had wanted, it seemed.

Of course, this just meant that the now undead Katsu had free reign of his new existence! No Sire to bind him, no stupid coven to bog him down. He was a free man, child, monster... thing! Ready to go out into the world and bring Creation and Catastrophe in his wake! Of course, he'd have to do something about Clan Cruor at some point, right? If they ever discovered Katsu again they'd definitely want to put him down... Taking down an entire Vampire Coven would take some mighty preparation... Exciting!