Steal this villain: Vald Daagson

I usually put a genre in the title for these, but this one works in pretty much any modern setting, and as you will see below, you could even have this chap turn up in a game with a supernatural element.

Vald seems like two different people to almost everyone who knows him. By day he works at a diner and is the epitome of a well mannered young man. With his long pale blonde hair tied up and hidden beneath a hat, there’s nothing about him that really stands out. True he talks with a pretty heavy accent, but his spoken English is better than most Americans. He is very slight of build and his face  – while not exactly handsome – is striking with its sharp cheekbones and pale blue eyes. He has a complexion to match his hair, very pale indeed as if he has never seen sunlight.

If any of his regular customers knew about his other life, they would likely be surprised. On evenings his band get together to practice, and at the weekends he is the front man for Carved Through Bone, and extreme black metal four piece. His hair stained with blood, his uniform replaced with a black tee, some suitably heretical artwork emblazoned on its front, and his pale face covered in black and white corpse paint. His usually soothing tones replaced by a throaty growl that seems to tear its way through the listeners ears, and straight to their soul.

The lyrics are almost indistinguishable, but for those in the know they are sacrilegious and filled with violent imagery. They invoke ancient gods of the Scandinavian north and implore their fans to strike back against the Christian oppressors, who from the reign of Charlemagne had murdered thousands of heathens who had refused to stop worshiping their Pagan deities. The songs talk about murdering priests and burning churches, plus a whole let else besides. More than one song comes across like a hymn the Satan, and it is during these bleak minutes that the stage show takes on an even darker turn, with vessels of blood drank from and spat over the crowd in a bizarrely dark ritualistic fashion.

Most people have trouble with the idea of these two obviously disparate personalities existing within the same body, but Vald is quick to laugh this off. The person he is on stage is just an act, pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable within the music world, but never believing any of it. He understands than some of his fans might take what he says literally, but he dismisses them as mindless fools who have no idea how to think for themselves. He does understand though that those at the far right fringes of the culture are also the most fervent in their devotion to bands and personalities that they agree with. they’re more likely to travel great distances to see live shows, and hunt down rare recordings rather than just download them on line.

Vald then seems like a canny business man, appealing to those who are more likely to line his pocket, even if he chooses to maintain a healthy distance from them so as not to be associated with their politics when he is off the stage.  In truth, he steers clear of them for fear of being associated with them if they ever put any of his lessons into practice. Not because he detests such things, but because they could bring a little bit too much attention from the authorities onto his own illegal activities.

You see, Vald not only believes in what he preaches from the pulpit of any number of metal venues, he is happy to practice too. In his home country he is responsible for the deaths of two innocent young teens who had deiced that a closed church was  a great place for them to enjoy some alone time that their respective parents may not have agreed with. Sadly, the wooden stave church in question was the first attempt of a teenaged Vald to put the words of his idols into practice and burn to the ground. There were no survivors, but also no prosecutions. Vald felt empowered by this, and combined with his sociopathic tendencies he realised that if he could get away with once, then he should just keep at it.

For years he traveled around Scandinavia, gathering like minded individuals to him through his talent as a musician and his natural easy going charm. Each member of the band has killed at least one person, either a priest or  member of some other group or facet of society that didn’t match their cultural ideal. They keep moving on from city to city, country to country, covering their activities as well as they can do, and leaving the scene of the crime long before the authorities even knew something had down.

Using Vald in your game.

• He makes a reasonably entertaining adversary for any crime based game. He band are fiercely loyal to him and his ideals, providing alibis or just violence when it is needed to keep the lot of them out of trouble.
• As a contact, he also has much to offer. he is well traveled and knows a lot of people. The players won’t ever need to know his dark secret, and may even end up helping him out in his criminal activities without ever knowing they were complicit.
• His fascination with Paganism and Satanism come together in his love of all things mystical. if your game world has any magic in it, it would not be unreasonable for him to be a fairly competent practitioner.
• His band mates may be thinking about moving on from Vald. Maybe they think he is going too far, or is too intense. They couldn’t report him to the authorities though, because of things they’re done themselves, but could be looking for some outside help.