[Secretguy91] Hadrien Solomon

 Born in Saint-Quentin, France, Hadrien's early life was quite mundane. His parents both working varying long hours, he was often alone or with friends for long periods of time. Over time, he developed an interest in painting, and attended art exhibitions in Paris in the early 1900s. It was here he'd met the woman he would marry in a few short years, Eleanora, a fellow artist attending one of the exhibitions. Over the next several years, the couple would have 2 children and both were managing to have comfortable success in the arts.

Unfortunately, the great war came. Unable to find out if his parents had gotten out of Saint-Quentin before the fighting broke out, he urged Eleanora to flee to her parents in London, afraid that Paris would not be safe for long. Hadrien initially enlisted under a cavalry unit, but as trench warfare took shape and cavalry proved too risky, he soon found himself in the trenches. Through a mix of luck and surprising aptitude, Hadrien not only served for the entire 4 years of the war, but suffered only minor injuries throughout the time. Despite this, he was haunted by all the death he had seen, unable to fully process the sheer scale of suffering he had seen and endured.

His luck ran out after the war however. With a tentative peace returning once more, he was finally able to discover that he could find no real trace of what had happened to his parents at all. More worrying, it had been several months now since he had received letters from Eleanora. Traveling to London, he was devastated to learn that Eleanora, their children and her parents had died in a sudden house fire.

For the next several years, he simply threw himself into work. Erratic, surreal and often deeply unsettling paintings, evoking misery and a sort of bitterly caustic humor. Isolating himself and drowning himself in grief.  During this time, he would receive a peculiar letter in the mail. In it was the request from a "Baron Dragomir" for a commission to restore a mural in the dining hall of his manse, located in a small town in Romania. It seemed a ridiculous request, but Hadrien felt a strange compulsion to accept it. Plus, his funds had been dwindling and the offered sum was quite high.

Upon his arrival to the peculiar locale, he took to living and working in the manse, unbothered by the nocturnal and often strange mannerisms of his host. The job paid well, and as he worked, he began to feel a spark returning, that perhaps this odd job could be what he needs to start living again. Not to mention, Dragomir made for peculiar but entertaining company. The eccentric old man seemed a constant stream of outlandish stories and histories of his lineage and of the local townsfolk. In many ways, he reminded Hadrien of his now long missing father.

It was on the eve of the completion of the mural, that Dragomir revealed his true intentions. He had lost much more in the chaos of the great war than just damage to his manse and a mural. He was a vampire of clan Tzimsce, and much of his revenant family and all of his Childer had perished in the war. Hadrien, was a distant relative from his father's side, and when Dragomir had discovered him, and learned of his similar suffering, he decided to "honor" him, with the gift of Embrace. Hadrien had endured and survived so much, why allow mortality to limit his gifts? To grow old and frail when he has so much potential. It was a surprisingly easy choice for Hadrien, after all, he had nothing really to lose.

In the following years, He learned much of being a Kindred, but over time grew increasingly resentful of his sire. Dragomir was only really looking out for himself, his overall power and station had been weakened and he needed someone else capable to handle the grunt work. This resent would grow further as Dragomir deepened ties to the Sabbat, Hadrian vehemently disagreeing with their so called "ideals". Eventually, the two came to blows, and Hadrien fled to France.

It was here that he's stayed, isolated and maintaining a low profile in the french countryside. Painting and relishing the relative peace of these years. Until yet again, a letter bearing the familiar seal arrived at his home. As he would learn, his Sire had fled to the US, cryptically hinting at some sort of dire trouble he had gotten himself into. Pleading for his aid, Hadrien considered simply tossing the letter, but couldn't help but feel a kinship to the old man. Not to mention, the whole situation did some quite dire. With that, he resolved himself to answer the call.