Vlad von Carstein
"Surrender and serve me in life, or die and slave for me in death." Vlad von Carstein
The first known Von Carstein Vampire. Whether he was the sire of that bloodline or not is unknown, leaning towards not. The series of books "Vampire Wars" has a few POV chapters for Vlad where he refers to his vampiric sire, and theirs for several generations back to Vashanesh, who is clearly not Vlad.
Appearance and Personality
He was described as a very tall, darkly handsome pale man, with "...a mane of black hair and piercing eyes." He was often well dressed, and went to war in some badass-looking armor, though what kept him alive was the Carstein Ring.
As described by "...those who met him and survived the encounter", Vlad was very intelligent (he manipulated his way into controlling Sylvania through a cunning series of events) with a "feral charm", but had an evil temper. He would get so mad if his plans were thwarted only his wife could calm him without blood being spilt. They went on to create a big vampire family (they had more offspring than Mannfred and Konrad, those two are just the most infamous).
Vlad was also able to single-handedly track down and understand one of the Books of Nagash. He accomplished this by tracking it to a temple where some humans were hiding from a Chaos army and, after the book was found, persuaded them to give it to him (just persuaded, he didn't kill them). This indicates he has some skill at persuasion.
Aside from all this he was a devoted husband. He came to love his wife Isabella, and turned her into a vampire so she wouldn't die of illness. After the turning, Vlad gave her the standard talk he gave all his "gets" (people he turned into vampires). Yet he went even further had all reflective objects removed from the castle in case she was traumatized by no longer having a reflection. There was even a painting of her commissioned as a wedding gift so she'd always look the way she wanted.
History
May have been an ancestor of one of the contenders for the Imperial Throne. Like the Joker, he has a multiple-choice past. Unlike the Joker, he's sane enough to remember it, but he never told anyone about it and Games Workshop has never bothered to elaborate on his history.
He married Isabella for power, and used his charm to control her at times, though he ended up falling in love with her. When she lay dying of wasting sickness (Consumption, but for some reason no one calls it that), Vlad made her a vampire so he wouldn't loose her.
When Mordeheim was struck by a comet, Vlad sent some of his agents to collect Warpstone. Then, he used a recovered book of Nagash to start a ritual to summon the dead of Sylvania in a giant army to fight the Empire and appoint himself emperor.
On The Tabletop
Vlad could be an effective special character if he was cheaper. His current incarnation gives him strength 6, 4+ ward, 4+ chance to heal a wound for every unsaved wound he deals and a chance to come back from being killed on a 2+.
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Vlad, you marvellous bastard.
