#ven!io can be so very different depending on the circumstances of their death

[incendiorum]

on the eve of your own murder, you wake, alone. you came back for revenge.

in 283 CE, the universe doesn't spin the way it should have. a man does not die, but he is, in one fell move, usurped. betrayed, he and his lover are forced to run. and run they do. into the carpathians and north, north, north and back again. when the new world is the thing in everyone's mouth, they make the journey west. and west is where they are, inevitably, caught.

for a long time, they make it and make it well. for a long time, it seems like they've finally shaken the hounds on their scent trail. the lawlessness of the dry west is sweet as molasses. canyonlands and mountain ranges tall enough to scrape the sky and just as good to vanish into. dead or alive posters are an allure. when one can't make the kill, the other can. and between them both they have the funds to live a good life. it's when they settle down, amongst pinyon and juniper, that real life catches up to them.

the universe turns right, this time. lucius inevitably dies. but this time iovita dies with him. bloody and awful and sobbing. and... only one of them comes back.

resurrected, iovita dedicates their life to revenge. tracking down each and every hound that ever dared to scent their trail or speak their name. they're the cruel god of the west, a desert vagabond with nothing to their name except for a mean red mare and an even meaner temper themself. stories follow them like flies to deathly miasma. that sometimes, if you're alone at night, a stranger will show and ask to share your fire. deny them, and you're soon for death at nature's hands. allow them, and they'll tell you stories to shake you down to your bones. and if you tell them valuable information about the people they seek, they'll reward you with something grand. something you desire above all else.

dead man walking. woman in white. a riderless horse and a ridge full of patient vultures. your lack of hospitality on the range will be treated accordingly.